After a joint effort and much patience, we believe we have successfully posted pictures to this web blog. If you're on facebook with Christine, you've already seen these pictures.
As for updated news, we're official Peace Corps volunteers. For our swearing in ceremony, Christine served as the presenter for all the volunteers learning Okanisi (also called Aucan). In this extremely diverse country, volunteers were split into three - a bridge language for all the different groups. Anyway, Christine prepared her speech with the assistance of her language teacher while still in training. Then, when we arrived in the city, the director informed all the presentors that we needed to lengthen our presentations.
Christine typing: So I added some simple transition lines and expanded my thank you to all the villagers in the training region. This made for a very memorable speech as I added a line stating that I love to sew, so my host family taught me to sew blah, blah. blah. I declared with gusto that I love to sew and everyone laughed. I was puzzled and racking my brain. I knew I pronounced everything correctly as it is a simple sentence. Then, I suddenly remembered - the word for sew, 'nai' is also the word for sex. To recover, I said it again and emphasized the sewing part by gesturing as if I was using a needle to sew on material. Not very effective, but again, very funny. I then added that I love to nai - both types - and went on. As a little side note, several reporters, including the local TV news station, were there to capture this moment. On the bright side, no one remembers all the mispronouncations or english words I accidently spit out while talking and everyone liked my speech.
We're in the capital city until Wednesday am and will be checking email and our blog until we leave. Then we're off the grid again for three months or so. Hope you are all well and enjoying the miracle of refridgeration.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Almost in
Well, home-stay is over (Peace Corps training). We almost wish we hadn't had such a great experience. A little afraid of peaking too early. Our family was great. We feel like we made as close to friends as you can when you can't really speak to each other very well. We had a great send-off including cooking hot dogs for what seemed like the whole village, and some really beautiful gifts from our host family. They gave us traditional clothing - a matching kamisa (for men) and pangi (for women), and some other neat stuff. Our last couple of weeks we actually started to be able to say some things beyond the basics, but when they are talking to each other or even talking fast to us, it's pretty hard to pick up the gist of the conversation. We'll get there. David even started having political conversations with his friend here - alot of gesturing and charade-type actions involved. They definitely know who Obama is and David learned a bit about local politics as well.
We're in the city for a week for swearing in (on the 29th) and buying provisions for going out to our permanent site. This includes big things like beds, furniture, tools, etc, as well as food provisions for at least a month. There is of course food available in our village but it is mostly limited to what they grow or catch locally. Other items are for sale in small stores but they are expensive and there is very little selection because they have to bring everything they don't grow or catch out from the city (by truck and boat - a motorized canoe that's about 4 feet wide).
The visit to our permanent site went well. The village is right on the banks of a big, beautiful river. Our main contact in the village - known as our counterpart - took very good care of us and showed us around alot. We even had a sit-down meeting with village leaders and talked about what Peace Corps is and why we were there. This was of course a little nerve-wracking since they don't know any english (our counterpart knows a little), especially for David since he was expected to do all the talking. We also discovered that bats are very poor housemates. At first, Christine was happy to have bats around as they eat bugs. But, they don't use the toilet and apparently crap while in flight. Despite this minor inconvenience, our new home is very nice - two bedrooms, a bathroom with a bucket flush toilet, smooth concrete floors and a spacious tiled front balcony. It will also be relatively easy to bat-proof the house.
Sorry for the lack of photos. Internet access is very limited and connection speed is a big problem. It once took 10 minutes just to load our email page so uploading pictures has not really been feasible. We now have access to the Peace Corps office computers (we're here now!) and should be able to post some good pic's this week. More later.
We're in the city for a week for swearing in (on the 29th) and buying provisions for going out to our permanent site. This includes big things like beds, furniture, tools, etc, as well as food provisions for at least a month. There is of course food available in our village but it is mostly limited to what they grow or catch locally. Other items are for sale in small stores but they are expensive and there is very little selection because they have to bring everything they don't grow or catch out from the city (by truck and boat - a motorized canoe that's about 4 feet wide).
