I apologize in advance for the length of this post; so much
has happened between then and now. On the agenda for today is an update on my
school then I will jump into my Christmas and New Year’s vacation with my
parents and sister. I have also asked that they prepare their own observations
and commentary in order to post them here. I want to make sure you get the full
picture.
Tiping
I
mentioned in my last post that my school was to receive a computer lab; well,
it has been installed. The donating group, CBS (Computer Business Services?),
installed 20 computers in an extra classroom along with 6 large solar panels to
power them. The organization selected one school from each district in Lesotho
as pilot schools for education in computer literacy. Therefore, there are 10
pilot schools throughout Lesotho and Tiping is one of them!!! Exciting!
Even
more exciting (especially for me) is that the organization pressured a cell
provider into erecting a cell tower on the mountain across from my school which
means communication will be easier for me soon, very soon. Now, they have been
working on this cell tower for the past 2 months (or more). I went on vacation
for two weeks thinking it would be working by the time I came home, but yet
again I have fallen into the trap of wishful thinking. I can see it! It looks
completed, standing tall and smug, looking down at me, taunting me. My palm is
itching, begging to spend endless hours texting my life away. Sigh.
I’m
getting ahead of myself. The real
reason I am so excited about the cell tower is that with its introduction there
are endless educational developments and opportunities for my students.
Granted, we will need to take baby steps with the computers. It might be a
while before we introduce the concept of the Internet let alone actual use of
the Internet, but for me it will mean better teaching resources, better ideas.
I have also been playing with the idea of beginning a film club (since we now
have the ability to power a TV without using the generator). I want to teach
some of my students about different genres of movies while at the same time
exposing them to more English use, reinforcing their reasons to learn English
and become fluent. On that note, I am reevaluating my package request list; if
anyone is interested in sending a package but don’t know what to include, I
would love USB drives with teenage appropriate movies loaded onto them and
maybe, if you have them lying around, science, math, or English education
cartoons. I see only great things coming from this development. Hopefully I am
right.
Family Vacation/Educational Experience/Road Trip
All
right, to the good stuff-- the family vacation; road tripping on a whole new
level (that might have been an understatement). Overall, it was a good vacation
and we didn’t have any real mishaps; aside from a little back tracking and
taking dubious back roads, all was well! But you wouldn’t know that from the
amount of cursing coming from the drivers seat. The family arrived in Lesotho
at 8 am on the 19th after almost 24 hours of traveling (they spent
13 hours in the Johannesburg airport on a layover—we could have driven back and
forth twice in that amount of time).
Anyway,
I had been almost confident that I could get to the airport before they arrived
so that I could get it all on video; however, we got stuck (Tishina came with
me to pick them up from the airport) in the taxi rank haggling with a taxi
driver over the price of a private ride to the airport; a combie to the airport
from Maseru costs R9, this guy was asking R180 for two people! Grrr. We got
lucky and were able to hop into a combie that was picking people up along the
way—combies never leave unless they have every seat filled so I’m not sure how
we managed it (divine
intervention, maybe?). We literally arrived on time and they were already in
the lobby. Completely unexpected! I thought I would at least have a 15-minute
window of time while they were going through customs and getting their luggage,
but no.
Well,
we did the normal greetings with mom tearing up and dad laughing and saying,
“hey sis!” Sharity, not normally a
big hugger, gave me a hug! They were tired but I had a full day planned for
them. They couldn’t go to bed at 8 am. Had to kick the jetlag in the butt so I
kept them on the move all day. They weren’t too happy with me either. First
thing was first though; we had to get the rental car. Dad learned how to drive
manual transmission on the left hand side of the road quickly because from the
airport we went into the capital city, Maseru. I took them to the Peace Corps
office where they were able to meet many of the PC staff, including my
Assistant Program Country Director (APCD), Dr. Liphoto, a.k.a. my boss. Mom was
mortified that I was taking them to the office when she didn’t even have makeup
on! But everyone at the office was excited to meet them, makeup or no
makeup—they see dirty PCVs all day, I don’t think they noticed.
