Getting Settled

Lumelang bo m’e le bo ntate, (Hi ladies and gentlemen)

So clearly I’ve mastered the local language in record time…obviously that is a complete lie. We’ve had one Sasotho lesson so far and I don’t think that any of us will really “master” the language. OMG this is technically a ‘click’ language too! But only on words that have Qs in them and a lot of people don’t use them. And to be honest the greeting to this doesn’t really mean hi ladies and gentlemen, it actually is hi women and men but that’s neither here nor there…

Since I haven’t updated since I got here I’ll sum up the events so far. At JKF we saw Ben from LOST and sort of stalked him from a gift shop. The plane ride wasn’t bad at all despite being 15 hours long. Once in Jo’Burg we went straight to the hotel where we ordered food and then proceeded to sleep for the rest of the day. Our plane to Maseru was the smallest plane I have ever been on (max like 26 people). Our luggage was 200 kgs over and therefore about half remained in SA….with the added mystery of not knowing whose didn’t make it. Shock and surprise my bag containing all of my clothes didn’t make it. But thankfully they arrived yesterday afternoon.

Lesotho is BEAUTIFUL. The mountains are ridiculously pretty, and I swear the sky is bluer here (side note: if I make up words just go with it). The training center where we live is really different than I thought it would be. It’s actually sort of a commune type setup, we have guards that control the gate. There are 4 bedrooms with 6 bunks in each, and there is a big livingroom area with a big tv and movies, a nice kitchen and a few bathrooms. In the other main building we use there is a dining room type area where we eat that is attached to our classroom area. There’s a library too. We got to go into the city a bit and went to the grocery store today…note to my Florence girls it’s like a million times better than Standa. And we have 2 tea breaks a day, and are drinking tea like 24/7.

Today is our free day to do whatever so most of us played a bug game of volleyball…I eventually will stop sucking at it. Also, we have a current volunteer living with us named Meghan and she’s been super helpful. Next week (on Sunday) we are leaving here to move in with host families in 2 villages for about 6 weeks. We’re all pretty excited about it but we’ll miss the washing machine and hot water showers….

Anyways, it turns out that I won’t have a ton of access to the internet during these 3 months of training so the updates will maybe be once a week at most. But, I’m going to get a cell phone soon and I can text the US! Its SUPER expensive for me to call the US (15 rand a min. for me, 15 cents for you to call me) so for those of you who want to talk to me get a calling card and phone me! I’ll post my cell number when I get it (and my mom will have it as soon as I get one so you can always ask her). (fyi I’m 6 hrs ahead).

So that’s all I have for now. Sala hankle!