Swaziland!!!

hey - it's been a while since i posted, but not too much has happened in lesotho. School finished for the year. I had to return to Maseru for some education training and the third phase of my community health training. and peace corps is trying to find me another house in my village, away from the middle of the village so that i have at least some privacy. also, they would like to find me a house whose windows actually open, so i can get some air, and whose windows are larger, so i can actually see. other than that...
I WENT TO SWAZILAND. HOORAY VACATION. three other volunteers and i left for swazi on dec 15. we were to meet in bloemfontein, south africa, to pick up the rental car, and given the transportation it took forever to get there. so we ended up staying in bloem for the night. it was nice to be back in civilization for a while. they had a mall there, which was really exciting, and it had a sports store so i could buy new running shoes. hooray. one thing i think is interesting about my coming to southern africa is that in some ways it's made me girlier. i was never that excited about malls in america. anyways, spending the night in bloem. i was the only one who wanted to go out, so i went to a bar by myself called the mystic boer. it was actually pretty cool, slightly grungy, but they played good music (i heard the flaming lips and franz ferdinand, plus some middle school and high school stuff). then, on to swaziland. only two of us could actually drive a manual car, and had a liscence, so i started driving. they drive on the wrong side of the road here, which took a little getting used to. and shifting gears with my left hand was a little odd. was scared me the most though was yellow line driving. basically, a lot of highways are 2 lanes only, but have large shoulders. so if you want to pass someone, they pull over so they're partially on the shoulder and you drive over the lane marker. basically you have one car to your left going in the same direction as you, and another car to your right going in the opposite direction, and both cars are really close. you're creating a third lane where there should only be 2.
Swaziland itself was amazing. i'd heard that it is what lesotho could be if it tried, and i really believe it now. they country was so green. and it wasn't just stubbly grass, but shrubs and trees as well. and they have so many crafts, most of which are pretty cheap. some of the women have even organized a large craft group to sell their products together. i got a few baticks, some jewelry, etc. i actually bought a pinky finger ring that's silver with elephant hair in it. pretty cool, i thought. we stayed at a place called sondzela, a backpackers in mlilwane nature reserve. it was a really nice backpackers, and it was pretty cool meeting people from all over the world. there were a lot of europeans there, some canadians, and i met peace corps volunteers from swaziland, south africa, and botswana. it was nice comparing programs with them, and all this made me realize that i really am living in the backwater of africa. peace corps programs in other countries are much more organized, and lesotho is one of the least developed countries in africa. of all the backpackers i talked with while in swaziland, only one had considered going to lesotho to visit. the country is like the little brother no one wants to discuss. other tourists just take the southern route along the south african coast.
while in swaziland, we went to hlane nature reserve and checked out some animals. we got really close to some lions. i didn't realize lions don't reach full maturity until they're 2, but i did get to see some male lions in adolescence. they have partially grown, kinda tufty manes, like a teenage boy trying to grow facial hair. hehehehe. i also ended up close enough to some elephants to touch them, and saw white rhinos. in mlilwane, the nature reserve where i stayed, i saw impala, nyala, zebra, and warthogs. i think warthogs were my favorite, especially the babies. they're hilarious. and when they run, it's more like they're prancing, with their tails sticking straight up into the air. i thought of "the lion king" a couple times.
besides seeing animals and crafts, we went to mbabane (the capital) and manzini, two cities in swaziland. yes, this country has more than one city!! wow. and the country has multiple grocery stores, and shops. it's crazy, i didn't know what to do with myself.
on the way back from swazi, we got pulled over for a traffic stop. there were over a hundred cops at the stop and they were pulling everyone. we had to get out, show passports, i had to show my liscence (i was driving), open the trunk, answer questions about firearms, etc. and when they let us leave, they gave me a stress ball. so now i have a stress ball courtesy of the south african police. funny. anyways, we spent a night in bloem again, had some good food, and returned to lesotho the next day. i didn't want to come back. oh, well. i'm spending christmas in maseru, and going to visit a friend in semonkong (kinda in the middle of lesotho) for new years. semonkong is a touristy area, and they are now offering donkey pub crawls (drink a beer, hop on a donkey, go to next bar, drink a beer, hop on a donkey, etc), so i might have to try that out. this is lesotho. why not? next vacation - maybe a tour from namibia, through botswana, zambia, and up to vic falls (if i can afford it). i hope everyone has a great holiday. keep in touch.
ann

