When I was back in Nam...

Ok, sorry no pics just yet, for some reason this computer won't recognize my camera. stupid technology.

19 July

We just got to Etosha National Park, this campsite is incredible! There are 3 outdoor showers and toilets just for our site. they're a little voyeuristic with just thick mesh for walls. There are Hyrax (rock ferrets) running around outside, and on the way in there were all these giraffes just chillin by the side of the road!

Before this we stayed at this campsite with HUGE rocks and we all went bouldering for a few hours, it was so much fun. Man, i really miss bouldering. My jolly jolly thighs have seized up though and refuse to work today, which makes getting in and out of the truck difficult. i have to sort of fall out.

This morning we saw 600,000 year old cave paintings! they're soo cool! they're done with a mix of blood and yolk from ostrich eggs. Then victoria and i stood on a rock and shadow danced/fought for like an hour. we would've been there all day probably if our slave driver tour guide didn't make us leave. Man, we are funny funny people. We created what will be the next hit on youtube, if i'm ever able to upload it.

Before that i discovered my new obsession: QUAD BIKING. Holy crap! It has awakened my need for speed. we went for 1 hour in the afternoon on piddly 125cc automatic bikes, and it was waay too slow/short for me, so i cancelled my sandboarding excursion the next day and booked 90 minutes (all i could afford) and got a 250cc semi automatic (you have to weigh at least 80 kg to get teh 350 cc manual bikes, and though i have gained a lot of weight, i'm not that big). it still wasn't enough. i wanted to go all day. we "rollercoastered" on the dunes where you rocket up one side of a dune, do a sharp turn at teh top and plummet down again, i just gunned it the whole time, going higher and faster. (sidenote: the kalahari desert is BEAUTIFUL, it goes right to the ocean and the dunes are amazing) I impressed the guide with my skillz and daring.

Then before that we were in the huge red dunes of the Namib desert, we kept climbing up and rolling down them, the sand is so soft. I'd just sort of dive headfirst from the top of a dune and go into uncontrolled summersaults, until i fell sideways into uncontrolled log rolling. I permanently have sand in every orifice, i think some new ones were even created, and i severely messed up my neck from landing on my head so many times, but it was definitely worth it. We're enforcing the stereotype of Americans being loud obscene nutcases, but that's ok because we're having more fun than them. We really pretty much never stop laughing.

It's weird tho, because we're on an organized safari, everywhere we go we're just surrounded by tourists, it's like waiting in line at the parthenon, except i'm in friggin africa in this ginormous desert and everyone's concentrated in a few places. After Mongolia, Namibia is the least densely populated country in the world (1.8 million people, same as lesotho) so we've seen almost no actual namibians except in the big cities. i'm used to lesotho where there are villages scattered pretty evenly across the entire country, and no tourism to speak of. The back roads in teh middle of nowhere in this country are 100x nicer than the main f-ing road to the middle of lesotho where i live, and even the smaller backwater towns here are way nicer than Maseru (the capital). When i tell people i live in lesotho, it's a good way to garner pity/ lower prices while bartering. Lesotho is seen kind of as the armpit of Southern Africa. Whatever, at least we have pretty mountains, and nice people.

We (the tour group) are all on mefliquone, an antimalarial and it's giving everyone crazy dreams. Others are dreaming of being killed, shot, shooting others, general distress (or if you're madeline each dream ends in a party). I keep getting my heart broken, almost every dream it happens somehow. Everything's so vivid though, it's almost worth it.

27 July

Home again! I knew i was getting close when the sidewalks disappear, streets started being lined with trash and men start jeering at me. Good 'ol Lesotho. I can't wait to get back to my hut and sleep in my own bed and see Malehluoa and my 'Me again. I feel like i've been on vacation forever. day before yesterday (afternoon) we boarded the bus at Windhoek, then got to Bloemfontein 20 hours later, then an hour wait, then a 2 hour taxi to Maseru, where i spent the night last night, now it's 8:30 am and i'm waiting for the bus to leave here to get to thaba tseka, which will take about 6 hours. I've gotten really good at long car rides while living here.

Icing, anyone?

