Changing It Up!

Jess writes:

For our loyal Facebook followers, here’s the skinny to which you are already aware: Adam and I will be changing sites!!! Yikes!!

For various reasons (which I cannot innumerate here), but sparked largely by an unaccepted housing agreement, Adam and I will be undergoing the much-dreaded “Peace Corps Site Change”. Based on questions we received thus far and other tidbits of information that we’ve gleaned from our recent trip to the Peace Corps office, here’s what we do and don’t know:

• “Site Change” involves moving host sites (read as: “leaving Huntington”), changing host organizations (read as: “leaving Swa Vana”), and reintegrating into a new host country location (read as: “doing all that nitty-gritty community integration stuff over again”). Ugh.
• We have NO details about exactly when all of this will take place: site change can often take several weeks and with World Cup in full swing, we should expect to be hanging out for a while (we are still at our home in Huntington until the site change is complete)
• We have NO details about exactly where we will be stationed next (although Adam and I are REALLY hoping for a Zulu, Siswati, or Tsonga speaking area so that we don’t have to move onto South African language number four of our learning)
• We have only a few details about our next housing situation. Based largely on the issues we had in Huntington (and please know that our roommate Leonard was not one of them – we will miss him!!), Peace Corps is willing to ensure some things at our next site, they are: we will not have a roommate or have to share our physical living location with a host family (although there may be a host family on the same compound), we will work with Peace Corps to finalize all housing-related concerns (i.e., electricity payments, organization guests, etc.) with Peace Corps’ help upon move-in, and finally (and this one is a hope, more so than a guarantee), we will likely have a better water situation than the one in Huntington…. Simply put, if its any worse, Peace Corps probably wouldn’t be able to place us there. Yay for more water!!!
• We have only one detail about our next working situation, that is: Adam and I will likely work separately, as this helps couples to better integrate into the community and gain independent acceptance. Other than that, we do not know if we will still be working with OVCs or will instead be moved more to a Home-Based Care sector, or otherwise. It’s up in the air!

Needless to say, Adam and I are more than a little frustrated that Site Change will have to take place – we were really beginning to feel “at home” in the community, at work, with Leonard and his friends, etc. Nevertheless, many of these issues have been brewing since our first move-in and our situation here was far from the “norm” for most Peace Corps volunteers, so perhaps Site Change was always in the cards for us. Either way, after having some time to digest the news, Adam and I are very optimistic about what Site Change will mean for us: new home, new work, new friends, new opportunities. And to put it in the simplest of PCV terms: Adam and I want to do good work where we are wanted… and if that means moving to a new site to accomplish that, then we are happy to do so! So it might not be such a surprise to learn that we are already very excited about our next site – about starting off our community integration on a better foot, about getting our own hours of the day at our own organizations, about making a new home “our home” from the start…. We are excited to start at a new site with all those things that we didn’t get to start with in Huntington!!

On a different note, Site Change has brought about some other interesting “changes” in our recent weeks. We took a trip to Pretoria to meet with our Peace Corps staff and, during that trip, had some very interesting encounters…

First, we stayed at a great little guesthouse across the street from the PC office, called Chinakie Guesthouse. The guesthouse partners and staff were amazingly welcoming – even drove us around after dark to avoid us meandering in the “seedy” Sunnyside district. The rooms had showers, flush toilets, HD flat-screen TVs, tea & coffee, and the most comfortable beds we’ve slept on in four months – we couldn’t believe our little rural, volunteer eyes!!!! Each room also had aircon (whoa!!), but more importantly, they had much-needed heating units (it was FREEZING in Pretoria! Adam and I are now certain that “acclimatization” is not all it’s chalked up to be!!!) There was also a perfect outdoor dining area where you could watch the World Cup games with a beer and the company of fellow guests. Here, we met people from Cameroon, Australia, Ghana, Congo, and of course, South Africa, and had great conversations about everything 2010-World-Cup-related (in English, French, and some local dialects as well!!)

