Hey Everyone!

I finally have more than 10 minutes on the internet to update! So South Africa is amazing so far! I'm having a great time. Right now I'm living with my first host family in the village of Maganagobushwa in Mpumalanga province, it's right by Siyabushwa which you can apparently find on google maps. My family is awesome. There are 3 little kids (4, 6, and 10), 2 older boys (18 and 22), and 3 older women who live at the house all the time, and the grandma and other daughter are there on the weekends. So it's a lot of people, always something going on. I play with the 3 little kids the most, their names are Paballo, Karabo, and Tshepang (Te-pang). My family gave me an African name, which is Kamogelo (Ka-mo-hey-lo). It means "Welcome" in Sepedi, and it's all they call me.

I just found out that my permanent site will be the village of Ga-Maja (Ha Ma-ja) in Limpopo Province. I was originally supposed to be there this week for a visit, then back to the training site for 2 more weeks, then back to my permanent site for good. But there is a big nationwide strike in South Africa right now of all service positions, which includes teachers. It has something to do with the big teacher's union, the ANC, as well. It's confusing. So the Peace Corps decided that it is not safe for us to be in schools until it is over because violence often breaks out in a strike like this, and we don't want to appear to be on the government's side by being in the schools, which would make us targets. So our training schedule has to be completely changed. We're hoping the strike will end soon, but we barely get any news, so who knows.

As for my site, apparently I will be in a furnished 3 room house of my own next to my host family's house. It is on top of a hill and the village is very hilly, so that should be fun. I'm pretty sure I will have electricity but no running water, which is how my house is now. I have to take bucket baths and my hands are barely clean, but I'm over it. Also over germs, it's not possible to be a germ freak here, oh well. I use a lot of hand sanitizer though. So I will be working in two primary schools, one is a higher primary and the other is a lower primary school. It sounds very rural, and apparently not much English is spoken there, so that should be fun, woo, Sepedi! My village is near Polokwane, which will be my main shopping town and the biggest city near me. Three other Peace Corps volunteers from my group will be near me as well, so that's gnarly.

Gotta go, but hopefully I'll get on the internet again soon!

Later,
Maggie

Peacing Out!

Hello All,

I can't believe it's finally here! I am about to peace out of the U.S. on my way to South Africa! I am all packed and heading to Philadelphia in a few hours. My luggage all fit into one big black duffel bag, one medium sized sports bag, and a backpack. It does not look like enough stuff for two years, but I'll make it work. Staging starts tomorrow in Philadelphia where I will get vaccinations, my passport, an introduction to the Peace Corps, and whatever else. Then we leave Wednesday morning to depart to Johannesburg! I'm quite excited, a bit nervous and anxious as well. Thanks to everyone who came to my going away party, it was great to see you! I'll update again as soon as I can!

Peace,
Maggie

P.S. Here's my Peace Corps address for sending me letters or packages in South Africa:

Maggie McDonald, PCV
Peace Corps
PO Box 9536
Pretoria 0001
South Africa

Keep in mind that it will usually take about a month to get to me, so perishables might not be a good idea, and sending things early for special occasions might be. And they advise that you label the green customs forms with "school supplies," "religious materials," "food," "personal health supplies," etc. DO NOT write down anything valuable like batteries, solar radio, etc, even if they are in the box. You can use generic terms like "electronics."

Thanks!
Maggie

Peace Corps!

Hello everyone,

This blog will be for anyone who's interested in knowing what I'm up to in South Africa with the Peace Corps. I will be leaving July 12, 2010, it's coming up! As of right now I do not know exactly what town I will be in, so I don't know what the conditions of where I will be living are yet, like internet access and computer charging abilities. I will try to update the blog as much as I can, at least once a month hopefully.

Ok, that's all for now.

Peace.