Almost done with training!!!

So, we have one more week in the village. It's been good this whole time, but SHIT MAN (our language trainer says this all the time!) I am ready to be done with this part and just find out where my site is already... Apparently, they will tell us next Wednesday WHERE we will all be throughout the country and WHAT jobs we will be doing. Everyone's very anxious to find out. It will be way weird for 3 months of lock-down though. But that's all part of survival of the fittest!!

Oh so I definitely thought that winter was over here...definitely not! It got way cold the other night and it just happened to be the same night that my propane tank ran out!!! NO worries. I wore 4 layers to bed and called it good! We are supposed to take another Permy field trip this weekend to Quting. BUT since it's up in the mountains, it may snow and we may have to cancel because PC does not want dangerous driving mixed with field trips. It is sort of nice though being in the group that I am. We have gotten to go to all sorts of places!

Also, I met a girl -- a PCV -- that does pony treks as part of her project...so those of you that come visit...a pony trek may be in the itinerary to experience REAL Lesotho!!

So far I have been on an emotional rollercoaster. Some days it's awesome to be here and I feel like I will have an awesome project and do all these cool things. But other days, it kinda sucks and there's a lot of negativity -- pretty much just looking at the big picture and knowing that as ONE PERSON I cannot change cultural customs and practices and social structure. People here are very "LEsotho-centric". They know one way of doing things and they want to keep it that way! It's very much like a small, small rural USA town. For example, one belief is that ALL AMERICANS are WHITE. What?@!??? Oh and Americans are kind of like gods...we know everything and can fix any type of problem...and we do not use latrines (EVER) and we ALWAYS have candy...so whenever kids see us, they automatically ask for candy...or money. Yeah we're all rich too. So some days it can be kind of overwhelming as far as how closed-minded and homogeneous things are here...

Anyhow, I hope things are going well for everyone else...! Keep the letters coming!! I have been updated on everyone's drama with emails and letters from time to time -- it's funny because I can reply back in letters...ONLY you get them 3 weeks later...and I'm sure all things are the complete other way around by that time.

I miss obi. I actually pet the chief's dog the other day when nobody was looking. If you pet dogs here, it means you love the dogs more than the people. But they're excellent guard dogs.

I will miss parts of my village...like hearing the roosters cock a doodle dooing and the donkeys hee hawing and the taxi honking endlessly and the crazy man yelling the same thing over and over and over every morning starting at 530...this combo is typical every morning BTW. I will also miss my family, although I haven't gotten to meet my father yet...he's been working in the mines somewhere in South Africa this whole past month...and I'll also miss singing every morning...it kinda takes me back to grade school...except I don't always know the meaning of the words in the songs that I sing now. Oh and thanks to Ausi Mosa, our village now knows the Makarena by heart. Yep we performed at a concert and that dance really STUCK with them. It "stuckile". HAHAHA Apparently if you don't know how to say a word in Sesotho, just say it in English and add an "ile" to the end and they will know what you are trying to say...???

Oh BOY!! The life I'm living right now!!! =)

Love you all and I'll do my best to keep this updated...Seriously keep the letters coming. aNd send pictures if you can. Of anything in the USA. Okay well not party or nude pictures...cmon now...like outdoor naturey pictures just to show different parts of our country or action pictures..?? I really don't know what that means...

Ok Kbye
<3 Am

OK SO I accidentally hit return...i wasnt done yet

So we have continued training while living in our new homes. A typical day consists of waking up, making JUngle Oats for breakfast, taking a bucket bath, having a Sesotho (language) lesson for two hours at the village school with the other four trainees, having another session i.e. culture and perceptions, health, HIV, mapping, singing, economics, marketing, many many different things. THen LUNCH back the the house and then one more two hour session before we head home and do what we need to do before it gets dark out ~ 530/6ish. WE are not supposed to be out after dark, and since it gets so cold so early, I tend to be in bed by like 830 or 9 because i'm awesome like that! =) There's no power or running water...just so you can picture the whole scenario.

Oh and it snowed the other week. It was kind of cool because the kids had only seen snow in the mountains in the distance or on TV. So a few of us built snowmen for them. Loved it!

So we are in town today because we had a long weekend with current volunteers, to meet them and find out more about their sites and living situations and overall experience so far... It was awesome! It's crazy because we are all so different, but you can tell we all share many of the same values and goals and general open-minded and flexible outlook on life. I'm not going to say too much about the beginning of the weekend, except for LOUD music in the kombi (taxi), bar situations, and 20 people sleeping in one rondavel! Overall, it was a trip that we needed to have, to get a feel for life outside of training.

WE will get our assigned sites in the beginning of August, I think. And then there's the 3 month lock-down as it's called. Yeah we can't leave our districts that whole time. But for good reason. To integrate into the new community and become familiar with people. But it will be a long time for limited traveling!

Well i think that's all for now! I'll try to catch up more when i can! I miss you all and hope everything is going good for everyone!

"Salang hantle!" = Remain well!

<3 Am

First IN COUNTRY post!

So as of this weekend, I will have been here in Lesotho for an entire month. Crazy weird. Because it feels like it has been much longer than that -- mainly because I feel like i have been fast tracked into learning the culture and language and little things that i should and should not be doing. Also, it feels like i've known the other 19 trainees for most of my lifetime...or at least a few years rather than weeks!

Anyway, a little recap:

We arrived in the middle of the night -- and had to get out of the bus and WALK across the border, and then get back on the same bus. None of us knew what was happening really...we were just glad that the bus actually stopped and waited for us on the other side!!

We then spent a week at training center, being slowly introduced to food, language, customs (sweeping everyday?!?), singing ALOT, safety and security, gardening, medical information, getting endless vaccinations, learning how to use gas heaters and stoves, how to take bucket baths, more language...more food. This week was alot like what summer camp is -- or at least what i think it would be, considering i never really did summer camp. OH minus the canoeing and lake swimming seeing as it is WINTER HERE RIGHT NOW!! We trainees did EVERYTHING together! Oh and just so everyone knows, another Michigander trainee and I have a goal of making Euchre a legacy in Lesotho --- we've taught about a good TEN people so far and by the way we've gotten pretty good at spotting Midwesterners that should know how to play!

OKay so the second week, we all split up and moved out to three different villages. Nothing like getting acquainted with culture and customs REAL FAST!!! I moved into a family's house with all these buckets and basins and huge gas tank and heater (all of which i wasn't really sure what to do with by the way) and matches and some of my clothes and stuff. My family is pretty awesome and very welcoming. They have had other trainees live with them before, so they're pretty used to thinking i'm weird and playing a lot of charades to communicate. SLOWLY, we five permies (permaculture and nutrition trainees) have started to grasp the language more. Although it can be frustrating at times. Oh and let me tell you what my current village fashion consists of: long wool underwear with bright green soccer socks and my tennis shoes under my plaid skirt with my lifeguarding hoodie, sunglasses and big red puffy down coat. Seriously, i should be in a magazine centerfold! No but really, all the girls wear skirts in village -- its just what you do. NO matter how silly you look by pairing with other clothes.