Thursday, July 23, 2015

Life Skills, some learned the hard way!

THINGS WE REALLY LOOK FORWARD TO IN THE US
Holding, touching and hearing Baby Matthew
Varied food (I plan never again to eat rice and beans.)
Being able to pick up food from somewhere else (pizza, Mexican, Chinese . .. ) when we are tired or rushed, or just have a craving
A microwave.  (notice that food features prominently in this list?  Where would I be without Katherine's ability to make pretty much out of pitifully little?)
Hi speed internet, reliable communications
Current news (careful what you wish for; on reflection, blessed isolation from bickering partisan politicians should be added to the "things we will miss" list; is there another election cycle due soon?)
Taking a shower whenever we want.  For as long as we want. 
Running water.  Hot, whenever we want!
Some media in addition to what we brought with us in 2013, what we got from other volunteers (How can they watch Game of Thrones?), and some thoughtful downloads from our children and their spouses over our 2 visits home; it's time for something fresh!

IMISTETFO YMPHILA
("Life skills" - that's kind of what we teach (although we are blessedly free to teach whatever we want - what fun!  Mostly, it seems, we talk about sex.))  We've discovered some rules of general application, which may be useful to others:
1)      The rule of unpredictability:  Whatever you dread will surprise you with delight.  But beware the class or trip you assume will go smoothly, just as it did last time - it will blow up in your face.
2)      Children change:  the 17-year-old non-speaking 200 lb tsotsi (thug) in the back of the class in 2014 can become a humorous foil and kind of fun in 2015.  And the bright young girl in the front row who would run up to greet you in 2013 can become moody and demanding in 2015.  Doesn't that happen with grown-ups, too?
3)      When a Swazi tells you one morning what she plans to do that afternoon ("I will join you for your class."), you can be fairly certain that it will occur.  A statement in the afternoon of what will be done the next day may be indicative of some likelihood of accuracy.  Any statement of activity beyond 18 hours is based mostly on the speaker's perception of what you want to hear, and relying on that as a commitment is pure fantasy.[i]
4)      It is so hard to put oneself in another's shoes because you don't know what you don't know.  Swazis have no idea their 4+ syllable 1st and 2nd names with the triple-consonant diphthongs in nearly every syllable are hard to remember.  And when they ask "Is it hot in America?" or "Do you grow maize, or have chickens, at your homestead in America?" they are just extrapolating from their experience - how would they know?
5)      When a Swazi asks you why there is so much bad weather in America, they want you to admit that Americans have been bad and God is punishing them.   They don't want to hear about the drought in Lubombo.
6)      There are certain items of universal application and utility, no one could survive without them:
             a.            Duct tape is amazing.  As our service winds down and we try to make groaning, tattered, worn-out goods make it to The End, we find duct tape repairs:  solar shower bags; bicycles; shoes; clothes; coffee mugs; backpacks.
             b.            Montreal Steak Seasoning, and Sriracha Hot Chilli Sauce - there are few things that are not improved with these.  Even the 4th night of rice and beans (no, that was 2 nights of beans and rice, alternating with rice and beans the other nights).
             c.             Dry red Tassenberg  5 liter box wine.  The taste of Mpaka (our village).  The bar up at the crossroads pretty reliably keeps a supply for me.  I provide them with free condoms, they sell me boxed Tassies!  Deal!
             d.            Salt and vinegar flavored Simba brand potato chips.  Our guilty secret.
             e.            Cardboard packing boxes make good furniture.  When we moved in I was taken aback when the domestic worker on the homestead at the time asked for the box the small refrigerator had come in, and I said, sure.  Big mistake.  Could have been a table.  I was quicker on the electric oven box - good bedside table, although sagging a bit, now.  But then, so am I.
             f.             A high capacity flash drive (at least 8 gig) - never leave home without it.  You never know when you'll see another PCV who has the last season of Mad Men or The Newsroom.  But, as a courtesy to your compatriots: keep a clean stick.  Scan and reformat every time - as we say in the public health biz, multiple concurrent partners spreads disease.
7)      What seems at first like an advantage - hey, everyone here speaks pretty good English - can turn out to hold you back: no one wants to hear me butcher siSwati, it's easier just to say it in English.
8)      Plumbing causes longevity.  I know, I know, correlation ≠ causation.  But Katherine has determined that every one of the 5 volunteers from our group who is extending for a 3rd year had indoor plumbing at their 2-year site.  Nam sayin'?  (That's a Trevor Noah formulation: "Know what I'm saying?"  Those of us from this part of the world are very proud of Noah, a really funny South African comedian, making it in The Big Time as new host of the Daily Show.)
9)      Listen to Katherine.  I learned this within days of our arrival.  She is the best PCV there has ever been.  Cheerful.  Clever in seeing what is needed and what resources could be brought to bear.  Capacious memory for names and minutiae of people met once, a year ago:  "And how is your son doing at Nazarene High School?"  Hardy.  So when she says "A good lesson plan would be . . . " or "Let's stop and visit Thembe," just do it.
10)   Old PC wisdom, helpfully passed down from one Returned PCV to another:  Don't let the Peace Corps spoil your Peace Corps experience.
LANGUAGE STRUGGLES
                We were tested twice on our acquisition of siSwati during our initial 9-week training.  At the end of that training, in August, 2013,  we both were rated "Intermediate Low".  I then spent hundreds of hours trying to learn siSwati vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation.  We were then tested at the Close of Service conference this May because many volunteers apply for jobs in international work and it is relevant how adept they became at the language here - some became quite facile.  (Also, the Peace Corps statute requires volunteers to become fluent in the local language.)  Katherine found keeping up with SiSwati discouraging, after all she took Latin, a dead language, in college to pass the language requirement.  She found her time was better spent on lesson plans and helping Swazis learn English.  She was grateful to make the language cut off during training, but alas went down in our final test.[ii] 
                At the end of two years of study, I got . . . the very same grade I'd received at the end of training: Intermediate Low.  Here is the report in all its brutal detail:
-able to formulate sentences on day to day issues such as family, travel, work, education and hobbies
-uses a lot of SiSwati words.
-answers are filled with reformulations, vocabulary and pronunciation are strongly  influenced by his heavy English accent
- can be understood by a sympathetic listener accustomed to working with non-natives
-able to ask and answer appropriate questions

