Home Redecorating

The new covers for the tables and chairs
in my "sitting area."

After a quick trip to Pretoria this week to get some cavities filled, I was feeling good and looking forward to having the whole weekend at home. I decided it was time to do a little cleaning and redecorating in the hut. A few weeks back I purchased some traditional Zulu fabric to make new covers for the cushions that sit on my two chairs, as well as table clothes to cover the two water buckets I use as side tables. The setup has been around for a while, but it needed a little updating. One of the grade R teachers at school happens to be my neighbor, and also happens to be a bit of a seamstress. My family recommended that if I wanted things sewn, I should take them to her. I dropped off the fabric, cushions and buckets a couple of weeks ago, so on Saturday I decided it was worth a visit to see if my order was complete. It was! I brought everything home, made a few adjustments (because that is just how I am) and invited my family to see the new “sitting area.” I must say it looks quite nice. If Home and Garden magazine ever does a “deep, rural” edition, I should really make the cover.

The kitchen area as viewed from the front doorway.

My wardrobe and work area as viewed from the front doorway.

Here is what I see when I look up!

Some of my new card and photo collages.

I was so inspired by the new décor that arrived on Saturday, that on Sunday I decided it was time to do something about the what was hanging on the walls. Since I first arrived, I have hung all the cards, pictures and letters that people have posted to me around the hut. There was no rhyme or reason to where they were put, and there was also a distinct lack of pictures of anything I had done since I arrived here in South Africa. I had time to remedy that second issue, as I was able to visit the local CNA (like a CVS) to print out 20 or so 4x6 pictures of things I have done since I arrived. After carefully considering all the new and old memorabilia I had to work with, I decided to create seven different themed posters to display the different types of cards and pictures I

Cards and pictures I have received from back home.

had. One poster is Christmas / Holiday cards from last year; one is birthday cards from April; one is a poster of pictures and cards family members have sent; there are actually two posters of pictures and cards friends from America have sent; one is cards celebrating miscellaneous holidays – a few Halloween, Thanksgiving, Easter, Valentine’s Day, etc; and the last is the poster of all the pictures I printed of my time as a Peace Corp volunteer. There are pictures of me with the family I stayed with during training, as well as my current host family, pictures of random things I have done at school, hiking adventures I have gone on in my village, my trips around South Africa, Lesotho, and Namibia, and the recent Mid-Service Training we had in Pretoria a few weeks back.

When I brought in my family to see the new decorations, they were overjoyed, especially with the collage of pictures from my time as a volunteer. They kept asking if they could keep things after I left. I said of course, but they pointed to nearly every single item and asked individually if it was something that they could keep. I told them that there were one or two cards from family and friends that I wanted to take home, but otherwise, they could keep all the pictures and most every card. I mean, I am a pretty sentimental person, but even I have limits. I don’t think the card from my sister that says Happy Easter is going to go anywhere but the dustbin when I unpack, so it may as well stay with people that seem to enjoy its existence a little more. At the end of the weekend, the house felt like new place; and in some ways, the homiest place I have ever lived.