Update, week 4 close

Hi, everybody! Well, we are halfway through training now, I will be getting a site assignment next week (for two years, The Big Deal) and a cell phone the week after, so you all will be able to call (if you feel like paying an arm and a leg to Shylocke Telecom). I bitterly regret not bringing poetry with me, I find myself missing it more than most anything else.
Today, my friend (or wife, according to Khiza), Sarah and I taught Life Skills at Nhlangano Central High School. The kids were noisy, but very polite (and some older than us; Swaziland does not care what age you are for what grade you are in). They would be juniors in High School, stateside. The lesson was on how people choose to show love and a heavy plug for either not having sex or getting tested so that you and your partner can 1) Be happy if you don't have HIV 2) Get ARVs if you do 3) Promote testing and open dialogue about HIV in Swaziland.
I don't know how much of it they'll do, but I can say that nothing bad came of it, at least. We are not working yet, but we see the pandemic chiefly in the number of funerals that happen. People are not quite chatty, but I discussed HIV with a household that had just buried someone due to TB, so I am pleased that I was able to do that, and that they were willing to talk (and also to try to get me drunk, but I declined)
I have agreed to help my host brother research colleges in America; he has good marks so maybe we can wrangle a full or partial scholarship out of somebody. We will see how it goes.
There are lots of interesting small things about life here (like the all-pie fast food joint), the repeatedly failing khumbis (minibuses) (One called The Blade crapped out on us on the way up a hill. How funny is that? It was The Blade, man, and it totally bit it. The khumbi that came to get us was called The Replacement. Not even kidding.)

Anyway, I'm running out of internet time. I hope you guys are doing well (whoever reads this thing). Take care!

Rob

Hi, everybody!
We finally made it to Swaziland after an impressive 17-hour flight from JFK to Johannesburg. Some highlights:
- More mosquitoes than people boarded the plane at our one stop in Dakar, Senegal. I spent the entire time we were on the ground swatting at them. : (
- We stayed at the Southern Sun in Johannesburg, which was super-posh, but interestingly, had those weird showers with a translucent wall looking out into the room. Totally skeezy James Bond film style. Worse, you couldn't read in the bathroom after your roommate slept because the light just poured out through the wall into the room. Lame.
- The next day, we took a bus to Mbabane, the capital of Swaziland, where we stayed at Emafini Christian Centre, which is apparently in fact run by Baha'is, or so says the word on the street. It had wireless, though, which is awesome.
- A little while later, we booked it to Ngwane Teachers College, outside Nhlangano. It was about at this point that all this moving started to get REALLY IRRITATING. Training started here, which consists of daily about 2 hours of language, 2 of cross culture, and some technical or health training after lunch. They keep us pretty busy. Lunch and Dinner at Ngwane consisted of, on average:
3 kinds of starch (samp, mashed potatoes, porridge, rice, etc)
Some kind of meat stew/gravy (Swazis do not remove fat or bones, so one must be careful!)
Strangely bitter spinach.
An apple.
Not half bad, all in all.
- Finally, after a week at Ngwane we moved out to our host families, where we are now. More later; time is short and expensive at this internet cafe, which is in Manzini, where I am for volunteer shadowing. Finally, we get to see what the job is really like!! I hope everyone is doing well!

Love,
Rob

Addendum to staging: Somehow, I became a Group Leader with (exceedingly minor) Responsibility. How did I do this? By losing a game of rock-paper-scissors. Nobody wanted to do it, and it came down to me and Danielle, so I am now acceptor of tip money, distributor of luggage-marking string, and counter of heads extraordinare. Apparently the Johannesburg airport is likely to lose approximately half our luggage, which is delightful. We are all in the process of distributing our clothes evenly to minimize the risk of losing anything crucial. Everyone is still nice, and I am using as much of the internet as I can before we lose it for a couple months. That's about it. Hope you all are well!

Staging!

Everyone is really nice and there are so many (36) of us!! (I only hope they're approximately as nice after the ZOMG WE'RE GOING TO AFRICA! glow fades)
And sooo many married couples (a total of 8 people out of 36, almost a fourth of the group), totally bizarre, though they seem nice and non-insular, so that's good too.
We leave tomorrow; it seems somehow impossible that we will be across the Atlantic in 24 hours, striving under uncertain odds and unfamiliar situations to assist the people of Swaziland. I am sick of being told what sterling folks we all are for undertaking this venture; mere willingness to accept the conditions doesn't imply that we're even decent people, or that we understand said conditions.
Staging was pretty good, but it seems like it was mostly a "get to know your group" thing more than a "learn lots about Swaziland" thing. There were a fairly considerable number of the usual weird-seminar activites. We are all excited to go (even if dreading the 17 hour plane ride and subsequent non-communication). I love you all (whether you read this or not) and I wish you all the best over the next couple of months!

Goodbyes.

I said goodbye to my friend Sarah last night (she is leaving for the summer this weekend), at dinner with Ryan, Sarah, and Lauren. Every time I say goodbye to someone, the whole mad enterprise feels a little closer. A new butterfly crowds in with the others in my stomach. I'm terrifically excited, if also scared to death. Ryan and I are planning an epic roadtrip for a goodly chunk of June; we'll keep you posted on whether or not it works out!


P.S.
If you want me to make up an alias for when I mention you here, let me know, and I will think up something only a little bit embarrassing to hide your identity. Policy for now is first names only. (And yes, I did spell your name wrong on purpose. You know why, I think.)

First post!!

Greetings, O Readers. My name is Robert, and I am going to be a Peace Corps Volunteer in Swaziland! My start day is June 23rd. I will be working in HIV/AIDS education.

View expressed in this blog are those of Robert Hamilton, not the US Government, the Peace Corps, God, Janis Joplin, or anybody else.