IST

In-service training started on my birthday. The few days before Alicia, Becca, and I visited one of my teachers and played with her adorable children (I'm holding/tickling Palesa, pronounced like Melissa except with a P, left). Then we went to IST and quickly started to the other education volunteers in my group as if we saw each other every day, not once in five months. They greeted me with 'Happy Birthdays!' and even sang.

Despite the good beginning, the first part of IST wasn't exciting. On most days, we listened to a speaker, we politely asked if the speaker could direct their talk to what we actually are doing, the speaker got confused and continued talking, we verbally shambocked (a reference to the stick with a piece of rubber on the end popular with the teachers for corporal punishment) the speaker, we gave up, we stopped listening, and the speaker kept talking. I have to admit that a room with 40 Americans is a little intimidating especially to a South African not used to people who voice their displeasure if the topic isn't exactly what was expected.

At night, we would go to a bar and dance (Heidi and Hossam busting a move below) or chat. Plus, there was a mini-performance of the Vagina Monologues. I did the monologue about the angry vagina, believing that there is nothing wrong with a woman who is angry, but still knows exactly what she wants (including sex). It was a lot of fun and everyone seemed to enjoy the performance because they kept asking (me especially) if we had acting experience and saying that we should act when we get back to the US. The second half of IST was better. Each volunteer invited a counterpart from their village (usually a teacher) and we were trained to facilitate discussions/sessions using the Life Skills hand book provided by the Peace Corps. Part of the training was to facilitate sessions for our peers during which I actually heard the teachers comment on their culture and HIV/AIDS without changing the topic, a welcome change compared to my village. My favorite sessions including discussing gender roles and another mimicking what it's like to wait to be tested for HIV. Because of the good time that I had at IST I expected to be a little depressed when I got back to my village. I'm not. My teachers are the same as before, but I'm starting to do little things around the school. Yesterday I helped the teachers with self-evaluations for the circuit. I'm hoping that by filling out the evaluations, they get good ideas about what I can help them with. It's a slow process, but maybe there's a little light?