2/8/2009 i really am going to be better about this. promise

i will start writing in my blog again. i will, gosh darn it!
so, i got back in to lesotho on thursday. the flight was pretty good, other than a screaming baby sitting near me. the people sitting to my right and left were normal-sized, the food was palatable (for the most part), etc.
i spent friday in maseru, hung out with some of the new volunteers (at least one is a total nerd - hooray!), played on the interwebbies. for with whom i've discussed pride and prejudice and zombies, i watched the trailer for the sequel book sense and sensibility and sea monsters. you know, i'm a little skeptical, and it's written by a different author than p&p&z, but we'll see...
i left for mohale's hoek on saturday. popped by the airport to see off an american girl named dominique. she came to visit mants'ase and liked it so much that she's going back to the states for a month and then returning to work at the orphanage for a year. i think this will be part of her university program. so, there will be another american there, and she seems to have some cool ideas. i'm excited to be working with her.
got back to mohale's hoek. stayed in town at barbara and bill's. they decided, saturday afternoon, that we should take a drive around the maphutseng valley because it's right behind mohale's hoek camp town, it's really pretty, and we can see the last of the snow. unfortunately, the last of the snow makes the mud road slippery. we hit a pretty sketchy patch going down hill. the car slid most of the way down sideways. this is probably not a safe way to drive. but after that, everthing was cool.
my dogs have grown an enormous amount. one of them (my former ewok) is no longer recognizable as his former self. i think he will actually end up being a pretty dog. it looks like maybe he has some spaniel or golden retriever in his history somewhere. the other is starting to form a ridge down his neck. hints of a rodesian ridgeback, perhaps?
i made it back out to the orphanage today, and hit the ground running. i had to catch up with all the kids, then i read the wizard of oz to some children while others were bathing. then i had to unpack, after which i had to sit down and have a chat with a kid who'd stabbed another kid in the butt last night. apparently they'd just been playing. so i got to talk about the dangers of playing with knives to a 15-year old boy.
oh, and we got a new girl at the orphanage, making our numbers now 54, or 4 over capacity. she's 11, and an abuse victim. so i met her, too.
and now i'm about to refresh my physics skills so i can help one of the girls here actually pass science this year. wish me luck.