Finally a PCV

On Thursday I was sworn in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer. Finally! This was what I’ve been working for since I’ve came—training is officially over and I am ready to start working at Siyaphambile Community Center in Sweetwaters. For the last two months I have been a trainee—which is a position that keeps you in check. There are always people from the Peace Corps looking after you and making sure that you are safe and happy. Now, I am out on my own, doing that for myself, which is exciting, but also a bit frightening. I’ll get used to it. Soon, (I’m hoping today!) I will be moving to my permanent housing which is closer to the center and will give me a lot more safety and privacy than I can count on where I am currently staying. I am very excited, to say the least. I arrived here on Friday and have basically been living out of my bags until a place to live could be found where I will not be living with my supervisor’s family. I was going to try to do it but was assured by various PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) that it never works out. Also, apparently, it is against one of the many rules of the Peace Corps. It does make common sense. I couldn’t imagine living with my boss in America.

My computer-to-phone hookup isn’t working just yet. I have to take my computer in to the phone store so they can do it for me. Doing it over the phone didn’t work out. Hopefully I will be doing that tomorrow morning, so I should have it all set for the upcoming weeks! And you know what that means…internet at my house. I’m pretty psyched about it. I hope it works!

I will start working at my organization next week also. I think my first plan of business will be just to get to know more about the organization and what are its strengths and weaknesses. I’m pretty against just showing up and doling out responsibilities like I know everything. That will be something that I will be trying to avoid. After the first couple of weeks I want to start meeting with the employees of the center to get their opinions of what it needs and how they think I can help. I’m going to try and work it from an angle where they are telling me what to do instead of me doing that to them. This will hopefully help me avoid any animosity towards myself that I could easily avoid. It does seem that some of the workers there may be quick to get angry at each other over minor things (this is coming from things I have heard already from employees the first week that I was there), so I really want to stay out of that. The first three months of my Peace Corps service I am on “lock down”. This means that I am not allowed to travel very far and cannot take advantage of “off days” that I get each month—6 (this includes weekends). This will be pretty tough. I’m not used to being on my own yet, because training keeps all the PCTs (PC trainees) together. I understand why they do that, but it does make it sort of rough to make the transition to being on your own with no contact from your own culture for 3 whole months. However, I share my shopping town with two other PCVs—one in my group, and one that has been here for about a year and a half. Another couple in my group uses Pietermaritzburg as their secondary shopping town, because theirs is small enough that you can’t really find everything you need. They have gotten to be some of my closest friends here, so I think that I’m pretty lucky. Hopefully I will be able to meet up with fellow PCVs when I go into town on the weekends to buy groceries, get my mail, etc.

Speaking of mail! I know that my address situation has been very up in the air—for that I apologize. I was going to try to share a PO box with my supervisor’s extended family, but after consultation from fellow PCVs (they are so handy) I decided that that probably wasn’t the best situation and that if I really wanted to receive my mail and packages on a regular basis that I was going to have to splurge and get my own. So! I will be doing this also when I go to town tomorrow. By then I will be able to (hopefully) go online and email all of you fine people with my permanent contact information so that you can all continue (or start) to send me exciting letters and stuff in the mail.

That is basically all the news that is fit to print. Remember, I currently am able to check my email on my internet phone and respond with short short emails. Soon, I will be able to take that annoying bounce back message of me being away and out of contact and then will be able to actually respond to your emails. So, this means, send me an email and tell me how you are all doing. I miss you all very much!

Love