ps

i have posted some pics on flickr now. u should check them out

2 1/2 months in site

hello usa! i'm am completely stoked to be back in front of a computer for the first time in what seems like forever! i've had a pretty great last couple of months. i can't write everything that's been going on - that would be a really long blog. i'm hoping to find a flash drive so i can write weekly updates on a computer in mohale's hoek and then be able to post them all when i next find a computer with internet. i'm teaching, mostly english, and some science, to primary and secondary school kids. my main focus is the older primary kids and the secondary kids. i'll be teaching biology to form b (2nd year of secondary school) kids next year, as well as english to form a's. the school year is winding down now. it ends nov. 30th, and i'll have a 2 month break until it starts again. i'm enjoying my village where i live as well. everyone is really friendly, and i'm trying to learn more sesotho so i can say more than "hello" and "goodbye." i want to start some projects in my village such as an exercise group and monthly nutrition seminars, and i'm trying to work more with the support group in my village. in my school, i'm trying to get funding for a piggery and chicken coop. the ground at my school is so arid that agricultural projects are really difficult. i also would like to start a youth group. i want to do fund-raising activities with my secondary school kids because some of them have had to drop out of school because they can't afford to pay school fees. i want to do something about that. i also want to start a girl's soccer team, and a girl's athletics (track) team next year. so i've got a few things going on. for the most part i like my school. i'm getting less and less "lehua, lehua's (white person, white person)" from people, as they are getting to know me. i'm also not getting mistaken for the former pcv, brandy, as much any more. i have gotten a couple "ma-china's" as well. i never in my life thought i'd be mistaken for a chinese person, but there you go. prince harry came to a soccer tournament in mohale's hoek on friday, so i got to see him. he basically just watched a game for a little while and left. apparently he's pretty active in lesotho. they tournament was for high schools/secondary schools, and it was funded by different organizations to promote hiv/aids awareness so there were a bunch of games related to hiv, and the kids had the opportunity to test. it was a pretty nice day, long though. eleven hours. i'm pretty tan now. i chopped most of my hair off yesterday. worst part of lesotho thus far: bucket bathing. long hair makes it even more difficult, so something had to be done. a couple other girls and i got together and one of them cut my hair, and the other girl's. i was able to come to maseru today because i have a meeting tomorrow with some peace corps personnel about my site and my plans in my site. i had absolutely no objections to heading back into electricity, internet, and running water for a day. i can take a shower tonight!!!!!! hooray! and maybe i'll even get motivated and shave! oh my goodness i'll feel so girly. it's been a while. in other news, i'm planning a trip to swaziland dec 15-22 with three other friends. we're trying to find one more person so we can fill up a rented car. kyla, one of my friends, and i have decided we are on a mission to find hippos. and i want to see a warthog. i think that's the general gist of my life thus far. it's pretty quiet. i'm in bed many nights by 7, and asleep sometimes by 8, as there's nothing else to do when the sun goes down. in my defense i get up pretty early, too. hope all is well back in the states. hopefully i'll be back near the interwebbies soon.
ann

last post for a while, kind of

hey - so, there's no internet in mohale's hoek, where i live, so after wednesday i will not be able to access the internet for three months, because i'm not allowed to leave the district for the first 3 months at site. i have another p.o. box in mohale's hoek, but i forgot to bring it with me. you can still use the maseru one, though, and stuff will get to me. if you're interested let me know and i will get the updated address to you. i might try to get to a computer one last time tomorrow. the p.o. box in mohale's hoek is for a school, so is hopefully a little safer than others, but we'll see. also, if you send me anything, maybe email me to let me know the contents so that i know if something is missing.
in other news, i had a sesotho oral exam yesterday. we all did, and we had to pass to be able to go to site, otherwise we would have more training. we all passed (i wonder if they've ever actually failed anyone) with an advanced low, which is really funny because my sesotho is not that great. oh well, i passed and i can leave, and get things started. hooray.
ann

