I'm Missing the Olympics, and I'm not Sure if That Makes Me Sad or Not

apparently we lost in badmitton though. curses!

7 August

ugh, i'm failing at thinking of things to write about. I feel like i'm just talking to myself/the void on this blog, and i can't think of anything to say to the residents of a place that only marginally exists for me anymore, and i've given up on writing letters to people who never write back. If you want a letter, you have to write me. so there. I'm sick and tired of this place, but don't want to give up and go home either.

Well, update: school's started gain, school's started again, and this whole "double-shifting" thing (half the students come 7am-noon, other half noon-5pm, same teachers throughout) is not the doomsday event that everyone (including myself) made it out to be. I'm actually teaching less than before because all of teh students' classes have been cut back, and there's a new student teacher taking up the slack in the science dept. I've just gotten so lazy/stopped caring so it's hard to get the motivation to go to class. My students are sweethearts, though and it's really nice to see them again. I've lost a lot of my favorite kids though with the classes all getting switched around. i guess i can look at it as an opportunity for new favorites. and my classes are so so tiny now! it feels all empty in the classroom with only 35-40 kids in a class now instead of 55-60. maybe i'll actually learn everyone's names now.

Oh yeah! I'm a year older now than the last post. woo 24! My neighbor made a vat of sorghum moonshine and we sat around in the sun drinking, doing crosswords, and playing with puppies all day, then my 'Me made a big dinner. it was really nice.

So, Lesotho is maybe 95% Basotho, and 5% chinese. Europeans never came here because Lesotho has the virtue of having nothing to exploit, so the only white people here are from various NGOs/ Int'l aid programs. Anyway, there's REALLY bad racism/discrimination towards the chinese, they get shoved, insulted, spit on, etc. They can't enroll their kids in regular schools becasue they'll get harassed so badly. Some small children, having never seen white people i suppose, assume because i'm not black i must be chinese, so i get inappropriate racist slurs yelled at me by toddlers/kindergarten aged children. A couple times they've thrown rocks at me, but luckily since they are small they have no arm so i'm never close to being hit. stupid inept little kids. At least i'm not asian-american though, thouse volunteers get untold-of amounts of shit during their stay here. I haven't met a single mosotho who thinks it's wrong to hate, or at least dissapprove of, chinese people. I miss the diversity of the States. i've tried to tell people about how the races are all mixed up there, but they don't really believe me. I have a pictures of my grandma Betty, uncle Jim, cousin Paul, and Paul's son Isaac to show them how it's all the same family, but the offspring get progressively more asian looking with each generation. The people i show this to still look kind of dubious, like they doubt those people are really related. During a sex-ed session, amidst the questions about inter-species sex i had a few about inter-racial sex, like "if a mosotho cannot get a sheep pregnant, can he get a chinese or white person pregnant?". A lot of questions you never really foresee occuring in your life have been inquired of me here.

I have an exchange program going on in the staff room, where i teach my co-workers spanish and they help me with my sesotho. They think it's great, though they seem to only be using it as a means to flirt with each other. i've been asked to translate such useful phrases as "the teachers here are beautiful" "i love you" "do you love me" "come sit by the fire" "these men are strong" etc. I like it cuz it helps me remember my spanish. It's all mixed up with sesotho though in my head. i keep confusing myself.

well, i ended up saying a lot for not having anything to say.