Road Trip

Hello,

I think winter has officially arrived in Kroonstad. The days are in the 50s and the nights get down to the 30s/40s. I love it, my roommates are diggin' it so much. The weather here is so funny, it will go from clouds as far as you can see to completely sunny in ten minutes flat. I don't know how it happens, but it does.

Sarah, Katie, and I took our first road trip last weekend. It was between Paris and Welkom. We decided on Welkom because they have a movie theatre and the weather wasn't promising enough for Paris, which is a little more of an outdoors place. I was also the driver, so this was my first time driving in 5th gear, which was a nice gear, still a little intimidating though when I look down and see my spedometer reading 100. We had some delicious fish and chips for lunch. I have become completely addicted to putting vinegar on fries and will do just about anything to get my hands on the duo. After that we went and saw the "Blind Side." I was pulling for "Alica in Wonderland" but the roommates weren't feeling the dark humor of Johnny Depp that day. The movie was good, gave me the warm and fuzzies.

After that, we tried to find the mall that was supposed to be nearby. We asked 2 people where it was. The first told us it was behind the building a bit, the second told us it was behind the building but it was still being built. We decided to just go for a walk instead and no joke, within probably 3 blocks we had found a big mall. I don't know what those people were thinking. We got some cheesecake at a place and it was one of the more nasty things I have ever eaten. It was still frozen from being in the box it came in and it was yucky strawberries and the ice cream was this nasty cheap stuff that we have accidentally bought twice at the grocery store. So, Welkom was okay, but I don't think we will be going back any time soon.

My computer class is going good. The students are learning really fast for the most part. Slowly but surely they are discovering the fun features such as games and music on the computer. At first I told them class time wasn't for playing games, then I thought about it more and now I can't decide. They are still learning how to open and use programs, even if they are not the most useful or complex ones to discover.

My boss is trying to open a secondary school on the property for next year. This keeps getting brought up to me in passing, even though I can't figure out why it isn't more the center of conversation. I got to go through a bunch of catalogues last week and try to see how much it would cost to get it stocked with supplies. Funding also came through for the community gardening project last week. This means that in August or September I will go away for 2 weeks and get trained by a bunch of farmers how to grow things. It will be cool, although I am a little nervous to have people's main food source left in my hands.

That is about all from me. Let me know how you are doing!

Kelly

P.S. If you are interested, here is a link to the NDMV newsletter:

http://www.ndmva.org/Media/HumanKind/Human%20Kind_Spring2010.pdf

Enjoy!

The Poor Volunteers

Hi everyone,

I completed my first week of computer training this week. I think things went pretty well. I have 17 dedicated students, 9 in the morning, 8 in the afternoon. Last week we were learning how to type. Things were going pretty well, by Thursday almost all of them had learned the home row + T, I, E, and N if they were really cruising. Good time for a weekend though because everyone was getting pretty frustrated trying to reach the goals by the end of the week. There wasn't really much I could do and my main teaching method became sending people on 5 minute walks when I thought their patience had run out.

We had the sisters (6 of them) over for dinner last week. We were telling them a story about how we could not decide to buy these 1/2 priced mushrooms or not because they were really cheap, but they would put us even more over our budget and we had already bought mushrooms for the week. The sisters interpreted this as us not having enough money/food because it was such a silly decision that we were playing up a bit. What did this get us? A big delivery of food that normally goes to the orphans and vulnerable children in the area. We have a ton of rice, oil, and thick vegetable soup now. I feel really bad about it because we were just kidding and I feel like we unintentionally stole from the poor, the opposite of the purpose of us being here.

Yesterday the sisters brought us to see the white lions that live fairly close to us. I was really excited because I thought it would be like a safari. Nope, not at all. I accidentally went to a zoo. The lions were cool and everything, but I was super uncomfortable and did not want to be there, as many of you can imagine. The lions were kept in about 1 sq. hectare of land, about 2 per plot. There were some 3 day old cubs that were hiding under a tree. Then there were 2 cubs that were 5-6 months old that were taken away from their mother and we went in the enclosure with them so we could play with them. I did not want to touch either of them, but of course I was the first person one of them came up to and latched its teeth around my ankle. That required me to smack it across the head to get it off. It was fun to go and I am grateful that the sisters took us, but it was not a cool setup for these lions. So, mixed feelings on the little adventure.

We bought World Cup tickets this weekend! We are going to the 3rd and 4th place championship game in Port Elizabeth. The tickets were a little pricey, and most of the games were sold out. It was either going to this game or going to a random game where none of us really cared about either of the teams. After much deliberation, this is what we decided on. I really want to see Brazil play, so hopefully they will make it to that game. Whoever it ends up being, I am sure it will be really fun.

That's all from my end.

Kelly

Takin' Care of Business

Hello hello.

Figured it was about time for another post. I will try to do one a week, depending on how many stories I have that week it could be a little more or less frequent.

