PST Continued

This and the next couple posts are going to seem pretty long and possibly rambling as I try to catch up on all that I’ve forgotten to write about up until now. Things are going great here and I really feel like I’ve gotten into a routine and found a certain comfort level here. Training is pretty intense in that it’s an enormous amount of information to absorb in such a short amount of time. I’m trying to soak up as much as I can before stepping out into the great unknown of Peace Corps service. I’m really enjoying training and I’m amazed by how organized it has been. The Peace Corps South Africa staff has seriously done an awesome job of dealing with 56 trainees every need.

I must say I feel sometimes that we’re pretty spoiled as a Peace Corps training group. We are staying in a village that has a mall only a 30 minute combi ride away. I have gone to a medium to large shopping mall nearly every weekend that I’ve been here. I’ve had a cell phone since week 3 of training and I’ve had internet on my blackberry since week 3 as well. So, while I didn’t expect to have these things when I signed up for Peace Corps I’m not going to not take advantage of the fact that I have access to them. I brought my blackberry with me from the states so all I had to do was get a SIM card and pay the R60 for the unlimited internet on my phone. That’s a crazy good deal because 60 rand is less than 10 dollars.

So aside from being mall rats, we actually are learning a lot here. We had our LPI midterm which is our Language Proficiency Interview midterm. In a couple weeks I will have to take the real LPI before swearing in as a volunteer. We have had sessions on everything from alcohol abuse, to transportation safety to classroom management. Several current volunteers have come to teach sessions and answer our questions. And believe me, we have questions. Every volunteer we’ve met at PST (pre-service training) has been incredibly upbeat and so helpful.

We’ve had a couple field trips lately which have been really helpful in understanding South Africa. First we visited the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria then two weeks later we visited the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg. I really enjoyed the Apartheid Museum, although it was a pretty emotionally exhausting experience to go through the museum. Seeing the videos and pictures and facing the reality of what Apartheid was and a small window into how it affected the people of South Africa is a pretty intense experience. If you’re ever in Joburg though, it’s definitely worth going to. We also had a fieldtrip to a game reserve near where we were originally staying when we arrived in South Africa on Women’s Day. We rode in the Peace Corps vans and got to see zebras, giraffes, wildebeest, rhinos, hippos, etc. No lions but it was still a great time!

The weather is finally starting to get warmer here, which is much appreciated during my 6 am bucket bath. I’m getting the hang of the whole bucket bath thing, but I’m sure there’s a section of my back that’s about to start sprouting plants because it hasn’t been reached with a washcloth in a month or so.

Only a few weeks left of training and then I’m officially sworn in! Woot!