That's My J&M!: Ch-ch-changes!

Hey fam & friends!
We wanted to take a moment to update y'all on a few recent and (potential) upcoming changes for us.

Upcoming Changes:
A few weeks ago, the PC staff decided to tell us the region they will be placing us in! Whoot!

(Pull out your South African maps!)

We learned that we will be placed in the easternmost part of the country, near(ish) to the border of Mozambique and the Indian Ocean. In fact, the ocean will be just a few hours’ walk away! Our home sounds large enough to comfortably host visitors (hint, hint)!

(Note: I am being intentionally vague about our exact location on the blog, but am hoping to give you an idea of what our life might look like. If you are a family or friend who wants more information to plan a trip to visit, check the facebook group or send an email.)

Here are the rumors we have heard so far:

This region will be very HOT (80F in winter and 110F in summer)
It will likely be very sandy
There will be lots of wildlife (monkeys, hippos, snakes...)
We will take regular malaria medication
It will be beautiful! and amazing! and happy!

We are excited to enjoy amazing fresh fruit, which our region of SA is known for, and sandy walks through our village. We should have amazing calf muscles after two years! We will be in a low-risk malaria area, so we plan to incorporate mosquito nets into our home décor. Joe will be on the malaria meds that can make your dreams super vivid, so I look forward to hearing about the creative stories his mind will make up at night. (Don’t worry, mom, I will also be taking malaria meds. Mine will just be less interesting.)

We have been placed at different schools (as is customary for married couples). It is also customary is for the male-person of the couple(**) to be placed in the school that is further from the home. Therefore, my walk to school should be approximately 500m; Joe’s will be around 2-ish km. We aren’t sure what grades we will teach, but we expect our class sizes to be between 30-40.

We are very close to our shopping town. I am not yet sure how that will impact our experience, as we were anticipating being further away. We are also very close to many other volunteers in our cohort, which I hope means that we will have slumber parties and potlucks! J

(**)Currently, South Africa is not hosting same-sex couples. Though, I am excited to share that Peace Corps is taking steps to make the first ever same-sex placements! Certain countries are undergoing additional training to support these volunteers in inclusive, safe, and appropriate ways. Read more here: http://www.peacecorps.gov/media/forpress/press/2238/

Speaking of the Peace Corps Magazine, check out these highlights in the most recent issue. You might recognize two of the universities!

University of Washington Tacoma – This highlights the program developed with my colleague, Tracey, this past year: http://www.peacecorps.gov/media/forpress/press/2323/

Pacific Lutheran University – This is the university where Joe worked and supported many students through the Peace Corps application process: http://files.peacecorps.gov/multimedia/pdf/stats/schools2014.pdf

Recent Changes:
There has been a PC South Africa tradition in recent years that trainees cut or shave their hair, partially because it is very difficult to wash long hair in a traditional bucket bath and partially as a liberation act.

I was not one of the ones who shaved my head, but I did chop a LOT off. Joe, welcomed the trim down. It was his first shave while in country! :-D

Photos for your viewing pleasure...