We
went from the PC office to the one mall in Lesotho (actually, big news, they
are building a second mall in Maseru—to bad we can’t even get a Shoprite-big
grocery chain-in Quthing). We were able to pick up some groceries there, things
that Sharity could eat, lots of veggies—or as dad calls it, rabbit food. From
there we traveled to Mohale’s Hoek for lunch where we met Aparna. We should
have probably just gotten a hotel room there but I was on a one-track mind to
keep them awake and get out to my site. By this point people were getting
rather grouchy. After lunch we made our way to Quthing where we dropped Tishina
off and finally it was out to my site, but not before Mé Mathabo, my
supervisor, had her say. I got call after call from her making plans then
changing them. I think everyone was just overwhelmed by this point and Mé
Mathabo exacerbated the situation perfectly. And we hadn’t even started in on
the gravel roads yet!
The
last leg of our journey was the gravel road out to my site. It took an hour and
a half to get out there but, to my amazement, the little car we rented did the
job. We had gotten about 2 miles down the gravel road when mom asked if that
was the worst of it. Now, you have to understand, we had been driving on the
good, newly fixed, portion of the road; it was about to get much worse as they
soon found out. I don’t know how many times I told them how bad the road is but
they never listen to me! We did manage to bottom out a couple times. Dad began
referring to it as the ‘goat path. By the time we reached my house it was about
4 pm. They made themselves at home and passed out immediately, happy to have
their Odyssey over. At this point I dug out dads iPad and started watching the
Dark Knight Rises which dad had brought for me—my equivalent of a Christmas
stocking gift. I had a blissful evening.
You
would think that they would have slept for hours, but they were up and down all
night—something about it being too hot?? Yup, Lesotho with no AC. Then there were the latrine visits.
Because my room is so small and we had every possible floor space covered, when
one needed to go to the latrine all would wake due to the tripping, the
flashlights and the unlocking of the door. This may be too much information but
all volunteers in Lesotho are given a pee bucket when we first arrive in
Lesotho. Some volunteers use it on a regular basis but because my latrine is
literally right outside my front door I have no problem getting to the latrine
at night. I could find it in the middle of the night with my eyes closed if I
had to. But I foresaw this being a problem so I got the pee bucket out, just in
case. It didn’t get used until the third night and not because no one had to
pee.
Even
better than the latrine, Ralphy decided to make his appearance around 11 pm on
the first night. He was able to find the two people who would appreciate him
the least in a matter of minutes. He felt the need to sleep on Sharity’s
pillow, eat in her ear, snuggle up with mom then repeat the rest of the night.
I trained him well!
The
next few days were fairly lazy. Everyone got to experience bucket bathing,
cooking and cleaning without running water, and washing a couple loads of
laundry by hand. Dad got his watercolors out and began working on some of the
scenery while mom attempted to kill flies. One of the primary teachers came out
with her 1-year-old twins to meet everyone so we had babies running around
slobbering on everything. I also cooked a traditional meal of papa, moroho
(greens) and linaoa (beans). They really didn’t respond well to the fare. I
guess it’s something you have to acquire a taste for?
The
rest of the trip was spent driving through South Africa, making our way to Cape
Town along the Garden Route. We played a fun game along the way of guess what
the road signs mean. The driving was definitely my least favorite part of the
trip though. We learned we have to keep dad well fed if it’s going to be a
pleasant drive, wheaties and nuts don’t do the job.
We
spent two nights in a little college town about the size of Columbia, MO called
Grahamstown, home to Rhodes University. While there we went out to eat at a pub
called the Rat and Parrot. Dad was able to satisfy his need for good red meat
since he hadn’t had any for a number of days. Like I said…keep him well fed.
