January 26, 2007
Exciting News!! WE have our pictures posted online thanks to Andy! I can’t really explain them but they are super cool check them out!!
http://thelansfords.com/ftp_photos/jason/cd1/
(Written by Jason)
Ok so I know the last blog that I wrote was pretty negative. It is tough sometimes to fight off the birds of negativity that land on your shoulder and leave the remnants of despair and anguish. But things are not bad here. In fact more and more it is feeling like home.
Turning on the gas to light the oven seems more and more like a normal practice everyday. Seeing cars that zoom by as you wait for the bus feels normal. Sweating out of every pore from sunup to sundown is becoming comfortably familiar. Riding my bike long distances is to get somewhere not just for fun or exercise (which we get plenty of so we can eat most all the carbs we want!). Seeing cows, donkeys, chickens, goats, sheep and having them watch us, feels practically like they expect us to be there.
I mean not everything is like this. The classrooms here are a mess. Some are missing bricks, they have cracks, no electricity or windows that open for the breeze, chalkboards with more holes in it that if it were shot with a shotgun and none of the chairs have backs on them (this will most likely be the reason that Janeen and I look like old people when we return. Well that and the wrinkled skin on our arms, faces, pretty much anywhere that the sun touches…). But the children and the teachers are generally happy. Their happy energy is contagious and becomes difficult to be negative or sad. I love to ride into my little school, having 10 or so kids trailing after me, to see the smiling faces of my colleagues and quickly forming friends.
The strange parts is, is that I am making mostly female friends here as the men are typically very secretive and keep to themselves. I wonder quite often how they view us strange white people in their land. Do they see us only as white land lords like the Boers of South Africa? Or are they generally guarded as a people? These questions haunt me as I search for Basotho male companionship.
So in conclusion, things are not as bleak as I led on. We are good and although there will be many more blogs where I am confounded and confused by life here, we know again that this is the reason we have come. All our love to you!
January 23, 2007
(Written by Jason)
This is our second day of school for the both of us. Janeen if you all did not remember is teaching at the High School and I am working with 2 primary schools to improve teaching and learning techniques. Janeen’s assignment for this term is 3 form A classes (8th Grade) and 1 form B classes (9th Grade). She is also responsible for the library this year which will most likely be a huge project, getting the books and materials organized and making sure that everything is in order. The one great part is, that there is a computer so that we will be able to blog and create spreadsheets and what not for work. We will also be able to print from the computer in office which is really nice!
I can not speak for Janeen, she does that rather well for herself, but I am finding things tiring and wearing at this point. I know that it is only the second week but with the constant heat during the day, the intensity of the sun and the lack of a social network, things can get pretty tense and tiring at home. This is not to say that Janeen and I have not been doing exceptionally. WE are doing great! I am super excited about that. It is that we have a short fuse for each other and other things around us. Needless to say we need your prayers for patience (one that I have been praying repeatedly today) and temperance.
Let me tell you why I am typing this. The first day at my schools was yesterday. The night before happened to be the first big rain storm we have had in some time and so the ground was very muddy and sloppy. Therefore, when I arrived at my school about 5 minutes late, my legs and shoes were covered in poop smelling mud (as most of the mud mixes with cow, sheep, goat, chicken and other animal fecal matter.). I rushed because I thought that I would miss assembly which is supposed to start at 7:45. Silly me, that on the first day of school the principal/head teacher would not show up and all of the teachers stood around until 8:30 waiting for her to unlock the office. Once we did actually start school, we did not actually start school. The kids milled around cleaning out the classes and making sure that there were desks in the rooms. The teachers meanwhile, kind of supervised, yet I noticed more than one kick, hit, spit fight, play at the tap, etc.
Then finally at 10:00 we started our meeting. The whole purpose of the meeting was to meet me. And me, being the long winded person that I am, spent all of 15 minutes talking about what we are going to do together. This put us at 10:15 when the teachers said that they were going to let the kids go home early and teach tomorrow and that I could leave.
This was fine with me as I had to get to my other school for a meeting that was taking place. However after waiting for the bus which was supposed to come at 10:30 for an hour, I decided to start walking. I was finally picked up and taken to my site right around noon.
At the important meeting that I was supposed to attend, there was a large group of parents and students. This got me really excited and I thought we would be doing something really important. Over the next 3 hours of sitting in the burning sun (yes I do get sunburned), listening to a meeting in Sesotho, of which I understood maybe 3%, I was finally introduced to the crowd. My introduction however got me very nervous because the principal introduced me as the newest teacher to their school. I am not a teacher! Let me repeat that! I am not teaching these next 2 years. I am here to be a means of support and resource not a classroom teacher (come to find out that my supervisor had not talked to him and she promised me that she would write a letter to correct this misunderstanding. We will see!). This took a total of 10 minutes to do mind you and I spent 3 hours baking like a biscuit for that!!
All of this to say that it is only Tuesday and I am already fried. I do hope that you find all of this as funny as I do because what else can you do but laugh, right??
Friday, January 26, 2007
Thursday, January 11, 2007
January 11, 2006
Well we have finally arrived here, swearing in day! It has been two months to the day that we arrived in country and we are swearing in about the time that we first arrived at the training center where we have lived off and on during that time. An exciting piece of news is that my fellow volunteers asked me to give the speech today at our swearing in ceremony. I will post the speech possibly some other day. But today we just want to say hello, give our NEW ADDRESS and let you know that we are good and that we love you all!! This will also be the last time for a while that we get to use the internet for the next few months. This however does not mean that we don't want those ideas for grants and stuff to stop rolling in. IN fact, this will give you all plenty of time to do your homework and find the really juicy ones that will provide long lasting sustainable aid. Ok no pressure, but really keep the ideas coming.
