Back in the Saddle...

April 12, 2010
By my count, I’ve been in Lesotho for 5 months now. Wow.
Sorry to have been M.I.A. for a while… I’m officially back at school now, giving tests and marking homework, same as it ever was. I arrived back last Tuesday after one of the best vacations I’ve ever taken. Considering I was initially planning to run a half-marathon, I would say things turned out as good as if not better than exhausting myself over 13.1 grueling miles (for which I had not trained). We spent four nights an hour or so south of Durban at an amazing hostel, right on the ocean. If you ever get the chance, do yourself a favor and check out Mantis & Moon. The staff was awesome, the facility was excellent, and there were plenty of opportunities for things to do.
It took a while to get there; we left my friend’s place around 6am to pass through the border gate, to meet our hired private vehicle (definitely a nice way to go) to drive to Durban, to catch another ride (for another hour or so) to finally reach M&M.
The first thing to do when we arrived (naturally) was to head for the ocean. I have now swum in three oceans (Atlantic, Pacific and Indian), and as much as I would love to also swim in the Arctic Ocean, I’m not so sure that’ll happen. The waves were pretty intense; we all got heavily thrashed, but we played until sunset and headed back for dinner. South African pizza has never tasted so good.
The next morning, some of the people in our group talked to the hostel staff to try to find out what was available for us to do. We opted snorkeling in the morning and lazing by the beach in the afternoon. A friend and I ran on the beach (which, I contend, is still one of the most perfect running surfaces imaginable, though difficult at times) while others looked at fish and underwater plants. With the exception of a short lunch break, we spent the day on the beach, and by the time dinner rolled around, we were definitely hungry. That night we cooked ribs that had been given to us by another guy staying at the hostel (he claimed they were the best meat we would ever taste in our lives… as a vegetarian, I’m probably not a fair judge, but I did eat some and they were pretty tasty), potato wedges and peppers stuffed with rice, lentils, corn, tomatoes and probably some other good stuff I’m forgetting. We all slept pretty early that night in anticipation of Oribi Gorge the next day. (You should google Oribi Gorge… it’s a pretty amazing place.)
We got up early for the short journey. Four of our gang went white-water rafting while the rest of us and some others from the hostel went on a beautiful 3-hour hike to a waterfall and back. We met up early afternoon before going to the world’s highest gorge swing. This meant getting harnessed in, strapping the harness in to some thick cables, and literally jumping (or falling, in some instances) off the wall of a gorge that is over 100 meters tall. I’ll admit, I was more nervous about it than I thought I would be. I’ve been skydiving before, and the feeling before jumping off the edge is absolutely nothing like skydiving. When I went skydiving, I rode up in the plane all strapped in, so I could tell how high we were, plus I had a parachute (and experienced guide) on my back. This time, I had only a harness and a prayer.
We harnessed in one by one at the top, then proceeded down a very sturdy (but still slightly creepy) ladder to another smaller platform of rocks. There was a sort of waiting area, and down a few layers of rock, there was a man who worked for the gorge swing who helped get the final straps strapped and walked us through the jump itself. He seemed pretty calm and operated with amazing ease so close to the ledge. He was harnessed in as well, but to a much shorter rope, so if he toppled off the cliff, he would only make it about 1.5 meters before crashing into the wall. Ouch.
I was 4th or 5th in the group to go, so I had seen several go before me and return to the top, absolutely beaming and wanting to go again. When I got to the edge, I’d already decided I was going to attempt a front flip, and having heard from a reliable source that they were not so difficult, I was pretty confident. I told the guide this and he sort of looked at me like I was crazy. Well, yes, because I paid money to jump off the edge of a huge gorge, I must be slightly crazy. But, he instructed me where to jump so I didn’t mess anything up (including my pants), gave me the “3 – 2 – 1 – JUMP!” and I was off. I made a lovely front flip (if I do say so myself) and continued to free fall for another second or so. It was absolutely exhilarating, though truly, words can’t do the whole thing justice. The harness caught very gently, and I was left swinging there, in very peaceful solitude, for maybe half a minute before the machine started to reel me in. Wow. Definitely the biggest adrenaline rush I’ve had in the past five months!