Also, while staying in Grahamstown we were able to visit the Addo Elephant
Park. It is a drive-through safari park—no exiting your vehicle unless you want
to be lion doo-doo. We spotted herds (lots of heards) of Elephants, a few
zebras and a selection of other animals, but the bush is so thick during the
summer months that it was difficult to spot other animals.
After
Grahamstown we drove to Montagu, a small town known for its dried fruits
(Sharity would have been in heaven if everything hadn’t been closed for
Christmas). Montagu was a beautiful little town in the heart of the South African
wine country, located on the R-62, a famous scenic route in SA. Again, we spent
two days at a bed and breakfast in Montagu before heading through the wine
lands of Stellenbosch and Frenschoek to Cape Town. It was a breathtaking drive
winding around rugged mountains, emerging into valleys covered in vineyards. So
much wine! Anyone who loves wine should make his or her way to Stellenbosch at
some point in his or her life.
Activities
in Cape Town revolved around tours; specifically, the Robben Island tour as
well as a wine tour through the Stellenbosch wine lands for mom’s birthday. You
can’t go to Cape Town without doing the Robben Island tour. It is a necessary
educational experience. The wine tour was probably one of my favorite parts of
the trip (not because of the wine, but because dad didn’t have to drive). It
was a very good day, relaxed and fun. We learned a lot about the wine making
process, South African wines, and pairing wine with cheese.
The
wine tour ended the vacation for the family. But if you know my mom, you know
that she doesn’t ever go on vacation; she goes on educational experiences. I
think it is safe to say that the trip was truly an educational experience for
all of us. They flew out of Cape Town on the 29th (ready to go home,
I think) while I remained in Cape Town to meet with some Peace Corps friends
for New Year’s Eve. The next few days I stayed at a dingy backpackers (not the
best backpackers I’ve ever been to) on Long Street, which, it appears, is where
the party is for anyone not from Cape Town. Since I had already completed a lot
of the touristy activities there are to do in Cape Town I was able to spend my
days shopping (in several different malls), relaxing, taking showers (so many
showers!), drinking (moderately, of course), and eating (even better than the
showers because of the sushi, East Indian Food Bizarre, pizza, Mexican food,
etc. What I’m trying to say is that there was so much variety! My stomach was
in food heaven).
Sadly,
it came to an end all too soon. I had a wonderful Christmas season and New
Year; I couldn’t have asked for better. Well, maybe…being able to see more
family and friends from home could have made it just a little better.
Now
I
am now at my site sitting around, twiddling my thumbs. Actually, I really
should be doing more than that—I have recently been informed that one of the
teachers at Tiping Secondary School, the other math teacher, will not be
returning and so I have the opportunity to take on her classes. Therefore, I
will be teaching Form A, B and C mathematics while dropping the Form A science
class I had last year. It is an increase of 7 forty-minute periods per week. I
think I will enjoy it. I have discovered I really don’t care to teach science
so this change is a welcome change. I should be preparing!
The
next few weeks will be spent reading, preparing and going to my mid-service
conference! I have now been in Lesotho for over 14 months. I have been a
sworn-in volunteer for just over 12 months. I have less than 12 months to go. I
can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Is it too early to begin the
countdown? I know this next year is going to fly by. There is so much I still
want to do and I don’t know if there will be enough time. I have torn emotions;
I would consider extending if I didn’t need to go back to school and get some
kind of professional degree. Seeing family and having a glimpse of the modern
amenities I once had were also deterrents from the extending service idea.
As
always, I miss you all so very much (another deterrent). I hope everyone had a
wonderful Christmas and a happy new year (the world didn’t end!!). Let us see
what wonders 2013 will bring. I also want to thank you all for keeping up with
my blog over the past year. That alone is encouraging and supportive. I am
happy I have the opportunity to share my experience with you, to share another
culture. I am often asked if I will take photos home to show people what the
Basotho culture is like; I tell them I am already working on it. You should see
the smiles I get from that.
Wishing
you the best for this year!
--Sadie
Marie
Love love love to you!
ReplyDelete