And now, Mosilisi, Lesotho's PM has come out in support of Mugabe, saying that his win in a one-man election is legitimate. wtf

5th time's a charm

I hate the internet. here we will try once again:

So, due to the requests for me to get to the point and put my thousands of words into photos, here they are!

drying out meroho (leafy greens) and maize to get us through the winter

my sis sewing a dress

the two facial expressions i most often inspire in the children of lesotho:

small furry creatures that like to plague me. parkinsons on the left, tsotse (theif/criminal) on right

two bo-ausi making snowflakes with me in my roundavel

water balloons Lesotho Style (don't worry they weren't used)

huddled around the coal stove in the staff room. N. Chelete is rockin out to my headphones, i think i'm introducing him to Blackalicious as a counterargument to Lil Bow Wow being legit music.

more Rockin Out. please do not notice the chubbsy faced whitey on the right.
I found an appropriate whiskey for my profession

ok, this is SO F-ING SLOW. so i'm giving you words while i wait for pictures. damn you internet, and damn you all websites that have imbedded flash or a million jpegs causing me to be unable to access you unless i wait the 20 minutes for everything to download. The makers of websites have totally forgotten that dial up internet does indeed still exist, and is used by a large part of the world. or a large part of my world, at least.

30 June:

So I didn't get to hang out with the old lady because she was in the hospital. While waiting for her to show i was able to watch some awesome music videos from some botswanan music group, a movie called Matilda about some mischevious little girl that's so smart and has read so many books that she can move shit with her mind and so defeats the evil headmistress, and also a dvd containing every britney spears music video ever made (there are like 20!). i forgot how awesome britney used to be.

Then yesterday i hiked to the river (1.5-2hrs down/up a mtn) with a bunch of kids and Ben, an american with grand multimedia plans for the future of lesotho. We went to fish, but with nothing to bait the hooks with we didn't catch much. Instead we roasted corn, took a bunch of pictures with a film-less camera, swung on swings woven from still attached branches, threw rocks, played with "water balloons" (condoms we found by the river), got really wet trying to ford the river, and really singed trying to dry off over a fire. All in all, a super awesome day. Of course my camera ran out of batteries after 4 pictures. i have chronic power struggles with that battery inhaler. (did you spot the pun?! yes....)

Right now i'm in the staff room at school, i stopped by to say hi to the teachers doing winter classes, deliver mail, and discuss the merits of 'Lil Bow Wow'. (I'm not sure who that is, but my position is anti, based on the name alone)

+Warning+: This is me ranting without a lot of factual support/well thought through arguments, so you might want to skip it in favor of more pretty pictures.

2 July:

It's a perversion, an indecency, what i'm doing here. It's just so blatantly selfish. The basotho, many of them, see it too and have us volunteers for it. What fucking retard would give up a good life for this sort of poverty? That we can be so blasé, so unconcerned about what we have that we'd give it up to come "help" here, it's an affront. It's like rubbing their noses in it. We can leave, go home whenever we want. Even the most educated and motivated mosotho is hard pressed to find a job/higher education in South Africa, and Lesotho itself is just dead ends. This whole place is dead ends for people used to dead ends. They see, and know what it is to be born here and not there are are so stubbornly proud. I love the Basotho for their national pride. In this nation of zero resources, one of the recipients of the highest amt foreign aid per capita, this place where imports at least triple the exports, they still stand so tall. We fucking americans, who denounce our country, who put Canadian flags on our luggage when abroad, who are we? We let ourselves be defined by such fads, such limited factors. Sure the administration sucks, but i've never met a mosotho who defined themself or their country by the actions of their corrupt ill equipped government. It never even occurred to them to act like the actions of the Prime Minister reflect the national consciousness, or their own dignity at all. (I realize these are horrifically sweeping statements and that neither of these are ideal positions with many finer points, but this isn't going to be that in depth. i'm just ranting.)

