First Week at Site

 Written on 12/26/14 at 5:05 PM

Now I know why the Peace Corps Lesotho packing list stressed bringing sweatpants and lots of comfortable clothes. We have a lot of down time, and my first week at site was very indicative of this reality.

I moved in last Thursday, and since unpacking all my stuff, putting up pictures on the wall and doing things to make my house feel like a home I have….

taken one or two walks around my beautiful village with my intercultural liason (IL), the person in the community who was assigned to be my go-to person during my first few months at site for any issues, for support or just to spend time with. She is a very jubilant middle-aged woman named ‘M’e Thekane, and I like her a lot.

…read. A lot. I just finished the book I started when I moved in. It’s called “Twenty Chickens for a Saddle”, about a white woman’s childhood in Botswana throughout the 80’s and 90’s. Quite a good read. By the time my service is over I’ll have finished SO MANY books.

….built my garden! Or rather, I wheeled a wheelbarrow full of dried manure from my neighbor’s house to my house and watched as my IL and one of the school boys who she called over dug up the earth. I helped mix the manure and planted the seeds and watered them. I was planning on doing it all, but I’m not as strong as a (12 year old) boy, as ‘M’e informed me. Annoying, but its just how it is.

…hung out with my host sister. Her name is Polo and she is 14 years old. I also have a teenage brother, but he was away visiting family for the week before I left for Liphofung, the lodge I’m at right now, celebrating Christmas with other volunteers. I also have an older ‘M’e, who I don’t see very often because she often works in the neighboring village.

…studied Sesotho. Kind of. I’m trying to study at least an hour a day. Sometimes I do and sometimes I just feel too restless to do anything. Then I take a nap.

…Talked to a carpenter in my village about making shelves for my spices and books and stuff. So that will probably happen, realistically, in a few weeks. Ho lokile! (It’s okay!).

…Run. A few times.

Here's my nice big hut. 

thanks for the leaves Susan!

…Gone to Liphofung! The hot Christmas weather is tripping me out, so it felt more like spring break than Christmas. But it was great to relax and spend some quality time and cause some ruckus with the other volunteers in the north. 

chicken slaughtering number one

Rob and the headless chicken. 

second chicken death

Severed head. Green grass. 

Sesotho banana grams. Terrible idea. So hard. 

 So yeah. School starts January 26^th, and right now a lot of people in my village are away at their home villages visiting family for the holidays. So I have a month to do pretty much whatever I want. Maybe I’ll take up pushups.

Khotso.

(I wanted to post more photos of christmas fun and my hut, but blogger is being silly right now, so I will eventually). 

Also, if you want to look at photos of the swearing in ceremony, check out the PCV's lesotho facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/lesothopcvs