Peace Corps has unfortunately been thrust into the news here in South Africa thanks to the abhorrent acts of a former volunteer. Last week a volunteer who began his service one year before us (and resigned early last May for reasons now obvious) was arrested at his home in Connecticutt for child molestation. While serving at an AIDS center for young children he molested at least five girls under the age of six, one of them over the course of five months. Here's a link to a cnn.com article, and if you google his name you'll find countless more news stories: http://articles.cnn.com/2011-08-05/justice/peace.corps.sexual.abuse_1_peace-corps-volunteer-sexual-abuse-sexual-conduct?_s=PM:CRIME
In response to this mess, Peace Corps has called for an all-volunteer meeting this Saturday in Pretoria. These meetings NEVER happen, so it's going to be interested to see what happens with some 150 volunteers.
Sara is currently in Pretoria this week because she is on the Volunteer Support Network and they had training this week. Essentially, Sara is going to be a mentor to a group of new volunteers who are currently training near Pretoria. So the meeting doesn't inconvenience her in any significant way. I (Matt) on the other hand am disappointed. I had grand plans for Dorkfest 2011 (Star Wars and Lord of the Rings marathons) but, alas, they must remain on hold. . . .
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Back in SA
Our trip to Los Angeles was fabulous. It was warm and sunny, and we had such a great time with our family and friends. Courtney and Nathan had a beautiful (and fun!) wedding, and we were so happy to be there for it. Needless to say, it was pretty difficult to get on the plane to come back here. Somehow, we managed to force ourselves to leave paradise. After 30+ hours of travel, we were in East London. Unfortunately, our bags were not.
Our plane was about an hour late into Joberg, so there was wasn't a lot of time once we cleared South African customs and rechecked our bags before our next flight left. While we weren't completely surprised that our bags didn't make it, we were absolutely exhausted and not up to dealing with the issue. We were told in East London that our bags would arrive on the 4:30 flight from Joberg that afternoon. Since we wouldn't be able to make it back to site before dark with our bags, we decided to stay at a backpackers in East London. We were called around 5:00 and told that Matt's bag had arrived on the flight, but Sara's had not. At that point, the guy we had been working with told us that he was going to call Joberg about Sara's bag. Seriously? He was just now going to call Joberg and let them know that bags were missing? I'm pretty sure that bags are scanned now once they enter and leave an airport, so you'd think it would be fairly easily to locate lost luggage. This isn't 1991. Anyway, Sara's bag eventually arrived on the 8:30 flight. We were able to have cheeseburgers (2 for 1) at the restaurant next to the backpackers, so the lost bags were ultimately worth the hassle. Food makes everything better.
Now we've been back at our site for a week, and already we are looking forward to our next trip!
On a sidenote, we had a pretty humorous interaction last weekend. Someone asked us where in America we were from. When we replied Los Angeles, the young woman got excited and said “LA! The Big Apple!” And no we didn't correct her because it was too good.
Our plane was about an hour late into Joberg, so there was wasn't a lot of time once we cleared South African customs and rechecked our bags before our next flight left. While we weren't completely surprised that our bags didn't make it, we were absolutely exhausted and not up to dealing with the issue. We were told in East London that our bags would arrive on the 4:30 flight from Joberg that afternoon. Since we wouldn't be able to make it back to site before dark with our bags, we decided to stay at a backpackers in East London. We were called around 5:00 and told that Matt's bag had arrived on the flight, but Sara's had not. At that point, the guy we had been working with told us that he was going to call Joberg about Sara's bag. Seriously? He was just now going to call Joberg and let them know that bags were missing? I'm pretty sure that bags are scanned now once they enter and leave an airport, so you'd think it would be fairly easily to locate lost luggage. This isn't 1991. Anyway, Sara's bag eventually arrived on the 8:30 flight. We were able to have cheeseburgers (2 for 1) at the restaurant next to the backpackers, so the lost bags were ultimately worth the hassle. Food makes everything better.
Now we've been back at our site for a week, and already we are looking forward to our next trip!
On a sidenote, we had a pretty humorous interaction last weekend. Someone asked us where in America we were from. When we replied Los Angeles, the young woman got excited and said “LA! The Big Apple!” And no we didn't correct her because it was too good.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
The Blog is Back (hopefully)
We have a laptop!!! Okay, we probably shouldn't be this incredibly excited about a laptop, but we totally are. It's our computer, tv, radio and entertainment system galore, so whatever. We hope to blog a few times a week now, but we'll see what actually happens.
