Best Blog in the HIstory of EVAR

Guess who’s faaamous?!!!....... (me). We went to lunch at the US ambassador’s house, and his daughter informed me that her mother follows my blog!! So, officially I would like to make a shout-out to ambassador’s wife! Hey! I’m going to use your pool on thanksgiving! I’m really excited to go swimming.

Tomorrow I get to venture out into the great land of Lesotho. We are going in pairs to visit different current peace corps volunteers. I’ll be excited to practice my sesotho! And also to see what it’s like actually being out and about in this country!

The other day we visited some schools, (one secondary, one primary and one preschool) and we got to talk to all the kids. The high schoolers all wanted my jewelry, and the primary were awesome to talk to. I got to practice my halting sesotho with them, and have them giggle at me whether or not what I was saying was making sense. Then, coolest thing evar, all the preschoolers lined up and sang for us and it was total muffin. The people here sing all the time, they just bust out into these incredible harmonies and stuff all the time. We get to sing both ours and lesotho’s national anthem every morning before class (just like elementary school!), and then for breaks we sing while dancing in circles around the classroom. I like the dancing. (surprise!) and it’s great learning all these songs, even though as you guys know, I have the most off key voice. I try to sing quietly.

I have all sorts of internet while I’m in the capital, and all of the camptowns (capitals of the districts, comparable to states in the US) have internet except 3. so I have a 70% chance of having regular access to internet at my site. Eventually I will get a phone, so I can text friends in-country, and also receive calls from you guys. The phones are 450 rand (divide that by 6.5 to get US dollars) and I have like 100 rand. So I can’t get a phone for a while.

In the evenings I study sesotho (a little) and hang out with co-trainees. We play games and stuff. It’s great being with them, because before I left nobody really understood why I wanted to do this. It went from outright telling me I’m crazy, to being supporting but still not really understanding why. But now all these amazing people, they went through the same thing, and they (obviously) wanted to do this too. So it’s a nice support group sort of thing. Also, apparently one of my favorite trainees (victoriaaa) sent this link to her mom. So hello victoria’s mom!

it's funny, i'm getting used to being stared at, but now whenever i see another white person, i totally stare. they're funny looking! they totally stand out! I'm such a dork. i should just stare at myself or something.

today our main trainer lady was gone because she was going to a funeral. also my language trainer, and one other have their head shaved, and she told me it's because her mom died last month. The women shave their heads to mourn family member deaths. One in four people here has aids. when i'm walking through town, i just count off, and think about how every fourth person will die relatively soon. Much sooner than they should, and much sooner than they would if they had access to healthcare and knowledge about how to manage the disease. It's really depressing.

anyway, on that note... i'm running out of internet time./

ok i can cheer you guys up. if you're wondering where i get my humor, my mother emailed me saying "becky eats poop"


love you all, thank you so much for the emails, keep em coming!