Ceiling: 
- Breakdown[iii] at advanced level when asked to describe his house in SD
- Breakdown at advanced level when asked to differentiate his house in SD from that in the US
- Breakdown when asked to narrate about his visit to Mbabane, however was able to construct sentence when talking about his visit to Hlane

I spent hundreds of hours, 1/2 hour to 1 hour per day on this.  I'm actually a whole lot more conversant in siSwati now than I was 2 years ago, but the description above is pretty accurate for my current ability.  And it's  very discouraging.   (Our instructor in 2013 was under strict scrutiny (justifiably) and I think he wanted to juice his results, so my score in 2013 overstated my abilities;  good thing for me!)
                 I think the problem may have been that they tested me on the wrong subject matter. I've made a point of learning words for private body parts and their respective fluids, activities involving them, and the like, because saying those words in siSwati helps me make sure I'm understood and focus attention ("Did he really say what I think he said?"); remember, a big part of our subject matter is transfer of HIV.  So on the Language Proficiency Interview, why couldn't they have asked me about sexual intercourse - I know at least 4 different ways to say that! 


                PS:    There are no classes this week because the students are in end-of-2nd-term exams, so we are doing some last-time things, and treating ourselves.  At Hlane, the game park near our site we enjoy so much, we saw bird #253 (spectacled weaver) and some old friends:
a crested barbet
and black-headed oriole on an aloe bush - aloe bloom in mid-winter!
plus hoopoe, marabou stork, scarlet-chested sunbirds, black-collared barbet, and others.
 




[i]   Suppose I were to promise they could “borrow me your bicycle?”
[ii]   This is Mark:  I'd gladly trade whatever I can remember of the top 300 most frequently used expressions in siSwati for Katherine's instant recall of names, faces, interests, and family members of practically everyone she meets.
[iii]   I think "breakdown" here refers to vocabulary and grammar lapses.  Not emotional instability.  At least, I think not.

1 comment:

  1. Lovely read, Mark. Looks like you and Katherine learned as much as you taught. ;)

    Best,
    Monika

    ReplyDelete