I arrived back in South Africa safe but not so sound Monday morning. After nearly three full days of planes, layovers, buses, and taxis it is hard to describe the feeling of excitement and relief I had to see my bed and to use the entire day to sleep before working Tuesday. While I had been excited to return to the States for Christmas and knew it would be hard to return, it was even more difficult than I had expected to leave the comfort of home. Part of it is because I miss the people and it was so great to see and catch up with many friends and family over Christmas. Another part is that things are just easier at home. I have a car to get around, my meals were cooked for me, there was TV and fast Internet, I didn’t get stared at everywhere I went, and I didn’t have to worry about speaking slowly or using simple English (although sometimes I felt like I had trouble trying to speak English myself, sometimes switching the order of words in sentences and things…maybe my imagination, maybe because I didn’t have to speak slowly, or maybe because I am losing it, but in any case I hope that doesn’t continue lol). Another part of it was that I was not leaving home on a new adventure with the usual adrenaline filled questions and excitement. Nope, I was returning to a familiar place, and while it has provided a great experience that I don’t regret, it is not that exciting. Finally the last part of it is that I have decided that this is not the organization I want to pursue a long term career in, and have all but decided that I will not extend my internship, so I had a really pessimistic outlook that the last two months here are just to fulfill an obligation and would be better spent looking for next steps. I was really angry at myself for having this outlook, but that is how I felt. But now, as I am slowly adjusting back to life here, I am excited to see what the next two months have in store and am determined to enjoy my last two months in South Africa (although I am really looking forward to returning home again…57 more days).
Many things have changed since I left two short weeks ago. The grass covered rolling hills have lost their brown tint and have become green as the rainy season is coming to an end. There is still a distinct holiday hangover going on. Many people still take the first few weeks of January off (including my boss) and most of my neighbors have yet to return. While many houses are empty some are still full, or overfull, of holiday guests. A shed behind my room that I had previously not noticed, and I am still not convinced was there before I left even though being told otherwise, is full of children and the adjacent yard which was full of cows is now empty and overgrown with grass (more on that later). Lastly, I have noticed that many more homes have small farms than I had previously realized as they now have small crops of cabbage and other vegetable sprouting. This is promising considering people had expressed to me their worry that the rains had come late and would negatively affect their farming efforts.
So it was hard enough trying to adjust back to rural life in South Africa but I was startled coming to town my first day back at work on Tuesday to see a sea of people covering the entire block on Tsomo. I had never seen Tsomo so crowded. I didn’t know what to make of it but I think it was mostly because it was the beginning of the month, and the beginning of the month after a holiday, so people from all over had come to collect their government grants, paychecks, and money transfers. Lines at all the stores stretched around the entire block nearly the entire day. It being my first day back, and still being exhausted and jetlagged, the stares from every person as I went and did my errands and grocery shopping in town seemed particularly unsettling. I was grateful when I finally ran into the familiar face of a friend and he accompanied me on the grocery trip. When I am not walking alone I seem to get less stares, or maybe I notice less, but either way it is more settling to have someone with me and it was good to see and catch up with my friend (and he informed me that soccer is starting again next week so I’m excited for that).
Lastly on a completely unrelated but more humorous note something else has changed in that yard behind my house that used to be home to the cows. In the back corner of the yard is that homes outhouse. Now Monday night I was cooking my dinner of sausage, rice, and vegetables on my hotplate and looking out my kitchen window overlooking the previously mentioned field into the distance at the mountains behind my room as the sun was setting. As I turned my attention from the mountain back to my frying pan something caught the corner of my eye and I made direct eye contact with a man taking a sh*t in the outhouse. Now before I had left for Christmas I had noticed that the door, which faces my windows, was hanging off its hinges, but it was still there. The door is now nowhere to be found. Now I wouldn’t mention this semi-embarrassing occurrence if it was a one time thing, but it has now happened three out of the four days I have been back. Apparently my cooking schedule coincides with his sh*tting schedule, so I just hope he invests in a door soon.
Until next time….Salani Kakhule.
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Life's A Trip 