thobela

Hello in Sepedi! I'm sitting in an internet store in Polokwane in Limpopo province. Training started three days ago in Moletji (20 minute taxi ride from Polokwane). I'm learning Sepedi, aka Northern Sotho. I'll probably spend the next two years in Limpopo close to Polokwane.
I spent orientation at a former teacher's college in Mokopane, lovingly referred to as the compound. For our five days there, we were not allowed off of the grounds while children from the village came in and played ultimate frisbee with us. One night, we were herded into a bus and driven to the closest hotel for wining and dining with the Limpopo province education minister. It seems like every gathering of people has a MC, a prayer, three songs, and two superfluous speaches. After the speaches, we were given wine and American style food. With the aid of wine and spending too much time pent up at the compound, the gathering quickly turned into a dance party.
For training, we live with a host family. The first night I didn't have a host family and spent the night at the chief's crawl. Besides the throne in the living room, the cheif's place seemed like it was plucked out of the late 1970s without running water. There were several houses at the crawl, making it difficult to figure out where the food was coming from and who all the people that hung around were. From then on, I've moved in with another family. They are nice, but reply, "yes, I hear you," to about everything I say and don't seem to believe me when I say that I want to learn Sepedi. The neighbor children are great and spit words out to me rapidly and I feel like a collinder, only the really big pieces stick in my head and there aren't many of them.
There is so much more to say, I miss you all.