Today started off way too early! I woke up at 4:30 to go to SSK and help cook food for our host family farewell party. The LCF’s were already hard at work and the kitchen was full of pots and food. They were also cooking food outside using big like cast-iron type pots and fire.
The day before the Peace Corps had a cow slaughtered so there would be enough food. I don’t remember if I have mentioned it before but when South Africans have parties everyone is invited and the more people who come, the better your party was. With 33 trainees and all of our host families, there were going to be a lot of people. We helped cook beef stew, chicken curry, vegetables, rice, pap, salad and several other small things. I really enjoyed getting to help cook with them. It was really cool to see how they cooked that much food and it seemed like everyone knew what their role was in cooking and preparing the meal. You should have seen me moving raw chunks of beef with the bone in it. I was putting it into a pot from a bowl and I thought I was going to barf. All I could think of was the picture of the skinned cows head after they slaughtered it that Cara showed me! Needles to say, I did not eat very much beef that day!
Several of the trainees were given traditional isiNdebele clothing/dress to wear from their host family. I wore a cute skirt that I got in Richards Bay. The LCF’s and the Peace Corps arranged for traditional dancers and some singers to come. It was very enjoyable to watch. I could watch the isiNdebele boy dancers all day. I think it is so cool to watch them. One of the groups wore very traditional animal skin clothing.
What I thought was funny was they were wearing this traditional dress with Converse All Stars. The other group was The Bundu Boys and they wore polo shirts and gym shirts but still did the very traditional dancing. There was also a group of girls who danced and sang. Oh and I can’t forget the Gogo’s who came, they also performed for us at the beginning of training. I have found that I love Gogo’s!
After the performances each trainee gave their host family a certificate of appreciation. My Ubaba came with Laiza, and the two younger boys. Kedibone also came but there were so many people there I never got to see her. All in all it was a great day. It ended a little chaotic when we were trying to serve the food. We had too many cooks in the kitchen and it was chaos. In the end everyone got feed and we had a great cultural experience. Here are a few more pictures from the day. I am still too new to figure out how to rotate the picture! Sorry!
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