Last week was my first week of work. I would say things went pretty well. My boss, Zunelle, is cool and quite funny. She was often stressed or nervous so I felt like I needed to do damage control to lighten her load, but then 2 seconds later she would be perfectly fine. It is so weird, I never know what to expect when I run into her. Starting tomorrow I will be teaching a computer class to about 17 youth (youth is my age over here) for the next month or so. I have one class in the morning and another in the afternoon. The class is actually a tutorial on the computer, I am just there as a bonus feature. Two other classes are also starting next week, sewing and marimbas. I will not be in the rooms during those classes, but I will check up on them every once and awhile. Hopefully I can learn a little marimbas in my spare time. And I might actually learn some real sewing techniques from the sewing instructor too, instead of my current strategy of just getting things together in whatever way works.

My boss also wants to get a secondary school on the property opened by January. I am helping her a little bit, mainly by sitting there and listening to her talk about what needs to be done, and then agreeing with her when she is done. Top notch worker ;) When she was going over my job description with me she said she wanted me to work with her because I was an environmental studies major. I asked her why and she said she wanted me to help start a community garden eventually (which I am completely unqualified to do). One of her follow up questions was, "you do like the earth, don't you?" The simple answer of "yes" is why I currently have the job I do.

In case anyone is interested, here is a short list of the creatures I have seen thus far: a bunny, a dead bat, parrots, a snake and mouse (unfortunately for the mouse, found together), spinghare (maybe, I have no confirmation of this sighting yet), small lizards, peacocks, and I have also met a variety of chickens and cows. Pretty cool, however, maybe not quite the safari people think I am on. There are more birds and insects on that list, but I will spare you the uninteresting details.

So there are many people here who are Afrikaans, which means they are most likely white and of Dutch descent. The easiest way to spot one, though, is by the fashion. Men wear high-waisted shorts that show off a lot of leg, shirts usually tucked in, high socks, and big boots. That is what's in. It is so funny because sometimes it is easy to forget that I am not in America, especially at the grocery stores, and then I look around and usually this funny sight is what puts me back in South Africa. Although they dress really funny, Afrikaaners can dance. Sarah's boss introduced us to some people our age. The boys who were out with us showed us how to dance, and it is crazy. It is super structured, the guy does all the leading, there is spinning and dipping and all of this is done to pop music. I am pretty awful at it and the person I was dancing with told me only to watch his feet...because I kept stepping on his toes, oops. It is fun, but definitely easy to make a fool out of oneself.

More next week,

Kelly

Give me the Creeps

Sarah and I moved into the house earlier this week. We were there for no longer than an hour before we were sure someone was trying to break in. We were watching a movie when all of a sudden we heard someone coughing and then we heard talking right outside of our living room window. No one told us anyone was going to be on the property so naturally we assumed we were about to be robbed. I ran into my room to call the sisters and they said they did not know of anyone who should be there. We waited about 15 minutes to hear back from them and just continued to watch the movie in the meantime because we figured running and hiding wasn't going to do any good. After a series of phone calls, we were informed that there were security people on the premises during the night, so no need to worry. We still here them all the time and it is just a little creepy, but sometimes we see them out the window and they wave to us, which was nice but we decided to start shutting the curtains earlier because it still was a bit odd.

So the building I will be working in is completely haunted. It is also on the same property as my house, so I am not completely convinced the house isn't haunted. We didn't actually start work this week because the nuns decided we needed another week to rest up, but we did get a tour of the building. It used to be a building where the sisters would stay, and I think go to school. Then it was taken over by the military and was basically destroyed. After that, satanic worshipers moved in. Half of the building is renovated and looks really good, the other half is still in rough shape and the reminants of its history are still there. First, when we were walking from the new part to the old part we came into a stairwell and there was a pigeon trapped inbetween stair levels. Then, just chillin' on the window, there was a spider big enough to eat pigeons. Seriously, straight out of a horror movie! After letting the bird out, we continued on our way. It was a long hallway with many rooms on both sides of the hall. All the windows had been broken and a lot of the walls were damaged from people stealing the copper pipes. Then we walked into a room at the end of the hallway, there were old burn marks all over the floor and grafitti saying things like "Satanists were here" written all over the walls. The wind blows straight through the building and makes the eeriest sound. It was super creepy. The upside to all of this was that we went back to the new part and discovered that we have wild peakocks that live on our property. I saw a mom and 3 babies walking in and out of the old rooms. They seemed fine with it which eased my nerves a little bit. Sarah and I did get a little spooked later that night and Sarah was awake until the sun came up the next day. I slept fine, as usual, sleep is sleep and worrying isn't going to get in the way.

Katie (the third volunteer) just landed in Johannesburg a couple hours ago, so I am excited to see her in a couple of days. I will put up pictures as soon as I get a working computer that I can upload them to, which will probably take a couple of weeks at best. I am going out on the town tonight, first night out and about. Sarah and I are getting a little ansy sitting alone in our house, only talking to each other and people who are either significantly older or younger than us during our days.

