Just little familiarities like that make me smile. There aren't many other similarities in the way of life between here and other places I've lived.
Not having running water is a big one. I'm slowly adjusting to bucket baths, but am still considering chopping my hair off so I wouldn't have to deal with so much of it. Having to boil and filter any water I come into contact with before drinking it has also taken some getting used to, but not as bad as I imagined at first. Red dust is all over the place, and I scrub my feet every night, leaving the water red after. Surprisingly, I've gotten used to it all quite quickly.
Having to wear a skirt every day is also something I've never been forced to do before. It also is another thing that bothers me a lot less than i thought it would. Ive never worn skirts much in the past, but I'm usually ok with it. I thought we'd all look like a gypsy caravan in our thrown together getups, but some girls make it look so cute in the "Swazi female volunteer style". Cute enough to make me want to start a volunteer fashion blog to keep track of all the nice outfits.
My sleep cycle is way off, too. Asleep usually by 8pm, up my 4:30am.
Despite all that, I'm definitely getting into the groove of life here. Tons of cute kids around my homestead to play with, geckos crawling around my walls (self sufficient pets, I say), learning siSwati, a beautiful vista to take in, and 40 awesome people to take it in with. I've been told by the previous groups that it's a miracle none of us have dropped out yet at 17 days. In previous years, at least one person has ET'd (early termination) by this point. I think that's awesome, and I hope w e all make it through training (the first 9 weeks) and integration (the following 3 months). Some days I feel like Maria singing "the hills are alive with the sound of music".
Lastly, a few extra details on my homestead. I live in a very large family right beside a river. There are great grandparents to great grand kids. 2 of the first generation Gama, 1 of their 5 kids lives there, 10ish of their grand kids, and 2 great grand kids. I've so far identified 3 other homesteads that have Gamas living in them around us.
I have my own little two-room on the homestead. The house is a spare house for old furniture they don't use anymore, so it's pretty full. I have a living room and bedroom. There's electricity but no running water.
Taylor is my closet neighbor, and when I'm not chilling with my family, I'm hanging out with her's.