ha thaba bosiu

so - i found out i would be living in ha thaba bosiu, near the mohale's hoek camptown, for the next 2 years. i visited the site this past week and am in maseru for a couple of days before moving out there permanently. when i got out to site monday, the first thing that happened when i opened the door was that a little kid stared at me and asked, "brandy?" brandy was the pcv there before me, and the first pcv ever at the site. i've had to explain a couple times now that i don't know brandy, that we do not live near each other in the states, etc. kids keep asking me where she is, how she is doing, etc. i'm living in a rondeval, and it is pretty much set up, with a couple of exceptions. it's a decent sized rondeval, i have room to practice karate (though the floor's a little slick). my latrine is nice and clean, too, though one of the hinges is busted so the door falls every time i open it. that's being fixed sometime in the next couple of days, though. i actually got stuck in the latrine last night. i was about to leave and heard a dog snarling outside. had to wait on the toilet and extra 5 minutes until the dog went away. hehehehe. fun times. another funny story: tuesday morning two girls came to see me. i had put some things by the door that needed to go out to my latrine, and one of the girls looked at the packages and asked what they were. as i was pondering a response, she looked up and very innocently asked, "dimpongpong?" which translates to "candy?" i couldn't help but laugh, as the bag in question was actually a ziplock bag of tampons and pantyliners and the just told her that the stuff was "for women".
i've been around the town some with my supervisor, m'e matukiso. she is very friendly, very knowledgeable, and (thankfully) very good at speaking english. she has offered to tutor me once i get to site, so she'll be teaching me sesotho. thus far i have seen the library, which is right next-door to me. it is new, as of this spring i believe, and i would love to expand upon it. i might solicit the aid of any interested parties from back home, but i'll have more info on that next post. i've also seen the preschool, and matsie, a conjoined primary and secondary school. i think i will be working at both the preschool and matsie, as an english and nutrition teacher, and at the library as well, maybe doing after school programs. there are a couple other schools in the area that i might work with as well, but i need to see them first.
i have a lot more to tell, but am running out of time, so i'll save it for next post.
ann

wish list

some people have asked about things to send me. here are some things i've thought of. i'll add to the list as i think of more. just a note: if you send me something, you might want to be a little deceptive on the customs forms. only put down boring stuff, or else the customs people here might take the box for themselves.

chocolate chips (not available here - a travesty!)
wheat thins (any flavor, i like them all)
animals crackers
graham crackers
parmesan cheese
"near east" brand boxes of food (the ones you can just add water to to make veggie burgers, humus, etc.)
green tea
chai tea
contact soln
map of the U.S.
map of N.C.
U.S./N.C. memorabilia (for kids)

thanks, guys.

ghetto tours, quthing, seqanqana, wish list, site, etc

ok, so i was going to write a couple of posts, but my internet connection is really slow, so i'm going to try to fit everything in to 1. i forgot to mention that we had a concert a couple of sundays ago, and that we taught the basotho the macarena. this was not my idea, and i'm proud to say that i had to relearn the dance myself so i could teach them. it was pretty funny, though. this week i've been learning a lot more sesotho, including useful phrases such as "seqanqana se seng le se seng sea iqhomela" which translates to "every frog for himself." i think this is actually a saying here. hehehe. sesotho also has clicks associated with every"q" making the phrase even more fun. it's kind of interesting how the culture plays into the language, too. there are three different words for "to put on clothes": roala, which is to put things on the extremities, apara, which is to put things on the upper body, and tena, which is to cloth the lower body. if someone knocks on your door and you want to tell them to wait because you are dressing, you use apara, because tena is too suggestive (the lower half of the body includes the hips and "important parts" for sex.
we also went to quthing this past week. it's in the mountains and therefore colder than mokhatoaneng. it also has a greater mix of nationalities and different cultures. everyone in that area speaks 4 languages. english is not one of them. there are also a lot of superstitions. we saw some babies wearing nothing below their waists, but they had beads on their waists to keep them from getting sick. i'm also getting used to bare baby butts, and apparently will be getting use to a lot of upper body female nudity as soon as it gets warm. the breasts aren't seen as sexual here, so i think women walk around without tops sometimes when it's warm. they also have some traditional dances that are done topless or naked. i've already seen a couple of women breastfeeding their babies, including one of the women in my family. in quthing, i got to plow a field using oxen, by hand. it was really difficult with the plows they use. i can't imagine doing an entire field (i only did one row and that was enough). apparently they can only do 10 rows a day, because they and the oxen are tired after that. we also got to talk with town councilo memebers to discuss the politics of the town, talk with a coop group and support group for hiv and orphans to see what they do, and talk with the principal of a school that is just starting a library. they got donations of a whole bunch of english books. unfortunately, most kids can barely speak and read english. maybe this will motivate the.
i found out that i will be living in a town called ha thaba bosiu for the next couple of years. it's near mohale's hoek camptown, south of maseru. i'm going to visit my site tomorrow. i have a rondeval i know, and i will be doing food insecurity and nutrition work, and working with a school and a library i think. i'm running out of time now, but i'll let you know more about the site next time i get to a computer.
am back in maseru now. did lots of shopping today for site visit. spent lots of $. fun times.
ann