The Basotho are smart enough to be proud of what they have: their independence, their traditions, their own people, music genre, and the 'best' way of preparing papa (maize meal). I'm so sick of Americans lamenting so much with such vehemence. We ran out of actual complaints and have lost our sense of what we have accomplished at the same time. I don't want to feel guilty about what i have, what i grew up with, and i don't. I do feel like an ass for taking it all for granted. Roads, hospitals, youth centers, movie theaters, diversity, grocery stores, a largely progressive populace, all of it.

Oh, it's romantic in a way, living in a mud hut, reading by candle light, lending my "vast knowledge and experience" at the high school. Nothing I do, nothing peace corps ever does, is sustainable though. This really is a "get paid to see the world" gig for recent college grads. I knew that upon entering, in face it's one main reason i applied. Being here, though, it makes me feel like an idiot, flaunting what i had to go on a jaunt to the third world for a couple years. At the end of this I'll just be abandoning the students I've spent 2 years convincing to trust me, listen to me, learn from me. They'll really just learn that i left them. I've gotten innumerable stories about "that lekhooa" that used to live here and promised this and that, then left and forgot about everyone here and what they promised. I'm just another in the parade of halfway-caring better offs to come and leave.

p.s. sorry for all the run on sentences. and negativity. i know there are lots of positives, and this isnt all and everything. i'm entitled to be negative sometimes, alright?

Not so Fowl Times

26June:

Potential B-day Happiness
letters/pictures
aforementioned desirable package items
seasons 1-3 of coupling
Season 3 greys anat.
How I met your mother (any, all)
good books and music
airline whiskey bottles
cajun spice and sweet hungarian paprika from limbo in ptown
hugs
kisses
etc.


Last night i had my 1st taste of "white flag" joala. There are 2 main schools of moonshine in Lesotho: yellow flag and white flag. When you brew, you hoist plastic bags of the appropriate color on a pole outside so people can come partake. Yellow flag is sweet, winey mooonshine that has been described to me as tasting of "fermented bleu cheese dressing". White flag is sorghum based, is really thick and chunky, and tastes kind of like sour cream of wheat. Victoria's family came out to visit so her lesotho family threw a feast. it was really nice, and we all drank joala and danced and had fun. Vic's mom thought this one little girl, lintle (2-3 yrs old) was super cute barging around the room knocking into peoples' legs, but i don't think she realized the little one was drunk on too much moonshine. There's no concept here of "too young to drink".

eee, some ducks are approaching dangerously near me as i write. Luckily i'm ok with ducks, so i will not flinch. There are roosters here too, and along with being majorly obnoxious and crowing at 4 am, they freak me out. I have to arc my walking patterns significantly to avoid them.

Now I'm sitting around outside my neighbor's house watching a little barefoot boy attempt to play the banjo whilst reclining in a wheelbarrow. It's super cute, and i really wish i had a camera. I'm doing an awful job chronicling my stay here in pictures. We're drinking more joala from last night, and the little one is drunk again. Eventually today i'm going with them to visit 'me julia's "grandmother". THe reason that's in quotes is because i'm skeptical she has an alive grandmother because she's way old and a grandmother herself. It's fun to try to communicate with crotchedy old ladies sometimes. It's better if they're drunk becaue then they speak slower and i can understand them easier.

I'm mildly regretting the hectic winter break i have. It'd be nice to have more time to sit around. A la today. stupid me and my commitment making.

Dribble

Hey,

i'm all out of it, i feel like i've been repeating myself a lot, and so i can't remember what i've already written in this here blaggy and what i've just been telling people. that's partially why i'm into condensing my life into lists. i've been in the capital for a week, eating haenous amounts of food and drinking whiskey and red wine, so my body is freaking out a bit. all these forgotten food groups such as meat, dairy, and fresh fruit. i have major food baby issues. but, i have been showering every single day almost since i've been here, and i feel almost too clean. my hair is all floofy and shit. AND i stole lindseys clothes so i'm all pretty, too! (she has lots of pretty clothes). so all in all life is good. i leave tom morn for home for a week where i will relax, sleep all day, and read lots of mediocre books. then i'll be back for more rich food and alcohol and friends and internets and dresses and cleanliness and things.

my camera was mia since last month when i was in town, so no new pics. maybe i'll take some this intervening week so i can post some eye candy next time i'm in town.

ok. i'm too out of it to post. goodbye forever!