So our NEW ADDRESS is:
Jason and Janeen Samuelian
Tsa-Kholo High School
BOX 7
Tsa-Kholo 960 Lesotho
Keep those snail mail letters and stuff coming! They seriously do mean the world to us and we really enjoy writting back! We will see you later Jason and Janeen
Well we have finally arrived here, swearing in day! It has been two months to the day that we arrived in country and we are swearing in about the time that we first arrived at the training center where we have lived off and on during that time. An exciting piece of news is that my fellow volunteers asked me to give the speech today at our swearing in ceremony. I will post the speech possibly some other day. But today we just want to say hello, give our NEW ADDRESS and let you know that we are good and that we love you all!! This will also be the last time for a while that we get to use the internet for the next few months. This however does not mean that we don't want those ideas for grants and stuff to stop rolling in. IN fact, this will give you all plenty of time to do your homework and find the really juicy ones that will provide long lasting sustainable aid. Ok no pressure, but really keep the ideas coming.
So our NEW ADDRESS is:
Jason and Janeen Samuelian
Tsa-Kholo High School
BOX 7
Tsa-Kholo 960 Lesotho
Keep those snail mail letters and stuff coming! They seriously do mean the world to us and we really enjoy writting back! We will see you later Jason and Janeen
January 8, 2006 (by Janeen)
WE ALL PASSED! Everyone in our group passed our language assessment. Jason received an Intermediate Mid level. The rubric states that a sympathetic listener will understand what he is saying. I got an Intermediate High level. The rubric says that most people will understand me, though my errors are evident and I lack vocabulary.
The test made me very anxious. I really do not like to take tests—especially orally. I was nervous pretty much most of the day since I was third from last. The tester was very nice and helped calm me down a bit. I know that I could have done better. After taking the test I thought of things that I could have said, but I didn’t say them. Oh well-- I passed and that is all that really matters.
Today we had an administrative session about money and vacation. I still think that we will be living pretty comfortably even though we are in a developing country. Of course we will be lacking amenities, but we will still be comfortable.
January 7, 2007 (by Jason)
Well I am back again, with another story in the saga that is Janeen and my life. Today is our language test day of which we must pass at an intermediate low level to pass for service (this basically means that we have to speak at a level of a 4-5 year old in order to pass). As things worked out, I was the first one to be tested, along with my friend Rachel. Janeen is probably testing as I write this blog, so if you get this in the next 5-10 min (11:28 lesotho time) throw a prayer up for Janeen.
As for me, I think that my test went pretty well. I won’t really know the results until this evening but I should definitely pass maybe even at a 6-7 year old level!! Pretty excited about that though. So lately Janeen and I have been a little tired and stressed out. We are anxious to get to our site and get some normalcy to a routine, a clean house, etc. However, after the test, we have a week of procedures, exit interviews of training (where they ask like 50 times if you are still committed to the Peace Corps, which we are by the way and if we will stick it out, which we will God forbid anything happen), and finally swearing in. It is not that we don’t love being in Maseru and hanging out with our friends, but we just want to go and get started. You know what I mean?? I don’t know if you do but it is just a little unnerving sometimes.
Thinking about the future at our site, I was already informed that 1 of my schools is going to be expanding starting in 2008. So I know that it is a long way away but the way that I am, I have already begun thinking of ideas that this could possibly mean. I think that it might be the perfect time to put in a library or an art room or something. This means that I am going to need funding for it. This is where all you out there reading this can help me out. I get very limited access to the internet and hence limited time to search for stuff like grants and what not. If you could start researching grants and funds that might be available for such things that would be awesome. Also, other volunteers in the past have petitioned local community groups and churches to collect money and resources for such projects and have had great success. We have a year to do something incredible and I would be so cool if we could do this together. If you find anything or have any ideas, shoot me an e-mail @ jason.samuelian@gmail.com
Thanks for the help! Keep the prayers and e-mails coming! They truly lift our spirits in these strange times! Love you all
WE ALL PASSED! Everyone in our group passed our language assessment. Jason received an Intermediate Mid level. The rubric states that a sympathetic listener will understand what he is saying. I got an Intermediate High level. The rubric says that most people will understand me, though my errors are evident and I lack vocabulary.
The test made me very anxious. I really do not like to take tests—especially orally. I was nervous pretty much most of the day since I was third from last. The tester was very nice and helped calm me down a bit. I know that I could have done better. After taking the test I thought of things that I could have said, but I didn’t say them. Oh well-- I passed and that is all that really matters.
Today we had an administrative session about money and vacation. I still think that we will be living pretty comfortably even though we are in a developing country. Of course we will be lacking amenities, but we will still be comfortable.
January 7, 2007 (by Jason)
Well I am back again, with another story in the saga that is Janeen and my life. Today is our language test day of which we must pass at an intermediate low level to pass for service (this basically means that we have to speak at a level of a 4-5 year old in order to pass). As things worked out, I was the first one to be tested, along with my friend Rachel. Janeen is probably testing as I write this blog, so if you get this in the next 5-10 min (11:28 lesotho time) throw a prayer up for Janeen.
As for me, I think that my test went pretty well. I won’t really know the results until this evening but I should definitely pass maybe even at a 6-7 year old level!! Pretty excited about that though. So lately Janeen and I have been a little tired and stressed out. We are anxious to get to our site and get some normalcy to a routine, a clean house, etc. However, after the test, we have a week of procedures, exit interviews of training (where they ask like 50 times if you are still committed to the Peace Corps, which we are by the way and if we will stick it out, which we will God forbid anything happen), and finally swearing in. It is not that we don’t love being in Maseru and hanging out with our friends, but we just want to go and get started. You know what I mean?? I don’t know if you do but it is just a little unnerving sometimes.