Rustler's Valley, Career Fair, Quthing, etc

so, i tried to post last week, but the computer wouldn't let me get on the site, so that didn't work. but rustler's valley rocked. there was electricity (complete with electric blankets) and indoor plumbing, and AWESOME food. i ate way too much. and it was great. technically speaking, it was also the best session thus far. they guy leading the talks was really knowledgeable, though he did get on his soap box a little. it was also really cool to see all of the housing, which was sustainable. many of the people there had built these houses as their first attempts, and they worked out pretty well. most of the houses were made of clay and cow dung. we also go to learn about medicinal plants, some of which i thought sounded a wee bit sketch, and companion planting, and good indengenous plants to grow in the garden.
after rustler's valley, we got to go to leribe on a field trip to see some dongas (really nasty erosion) and how they were being reclaimed, as well as animal care (including pigs, chickens, and cows). it was a little sad, because the animals weren't living in the best of conditions (i.e. chickens with beaks clipped, pigs in cement enclosures) but i guess i should be more concerned with the people. another kinda sad thing was a huge silo full of corn that had been sitting there for 2 plus years. china had donated it, and because of beaurocratic probs it had never been distributed and was now kinda ruined. animals could eat it, i suppose. we also saw some greenhouses and one of the 2 large dams in lesotho. that was neat, because we got to see how forestry built up trees around the dam to preserve the earth. forestry in lesotho is basically planting as opposed to maintaining trees, since there are few trees here.
yesterday all of the volunteers came together in a village to have a career fair for the kids around. it was supposed to start at 9:30, but no one showed up until 12, which is apparently normal for lesotho. it went over pretty well after that. the permy group talked about increasing protein by diet adding powdered milk to bread, eating beans, etc, and about decreased the amount of carbs and increasing the amount of colored veggies in the diet. we made some bread and lentils as an example.
tomorrow, the trainees go to tselhanyane, a national park in the leribe district, for the entire day. it's supposed to be cold, but hopefully it will be fun, and hopefully i will remember to bring my camera! sunday, the permies go to quthing for more training there, in what i'm not sure. there supposed to be electricity and indoor plumbing where we're staying, so i'm happy. next week is also our last week in the villages where we've been living the past month. a week from saturday, we have a village feast and then return to maseru for a week and a half before heading to our permanent sites. we find out our permanent sites next wednesday. i'm hoping for mohale's hoek or leribe, but we'll see.

