WEIRDEST/CRAZIEST DAY OF MY LIFE, NO DOUBT

Excitement in the Bu

So it’s 8:15 a.m. on Tuesday and there is a lot of commotion in Bulembu right now. Normally at this time we would be in school, but at 10 to 6 this morning we received a phone call from Cathi-another teacher-saying that there were loads of police around and they had the workers lined up and it was thought that they might be doing a TRP check. TRP’s are the Temporary Residence Permits that you must have to work in Swaziland or to be here for longer than 3 months. I am okay without one right now because my 3 months isn’t up yet. However, my 2 roommates have been here since January and do not have TRP’s. So the way this day has gone so far has been interesting because first we got that call, but we weren’t absolutely sure about it. Then, our new principle, John, came over and said that the police had been here since 11 last night and that a convict escaped from a maximum security prison in Mozambique and the police were here searching for him. We are very close to Mozambique, only a couple of hours away from the capital, Maputo. Anyway, John said we would have school at 8 as usual…but then a few minutes later Corey showed up at the door and he had just gone up to the border and talked to the border police and found out that it was, in fact, a TRP check. Back to square one, which of course is to hide out in the house. So then we were unsure whether or not we would be having school at all or just postponing. Then John returned again later and said that we would probably have school at 11, so long as the police were gone by then. We don’t know how long the police will be here though. We also don’t know if they’ll come door to door or not. So now we are just hiding out and waiting for John to come with the newest info. I think the worst that would happen is deportation. I’m not sure if they also would give a fine or something though. Who knows. Hopefully it will all pass. We have prayed about it this morning. I think it will be completely fine.
What else is going on? Oh, Brian left yesterday. He’s on his way back to America now. We will all miss him. He’s the best volleyball player!!! Plus he’s the only guy around that cooks. He’s a really good cook too. He made some cheesecake a few weeks back that was fantastic. We had a get together/going away thing for him Sunday night at our house. My South Korean roommate, Jo, was cooking him dinner because he wanted her delicious Korean food (she’s amazing). So it ended up being the feeding of the 5,000 because first she said she only was cooking for him and another guy, but then she invited several Swazi friends over, plus we had invited the other interns and people to hang out. We meant for them to all come after dinner, but everyone wanted her Korean food because it’s always so stinkin’ wonderful. So we ended up feeding about 13 people, I believe. We were worried and decided to make some pasta as well because we didn’t think there would be enough, but there actually was plenty…even some leftovers. Didn’t end up making the pasta at all. God always provides. It was cool. And then somehow there ended up being 20 people in our living room!! That’s the most ever. So we were all hanging out chatting and everything…and then Kara and I somehow decided we should turn the living room into a disco and have a dance party. So we pushed the couches back and shut off the lights and she used a flashlight as a strobe light…and we blasted some dance music from the old school and had ourselves a little party. It was hilarious!! The guys were the only ones dancing for so long, which was pretty funny. One Swazi guy, Sparky, loves to dance!!! He was entertaining to watch. But I guess we all joined in at some point. It was great fun. Then after some people cleared out we decided to play Hearts. There were about 10 of us. It’s Brian’s fave card game. We’ve been playing it a lot lately. So, needless to say, I set a new record of bedtime on a school night. I normally go to bed at 9:30-10:30 depending (because I get up around 5:30 usually), but I actually didn’t go til almost 12:30, which was shocking to some people. Brian could hardly believe it, haha, but it was a special occasion. Monday I was so tired all day though!! And then we ended up being at the school from 7:45 until 6:30 with less than a half hour break to run home and grab food at 1:30. That was a first. It’s because our new principle just returned from a training program regarding our school/curriculum for next year and we needed to start these diagnostic tests yesterday and then mark them and everything…plus have a meeting. We are down to the last few days of school though. Only like 8 days of actual school left. Then we have our big prize giving and school play on the 1st. And on the 3rd we head to Pretoria for our training in this ACE program. Training is the 4th through 8th…then I’m going on a little road trip and I fly back to America on the 14th. I’ll be in America for around 5 weeks and then head back here for the whole year!!! Exciting stuff.

Okay now it is Wednesday and I can safely and honestly say that yesterday was the most bizarre and crazy day OF MY LIFE. But I am not able to write more now, so it will have to be continued later…