I have also given up all of my eating restrictions. Within the first day I had to refuse food twice because it was made out of pork. I decided it wasn't worth the hastle and gave in on a piece of sausage. I know many of you have been waiting for this for a long time. No longer will ordering pizza be a headache. I am still not able to buy any pig/non-fish water animal products, but I am able to eat them when they are put in front of me, which is a good first step.

Hope everyone is well!

Kelly

The House and Car

Hello hello,

So our house is sweet. We have 2 huge bedrooms, a big living room, a full kitchen, 2 bathrooms, a TV, and a huge yard. Also, we are living on the grounds of the place that Sarah and I will be working, so I literally just have to roll out of bed and walk 100 ft. to work. The only downfall to the whole place is that the grass is crawling with biting ants. But still, it is a good deal for sure.

On top of the house, the sisters also gave us a car. Sarah and I just got back from our first driving lesson in a big parking lot near the house. Sister Kay (our primary host right now) was our teacher, which we were a little worried about at first because we did not want to kill her, but in the end it was like taking a little kid on a roller coaster. She was just having the time of her life when the car would shake and die. Both of us did pretty ok for the first time out. The driver sits on the right here and they drive on the left, just in case having to deal with a clutch wasn't enough. I really like going from first to second gear, everything else is too hard to like. We at least made the afternoon for some local security guards more interesting.

So my computer lasted about 0.2 seconds before dying here. This is a bit annoying considering it has many things I need on it and Gateways are not too popular around here so it might be a little tricky to fix. Sucky, I am getting an HP next time around, which may be sooner than I anticipated.

I think I will have Skype here, so everyone should download it and add me to your people. My screen name is Majikbird. I will probably only be able to do it during the weekends, which is mainly when I will have internet. Our house doesn't have internet so I have to go to the Sister's house to use theirs. I will have to schedule talking times, but this system will not be established for at least a week or two so in the meantime, just getting the program is a good first step. I will also be getting a cell phone in case people would rather pay money to talk to me.

My address here is:

Sisters of Notre Dame: Kelly McKone
P.O. Box 476
Kroonstad
South Africa
9500

Please send me things! In the mean time, e-mails are good too!

Later,

Kelly

The Tale of a Bucket of Gatorade

My journey started at 5 am on the 22nd of March. I know my luck traveling and did not expect this to be a graceful adventure, especially since I had to travel through O'Hare Airport, a place that gives me never-ending problems when traveling. First, I was tricked by the passengers on the shuttle-ride over to the airport into thinking that I was traveling on Delta. The driver asked where everyone was going and everyone said Delta, so naturally I assumed I was doing what everyone else was doing. After standing in a long line, the Kiosk told me I did not exist, I realized my mistake, and tried again in the United line. Then came the dreaded weighing of the suitcases. I knew they were both overweight. I knew my big backpack did not fully fit on the scale so even when that is overweight no one ever knows it but me. I was banking on the tires of the other suitcase touching outside of the scale, unfortunately I was not so lucky the second time around: 70 pounds! I was not about to pay the $150 fine and the woman behind the counter was a stickler for following the rules so I could not even pull the "but my violin isn't really a carry-on item" bit. That 20 pounds went straight into my backpack and violin case, making walking a much bigger pain. During the lightening process all the woman kept telling me was that she was doing me a big favor and that I would be better off listening to her, this was completely not true, but made her feel better about making my load heavier. I had to carry one of my buckets of gatorade powder with me because that was a good 4 pounds and I could not bare parting with it.

I got to Chicago just fine, made my tight connection, was on the take-off pad, when the pilot announces that something on the wing was not latching correctly and we had to go back for a mechanical check. They let people off the plane and said they would announce in an hour whether we were leaving or whether the flight was cancelled. Of course it was cancelled and I got in a line behind the 300 other people on the plane who beat me there. This is when I started calling United Airlines like mad. I thought seriously about dumping the gatorade after getting disconnected 3 times, but then I finally got ahold of a helpful agent. She told me I had 20 minutes to get to a new gate to take a flight to North Carolina that would then go on to Washington. I booked it over there, feeling a little bad for kind of cutting in line via phone, but not bad enough not to do it.

I got to Washington in time, saw Sarah's (one of the other volunteers) face as soon as I walked through the door and almost died I was so happy. On top of that, she offered to help me carry things and immediately took the gatorade off of my hands. 16 hours later, we happily arrived in Johannesburg. Unfortunately, due to my sporadic change of flights, my luggage did not come. They told me it was on its way to be delivered to me tonight, but that never happened. Hopefully tomorrow.

We are staying with the sisters currently, we move into our house tomorrow. Everyone is really nice and are so happy to have us here. It is a pretty cool place. It is not the city I thought it would be, it is more like a really big town. Very green, the days are warm (like 70) and the nights are cold, just how I like it. Sarah slept for about 15 hours last night, I only made it about 12 because I randomly woke up at 4:30 am and was wide awake, then around 7:30 I decided I was tired again and that lasted til about 2:30 in the afternoon. The nuns probably thought we were dead. But alas, we are not, we are healthy and happy and I am pleased to report that the gatorade is too.