Month of Retreats

The month of June, I spent nearly every weekend on a retreat/workshop. The first workshop was with PC for our COS (Close of Service), the second was a spiritual retreat by an organization in America called the Family Foundation, and the third was a ladies retreat with the women of my church. I had a lot of fun bonding with the people on the trip and seeing some amazing sites of Swaziland and South Africa.

COS Conference at Maguga Dam. Situated in the North Western corner of Swaziland, the Maguga Dam is one of the most beautiful sites in the country, if not the best. It is covered with the highest mountains and lowest valleys. The dam is just below the town of Piggs Peak, which is the area known for their forest. I went there with all the PCVs who I came with in 2012. It was our final workshop where we learned about our next steps as we go back into the real world. We learned about the opportunities we have as a RPCV, the resources, and the community. We also learned about all the stuff that still needs to be done. I still need to do two more reports at least, have a couple exit interviews, poop in a cup, get tested for HIV, return my fake penis model, and get rid of my cats. Thankfully I have 2 more months to figure that all out.

This was by far the nicest facility where PC has ever held a workshop for us. It was our reward for finishing up our service. We ate a lot, and played a lot, and took more than our fare share of pictures. The last day we all sat in a circle and wrapped string around our wrist, where we were all attached. As we sat in silence, we realized that this was the last time we will all be Group 10 together. After our moment of solace, we cut the string and tied it on our wrist. Eventually the string will fall off, and when it does, we will have moved on.

 

Ancient Paths Weekend at Mabuda Farms. I spent the weekend at Mabuda Farms, which is a beautiful Bed and Breakfast owned by a wonderful couple that goes to my church. They hosted this workshop that is initially from the states. I had never heard of it before, but apparently they have a huge overseas base. The workshop was about the power of blessings within your family. I was the only single young adult there, and I also had no children, so for me the weekend was more about learning and soaking in the information, rather than a “breakthrough”. I really did enjoy it and plan on utilizing the information when I do decided to have a family. They also did a session where we learned about our names. In Hebrew tradition, there was a name ceremony. They applied that same concept and told us how special our names our and how they reflect us. My name was spot on. Taylor, which I always knew was “a tailor, or someone to mend clothes”. It also means, “to cut, or covenant”. I applied that to God having his covenant with me. The attributes are also that I am a creative person. I wish I could write more about it, but I don't have the exact information on me as a write this. Then my middle name, Noelle means “Christmas” which I already knew. It also means “bringer of good news”. I look at were I am and what I want to do with my life and it totally applies. The attributes associated with that name are cheerful and adventurous. Kudos mom for naming me!

Women of Strength Conference in Mdloti, South Africa. This was by far my favorite place, mainly because I was right on the beach! I spent the weekend with 24 wonderful women from my church. The theme of the weekend was Women of Strength. The biblical example used were, Deborah, Ruth, and Abigail. I loved this retreat, because it was based on everything I've been doing here- empowering women. Our pastor encouraged the women to be bold and strong, to have a can-do attitude, to be humble, and patient, to be inspired, and to always let God lead you. We spent time going to Durban, and there we went to Ushaka Sea World as well as the harbor. The weather didn't cooperate with us until the last day, but that was perfect. Our final day we had a church service and communion on the beach. Looks like I can cross that one off my bucket list!

Home for the Holidays

I was very blessed to come home to America for the holidays. I spent a total of 19 days in the states and stayed moving the entire time. Before the wheels of the plane touched down in Ohio, I had already traveled 24 hours; so when I step foot on American soil, I was both emotionally exhausted and tired. So much so, that I cried during my first meal, this consisted of soup, salad, breadsticks, and peach tea at Olive Garden.  Yes, I was a mess. My trip home was great, but I was disappointed in some aspects. For starters, I realized I am missing my “bear fat”. When I left Swaziland, it was high 90’s, and for my time in America, it was as cold as -6! Although I longed for the cold weather that an Ohio winter brings, my body was rejecting the freezing temperatures. As a result, I didn’t enjoy the weather as much as I had anticipated. The second thing was that the time was too short. I didn’t get to see nearly as many people as I had hoped for. I was really only limited to a few family members. So any of my friends reading this, just know that I love you, and I will definitely make a plan to see all of you when I am back, that is if you haven’t forgotten about me. This leads me to my next point.

I was surprised by how no one really asked about my life over here. I shared very little about my experience, aside for the 30 minutes I presented in church. Sure people asked how I was, and how I like it over there. But my response was “fine” and “a lot”. I felt like once people realized I was ok and I wasn’t getting chased by lions, they were satisfied. I honestly was never asked to go into detail about what was going on over there. Sure, people know I volunteer and teach at a school, and they may have been somewhat informed by reading my blog. However, there is so much more I wanted to share in person with everyone, which could never be expressed on the blog. It was simple things that I wanted to share really, the detailed information of Swazi culture, personal stories of people who have affected my life here, and what the places I’ve traveled to look like. I had been warned to be prepared for this- people not wanting to listen to “swazi this” and “swazi that” all the time, but I feel like I really didn’t do much of that anyways. It’s true; this is really my own experience.

