ROAR!!!

England wins! England wins! England wins!

AAAAAAAHHHH, that match was NOT good for my blood pressure, but it was fantastic! I got nervous every time Australia had the ball, but England's defense held up and were able to put the Aussies on the back foot. If Jonny Wilkinson had gotten all of his penalties, I might even have promised to stop making fun of his pre-kick constipation pose. But, as he only managed 4 of the 7, I reserve the right to do so. Still, this match involved an awful lot of me waving my hands at the television. I can't believe they did it.

For those of you wondering what on earth I'm talking about...today was the England-Australia semi-final of the Rugby World Cup. Basically, Australia=awesome, England...well, they lost 36-0 against South Africa. Does that explain? Everyone thought this was a 'one horse race' (and one commentator even said so) and were predicting at least a 10-15 point margin for the Aussies. But, ENGLAND held them and WON!!! On to the All Blacks (New Zealand, for the uninitiated), she said with a sigh (unless France pulls an upset tonight). I thought I was going to cry with relief.

Otherwise, the week's been frustrating. I'm not going to air everything in such a public forum (especially now that we've had to submit our URLs to the Country Director), but I'm trying to cope with some work-culture shock at the moment. Government efficiency in the US/UK and in South Africa are two VERY different things, let's say. I've been really frustrated and wondering what on earth I'm doing here. Don't worry, this is normal for Peace Corps volunteers, and I just have to keep telling myself that things will get better. After all, it's only the end of week 2.

I've used a little of my spare time to get in touch with UNA-SA (sorry, that the United Nations Association here in South Africa) and Education Africa, who run provincial and a national MUN. I can't imagine not having MUN in my life and would love to spend some time on a secondary project. If anything, I have to cut the people I work with some slack, because they didn't grow up practicing government the way we did. Even student council, I now realise, was practice for when we grew up and I think that it would be really great to help students here practice the same thing. Of course, because it's me, I want to do MUN.

I was going to insert some anecdote from the week here, but I can't remember any. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that my area may be a bit on the god-forsaken side, but it's actually amazingly beautiful. I love the rocks and the color that the purple trees give it. And my gogo (grandmother) continues to bring up God and his creator-ness in every conversation we've had after I told her that I didn't go to church and believed in evolution. She's amazingly lovable and lively, so I don't mind. And the littlest one and I tell each other "Shop!" a lot and touch thumbs. He makes me smile and laugh so much.