March-April Update

Clearly I’ve been seriously slacking on the blog-writing as of late. I have no excuse for my long hiatus. I wish I could say I’ve been busy being an awesome Peace Corps volunteer but that would be a lie. But let me regale you with what I have been up to these last two months…

Back in the end of March I met the majority of my intake-group at our Life Skills Training at an awesome mountain resort a few hours outside of Pretoria. The main focus of this training was to learn more about HIV/AIDS, and that we did. These sessions were led by Neil Orr, a research psychologist and his partner David Patient, South Africa’s longest HIV-survivor. We learned the ins and outs of the virus, CD-4 counts and viral loads and discussed cultural implications and reactions to the spread of the virus. The second day was devoted to immune-system health in which we learned all sorts of home remedies for every minor ailment you can think of. We were instructed to take a shot of cayenne pepper a day to ward off viruses, create garlic tampons for vaginal thrush, and save our used tea bags to heal open sores. I believe that packing sugar in open wounds and sticking cotton balls soaked in garlic juice in children’s ears were also on the list. Most of this information was taken with a grain of salt by the Americans and some came as a surprise to our South African counterparts- such as the fact that soda is never good for you. The last day of LST was led by Peace Corps and was all about project planning and writing grant proposals.

Following LST a bunch of us hopped in a mini-bus and schlepped out to the little town of Sabie in eastern Mpumlanga for the Longtom Marathon. This region of the country is the most beautiful I have seen yet, and I didn’t even see the good parts. Unfortunately, my camera battery died just when we got there so I didn’t get many pictures. We were surrounded by mountains and pine forests and there were many waterfalls nearby. Seriously though, google it, I can’t properly describe it. I hope to go back when I’m not sick (getting to this part later) to do more hiking and see more of it. As for the marathon, it was a ton of fun. Thank you so much to those of you who donated! We raised more this year than any other year in the past! Four PCV’s braved the 56k ultra-marathon which started at the bottom of the Longtom mountain pass, worked its way up the mountain and back down. From what we heard, it was brutal. The rest of us started at the highest point of the mountain and ran or walked mostly downhill, with the exception of a few big uphills. I was a walker the whole way and finished in 3:40. I was surprised to find out that simply walking a half marathon resulted in some serious soreness for two or three days following the event.

And as for the sickness… well, that all started when I decided to try adventure sports. The backpackers we were staying at also takes guests out on “extreme adventure” trips to do such things as kloofing (canyoning in the States?), repelling, bridge-jumping, and white-water tubing. Some friends and I decided to go white-water tubing. This is probably pretty self-explanatory but I didn’t really anticipate the gigantic rock gardens in the middle of the rapids that fling you off your inflatable inner-tube, causing you to do two under-water summersaults, and ingest a mouthful of dirty river water, left to cling to a slippery rock while you watch your tube float away without you. Turns out that dirty river water really took its toll on me. That night I, and two of my tubing companions, found ourselves puking into bushes and rushing for the toilet. The next three or four days were spent in bed with stomach aches and nausea and deworming medication. That was the worst of it, but whatever it was never really left my system. I’ll spare you all the details but for the past four weeks I’ve been in relative gastrointestinal discomfort. I finally called the doctor though and two courses of antibiotics have really done the trick! I’m now celebrating my GI health while bemoaning the onset of a cold. Hopefully by the time my family gets here in a week I’ll be back to full health!

Otherwise, life has been pretty normal. I am happy to report that I finally found a houseplant for my room which I have named Norbert, because he reminds me of a dragon. If you haven’t read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, I’m very sorry but you just wouldn’t understand.

The weather has finally changed to fall/winter and I am loving it so darn much. Finally I can sleep under blankets and wear jeans and fleece and hats and eat soup! It’s so, so amazing after 6 months of 80-100 degree heat.

Well, I’m sure that’s quite enough information for one post but I’ll try to stay better on top of updates in the coming months.