So much has gone on this week I can't even remember everything. I'm not at the same homestay I talked about before, I'm staying with Richard and Doris. Which is awesome, Doris is soooo sweet. She works in the bakery in town which makes the best bread I have ever had. Richard works in Nelspruit so he isn't home during the week. Pearl and Melbourne are their daughters. Pearl is in high school and kind of shy but Melbourne barely speaks english and isnt shy at all. She did my hair for me this morning, I looked quite beautiful by the time she was done. ahha, not that it mattered because I haven't showered since Tuesday. Tuesday and Saturdays are shower days and even then you can't even imagine what the word shower means here ahah. It's awesome though so the lack of cleanliness doesn't really bother me.

We killed two chickens last night for dinner. We went and bought them at this random person in the villages house and I carried one of them back to our house alive by its wings. Then, these kids from the community Forget and Arise (yes those really are their names) pulled and cut their heads off. Arise cut his with a knife and blood went everywhere and then Forget just pulled his and it like stretched out for a minute and then just pulled off. Then, we put both of them in a bowl to dump water on them so that we could pluck them and when we poured the hot water in one of them jumped out of the bowl headless! They were literally running around like chickens with their heads cut off! Regardless, the chicken was really good once it was cooked.

I'm playing soccer too! The women practice everyday at four and another intern and I have been going to practice. I've scored twice so far and managed to get one bad bruise on my knee. It's so fun though.

I'm kind of on a PB & J diet right now. We eat it everyday for lunch. Every morning for breakfast I have oatmeal. For dinner we can make stew, rice, sometimes we have chicken or baked beans. It's pretty much bland.

43 days until I come home!

I miss you all!

Last day in the City

Hey Everyone!
So I've been completely vague about what I am doing I know. But the truth is that it's really just been training so far. We talked about the issues of poverty and disparity today at training and are finishing up stuff tonight. We leave for the villages tomorrow morning.

Did I mention that we have met the most awesome people from the Buffleshoek Trust, they work with us in the community. The first guy, Sidney Frankel is this realllyyy well connected South African business man who took us all out to dinner and told us stories about his role in ending apartheid and knowing Nelson Mandela. It does not get much cooler than that. The other guy Campbell (I forgot his last name) works for Djuma Game Preserve but volunteers at the community and gave us some great advice on settling in and stuff. We've still been eating pretty well in the cities and the hotels are really nice so besides the occasional odd event you would barely know I was in Africa. I'm sure all of that will change tomorrow.

More updates from the village, probably in like a week!
Love,
Natalie

Nelspruit

Nelspruit today!! I found out that my homestay is going to be awesome. The woman is sooo nice and will apparently cook for us and offer to do our laundry. The four girl interns all staying in Uta are staying there. She works at the local preschool which will be awesome. I'll give more details from the village.

I'm Here!

So I've been in Johannesburg for a couple days now! So far everything is ammmmaazing!!!! I'm more than excited to get to the community because from what everyone has to say it's going to be the best experience of my life.

The plan ride was a little bit grueling and exhausting but I made it in one piece, got a good first nights sleep and woke up this morning ready for training and the apartheid museum. They had Nelson Mandela exhibit that was soooo interesting.

For dinner tonight we went out with the Founder of the Trust that is run near the community. That man we had dinner with, Sidney, Had some of the most amazing stories. He was in South Africa for some major historical moments in during the apartheid and had so many great stories to tell.

They say that internet access is going to be around once a week in the village so look out for more posts. I miss you all!

Last post from U.S.A.

So, I leave earlyyy Monday morning and I know I'll be too nervous/anxious/excited tomorrow to even think about writing on this. My bag is completely packed (the crisis of the bag issue only escalated since my last post but its been averted now). I really don't know how often I while have access to the internet while I'm there Student Movement has been kind of vague on that. They say every 2-3 days but sometimes that won't happen. In the first couple of days we are going to be in Johannesburg and Nelspruit so maybe I will find an internet cafe there or something. I promise I'll post ASAP and hopefully everyone will leave comments and thoughts i between posts. I'll miss you guys!

