There are a few things I believe I have missed about training in Makola and some general first impression observations of Lesotho. It will be addressed in the following list which I slowly generated every day over the past weeks. I enjoy listing details, it is much easier to read and follow.
• A baby chicken enters my room and leaves on its own regard. I don't think it understands that it is meat.
• A little boy, we named swag, literally is the essence of what all great American
rappers strive for.
• The food is heavily carb based, but peanut butter is the cure to that. They eat
a lot of Papa, which is mashed up corn meal and boiled water. Not my thing, and when I tell the Basotho I dislike it, they scoff and are astonished. They don't know what I eat.
• I try not to take too many pictures, or I am discreet with my camera, because
everyone asks for you to “shoot them,” and then they swarm your camera to
see what the picture was. Then they want it again. Not dangerous, just inconvenient.
• Bucket bathing, is pretty easy. And I feel very clean! Just kind of burn myself
often with the boiling water. I am too impatient to get more cold water to
mix or to wait for it to cool.
• First week I was asked to be married to someone’s daughter. They tried
twice. They are really nice though. Maybe my plan B.
• I am certain Basotho dream of eating sugar straight up and salt injections.
Every Basotho person I see uses about 4 spoons of sugar in small cup of tea,
and I think if salt water fish were to eat the food, they would die of dehydration. Some of the food is great though, like the carrots and beets!
• My family expects me to polish my shoes and iron my clothes often. Luckily
they are taking care of that for me...
• I threw a Frisbee, hit a 7-year old in the neck/face. No crying. Also no parents
so I was relieved. Then I did it again. Different child. Still on accident. I was
less worried that time.
• Shaving without a mirror is less accurate than I anticipated, also, I have a
tetanus shot so I wasn’t worried to get lockjaw.
• When hiking I was playing with a stick and it dropped on a littler girl’s head.
She was mad and I tried to say I was sorry, instead I said “ke thabile,” which
means I am happy.
• Washing clothes is not something I ever got the hang of, definitely paying someone. Contributing to
the Economy!
• My family calls me Ntate Peanut Butter, by week 2 I have gone through 4 jars
of peanut butter. They were amazed when I put peanut butter on an apple. Mind blown. Later between two slices of bread. Even more so.
• Fat cakes, or makoanyas are delicious fried bread. Peanut butter, or nutella
as toppings, it’ll be easy to regain that weight I lost!
• My solar book bag is the smartest thing I ever brought.
• The more I sweep, the more dust comes in my home, it is a battle I will never
win. I would polish my shoes daily, more so because my family would force me, but they would be just as dirty 10 feet from my home.
• Getting sick, sucks. All I could think was: I want a normal toilet. And a big screen tv.
• Little kids always want to hold hands. I choose wisely as to stay away from
the ones with dried boogers and general gross ones. I also use hand sanitizer
often. Although there are some extraordinarily cute ones I chase after to hold their hand. I'm not a creep. It's not creepy here.
• Taxis are very crowded, but being smooshed between two largely
proportioned Basotho women somehow lulls you into a very nice, comatose state. Next thing you know, you are where you need to be, rested, and sweaty. And when you aren't asleep, you can give a clever elevator (or taxi) speech on why you are here all in Sesotho and see how amazed they are with you!
• Seeing a shower and electricity are very exciting things. If you are around other Americans, make sure to dash for the outlets.
• I didn’t know until I came here, but I am often caught talking about shorts,
and wearing shorts.
• Shooting stars are amazing. So legit. Stargazing is probably the best thing to do at night, especially here where you can see everything. We also have Orion down here (kind of lost a bet)
• We asked our Sesotho Teacher, if you had a lot of money, where would you
travel and why? She responded, to America, to kill Mike and Shawn. We are her favorites.
• When running in the early morning, or at night I always carried a rock. Very fearful of dogs. They are so nice during daylight, and turn zombie scary at dark. But if you bend down they run away faster than they originally ran towards you. It's the tease of grabbing a rock that frightens them really.
• Basotho think it is hilarious that Americans bring their dogs inside or pet it.
• During our time at the Hub, cookies and fruit were often provided. It was sometimes a mad dash for the specific ones, but I generally went more for quantity rather than quality. Record: 14 cookies and 5 apples/bananas. A great day!
Makola was a great place, and I am already excited to return to it for a week in my Phase III training. To swing by the constantly dancing shop keeper (still don't know his name, even after all the peanut butter I bought, and the makoanyas). Perhaps going back to having my 'M'e laugh at how I wash my clothes, my sister asking to play more sudoku (she got really good). Hopefully by then I can pronounce the clicks in the q's of this language and then they don't have to correct me constantly on my faulty pronunciation.
Now that training Phase I is over, and I'm surviving Phase II in wonderful Fobane, I will be posting hopefully more regularly during this more relaxed phase of my Peace Corps Life.
Things are getting real!
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