talked to su su

I talked to sus just now and this is what she said:

She's at a volunteers house right now, while she's checking out the new site that she'll be at for 2 years.

at the new place there is a little baby 2-3month old goat. it's the size of a small cat but with longer legs. she named it Annabelle. people there don't really pet animals, and sus really wanted to fit in and not be rude or anything, so she didnt pet Annabelle. But today she was writing in her journal and Annabelle was pretty close, so Sus got a piece of grass and waved it so Annabelle would come eat it, she would walk a couple feet and then lay down, and sus would wave the grass, and annabelle would walk another couple feet and then lay down, finally sus just walked over to her, and annabelle nuzzled her and wanted to be pet and loved on. so sus loved on her. annabelle nibbled on her fingers and ate the grass. she has teeth like ninnah (sus's pug in OK). and she has a mouth like schnoozeberry (when schnooze has no beard). she's really dirty, so when sus gets there full time, she'll give her a bath if she's allowed :).

the people don't really use goats for milk, they kind of use animals like a bank, if they need money, they just sell one, or if it's a special occasion, they will kill a goat/cow to eat.
her family uses a cow for milk but not a goat. when sus gets into her permanant place, she will have a goat and use it for milk and chickens and use them for eggs.

their mom said she could have a hen and cock to start out in their new place. i asked her how they would transport a chicken on a bus, and sus said people just put them in a plastic bag and tie them up, but have their head sticking out, she said it's the weirdest thing :).

Nsubane is where they are right now (and will be their perm. place soon); they are just there trying to get used to it.
They catch a bus that goes into the community and there are only 1-2 busses that go from where there is shopping/groceries/post office/internet to their community.
they drive on a tar road for 20 minutes, thn some busses drop them off there, 1 will take them down a gravel road 5 KM. they will get off and then walk 3km (30 minutes) to their place.
they will only see 2-3 homesteads, it's really spread out and really rural.

they have powerlines that just got put up 3 months ago, but none of them are connected.
people only have power now if they have a solar panel or generator.

their house (if they get electricity) will have a light and a plug :)

her family is:
a mom and a dad; a brother and his wife (about sus's age); 18 yo girl; 15 yo girl; lots of kiddos.
the dad's brother is the chief.
in swaziland there is a king & chiefs of big regions & chiefs of little regions, the dad's bro is the chief of their little region and is also president of several different churches that are zionest priest churches (a charismatic christian church with traditional african things).

no one speaks english in the family and onloy 1-2 people in the community do.
she said it's hard but they like it.
her dad didnt go to school. and some kids even now dont get to go to school b/c of not having enough $ or b/c they have to stay and farm all day.
everyone is a farmer.

sunday they met the chief and today they had to go back to his house and say they were leaving, but would be back soon.

the life expectancy is only 35, because of AIDS.

the chief is in his 60's, but she sayd he's super old.
when they went to his house it was like Indiana Jones, they walked up and he was sitting around a fire with a stick and wrapped up in a blanket with all his wifes at his feet; and they rolled out a mat for sus and chris to sit on. they had to whisper and kinda keep their head bowed. they had to follow a strict protocol and only speak when he spoke to them. she said he was very nice though. she said his big toe sticks out at a 90 degree angle, and it's soooo weird.
and sometimes the people change clothes; and when they saw him next, he had changed clothes and had somehow crammed his toe into a pair of converse :) she said a lot of people wear converse :).

when the chief comes into a room, all the men stand up, and one will sing his praise.

their house is small with 2 small rooms. its made out of rock and cement, with a tin roof. on the inside there are rocks covered with cement, like a cave.

it's really pretty where they are. it's different weather b/c there arent any mountains. it's sunnier, hotter, and drier. there is a mountain range 1 km behind them and that's the border of South Africa. you can see for miles and miles b/c its so flat.

water is an issue there, sometimes people have to walk for several km to get water. unless there is rain water. they have pumps for water, but you never know when they work and when they will break. they make their roofs slanted and they go into a gutter that leads into a tank to hold the water. sus and chris will use a filter.

to bathe, she has a 2.5ft across basin that she gets into and heats water up and pour it on yourself, but she sayd you never really get THAT clean. she will have a sink for their gray water and use it to water their garden when they get one. she says most people bathe 2x/day. and the place she is now, the people are really clean, and they even iron their clothes.

how do they iron you ask??? that have irons that you can put coals into, but her family has an electric iron. she says her new family will probably not iron clothes.

the can keep food for a couple days (since to fridge) in tupperware (yes they have tupperware). sus and chris bought metal-ware. and she says they try to just make enough food to eat, and try not to have to save it. but since it's cold where they are now, it's not a problem, but when they go to the new place, they can probably leave it on the floor on the cement that will stay colder or in water.

they do drink coffee there, but the locals drink nescafe instant coffee, and sus introduced fresh coffee to her mom, and she liked it.