In the evening, nobody wanted to cook, so we walked to a nearby restaurant called Rock Bottom (SpongeBob reference, anyone?!), where we all enjoyed cold drinks and warm salty (veggie) burgers and chips (fries). It was strange but very nice to be at a (real) restaurant again after such a long time, especially one where we actually blended in. Any number of volunteers (who are mostly white-ish) at any restaurant in Lesotho creates quite a scene; it’s almost like being a celebrity. In South Africa, we blended right in and only attracted attention because we were a group of 12 Americans who acted like running water and electricity were the greatest things since sliced bread (which, I’m more and more convinced, is true).
The final day, Easter Sunday, we also spent on the beach. We got a relatively early start, made it to the beach around 10:30, and plopped down to sleep, read or write. I went for another run, down the beach the other way this time, and practically bumped into some fisherman’s lines. I’m not exactly sure the logic behind standing halfway up the beach with a fishing pole and a fishing line that’s just waiting to strangle any passersby, but hey, they probably didn’t understand why I was running. When we got back to the field of towels, another guy from the hostel had brought down a soccer ball so we kicked that around for a good hour or more.
We watched the clouds roll around for a while and waited for the coming storm. Luckily, we got cold and tired enough to head home just as the first rain was falling, so it didn’t interfere with our beach time at all. Quick snacks, hot showers and soccer on television – what a life. We dined at the hostel that night on some of the best food I’ve had on this continent: meat (chicken and sausage I think?), beautiful green salad, mushrooms, soft bread, potato wedges and butternut squashes stuffed with a mix of feta, spinach and tomatoes. Oh. My. Gosh. It was amazing. The best part is that the guys at the hostel said they’d cook for me every night if I’d work there… maybe I’ll have to stop back for a few days (months) before coming home…
After supper, I played several games of pool with friends – some of the longest games of my life. For the first two games, the two teams were equally lacking in skill, but the third game, my friend and I (about equal skill level) took on two pros. By this time I was pretty tired of pool, and my friend didn’t want to be playing either, but we figured it’d be a quick loss since the other two were so good. However, they took the game as an opportunity to teach us the ins and outs of pool, and how best to “snooker” your opponent. When it was their turn, they’d hit a great shot and seemingly set us up for an easy ball, but whenever we were about to take our turn, they’d stop us and explain why we did not, in fact, want to attempt that shot. Inevitably, we’d listen (they were good after all), and the game went on a painfully long while, even though it should have lasted only three turns. Needless to say, I learned a lot about pool!
Sunday was a good night; I stayed up late chatting with some guys who were also working or staying at the hostel. Ultimately, I think our group convinced one of them, a great guy from Holland, to visit Lesotho on his next vacation. I’m thrilled he wants to come; it will be so much fun to show him around. Unfortunately, I’ll have to wait a while… probably until September… or later. Thank goodness for the internet and so many means of communication! :)
It was depressing to leave the hostel, especially to head back to relative isolation after having spent two and a half weeks with my friends. The journey home was relatively smooth; the guy who drove us from Ficksburg to Durban picked us up right at the hostel and drove us straight back to Ficksburg. Though there were only twelve of us, we bought out the extra two seats in the car so we could have the extra room to sprawl and sleep (twelve vacationers is a lot of luggage), and control the radio (Brian – thanks for the iTrip! it made the car rides so much more enjoyable!). Several of us southerners had intended to make it through and past Maseru on Monday, but seeing as it was almost 4pm by the time we crossed back into Lesotho, we crashed at a friend’s place for one last night together. The food that night was also delicious (peanut butter sauce over rice and lots of vegetables), but my favorite part was all crowding into her home to watch a beautiful slideshow that contained everyone’s photos from the trip.
