Journal Entry 1: The First Week

Hey everyone! I've been with the Peace Corps a week, today, so now would be a good time to post a note let you know what's going on.

Monday, August 15 I met my fellow SA XIV volunteers (the fourteenth group of South African Peace Corps volunteers) in Philadelphia. There are 88 of us, the largest group ever to be going to South Africa. 50 or so are with the education program - of which I am one - and the remainder are working with NGO's. We spent two days training in Philly and then, after what seemed like weeks, boarded a plane for South Africa. It was a long trip! We drove 3 hours north to JFK, waited in the airport another 3 hours and, with a brief stop in Dakar - the capital of Senegal - to refuel, 17 hours to SA. Once in Johannesburg we boarded a bus for over 3 hours to come to Moktapani. All in all, the transit time was well over a day.

So here I sit, in a dorm room in a vacant university complex. My room is small and divided by a book shelf I'm using as just that and a dresser. My roommate is sleeping on the other side of it. When we talk I can't see him and I commented how it feels like I'm talking to a friend on the phone. My sleeping bag is laid out over the blanket on my bed, which is great for the cool nights but does little to rectify my “V”-shaped mattress. There's dust on the floor (and everywhere) along with some scattered books and dirty clothes. To the right of my computer is a picture of my family. It's a trip wondering when I'll see them next.

It's dark now, but out my window I can still see the dry, red-dirt athletic field stretch before my dorm. Lights twinkle in the distance, a few grouped together outlining a road here and another over there, while the others which pock-mark the night belie the dense population outside the university gates. Along the horizon, draped by the night, the land rises enough to make you stop and consider just what is the difference between a hill and a mountain. In front of the mountains and the towns and the road, clearly lit and standing firmly in the foreground of my view out the window, is an iron gate, tall and painted red, seperating us in here from them out there. I came here, we all came here, to knock that gate down.

The grounds (or compound, as the volunteers have come to call it) serve the Peace Corps well for these first few days. Before having much language skill, it gives us a place to gain some language and cross cultural training, get to know each other and get our bearings in a safe environment. That being said, many of us, myself included, are getting restless for Wednesday when we have our first home stay in Moletsi. We'll train there for the better part of the next 2 months before we're sworn in as volunteers. Then we'll head off to our permanent sites for the next two years! (PS – Mom, you're going to have to learn a new word; it turns out no education volunteers will be sent to the Mpumalanga province. Only Limpopo (that's “popo” like dodo) or Northwest Province. Hopefully I'll get Limpopo so it sounds more exotic to your friends. ;)

Otherwise everything here has been going very well. A few of the highlights:

- I played in my first soccer game the other day. 15 Americans versus 15 South Africans. We were well out gunned, but I pulled a beauty out of Steffen's bag-o-tricks and scored my first South African goal. Soccer is the international language! They call me Giggs - I love it!

- Tonight the African government hosted us to a dinner at which Limpopo's minister of education (where we currently are) spoke. Some of the speeches rambled, but his was pointed and meaningful, um... not that I remember what he said. But it was nice. After the dinner was over, we pushed the tables aside and shook our money makers. It was a blast.

- Representatives from the US Embassy in South Africa gave a talk today. While most of us were tired from over-training, hearing about the political and economic situation of South Africa got me excited. Which was a good indication that graduate school in International Relations may be an exciting next step apres les Corps.

- Also of note, many of the girls on this trip (who outnumber the guys 2:1) have an incredible sense of humor! So much so that I won't get away with posting a number of the things they said, but suffice it to say Darcy has a VERY interesting relationship with her Dad.

- Most importantly, I'm having a great time. I can't remember the last time I laughed so much in a week as I have this past one. And I've loved my interactions with the Africans. It's very much like talking with a Nepali – after a little while I have this terrible tendency of falling in love with them. Which in the larger scheme of things, I guess is good thing, considering soon I'll be the only white person in my village.

- Life is still life. I'm glad I'm doing the Peace Corps now even though I desperately wanted to do it right after college. The honeymoon period does not feel so dramatic, both the highs and the lows. Which brings to mind the old saying: the more things change, the more they stay the same. ...because, and you'll forgive me for constructing a paragraph of aphorism, wherever you go, well, there you are. And here I is.

More to come...

Love,
Eric