she needs:
dresses that are to her knees or lower that are sleeveless/tanktop
theyre good on food :)

more updates soon!!!

letter #2 from sus

she mailed it on July 19th.... I got it today :(

Sister,

Hello! We just got your package yesterday! We were the first to get one! It was so exciting opening it and first of all finding my beloved Obama (sent a felt your own obama)! I can't wait to tickle it, and chocolate bar #1 is already gone! AND nori, we made sushi already last night and shared a little with our sis and bro. They loved it! We used avocado inside, did you know it was avocado season here? which means if you do have to buy them, they are $0.25, but our family keeps giving them to us, and they are delicious! we eat like 3 a day! we also get fresh lettuce, cabbage, chard, and tomatoes from neighbors. we have been super busy, sundays (today) are really our only free days and all the others are filled with language, cultures, community building, and health classes. we wake up about 6am, it gets light then, eat breakfast, usually boiled eggs or oatmeal, its super cold in the morning. we are supposed to bathe every morning, but its too cold, so sometimes we boil water for a bath; we get lunch together, either leftovers or boiled potatoes, eggs, and avocados. then we head to school, either in our village or a 10 minutes kumbi (van) ride away. My Swazi name is Nosipho Mkhonta and Chris's is Sibosiso. We have a make (mom), and 3 bhutis (brothers) and 1 sisi. they are really wonderful to us and take great care of us. we have already gotten pretty close to some of the other volunteers. Nancy is from michigan, she was an art major and is so sweet. Brook is from Idaho and reminds me of someone I would already be friends with. There are some older couples too. There are 7 couples total. We should have talked by the time you get this b/c we get our phone Thursday. I love you so much and miss you already.
Love,
Sus

in addition

oh i forgot, sus can now get on facebook from her internet phone,
so you can facebook her, but not email.

also, if you want to send her a package she wants:
fair trade chocolate
organic tea
pictures
and i cant think of anything else now.

we got to talk again!!!!!

oh yes ma'am. that is Sam (sus's friend from 4th grade), sus, mom, and me.

we were about to go to frontier city.

i am pretty sure they were in 4th grade, i was in 7th.

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anyway, i got to talk to sus Sunday morning.

it was tricky calling this time, b/c when it's cloudy there, she doesn't get great reception :).

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these are the things we talked about:

-she met a girl Brooke, from Idaho, and she likes her.

-when we were talking she had just walked Brooke home, and she and Chris were walking back to their house, and she was talking to people on the road in their language, and she was so cute. she was telling them she was talking to me :).

-i got to talk to her host sister (17), and she was so nice, and her English is great! she is graduating from HS soon, and applying to universities in USA and England!

-they are living in a cement structure with a tin roof & NO ELECTRICITY! which i had no idea, until i hear sus say "oh hey Chris, can you hand me a candle". and i said, do you have electricity, and she said, no. and she has an outhouse like thing for a bathroom. but i don't know about a shower.

-they have been eating "regular food" she says. it's the end of avocado season, so they are eating at least 1 each a day. and a lot of oranges. they are growing chard and kale and cabbage and eating a lot of that. and making a lot of soups b/c she says they are comfort food. when she went to the capital last week, she got to get garbanzo beans for hummus, which she was pumped b/c their grocery store only has 1 kind of bean. so she made hummus and naan (which i guess she just smashed the beans by hand? ill have to ask her... i am only assuming they do not have some kind of solar powered blender). they have this sour milk like thing that's like yogurt, and she made cheese from that. they made tomato soup too. the grocery store is a 20 minute ride from where they are and they can only go about 1/week. the peace corps gives them about $40-50 per week for food and transportation. and the food prices are comparable to the US food prices. The only veggies they have are what's in season, obviously. she also made cookies the other night. I will have to ask what kind of stove they have and how it works.

-in their house they have no heat or anything, but she said they stay warm (it's like 40* at night). and the other day it rained ALL day, so they were inside ALL DAY :(.

-the women that are married typically have long braided hair with some extensions braided in. the younger girls typically shave their heads, sus thinks it kinda for their school uniform. oh and the women usually cover their heads with something, i think kinda like a wrap.

-since it's winter, it's been getting dark at 6pm.

-there was a couple they were emailing back and forth with in the peace corps, and they found out they will be close to them when they get to their permanent site. so hopefully they will get to meet up with them.

-their perm. site is in between Big Bend & La Bunesa (you can see Big Bend on the Swazi map on google maps. It's in the SE corner of Swaziland. They are about an hour from the coast.

and apparently it's Hot and Dry (which will be just fine for susy).

-Peace Corps hasn't placed someone there in 5 years, but the people of the village have been requesting someone. And are excited they will have people!

-They say it will be hard b/c it's hot and about an hour walk from any kind of main road to be able to meet up with transportation. But i think sus and chris like that.