Now that I got that out of the way, I can say that I did have an enjoyable time. The biggest shocker was how big my niece and nephews have gotten. I need them to stop growing, like right now. I’m glad I got to spend time with them. I took the two oldest ones bowling and for ice cream, and I had the youngest one the majority of the time. I was also fortunate to see one of my spiritual mentors’ for coffee and chat for a few hours about our different ministries. After a week in Ohio, I went to North Carolina for three days, and then spent another day in Virginia visiting my old stomping grounds at Liberty University.  Then finally beating the snow storm that was on our heels, made it back safely to Ohio.

There were some things that I really missed about both places, because I am a PCV, most of these are food related. I missed buying Starbucks coffee from a convenience store, Chipotle, and proper customer service. What I missed from Swaziland was the fresh food. I looked in my mom’s freezer to find frozen dehydrated eggs. Like seriously?? I guess I am so use to everyone having a chicken, including me, that lay fresh eggs.  When I went to Sam’s Club, I had to take a picture at how much they charge for mangos! True to fashion, the final day was spent we me frantically packing and doing all the last minute shopping. I swear procrastination suits me. I will say that I successfully packed everything, except for my camera charger. Ncesi, no pictures to post anytime soon.

Kwa Zulu Natal

A couple weeks ago I got to spend some time in South Africa. I went to Johannesburg and Durban. SA is so different from Swaziland in terms of infrastructure. I honestly thought like I was in America. It was the closest to home I had been in 9 months. What made the trip even better was that I had Jason with me. We spent two days in Johannesburg—we went to the Apartheid Museum, World Cup Stadium, saw the Nelson Mandela bridge, went to a rooftop African market, and I saw my first McDonalds since being here. Since Joburg has a notorious reputation for being a dangerous city, we skipped walking through the city and stuck to our rental car. I really loved the museum. It still blows my mind that Apartheid ended within my life time just 20 years ago. The museum also had a nice Nelson Mandela exhibit which was interesting. Seeing the museum came at a perfect time for me. Currently in my class I am talking about human rights, xenophobia and the difference between race and culture. I wish I could have brought my students with me for this. The trip to Joburg was short lived, but I loved. 

              

Driving 5 hours through the Drakensburg Mountains was such a beautiful site to Durban. Again, I am so glad I am glad we decided on a rental car—public transportation on vacation just doesn’t seem like a vacation to me. Coming into Durban, I was taken aback by how similar it looked like an American costal city. Another unexpected surprise was just how many Indians were there; apparently Durban has the second largest population of Indians next to India.  Either way Durban was great. The weather was a little too gloomy and windy for my taste, so we only hit the ocean one day. Durban is also known for its great surf. The movie Blue Crush 2 was actually filmed there. So instead of swimming, we stood on the pier watching the surfers. The sites we saw in Durban were Ushaka Marine World and the Moses Mabhida World Cup Stadium, and my favorite—Gateway Mall! I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. You could have left me in that mall for the entire week and I would be completely happy. Apparently some things never change no matter what continent you are on.

    

After a week in SA, I took Jason back to Swaziland with me for week. As far as the animals are concerned, they couldn’t have been more cooperative. When we got to the boarder we saw a monkey, some zebras, and a family of warthogs crossing the road. This set the mood for a fun week in the kingdom. To sum up the week in SD, we went to Hlane Royal Game Reserve and saw hippos and rhinos; then we stayed at Magadzavane lodge were we had a family of monkeys outside our window in the morning as well as a highly venomous scorpion on our bedroom floor. Then on the drive to my village, we saw a family of giraffes on the side of the road. As Swazi culture permits, we ate meat nearly every night. I swear Jason is going to go back to the states thinking we have braai’s every day—I blame my sisi Lulu who spoiled us this week.  I also took Jason to the cultural village where he got to see the traditional dancing, clothes, and houses that are still practiced throughout the country [except in my utopia of a village].

               

On Saturday my community was celebrating Earth Hour were we turned off the lights between 8:30-9:30. It was fun for him to see an activity take place in my village. Wednesday and Thursday I brought Jason to the school where he could see me teach and meet my students. I couldn’t help but laugh at everyone’s reaction; they couldn’t believe he was a black American and that he spoke English. Of course alllll the girls loved him and the boys wanted to add him on FB. Since he has left they still ask about him. He surely made an impression. 

Overall it was a good week and I am glad I got a feel of home for a little bit. It was just what I needed now that I am a third of the way through.