How I got here.

Via an airplane silly!

No. As the Easter holiday rolls around, I am reminded of how I spent Easter two years ago. A friend of mine from Brazil had invited me to share dinner at a gathering of Brazilians living in East Central Illinois. She had been encouraging me to travel abroad. I was growing weary of my life in Champaign. A recognized member of the youthful nightlife composed of mostly of service industry workers and graduate students, I found many of the friendships to be superficial, needlessly dramatic, and lacking in charm or variety. I remember her telling me, "Tim, people in other places are not like people here." The event was really quite nice. Being the only American present, I sat quietly smiling, eating the delicious food, and enjoying Caipirinhas and Gaurana soda while the others discussed the state of Brazil in Portuguese. After dinner, music was on the bill and we sat around singing songs. Many people had brought instruments including homemade percussion instruments. Everyone was lovely and I was delighted to learn they knew all the same Bob Marley songs I knew.

During dinner, a guest seated next to me realized how excluded I was from the conversation and tried to do a little translating on my behalf. The only part I remember is the comparison they made between Brazil and the US. They said, "Brazil is shit, but then again, Brazil is wonderful. The US is wonderful, but then again, the US is shit," or maybe it was the other way around. I thought there was wisdom in that.

I don't really know how life in Brazil compares to life in South Africa, but I have a feeling there are some commonalities. Both countries have very developed areas with educated, worldly populations and both countries have undeveloped areas with poor populations that might never make if further than the nearest shopping town. Certainly, I can say with confidence that South Africa is shit, but then again, South Africa is wonderful.

I'm so happy for the things that have taken place in my life in those two years. Not long after that dinner Liz and I bonded over our shared cynicism about the social benefits of being part of the communitie's youthful night life. Soon we were madly in love with each other and making plans to get out of Dodge. I remember casually mentioning the Peace Corps one evening over a mexican food dinner and wondering if it just wasn't some under handed branch of colonial aim. Before I knew it, Liz, who was having difficulty procuring the academic job everyone had been so sure she would get, was bringing up the Peace Corps as a way we could continue to cohabitate and have a delightful respite from the folly of the academic world. We met with a recruiter who insured us that we would not be a bunch of kids with Peace Corps t-shirts and floppy hats working in a white-washed building with an American flag painted on the side somewhere in the middle of some jungle teaching people how to use condoms. To do this together, we'd have to be married. We consulted the friends and family who all responded positively and in early October 2009 we flew off to Hawaii for a romantic wedding weekend.

A year ago we were finishing up our Ph.D.s and had been accepted into the Peace Corps but still didn't know where we were going. Sarah Palin was still a recent memory and when we would respond "Africa" to the question of where we were going people would respond, "You know that's not a country, right?" By May, our dissertations were defended and we knew we were going to South Africa. The last nitty-gritty details of the clearance were coming through. In July, we packed up the Ford Focus which wasn't sure it wanted to keep running, bid farewell to the cat, (who last I heard really enjoys living with other cats now), and went on a roadtrip to see the country and a family one last time before shipping out.

I don't know that we're making any progress at all in shaping or reforming the education system of South Africa or even with the teachers and principals that we interact with. However, we are learning about the troubles and learning about living on little means in a foreign land. The problems are many, stemming from poverty, internalized oppression and old habits of coping. The education system is burning, crime is high, women have little recourse if they've been raped or abused, and HIV/AIDS is beyond a crisis level. Like I said, South Africa is shit.

We saved up money so that we would be able to travel when we were here. The South African education system shuts down 4 times a year and many other organizations and companies also take a break at the same time. Gotta love a country with so much vacation time built in. It's now fall break and we are off to see more of this beautiful country and more of its varied cultures. I'm really enjoying getting to know my way around a camera and learning to name all the antelopes and birds. Wildlife viewing is so amazing here. I would never have dreamt that I'd have a dozen photos of giraffes and even more of elephants or that one African country could host such a variety of landscapes and ecosystems. Like I said, South Africa is wonderful!

Oh, and Liz's dad has sold the aforementioned Ford Focus on our behalf! Yay! It was my first car and I took it many places but I am happy that it's now somebody else's problem.