Time Warp

Sunday (11/12) was one of my favorite days in the Bu thus far. I got to go on a 4-wheeler around to some other parts of Bulembu and the surrounding area, that I had never been to before. There are so many little communities around that I have heard about, but not visited. Most of them are actually just other parts of Bulembu, like neighborhoods I guess. I think it’s sort of the equivalent to our neighborhoods in America that have groups of homes and a name for the area, but it’s still part of the bigger town. Anyway, we went to one place where there are 350 empty houses and this massive high school. The houses all used to be occupied and the high school was booming, but years ago when the asbestos mine closed down, so did most of the town. When we went inside the different rooms of the school there was still writing on the chalkboards, kids work strewn about, scales and chemicals in the science lab, etc. It really was like stepping back in time. Kind of surreal. This is such an awesome place, rich with history. I really enjoyed exploring the area. The only thing I didn’t enjoy was being chased by some wild horses when we were on the quad. Scary! There were 4 wild horses in a field next to the path and when we came by they took off after us. One of them was bucking and one or two just ran after us and it was seriously scary. In the matter of a few seconds I was just imaging the quad not moving fast enough and the horses catching up and kicking us to death. Luckily we made it safely.
Another place we visited was the old lab where they did all the asbestos testing, separating, etc. The lab still has all of the big machinery and huge scales and everything. There was even asbestos in the machines. There was a calendar from 2001 hanging on the wall because that was the last time the mine was open. It had been closed before that and only reopened for a short time then. I saw mail lying around and tons of paper work and things…even some bottles of sprite. It was so bizarre. Really really cool though. I love this place. I am pretty sure there’s nowhere else like Bulembu.
I also got to see some of the area back behind the main part of Bulembu, where there are just thousands of trees and gorgeous hills and scenery. It was awesome.
Saturday was a fun day too. My housemates and I went to Mbabane and Ezulwini to do some Christmas shopping and go to lunch and buy groceries. There’s this place called the Golden Mile where you can by all sorts of African craft things, mostly wooden and stone. They sell all sorts of beautiful wooden bowls, salad tongs, jewelry, animal carvings, jewelry boxes, statues, etc. Beautiful stuff. I did all of my Christmas shopping there! It’s called the Golden Mile because it is seriously long-just stall after stall that seem to go on forever. They all pretty much have the same stuff though. And we went to a Chinese restaurant which was really yummy! We don’t go out to eat at restaurants much, since there are none in Bulembu, so it’s always a big treat.
And other than that we’ve been busy practicing for the Christmas play. We are doing a creation themed play and I think it will be really great. Each class is performing to one or two songs and then at the end we’ll all come together to do a song. My class is doing the crucifixion scene, so I chose to use Love Song by Third Day, which works perfectly for my boys. Then my girls are doing Above All by Michael W. Smith. I’m so excited about the play! We are performing Decmber 1st. We also have a prize-giving that evening which is really just like an awards ceremony in America, but the prizes are things like toys and pencils and such. It’s going to be great! We are doing the whole thing in the old cinema. The cinema actually used to be a proper cinema where movies were shown and everything, so it has 250 fold down seats. I have no idea how many years it’s been closed though. The doors are broken and there’s a massive hole in the middle of the stage and it’s pretty dirty, but it should work fine. It’s a neat place. We haven’t made our props yet, so we’re having a big prop party on Saturday and trying to get everything finished.
Other breaking news: Tuesday night volleyball has really been booming and is becoming increasingly popular. Now instead of only having enough people for two teams or 4-5, we have 3 teams of 6-7 usually. It’s super fun and I think some of us end up laughing more than playing! These days we’ve been following our volleyball with cards back at my house. We’ve only played Hearts so far and this week we had 10 people so we had to play with 2 decks!! Fun stuff. That’s about it for now.

Lots to say cont. II

And then there was Halloween. The Johnstons decided to have a dress-up “Harvest party.” At first we (the teachers) were very unsure what we would dress as because it isn’t like we have loads of clothes and options here. But after some creative thinking and a short visit to the warehouse, we came up with some ideas. My housemate and teacher friend Candice decided to go as Cinderella-but like half before/half after the ball. I saw a magic wand in the warehouse, so decided to go as her FGM. Since we had such limited options, I had to wear a red dress and red glasses, so I actually was the FGM from Shrek 2. I don’t even remember her, but I guess Cathi (another teacher friend) dressed me up quite well because everyone knew who I was meant to be. I even had a magic dust shaker and gray hair (thanks to baby powder). It was super fun. We had all foods and drinks in black and orange. I made mac and cheese. It was well received. I wish I could post pictures, but I really can’t.
And lastly, yesterday (Wednesday). Well, I had invited a few people over for dinner and Kara had also just told us she was staying with us for a few days because a team from Florida came and the 4 girls were staying in her house. So, Jamie and Corey (guys from Canada) were coming for dinner at 7. At about 2 o’clock we (me, Kara, Cathi, Candice) decided to take an unplanned trip to Piggs Peak. On the way out of Bulembu we were stopped by Megan, who informed us that there was a big meeting about the future of the town and the ministries and EVERYTHING being held at 7 that night. Go figure. Our lives used to be full of bring and shares, now it’s meetings. Every day, meetings. So anyway, I saw Jamie and said we had to do 6, rather than postponing, because the chicken had already thawed. Well, we didn’t get back from Piggs Peak until 5:30 and I put the chicken in the oven…but then the oven/stove soon ran out of gas!!!! Our tank was empty. So Kara and I load up all of this food we have cooking and carry it all over to her house to cook. So the guys came there, but the food still wasn’t ready by 7, so we had to turn it off and go to the meeting, which lasted til 8:30, got home and turned the oven back on and ate at 9. It was madness. I say this only to illustrate life in Bulembu. You just never know what will happen. Any normal day can become a crazy day in the blink of an eye. Unpredictability.

