I`ll take a milk shake with that.

A special thanks to all my friends and family and to anyone else who has stumbled across my blog, esp after last week's entry. I really appreciate your love and support. It def helps to lift my spirits knowing you are out there. Thanks for emails and fbook msgs.
Yesterday I cooked some good old American food. So good. I had a hamburger and french fries. I gave myself a pat on the back because I can make some damn good fries! I would have been in heaven if I had a chocolate milk shake :-)

I`ll take a milk shake with that.

A special thanks to all my friends and family and to anyone else who has stumbled across my blog, esp after last week's entry. I really appreciate your love and support. It def helps to lift my spirits knowing you are out there. Thanks for emails and fbook msgs.
Yesterday I cooked some good old American food. So good. I had a hamburger and french fries. I gave myself a pat on the back because I can make some damn good fries! I would have been in heaven if I had a chocolate milk shake :-)

July so far... 4 posts in one

July 7, 2011

Yesterday I took a hot shower!!! So happy!  My hair feels the cleanest it’s ever felt… EVER!!!  I never realized how good Dove’s scentless body wash smells.  I got all the soap out of my hair for the first time in weeks!  It was great to stand under the water as long as I wanted, knowing that I don’t have to mop p all the water I spilled after I was down cause it just goes down the drain!  When the water was too cold, too hot, or just because they are there I could just turn the knobs.  And when I finally decided to be done instead of still being in un-insulated cement room, I turned off the water and the bathroom was full of the warm fog from my shower!  I knew coming to Africa that actual showers would be few and far between so yesterday was a very nice day!

July 12, 2011

Got my phone! It has internet!  It is ironic that I had to come to Africa to get such an upgrade!  Facebook is my cheapest way of communication or e-mail (but I don’t check that as often..Kelly.tooley@gmail.com).  The internet is great except I have had some troubles connecting to it.  The network isn’t as good here as home.  You can also text or call me.  00268-76262531. It’s too expensive for me to call home, but its free for me if you call me(but not for you).

July 19, 2011

Emotional.  I am not usually emotional, so this is weird and hard to handle for me.  My mood is usually so even and every day I feel my mood worsening and worsening and I don’t have enough coping strategies.  I feel so lonely.  Making friends is hard work.  I don’t feel part of the group.  I feel forgettable and replaceable, and insufficient.  I don’t feel good enough.  My self-esteem is really low.  I had a good cry last night, got it all out, literally. I didn’t know I had that much snot..eww.   My insecurity issues are even more amplified since I am sick and have my period as well.  Ugh.  I am a bit fed up with training.  I keep telling myself to just let the process run its course.  It will be over soon.  If I dwell on the negative, nothing will get better.  Since going home is not an option I would ever contemplate, I have got to accept what is, and get on with it.

July 21, 2011

So the other day was definitely a low point for me.  Coming to Africa, I knew there were going to be days like that.  Now I have acknowledged my feelings and am moving on.  Oprah’s voice in my head telling me how to live my best life..haha.  And FYI, yesterday and today were much better, so no worries. 

On with it…

I remember hearing about the “where does milk come from” campaign to educate inner city, poor kids about where their food comes from before it gets too the supermarket.  I thought it was such a stupid initiative.  Kids have to know that milk comes from cows; it’s ridiculous to think otherwise.  I want to give kids the benefit of the doubt that they know this information about milk, information that seems so obvious to me.

I only bring this up because I made applesauce today, from scratch.  And yes, I did know that applesauce is made from apples, but it never crossed my mind how it is made or whether it was difficult to make.  I mean, why would I need to, it’s pretty cheap and available at most every store.  I think I thought that since I had never seen it made (except way back, my Grandpa made it) I assumed it was hard, maybe there was too many steps, or it never turns out as good as the stuff in the Mott’s jars. 

So today I peeled a few apples, cut the seeds out, threw them in a pot with some sugar and let them boil until I could smoosh them with my spoon… vwoolaahhhh….applesauce… so surprised it’s that easy!  I am trying to figure out why it took coming to Africa to figure this recipe out.  Now I KNOW where applesauce comes from/how it’s made, and I especially have a lot more respect for that milk campaign.

July 22, 2011

Ate my applesauce for lunch today!!  So good..tasted just like Motts!

I started my knitting business this week.  Well actually, not really a business at all, I just sold my first hat.  $25US/160E.I like knitting and creating something pretty out of what was nothing in the beginning.  I knew I would have a lot of time here to get some knitting done. So far, since I have been here, I have made 2 hats: the first one I kept for myself(the only thing I have ever kept for myself) and the second one was my first sale!! Whoop whoop!!