Thinking about the future at our site, I was already informed that 1 of my schools is going to be expanding starting in 2008. So I know that it is a long way away but the way that I am, I have already begun thinking of ideas that this could possibly mean. I think that it might be the perfect time to put in a library or an art room or something. This means that I am going to need funding for it. This is where all you out there reading this can help me out. I get very limited access to the internet and hence limited time to search for stuff like grants and what not. If you could start researching grants and funds that might be available for such things that would be awesome. Also, other volunteers in the past have petitioned local community groups and churches to collect money and resources for such projects and have had great success. We have a year to do something incredible and I would be so cool if we could do this together. If you find anything or have any ideas, shoot me an e-mail @ jason.samuelian@gmail.com
Thanks for the help! Keep the prayers and e-mails coming! They truly lift our spirits in these strange times! Love you all
Friday, January 05, 2007
January 5, 2007
Back in Maseru and back to the internet café!! We went to our actual home for the next two years and had a sweet time moving in and getting settled. It is a huge place that has four rooms and a bathroom. In case you have not heard yet, we do have running water and electricity, and yes it as nice as we remember. Although the water is cold, it is nice to be able to turn on the tap to wash your hands or brush your teeth.
When we first arrived at our site. We were greeted by 3 of my co-workers and a mother from one of the schools that we will be working in. They helped us move in an get settled into our new life in Tsa Kholo. It is a cool village even though it is not small by any means. We have all the modern conviences of a post-office, clinic and multiple shops (that carry the same thing). IT is kind of funny really, but it is really nice, set against a large hill. We are certain to get cell phone coverage and this means you can call whenever you want.
Speaking of which we have cell phones too! If you get a calling card you can talk to us for cheap! Incoming calls are free for us, but it costs us about $2/minute to call you!
011 266 584 70 277--Jason
011 266 584 70 278—Janeen
So call us already! WE would love to chat with you and see how you are doing!! Love you all
Jason
December 31, 2006
(written by Janeen)
Happy new year (almost)! We will experience 2007 10 hours ahead of all you Californians. So at 2:00 PM we will be ringing in the new year. We are very excited to see what 2007 has in store for us. We have left our village from training and will spend the next few days in Maseru at the training site. On January 2nd we will leave Maseru and head to our new home in the Mafetang district.
Christmas and my birthday were enjoyable. We had several people cooking in the kitchen for most of the day. The feast was HUGE and delicious. We went back to the village on my birthday after going food shopping. We tried to get on the internet that day, but it was closed because they celebrate boxing day here. Jason and I wore the cone hats that Bari sent us during dinner. It was a nice day.
While we were back in Maseru during the Christmas break, the kitchen staff spoiled us with American food. We had pizza twice and fish & chips (Ok so that is British…) and I brought out my Heinz Ketchup that Andy & Mari bought for us the night before we left. We shared it with everyone and finished about ¾ of the bottle. Everyone was very excited about it! They have ketchup here called All Gold that is pretty good, but its just not the same as Heinz 57! J I’ve heard that we can get Heinz in South Africa, so I am going to wait to request it until we have permission to check out the South African goods. Once we swear in on January 11, we have to remain in our districts for the first 3 months. So we are even restricted in our travel within Lesotho.
Another note about Christmas…. We THOUGHT that we were escaping the hustle and bustle of Christmas, but it was the same here in Maseru. Of course in the village it was quiet. They do get new clothes at Christmas and they clean their homes, but the commercial aspect is quiet. We came back to Maseru and had to brave the horrendous Christmas lines to get Secret Santa gifts. It was fun. Jason got a permanent marker and some toy cars, and I got a tank top and some measuring cups. Its amazing how excited we got over so little! J
So… a few things about the internet here---it is HORRIBLE. Not only is it slow, it does not work consistently. I’ve learned to type the blogs on word, while I am waiting for the pages to load. I’ve had to email what I wrote in word to myself several times and had to post them later when I got the page to load in the hour of internet that I paid for. Or right now I just read an email from Val, tried to respond and then instead of sending the email response, I got “Cannot find server.” So most likely we will read your emails and respond with snail mail. With the internet being so slow, we have also tried to post pictures without being successful. I’ve heard internet in South Africa is faster, so we’ll try again in about 3 ½ months. So until then you’ll only get to see the few that we have posted so far. L
By the way… we have consolidated our “send us” list and posted it under the “contact us” section of our site. You will also find a running list of books that we have read. I am currently in the process of finding a book. I was going to read Dear Exile next, but one of our trainers borrowed it and is reading it now.
By the way, Jason is also writing something to post on the blog. We are both sitting at the internet café right now. If we repeat any info, we apologize.
Once again, we love you all and miss you sooooo much! Happy New Year, may 2007 be good to you.
December 31, 2006
Written by Jason:
Hey all from the mountain kingdom!! We are finally done with CBT (community based training)! Hooray! I do say this with some regret as we made some close friends there and I don’t really know if we will ever make it back there to see those people ever again, which is kind of sad! Let me give you a run down on some of the funny and not so funny things that we have seen:
Bats flying in and out of our ceiling making all kinds of racket all hours of the night
A grasshopper flying into Janeen’s hair while she was sleeping and we are not talking the tiny kind. We are talking 3 inches long!!
Pit Latrines that you should never, ever, ever spray bug killer down in, but you have to or risk being overtaken by flies, bees, spiders, etc.
Sickness everything from HIV, to TB, to Colds
Children being hit, chastised, laughed at because they can not defend themselves.
Children doing the same thing to each other because that is the model that they have been given.
Poverty, because of the world food program. Don’t get me wrong. IT is a good thing but it makes some people very lazy and unproductive. Giving food can not be the answer!
Habitual Alcoholism-mostly by men but some women too
Did I mention HIV/AIDS??
We had a great time at site learning the language (ke bua Sesotho Hahoolo! I speak Sesotho a lot!! NOT REALLY, but I try really hard!) learning the culture, everything from witch doctors to circumcision school (our Masotho Brother just went and came back, weird!!), and eating bland starchy foods!! But the best part is the people. Happy, sad, real people. We can only put on a mask for so long and then everybody shows there true colors. Our m’e (mother) really let us into her life and let us see her pain and her joy. The exhaustion that poverty and sickness takes and most of all the beauty of her language and people. We really do love it here!
