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