Thursday, January 17, 2008

Pre-Service Training

  • February 1 We arrive at Johannesburg and head to the town of Mokopane. We stay in Mokopane for 9 days. During those 9 days we are living in barracks, getting interviewed, and assigned to a "language group" which is very important, and could be pretty arbitrary, since what language you're assigned to determines where you'll be working and who with. Right now the two language groups that I've been informed of are Sepedi and Afrikaans (though there are a couple of other languages that might be taught.) Sepedi is a Bantu language of Northern South Africa. Afrikaans is a Germanic language (bought over by the Boers who settled in South Africa in the 19th Century, and is the most wide spread "home language" in South Africa. It is now spoken by both whites and non-whites) and should be much easier to pick up, but I'm not sure which way I want it to go or which way it will go.

  • Feburary 10 We go to the next part of training which is the "homestay" where we're trained while living with a family. The entire group will be living in the rural Bakenberg area which i guess is kind of far from urban areas. During the homestay we are supposed to become as immersed in the host families' routines as we can and participate in the communites' activities.

  • April 3 is the end of my pre-service training, after which I'm assigned to my project. At some point afterwards I will probably be able to access the internet and purchase a cell phone. And of course I can start doing what I came over to do!

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