Random

I am currently killing some time at an internet cafe in town, thought I'd do a little blog post for ya! This morning I had to help my pricipal in town getting internet hooked up to her laptop... which we succesfully did but I'm still confused as to why she needs it. The Department of Ed. has been urging schools to get email, so instantly she just NEEDED an email address (though I doubt shell ever use it). So that was what this week was spent on... good times! School officialy has email. Anyways here's some random thoughts for the day...

Village motto?

So in South Africa, because there are 11 official languages, many people will communicate in their second language, which is most often English. Many people are really fluent in it, but because the education system pretty much sucks at teaching it the english used is often quite incorrect and misused... but it seems to work just fine here as the majority of people don't speak English as their first language. Well, I have gotten over this for the most part (even though simple mistakes like the misuse of he/she as well as horrible butcherings of common phrases still bother me), but there is still one thing that just makes me laugh everyday. Apparently we have a village "motto", posted on a huge billboard at the dirt road intersection to get to my village. It is as follows:

"Together we can forward ever, backward never."

This definitely threw me for a loop the firs time I saw it. I mean I see what they are saying, like always move forward and never backward but as you can see the English used is horribly incorrect. I mostly just laughed at this and never said anything because they always think I'm wrong and say "No this is just South African english". Haha. And anyways, the billboard recently blew down in a big storm. BUT now my school wants to paint an emblem and the motto on the big wall of our school. I just don't know if I can go without saying something..... at a school at least you want the language to be correct right?! But I'm sure they'll just argue with me and then ask me to create a new village motto, which I don't really think I'm in a place to do. Hmmmm do I let it slide? Thoughts?

Tortillas

That's right... this week I successfully made a batch of flour tortillas... and they are delicious!!! I've had one everyday since, usually with eggs and veggies since I don't really have many fixings for mexican food. They have made me so so happy though.... my quest for more mexican meals is on!!

Plans

This last week has been a scramble to get things finished up for the end of the term because I am leaving on Monday and may be gone for close to a month!! I have been in full test-giving and final-grading mode. Next week is Life Skills Training (LST), an HIV/AIDS training that is funded by PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief).. which means we get to bring a community counterpart and spend 5 days at a fancy hotel getting an awesome training. I'm really exciting, and so is my counterpart which is awesome. We're thinking of doing some sort of big community testing drive event, which has never happened in our village so it should be exciting.

After LST we go on to the Longtom Marathon!!!!! Thanks so much to all who have donated... and for those of you who haven't there's still time!

Here's how to donate again:

Method 1: Online (preferred)
Go to the KLM Foundation website.
Click on the Donate photo in the upper left corner.
This opens up a secure https connection for people to donate.
Make sure you put 'Kristin Mayer' in the Longtom Marathon field so they know the donation was made in my name.

Method 2: Check
Make out a check to: Kgwale Le Mollo (US)
Put a post-it note saying the donation is in my name with the check.
Mail it to:
KLM Foundation (US)c/o Bowen Hsu461 So. Bonita AvenuePasadena, CA 91107

After the marathon we're taking advantage of the location and hiking for a few days on the Fanie botha trail, which I've heard is pretty awesome. There are also activities like cliff diving and kloofing... can't wait! Then after this me and a few other girls will be helping facilitate a Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) that is being held by another PCV in Mpumalanga. It'll be an awesome opportunity to get ideas for the same camp well be hosting in December! After this I will either head back to the village or attend another HIV/AIDS training hosted by USAID... this is still up in the air though! In that case I wouldnt be back until well into mid-April... crazy stuff!

So those are my exciting adventures for the upcoming weeks. It's nice to keep so busy, plus it will be great to get to see a bit more of the country!