We also found our way to Hatfield Square – one of the best “unofficial” viewing areas for 2010 World Cup!! The place was decked out in Bafana Bafana gear, fans from every corner of the world, and on every corner, a news crew from every country of the world!! There was every type of food imaginable – needless to say, this was the BEST part of Hatfield Square – and we indulged in a glorious plate of Chinese food one night, and Sushi the next!! Ahhhh! Aside from food, there was also of course, plenty of drinks, live music, vuvuzella-ing and otherwise football fun to be had before, during, and after each of the games!! There was no way to stand in Hatfield Square and not “feel it”!! What a great experience!!!

Aside from all the frivolity (and of course the Site Change), we did have some other things to take care of in Pretoria – namely, I had to take a dreaded trip to the dentist. Much to my surprise, and in the spirit of changing things up a bit, it was actually Adam that became the medical center of attention this week. A very long story, in a very shortened version, goes as follows:

After the match on Monday night, Adam and I bundled up in bed to get warm (remember, it was REALLY cold in Pretoria!!). Sometime in the middle of the night, I awoke to a loud thud and Adam unconscious on the bathroom floor…. HOLY *&@#%*!!! About seven hours later (okay, that might be a slight exaggeration caused by the adrenaline), Adam was regaining consciousness and an ambulance arrived, with our Peace Corps Medical Officer not far behind, to bring Adam (and me, of course) to the hospital. At this point, with Adam reasonably alert again, we were able to piece together what probably happened: The cold temperatures, coupled with a few beers and our anti-malarial medication, caused a severe drop in blood pressure that triggered an extended black-out (thus, the “seven hours” that it felt like to me was due largely to the amount of time it took for his blood pressure to rise again in the cold room.) WHEW!!!!! After a short visit at the hospital, Adam’s vitals were back to normal and the only lingering problem were some severely bruised ribs from the fall. Luckily, the doctors were able to get him some pretty heavy pain killers (I should have asked for some pretty heavy sedatives at this point….!) and soon we were on our way back to the guesthouse with our PCMO. A trip to our PC medical office the next day and a refill on the pain killers got Adam back on his feet and feeling much better.

And I thought a trip to the dentist was bad…. Eish.

So, after much “excitement” and an extra day in Pretoria, Adam and I were finally headed home on Wednesday. Unfortunately, we managed to select the slowest and most inefficient coombies headed back to Hazyview that day and were terribly delayed most of the trip. This led to the final, interesting, aspect of our week – getting stuck in Hazyview after the last coombies home!! It was dark (and remember, it’s getting COLD here!!) and Adam and I quickly realized that we had no way to get back to our house…. GRRR! Lonely Planet to the rescue and within a half hour we had booked a couple dorm beds at a nearby backpacker. A super nice Dutch family saw our stranded faces and gave us a lift to the backpacker – the whole Dutch family was very enthused about us… these crazy, stranded American volunteers – ha! The backpacker, called Gecko BushPackers, was a great model of a hostel: pool table out back, decorated bar with overstuffed couches and bean bags, home-made food to order, international t-shirts hanging from the ceilings, graffiti-ed greetings over all the walls in every known language, and a raspy Afrikanner owner who got us checked in. We settled in to watch the South Africa v. Uruguay game (how upsetting!!) and then bundled up for our sleep in the open-air, dormitory bunk beds. All in all (aside from a chilly sleep), it was a great night!

Thursday morning brought enough strength (and daylight hours) for us to get home!! We decided to hike our way back to Hazyview, enjoying great views from the vistas and catching rides with friendly South Africans whenever possible. We made a pitstop at the Belgian bakery for breakfast (YUM!!), made a short trip to the Pick n’ Pay for groceries, stopped over in Mkhuhlu for mail and then finally, FINALLY, we were home and in bed for some much-needed sleep!!!

W H A T A W E E K ! ! ! But a rather great one, nevertheless!!

Okay, I think that just about recaps the whole smorgasbord of happenings – hope you enjoyed!! Keep in touch and, as always, we’ll keep you posted!!! Salani kahle!