Sadly No Photos

Hello Friends, Unfortunately I am having major internet issues and I am currently unable to upload my photos.  So this is strictly a text post.  Sorry if it seems boring.  This week I had my first really sad, missing home moment when I heard about my friend Larry passing away.  I was at work when I saw the message and I was so upset, additionally in the same day I heard about 3 other deaths affecting my co-workers at school.  In Lesotho, death is very common and it is a regular routine for people to attend funerals on weekends.  I am sad not to be able to attend Larry's services, but I am reminded of what a rich life he had.  When I started to talk about him here I told people about all of the wonderful adventures and travels we where able to do together and that he was 67 years old and had cerebral palsy, this made me realize that he had an extremely full life. Thanks for all of the great memories Larry and thanks for teaching all of us about defying the limits.

Today I will do my first solo adventure to the capital city, Maseru.  I had my language tutor work with me this week on all of the requests, directions, and questions I will need to be able to say in Sesotho.  Fortunately many people also understand English, but I want to be on my game if in a jam.  It is not so straight forward as taking a bus from one city to the next.  The process is much more complicated.  First I will go to the taxi rink in my town and catch a Venture to Maputsoe.  Not a bus, car, taxi, etc.  Then I will ask the driver to help me look for a Sprinter in Maputsoe, not a quantum, venture, bus, or taxi.  Then I will take the Sprinter to Maseru where I will catch a 4+1 into town.  This means 4 passengers plus 1 driver in a taxi.  From town I will then take another taxi to my destination.  If I can get through all of this I will feel very confident!  My co-workers are going to call me this evening to see how it went, they are so good to me.  In Maseru I will get to see a friend from home, get real coffee and have a change of scene.  So excited.

School this week has been eye-opening.  I was able to continue our yoga program and participate in an really good physical therapy program that I will co-teach each morning with different teachers.  Additionally I was able to present information to teachers at my first teacher meeting.  The topic was lesson planning, which is universally stressful for teachers.  Probably not the best topic to start with, but important non the less.  It went ok, but the meeting turned into a venting session about how hard it is to plan for so many subjects and so many kids.  These seem to be problems everywhere in the world!  We moved on to learning about breaking skills down and trying to teach without using so much verbal language.  I got a few blank stares and realized that I am going to have to back up a little.  Teaching here is still very traditional, standing in front of the class, at a chalkboard and lecturing.  Unfortunately for children with severe disabilities this has very little effect.  The good thing is the teachers are pretty open minded and they are more than willing to let me demonstrate.  Next week I will try some model teaching.  Wish me luck. 

Africa, who knew!

Who would have guessed that there was snow in Africa!  I had a surprise outing from my friend Andrew on Monday.  He is here filming a movie called "The Forgotten Kingdom"  He took me to some of the places where he has been filming and we we where stopped on a snowy mountain with an amazing view.   One of the best parts of the adventure was stopping in a small village and playing the Lesotho version of duck, duck, goose.  It is Catse, catse (cat), Njha (dog).  The children came from all over the village to play with us. They were so happy to just say "hi" and they loved to see their pictures on the camera.  Thanks for a great day Andrew, I can't wait to see your movie with beautiful footage of Lesotho!

School was very fun this week.  I was able to continue the morning yoga program and I will do a little workshop about the benefits of it for the teachers next week.  I have moments of ups and downs here.  At times I get frustrated because the pace and instruction is so much slower than I am used to.  I see students kind of hanging around a lot and I think that time is being wasted.  I am so used to maximizing the time of our students at home to help them overcome gaps, but here it is different.  Everyone takes life at a slower pace here and I think that it is better in some ways.  The students here have far less stress, tantrums, anxiety and overall they seem very happy.

The other day I was looking for one of the classes that I wanted to spend time with.  They weren't in the room and then I saw them sitting out in a field.  At first I thought that they were just sitting there and thought "why aren't they in class"  As I got closer I was pleasantly surprised.  The teacher was teaching the students how to weave with grass.  Not only is this a great fine motor activity, but they were able to make their own jump ropes and then engaged in a great social activity.  This skill will be much more useful to them in their lives back in villages than learning some academics they might not ever use.  This was one of my ups!

Settling In

 This is what my town looks like.  I live close to where these women are walking on a hillside with a beautiful view of the mountains.  If you look at this picture you will notice how much the women are carrying, and on their heads!  The women here work so hard, the people here in general are very tough.  It is enough to make me not complain about anything that I have to do!  It is amazing how people live so differently in different parts of the world.  My host mother laughed at me the other day for the way I was doing laundry.  When I told her that I don't normally wash by hand she couldn't understand it.

 On the right is a picture of the inside of my house.  It is rather large, almost bigger than my apartment in NYC!  I have many many buckets, for water, washing, cooking, bathing, etc.  I have a gas heater and stove and a small kitchen area.  Most of my time is spent sitting at my table reading or in my bed.  The problem is if I read in bed I follow asleep way to early.  As it is I am finding it hard to keep myself awake past 8:30, it is so dark!!  I do wake up very early, before 6:00, but still 9 hours of sleep seems like too much.

My school is called Thuso E Tla Tsoa Kae, and I have finally learned how to say the name.  The students and teachers spend a lot of time working on life skills.  They plant their own gardens and eat the food that they grow.  They have 1 pig, geese, and a cow on the way.  The school started out run by volunteers and the teachers used to work for free.  Now there are 5 teachers that are paid to work there and several house mothers and fathers that take care of the children who live there.  Although their teaching methods and materials are minimal, I have been very impressed by what they are accomplishing.  The other day I watched 1 teacher teach a class of 45 children, all with multiple disabilities, and most of the students were able to attend.  Some of the children have severe autism and they still manage to follow most of the routine with very little assistance.  I have to learn their secret!!  Today was my first day "teaching"  I did the Get Ready to Learn yoga program with all the students, 65, and staff in one room.  They all liked it and want to do it every morning.  Starting off well.

Students are planting potatoes.

First Time Blogging, be patient! (The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps)

Amazing skies and landscapes here.  I spent my first week in a village called Tsitsa trying to learn the language Sesotho.  So far I can only really greet people and answer a few question!  I am a little nervous because the school I am working at does not teach in English, they teach in Sesotho!

I have just moved into my house.  It is nicer than my village home, a new version of a rondavel.  Round with a thatch roof.  Still no water or bathroom inside and no electricity, but nice.  I have started to master the bucket bath, although it is a challenge on these cold winter mornings.  I have to get up very early to boil enough water and then switch the gas tank to the heater.  Everything just takes so much longer, but so far I am enjoying it.  It is easy to get up early since I am usually in bed around 8. The sun sets around 6:15 and there is only so much time you can spend reading by candlelight before you fall asleep.

 This was my house in the village.  The whole family 6 people slept in their little kitchen house and gave me their home.  So generous, I felt a little guilty but they insisted and they were able to get paid a little money.  They cooked for me and taught me how to live without water or electricity. Kea Leboha (thank you!)

Below is my new home for the next 10 months.  I have a great view and very nice neighbors.  Today I had to ask my neighbors to help me burn my trash, it is harder than you think and I didn't want to start a fire!  I had to burn plastic : (

My school has been very welcoming.  The students and staff are very friendly and I am excited to really start working more next week.  This week has been pretty laid back, they are trying to let me settle in.  I am impressed by the attitudes and the independence of the students, I think our schools could learn something from them.  More about school next time.