Formal Invitation

So, first off, i realize you're all broke, but in the case of fiscal responsibility/sudden bouts of inheritance, i would like to formally invite anyone desiring happiness/adventure in life to visit me.

Just think: sometime later on you'll see this amazing (wo)man, and have the desire to attract them. if you follow my advice, you'll be able to start speaking loudly about "when i was in africa...". Said hottie will be irresistibly drawn to you, and you will then regale them with tales of wonder. we can even feed some babies or something while you're here, if you're into that. You'll be a chick/dude magnet! The logic for visiting me is undeniable.

To excite you about your impending visit, i've put together 3 suggeseted vacation packages. these by no means need to be followed. off the beaten track is a-ok with me.

1. The Kingdom in the Sky $
The most affordable package involves chillaxin with me in Lesotho. See what my life is like!
possible adventurez: pony trekking, hiking, using a pit latrine, donkey pub crawls

2. Summer Lovin' (Winter for you N. Hemisphere fools) $$
While the rest of the continent is boiling, we can frolic round South Africa! Durban, Cape Town, the Wild Coast, Kruger Nat'l park all await!
possible adventurez: swimming in both the indian and atlantic oceans, being eaten by lions, going on wine tours, etc.

3. Go North $$$
good for winter, also fun any other time. these adventurez are more expensive because they're farther away (= more transportation, more time away, etc.)
Mozambique: beaches, seafood, dancing, djs. possible adventurez: aquiring a harem, introducing new dance moves
Botswana: elephants, okavango delta, victoria falls. possible adventurez: falling out of a canoe and getting eaten by hippos, "swimming" in the mist of Vic Falls
Namibia: namib desert, large animals, skeleton coast. possible adventurez: dune boarding, leopard feeding
Swaziland: like Lesotho but with infrastructure and better crafts! possible adventurez: seeing the "virgin parade" where a bunch of jailbait parade around naked, so men can decide which one they want.

Hello Out There, is Anybody List-ening?

Things I Fantasize About
1. Double ply toilet paper
2. Cheese (duh)
3. Mexican food/ Thai food
4. Hot showers
5. Fishies (a.k.a. goldfish crackers)
6. Nerds
7. Meeting a nice boy that likes me for me, and doesn't see me as either a freak show or a free ticket to America
8. Electricity




Things That Make Me Happy
1. Waking up next to Victoria, singing the good morning song, and relaying our dreams
2. Kittens (sometimes)
3. Lunch bar dreams
4. Cheese (duh)
5. Mail
6. Scottish Leader Whiskey
7. The prospect of Namibia
8. Having a conversation with a stranger that doesn't end in a request of some sort
9. Hot water bottles
10. Dance parties
11. Glitter (especially when in conjunction with 10.)
12. How excited my student sometimes get when I enter the classroom
13. Nanotechnology (So Cool)
14. Crossword puzzles
15. Jam (esp. strawberry and raspberry, lately)
16. Snuggling with Vic's pregnancy pillow (somewhat unfortunately named Bryan Adams)


Things That Make Me Sad
1. My dropout rate is up to 7
2. Accidentally looking down into my pit latrine
3. Rats that eat my underwear
4. Running out of batteries
5. incomprehension
6. The number of bestiality-related questions I got during an impromptu sex ed class session
7. The number of ribs I'm able to count on all the domestic animals
8. That many Basotho believe that if you wear gum boots (galoshes) during sex, you won't get HIV
9. You know what would make this better? cheese.
10. How relative bathing has become (relative to what? i'm not sure)
11. Rats that sneak under my door, confound my cats and eat my tomatoes

Trends I May or May Not Have Inspired
1. Holding your hands as if you were wearing mittens while dancing
2. Beanies with brims
3. the internet
4. a love of veronica mars (of the show, not for her because she herself is a selfish paranoid bitch who uses people)
5. lists
6. pie
7.using old airline whiskey bottles for salt/pepper shakers
8. spelunking
9. speaking spanish
10. burning man SOUTH AFRICA!!! woo!!



p.s. comments are always appreciated