Thursday, December 23, 2010

Tis the Season

Hi All,
Today is Christmas Eve, so first off let me wish you all a Merry Christmas. Christmas here pretty much is like any other time of year, you wouldn't know it was near Christmas by looking as there are no festive lights, music, or any of the things we've come to know and love about this time of year. Also, its summer haha.

I've had a lot going on lately, but unfortunately I haven't had internet in 2 months (gasp!) and haven't been able to update. Work has taken a surprising turn since Novemeber. I decided that I would make some manuals to build up the capacity of my organizations faciliation of workshops and trainings. The first was on games and activities to play that can enhance workshops and make them more interactive. It also made me realize that Simon Says is a very difficult game to describe using only words...seriously, try it. The second was on facilitation skills. GROW is starting some new projects right about now and its my job to sort of organize them and keep them on track. To be honest I don't really understand what exactly I'm supposed to be doing, but I figure I'll figure it out. At least its something to do.

In November I also got my first taste of the African stomach parasite/amobea. Let me tell you, you don't want one of those! A bunch of people got sick around the same time but no one knows for sure what caused it. It was incredibly NOT fun at all. But a round of antibiotics later I was good as new. Hooray!

We had a really fun Thanksgiving this year. I went with some friends to Semonkong and celebrated with a bunch of PCVs. Here are the highlights:
-Donkey Pub Crawl. Its exactly what it sounds like. Irena, Karolina, Brandon and I made t-shirts and were a "team"...Team Top Deck and we were each one suit in a deck of cards. Karolina was also a pirate haha and she painted our faces. She also made us pom poms and wrote some cheers for us to perform on the crawl. Then we all set of atop donkeys to various local bars in the area. It was so much fun. Pictures will come later :)
-Beautiful scenery. Semonkong is beautiful, especially this time of year. And it had been raining a ton so the falls were BOOMING.
-Fun Turkey hats. Our friend Ronan had all these craft supplies and helped us make hilarious turkey hats to were to dinner. They were all different and really funny. Mine was a gangster in case you were wondering.
-Amazing food. The Lodge made a traditional Thanksgiving meal for us that was absolutely amazing. First, I've been dreaming about turkey for about a year and a half now, so that was a major plus of dinner. Here's the menu: a carrot mouse with a leek and scallion sauce (soooo good), then mashed potatoes, grean beans, bread, gravy, cranberry sauce, turkey, stuffing, and fresh salad. For dessert, which we barely had room for but somehow managed to eat, homemade pumkin pie and homemade vanilla ice cream. Yum.

In the beginning of December the High Altitude Marathon was held in Mokhotlong. My friend Eric from TTL ran in it. It was really fun to watch. Eric did an amazing job and made it in under 4 hours! After the marathon we a had a little party at TTL with Rocio, Kevin, Eric, and I. We ate lots of food and drank tons of beer (hey, Eric had been training for months and therefore a drunken celebration was called for).

This past weekend, GROW had their annual party. I managed to convince all the PCVs and assorted white people to come. So Me, Rocio, Sara, Parker, Kevin and Eric rolled into the party together. It was a total blast! We danced to crazy Bastho music and basically just danced the night away...with the help of some local beers. It was a good end to the year and a good opportunity to interact with some locals in a fun way.

Well, I've pretty much said all I wanted to say. I'm headed down to Melissa's house in Mafeteng today so we can leave for Cape Town tomorrow! Can't wait!

Merry Christmas!

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