Pray for Lesotho and the people here! Pray that we will be accepted at our site and most all pray for Janeen and mine continued great relationship. We love and miss you all and appreciate all those e-mails, letters, packages, etc. that you are sending! Keep it up!
December 22, 2006
We are back in Maseru at the training compound for a few days! J We will get to take warm showers and use the laundry machine. Jason and I will try to post more pictures tomorrow, when we have more time! We’ll update you all as well. Merry Christmas! We miss you all.
December 23, 2006
It feels like Christmas! J Yesterday we received 4 packages. One from Mom Samuelian and three from Bari & Eric Amos (Jason knows Bari from semester at sea). We got lots of goodies. Bari sent a care package, a Christmas package, and a birthday package! We got stockings and fun toys.
Yesterday everyone else found out where they will be living for the next two years. We have known for about a month now, so there were not any surprises for us. Except that we got to view a short video of what our home will look like. Our home will have both electricity and running water! Jason was a little disappointed because he feels that our experience will not be roughing it as much as he thought we would be. We will have 3 rooms, a living room, and a bathroom. We get to see our site on January 2, when we will visit for 4 days before swearing in. The purpose of this visit is to have a reality check and to be sure that we really can live like that for 2 years. They really want to be sure that we will not quit.
On our cell phones—we are 10 hours ahead right now. The best times to call are from 8 PM-10PM (CA time) or 6 AM-10 AM (CA time). During training we have sessions and are not always available. We’d love to hear from you (but be sure to buy a calling card so that it does not cost you an arm and a leg). Incoming calls for us are free, but it is $2 a minute for us to call you!
Jason might update also today. We are really missing you all right now. We hope you have the merriest of Christmases!
December 14, 2006
So we are back in Maseru today for food shopping because we are going to the national park on Saturday as a field trip. We have heard great things about this trip and are quite excited. We’ll let you know how it goes. There is not much new today. We have received quite a few letters recently and are VERY happy about that! It helps us feel connected to home and we really miss everyone! We are coming to the end of our Community Based Training (CBT). We will have a few days in Maseru over the holidays and will respond to emails at that time. Please do not feel that we are being short with you. We are really just limited on internet time. We have written over 40 snail mail letters. Which reminds me, can you let me know when you have received them and also let me know what # you received. That would be very helpful in knowing how long mail takes. Merry Christmas everyone! We wish we could celebrate with you, and enjoy the cooler weather. It has been VERY hot the past few days! Love to you all!
December 9, 2006
Hey all those folks out there in the rest of the planet! Greetings once again from Lesotho. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas all. It has been a little hard to get into the spirit this year as we are currently dealing with temperatures in the 90’s. It is dry though so not that unbearable. It will certainly make for an interesting X-mas!! We are really starting to miss friends and family as we are about to reach our month mark in country. On the bright side though, getting into routines of bucket baths, cooking at 4:30 to 5:00 p.m. because it is still light and because we want our house to be cooler for sleep time and those trips to the pit latrine, now seem almost (emphasis on almost) normal. Life is much simpler when all you have to think about is walking to work, walking home, eating and that is pretty much it. It is really nice. Some new experiences this week as we had our first practice weeks of teaching. Janeen is teaching Form A which was the equivalent of 8th grade and I taught class 5 (5th grade equivalent). Needless to say, kids here are starved for education. In the 5th class, the students did not have a teacher the entire year and had to make due with teachers that would come in at intermittent time periods. It is crazy to think that they would even have class for them. The students basically just hang out and do the assigned reading. Then someone may or may not come and check their exercise books to see if they finished them. Then they test and fail and have to repeat the class again. At least primary education is now free, unlike where Janeen is teaching where it costs money to go to school plus books, uniform, food, boarding, etc. One bit of exciting news was that our Ntate (Dad) came home 2 nights ago from the mines in South Africa. He will come home only twice annually and then for periods ranging between a few days and a few weeks for close family deaths. It is customary to bring a gift for family members when they do come home and he brought us some chicken. Not live, like our trainer thought, but just meat. It was a little weird having our M’e knock on the door at 6:00 a.m. with chicken meat. Our Ntate looks older than I think he is and very, very tired. Health update for our M’e (mom), we still think that she might have breast cancer as we have not gotten a contrary story to that thus far. We don’t think that they treat it here and it really is quite sad to think about. Other than that we will try and post some more pictures next week if we get a chance. We would love you to see our daily life here and we will attempt to post some of those pictures. . Please E-mail us if you can. We miss you all and it is our First x-mas away from family and friends.
December 2, 2006
First of all, we now have cell phones! You can get a calling card and call us anytime you wish! :)
Here are our numbers:
011 266 584 70 277--Jason
011 266 584 70 278--Janeen
We are not sure just yet, whose phone will be whose, but wanted to give you the numbers.
We are currently living in a village with a host family. The communication barrier is certainly difficult. For example, one morning our 'M'e wanted to iron our clothes and the situation went like this: a lot of misunderstanding. When we figured out that she wanted to iron our clothes, we went and got some clothes to iron. Then still not doing what she wanted, I took the ironing board into my room thinking I had to iron there. Finally we figured out that she wanted us to iron the clothes that we had on! It was pretty crazy!
Another interesting story I have is from when we went on our site visit about a week ago. I was in the staff lounge with the teachers and they began a debate on gender equality. One male teacher stood up and said that women are inferior because they were made from the man's rib according to the bible. I also broke out with a bibical response and told him that in the bible it says that women were created from the rib in order to stand beside man, not in front of or behind him! Apparently we will be working on gender issues here in Lesotho.