thaba bosiu

the rest of this week has been pretty uneventful. just training, learning sesotho, etc. we did have a pretty good session on thursday, though. a man came to talk with the permaculture group (permies) about growing orchards, including, growing seedlings, budding, pruning, etc. we got to practice budding, which is moving a bud from a mature tree to a seedling. this is done because it encourages the seedling to grow to produce fruit like the mature tree, so obviously you want to choose a good tree. also, you can put an apricot or plum bud on a peach seedling and the seedling will grow into and apricot or plum tree. same with apple trees and pear trees. this is good because some seedlings, like peach seedlings, are hardier than others, so chances of producing a tree are better. we also learned about pruning, and got to practice that. we then drove around a mountain looking at dongas, which are massive ravines caused by erosion. they grow larger every year unless measures are taken by the community or the govt to stop them. erosion was caused mainly by overgrazing, and the dongas are prevented from growing by fortifying their sides with rocks, and then planting trees. it was a nice day, very hands-on, which i like. also, the presenter was really knowledgeable and interested in his topic, which hasn't always been the case.
this morning we went to thaba bosiu, the night mountain, which has a rich history for lesotho. i'm sure you can research it online if you want, but briefly, the basotho and the orginal king who brought the country together, moshoeshoe, sought refuge on the mountain during a war, and battled the forces as they came up the mountain. there are still remnants of the houses of moshoeshoes 140-odd wives, and a cemetarty where all of the kings and their male relatives since are buried on top of the mountain. there is also a eucalyptus tree that was given to moshoeshoe up there. he planted it at the top of the mountain and it's now 171 years old. and we saw bullet holes in rocks on the side of the mountain. it was a nice morning. the tour guide was fun. and it was nice just to get outside and hike for a while.
tomorrow i go to rustlers valley, about an hour outside of vicksburg, s.a., with all the other permies, to learn about permaculture. i'm excited, as i've heard it's a good trip, and there'll be running water (indoor plumbing) and electricity. hooray!! will report back later.

ann

PCV Site Visit/Party

the party on sat was pretty crazy. we got to butha-bothe around 5 or so, and there were a lot, probably a majority of the PCV's in country at the hop in (the bar at which the party was held). it was a lot of fun at first, i got to drink beer in public (girls generally can't) because the bar was owned by and ex-pat. the bar was supposed to be closed for a private party, but they started letting basotho in, and things got pretty crazy. the ntate (the men) can be pretty raunchy, and they kept grabbing us, so we ended up leaving and spending the night in someone's randevaulle. a couple of people had money and phones stolen once the ntate showed up to, so it wasn't the best of weekends. i came out fine, though. on sunday 2 other pct's and i headed back to tseroane with a pcv to visit her site. public transportation in this country is pretty wild. they try to rip you off because you're white, they drive really crazy, and they pack some people in, which is even rougher when people are smelly. there was one drunk guy who got on the combi and kept asking us "how much" as in "how much do you cost" which was annoying. generally the bo-me (the women) step in to set him straight, but there weren't many on the combi that day. the conducter finally stepped in.
unfortunately theresa, the pcv with whom we stayed, doesn't really have a job right now. this has been a problem for her since she got to site. she has compensated by doing a lot of hiking. she lives about a mile up a mountain, and away from the road (it's a fun walk, especially yesterday when we helped her carry a full gas cannister up to her place). there are some good hiking places, though. we went all the way up to the top of the mtn, saw a water trickle, and then walked around to the other side of the mountain to see some dinosaur footprints. they were really vivid in the rocks. pretty cool stuff. hopefully i'll be able to get some pictures posted eventually. we also saw some cave paintings. i slept pretty well that night. it was good to see what people do to their homes, and how to do things like make dutch ovens. theresa had a randevaulle, too, which was nice to see. they are actually nicer than most homes in lesotho, cheaper to make, warmer in the winter, and cooler in the summer. people don't build them because the more expensive houses are a status symbol of wealth, which is silly. oh, well. all in all, this has been the most fun that i've had thus far. we'll see what the future holds. i go to south africa on sunday!
ann