You can stop worrying now

I know you all were insanely worried about what I was going to do with my suitcase dilemna. Have no fear! I figured it out. I'm using this huge duffle that my Dad had for snowmobiling. Its a little heavy and hard to carry and my brother and my Mom had a good laugh at my expense last night watching me trying to pick it up. But, SMRC is right it will be wayyy easier than a rolling suitcase. I can't believe I never thought of that.

Last Conference Call

I had my last conference call today with SMRC. We did last minute reminders and got a chance to ask any questions. A couple of the things on the call suprised me. Like, for example, out of the blue they are like "oh! pack your stuff in one of those big long camping backpacks that have the metal structuring in them." AHHH! I don't have one of those, who does? I'm not a camping kind of girl, we dont just have those lying around my house. To buy one would make no sense because I'll never use it again. So this one girl mentioned that she was going to just pack her really big duffle. I thought I could do that, but then I went and got my biggest duffle and it's toooottaalllyyyy not big enough to fit everything that I have in my suitcase in there. I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet.

Also, they mentioned that we might be able to stay at the game preserve that is next to our village for a weekend. That would be really cool. Its a five star place that is realllyyy expensive and beautiful, they got us a student rate to stay there but it's still going to be $250-$300 a night and we would go for the weekend so that would be $600.I feel like if I spent that much money on one weekend I would feel like I couldn't spend any more for the rest of the trip, I would feel guilty. So, as cool as it is I'm thinking no.

4 Days!

The New To Do List:

1. Find oral rehydration solution packets
2. Find a shammie
3. Get copies of all my photo ID
4. Find my yellow shot record sheet, its around here somewhere.

I just weighed my suitcase and im pretty sure its over 50lbs so I moved some stuff over to my carry on but I don't know if its enough soooo

5. Minimize suitcase!

The Suitcase

The Suitcase if officialy packed. I don't think I can fit anything else in it and I'm more than a little concerned that when i put it on the scale its going to be over 50lbs. I got the rest of the stuff on my list at walmart yesterday and I even have the clothes I am going to wear to the airport layed out. I just kept packing yesterday because I didn't want to think about the LSAT so I got alot accomplished. The LSAT is today at 1230 and I'm going to run and shower before I drive up to USM to take the test. I can't wait for it to be over with!

International Volunteer

I got my international volunteer card in the mail today! How legit is that??!!? I didn't even know it was coming to me in the mail and i definitely didnt know that I was getting this official piece of plastic with my name on it. I thought that Student Movement just registered us as international volunteers and that got us insurance and paperwork was passed somewhere but this is wayyy cooler. I don't even know what I do with this card; I'll probably never have to use it but its still cool. Mail in general is exciting to me but with 9 days until my trip this makes reality set in. I get all these good discounts with the card too; on things like airlines and hotels. I also got a phone card from them with some free minutes. I'm thinking maybe I should put some more minutes on it just in case I wind up somewhere that I can use it. What do you think? Would you want me to call you? haha.

Suzy says...

Suzy posted again, her posts are the closest I get to personal advice so I kind of feel like im stalking her. Anyways, besides all the amazing stories she has she mentioned that it rains all the time. I don't feel like Student Movement ever really talked about the rain but now im wondering. I never really thought about bringing an umbrella. All the little things that you are just used to having access to at home you have to think of to bring with you. It's going to impossible to remember everything. 9 Days!

Suzy Riggs

Okay, so if you have time you need to read Suzy Riggs blog. She is the girl that is in Africa right now that's the daughter of the guy my Dad works with. Reading her blog gives me soooo much optomism about my trip. Her second post from there is especially good, she tells the cutest story ever. If I have even one experience like that while I'm there I will count the trip as a success.

Two weeks from today!

Two weeks from today is D-day, my suitcase is way over half full, and I still have a long list of stuff to get. I keep reading it over and over thinking I'm going to forget something. For example, I recently noticed that I didn't have hair ties. What would I have done?!?!