Just a side note--- if we email you (or write a blog) that contains many errors, it is because we are trying to write really fast as we are very limited on time and internet availability!
We are having a great time and are really enjoying ourselves. We still have about 6 weeks left of training before we are officially volunteers! Happy Holidays everyone! We love and miss you much!
November 22, 2006
Hey all! Just got back from Ha Sefako in the Butha-Buthe district. It was in the northern most part of the country. It is an extremely remote location with beautiful views and a totally quiet pace of life. Janeen and I went with two other Trainees; Sasha and Karli. These girls are both from Minnesota and grew up 20 minutes away from each other. They added a whole other dimension to our travels.
Our hosts for the weekend were Marissa and Anthony. They have been volunteers for a year and have had a variety of different experience. It was our first time with no electricity and no running water on the trip. It wasn’t half bad. It actually did make you consume less and think about every drop that you were using. It really was interesting when we choose to bathe. I guess you just adopt different meanings of “clean”. Other than the lack of normal amenities, the location was beautiful. It would be the ideal place if the population had work or if there were basic health services. I also think that I would get pretty tired of Papa and Morroho (Corn meal fluffed and chopped up spinach sauted in sunflower oil).
Mainly the trip got us excited for being in our CBT (community based training) villages and stressed the importance of knowing the language. Being able to communicate to the nationals in the native tongue brings such an impact as they are struck with how much you value their culture. Anthony is basically fluent and communicates so well that he is often called a son of Moshoeshoe (the first king of Lesotho). We both hope that we will be there in a years time.
Also posting some pics. Don't miss em!!!
All our Best
Jason and Janeen
November 17, 2006
Khotso! (pronounced Hho- tszo and is a greeting that means peace)
We have now been in Lesotho for a full week. It feels like we have been here a month! Initially the pace was slow. Last Saturday we were anxious to get started because we got here and had a few relaxes sessions, and then had a free day on Sunday. Little did we know what would begin on Monday! This week has been full of activities from breakfast at 8:00 AM to our final session ending at 8:30 PM. We are learning A LOT about the Basotho (pronounced Ba-soo-too) culture as well as the Sesotho (pronounced Si-soo-too) language. We are practicing our language, but still talk in English outside of Sesotho class. I am sure that when we go to the village next week we will get a lot more practice.
Jason and I are lucky enough to find out what our placement will be for the next 2 years (after our swearing in ceremony on January 11, 2007). Because we are a couple, they had a place ready for us. Jason has already met one of the teachers that he will be working with. He even met the volunteer that he will be replacing. She went home today and had worked very hard to make improvement in the school. He will have a good base and will be able to continue some of the things she began as well as introduce new ideas. He will be the resource teacher for 2 schools that are on both sides of where I my project will be.
I will be teaching English at Tsa-Kholo (pronounced Sa Hollo) high school and we will be living on the school compound. The school is located in the Mafeteng district (one of 10 districts in Lesotho), which is just south of the Maseru (capital) district. We will have electricity, but will have to fetch water from the pump. We have also been told that internet is VERY expensive there, so we will have to wait to post blogs for when we are able to go into Maseru (or very rarely).
As for the next few weeks: here is what’s up. We leave on Sunday to visit current volunteers. We will return to the training site on Wednesday, but will leave again on Thursday (Thanksgiving) for our Community Based Training (CBT). We will be adopted into families in three different villages. We will learn to cook, wash our clothes and dishes with limited water, as well as speak Sesotho better. We will still have training activities during the day as well. We are really looking forward to getting out there because we feel that we have been very sheltered staying here on the training compound.
Now that I have written a LOT… I will bid adieu. We really do love you all and think about you all the time! We appreciate your prayers.
By the way… we also received our first piece of mail! Thank you Mom Sam! J We LOVE it… keep it coming!
--Janeen
Hey everybody! Lumela ea Lesotho! Greetings once again from the mountain kingdom of Lesotho. Well as you can see, we have been super busy moving around and doing stuff. We are in sessions daily from early in the morning to what has been very late at night. The sessions range from everything from Cultural Awareness to language training. Things are very good. We love it here. I did have a moment of anxiety when we did find out our placement. I took a few deep breaths was wide eyed for a while but then was fine.
I also found out that the person that I am replacing is like mega ultra amazing volunteer. She was instrumental in setting up a national HIV/ AIDS awareness campaign using puppetry for youth. She also started a library at her school and received 1200 books from donors around the world. So I have no shoes to fill what so ever! But I am super excited!!
Well we would love to hear from you all and see how you guys are doing. Life here may be very busy but it moves very slow as well!
Khotso! Pula! Nala!- Peace, Rain, Prosperity!
--Jason
November 14, 2006
Lumela! (hello in Sesotho, pronounced Doomayla) We are in Lesotho, Africa! We are really enjoying our time here, but are VERY busy learning about the culture and language! Currently we are living at the Peace Corps training center and have hot showers and electricity. Next week we will go to our villages to live with a family for about 5 weeks.
We have 22 other Peace Corps trainees in our group and are enjoying getting to know them. Everyone is a lot of fun. Peace Corps volunteers aren't all granolas! They are normal people like us! :)
We miss everyone and will write again when we have more time! Love you all!
P.S. We are 10 hours ahead of PST.
November 1, 2006
So we are finishing packing up, tying up those loosed ends and taking care of business. We are about 95% finished packing and will be moving all of our worldly posessions (minus the stuff that is staying here, will explain, and the things we are taking with us) to Sonora. The stress levels have been moderate to low, but we are getting tired of packing and moving stuff out. One good thing is that even though we aren't being billed for cable, they haven't shut it off yet and we are enjoying free internet and TV until pack the last of our things.
The Peace Corps did send us our final packet of information and letters from country staff. Pretty interesting to check out!!
