7/2/11
“Mukhuwa! Mukhuwa!”
Today was another day filled to the brim. Woke up early this lovely Saturday morning for a full day in the field. On our way, Jon dropped me off at the print shop to get copies of the calendar made while he went to Univen to pick up the students and the coolers. While I was at the print shop…alone…I got two marriage proposals from the guys working there. I declined, and they proceeded to ask to come back to the States with me, tried to give me their phone numbers, and asked me out on dates. It just goes to show you that guys have no shame no matter where they’re from… Argh.
We got to Tshapasha, checked in with the chief, and then split up into two teams. My team went to four households before lunch, and three more after lunch. On our way back, I heard kids screaming “Mukhuwa! Mukhuwa!” – the word for “white person” in Venda. So, I turned and waved at them. As I kept walking, I turned around and saw that they were following us. We waited on them and Kwhatiso took a really cute picture of us:
After we checked out with the chief, we took the samples back to Univen and worked in the lab for the rest of the evening. We also got some results of yesterday’s test. E. coli is everywhere, and the amount of total coliform is ridiculous. Especially on people’s hands. And it turns out that the amount of bacteria before and after hand-washing is not statistically different. One lady refused to participate in the hand-washing test today because she “didn’t feel like washing her hands.”
We grabbed pizza for dinner since we were in the lab so late, and right now I’m enjoying not being on my feet. I was supposed to leave at 6:20am to have a meeting with the two chiefs, but I was just informed that I get to sleep in! For the first time! So now I’m going to enjoy all the sleep I can get while I still can!
7/3/11
First Day Off
It was so nice to be able to sleep in today. Even with no alarm set, I woke up a little after 7. But I forced myself to go back to sleep. I woke up again at 8:15, so I just got up. Thankfully I did because Caroline came by and asked if I wanted to go to the gym. I took my iPod and went to the aerobics room upstairs. Africa got a taste of Jazzercise! I felt better instantly as I started doing the routines. After the gym and a shower, I sat outside reading with most of the ceramic filter team. I’m reading “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.” It’s about the HeLa cells, and how they helped develop so much – from the polio vaccine to cell culture. It’s neat because we’re culturing all the samples, so it’s cool to see how much the field has developed since the ‘50s and ‘60s.
After reading for a while, we (that’s me plus the ceramic filter team) went to “The Big Tree” – a gigantic Baobab tree that’s supposedly 3501 years old. On the way there, we stopped at a sketchy gas station to get “vat koeks” which are fried dough balls. We brought jam, and it was actually pretty good. At the tree, we took jumping pictures, and too many David posing pictures.
Once we got back, I went to dinner at Nando’s with the ceramic team. They’re a lot of fun, so hopefully I’ll be able to hang out with them more once the work dies down a bit. I finished the night by labeling and filling more bags for samples. Tomorrow and Tuesday should be our last long days for a while. And thankfully, next Saturday, I’ll be joining the ceramic team to a trip to Kruger!!!
7/5/11
Hakuna Matata
Let’s start with yesterday. The 4th of July. It was supposed to be an awesome day celebrating America while abroad. Well, let’s just say that it wasn’t all that awesome to start. We were supposed to leave at 7:30am to go to Univen to distribute lunch money to all the students. So I got up at 6:45 to get ready. Once I was ready, at 7:15 I sat down for breakfast. I had just poured myself a cup of hot tea, and as I scooted it closer, it spilled. All over me, the table, and the floor in the kitchen. By the time I cleaned it all up, I had just sat back down to eat my oatmeal when Jon knocked on the door asking if I was ready to go. So, I shoved spoonfuls of oatmeal in my mouth as fast as I could and left for Univen. When we got there, the ATMs weren’t working for some reason, and in order to pay the ABM team, we needed cash. We got to the meeting place, and there was no electricity. After we paid the students, we went to look for more buckets to make our water storage containers while we waited for Elly and Kwhatiso to arrive. We looked for the buckets at Venda Plaza, which is a little bit scary. It’s so crowded with small shops, vendors, and SO many people. We had no luck with the buckets, so we just headed to the villages. Oh, it was also really cold and raining. I left my coat at Acacia Park.
Once we finally got to the villages, we split up – me and Elly, and Jon and Kwhatiso. I don’t think we ever got in the groove because we had trouble finding houses, and we spent forever at each home. The other teams weren’t having fantastic days either. We finished up at the villages at 5, and then we had to go to the lab. Univen still didn’t have electricity, but the lab was running on a generator. Only a few things were working in the lab, but Jon insisted that we stay to finish our work… Even though it was 4th of July and there was a bry going on at Acacia. We didn’t trust the incubators because of the power outage, so we rigged up a small travel incubator to take back with us. When we had about 30 minutes of work left, the generator stopped working and we were left completely in the dark. But we still worked. The little flashlight on my cheap phone came in handy. Finally, at 9pm, we were back safely.
Thankfully, Molly saved me a plate, so I still got some of the bry food for the 4th. Some Univen students were here, so we all hung out by the grill, listening to very American music. Jack had on his very patriotic shirt that looked just like the American flag. The Univen students left, and there were still several of us hanging out on the porch.
A lot of laughs were exchanged, with several renditions of the national anthem. Then we realized that it was going to be Jimmy’s birthday at midnight. So we all waited up 45 minutes to go sneak in his chalet and surprise him at midnight. We went in blasting music, and then sang “Happy Birthday.” Then we all put our arms around each other and sang the national anthem once again. Pretty hilarious, and definitely a lot of fun.
So, my first 4th of July out of the country ended up to be a success after all…
(a few hours later…)
I just finished work for the day. It’s 12:30am. This morning I didn’t have to go into the field because Jon thought I needed a break since I’ve worked so much. So, this morning, I stayed here with Rose and Kimie to make more buckets. Once we were finished with that, we were supposed to fill more sample bags because the original ones had holes in them. In order to do that, though, we needed to boil water and wait for it to cool. Kimie and Rose have practicals tomorrow so they wanted to leave to prepare. After they left, I had a little time to chill while I waited on the water to cool… (no pun intended). Oh, and did I mention that the original leaky bags were on mine and Erin’s beds before I realized they had holes? Yeahhh…
When the rest of the team returned from the field, I had to go to the lab to filter and culture the samples from today. It wasn’t bad – we were only there for an hour and a half. After relaxing for a bit when we got back from the lab, I thought I’d give the bags another try. They. ALL. Leaked. So, until a few minutes ago, we were trying to figure out how to sample the last 12 households. Now that almost everything is sorted out, it’s bed time!
No comments:
Post a Comment