The visit to our permanent site went well. The village is right on the banks of a big, beautiful river. Our main contact in the village - known as our counterpart - took very good care of us and showed us around alot. We even had a sit-down meeting with village leaders and talked about what Peace Corps is and why we were there. This was of course a little nerve-wracking since they don't know any english (our counterpart knows a little), especially for David since he was expected to do all the talking. We also discovered that bats are very poor housemates. At first, Christine was happy to have bats around as they eat bugs. But, they don't use the toilet and apparently crap while in flight. Despite this minor inconvenience, our new home is very nice - two bedrooms, a bathroom with a bucket flush toilet, smooth concrete floors and a spacious tiled front balcony. It will also be relatively easy to bat-proof the house.
Sorry for the lack of photos. Internet access is very limited and connection speed is a big problem. It once took 10 minutes just to load our email page so uploading pictures has not really been feasible. We now have access to the Peace Corps office computers (we're here now!) and should be able to post some good pic's this week. More later.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Six week update
We've been living with a host family for the last four weeks as part of what Peace Corps calls community based training. We have our own small two room house in a cluster of houses where various members of our extended family live. It's a good situation (except for the food...more later). We had heard from previous volunteers that "home stay" could be very difficult, but it has been great for us. There are lots of kids around all the time and we really enjoy playing with them. We are quite a novelty (they especially like David's arm hair!) so they love getting attention from us. We also brought a frisbee they can't get enough of.
We spend four hours in language class each morning and afternoons, we work at basic activities, like doing dishes and washing clothes (it's a lot harder than it sounds). Christine does most of this while David has been helping with less regular chores like cleaning drainage ditches, fixing fences, fixing gutters, etc. Our hosts are very appreciative of the work David has been doing, but the routine housework is expected of Christine. Sometimes we also have formal Peace Corps training in the afternoon.
In the evening, we hang out with our family, eat dinner and blunder through basic conversations in Aucan. Everyone is very patient with us (...including the 3 year old), although they can get a little insistent about pronunciation and some of the ritualized greetings. Christine is sewing a lot with the women in the evenings as well. She has sewn 2 pangi's (traditional Maroon wrap skirts) which she now wears almost exclusively. The food is a bit challenging. Almost everything has salt, soy sauce and chicken bouillion cubes (Maggi) in it in large quantities. Hypertension has become a serious health issue here.
The culture shock has been quite pronounced, but our hosts are very gracious and we feel welcome in our family and the village as a whole. Our lack of language (we're learning, but it's slow) is a real impediment as far as understanding what's going on in the village, but it hasn't stopped us from feeling close to the people here.
Tomorrow we are going to the village where we will be living once we complete training and swearing in. We will be staying five days to check things out and meet people there. We're a little nervous (...language) but also excited. More when we can.
David and Christine
We spend four hours in language class each morning and afternoons, we work at basic activities, like doing dishes and washing clothes (it's a lot harder than it sounds). Christine does most of this while David has been helping with less regular chores like cleaning drainage ditches, fixing fences, fixing gutters, etc. Our hosts are very appreciative of the work David has been doing, but the routine housework is expected of Christine. Sometimes we also have formal Peace Corps training in the afternoon.
In the evening, we hang out with our family, eat dinner and blunder through basic conversations in Aucan. Everyone is very patient with us (...including the 3 year old), although they can get a little insistent about pronunciation and some of the ritualized greetings. Christine is sewing a lot with the women in the evenings as well. She has sewn 2 pangi's (traditional Maroon wrap skirts) which she now wears almost exclusively. The food is a bit challenging. Almost everything has salt, soy sauce and chicken bouillion cubes (Maggi) in it in large quantities. Hypertension has become a serious health issue here.
The culture shock has been quite pronounced, but our hosts are very gracious and we feel welcome in our family and the village as a whole. Our lack of language (we're learning, but it's slow) is a real impediment as far as understanding what's going on in the village, but it hasn't stopped us from feeling close to the people here.
Tomorrow we are going to the village where we will be living once we complete training and swearing in. We will be staying five days to check things out and meet people there. We're a little nervous (...language) but also excited. More when we can.
David and Christine
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