I am also trying to sell our XC-90. SO if you know anyone that has a interest in a slightly used luxurary SUV, send them to my E-bay site http://http:/cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&sspagename=ADME:L:LCA:US:31&viewitem=&item=110050365040
One more interesting aside, Andy and Mari are going to be living in our house for a while and they will be keeping some of our stuff during that period of time. It is nice to be able to have the flexibility of them staying here so that we don't have to move all of our stuff.
Well that is pretty much it. Keep on praying for us and we will do the same if you ask it of us. Much love!!
This page was last modified on November 01, 2006 11:49 AM
October 25, 2006
We would be delighted to hear from everyone while we are away. Our mailing address is:
Jason & Janeen Samuelian, PCT
c/o Peace Corps/Lesotho
PO Box 554
Maseru, 100 LESOTHO
PCT stands for Peace Corps Trainee, and becomes PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) after our three months of training.
We have heard that the mail system is pretty reliable, but that it takes about 2 weeks to get mail there.
Sept. 12th 2006-
Announcing the news... That we have been waiting to give you all for a year now.
Janeen and I have been invited to join the Peace Corps in the country of Lesotho (pronounced Lesutu). We recieved the invitation yesterday, on my birthday and are happy to say that we accepted the invitation this morning. We will be leaving the good ol USA on the 10th of Nov. for our new home. We will be in staging beginning the 7th of Nov. and then we will leave for our new adventure.
There is a lot to tell and so little time to do so, hence we would love to hear from any and all of you and answer you questions individually. Please feel free to e-mail me or Janeen at our emails. http://jasonandjaneensam.com/_layouts/wh/Designer/mailtjason.samuelian@gmail.com http://jasonandjaneensam.com/_layouts/wh/Designer/mailtjaneen_samuelian@yahoo.comYou can also check out our website that we will update, internet permitting, from time to time. The address is http://www.jasonandjaneensam.com/
Pretty simple to remember and look at. We have also posted our graduate thesises and we will be posting the PDF of information that the Peace Corps gave to us for more info. about our situation while in Lesotho. We are so excited to share this adventure with all of you and know that we will be in your thoughts and prayers.
All our Best
Jason and Janeen Samuelian
Peace Corps Volunteers 2006-2008 (Lesotho)
August 2nd, 2006
So I am in an Excel class @ CompUSA in Monrovia. It is for work, however some of the class is a little behind what I am already capable of doing. We were having some difficulties at work today and I can't help but think of what kind of challenges that they are having over there today and I can't wait to get this class over with so I can head back there and see if I can do anything.
I also don't even remember the slow pace of life that was easy to get used to on vacation just 1 short week ago. It feels like an eternity since we were there. But that is the nature of life.
Till tomorrow.
Jason
Back in Maseru and back to the internet café!! We went to our actual home for the next two years and had a sweet time moving in and getting settled. It is a huge place that has four rooms and a bathroom. In case you have not heard yet, we do have running water and electricity, and yes it as nice as we remember. Although the water is cold, it is nice to be able to turn on the tap to wash your hands or brush your teeth.
When we first arrived at our site. We were greeted by 3 of my co-workers and a mother from one of the schools that we will be working in. They helped us move in an get settled into our new life in Tsa Kholo. It is a cool village even though it is not small by any means. We have all the modern conviences of a post-office, clinic and multiple shops (that carry the same thing). IT is kind of funny really, but it is really nice, set against a large hill. We are certain to get cell phone coverage and this means you can call whenever you want.
Speaking of which we have cell phones too! If you get a calling card you can talk to us for cheap! Incoming calls are free for us, but it costs us about $2/minute to call you!
011 266 584 70 277--Jason
011 266 584 70 278—Janeen
So call us already! WE would love to chat with you and see how you are doing!! Love you all
Jason
December 31, 2006
(written by Janeen)
Happy new year (almost)! We will experience 2007 10 hours ahead of all you Californians. So at 2:00 PM we will be ringing in the new year. We are very excited to see what 2007 has in store for us. We have left our village from training and will spend the next few days in Maseru at the training site. On January 2nd we will leave Maseru and head to our new home in the Mafetang district.
Christmas and my birthday were enjoyable. We had several people cooking in the kitchen for most of the day. The feast was HUGE and delicious. We went back to the village on my birthday after going food shopping. We tried to get on the internet that day, but it was closed because they celebrate boxing day here. Jason and I wore the cone hats that Bari sent us during dinner. It was a nice day.
While we were back in Maseru during the Christmas break, the kitchen staff spoiled us with American food. We had pizza twice and fish & chips (Ok so that is British…) and I brought out my Heinz Ketchup that Andy & Mari bought for us the night before we left. We shared it with everyone and finished about ¾ of the bottle. Everyone was very excited about it! They have ketchup here called All Gold that is pretty good, but its just not the same as Heinz 57! J I’ve heard that we can get Heinz in South Africa, so I am going to wait to request it until we have permission to check out the South African goods. Once we swear in on January 11, we have to remain in our districts for the first 3 months. So we are even restricted in our travel within Lesotho.
Another note about Christmas…. We THOUGHT that we were escaping the hustle and bustle of Christmas, but it was the same here in Maseru. Of course in the village it was quiet. They do get new clothes at Christmas and they clean their homes, but the commercial aspect is quiet. We came back to Maseru and had to brave the horrendous Christmas lines to get Secret Santa gifts. It was fun. Jason got a permanent marker and some toy cars, and I got a tank top and some measuring cups. Its amazing how excited we got over so little! J
So… a few things about the internet here---it is HORRIBLE. Not only is it slow, it does not work consistently. I’ve learned to type the blogs on word, while I am waiting for the pages to load. I’ve had to email what I wrote in word to myself several times and had to post them later when I got the page to load in the hour of internet that I paid for. Or right now I just read an email from Val, tried to respond and then instead of sending the email response, I got “Cannot find server.” So most likely we will read your emails and respond with snail mail. With the internet being so slow, we have also tried to post pictures without being successful. I’ve heard internet in South Africa is faster, so we’ll try again in about 3 ½ months. So until then you’ll only get to see the few that we have posted so far. L
By the way… we have consolidated our “send us” list and posted it under the “contact us” section of our site. You will also find a running list of books that we have read. I am currently in the process of finding a book. I was going to read Dear Exile next, but one of our trainers borrowed it and is reading it now.
