Kisimusi Lomuhle!

 It hit me today, riding in the back of a pickup truck watching my bhuti get smaller and smaller behind us as we sped along the tar road, that this Swazi family who took us into their home sight unseen were starting to feel like real family. Not a surrogate family; nothing will ever replace our wonderful families in the states, but an extension of that living chain we create when we let people into our lives and vice-versa.

Rainer Maria Rilke said that he lived his life in “ever-widening circles”. I would like to think that our Peace Corps service thus far has been an act of living in widening circles extending from our homestead and then out into our communities. Relationships aren’t one of the fringe benefits of the Peace Corps; it is the whole point.

It being Christmas and all, and with my brother here visiting from the states creating a very tangible reminder of home, it seems that this idea of casting widening arcs into lives and communities where we live is the whole point of Christmas. This season we are reminded that we are all part of the same family regardless of race, nationality, creed or sexuality.

This isn’t a Christmas letter (or is it?), this is a blog post read by total strangers so lets get down to the nitty-gritty Christmas committee. The big news of the past week was my brother flying in from the States and visiting us for some much needed R&R. Having Dallin here has been so much fun. I feel like Addy and I have accomplished so much here by simply being able to navigate public transport, making friends at the bomake market, remembering the names of all the kids who say “hello, how are yooooou!” incessantly as we walk down the road, and knowing what restaurant has the best take-away. It was really cool to share that with someone else.

Here is how the week went down. First, we picked him up from Johannesburg. Expecting the worst picking him up from eJozi was surprisingly easy. In fact, for as crazy and busy and sorta scary Joberg is, we really ended up liking it. We stayed the night at a super-nice backpackers (as super-nice as backpackers get) and then headed home to spend Christmas in the Swaz. Breezed through border-posts, seeing rank and file policemen with AK-47s was a bit of a shock for Dallin and camped for the night at Sondzelas Backpackers located on the edge of Milwane game preserve. Sondzelas is a frequent PC haunt in Swaziland noted for its proximity to one of three Royal Game Preserves in Swaziland. The next morning we took a walk through the preserve, which graciously lets you walk through without guide accompaniment, and were surrounded by zebras, Kudu, impala, blissbok and crazy orange colored birds. Not bad for a first day in country.

We then left for Manzini. Manzini is our town. We are there every weekend, we are accustomed to the frantic pace of life (for Swaziland) that accompanies every trip. It was fun to show him the craziest Indali shops, best Swazi food restaurant (Sutsas behind Mr. Cheap Fabric, fyi) and KFC ice cream cones.

The rest of the week we spent hanging with the Tsabedzes, taking walks, showing him where we work, shop and all the various short cuts through the bush, eating the best Prego rolls in Swaziland (unnamed Mozambique place just east of the bus rank in Siteki), lounging by the pool in Simunye, and an unforgettable stay at Hlane Royal Game preserve. Umndeni wami (my family) in America kicked some money our way and we were able to go on a real safari. Range Rover. Khaki-shirted tour guide. The works. We saw giraffes, elephants, rhinos, hippos….and lions! Three lionesses and an old mkhulu lion sleeping. They look and act exactly like really, massively-huge cats. Incredible. The rest of the safari we did in typical PC budget style: Public transport to-and-from, PB & J sandwiches, and sleeping in my dad’s old tent. Peace Corps, bru.

This brings us to Christmas. I know I quoted Rainer Maria Rilke, but our Christmas day can easily be summed up by the rapper Drake, “this is one for the books/ this is really as fun as it looks”. Our day started with church in kaManzini, a huuuuge, delicious Swazi meal with three different kind of meats, a walk to the refugee camp, soccer with boTsabedze and a bike ride to the Sikhupe airport in which our Swazi nationally-ranked bicyclist absolutely destroyed me. In my defense I was riding a single-speed mountain bike. That was followed by songs, prayer and gift-giving.

The next leg of our vacation starts tomorrow as we head to Durban to visit some family friends, get pampered and hang out on the beach. See you there!