Des pays et des gares...

Yesterday, Njabulo and I gave our unconventional thanks – on Sunday instead of Thursday, without turkey, and minus the cranberry sauce shaped like the can and green bean casserole. Instead, we feasted on slow roasted chicken legs with gravy, apple-herb dressing, and steamed green beans. Traditional? Kind of. Delicious? Absolutely! We didn't have dessert, because I forgot to buy a pie tin while we were in our shopping town, but next weekend we'll enjoy a butternut squash pie. Gotta have something to look forward to, right? On Turkey Day proper, we're meeting fellow volunteers for Ethiopian food in Naas. Perhaps it'll become the new tradition here in Peace Corps SA! We'll definitely be thinking of everyone back home (Maple Leafers, enjoy the interdenominational service for me, it's one of my favorites!) and giving thanks for what we have, which is scads more than what the folks around us here have. For your viewing pleasure, I present a photo of our pre-

Nomsa naNjabulo savakashela eKruger National Park futsi sabona tilwane kakhulu!! KNP - Malelane Gate  Two weekends ago Njabulo and I went on a a day-long game drive in Kruger National Park. We used Echo Africa and our driver was Elsa, who was an excellent guide. What an awesome day! It was raining at 5:15AM when we were picked up from the backpacker's  (in fact, we'd had a truly spectacular thunderstorm the night before, storms are awe-inspiring here!) , but by the time we were in the park it was just misting and the rain eventually stopped. Drives are taken in nine passenger open-sided safari vehicles, but we only picked up one other passenger, a nice gentleman from Portugal, so we basically had an almost private tour. At first, we didn't see many animals, but later in the morning, we saw a wide variety of animals all over the park, and very close-up, too! I think the only animals we missed seeing were the leopard and the wild dogs – must save something for nex

As part of our three month observation and integration phase, we are asked to complete a task each week –- such as observing classes, learning about the South African education system and curriculum, and interviewing teachers -- and write a portfolio entry for each. Last week, over the Spring school break, our task was to observe and reflect on the society we are now living in. Perry and I spent the weekend before the break at a bed & breakfast in Malelane (to celebrate his birthday), and I found myself focusing on water in my portfolio entry. Here is what I wrote: Perhaps one of the easiest ways to comment on the society we're now living in is to contrast it with the society we've come from. One marked contrast is the availability of water. I come from a place where water is always on, generally safe, and completely taken for granted as a basic or essential commodity. As we drained the last dregs of the water from our JoJo last week, I couldn't help but worry about

Traditional Hut Thatching a Roof with Grass On Monday, we attended a large Heritage Day celebration event at the Mgobodi Tribal Center in Mgobodi. We caught a taxi to the event with a group of students from Madadene who were performing at the festival. We arrived very early (about 9AM) at the tribal center and weren't exactly clear about what was happening or going to happen, so we wandered around and stopped to watch a group of married women practicing a dance (I'll post a movie this weekend when we have free wifi at the Bed and Breakfast). I (Elizabeth) admired the attire of the women and said so to a woman passing by. Next thing I knew, I was being driven to someone's house where the chief's wife and another woman dressed me in the same clothing they were wearing. They tried to dress Perry up in the men's attire, but it required him to go shirtless -- not a good idea with his pale skin and the African sun. So they draped a traditional cloth ove

Greetings readers,   Here are some photos we've taken around site. When we arrived, we experienced about a week of rain (of biblical proportions). The rains swelled the stream down the street from us…now the water's gone and we've been hiking down and exploring the dry stream bed. One of our neighbors has a large bougainvillea that was in full bloom when we arrived…. One morning I found this lizard in one of our bathing buckets. I love lizards, and they are frequently spotted here! One of the family's chickens hatched chicks last week. We were able to pick them up -- baby chicks are so soft and fluffy! Njabulo took lots of photos, here's a good one: Lastly, here's a teaser photo to introduce an upcoming blog post. Last Monday we attended the Heritage Day Celebrations at the Mgobodi Tribal Center. We were treated like royalty and we had a blast! The chief's wife decked me out in traditional married woman&