Khosto Pula Nala

 My ausi and I making "poone" on the open fire

 BoM'e dancing upon our arrival to their village!

 Learning to make makwenyas with my M'e (isn't she the cutest?!)

 Bana catching a lift on the donkey express

Host family + neighbors+ our chickens!

I made it friends and family and now understand the national saying of Lesotho: “peace love and prosperity” in Sesotho. WOO HOO! Man, Sesotho sure is much harder than I had anticipated..my mind feels pretty tired but there has been definite progress in the last several weeks. There is so much that I want to share with everyone at home, it’s honestly difficult to sum up into words. I shall begin with saying that I have never felt more welcomed somewhere in all my life. We (33 education volunteers) are the first Peace Corps group to stay for our three months of in-country-training in the village of Ha Mothobesone and the locals express their excitement at every moment and make damn sure we practice our Sesotho. Its culturally rude to not greet every person-even if they are in the far off field-that you pass by. Everyone is greeted as either mother, father, sister, brother, or child which embodies the value that everyone in the village is family. Everyone looks out for everyone. No child is left alone or (too) hungry. My M’e is constantly feeding orphans during our dinners if we have extra food even if they are not her biological children. I am the new daughter of M’e Mamokhtete and N’tate and I have a 19 year old sister (who is honestly my new best companion-she happens to speak English which is a perk I will admit), a 22 year old brother, and an adorable ten year old brother who is adopted because his mother died several years ago from being “sick.” And I have a new name, Ausi Mosa, meaning “Sister Kindness.” I am quite happy with it because it is easy to pronounce-HA! The names here are so tough-but when (if) I can remember them they are so excited!

Training has been what one might expect from a governmental organization-lots of legality stuff to go over. However, I do love the language class with M’e Licebo. She is so wonderful and patient with me.  We are also learning how to become teachers-this is good right? I have lots to learn. But I am so excited to teach. Last weekend us volunteers got paired up with another PC volunteer, mines name was Sarah, who has been at their site for one or two years to get a lil sneak peak at life once we get our sites. I was able to speak with the principal of Sarah’s school and he asked me to work there and emphasized how schools in Lesotho fight year after year to get selected for a Peace Corps Volunteer to teach at their schools. This made me almost cry..I really feel blessed to be given this opportunity to teach here. The children here are so grateful for their education, especially the high school group since they pay for school after primary.  I have been informed that I will teach maths and life skills (HIV awareness, sexism, selfesteem, etc) because maths is commonly regarded as “so difficult” and many students do not pass their end of school exams which debilitates them to further their education and no Basotho teacher wants to teach “life skills” because HIV is just not talked about at all.

All and all I am so happy to be here. I have just been a big ol’ sponge trying to soak everything in even though I can only understand like .3% of conversations. The gratitude and comfort the people offer is beautiful-not to mention the mountainous landscape that surrounds Furumela is awesome. I have been running every morning with another volunteer, Jon, and it has been a big joy. Seeing the bright pink sunrises over the mountains, becoming known to the locals as the ones who love to run, and getting to explore through fields, rivers, and “neighborhoods” have been really great. Plus running early before everyone is up is a perk!  Another awesome thing is that I have learned thus far from my host sister is how to cook the Basotho version of popcorn called poone..needless to say, I will survive!