so this past week was a loooooooooooooooooot of sesotho, and then some economics and beaurocratic lessons about lesotho. some of them were interesting. 4 hours of sesotho is a lot, though, especially when the teacher is not that great. yesterday, we finished up at lunch and i had to go take a walk to cool off. the teacher is not clear on what he wants and gets frustrated when you don't understand what's happening. arrrrrrrrgggggghhhh. anyways, we also had an ocd albino come to talk with us about crop management and pest control. he gave an incorrect definition of pests, and took about 20 minutes to do it, and when on to give another couple incorrect pieces of info. the stuff on actual pests seemed pretty accurate, though. the other lessons weren't that bad, though. one on economics that sounded interesting i missed most of because i got sick. fyi, diarrhea is no fun. i have no idea how i got it. could be stress, or maybe not boiling water long enough or washing food well enough, or dietary change. anyways, wednesday was pretty rough. in the middle of the talk i felt like i was going to pass out, so i walked out of the room. as soon as i got outside i blacked out for a second and ran my head into the cement wall of the building. i've got a nice scrape on my head. then i fell down and lost control of my faculties (yep, pooped in my pants). i'm fine now, though. haven't quite regained my appetite, but hoping to soon. today, all of us trainees are going to visit pcv sites. actually, all volunteers are getting together tonight for a party, probably a post 4th of july gathering (we didn't really celebrate on wednesday, and i was sick anyways). it's at a bar owned by and ex-pat in butha-buthe, so girls can drink beer in public!!! i can also wear pants. hooray! booya for jeans. anyways, i'll be back to the computer on tues, so update you on the weekend then. hope you all had a good 4th of july.

p.s. marriage proposals up to 1

disclaimer: post possibly not suitable for young cousins/the more conservative

so, because hiv/aids is such a problem in lesotho, everyone will be dealing with it, regardless of whether they are hiv/aids advisors or not. so this week's classes have focused on learning sesotho (the national language) and about hiv/aids in lesotho. fyi, it's pretty funny sitting in class and seeing a donkey stroll by outside. we've been doing a lot of learning about policy in lesotho, how the government is dealing with hiv/aids and the children made orphans by it, etc. i'm wondering if some of my siblings are orphans b/c of the pandemic. i know my oldest sister's, likomo's, parents are dead, but i'm not sure why. anyways, we've also had some pretty frank talks about sex in lesotho (that is the main mode of transmission, of course) and how it is viewed differently than in the states. for example, a woman cannot refuse her husband. and occasionally a girl will be abducted, raped, and then the parents feel forced to marry her to her rapist. this doesn't happen often, but it does occur. women are also not allowed to ask for sex, but must either move suggestively or just wait until their husbands (or whomever) are in the mood. monogomy is supposedly practiced here, but in reality most people have multiple partners, but don't acknowledge it (which just exacerbates the hiv situation). also, homosexuality is not recognized here. boys will sleep with each other, but say that they are just "practicing" and do not realize that that is a homosexual act. they also don't realize that hiv can be transmitted that way. crazy. also, though everyone in lesotho knows about condoms, and condoms are given away for free, there is a stigma about using them. one potential job for pcv's is to do condom demos and dispel myths (such as "the condoms have worms in them). so we all got to practice doing condom demos yesterday, using our fingers because we might not have access to dildos. that's been most of the week. pcv's (peace corp volunteers) have been coming in, along with governement workers, to lead the sessions, so it's been nice to hear about their experiences. we get to go visit some of the sites next weekend, so i'm looking forward to that. tata.

ann

i've fallen in love...

with my pee bucket. this is a genius idea for anyone without indoor plumbing (and who lives in cold weather)! i was a little hesitant to use it at first, but it is actually more sanitary than the pit latrine, as far as i can tell. it smells less, and gets cleaned out with "handy andy" household cleaner every day. it's also nice not to have to go outside at night, because it's cold, and really dark, and the dogs might attack me. they dogs here are really sad. they get knocked around and are half starved, so it's no wonder they are so pitiful. the dark is also a problem, because all of the paths are rocky and it's easy to trip. i've already fallen a couple times while running. once was when it was light, though. it turns out that the bolts holding the gaurdrails beside the road together stick out pretty far from the gaurdrails, and i hit one of them last sunday hard enough that i did a 360 and fell. i've got a nice bruise on my thigh from it.
in other news, my host family seems pretty nice. my mother is m'e masekate and my father is ntate ntone. i don't interact with my m'e too much, and interact with ntate even less. mostly, i talk with a couple of my "siblings", who i think are generally my nieces and nephews (my m'e's grandchildren) instead of actual siblings. there are 12 of them, ranging from maybe about 5 to 16 or so. many don't look their age because of stunting. my oldest sister, likomo, has been teaching me to make bread, etc. she has also been bringing me food and hot water in the morning (i am s0000000000 sick of bread, and craving some veggies), but next week i start doing this all for myself (i'm in maseru today, food shopping). i've found that i can practice karate in my school, but it's still a little weird exercising in a skirt. anyways, that's about it for home life. i'll write another post about work.
ann
ps. i'm trying to upload pictures now, but i might not be able to. we'll see. it's running really slowly.

thighs are erotic, i'm getting cramped, etc.