I have run into a problem though.  I only brought 2 balls of yarn with me to Africa, both gone now.  They have yarn here, but it’s not the kind I like(it’s like the Red Heart 4-ply stuff) and each ball is tiny (less than 25g).  I haven’t been able to check out the ‘big’ cities yet to see what they have there.  So if you want to put a smile on my face and let me know that you are thinking about me, you can send me some yarn!  My favorite is from Michaels: Loops and Threads, Charisma or I also like Lion Brand, Thick and Quick.  And I like any color that you think is pretty/you would wear that color as a hat.

If you are going through the trouble of sending yarn, could you also send chewing gum (eXtra, Stride, or Five: blue flavor… I don’t like green or cinnamon).  Oh and JIF peanut butter is always a good option! J

Mailing Tip:  Use Flat Rate, priority mail box from the post office and send it airmail.

Peace Corps Swaziland

Attn:  Kelly Tooley

PO Box 2797

Mbabane, Swaziland H100

Africa

As I go to post this blog, I am reminded of my coworker from the Gap who thought Swaziland was an amusement park.  We all had a good laugh that day!  But as you can see, this month has been a bit of a roller coaster.  It is hard for me to write about the bad things, but it happened, I’m human.  I have got some great things to look forward to!  Swear-in is only 17 days away, then I move to the site I will be staying in for the rest of my 2 years here!  Excited and scared!  It’s in Lubumbo region.. the HOT part of Swaziland!

Swazi Food 6/23/11

It is said that as a Peace Corps Trainee, your time is not your own.   As you may have seen from my other post about my daily schedule so far, they have our schedule pretty booked.  I have only been to town on one other occasion so far.  When we go to town we have the opportunity to go shopping and go to the internet café.  Last time I was only able to spend 15 minutes on the computer, a computer so ancient and slow, it took half of my time to load my facebook and as I was writing a status to my friends and family that I was alive, the internet kicked me off!!! Uugghhh…. So with only a few minutes I was able to e-mail a blog post that I had stored on a thumb drive the night before…

I have come to find out that the only things I am missing from home is access to the internet (mainly facebook..haha), 24/7 news coverage(esp English news), and chocolate(they don’t eat dessert here!!!)!!

So as for the food here…  Initially, I was surprised.. I came here with the expectation that it would be completely bland and tasteless, and I guess some of it is, especially their staple food, corn porridge.  But whenever I have had that, which is like every other day, there is always a gravy that moistens it up and adds nice flavor.

For breakfast, I was eating corn flakes most days.  However the last two day I switched it up!  The other night, I watched one of my Sisi’s bake scones from scratch with no recipe, no measuring cups, and in an oven with completely uneven temperature.  It is a wood burning stove with fire only on one side of the oven!!  I will have to post a picture, this thing is like something we would see in a museum at home…lol.  Anyways, they came out great and I had a couple with apricot jam for breakfast yesterday and then I made oatmeal today.

For lunchI either eat a peanut butter sandwich using the JIF I brought from home.  They have PB here.. kinda tastes like Peter Pan, but I prefer JIF… or homemade french-fries and a hard-boiled egg.  The fries are good, but way too much oil.

And for dinner there is some kind of meat either beef, pork, or chicken; and always the worst cut with the smallest amount of real meat possible.  The beef and pork is always on the bone with almost no actual meat.  I think they eat the bone marrow and then also chew on the bones.  Yesterday, I tried to chew the bones like my Make, but all I was thinking about was breakin my teeth and how long I had braces on.

I am up for trying anything.  The other day I ate chicken liver.. or at least I attempted… gross.. it tastes like a chunk of mud. I choked down half of it and couldn’t take it anymore.  I gave the rest to Babe(Dad).  I also watched Make(mom) wash the other chicken parts: intestines, feet, gizzards, and head.  I am scared for the day she pulls that stuff out of the freezer!!

Dinner is always served with a grain.. either rice or the corn porridge.. (think thick grits).  It is usually a huge heaping pile of starch too… so much different than home.  Every night we also get some vegetable in as well, usually spinach, fresh from the garden, or butternut squash.

I am not going hungry, so don’t worry.

It’s too cold to be Africa, life as a Trainee. 6/20/11

I left NY in the summer and arrived in Africa the next day and it was winter L.  I mean, it’s nothing like an upstate NY winter, but Afirca is supposed to be hot!  But don’t worry about me, Ihave enough clothes and blankets to keep me warm.  Also, because its winter, it gets dark here so early, around 5pm, which isn’t too bad since I am exhausted by 6pm and then force myself to stay up until 8p.

