Winter Break is now upon us. The last day of classes was Friday, June 11, and they don't start up again until the beginning of August. The months of June and July will be filled with some work, some play, and A LOT of down time.
With this break comes the World Cup! As anyone who knows me can vouch, I don't care at all about sports. However, when its all taking place so near to me I can't help but "feel it". That's one of the WC slogans, "can you feel it?" I watched the first game on t.v at a restaraunt/bar across the street from my village, and watched another one the other day. My host family will be watching them all, I'm sure, so I can follow the whole thing if I want to (probably won't). I will however be spending a day in Bloemfontein South Africa for the game on the 20th of June, Paraguay vs. Slovakia. This is not a game I'm invested in at all, but the dates worked well, and we even managed to find a place to stay in spite of our last minute planning. We've got a flat that belongs to some nuns (they'll be outta town) and it's only 3 minutes away from the stadium. I'm excited to be right in the middle of the action. I didn't get tickets to the game but I plan to watch it from a crowded bar somewhere in Bloem. Should be a good time! Maybe we'll get lucky and the flat will have hot showers too! BONUS!
Monday, June 14, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Horseback Hikes....
First off let me please apologize for my lack of blogging. I've gotten some complaints from friends, and I'm sorry. There's really no excuse....except that I have no idea who reads this, so I get a little overwhelmed when it comes to describing my day-to-day life....I'll try to get over it :)
This last weekend myself and another (he will remain unnamed for this post) PCV decided to take our horses on a little hike to find "Narnia". As many of you know, Lesotho is a beautifully mountainous country, and many of us volunteers live somewhat or extremely remote. A few of us have a mission to find our own personal "narnias" around our sites. A narnia is simply described as a beautiful, private, place where we can relax, that hopefully isn't too much of a hike to get to. This particular weekend we intended to go a further distance to find a narnia that was above and beyond......and this is how it played out.
I will describe our adventures as best I can, however I know that no matter what I write, or what pics are posted (later this week) I will be unable to portray just how insane it all was.
We picked up our horses around 10am or so. Two full grown gorgeous horses, one black, one brown, and an adorable little colt who tagged along the whole way! The weather was amazing! It's Autumn here, so all of the leaves are changing color and falling. The air had a slight chill to it, but the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Niether one of us are outstanding on horseback, so we rode at a nice walking pace and took in the views. Some of the trails were a little smaller than I would've liked and since there are no landscapers in the mountains of Lesotho we were beaten by branches along the side of the trails a few times. Those horse riding helmets aren't only cute, but they also come in handy when large branches are coming straight for you, and there's no way to avoid them.
Our first stop was just across a small stream. We found a nice patch of grass near a tiny but beautiful waterfall. We took a pic here.....but my accomplice slipped in the mud twice trying to pose, so the pic isn't the best ever. We rested at this first stop for 20mn. or so letting the horses drink while we munched on fried rice we'd prepared the day before. Upon departure our horses freaked out a bit at the site of another horse. This other horse appeared to be chained, or was just dragging a chain behind it, of this I'll never be sure. We threw a couple rocks at it and moved along. Situation averted.
Next we continued up the mountain as far as we could take the horses. One of the other PCV's students lives near the top, so we stopped here to tie up the horses. We explained (in our amazing Sesotho) that we would be back for them later, and that we were going in search of the metsi (water). The family wished us well, and then the mother said, "the small boy is there." I still don't know what that meant. Maybe one of their sons had gone in the same direction earlier. Either way, we never met up with a small boy, and at the time it seemed like a creepy, horror movie, thing to say. As we set off on the second half of our adventure my buddy felt the need to remind me that this trek had only been made once before, and therefore the path wasn't well known. I had no problem with this, as I'm usually down for a good adventure.
Soon enough we reached a waterfall. Our goal was the waterfall that has the "constant rainbow".....this was not that fall. We'd been hiking for a good 15 mn. up a stream, and my friend was sure if we just went a bit further we'd find the one we were looking for. However, we were kinda stuck at this one. The only way out was to back track, or to climb up a small ledge. By this point I was tired of carrying my riding helmet. I didn't want to leave it at the house where we tied the horses, so I'd brought it with me. I decided to risk looking like and idiot, and just wear it. From this point on, I was thankful to have that helmet! Getting up the ledge wasn't too hard. My friend went first, and stated that, "if you can't make it up this, this might be the breaking point." Yee of little faith. There was a dead tree 1/2 way up so all I had to do was grab onto it and pull myself up, using my amazing upper body strength (yeah right). Somehow I managed, and he snapped a pic which I will insert later. Once we got up the view wasn't very promising. We were faced with a lot of overgrown greenery and dead branches. No trail in sight, but we kept on trekking (like idiots).