Lots to say cont.

Joburg was great. We stayed at this 5 star hotel…hands down the nicest place I’ve ever stayed. It’s called the Emperor’s Palace and it’s this whole complex with 3 hotels and a massive Vegas style casino, performance theatres, loads of restaurants and shops, and a huge arcade area complete with a roller coaster and bumper cars (all indoors). The rooms were sweet and there was a ginormous breakfast buffet included. I had a three course breakfast. You could have absolutely anything imaginable and it was so beautiful! There was the whole cooked breakfast area (with all of the English breakfast options), every type of breakfast meat in the world, an omelette/fried eggs man to make you exactly what you wanted, cereal/yogurt/milk bar, smoothie/fresh juice bar, European breakfast with about 40 types of breads and various meats and cheeses, waffles, pancakes, flapjacks, bowls of fresh cut fruit, pastries/quiches, even sushi and noodles for the Asians! It was madness. I loved every minute of it. So the England team left on Saturday evening, but paid for Lee-Ann and I to stay an additional night so that we could drive back from Joburg on Sunday. Saturday we all went to a mall and even to the movies in the mall. It was so exciting!! (Reminder: There are NO cinemas in Swaziland) I saw Click, which was actually really good. Sunday when Lee-Ann and I drove back, she wasn’t feeling well, so I got to drive all the way back from Joburg to Bulembu (around 5 hours)! It was so exciting. I love driving and haven’t done it in about 2 months now, so it was wonderful.

Lots to say cont.

Joburg was great. We stayed at this 5 star hotel…hands down the nicest place I’ve ever stayed. It’s called the Emperor’s Palace and it’s this whole complex with 3 hotels and a massive Vegas style casino, performance theatres, loads of restaurants and shops, and a huge arcade area complete with a roller coaster and bumper cars (all indoors). The rooms were sweet and there was a ginormous breakfast buffet included. I had a three course breakfast. You could have absolutely anything imaginable and it was so beautiful! There was the whole cooked breakfast area (with all of the English breakfast options), every type of breakfast meat in the world, an omelette/fried eggs man to make you exactly what you wanted, cereal/yogurt/milk bar, smoothie/fresh juice bar, European breakfast with about 40 types of breads and various meats and cheeses, waffles, pancakes, flapjacks, bowls of fresh cut fruit, pastries/quiches, even sushi and noodles for the Asians! It was madness. I loved every minute of it. So the England team left on Saturday evening, but paid for Lee-Ann and I to stay an additional night so that we could drive back from Joburg on Sunday. Saturday we all went to a mall and even to the movies in the mall. It was so exciting!! (Reminder: There are NO cinemas in Swaziland) I saw Click, which was actually really good. Sunday when Lee-Ann and I drove back, she wasn’t feeling well, so I got to drive all the way back from Joburg to Bulembu (around 5 hours)! It was so exciting. I love driving and haven’t done it in about 2 months now, so it was wonderful.

Lots to say...

So for days I’ve wanted to write something, but haven’t had the chance….so now that I finally do have a free minute I feel like I have loads to say. I’ll try to keep it fairly concise though and stick to the highlights. Let’s see…we’ll start with last Thursday. It wasn’t the greatest day of my life and by the time the evening came, all I wanted to do was watch Felicity. So I’m watching Felicity and Kara starts watching too…and we decide that all we feel like doing that evening is watching Felicity-so we figure we should probably have a slumber party at Kara’s that night-me, Candice, and Kara. Well…suddenly we have this major storm with thunder like you have never ever heard in your life and we think we’ll probably have a blackout. So far in the Bu we have lost electricity a few times during storms, but it always comes back on soon enough (except for at the school where we can go days or weeks without electricity sometimes). But this is a pretty hefty storm, so we decide that there is a good chance we may really have a blackout. All of the sudden Cathi is at our house and she’s taking Candice away to her house and Kara has to go home because Brian is coming to cook dinner for her and Gennie and everyone is leaving me!!! I do not want to be home alone at night with a possible blackout in the major storm. So I go with Candice and Cathi, but on the way we pick up Brian, who is walking to Kara’s in the crazy rain, and drop Kara and Brian off at the house. Well, we come back about an hour and a half later to spend the night and Brian is still at the house and dinner has not been cooked yet (it’s like 8:30 now) because it turns out the girls have no gas because someone else ran out of gas and borrowed their tank. Brian cannot cook the chicken. The gas tank finally returns, dinner gets cooked, and they eat at 9. Sometime during all of this we did lose the power and then lived the rest of the evening by candlelight and with a couple of little lanterns. It was awesome. I’m not being sarcastic, it really was. We had a blast. We ended up watching Felicity until the power in my laptop ran out. Then I fell asleep on the couch because I was so tired. It was a late night. Friday we were all super tired, but in the afternoon my friends from England came and picked me up and I went to Joburg with them for the weekend.