By the way, Jason is also writing something to post on the blog. We are both sitting at the internet café right now. If we repeat any info, we apologize.
Once again, we love you all and miss you sooooo much! Happy New Year, may 2007 be good to you.
December 31, 2006
Written by Jason:
Hey all from the mountain kingdom!! We are finally done with CBT (community based training)! Hooray! I do say this with some regret as we made some close friends there and I don’t really know if we will ever make it back there to see those people ever again, which is kind of sad! Let me give you a run down on some of the funny and not so funny things that we have seen:
Bats flying in and out of our ceiling making all kinds of racket all hours of the night
A grasshopper flying into Janeen’s hair while she was sleeping and we are not talking the tiny kind. We are talking 3 inches long!!
Pit Latrines that you should never, ever, ever spray bug killer down in, but you have to or risk being overtaken by flies, bees, spiders, etc.
Sickness everything from HIV, to TB, to Colds
Children being hit, chastised, laughed at because they can not defend themselves.
Children doing the same thing to each other because that is the model that they have been given.
Poverty, because of the world food program. Don’t get me wrong. IT is a good thing but it makes some people very lazy and unproductive. Giving food can not be the answer!
Habitual Alcoholism-mostly by men but some women too
Did I mention HIV/AIDS??
We had a great time at site learning the language (ke bua Sesotho Hahoolo! I speak Sesotho a lot!! NOT REALLY, but I try really hard!) learning the culture, everything from witch doctors to circumcision school (our Masotho Brother just went and came back, weird!!), and eating bland starchy foods!! But the best part is the people. Happy, sad, real people. We can only put on a mask for so long and then everybody shows there true colors. Our m’e (mother) really let us into her life and let us see her pain and her joy. The exhaustion that poverty and sickness takes and most of all the beauty of her language and people. We really do love it here!
Pray for Lesotho and the people here! Pray that we will be accepted at our site and most all pray for Janeen and mine continued great relationship. We love and miss you all and appreciate all those e-mails, letters, packages, etc. that you are sending! Keep it up!
December 22, 2006
We are back in Maseru at the training compound for a few days! J We will get to take warm showers and use the laundry machine. Jason and I will try to post more pictures tomorrow, when we have more time! We’ll update you all as well. Merry Christmas! We miss you all.
December 23, 2006
It feels like Christmas! J Yesterday we received 4 packages. One from Mom Samuelian and three from Bari & Eric Amos (Jason knows Bari from semester at sea). We got lots of goodies. Bari sent a care package, a Christmas package, and a birthday package! We got stockings and fun toys.
Yesterday everyone else found out where they will be living for the next two years. We have known for about a month now, so there were not any surprises for us. Except that we got to view a short video of what our home will look like. Our home will have both electricity and running water! Jason was a little disappointed because he feels that our experience will not be roughing it as much as he thought we would be. We will have 3 rooms, a living room, and a bathroom. We get to see our site on January 2, when we will visit for 4 days before swearing in. The purpose of this visit is to have a reality check and to be sure that we really can live like that for 2 years. They really want to be sure that we will not quit.
On our cell phones—we are 10 hours ahead right now. The best times to call are from 8 PM-10PM (CA time) or 6 AM-10 AM (CA time). During training we have sessions and are not always available. We’d love to hear from you (but be sure to buy a calling card so that it does not cost you an arm and a leg). Incoming calls for us are free, but it is $2 a minute for us to call you!
Jason might update also today. We are really missing you all right now. We hope you have the merriest of Christmases!
December 14, 2006
So we are back in Maseru today for food shopping because we are going to the national park on Saturday as a field trip. We have heard great things about this trip and are quite excited. We’ll let you know how it goes. There is not much new today. We have received quite a few letters recently and are VERY happy about that! It helps us feel connected to home and we really miss everyone! We are coming to the end of our Community Based Training (CBT). We will have a few days in Maseru over the holidays and will respond to emails at that time. Please do not feel that we are being short with you. We are really just limited on internet time. We have written over 40 snail mail letters. Which reminds me, can you let me know when you have received them and also let me know what # you received. That would be very helpful in knowing how long mail takes. Merry Christmas everyone! We wish we could celebrate with you, and enjoy the cooler weather. It has been VERY hot the past few days! Love to you all!
December 9, 2006
Hey all those folks out there in the rest of the planet! Greetings once again from Lesotho. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas all. It has been a little hard to get into the spirit this year as we are currently dealing with temperatures in the 90’s. It is dry though so not that unbearable. It will certainly make for an interesting X-mas!! We are really starting to miss friends and family as we are about to reach our month mark in country. On the bright side though, getting into routines of bucket baths, cooking at 4:30 to 5:00 p.m. because it is still light and because we want our house to be cooler for sleep time and those trips to the pit latrine, now seem almost (emphasis on almost) normal. Life is much simpler when all you have to think about is walking to work, walking home, eating and that is pretty much it. It is really nice. Some new experiences this week as we had our first practice weeks of teaching. Janeen is teaching Form A which was the equivalent of 8th grade and I taught class 5 (5th grade equivalent). Needless to say, kids here are starved for education. In the 5th class, the students did not have a teacher the entire year and had to make due with teachers that would come in at intermittent time periods. It is crazy to think that they would even have class for them. The students basically just hang out and do the assigned reading. Then someone may or may not come and check their exercise books to see if they finished them. Then they test and fail and have to repeat the class again. At least primary education is now free, unlike where Janeen is teaching where it costs money to go to school plus books, uniform, food, boarding, etc. One bit of exciting news was that our Ntate (Dad) came home 2 nights ago from the mines in South Africa. He will come home only twice annually and then for periods ranging between a few days and a few weeks for close family deaths. It is customary to bring a gift for family members when they do come home and he brought us some chicken. Not live, like our trainer thought, but just meat. It was a little weird having our M’e knock on the door at 6:00 a.m. with chicken meat. Our Ntate looks older than I think he is and very, very tired. Health update for our M’e (mom), we still think that she might have breast cancer as we have not gotten a contrary story to that thus far. We don’t think that they treat it here and it really is quite sad to think about. Other than that we will try and post some more pictures next week if we get a chance. We would love you to see our daily life here and we will attempt to post some of those pictures. . Please E-mail us if you can. We miss you all and it is our First x-mas away from family and friends.
