You Think You Know, But You Have No Idea. Real World Swaziland.

So this post might be a little random and all over the place, but I don't have very much time to write! :) I wanted to let you guys know what's going on now that I am here! It's been crazy. We've been everywhere so far. We flew into J'burg, South Africa about two weeks ago. It was interesting and the hotel was really nice. We drove into Swaziland which didn't take too long (about 4hrs). It looked a lot like South dakota actually. There were fields and everything. :) We got up into the mountains though and it was beautiful. We stayed in the capital for a few days. We've been having language class every morning and then culture and first aid classes in the afternoon. Mon-Sat. When I was in the capital we were doing medical classes and briefly talking about HIV/AIDS. We've been getting lots of shots and taking malaria pills. I was waiting for my shot outside of the building since we had to go in one at a time and a monkey ran past and up the avocado tree about 20 ft away. It was so weird that this is a part of my life now. Omaha zoo has got nothin' on this place.
The language is hard. I am trying, but it's tough. I just have to keep practicing! The majority of the people just speak SiSwati and rarely speak English unless they are annoyed with trying to make you understand what they are saying. They cave in eventually. :)
My host family picked me up last friday. My name now is Sinehlahla Zulu. I am part of the Zulu family in one of the communities in south swaziland. I have electricity at this home, but there is no running water. i get it from a spring near the home. fill my bucket and go. I have a water filter and then I have to put chlorox in it to kill what wasn't filtered. Needless to say it tastes horrible, but I don't want to have more parisites than what I have to. I eat with my family every night after class and cut the food, help cook, saw the wood for the stove, and wash the dishes in the basin. It feels so weird. I've done things like this before, but its a lot more work here because I try do it for my family too so doubles the task. :) I haven't done my laundry yet....I have a lot.
I helped cook food my first night. A bat flew into the kitchen. If you know me....you know my bat phobia. I could barely move but I had to keep making the food because my family sat there watching me....yes, uncomfortable when they watch. :) The bat kept swooping by my head. I was wigging out. I pretended I was bent down to tie my show. My mom "Make" took her towel after a little bit once she saw I was scared and towel snapped the bat to the floor. The bat landed next to my foot. All I thought is "I'm going to die in Africa." haha I went to my room and went to bed. It was like 8pm. The sun goes down at 5:30pm here so if you don't have electricity you go to bed after supper. If you do have electricity you sit in your room by yoursefl until you are tired and crawl in bed. haha. I am happy to be here usually, but it's tough at night when I am by myself or when I am with my family at supper and they are talking about me in SiSwati. Everyone watches everything you do, so you have to be careful what you say or do.
The group that came a year ago and are serving there last year now already made a nickname up for me. They call me Jenna Bush. Its funny. They are really nice to me though so its good to see them.
I have a little boy at my homestead. He is 2 yrs. and doesn't ever wear pants. During class he came into the room and another kid in my language class (4 of us) kept cracking jokes like, "Just hanging around." and I sang "free falling." Those moments where I can laugh really hard at something that really isn't that funny are the moments that keep me sane.:) That little boy is really cute though, but cries when I leave for school in the morning. It kind of makes me feel good...at his expense I guess. haha Just because he likes me so much that he cries when I go makes me feel like he cares that I am there, ya know? God is really humbling me while I am here and I am really thankful for what he is going to do.
I took another bucket bath last night. Our room is 3x4 meters. I do everything in that room and next week I will start cooking in there too. I took my bath in a small bright blue basin. I tried to find a way to wash my body when my hair was done. I sat in the basin thinking I was a genius because my legs could dangle out. I forgot that with water in the basin there isn't room in it for a whole mid section of the body too. I plopped in and all the water gushed over the sides splashing out like the Niagra Falls. I spent last night mopping my whole room up with dirty wash cloths. :)
I miss all of you very very much. I am going to mail some of you soon. I hope some of you can come visit!! Think about it... I will call as soon as I can. Love you all!