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