As we continued hacking our way through over grown roughage I began to wonder how we'd ever find our way out. Eventually we came to a good sized waterfall. However, it was not the one with the contstant rainbow that we'd been in search of. We were now located at the bottom of a waterfall, Surrounded on both sides by steep mountains, and behind us was a good 30 minutes or so of hiking through tree branches. We were at a total loss. My fellow PCV was convinced that if we just got to the top of the waterfall our prospects would be better. I had to agree, as my other choices weren't any better. The only way up was to scale the side of the mountain to our left. I took the lead, as he has a tendancy to fall, and I didn't want him plummetting down onto me! Within two steps I knew this was going to be a bitch. Those two steps got me absolutely nowhere being that the dirt I was climbing up was loose, and the more steps I took the more dirt and rocks slid down. Our only option was to haul ass up this mountain and grab onto every dead tree along the way, hoping that they were still rooted to something. At this point I began to get a little worried.
I don't do well with heights, although I'm getting much better. About 1/2 way up the side of the mountain we came to a decent resting point at yet another dead tree. I looked down and realized that if either one of us fell we'd probably end up seriously injured, if not worse. My legs were shaking, and I wanted to cry. Just making it to this far had been ridiculously challenging. My buddy almost fell once, and my only response was, "NO!" as I kept on up the mountain. We were now halfway up and I was fiercely gripping onto the two most stable rocks around me. We still had a ways to go, and from this point on we'd be bouldering. No more landslides, now it was straight rock, and we still had no idea what we'd find at the top.
Bouldering was much better than the land slide climbing. I spent a few drunken nights bouldering barefooted on the beaches in Bellingham ( say that 3 times fast), and am thankful for that experience now! My body has never been so angry with me. I was using every muscle I had to get to each new rock, while aslo trying not to ever look down, as I would've freaked out! My PCV was an amazing spotter, and he claims to have saved my life once by holding my foot, but I would've been fine ;)
Once we made it to the top of the waterfall we found some stable ground, which was all I really wanted at that point. However, there was still a very long way to go before we'd be out of the wilderness and back on a decent trail. This next part of the journey was taken slowly. We had to climb for awhile up large rocks, but they weren't steep and/or scary. We stopped often to rest, reflect, and search for those elusive Lesotho diamonds. Soon we were about 3/4 of the way up the big mountain. I'd mention its name, but its a little x-rated, and as I said before, I don't know who's reading this. Soon we spotten civilization, one lone hut, which isn't exactly a safety sign cause you have to wonder who the hell lives all the way up this mountain? Anyway, we'd been packing around (actually I hadn't carried anything) the fixings for egg mc-muffins all day, so we finally came to a good place to stop, build a fire, and eat. I didn't want anything to do with food, as I was still in panic mode, but I ate anyway, and I'm glad I did. The mc-muffins, cooked over an open fire, consisting of english muffins, cream cheese and fried eggs were delicious! I know it sounds gross, and maybe it was just the addrenalin, but they were yummy! We snapped a couple photos, and began our journey down....finally!
I've gone into great detail about the adventures on the way up.....and as readers you're probably bored by now. As far as the journey down I'll say only a few things. We may have suffered some elevation sickness, as we were both light headed at a few points. The trails were not always made for or by humans, there was a lot of butt sliding, and once we got in sight of the house where our horses were tied I'm SURE the family was laughing at us! We rode our horses home, and made it back before dark with almost no problems....except when my buddy fell off his horse onto river rocks, and almost got trampled, but that's a minor detail :) He's fine now. I learned a lot about myself during the hike, and probably will do a few things differently on the next outdoor adventure, but we made it out alive, and can look back on it and laugh now!
Hope this blog didn't totally freak Mom and/or Dad out. I'm tough guys, don't worry! Love you all, and thanks for reading. I really will try and keep up on the blogging from now on!!!
This last weekend myself and another (he will remain unnamed for this post) PCV decided to take our horses on a little hike to find "Narnia". As many of you know, Lesotho is a beautifully mountainous country, and many of us volunteers live somewhat or extremely remote. A few of us have a mission to find our own personal "narnias" around our sites. A narnia is simply described as a beautiful, private, place where we can relax, that hopefully isn't too much of a hike to get to. This particular weekend we intended to go a further distance to find a narnia that was above and beyond......and this is how it played out.
I will describe our adventures as best I can, however I know that no matter what I write, or what pics are posted (later this week) I will be unable to portray just how insane it all was.
