Making ourselves at home in PE

It’s been a crazy week, so try to keep up.

First, there’s a video of the night the GRS staff sang to us at the office on YouTube and it’s worth checking it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VwJXy-LKzI (watch parts 1 and 2).

Our final days with the group were awesome. On Monday we had specific training for our positions, which means I got to go to Kyelitsha with the Programs Interns where there was a SKILLZ tournament going on. We met some of the coaches and their teams and watched them go through one of the SKILLZ activities. The activity dealt with having multiple sexual partners and the consequences of not using condoms in those relationships if one or more of the partners is HIV+. We joined in, and we had to dribble through a line of cones and then pass back to the next person in line. In the first round, if the person dribbling hit a cone, he/she had to do 2 pushups, representing what happens if you have sex with someone without “condomizing.” In the second round, if the person dribbled into a cone, everyone had to drop and do 2 pushups to represent the effects HIV has on the person who contracts the virus, but also their family, friends, and community. The coaches talked with the kids afterwards, asking them different questions about the drill and then how it applied to their lives. Many of them made the comment that they don’t feel comfortable talking to their parents about HIV, so we discussed ways to make that easier for them.

South Africans celebrate Women’s Day on August 9, paying tribute to the women who marched against the ruling in the 1950s that black and colored women were required to carry passbooks like their male counterparts. Monday night was spent at a bar called Dubliner’s, where we went the previous Monday and listened to this guy sing. He played the usual Sweet Home Alabama and Sweet Caroline, but we told him it was one of our birthdays (a guy named Corey), so he sang this ridiculous version of the song that ended up being our anthem for the entire week. It being the day after Women’s Day, a group of men came into the bar dressed in drag – shocker for sure (these guys were not built like Nadal or Daniel Craig). Combine that image with the Corey Happy Birthday song (played at our screaming requests not once but twice). There is a video available, so I’ll post it when I get my hands on it.

On Tuesday we had a tour of Kyelitsha by a local youth group who serve as role models for the young kids in the township. We got to see a new turf field that was donated by friends of one of the interns, located at a primary school in the township, and then we walked around and saw some local sites and landmarks. I felt very invasive and uncomfortable when I first heard we were going for a township tour, but the group who led the tour assured us that people don’t get offended when they see outsiders walking around. I’m not sure how much I believe it, but I did feel comfortable walking with people who were actually from Kyelitsha, who knew the culture and people of the community.

Following the tour, we met up with most of the Cape Town staff (both from the office and coaches) back at the turf field where we were split into teams and played a round robin tournament. Team Supersport made it to the final only to lose 2-1. It was so much fun to play with the coaches, especially once they realized I can really play. I had a few assists and almost scored a goal, but the ball went just wide.

Our plan was to leave for PE at 6 am on Wednesday morning, but that got pushed back to the early afternoon. We were waiting for a new car to be delivered, which took until 4 that afternoon. Mpumi (our site coordinator) came to the Best Western to pick us up, and it started pouring just as we started to pack the car. We acquired a maroon Toyota Avanza, fondly nicknamed “Big Momma”, that’s a cross between a minivan and small SUV. She’s pretty badass.

Our trunk was filled to absolute maximum capacity, and then we had three seated in the back with bags under our feet and on our laps, and Mike Zales Mike Zales (one of my infamous roommates who became a legend during training) rode shotgun with two suitcases on his lap. Mpumi drove us through the driving rain Wednesday night to Knysna, a tourist beach town about 2 hours from PE, where we spent the night. We finished the drive on Thursday morning, driving straight to the office to meet the management. There are three Head Coaches, Siya, Titie, and Ngwenya, who run programs manage coaches at our three sites In Motherwell, New Brighton, and Zwide, respectively. The house was the next stop and it felt so good to finally be there. We live in a development of condo-esque houses, where we have a full kitchen and living room, 4 huge bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a walled-in yard with a grill and clothing line. It’s pretty amazing. The grocery store, Laundromat, and gym are around the corner, and the beach is 3 blocks down the road. Not too shabby.

We have an extra roommate until tomorrow, Rowena, who has been here since the end of May working on a project for her MPH. She’s been really amazing showing us around town and introducing us to a whole network of locals. PE is tourist destination for South Africans and Europeans, so there is a definite touristy area near the water called The Boardwalk…it reminds us of Disney World a bit. There are some pretty cool little shops but it’ll get pretty mobbed in a couple months when the tourists invade.

On Saturday we had a braai at the house to say goodbye to Ro and the Head Coaches and Mpumi came to hang out for the day. I’m starting to adjust to African time, which essentially means nothing ever starts on time and no one ever gets anywhere one time, except for football and rugby matches, which they make sure to be early for. Dom and Mike grilled lamb, chicken, and boer woers (sausages) and we had salad, pap (corn meal), chakalaka (spicy vegetable mix in sauce), and avocado. We also went into downtown PE to an area called Central where there’s an English-style pub to watch some matches on Saturday. We met another American who became friends with the interns from last year. He worked on Wall Street for a while, and then picked up and moved here last September to work for an NGO that goes into the township schools and helps tutor and support them. In addition to all of that, Ro took us to meet Vassie last night, an Indian woman from Durban who cooks and serves food out of her garage. She literally lives 2 blocks down, and last year’s interns spent a ridiculous amount of time at her house learning to cook curries and watching Bollywood movies. No question this year will be the same. We got “bunny chows”, apparently a South African style of serving curries in a bread bowl, and samosas. The food was unreal.

Today was our first “real” day of work, and it consisted of me stuffing folders with new coaches’ information sheets and then re-formatting a Coaches Code of Conduct sheet. That took us from 9-3:30, with about an hour long lunch break at a local braai where we bought meat at the front of the store and they grilled it for us out back. We ate the meat with a loaf of bread and a liter of Coke. Livin’ the life. I could only think of Eben and Dad when I was sitting there gnawing on animal bones.

In other news, I went driving for the first time yesterday. Learning stick on the left side of the road isn’t too bad, except when I stayed too far to the left and ran up onto the curb. Dom (the only experienced manual driver among the four of us) was very patient and made me stop so he could make sure I didn’t do any damage to Big Momma. No harm done, so I’ll probably take her out for a spin tomorrow. Our gym is awesome – think 80s-style writing on the wall, somewhat dated machines, and a 2 lane heated swimming pool planted next to the weights. Hell yes.

That should do it for now. Send me questions and emails, because I’d love to hear from you all!!!

-Rosie