Sometimes, it's hard to describe this place

One of the best parts of this experience has been learning some pretty simple conversational Xhosa, enough to say "Hello, How are you... I'm well... Thank You" and I pick up a few other phrases here and there. Mike and I always try to speak it whenever we can. By now, arriving to work in the morning, it's pretty standard that I start the day greeting everyone in Xhosa.

But absolutely, the best looks that we get are the ones in the markets or the restaurants in Bizana Town, when we get to the cashier or talk to a waitress... and greet them in Xhosa. It's often a stunned smile, but an appreciation as well, that we are learning their language and culture, trying to fit in as best as we can. It seems like it's always the same scenario... people are always pleased (and maybe a bit impressed) that we try to converse a little bit with them in Xhosa, then they take it to the next level and keep speaking, and we'll have a blank stare on our faces... and tell them "I don't know THAT much Xhosa," followed by quick conversation in English, then an "Enkosi!" (Thank You!) as we walk away.

We obviously stand out in this community when we are out and about, so I think people have started to recognize us coming from the Municipality building as when we walk down the street. And often people stop us and want to chat or find out where we are from, what we are doing here. It's funny how quickly you become immune to your surroundings and just become a part of it. It's probably not always the safest walk, because a lot of people do stare us down. And with always a lot of commotion in the streets, people walking aimlessly or drunk, cars all over the place, the hawkers trying to sell things from their stands, cattle walking through the streets or stray dogs, music blaring from store fronts or the random person with a microphone and amp with a crowd surrounding speaking on whatever he or she feels like, etc. You just always have to look out for yourself. But it doesn't even phase me anymore. This is the community where I work and this is where I've adjusted to being. And yes, I have pictures and will probably take a video on my camera, walking down the street, before I leave. But sometimes I'll look at my teammates and we just shake our heads and laugh and say, "You really just can't describe this place. You just have to see it."

Impressionable students

I'm exhausted today. Not sure if it's just the middle of the week or the heat getting to me, but I'm ending this day pretty drained. I'm also starting to feel a bit sick, scratchy throat, my allergies are reacting to something in the summer air. I've had a productive day with the department, however, so I have no complaints. We got through a few meetings successfully and even finally completed, printed, distributed, and posted a contact list for everyone in the department.

One of the pleasures of this opportunity for me is that in addition to the department manager and officers, there are 3 students who are currently here doing their equivalent to a field study or a practicuum. They are all students in university in East London, and two of them are born and raised here in Bizana, so they know the community well. One is a student majoring in marketing, another in tourism, and the third in small business/enterprise development... each no older than 20.

I'm really enjoying working with them and helping them find ways to contribute to the department, putting their knowledge from university into practice. Plus they've all grown comfortable with me and now approach me to ask me questions, ask for my help. We're always kidding around, and for each of the stories I tell them about my life in the States, they usually teach me a new Xhosa word or two - and laugh at me hysterically when I try to pronounce back what they teach me.

I bet they think I am older than I really am, but they show me a level of respect which I appreciate. I find that in some ways, they are the 3 I can make the most personal impact on. They want to improve their computer skills, they want to improve their speaking and presentation skills. One of them has an interview upcoming for a job that he'll take on when he is done here, do part time while back at school. He excitedly came to me Tuesday morning to tell me, and then he asked me if I could help him prepare... telling he'd never done an interview before, asking what they were going to ask him. So we walked through some questions, talked about his answers, and over the last two days I've seen him preparing and doing some internet research on the organization he is interviewing with. I like to see that initiative - let's hope he gets the position!

My weekend in Kruger

Monday… another scorching hot day here in Bizana. Trying to stay cool to start the week off. Time is winding down for the Bizana 4, Mike and Cathy are done on Feb 28, and this is actually their last full week at the Municipality. Soon it will soon be down to the Bizana 2 (Heather and me).

Amazing and unforgettable weekend for me. Mini vacation of sorts as we took an extra day. First we flew into Johannesburg and then drove out to Kruger through Blyde River Canyon, the 3rd largest canyon in the world behind the Grand Canyon and Fish River Canyon in Namibia. It was good to see since it was on the way of our journey, and at points spectacular, but nothing so amazing that it would have warranted its own trip there.

The landscape on the drive out to Blyde and Kruger has so many parts that reminded me of driving at home in the States. Unlike the Eastern Cape (where I work) that is just so hilly and green for miles… the first few hours out of Jo-burg was pretty flat, much like driving from Chicago to St. Louis. There were also some parts that reminded me of driving through the middle portion of California by San Luis Obispo or in the Santa Barbara region… and there was also the portion of the drive the looked much like my driving through southern Oregon on route to Crater Lake and then out to the Oregon Coast.

Through Blyde River, we headed up to Kruger National Park, which is in the northeast section of the country. A colleague once told me that all of Kruger is about the size of the entire state of Massachusetts, and after going there, I’d believe it. This was my first safari/game viewing experience since coming to Africa, and it was incredible. For me, it was jaw dropping – within the first 20 minutes of driving into the park, we had packs of impala running along side the car, saw a herd elephants crossing the road, were less than 50 yards from giraffes snacking on the trees and popping out onto the road.

A few zebra out for a morning walk

One of the thousands of packs of impala you see in the Park

We saw so many wild animals roaming the plains and in the brush, hanging from trees. The safari “Big Five” are listed as the elephant, rhino, lion, water buffalo, and leopard. Successfully, we saw all but the leopard. And so much more… some animals I didn’t even know of. Best of all, going on some of the game drives with the guides, when you see an animal, you get an earful about its mating habits, life span, patterns and traits, how to pick out the animal by its looks, etc. So it’s definitely a learning experience.

There are so many exquisite birds in Kruger too – large and small, just vivid colors. What I thought was most interesting was that when you sit and watch some of the bigger animals, like the water buffalo or the giraffe, you see birds sitting on the animals backs, apparently to eat off bugs and parasites.

By quick recount, these are some of the animals that we saw that I can remember off the top of my head: giraffe, elephant, black rhino, white rhino, hippo, impala (there are so many impala in the park… apparently 150,000), kudu (pictured right), water buffalo, zebra, lion, eagle, condor, chacma baboon, crocodile, leather-backed turtle, spotted hyena, klipslinger, water buck, springbok, owl, vervet monkey, bats, all sorts of birds that I don’t even know.

After the enjoyable and relaxing weekend , it was back to the grind today… and a lot to get done this week. Having been at the Growth and Development Summit last week, Department Manager and I were out of the office for most of it. I am catching up and planning out what opportunities we can accomplish with the department for the week. I called a meeting of everyone this morning – basically an open forum to hear what everyone had been working on, status of their projects, how I could help them – and nobody spoke up! It can get frustrating that the people in my department are just not used to speaking aloud in a meeting forum and confidently expressing themselves. So there’s just silence and they just sit there and look away hoping not to get address – so it’s sometimes easier to meet with each one on one, I guess. They were excited about more MS Excel training on Wednesday though…