I have been living at my first host-family’s homestead for a little bit less than a week now.   I have been given a Swazi name by my family.  I am called Ficiwe “fee-see-way”(one they have been waiting for) Nhlabatsi ”en-schla-bot-see”.  Since, I have been here I have started to create a daily routine:

5:30a Wake up, heat up water, make my bed, bathe, dress, sweep room.

6:00a Go to Make’s kitchen for breakfast of cornflakes with mil made from powder (the first days the milk was hot since my water needs to be boiled before I drink it.. gross, hot milk… I bring my own milk now)… then I finish my siSwati homework since I went to bed at 8:00p the night before and couldn’t finish

7:00a Head to khumbi station if classes are back at the college otherwise class is held in the next homestead starting at 8:00a

Khumbi- Swazi’s main form of transportation when they can’t afford a car, which is almost everyone.  It is a 16 passenger van full to the max +1 or 2 extras.  Very tight fit.

Station- where two dirt roads diverge… not really even roads, just  two parallel dirt lines where the tires roll on the ground

8:00am-10:30a Training

Tea break!

11:00a-12:30 More boring training!

Lunch- left overs from last night or homemade french fries!

More Training

3:30p Back to homestead

Play soccer with little cousins on homestead, 4 and 5 years old

4:30p Start making dinner with Make

5:00p It’s Dark!! Glad we have electricity!

6:00p Eat dinner.. Bony meat boiled in water with some spices over rice or corn flour porridge (lipashli), and spinach.. then wash and dry dishes

8:00p Excuse myself, take another bath (2 baths a day is a must in this culture), and try to study or do homework, pass out instead.

I made it to Swaziland safely!!

I left Syracuse for Swaziland 10 whole days ago! Wow!! I cannot
believe it! The plane ride from JFK to Johannesburg, South Africa was
15 hours long. The flight was smooth and pretty uneventful, just
long. I came to Swaziland with 38 other Trainees (we don't become
official Volunteers until August) and I am pleased to tell you that
every single person I am with here is genuine and hard working. They
have all become great friends in a very short amount of time. Once
the plane landed, we all hopped on a bus for 10 more hours of travel,
which included a couple pee stops, crossing the border from SA to
Swaziland, and dinner at a hamburger restaurant. I don't know if this
is a Swazi thing or not, but this particular restaurant puts BBQ sauce
and French dressing(I think it was) on their hamburgers.. weird, no
ketchup or mustard in sight… how am I supposed to eat my chips(fries).
It was very clear when we crossed the border of SAfrica that we were
now in Swaziland. South Africa was mostly flat plains and very little
shrubbery. When we crossed the border into Swaziland, the first thing
we see is a big mountain and many more trees and plants. This country
is very beautiful!
The first couple of nights we stayed in the dorms of Ngwane Teacher's
College which is where much of our training sessions are held. It was
justlike beingin college again; they cooked us breakfast, lunch, and
dinner while we were in class all day. The food was different… a lot
of it good, and some of it not so good. A lot of beans, rice, and
corn porridge (looks like mashed potatoes and has no real taste… its
corn flour and water). The beans or meat that was served always had
a nice sauce to pour over the corn porridge or rice… very good!
The stars here are beautiful! We arrived to Ngwane at night and the
first thing I asked was for someone to show me the Southern Cross (the
southern hemisphere's North Star). I feel like I have looked at the
stars in NY from some pretty remote, dark places, but it cannot
compare to the stars I see now!
I just move into my homestay the other day. I will be here for the
next 2 months. My family lives on a the Babe's(father's) family's
homestead. I haven't figured out how many live here. There is about
5 houses, a ton of sheep, cows, chickens, and a rooster that wakes up
around 2:30a. The nuclear family I am with I aMake(mom), Babe(dad),
Bhuti(15yr old brother). My Make is great, super nice and helpful.
She speaks English! I will tell more about my homestead later, but I
got lucky! I have my own little house with electricity and the spigot
with running water is close by.
I am in very good spirits. I miss everyone a little bit, but not
really homesick yet.

Yay! Today is the day!  It is finally here!  Heading to Philly today for staging.  Getting all of those crazy vaccines tomorrow! And then headed to Swaziland Wednesday!
Packing sucks!  I am hoping that my bags aren't overweight...  I keep trying to take things out, but that never seems to help.  The weight just stays the same :( ... Hopefully won't have to leave anything at the airport!

Bags are packed!  Hopefully they don't weigh too much!

I am not expecting to have access to the internet for a couple weeks.  I will try to update this when I am able, so please be patient and check back periodically.

Thanks to everyone for all your support and well wishes!  I love you and will miss you!
<3 Kelly