Hakuna Matata

I'm back! Another blog update. Twice in a week...holla! I hope you are all well. I also realized I haven't been spell checking to save time. So please don't judge my intellegence level due to spelling errors.

Did I ever tell you guys about how I embarrassed myself at home? Well, than get cozy kids, because Mama Jack is gonna tell you a little bedtime story. Everyday I walk to the pit latrine near the grove to go to the bathroom. Its a natural thing, so I'm not shy to discuss. Somedays maybe I've tested the wrong Swazi foods leaving me to visit the hold in the ground more often than other days, but I usually have schedule of general times of the day I walk out there. Well, the children (there are a lot...there like ants) on my homestead have also learned this schedule. Every night I go out there before bed out of habit and prevention. So the children have started to gather around the square tin echoeing outhouse to wait for me to go. One night I went out, same thing as always, with my red bulbed headlamp strapped to my forehead and toilet paper at hand. The kids come running out of their rooms to gather around the stall I'm occupying. Yeah...well...the audience turned on me a bit as those naughty little poopers began pounding on the tin walls surrounding me with sticks. They began poking under the door of the stall making lots of noise as if it was Jesus' second coming. Yelling from within to "knock it off!" (as if they understand what that means) I finally come out of the toilet with my minor looking hat beaming in the faces of those short legged tallywackers. I softly closed the door behind me and they quickly stopped and watched me walk away. I did give them any ackwoledgement from their poor behavior. They should be ashamed of themsleves, but instead they all bust out laughing while my back is turned and a single tear trails down my cheek. haha JK. All I wanted was to go to the bathroom in peace. Is that too much to ask? The next day they were sitting outside soaking in the sun outside my door. As I walked past one yells, "When are you going to the bathroom?!?" (in broken English) I didn't respond. I walked away to my room and vowed not to visit the toilet until they left for school the next day. I wouldn't give them the satisfaction. It was a long night, I may have developed a urinary tract infection, BUT I won the war. I won...(whispered). No one is beating the side of my toilet tonight. Chalk up 1 point for the whitey.

As I walk out of the stall

Its the end of the week which is great, but sad all 30 volunteers are going their seperate ways. Also sad because I've been with 1st languauge English speaking friends all week, eating homecooked meals from bomakes at the convent (a change from popcorn and oranges I make for myself at my homestead), and getting showers/flushing toilets everyday and now I'm leaving that catered life today. We voted for Peer Support Network (PSN) also. You vote on about 5 PSN and 2 Diversity members. They are in charge of changing things to make Peace Corps better and welcoming the new group that will come for training next summer. Its me and 4 other friends on PSN, so its nice to be working with fun people and have another project to work on to keep me from being homesick. :) So back to Lomfa (my village)I go today. Time to find my rightful place among my family in the southern part of Swaziland where I go days without cell phone service, communication, and electricity due to the frequentlightening storms. I miss the flies coming out of the depths of the pit latrine and cooking on my propane tank. haha I might not be that convincing and I might have said that to remind myself of what I am going back to, BUT I am excited to see my little brothers. And my aunt in all her craziness. I also have projects to do and laundry to wash. I'm excited because I have 21 youth signed up from my community to go to an empowerment conference on December 10th. Me and a bunch of hooligans gettin' down and rockin' it out in eNhlangano. I'll let you know what happens. We are trying to get them all to understand how they can help their peers overcome the hardships of HIV/AIDS and pregnancy in their schools. Please pray for this because I really hope it helps me make friends with some of them and get the ball going in my village. Those teenagers can be a handful. I remember those days...all too well. Youth Conferences= boys flirting with girls...and girls fighting over boys. I don't care what culture you are from, its a recipe that is inevitably used wherever boys and girls unite. Where you find puberty, pimples, and ringtones of Jordan Sparks, you will find awkward youngsters searching for love. Boys showing off and girls putting on lipsmackers, but if they think they can just show up for free food and socialize than...well...I don't care. They can. :) I might even do the worm for them...BUT hopefully they will learn at least a few things while they do that and I will be able to build a trust with my group so they feel comfortable talking with me about more serious issues later.

About a 3.5 hour hike from my homestead is a married couple who are also volunteers. They invited me and some others in the region we live in to have a Thanksgiving Supper. We ate a Thanksgiving meal Thursday with everyone this past week too. It made me miss home. Last year I ate KFC with my roomies and friends in costumes of Native Americans and Pilgrims. Sieff, Tina, and I even recited the 1st Thanksgiving poem in our attire. This holiday was different. As I looked down the table at faces I was eating with, I became sad. No Judy or Darlo. No Ang and Mik or nieces and nephews. Not a single person in brass buckled pilgrim shoes or ribal paint. I missed home. I miss home. Better yet, I miss you guys.

Its plowing season, so I've been working in the fields a little bit with my family. We're plowing potatoes. Its awesome because its like the real deal. We have huge cows that pull plowing stuff. Yes, I'm from Iowa, but no I don't no anything about farming equiptment or the cool words and lingo for that stuff. :) Don't judge me.

Love you guys and miss you a lot. Write me letters if you have time. :)