yay i blogged!

So I haven’t really gotten into this blogging thing but blog envy has made me want to try. As most of you may know I have been placed in Tlhakgameng…which means exactly NOTHING to all of you.
So Tlhakgameng….it is at least on the map which is cool. Well I exaggerate…it is on some maps. We got to go meet our supervisors in a really sweet resort for 3 days before traveling to site for another 5. Tlhakgameng is slightly hilly and rugged which really excited me since I’ve been living in a flat wasteland that is marapyane. I will have a new host family however I won’t be living in the house with them. I get my own little room with a tin roof and clay walls which I have come to call the oven for obvious reasons. I bought a fan…I think that it is more of a mental cure than anything else though. My host family has been a bit stand offish which I was a bit put off by at first but then I found out my supervisor (principal of one of my schools) was telling people that I was leaving for a week and a half to decide if I wanted to stay. So that was not particularly helpful in sparking my family’s desire to play get to know the white girl.
I ran almost every day I was at site at various times and found out, much to my surprise, that noon in the desert is NOT a good time to run even when you bring a water bottle. I also discovered that I will probably have calves of steal by the end of my time here from running in sand. While running I discovered a few guarantees that come with the activitiy 1: little barefooted African children will accompany for part of the run. 2. Women (sometimes carrying groceries) will often run with me for part of the run 3. Creepy old men will hit on me in afrikanns 4. I will inhale a lot of dust. That’s about it though. My supervisors daughter is attempting to plan a marathon for December 30th which is historically a day reserved for heavy drinking so they want to draw people away from that. She has asked me to help recruit and train interested people as well as organize some fundraising events maybe write a couple of pathetic letters to wealthy companies…the usual! The two official schools I will be working at are both primary and extremely overcrowded. Shupu is the name of the one that’s right next to where I live and the average class size is about 47. They were shocked when I told them the US has laws against that. So i have no doubt I will be teaching some. I also went to the high school near by and the principal was interesting and apparently believes adamantly in corporal punishment. He said something about the proper way to flog a student and I blatantly flinched, so he then told me he was joking, but I know better.
Other than that I have shopping day to look forward to which is when they take all of the trainees to Pretoria drop them in a mall and say “GO” and you get as much stuff as you can possibly afford and carry to your little house for 2 years. It’s gonna be great.
Swearing in is the 17th in mafikeng in which I officially become a volunteer and leave for the site. Communication will probably be much more limited after that but please please keep in touch. I want to know the word on the street even if you don’t think its as cool as living in an oven and pooping in a cement hole. Ok hope everyone’s well!