this is africa

Training is over. I am now living in my own three room house in a tiny village about an hour away from Pretoria. An hour away really makes the difference. I use a pit toilet and have to keep buckets of water stored just incase they turn off the tap water. BUT I love it. Now that I have all of my stuff in my new place it is starting to feel like home. I looove my new host family. They are awesome and really nice. For my first few days at site they have really made me feel welcomed. Its weird because in some ways this place feels sooo much like guam. My house feels like an older relative's house that I would visit during parties. I still need to purchase a hot plate and a mini fridge and then my place will be set. When I went grocery shopping for the first time I was exhausted and bought a random assortment of food including beans, tuna, rice, flour, peanutbutter, sugar, bread and oatmeal. My family asked what I was going to bake with the flour and I said I didn't know...it just seemed like something I should have. Next time I'm bringing a list. There have been some spiders but not to big, I don't know if I rather have more little ones or fewer giant ones. I have two cans od raid though so I just chase them around spraying. I decided to commit to going to church on a regular basis. It is a roman catholic church and its only an hour long, I don't ever go to church but hey what else better do I have to do on a sunday. Also the singing is soooo beautiful and it doesn't start till 11! Free bird just came on my itunes and how appropriate. Well just wanted to tell the internet that I'm happy, healthy and having fun. The next three months I will figure out what I'll be doing here.

Sorry for the stream of thoughts...typing on a blackberry isn't the best...

PS never ever ever ever take advantage of running water. How I miss flush toilets, sinks and showers...