(From January 14, 2010)

Happy New Year!

I am officially a Peace Corps VOLUNTEER (not just trainee anymore), and it is SO nice to have the PCV after my name instead of the PCT.

Our swearing in ceremony was very nice. It started promptly when the program said it would start (which is a big thing in Lesotho) and ended on time if not earlier than scheduled. There were a few speeches, our acting country director, the training coordinator, some other Basotho, the Charge d’Affaires (fancy French title) and then two of our own training class: one in English and one in Sesotho. All the speeches were very nice, saying how our “class” is one of the best (take that Ed’09! no, I kid). They were motivational, inspirational, and very good, especially in Sesotho.

Immediately following the ceremony, they started popping open bottles of (what we thought were) champagne. Unfortunately, we had forgotten the no alcohol rule for staff, so it was just bubbling grape juice. Still, we toasted to everything we could think of, and especially that all 29 of us had made it through to swearing in.

Afterwards, we had a big lunch with all of the guests and then we were free!

The All-Volunteer Conference (All-Vol for short) started that night with dinner and a talent show. It was really great to get to meet all (or most of) the other volunteers and see more of what it’s all about. The talent show consisted mostly of musical acts, though there were some exceptions (Rubik’s Cube solving in record time, speech writing and delivering in record time, a free-style rap-off).

The next two days (Friday and Saturday) were full of sessions about policies and projects and grants and funding… all very useful but the sessions were pretty dull. We found ways to entertain ourselves until dinner-time rolled around, and then the fun started. There was an epic softball game one night, and dance parties all three nights. I wouldn’t say any of us really are spectacular dancers, but we all enjoyed it.

Sunday morning brought lots of packing and lots of goodbyes, probably one of the hardest things for me. All the new volunteers left the training center for longer than we’ve been in country, not to return to Maseru until late March. In this time, we are to start integrating into our communities and we begin teaching on Monday the 18^th.

My school, Sekameng Diocesan High School, is located in the village of Sekameng, in the Mafeteng District of Lesotho. Mafeteng is one district south of Maseru, so I don’t (in theory) have too long a commute from the capital. I’m fortunate enough to have a fairly large apartment – I guess it’s a duplex? – with my counterpart (another science teacher) as my neighbor. I have a main room with a table, small desk thing, several chairs and a small sofa (that smells like cat). Then there is my kitchen. Definitely not what I’m used to at home, but I think it will do quite nicely. My only complaint about the kitchen so far is lack of counter space, but I’ll make do. I have a small bathroom with a bathtub, sink and toilet. I have a bedroom with a large-ish desk and bookshelf, as well as a wardrobe where my clothes live. There is another room, which I plan on using for laundry purposes and general storage, and to host guests if I ever have any friends come visit me. I should say straight away that even though I have a toilet and sink, the water is definitely not “running” … more of a dribble. I think it probably takes my toilet’s tank 20 minutes to fill completely, so too many guests could be trouble. There is a constant puddle of water on the floor near the toilet, which makes trips to the bathroom after dark a little interesting, to say the least. Water trickles out of the sink, which makes brushing teeth and washing face an interesting task, and it barely comes out of the tap in the tub… so I think, alas, I will indeed be bucket bathing for the next two years. I just need to figure out how, exactly.

Along with this wonderful house (and I do love it), came a cat. I can hear you already, “Oh, how nice! A friendly companion, someone to snuggle with in the winter and another presence in an otherwise very large house!” Well, yeah, sort of. This cat has ticks, larger than I have ever wanted to see, embedded in its neck and ears (anywhere it can’t reach with its tongue to clean) and then some loose ticks, just crawling around its fur. Chances are pretty good that it also has fleas. Okay, so it’s not so cute… and it won’t leave me alone. It thinks it owns the place. If I let it in, it goes straight to the kitchen and yowls because it is hungry. If there is food on the counter or anywhere within smell, it jumps all around until it finds it, and then tries to eat it (one time I thought it was behaving, but no, it was licking my pots). Here’s the kicker, folks: Lesotho is hot in the summer (now). Like 85-95 degree Fahrenheit hot. I like to open my doors and windows to try to cool the place down a little, but if they’re open wider than a cat’s head, my little feline friend finds a way in. I’m working on my relation with this cat; we’re setting boundaries with a squirt bottle and more kicking and picking up and throwing than I might like, but not much else works.

When I arrived back to Sekameng after the New Year, I found everything much the same. The cat was still there, yowling loud as ever for food and love, but it seemed I had also been visited by smaller animals… there was mouse poop all over my kitchen, and in some other places as well. GROSS. I have never had to deal with mice in my home before, so naturally, now that I’m completely alone and have to deal with things one hundred percent independently, they arrive. Thankfully, the previous PCV left some poison, so I set that out before bed each night. One night, however, I set it out too early. I let the cat in for a little while before I was going to cook dinner, and when I walked into the kitchen, the cat was just sitting by where the poison had been, looking slightly unhappy. Naturally, I freaked out. OH MY GOSH I POISONED THE CAT I DON’T EVEN WANT! I guess it would be a solution to one problem, but then what if the mice came back? The cat wouldn’t be any help at all if it were dead! And then I’d have guilt… and what would the village think? “The new Peace Corps Teacher killed her cat!” Great.

I kicked the cat out of the house, cooked my dinner, cleaned up and went to bed (after setting out another hefty dose of poison for those little buggers).

The next day when I woke up, the poison was gone (this time I know the mice ate it) and the cat was nowhere to be found. I made a lot of noise around the house so it might hear me and I could verify whether or not I was actually a murderer, and eventually took off on my run. Upon my return, it did not greet me as normal… in fact it was not until some hours later that I saw the cat again. Whew! What a relief – I had not, in fact, killed “my” cat. It yowled as loud as ever and begged just as hard as before for food. Since then, I have been extra careful with when I put out the poison, and always keep one eye on the cat when it is in my house.

Another good adventure worth telling and laughing about is my dinner adventure the other night. One of my favorite foods is popcorn, and I decided to make some to have with the soup-ish thing I concocted. As many of my pots were dirty and I only wanted a little popcorn, I decided to use the smallest pot I had. But I overestimated on the kernels… so it started popping the top off. Before I could get to the pot, some had spilled onto the burner (probably at least a handfull’s worth) and one such kernel had caught on fire. Oh perfect. I’m going to burn the place down. Thankfully I was thinking enough to remove the pot from the heat and turn the gas off… and then, naturally, dump water on the fire. I really lucked out that there was no grease or anything more dangerous burning. The fire did indeed go out right away, and I was left with a pile of soggy popcorn on my burner. Lesson learned. Just wash the bigger pot and use it.

Otherwise things have been eerily quiet. Few students have come in to register before classes start on Monday, so I’ve been writing a lot of letters, journaling a fair amount, solving sudoku and crossword puzzles like it’s my job, and running when I get the motivation. I find out what classes I’ll actually be teaching on Monday (cleaning and organization day) and then begin officially teaching on Tuesday. I’m told that life will pick up considerably after this weekend (how could it be any deader?!), and I must admit, I’m looking forward to it. I’m sure teaching will present its challenges (like learning to speak English so the students can understand) but also its rewards. I’m thrilled that my school already has a library and am very much hoping to be able to help out so the students can access the books. I also learned today that there is a math/science club (woo-hoo! just like my high school!) so I can help with that… My counterpart also planted the idea-seed of starting a sort of gym – using one of the empty rooms and creating weights and equipment. Awesome.

It seems there is no lack of things to do here; I just need to learn to be more patient.