The whole vacation was a beautiful reminder of a lot of things. My friends are wonderful. I don’t know what else to say without getting too mushy, but I’m incredibly thankful for all the people on that trip. New friends are also pretty great… the guys who worked at the hostel were so welcoming and a lot of fun. They came hiking with us and cooked, as I said, the best food I’ve had in a long time. Plus they all got up (early) to say goodbye to us… doesn’t get much better than that! The other people at the hostel were pretty great too; I might have several extra stops on my post-COS itinerary! :)

My first full day back at school was pretty rough. I struggled to review fractions with a class I’d not seen in almost three weeks. One of the other teachers saw me after I’d fallen asleep in the staff room for almost an hour and told me to go home and sleep there. I did so without complaining. Overall, of my first 50 or so hours back at site, I probably slept for at least 28 of them, no joke. All that vacation really caught up with me…
Thursday was a much better day, especially since I had the morning off. I went for a run, took a quick bucket bath, and felt very refreshed and ready to tackle a full day of teaching. Friday was pretty good too. Unfortunately, the school still has a pretty serious water shortage, so I ended up washing all my dishes and dirty clothes during school hours to ensure I’d have water for the weekend. After I’d finished some odd jobs around school, I went to the clinic to visit the wonderful Kenyans there. I’d not seen them in over three weeks, and it was like returning to a true home after being away. No visit to Mercy and Henry would be complete without tea, but this visit also filled my belly with bread with peanut butter and a beautiful green apple. We chatted until dark about lots of thought-provoking things, and they walked me home.
The rest of the weekend was relatively quiet. As always, some students came to do their work here or tend their crops for agriculture class, but very few knocked on my door. I didn’t mind the quiet though, I had to set exams for all three subjects I teach, which proved to be more difficult than I’d anticipated. I found I’d forgotten most of the vocabulary my students understand. For example, when it comes to reducing fractions, they might understand “simplify” but not “write in lowest terms” or “reduce” … so I had to ponder word choice. I also constructed a makeshift spice rack, of which I am very proud. Time will tell whether or not it will stay together, but for now, it holds my rosemary, Italian herbs, garlic salt, garlic flakes, tomato flakes, cayenne powder, curry powder, pepper and salt very nicely. I’m just awaiting that crash-bang-boom in the middle of the night when it comes crashing down and I have a spice medley all over my dirty kitchen floor.
That brings me to today. Monday has been decent. After arriving to the staffroom around 8:15 (I don’t teach until 8:40 and this late arrival is perfectly acceptable here), I discovered that I am on duty this week. Curses! I HATE being on duty! This means I have to get up early enough to see that the gate is shut at 7am, punish the latecomers (ugh), monitor morning study, monitor the lunch area (yeah, right! it’s crazy in there!), monitor afternoon study, and then see that the grounds are cleaned at the end of the day. To make things worse, the other teacher who is on duty with me was nowhere to be found today! I’m bad enough at being on duty as it is, it sure didn’t help that she wasn’t there to help me…
I had two very bizarre encounters today. First, as I was walking to the staffroom from my house after lunch, a boy walked past a building and slapped a small lizard that was doing nothing wrong, simply sunning itself. Part of the lizard (its tail, I later discovered) fell to the ground and was squirming like I have never seen anything squirm. The rest of the lizard (head, four legs and stub) remained on the wall. When I poked at it with my keys to see if it would move, it stayed still. The body was dead but the tail was very much alive (or dying…). So strange.
Then, in one of my physics classes, we were reviewing for the exam that the students will take tomorrow, and I saw a girl poke a small plastic bag with a pen. To my surprise, the bag chirped and moved. I was quite startled, and I approached her desk to find a very small baby bird (probably suffocating) in a plastic baggie. I asked incredulously what on earth she was going to do with the bird. She giggled and replied, “It is for Matseliso.” I turned around to ask Matseliso what on earth she planned to do with it, and she said with a grin, “But Madam, I will eat it!” Now, I’m a vegetarian, but I know for certain that the bird was way too small to eat. I brought this up to her and she laughed at me and told me that naturally, she would have to let it grow first. Silly me! How could I not know that she would let the baby bird in a plastic bag grow up before she would cook and eat it. My students laughed long and hard at my sympathy for the poor creature, but I guess on the upside, at least she’ll have meat for a meal…
Well, the generator is off now and my computer will likely die soon. I hope this quenches some of your desires for updates on my life… I’ll write more as soon as I can.
All my love from Africa,
Katie