We picked up our horses around 10am or so. Two full grown gorgeous horses, one black, one brown, and an adorable little colt who tagged along the whole way! The weather was amazing! It's Autumn here, so all of the leaves are changing color and falling. The air had a slight chill to it, but the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Niether one of us are outstanding on horseback, so we rode at a nice walking pace and took in the views. Some of the trails were a little smaller than I would've liked and since there are no landscapers in the mountains of Lesotho we were beaten by branches along the side of the trails a few times. Those horse riding helmets aren't only cute, but they also come in handy when large branches are coming straight for you, and there's no way to avoid them.
Our first stop was just across a small stream. We found a nice patch of grass near a tiny but beautiful waterfall. We took a pic here.....but my accomplice slipped in the mud twice trying to pose, so the pic isn't the best ever. We rested at this first stop for 20mn. or so letting the horses drink while we munched on fried rice we'd prepared the day before. Upon departure our horses freaked out a bit at the site of another horse. This other horse appeared to be chained, or was just dragging a chain behind it, of this I'll never be sure. We threw a couple rocks at it and moved along. Situation averted.
Next we continued up the mountain as far as we could take the horses. One of the other PCV's students lives near the top, so we stopped here to tie up the horses. We explained (in our amazing Sesotho) that we would be back for them later, and that we were going in search of the metsi (water). The family wished us well, and then the mother said, "the small boy is there." I still don't know what that meant. Maybe one of their sons had gone in the same direction earlier. Either way, we never met up with a small boy, and at the time it seemed like a creepy, horror movie, thing to say. As we set off on the second half of our adventure my buddy felt the need to remind me that this trek had only been made once before, and therefore the path wasn't well known. I had no problem with this, as I'm usually down for a good adventure.
Soon enough we reached a waterfall. Our goal was the waterfall that has the "constant rainbow".....this was not that fall. We'd been hiking for a good 15 mn. up a stream, and my friend was sure if we just went a bit further we'd find the one we were looking for. However, we were kinda stuck at this one. The only way out was to back track, or to climb up a small ledge. By this point I was tired of carrying my riding helmet. I didn't want to leave it at the house where we tied the horses, so I'd brought it with me. I decided to risk looking like and idiot, and just wear it. From this point on, I was thankful to have that helmet! Getting up the ledge wasn't too hard. My friend went first, and stated that, "if you can't make it up this, this might be the breaking point." Yee of little faith. There was a dead tree 1/2 way up so all I had to do was grab onto it and pull myself up, using my amazing upper body strength (yeah right). Somehow I managed, and he snapped a pic which I will insert later. Once we got up the view wasn't very promising. We were faced with a lot of overgrown greenery and dead branches. No trail in sight, but we kept on trekking (like idiots).
As we continued hacking our way through over grown roughage I began to wonder how we'd ever find our way out. Eventually we came to a good sized waterfall. However, it was not the one with the contstant rainbow that we'd been in search of. We were now located at the bottom of a waterfall, Surrounded on both sides by steep mountains, and behind us was a good 30 minutes or so of hiking through tree branches. We were at a total loss. My fellow PCV was convinced that if we just got to the top of the waterfall our prospects would be better. I had to agree, as my other choices weren't any better. The only way up was to scale the side of the mountain to our left. I took the lead, as he has a tendancy to fall, and I didn't want him plummetting down onto me! Within two steps I knew this was going to be a bitch. Those two steps got me absolutely nowhere being that the dirt I was climbing up was loose, and the more steps I took the more dirt and rocks slid down. Our only option was to haul ass up this mountain and grab onto every dead tree along the way, hoping that they were still rooted to something. At this point I began to get a little worried.
I don't do well with heights, although I'm getting much better. About 1/2 way up the side of the mountain we came to a decent resting point at yet another dead tree. I looked down and realized that if either one of us fell we'd probably end up seriously injured, if not worse. My legs were shaking, and I wanted to cry. Just making it to this far had been ridiculously challenging. My buddy almost fell once, and my only response was, "NO!" as I kept on up the mountain. We were now halfway up and I was fiercely gripping onto the two most stable rocks around me. We still had a ways to go, and from this point on we'd be bouldering. No more landslides, now it was straight rock, and we still had no idea what we'd find at the top.