Dumelang (hello)!
so, i finally made it here on sunday, after having a 12 hour layover in johannesburg. the peace corps had set me up in a hotel there, and i got hit on twice in about 30 minutes. i guess a single girl here has "target" tattooed on her forehead. everyone was waiting outside for me when i arrived at the compound in maseru, and gave me hugs. it was really sweet. they were happy i made it. it's been a pretty intense week, lots of learning about culture, the language, etc. i didn't make it out of the compound until yesterday, so that was the first time i saw any of the big city. thus far, i've learned that i have to wear skirts here because thighs are considered erotic. "mountains" (as one of the trainers called women's chests) are only attractive to a small number of men. male organs were described as "animals." needless to say, these descriptions were rather humerous. i've learned that i can't have a pet dog inside of my house. one peace corps volunteer (pcv) did, and had to be removed from her site because the basotho thought she was committing bestiality, and the situation became dangerous for her. i've also been learning about how hiv is percieved, or isn't percieved, in lesotho. basically, many people still refuse to talk about it, as they refuse to talk about other things. they are very open about sex, as long as it's between a man and a woman. homosexuality isn't recognized here, though people will admit that some men will sleep together. they don't recognize that as homosexual, though. they also claim to practice monogomy, though it seems common for men and women both to have partners on the side. i've also been taught how to bath in a plastic tub, and had to go shopping for a pee bucket yesterday, for when i need to use the bathroom at night. fun times. the basotho are very clean people, and have specific rituals for each day, such as doing laundry, bathing, etc. if you wait to do laundry at the end of the week, people will apparently see your underwear hanging out to dry and wonder why you need so much underwear at once, then ask where a specific article went when they don't see it up again. also, you can't hang your underwear so that it's stretched, or people will ask what size it is.
i've met a few people who are heading the sites to which a will potentially go, and all possible projects sound interesting. i learned about gardening a couple days ago. they use a natural pesticide involving onion, garlic, soap, and spices in water, and fertilize with poo water ( a mixture of animal poo and water). i'm appartently going to learn how to make solar panels later, which i'm excited about.
i was going to try to post pictures, but can't find a flash drive on the computer. will do later.
i have a phone. if you want to get a calling card, and want my number, let me know. it's too expensive to call from here. i might be able to text.
keep in touch.
ann

Funny Story...

i was on the way to the airport yesterday to fly to jo-burg, and happened to get really sick. ems had to come and take me to a hospital. it was fun times. i was cleared in a couple hours, and am fine now, but of course i missed my flight. i had to go into peace corps hq this morning to get cleared by them and get a new flight. i am now flying to amsterdam at 5:30, then to jo-burg, i spend the night there, and fly to lesotho on sunday morning. fun times.
other than that, things are going well. staging wasn't nearly as bad as most orientations. there are about 22 of us going to lesotho, and another 22-24 people were in staging with us and are going to swaziland. that was nice, because now we can visit one another. groups heading to madagascar and georgia were also at the hotel. everyone is really cool, and they were amazing when i got sick yesterday. i'm really excited that i'm still going to be able to head to lesotho, and that i'll be meeting up with them in a couple of days. whew. hope all is well with you guys.

flickr

i set up a flickr account today at www.flickr.com/photos/ascheunemann/. right now, there are just picture from the last 6 months, and they aren't really organized. hopefully i'll get to that sometime soon (like tomorrow, since that's the last day that i know i'll have computer access for a while). anyways, i'll be posting pictures there as i have pictures worth posting. hopefully i'll remember to let you know when i've added to the site.

First Post

Hey - so, i'm kinda proud of myself for having set this up so early - a month before i leave in fact! just wanted to make sure it got done before i left. i'll probably be playing around with the site some over the next few weeks, so check it out if you want. sign up and post responses if you want. i'd love to hear from you.
ann