Anyway, we are leaving Los Angeles today (boo!) after a fabulous week. It's been beautiful and sunny, and we've had so much fun. A big congratulations to Courtney and Nathan who were married yesterday! It was a wonderful day, and we are so happy that we were able to be here for it.
Anyway, we are leaving Los Angeles today (boo!) after a fabulous week. It's been beautiful and sunny, and we've had so much fun. A big congratulations to Courtney and Nathan who were married yesterday! It was a wonderful day, and we are so happy that we were able to be here for it.
Friday, July 8, 2011
The countdown to having a laptop again is on!
Sorry, our posting has been terrible lately. We spent the last week (a little more) in Pretoria for our in-service training. Although the overnight bus ride was brutal, it was fabulous to see the rest of our training class again. We were stuck in sessions most of the day, but we were able to hang out during the evenings (sorry for partying, St. George Hotel). We're now back in the Eastern Cape, but only for about a week. We leave next weekend for AMERICA! Yep, we are coming to LA for about a week for Matt's sister's wedding (congrats to Courtney and Nathan!). We didn't anticipate making a trip back to the States so early, but we're really excited to see everyone (and LA will be WARM!).
And we are buying a laptop when we're there. Thank god. We promise to improve the blogging once we return.
Otherwise, things are pretty good. Our organization has not had a lot for us to do, which has definitely been frustrating at times. However, now that our three months of community integration/lockdown is over, we have the freedom to find other things to do in the community. We might help this group start a softball program for kids. We're going to visit some schools (Sara might do some teaching if they need her). There is a legal advisory center that is interested in our help (Matt is more interested in this one than Sara). Anyway, things are looking up.
And we are buying a laptop when we're there. Thank god. We promise to improve the blogging once we return.
Otherwise, things are pretty good. Our organization has not had a lot for us to do, which has definitely been frustrating at times. However, now that our three months of community integration/lockdown is over, we have the freedom to find other things to do in the community. We might help this group start a softball program for kids. We're going to visit some schools (Sara might do some teaching if they need her). There is a legal advisory center that is interested in our help (Matt is more interested in this one than Sara). Anyway, things are looking up.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Still hanging in there
We've sort of gotten used to not having a laptop, but life definitely gets boring at times. On a positive note, we both have read 20 books since coming to South Africa!
We leave for Pretoria for our in-service training next weekend. This marks the end of our lockdown/community integration period and means that we'll be able to see our training class for the first time in 3 months! The 13 hour bus ride isn't going to be too fun, but we're definitely looking forward to spending a week with our buddies.
We leave for Pretoria for our in-service training next weekend. This marks the end of our lockdown/community integration period and means that we'll be able to see our training class for the first time in 3 months! The 13 hour bus ride isn't going to be too fun, but we're definitely looking forward to spending a week with our buddies.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Bye, bye, laptop
So the laptop cannot be fixed. Slammed. Sorry, but the blog posts will be pretty scarce until we get a new one. It's been raining A TON, so we basically sit around playing cards, reading and staring at the walls. Seriously.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
SLAMMED!
It's been a while since we posted and for good reason. This past weekend we spent in East London with another volunteer. We had a lot of fun, saw the new X-Men movie, ate some good food, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. So posting to this blog was far from our mind as we soaked in the sunshine of East London.
However, this Monday we were dealt a vicious blow when our laptop stopped working. The last two nights have been a little stale to say the least. Last night we went to bed before 9:00. We depended upon that laptop for entertainment (movies, music, etc.) and work. For Peace Corps we need to submit a report next week based upon our community "integration." We interviewed about a dozen community members, and many of our notes were on our computer. More importantly, we're not crazy about handwriting (what is THAT?) our entire reports. So basically, we've been pretty slammed.
Currently, I (Matt) am in King William's Town hoping to get our computer fixed. I'm waiting for a call back from the technician to see if he can fix it, or if it's even cost-effective. So everyone keep your fingers crossed that our livelihood will be saved! Otherwise, don't expect a fresh blog post for a while.
However, this Monday we were dealt a vicious blow when our laptop stopped working. The last two nights have been a little stale to say the least. Last night we went to bed before 9:00. We depended upon that laptop for entertainment (movies, music, etc.) and work. For Peace Corps we need to submit a report next week based upon our community "integration." We interviewed about a dozen community members, and many of our notes were on our computer. More importantly, we're not crazy about handwriting (what is THAT?) our entire reports. So basically, we've been pretty slammed.
Currently, I (Matt) am in King William's Town hoping to get our computer fixed. I'm waiting for a call back from the technician to see if he can fix it, or if it's even cost-effective. So everyone keep your fingers crossed that our livelihood will be saved! Otherwise, don't expect a fresh blog post for a while.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)