-They will be staying in a mud brick house with a tin roof an possibly electricity. it looks to be the same size place they are living in now, about 2 rooms.

-they will be able to have a garden and goats and chickens.

-they will be able to teach how to community garden

-and be able to work with pregnant mommas

-and chris should be able to work with sexually abused people and gender issues

-wed or thursday they will meet up with the peace corps person and travel with them to the site and stay for about 5 days.

-she seems really excited!!!

-it was so good to talk to her :)

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on another note, i got to skype bethany last night for an hour at Shellie's house.

we got to talk about everything! She loves it but doesn't love it at the same time. she's learning a lot AND a lot more in a week than she ever could in the US. She's really excited for Stephen to come, he leaves Thursday. And will get there Saturday morning. She said the food is good, but the city is SOOOOOO dirty. She said the GROSSEST thing by far was in the OR she was observing a surgery, and you know, you have to be sterile and what not, but instead of shoe coverings like we have here, they have shoes that stay in the OR that are open toed rubber sandal like things, and they NEVER CLEAN THEM, other people wear them, and then you have to wear them, EWWWW. and i mean, how sanitary is that, to be wearing USED open toed shoes in the OR?????

su su called!!!!!

sus called me today!!!!
(well actually a couple times yesterday, but i missed the calls b/c i was working).
and i cried myself to sleep b/c i missed her so much.
so i worked all day with my phone in my pocket just in case.
i bought a calling card this morning at 4am (at work, online)
and tried to call her, but she hadnt given me all the phone number (b/c when she was leaving a message, her phone cut her off).
so i called at 4am, which was 12 noon there.
but it didnt work.
so at noon my time, she called! it didnt work the first 2 times, and i dont know why.
but on her third time calling, i got her voice, and she said to call her back.
so i did, but it was still the wrong #
she finally called me back and said, what's wrong, we compared #s, and she gave me
the last 3 digits i was missing.
i called her back and we talked 30 minutes!!!!
highlights of convo:
she loves it
their health is good
only diarrhea once
living with a host family that speaks english
family has a grandma and 5 kids, 22, 17, 8, and 2 younger ones
they are really nice
sus and chris make them popcorn every night and they love it
they made them pizza the other night and they loved it!
they saw a zebra this morning
they are living outside of Mbabane, in Piggs Peak (you can see it on google maps)
she said it's cold in the morning and night and HOT in the daytime
it's winter there
they are having classes on language in the village everyday
she loves the language but its really hard, but she's good at saying, "hi how are you"
they went to the city today and got to go to a big grocery store
she got good cheese which they havent had in awhile.
she said they didnt have cumin, so i am sending her some.
their staple foods are pretty much the same, but we didnt talk about what else they had.
everyone else is gaining weight, but she's losing it, but doesnt look bad.
she may want us to send her soy bean seeds, but isnt sure what/when
she finds out saturday where she will be placed and her job, she's excited.
the got chris a cell phone and it's super cheap, and she's getting her cell "unlocked" so she can talk internationally, and her's will have the internet. but she says she may not be able to email from it, only facebook. she will see. but i asked dad to figure out how to get her an iphone, sus said that iphones work well with email.
the country is so small she gets cell reception everywhere :).
she misses us all and loves us all.
she has been getting our letters and packages, so keep em coming.
she loves organic fair trade chocolate & nori wraps (seaweed) & dr bronners soap &
also wants pictures to be send, as they can't see them on internet (internet is sooo slow she said, at the internet cafes i guess).
so that's why they need an internet phone.
so no skype from her for now. but we can use skype or calling cards (i got mine on the internet for 14 cents a min). comfi.com or something like that.
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that is all for now
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shalom

letter from sus

sowubona sisi,
(hello sister)

I miss you already! How are things going? There is a nurse thats a volunteer with us, so i cant miss you too much. We go stay with a host fmaily for 9 week during training. I love the language so far, we havent spoken much yet, but just wait. There's a girlwho is interested in pregnant women and nutrition and babies! Oh I cant wait to start everything. If you havent mailed anything yet, will you throw in some ginger people ginger chews? thanks sis. I will write more soon.

Love,
Sus
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yeah!!!!!!!! so good to hear from her!
she mailed it on 7.6.09 and i got it today, not too bad!

sister bear

sus and chris wrote us an email!

Hey everyone, we're still missing you down here. We've been in training for about 2 12 weeks. Things are really busy right now and it's hard to get to the internet. soon though we will buy phones and will be able to communicate as often as we want. we are planning to get an internet phone so we can email often. It'll be cheaper if you can call us with skype or an internet phone card. (younger people liz, erin can you help the parents with this maybe).
can't wait to talk to you guys,
love you
sus and chris

yeah!!! theyre safe!!!!

i miss this girl

i miss this girl and it's only been 15 days :(