Back to the Beginning…

It’s now been two months since I arrived in Philadelphia to commence a new stage in my life as a Peace Corps Trainee (PCT), but I thought I’d start with a flashback to those first few days since leaving the comfort of Durham, North Carolina.

After nearly losing my cell phone in the airport shuttle van, sitting through several ice-breakers and information sessions, getting my second yellow fever vaccination in less than a year, and spending an evening of dinner and conversation with my fellow trainees (and my old college roommate, Chris), I boarded a charter bus with my new colleagues on the morning of February 3rd bound for snowy JFK. Twenty-five eventful, sleepless (at least for me) hours later, we landed safely at Oliver Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg to surprisingly cool weather and cloudy skies.

Staff from Peace Corps South Africa graciously welcomed us just outside customs, whereupon we loaded our many bags into a long trailer and piled into a couple brand new official Peace Corps khumbies (mini-bus/van taxis). Nearly three hours later, we arrived at our training site in northwestern Mpumulanga province (see map from November 22 post) to a spread of pap (mashed-potatoesque corn-meal porridge), fried chicken, beetroot, cabbage, and, of course, singing and dancing.

O tla di bona
Di shebane ka
Matlhong ga di
Lwana di poo, di poo.
Dialla di poo…

The song is a Setswana song about bulls staring each another in the eyes when they fight, and the dance involves bending at the waist and staring another person in the eyes as you gyrate your hips and lock ‘horns’ (i.e. your arms, bent like a pair of parentheses in front of you). Even two months in, ‘Di Poo’ remains my favorite traditional South African song and dance of all those I’ve heard since my arrival.

After an incredible dinner and a round of introductions to local Peace Corps staff, we prepared to move our luggage into the dorms in which we’d be staying for a few nights. Heavy rains during the preceding week, however, had flooded the area in front of the dorms. To earn our credentials as Peace Corps Volunteers-to-be, we rolled up our dress slacks and braved the mud to pass our damp luggage from the trailer to the dorms. As further introduction to Peace Corps Training logistics, we then had to stand in deeper mud and push the truck out of the quagmire. Needless to say, I was incredibly grateful for the Gore-Tex boots given to me as a Christmas present days before my departure (thanks, Kristin!).

I was asleep before my head even hit the pillow.