TOMBSTONE UNVEILING

Often a tombstone is not finished and installed until long after a person has been buried. My host uncle passed away last year, in January. This year the tombstone was unveiled in a festive celebration, (in contrast to the more solemn occasion of the funeral).

This is the cemetery in my village. It lies just on the edge, and is used by many surrounding villages.

Here is the family surrounding the new tombstone.

A woman must cover here head and her arms in the cemetery, and men must cover their arms. This can be a challenge in 100 degree heat. Here my host niece is retying little Tshoga's head covering. We are at my host aunt's house, having completed the unveiling, so the dress code is dropped and you can take of your sweaters.

Here are some of the distinguished matrons of the community.

A cow was slaughtered for a celebratory feast.

Even a brass band was hired. They played on and off all day, lounging under trees to escape the heat in the interim. Every time they played-we danced!

Here we are dancing.

Here I am showing Tshoga my sweet moves.

DECEMBER TRAVELS

Our December holiday here is like summer vacation. I took advantage of all the time off from school to travel around South Africa with some fellow volunteers. Here we are riding ponies.

The villages in this area are much smaller and less developed than the one I live in. They are groups of 50-60 people.

This waterfall was so beautiful, it's no wonder Tolkien based the setting for the Lord of The Rings off his experiences in South Africa.

This is a spot where the water has carved out little pools. We had a lot of fun swimming in the pools, and also quite an adventure finding them. We were guided by local children on and around some perilous cliffs.

This is Kosi Bay, just south of the border with Mozambique. You can't access this beach without a 4x4. They don't want to build roads because they are trying to preserve the natural environment of the area. The beach was sparsely populated, and fantastically beautiful. We snorkeled and saw a wide range of colorful saltwater fish.

We spent one evening tracking down maternal sea turtles venturing out of the ocean (something they do only for this occasion) to lay eggs in the sand.

We stayed on a nature and game reserve in Swaziland that didn't have any dangerous predators. We were able to walk around and mingle with the impala, zebra, wildebeest, springbok, warthogs, and the like. There was a good water spot for viewing hippos and looking for crocodiles as well.

It was a momentous occasion to see a lioness close up in Kruger National Park, where they animals roam free (and people stay in their cars). She crouched, and we waited breathlessly for her to take off after some unsuspecting impala. Suddenly, she laid down and decided to take a rest. But it was an amazing sighting none the less!

CHASTITY's VISIT

I was so lucky to get a visit from Chastity here in South Africa! She came in mid November and stayed for three weeks. She visited Nigeria to see her father's side of the family for the first time, and took a side trip south to see me. We stayed a week in Pretoria, the capital city, where she caught up on some Americanisms (shopping malls, restaurants, and double cheeseburgers). We celebrated Thanksgiving in the Ambassador's house feasting on butter ball turkeys and cutting a rug (he and his wife--both charmers!).

Then we went to Coffee Bay, nestled in a rural part of Kwazulu Natal, it's famous as a great spot to surf. It was 12 hour over-night bus ride, and Chastity had the flu. She's resilient! She made the best of it--we climbed the rocky outcrops and braved some intense waves. We both came back scarred, but happy. Here are some cows enjoying the beach.

After Coffee Bay we rented a car with 2 other volunteers, Kelsey and Jillian, and headed to Kruger National Park to see some wild animals. This elephant started walking straight towards our car. Just as we were starting to really panic it nonchalantly veered around us and continued on down the road. This is a photo out of our dirty back window as it turned off into the trees. Chastity did a good job of resisting hanging out the window and filming the whole thing-they say the sound of cameras can enrage a elephant, (mad elephant=flat car).

After Kruger we went back to my village and hosted a Girls' Leadership Camp for one week. We played a lot of games (especially bingo), and we taught them the electric slide. They used markers for the first time to draw pictures of the things they are good at, and their future goals. They made beaded necklaces, and on Thursday we invited the girls' mothers and aunts to come see them perform the electric slide, play bingo, and be presented with a beaded necklace.

Here we are doing a trust exercise that involved falling into the groups arms and being conveyor belted down to the end. The girl falling had to say "TRUST," and the group would respond "WE GOTCHA!" That became the motto of our camp, at any moment you could yell out "TRUST!", and be assured a "WE GOTCHA!"

On Friday we all took a field trip to the public pool in the closest town, Tzaneen. It was the first time most of the girls had ever swam, or even seen a pool. They loved it! It must be a universal characteristic of young people to love swimming.

Taxi rides to and fro field trips are always much more intense than any dance club I've ever been in! Here the girls are rocking out to some popular local music and the hit remix of "Time After Time."

The village, my host family in particular, loved Chastity. They miss her almost as much as I do. You only have to say her name to solicit longing sighs and far away looks of nostalgia. Who else could steal the heart of a village in less than a week?!

Wedding Gift Update*-*-*-*-*

I'm sorry I've been a bad blog-keeper. I should have let everyone know right away the good news about the wedding gift, which did make it to Aaron and Jill! Also notable, they thoroughly enjoyed their honeymoon in Mexico.