Things I did in South Africa

• Meet amazing volunteers from other Peace Corps countries. Two other volunteers from Rwanda, also PCVs from Zambia, Lesotho, Malawi, Cameroon, South Africa, and Madagascar. The PCV from Madagascar started her service in Niger! I also met three Cornell alumni who now serve in South Africa. That brings my total Cornellian count to seven serving as PCVs in three different countries.
• Enjoy time with former Peace Corps Niger Volunteers. Although I was unable to visit their sites, the three volunteers from Niger who transferred to South Africa were in Pretoria for their In Service Training and I was able to visit with them briefly. It was fantastic to see them, reminisce about Niger, and also hear about their successes and challenges in South Africa.
• Attend mass in Spanish. You read that correctly. I attended a Catholic Church service, in Spanish, in South Africa. This was thanks to a wonderful couple also staying at the Rose Guest House, also for medical reasons, who also generally work in Rwanda. The husband works for the U.S. Treasury Department in Rwanda, and his wife is Bolivian. I don’t consider myself a religious person but I really enjoyed the mass. Sitting there, in South Africa, with people from across the world, speaking in Spanish… it put a whole new perspective on how small of a world we live in.
• Go to the movies. I saw Transformers 3, and laughed through the entire movie, although I don’t think it was intended to be a comedy. Still, going to the movies was awesome.
• Eat Sushi. Delicious. No explanation needed.
• Spot Zebras from the Highway. Within twenty minutes of landing in South Africa. I’m not sure if that’s normal, but it was awesome. 
• Bird Watch. I’ve never really cared about birds, but the birds I’ve seen in Africa are incredible. I’ll wait until my new binoculars arrive for a more detailed post on my bird watching adventures.
• Use a Washing Machine. Never take for granted running water, or the fact that you don’t have to wash your underwear by hand.  
• Play with Lions. The picture really says it all. They liked my hair. 
• Visit the Apartheid Museum. A very enlightening experience. The museum is very dense—a lot of information, which I am still processing, but I’m really glad I went. I bought a copy of Nelson Mandela’s memoir A Long Walk to Freedom that I am now preparing to read.
• Feel incredibly lucky, and conflicted, about my privileged access to amazing health care. I’ve been joking about how lucky I am to have needed a root canal during my service: free trip to South Africa! But it’s a strange reality I am living where I see malnourished children everyday and offer them "counseling"; the United States Congress debates how many millions of Americans should have their health insurance benefits cut; and yet my relatively painless tooth allows me to travel thousands of mile to receive some of the best dental care of my life.