Pre-Service Training

Hello everyone from Africa!!!
It is so great to finally get the chance to update everyone on how the last few weeks have been going. I finally got a phone here in South Africa, and figured out how to get online and upload new stuff to my blog.

So this update might come in multiple posts, a lot has happened over the last few weeks so it might take a while to get everything out.
First off, getting to South Africa sucks. 16 hours on a plane is not fun by any means, and then getting on a bus for three hours right after sucks even more. We got here right as the sun was going down, and by the time we got our bags and made it through customs it was completely dark. So after seeing the inside of the Johannesburg airport, we got on a bus and headed out into the unknown. We spent about 20 minutes driving through a city area, that looked a lot like a city in the states, and then all of the sudden we were driving through complete darkness. Occasionally we would pass through a small area that had lights, but then there was nothing again. It was kind of creepy to be honest. So after being up for about 28 hours, and traveling for 20 we finally made it to the college that we would be staying at for the next week.

As the bus pulled through the gates we started to hear soft singing coming from somewhere. As we got closer to the main halls the singing got louder and louder until we were finally able to see where it was coming from. The entire host country Peace Corps staff was lined up in native South African clothing singing to us as we pulled in and got off the bus. It was amazing. Song and dance are such a huge part of this culture, and you can tell by the way a random group of people can come together and sing in perfect harmony. They all seem to just know what part of the song is theirs and it flows so beautifully. After a few songs we were introduced to some of the key members of the staff before we were ushered into the dinning area to eat our first South African meal.

Lets just say that the food is interesting. The main part of the diet here is called pap. It is made from corn meal and looks like really thick mashed potatoes and had basically no flavor. You then have some kind of cooked vegetable, and when I say cooked, I really mean cooked. Everything is boiled down in water or oil until it is pretty much mush. Then there is some kind of meat that is usually a mystery. You then take chunks of pap with your hand, scoop up some veggie mush, and take some mystery meat and plop it in your mouth. It is slowly growing on me, but I would kill for a big fresh salad right now, or some real cheese. So far I have yet to get the "runny tummy" but I know it will come eventually.

After a short nights sleep, we were up the next day at 7am to begin our training. As unexciting as that seemed we were greeted bright and early by some pretty cool guests.

 In the tree is a peacock. Its hard to see, but they are everywhere on campus. The staff here makes fun of us because we get so excited about the animals. But after spending some quality time chasing after the birds we finally got to work, which I will tell you about it my next post, hopefully tomorrow. We all go to bed here really early because at night it gets really cold and no house here, or building for that matter has heating.

So good night to everyone in the states, and I will update everyone again sometime tomorrow on how training has been and about moving in with my host family.