G9 cont

24 January 2011
Monday
1333

Ekhaya wami


I’m taking a wee break from my Mini-VAST proposal. I’m also waiting for my counterpart to come over so we can discuss a few of the details for our event that need to be added to my application for funds. (It’s a soccer tourney & we’ll have Red Cross & the police from Tiny Town come down & do a drama & talk about gender violence & rape.)

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about the things that I brought over that have proved mighty useful. So here is a continuation of the packing saga for G9’s benefit.

Cooking stuff. You’ll be doing that, obviously, & even if you’re not a chef there are a few things that are either hard to find here or just too expensive for what they actually are, & it will behoove you to bring it along. A good chopping knife, a can opener & a potato/carrot peeler were of great value to me. People here open cans w/ knives, & they are of poor quality. The trick is to not pack them away in the bag that they have you immediately store away for the first two months. Defeats the purpose of bringing them, you know. Some PCV friends learned that the hard way.

Also, it’s a good idea to pack your two checked bags w/ that in mind from the get-go. I was unlucky enough to have both my bags lost in transit for a week, & when I finally got them, I had one day to figure out what I wanted for the next two months & then hand a bag over again. After wearing pretty much the same thing for an entire week, I had a hell of a time figuring out what I really needed for a Swazi winter.

My solar flashlight has been wonderful. My brothers really like it, & I don’t have to worry about them wasting the battery, cause it takes about two seconds for this insane sun to recharge it.

A quality solar shower is a nice treat. These days, I mostly use a 1.5-liter pitcher & a washcloth while I stand in a bucket, but at first I used that shower every day at training. I would put a bit of hot water on in the electric kettle & mix it in the bag w/ cooler water. (My family had a lot of animals on the property & nowhere for me to set it out that the goats wouldn’t attack it.) Now that I live on the surface of the sun, I splurge on ultra-hot supernova kind of days & fill my 5-gal bag about 1/3 full of tepid water & open the valve & try not to have a heart attack as I cool down. Once day I came back from the community garden & hoped in the bucket to de-sweat for a while. As I poured the water over my head, I actually thought I was going to die: the water felt so cold that my heart flipped around & I had to gasp for breath. I had no idea I was that overheated, & I almost fell out on my ass from the shock of it. So, uh, beware of that.

I packed three months’ worth of Irish Breakfast tea, cause I love it. & you would think that in a country that was a former British protectorate that they’d have decent tea… but you’d be wrong. & though sometimes you might get lucky in town, you’re sure as hell ain’t going to town during training. & this goes for coffee drinkers, too. The coffee that is prevalent here is called Recoffee, & coffee is not the first ingredient on the list. I think chicory is. Whatever it is, is gross. So even if you think you’re above drinking Folgers Crystals, you might just want to bring them anyway, cause it will taste like liquid gold in comparison. Also, plan to have these things (or actual coffee beans, grounds, etc) sent to you on a regular basis.

I think that just about covers it for things that need to be brought w/ you. I’ve got a ton of things that I didn’t need that I brought anyway. If there is something that you think you can go three months w/out, then don’t bring it. You can buy it here. Really. Though people might give you crap for it, I think it would be a smarter idea to save that money you would have spent on something before coming here & just getting it in-country (w/ that money. They amount they give you for setting in won’t be enough for things like that). As long as managing it on a bus wouldn’t be too tricky, then I’d highly recommend that.

There are so many things that I’m just going to leave here. My family will make out like bandits when I take off, as the majority of it will go to them. I know that I seriously did over pack on the clothes-front, & both my bags were even under-weight. A few people in our group were at the check-in counter in Atlanta throwing things out or stashing them in other PCVs bags. It is not worth it to pay the overweight fee, & honestly, you won’t need it anyway. I brought four pairs of shoes, & only wore my Addidas flip-flops for six months anyway. I finally had to order a pair of Chacos & had them mailed here, but that’s a rare exception. Also, don’t weigh yourself down w/ vitamins. They get heavy fast.

I did bring a backpackers’ guitar, & if you’re into music & have access to something like that, then do bring it. You are allowed two carry-ons, & I held on to that bad boy all the way from Washington state to Swaziland. I had that & a backpack w/ a few necessities like toiletries, my electronics, a change of clothes, earplugs & a sleeping mask. & you know what? I survived out of that bag for a week & everything worked out. What I should have put in that bag was a towel, but Peace Corps sprung for an extra large washcloth, so I guess that was nice.

& my last tip is this: if you have a mobile phone that will work abroad & has been unlocked, then bring it. Peace Corps give you 500 Emalangeni for a phone, but if you have one of your own, then you can just pocket that or spend it on airtime so you can finally talk to your family. & believe me, calling your folks from Swaziland costs a pretty penny. For a three-minute convo in which I told my father what my number was & to call me back immediately, it cost E50.

Right. I’ll get back to work now.