Solar Panel Success

Living without electricity has definitely presented me with a new set of challenges.  For the most part, it did not take long to figure out how to make many of the adjustments.  Table lamps and overhead lights were replaced with the sun (when available) flashlights, candles, and oil lamps.  The electric stove and kettle were replaced with a gas tank complete with cooker top.  But charging my electronic devices – namely my computer – did not have quite the same quick fix.  Things like my cell phone and iPod don’t really need to be charged everyday.  I can take them to school once early in the week and once just before the weekend and they are good to go.  The computer, however, has a much more limited battery life, and it is the device I certainly use the most.  I was starting to get a little nervous about how I was going to make that adjustment.  But this past weekend, I read through the notes and advice given by the PCV here before me and I got a little help from my family, and there is now a pretty nice solar panel up and running outside my house.  The panel sits outside my front door and is connected to a 12V battery.  The battery is then connected to a 12V to 230V inverter that has several types of plugs as well as a built-in radio and light.  I use the inverter as if it was just a regular wall socket and can either charge or run things as normal.  So my excuses for keeping in touch are becoming ever more limited!

Weather you like it or not...

I have always had the feeling that my general mood is loosely tied to the weather conditions.  But I have now realized that I need to separate those two things as soon as possible or it is going to be a long two years.  It is colder here than I expected – it is not colder than normal, just colder than I expected it would be at my final site.  It is also very rainy – which is actually great news for the area as rain is desperately needed after an extremely dry winter – but being cold and wet is not one of my favorite states of being.  On Saturday I gave in to the weather and barely stepped outside the whole day.  I was grumpy and annoyed and accomplished nothing in the process.  When I woke up Sunday to find the same conditions, I decided that I it was not going to make things better to have a repeat of the day before.  Instead, I got ready for the day in my usual fashion and made breakfast and started to clean things around the house…all tasks that I skipped on Saturday when I opted only to lay in bed.  I started to feel quite a bit better and even though it was still very cool, very gray and very wet outside, there were things that I could do that did not make the day feel like a waste.  Even though I could not get my “outside” things done (laundry, trip to the store), I found a few “inside” things to keep me busy – and as a bonus, I discovered that I can listen to several local radio stations on my cell phone.  One of them is even an English-speaking station that plays popular American and South African songs from the “80s, 90s, and today!”  While I am sure that I will continue to lose the weather v. mood battle from time to time, this one small victory makes the rainy days to come seem a little brighter.

Greetings

Of the MANY new and different things that I have experienced this past week, one of the first that I want to make note of is the importance of greetings in the Zulu culture.  No matter who you see, what time of day you see them, or where you see them, it is imperative that you greet each other by saying “Sanibonani” or “Sawubona.”  There are standard replies that take only a few moments to say back and forth, but their significance in building relationships in the village and community are substantial.  The two words mean something along the lines of “I see you / we see each other,” so to walk past someone without saying anything is the equivalent of saying “you are invisible to me.”  It makes me wonder how many times I walked past people at work or just walking along the street and did not bother to acknowledge them.  I’m not talking about on the streets of NYC, as in the big cities in South Africa these greetings are not common practice either.  But when it is just you and one other person, is it really that taxing to say “hello?”  Something I will certainly be more aware of when I return to the US.

Swear-In, then Peace Out

Yesterday, September 2^nd, I became an official PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer).  730 days to go.

With my Language Training Group and teacher
at our Peace Corps swearing-in ceremony.

For logistical reasons, immediately after the swearing-in ceremony in the province of Mpumalanga, I and four other volunteers who will live nearby, hopped on the Peace Corps van with all of our luggage to head to our new homes in the province of Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN).  For the next two years I will be living in a very rural area (no electricity, no running water) where everyone speaks Zulu…and not a whole lot of English!  Time to see if all that studying really worked.  So far, the little that I have seen of the area is stunning – natural beauty is abundant in this part of the world.  Tonight I meet my new host family for the first time, and I begin the real adventure of being on my own in a new world.