People

Carrie and Maggie at blanket presentation

I had such an amazing holiday and summer break.  I can't begin to fit all of my pictures and adventures into one blog post, so I decided I will post one with some highlights of people and another with highlights of animals.  I was overwhelmed with both over the last 5 weeks.
   My wonderful friend Carrie came to visit over Christmas.  We had many travel adventures in Mozambique, Lesotho and South Africa.  I think one of the highlights of her trip was spending time at Semonkong.  Semonkong is a village with a lodge in the mountains of Lesotho.  Everyone there rides horses and donkeys and there are no paved roads.  We picked up Maggie and traveled on a beautiful but challenging unpaved road through the mountains.  It took us about 3 hours to go around 40 miles!  At one point we got stuck going up a steep hill and out of nowhere a young herd boy, dressed only in his underwear, came to our aide putting big rocks behind our tires and giving us encouraging gestures and smiles to get us up the hill.  Besides horse riding on Christmas and taking in the amazing surroundings we spent some time learning about the Basotho blankets and their history in Lesotho.  Me Elizibeth and her sister-in-law showed us how blankets are an integral part of all aspects of culture in Lesotho, especially in the highlands.

Carrie and our tiny rental car driving to Semonkong

 The people in Lesotho were so welcoming to both Carrie and my family when they were here.  We had unexpected meals and gifts bestowed on us and plenty of help whenever needed.  One of the teachers from my school hosted Carrie and I with her family for a night in her rural village.  We all slept in the same room and almost had a run in with the boys and dogs from an Initiation school (mountain schools for boys that are very secretive, they only come down at night and you are not supposed to see them.)  Another teacher from my school made a traditional Lesotho meal for my parents and sister and had us all come to her house.  We were also lucky to hear some singing from neighborhood children and the teachers at my school recruited the football team nearby to sing a few songs with them in our cafeteria.  This singing was arranged in about 10 minutes and my family was so impressed by both how well they sounded and by the entire group's choreography while singing.  A big part of the culture here is singing and people are always able to harmonize and sing together with very little rehearsal time.  As my father excitedly told the teacher "that would never happen at home!"

My Principal dancing and singing with
neighborhood children

We also met wonderful people in South Africa and Mozambique, but I think Lesotho wins the "people" award.  Maybe it is because I am living here and I am able to understand a little bit of the language and culture, or maybe it is because of the simple and calm lifestyles of people here, whatever it is we were all charmed by children and adults.  Carrie and I even got a marriage proposal from a police officer who pulled us over (sounds bad, but he was really sweet!)
  Of course I was super excited to show my parents and Amy Semonkong also.  I think I will never get tired of a lodge nestled in a village in the mountains with horse riding and yummy food.  I am so happy that some of my family and friends got to meet my friends here, I wish you all could come.  I was also very thankful to Carrie who put in some days helping us at school.  We did a lot of cleaning and organizing to give the teachers a head start. More about our travels and the animals coming soon.

My family and I at Semonkong Waterfall

Amy and my parents at Me Matiiso's House