Things I Have Learned

Well just this past Sunday, Oct. 12, marked being in SA for three months and being at site for one month. (Yay! Go SA18!) Starting at the first month mark I decided to write down everything I had learned that month, it seemed like a good way to reflect on how much I had accomplished and get excited for the rest of the adventure! So on the 12th of the month, I sit down and write all of the things I can think of that I have learned that month. So here is what I have learned in the first three months of service with Peace Corps:

Month One: July 12-Aug 12, 2008

-         Some Sepedi

-         42 new peoples’ names, locations and moods

-         How to bathe in a bucket

-         To love pap

-         Let go of control

-         To have confidence

-         To stay relaxed

-         To be humble

-         To be true to your self

-         To show people who you really are

-         To wear a hat/bandana/scarf

-         How to be a grown up (or getting there)

-         About being an extrovert and how to distance myself from other peoples’ problems

-         How to do laundry in a bucket

 

Month Two: Aug. 13- Sept. 12, 2008

-         Some more Sepedi

-         To hoard TP, because its worth its weight in gold

-         To ride in kumbies

-         To love the pee bucket

-         To cook for hundreds with no running water

-         To Jika-ma-jika

-         A pretty good “ill face”

-         That some S Africans think kittens are creepy

-         To drink coffee like my mom

-         To go several days with out the full on bucket bath

-         To make “No Bake Cookies”

-         To not solve other peoples’ problems

-         To set personal boundaries and enforce them

-         To acknowledge my needs and stressors

-         To focus on the present

-         To ask for what I want

-         To ask for help

-         To give comfort to others and myself

 

Month Three: Sept. 13- Oct. 12, 2008

-         To love cappuccino

-         To correctly go from plank to cobra (yoga that is)

-         To close the windows before turning on the lights in the evening, so that I don’t get dive-bombed by bugs when reading by headlight

-         To defend my personal boundaries, even when it is uncomfortable

-         To relax enough to possibly enjoy my time here

-         To ride in taxis pretty well

-         To avoid KleKle

-         More about the Afrikaaner perspective

-         To be lonely and live through it

-         To watch the stock market

-         To read A LOT

-         To reach out for support when needed

-         To “make” a home

-         To smile and nod my way through half understood conversations

-         To bend the rules a bit

-         To give myself pep talks

-         To enjoy being up at sunrise

-         To be mostly vegetarian

-         That the mesh bags that tomatoes/oranges come in work well to clean your floor, laundry, body…

Well there ya have it. Some days it seems like a lot, some days it seems like nothing, but I guess that is all part of this adventure! I will update you on the progress next month.