The Last Few Weeks (written about Sept 20)

So it feels like I just updated the blog, which says more about how much I’ve been updating it than how long it’s really been, since it has been two weeks.  Not a whole lot has happened with me since then, although a lot has gone on in the country.  The Swazi school schedule is broken into three terms, the first term if from sometime in late January/early February through late March/early April, the second term is from late April/early May through early August, and the third term is mid September through late November/early December, so their summer break is over the Christmas/New Year’s holidays, which is nice.  I arrived at my site on the last day of the second term, and went into school right away to meet the faculty and students.  I got a quick tour of the school, office, garden, and the library where I’ll have my office.  Working on the library will be my first project to start on.  The third term was supposed to start September 13, but there has been a delay because of some financial issues.  There is currently an economic crisis going on in Swaziland, one the makes the issues going on in the US seem minor.  The government is running out of money and working hard to get loans from neighbors or the IMF, but so far nothing has come through.  A great deal of the workforce is in the civil service, so this has been a major issue.  The schools are supposed to open when they receive the money from the government, but no one really knows when that will be.  So I’m in a little bit of a holding pattern until the schools re-open. 

One thing that has kept me busy is joining a local soccer team.  There is a local league in Khuphuka, with 15 teams that play every weekend.  I went to a couple games before I started playing at all, and was impressed with the talent.  A guy I met asked me to come and play with them some afternoon, and I played really well that first day, even scoring a goal.  They asked me to play on their team, which happens to be in first place.  To be clear, it has nothing to do with my talent, I am not nearly as good as most of these guys, but they think it would be cool to have an American on their team.  Needless to say, I’m the only white person in the league.  They are on a break in the season (they play each team once, then break, and play them all again), which is good because I’ve been able to get a good number of practices in before playing in a game.  They play Tues-Thurs, and Fridays if there is a game that weekend.  I think the games restart this weekend.  I’ll only come on in some games in the second half when my team is way up, most likely, but I’m having fun playing with the guys.  It’s a good way to meet more people, get some exercise, and I’m actually getting a bit better.  I’m glad I played so much ultimate Frisbee over the last year; it’s got me in good shape for all this running.  Often there is not enough for a full game, so they play with two rocks close together for a goal about half way down the pitch (field) and a goalie at the other end.  It’s much more fun to play full field, of course, and I tend to do better as well.  I do have to brag a little bit, because last week I scored two goals in a game, one on a header.  I’m not as good as many of these players, but I tend to be good at getting into the right place at the right time.  That’s four goals I’ve scored in about 12 times playing, which I ‘m extremely happy with.  We’ll see what happens in a real game!