4th of July!

Happy (belated) American Independence Day!
It was definitely a unique 4th ... it started with a hike down a mountain and a run to a nearby village to attend church with another PCV. Her host family here is very involved with this church and she had never been, so we told her we would come too, then celebrate America's Independence together. I'm a bit sick with who-knows-what, so the run was painful, but church was decent, and her site is beautiful. It was a nice tour and her host family was very polite and gracious.
On the way back, we found some maize cobs to stand in for the traditional corn-on-the-cob. Our dinner was delicious: baked potatoes, green salad (a rarity here, especially considering its winter!), guacamole (not very American, but still darn tasty) and maize on the cob. We boiled the maize for probably close to an hour, it was still tough at dinner, but still nice to eat something resembling corn off a cob. There were no fireworks. Instead, we watched 27 Dresses with the audio about 3 seconds off from the visual. It's amazing what you settle for in Africa... that wouldn't have lasted on my television more than five minutes in America - I'd be too frustrated to continue. Here though, we all wanted to watch the movie so much (it is SO cute, after all) that we were able to ignore it.

In other news, our mailbox in Mafeteng is no longer ours. I edited my address list on the left of my blog, but figured I should mention it here too. If you do plan on sending me anything (which I really appreciate) please just use one of those two addresses.

Winter is strange here. Without the structure of the school day, I find myself missing home more, especially knowing that it's warm there and most of my family is at our cabin! Instead of bathing once a week, I could be swimming in a lake multiple times a day... instead of limited produce, I could be eating watermelon, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, ... fresh fruits, delicious garden vegetables and drinking iced tea and lemonade on the dock. Instead of wearing so many layers I can't move normally, I could be wearing shorts and a t-shirt, or just wrapping up in a towel between trips to the lake. Instead of crazy taxi rides where I can barely move because it's so crowded, I could be riding in our boat where I can barely move because it's so beautiful on our lake. Sigh... All that said, I still think this is the right place for me right now in my life. I'm just really coming to realize how blessed I am in so many ways...
I'll write more when I can...
Love from Africa,
-Katie