Ngicela kubilisa emanti... (I am asking to boil water...)

Today was probably my favorite day of training so far. Although the topics were kind of heavy...

We spent probably an hour talking about the dangers of diarrhea... "like think of diarrhea on crack" --> actually thought about titling this post "Diarrhea: A day in the life of a Peace Corps Volunteer" but then realized my day consisted of much more than... I'll just leave it there. I think it helped that the facilitator was so perfectly candid. She definitely kept the lecture interesting... and amusing... AND if anyone ever needs to know ANYTHING about diarrhea, I got chu, and can even provide a "life saving recipe". 

Also, try saying "Shistosomiasis" three times fast. Ready... Go. 

In addition to that we spent a huge portion talking about HIV/AIDS, the causes, prevention, etc. I won't really go into detail about that, but it was a really helpful session and I feel more equipped to work in Health Education now. 

The most exciting aspect of the day, I think, was during our "Village Life" session. We essentially received a tutorial of things to expect when we first move into our host families on Tuesday. (This will be our home for the remainder of training).  We were given our water filters, medicine kits, and mosquito nets. Beyond that, we went through all of the items that we will have with us when we arrive to our homesteads. This includes our gas stove, blankets, pillows, and groceries. The groceries are to be given to our host families to help pay for food for the first two weeks, and then some items were designated just for us... Including a giant jar of peanut butter... Although I'm not an avid peanut butter eater, this definitely put a smile on my face. Later we went through some tips on effectively bucket bathing and washing our laundry (using a one tub, one bucket system... ohhh yeahhh), and talked about the dos and dont's of village life.  We also learned that tomorrow we're getting a tutorial in public transportation, and will be learning the language involved with that, and be going on a field trip (woot woot) to a mall in Manzini to go shopping. After a week of having practically no chocolate, this is excellent news indeed. HUZZAH. Although, I'll probably end up spending my 120 Emalangeni on something more practical... like a mop, hehe

But in all seriousness I'm super stoked to be moving into my host family soon, and taking on the role as a member of the community. It's neat too, because we're going to be living in the area our Language and Culture Facilitators are from, and that's where we'll have our language and culture lessons (mainly) for the rest of training (as mentioned above).  At various points throughout the next two months we'll also continue to have health trainings, which I'm also looking forward to. 

There's probably a thousand more things I could add (like a sneak peek of the bucket list me a couple PCTs are working on... but all in due time my friends, all in due time). Plus, I have to go reorganize my suitcase because I part with half of my belongs by the end of the day tomorrow... (they'll be kept safely in a facility until I reunite with them in August).

And because I casually have no idea how to say "goodbye" yet...

Ikhona yini imibuto? (Any questions?)