Saturday, April 23, 2011

Musings on an Amusing Journey

Let me begin by clarifying the title of this post. When I say “amusing” I generally mean that the journey can be called amusing NOW, but at the time it didn’t appear quite so funny to me.

I recently went down to Maseru for a few to days. I happened to make the mistake of leaving on a Sunday…when there are fewer taxis and cars on the road making the trip much longer. The trip down was relatively unexceptional, apart from the fact it took me forever. I usually start my trip by taxi, going from Mokhotlong to Botha Bothe, and then hitch hike from there. One the way down I saw two things of interest. 1) SNOW. Yup, snow…in April. It was not a welcome site. 2) A large overturned truck on the mountain pass. This wouldn’t be considered of interest usually because its fairly common. But this time it was surrounded by what I can only describe as the Lesotho version of an environmental hazmat team. It was super strange. Hitch hiking is really common among PCVs here, but to Basotho we’re crazy. This one guy who was on my taxi even offered to pay for my taxi so I wouldn’t have to hitch hike. It was a sweet offer but no thanks. I was lucky to get a hitch (that’s cool kid slang for hitch hike for those of you not in the know) with a big truck, which was lucky. I finally made it to Maseru at around 4:30.

My trip to Maseru did have some high points though. One of the main reasons I made the trip was to meet with the US Ambassador, Michele Bond. I had met her a couple of weeks ago at the Peace Corps 50th Anniversary Press Conference. She was nice enough to agree to meet with me to talk about the Foreign Service (something I’m strongly considering for those who didn’t know). She has had an incredible career and it gave me a lot to think about. Later that day, I met with another member of the embassy staff who had recently gone through the whole Foreign Service Officer Test process. The meeting was really helpful and he gave me good advice about preparing for the exam, which I’m taking in June. Overall: good day. (Plus I got to hang out with Melissa so obviously it was going to be a good day  ).

The journey back home is the amusing part of the journey. A fellow volunteer was nice enough to let me crash at her house for the night before heading back, thanks Chante! I was out at the road in TY looking for a lift at around 6:30am. It took me a little while but I finally landed one. These two ladies picked me up, a mother-daughter pair it turned out to be. Things started off pretty normal with them, typical small talk. Then the conversation turned. They were almost sneaky about starting the religious conversation. It began with politics, then turned to evolution v creationism. Then before I really knew what was happening they were reading to me from the bible! In Sesotho and English! It was really hard not to laugh because all I could think was “OMG this is really happening!” They legit spent a good 45 minutes subtly trying to convert me into a Jehovah’s Witness. They were really nice about it though lol. And when they dropped me at the road they gave me some literature to read.

My next lift was with a police officer and nothing particularly exciting happened. I was still in shock from the Jehovah’s. My final lift was with a group of young people. They were really nice and were going to Mokhotlong! I thought I was pretty lucky…until I found out they were only going to Letseng Diamond Mine (2.5 hours from my house). When we finally got to Botha Bothe I decided that I would be better off taking a taxi to Mokhotlong. So they dropped me at the taxi rank and I got myself a taxi. That turned out to be an excellent decision because we drove past their broken down car later on. The taxi rank is always a little bit funny (and entirely frustrating). You never know what you’ll encounter. This time I was witness to a young man trying to stuff a fairly large dog into a maize meal sack. The dog was not thrilled with this plan, but he eventually succeeded. To paint you a word picture of the scene: a big white sack with a dog’s head poking out of the top. Luckily my taxi driver made him take a different taxi. Things were going pretty smoothly until we reached Moteng Pass (a steep mountain pass as you enter Mokhotlong). All of a sudden the taxi stops, there’s some chatter and then people start getting out. Now all this happens in Sesotho so I had to ask the guy sitting next to me if I’m supposed to get out. Getting out of the taxi is not desirable for two reasons: 1. Moteng Pass is steep and walking up it is not fun, 2. it COLD OUT. The taxi couldn’t make it up that particular part of the road with all of us in it, so out we went. But it was almost worth it because another taxi was stopped as well. We all had a front row seat to the dog show. The dog I mentioned earlier had attempted to escape by poking its legs through the sack and running away. It was really funny. Eventually I made it home and took a long needed nap.

Technically my journey was over. But yesterday something happened that relates to the overall craziness of the trip. I was walking home from town and was about 3 minute from my house when I came across a woman and her 2 sons. The woman approached me and claimed she had seen me before. I figured, sure ok, chit chat and all that…be polite. Then, all of sudden BAM. It happens again! Out comes the bible and she’s trying to get me to join the Lord. That makes twice in 2 days. I swear something about me must just scream HEATHEN!

Anyways, I hope you all enjoy your Easter holiday!

Friday, April 8, 2011

Winter not-so-wonderland

So this post is going to be brief. Its mostly just to quickly update on my least favorite kind of weather....WINTER. It has arrived. What does that mean exactly? It means that I'm extra cold and that soon it will snow. For those of you who've forgotten or are new to this blog I'll remind you about my housing situation. I live in a concrete house with a tin roof...aka a freezer. Bummer for me.

Other than that there isn't too much new to report on my end. My garden is thriving (which is shocking). I have exactly 2 cucumbers (they're about 3 inches long at present, and were planted before thanksgiving lol) and the tomatoes that I did NOT plant but grew anyways are doing excellent as well (although this cold weather is threatening their well-being).

On the American side, this government shut down has my attention (Peace Corps is a government agency you know). I'm sad I'm not there to really follow the action...sigh.

Ohh well...that's all I really wanted to say. We're having a bit of an after work dance party at WFP now.

3 more months to go!!!!!