Bouldering was much better than the land slide climbing. I spent a few drunken nights bouldering barefooted on the beaches in Bellingham ( say that 3 times fast), and am thankful for that experience now! My body has never been so angry with me. I was using every muscle I had to get to each new rock, while aslo trying not to ever look down, as I would've freaked out! My PCV was an amazing spotter, and he claims to have saved my life once by holding my foot, but I would've been fine ;)
Once we made it to the top of the waterfall we found some stable ground, which was all I really wanted at that point. However, there was still a very long way to go before we'd be out of the wilderness and back on a decent trail. This next part of the journey was taken slowly. We had to climb for awhile up large rocks, but they weren't steep and/or scary. We stopped often to rest, reflect, and search for those elusive Lesotho diamonds. Soon we were about 3/4 of the way up the big mountain. I'd mention its name, but its a little x-rated, and as I said before, I don't know who's reading this. Soon we spotten civilization, one lone hut, which isn't exactly a safety sign cause you have to wonder who the hell lives all the way up this mountain? Anyway, we'd been packing around (actually I hadn't carried anything) the fixings for egg mc-muffins all day, so we finally came to a good place to stop, build a fire, and eat. I didn't want anything to do with food, as I was still in panic mode, but I ate anyway, and I'm glad I did. The mc-muffins, cooked over an open fire, consisting of english muffins, cream cheese and fried eggs were delicious! I know it sounds gross, and maybe it was just the addrenalin, but they were yummy! We snapped a couple photos, and began our journey down....finally!
I've gone into great detail about the adventures on the way up.....and as readers you're probably bored by now. As far as the journey down I'll say only a few things. We may have suffered some elevation sickness, as we were both light headed at a few points. The trails were not always made for or by humans, there was a lot of butt sliding, and once we got in sight of the house where our horses were tied I'm SURE the family was laughing at us! We rode our horses home, and made it back before dark with almost no problems....except when my buddy fell off his horse onto river rocks, and almost got trampled, but that's a minor detail :) He's fine now. I learned a lot about myself during the hike, and probably will do a few things differently on the next outdoor adventure, but we made it out alive, and can look back on it and laugh now!
Hope this blog didn't totally freak Mom and/or Dad out. I'm tough guys, don't worry! Love you all, and thanks for reading. I really will try and keep up on the blogging from now on!!!
Friday, May 28, 2010
These pics are completely random and out of order, but better than nothing right?
Here is my rondoval and my lovely dog Fetus.
Here is my rondoval and my lovely dog Fetus.
These are some girls at Lesotho High School in Maseru who just HAD to take a photo with me.
These are some cutie likonyana (young kids) at our Child's Day event. My district's color is green, so both the kids and teachers get decked out! Someday I'll have my very own kelly green track suit. Can't wait!
Just some cows by a car.
These are some cutie likonyana (young kids) at our Child's Day event. My district's color is green, so both the kids and teachers get decked out! Someday I'll have my very own kelly green track suit. Can't wait!
Just some cows by a car.
Pretty typical.
Gnarly bruises from my first horse riding expedition.
Here is my horse KN3. That's what's branded on his butt....so that's his name. The pictures is taken in my yard.
Mount Up!!!
We appreciate a good Coke here. PCV Leeza and I at the Butha-Buthe KFC after our literacy and Life Skills workshop.
This may or may not be the most PCV's you can fit into one rondoval. This pic. was taken at our site visit, when we were actually still only trainees. We all stayed the night here, and oh what a slumber party it was!
Gnarly bruises from my first horse riding expedition.
Here is my horse KN3. That's what's branded on his butt....so that's his name. The pictures is taken in my yard.
Mount Up!!!
We appreciate a good Coke here. PCV Leeza and I at the Butha-Buthe KFC after our literacy and Life Skills workshop.
This may or may not be the most PCV's you can fit into one rondoval. This pic. was taken at our site visit, when we were actually still only trainees. We all stayed the night here, and oh what a slumber party it was!
Monday, May 10, 2010
Literacy and Life Skills Workshop
This last weekend I got to be a part of a wonderful workshop. The Ed volunteers from last year started a pilot program in the nearby district of Butha-Buthe. Using PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) funds they were able to order AIDS/HIV themed books for 12 schools. The books are set in African villages, and the characters are African children. A few of the books were even translated into Sesotho. Needless to say, these are valuable resources for the teachers here. The workshop started Thursday evening and went through the weekend, ending Sunday morning. Three teachers from each school were invited, and they ALL came!!!
The workshop focused on teaching the teachers (and some principals) how to use the books in their classrooms. PCV's in Lesotho have managed to set up hundreds up libraries throughout the country, but we are finding that often times the books don't get used. Being that books are precious items here, they tend to get locked away, so as not to be damaged. However, they are also not accessable to the students. The workshop focused on incorporating the literature into their curriculums, teaching reading comprehension, and basic reading skills.
The whole experience was positive and encouraging. The teachers were very excited about their books, and the teaching tools we gave them. As a volunteer I think the weekend was a success, and now we are going to try to implement this into the other districts of Lesotho. I was also able to speak with a local publisher, so a few other volunteers and I will be spending our cold winter months writing books for ECCD (Early Child Care and Development) with the hopes of getting them translated and published for next year!
The workshop focused on teaching the teachers (and some principals) how to use the books in their classrooms. PCV's in Lesotho have managed to set up hundreds up libraries throughout the country, but we are finding that often times the books don't get used. Being that books are precious items here, they tend to get locked away, so as not to be damaged. However, they are also not accessable to the students. The workshop focused on incorporating the literature into their curriculums, teaching reading comprehension, and basic reading skills.
The whole experience was positive and encouraging. The teachers were very excited about their books, and the teaching tools we gave them. As a volunteer I think the weekend was a success, and now we are going to try to implement this into the other districts of Lesotho. I was also able to speak with a local publisher, so a few other volunteers and I will be spending our cold winter months writing books for ECCD (Early Child Care and Development) with the hopes of getting them translated and published for next year!
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Durban
Left: RBV's even in Africa.Below: Easter Brunch
Girls at the Ushaka Aquarium.
Left: All dressed up for dinner
Below: Group pic on the beach.
I guess it's been almost a month since I went on vacation. I apologize for taking so long to post anything about it. From the small country of Lesotho, to the big city of Durban South Africa. The differences were apparent almost immediatly. As volunteers we went from being greeted and questioned by everyone we pass to going completely unnoticed. The anonymity was a nice change. The weather was wonderfully warm and allowed us to swim in the ocean and float the lazy river at Ushaka Marine World. Our first day was waisted in a large mall, as we ladies had to shop for "nice" shoes in order to get into the bars. our PCV flip-flops don't cut it in the city. I hate malls so this wasn't mch fun, but it was nice to see such a variety of shopping options. Unfortunately on a PCV budget we're restircted to mostly window shopping. I laso ate McDonald's for the 1st time (it tastes better in America) and some PCV's got Subway (this would've been the better choice). That evening we went out to Sushi on the beach and had a great time! I'm running out of computer battery, so I'll sum up the rest quickly.
My favorite day was Saturday where a few of us girls went to an amazing market where I could've spent ALL my money, but managed to only spend most of it :) I picked up some tny souveniers for family and friends, and was FINALLY able to buy a purse. I've been needing and wanting one since I got to Lesotho. After the market we met up with some other PCV's at Ushaka Marine World where we went down the largest water slide in the Southern Hemisphere (I hated it) and floated the lazy river with some beers before checking out the aquarium. From Ushaka we went straight to a Sharks Rugby game. This was my first Rugby experience, and I loved it!!! The whole vaca. was filled with amazing food, sandy beaches, and booze. I had a great time and now we're busy planning vaca. number two!
My favorite day was Saturday where a few of us girls went to an amazing market where I could've spent ALL my money, but managed to only spend most of it :) I picked up some tny souveniers for family and friends, and was FINALLY able to buy a purse. I've been needing and wanting one since I got to Lesotho. After the market we met up with some other PCV's at Ushaka Marine World where we went down the largest water slide in the Southern Hemisphere (I hated it) and floated the lazy river with some beers before checking out the aquarium. From Ushaka we went straight to a Sharks Rugby game. This was my first Rugby experience, and I loved it!!! The whole vaca. was filled with amazing food, sandy beaches, and booze. I had a great time and now we're busy planning vaca. number two!
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Host Family
Thato helping w/the water pump at my house. Me, my host sister, brother, and neighbors.
My host family is wonderful! I've been telling many of you about them over the phone and emails, so now I can finally post some pictures. My little abuti (brother) is 6 years old and his name is Thato. My ausi (sister) is 10 and her name is Mohlabase (not sure on the spelling). My other abuti is 19 and his name is Nchakha. I've also got 3 other siblings who are grown and don't live at my site, but I see them often. The kids and I spend a lot of time playing in the yard, practicing English and Sesotho, and doing arts and crafts outside of my hut. I'm never too lonely with all the kids around. I could write sooo much more, but time is limited. Anyway, here are some photos.
World Wise Schools
This one is for you Jen. Since being in Lesotho I've been part of a program called World Wise Schools, which links classes here in Lesotho with classes in America. I'm sending our my first batch of pen-pal letters to Ms. Jennifer Steven's 3rd grade class on Monday. However, since she was efficient enough to send me photos of all of her students I decided I needed to do the same. Class 6 at Hlotsenyane Primary School in Leribe worked for WEEKS on their letters, and they were super thrilled to take a class teacher. I've worked hard to get to an internet source that would allow me to post some pics, as that's nearly impossible, unless you want to spend a lot of money, soooooo....here are the students!!!
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