December 2, 2006
First of all, we now have cell phones! You can get a calling card and call us anytime you wish! :)
Here are our numbers:
011 266 584 70 277--Jason
011 266 584 70 278--Janeen
We are not sure just yet, whose phone will be whose, but wanted to give you the numbers.
We are currently living in a village with a host family. The communication barrier is certainly difficult. For example, one morning our 'M'e wanted to iron our clothes and the situation went like this: a lot of misunderstanding. When we figured out that she wanted to iron our clothes, we went and got some clothes to iron. Then still not doing what she wanted, I took the ironing board into my room thinking I had to iron there. Finally we figured out that she wanted us to iron the clothes that we had on! It was pretty crazy!
Another interesting story I have is from when we went on our site visit about a week ago. I was in the staff lounge with the teachers and they began a debate on gender equality. One male teacher stood up and said that women are inferior because they were made from the man's rib according to the bible. I also broke out with a bibical response and told him that in the bible it says that women were created from the rib in order to stand beside man, not in front of or behind him! Apparently we will be working on gender issues here in Lesotho.
Just a side note--- if we email you (or write a blog) that contains many errors, it is because we are trying to write really fast as we are very limited on time and internet availability!
We are having a great time and are really enjoying ourselves. We still have about 6 weeks left of training before we are officially volunteers! Happy Holidays everyone! We love and miss you much!
November 22, 2006
Hey all! Just got back from Ha Sefako in the Butha-Buthe district. It was in the northern most part of the country. It is an extremely remote location with beautiful views and a totally quiet pace of life. Janeen and I went with two other Trainees; Sasha and Karli. These girls are both from Minnesota and grew up 20 minutes away from each other. They added a whole other dimension to our travels.
Our hosts for the weekend were Marissa and Anthony. They have been volunteers for a year and have had a variety of different experience. It was our first time with no electricity and no running water on the trip. It wasn’t half bad. It actually did make you consume less and think about every drop that you were using. It really was interesting when we choose to bathe. I guess you just adopt different meanings of “clean”. Other than the lack of normal amenities, the location was beautiful. It would be the ideal place if the population had work or if there were basic health services. I also think that I would get pretty tired of Papa and Morroho (Corn meal fluffed and chopped up spinach sauted in sunflower oil).
Mainly the trip got us excited for being in our CBT (community based training) villages and stressed the importance of knowing the language. Being able to communicate to the nationals in the native tongue brings such an impact as they are struck with how much you value their culture. Anthony is basically fluent and communicates so well that he is often called a son of Moshoeshoe (the first king of Lesotho). We both hope that we will be there in a years time.
Also posting some pics. Don't miss em!!!
All our Best
Jason and Janeen
November 17, 2006
Khotso! (pronounced Hho- tszo and is a greeting that means peace)
We have now been in Lesotho for a full week. It feels like we have been here a month! Initially the pace was slow. Last Saturday we were anxious to get started because we got here and had a few relaxes sessions, and then had a free day on Sunday. Little did we know what would begin on Monday! This week has been full of activities from breakfast at 8:00 AM to our final session ending at 8:30 PM. We are learning A LOT about the Basotho (pronounced Ba-soo-too) culture as well as the Sesotho (pronounced Si-soo-too) language. We are practicing our language, but still talk in English outside of Sesotho class. I am sure that when we go to the village next week we will get a lot more practice.
Jason and I are lucky enough to find out what our placement will be for the next 2 years (after our swearing in ceremony on January 11, 2007). Because we are a couple, they had a place ready for us. Jason has already met one of the teachers that he will be working with. He even met the volunteer that he will be replacing. She went home today and had worked very hard to make improvement in the school. He will have a good base and will be able to continue some of the things she began as well as introduce new ideas. He will be the resource teacher for 2 schools that are on both sides of where I my project will be.
I will be teaching English at Tsa-Kholo (pronounced Sa Hollo) high school and we will be living on the school compound. The school is located in the Mafeteng district (one of 10 districts in Lesotho), which is just south of the Maseru (capital) district. We will have electricity, but will have to fetch water from the pump. We have also been told that internet is VERY expensive there, so we will have to wait to post blogs for when we are able to go into Maseru (or very rarely).
As for the next few weeks: here is what’s up. We leave on Sunday to visit current volunteers. We will return to the training site on Wednesday, but will leave again on Thursday (Thanksgiving) for our Community Based Training (CBT). We will be adopted into families in three different villages. We will learn to cook, wash our clothes and dishes with limited water, as well as speak Sesotho better. We will still have training activities during the day as well. We are really looking forward to getting out there because we feel that we have been very sheltered staying here on the training compound.
Now that I have written a LOT… I will bid adieu. We really do love you all and think about you all the time! We appreciate your prayers.
By the way… we also received our first piece of mail! Thank you Mom Sam! J We LOVE it… keep it coming!
--Janeen
Hey everybody! Lumela ea Lesotho! Greetings once again from the mountain kingdom of Lesotho. Well as you can see, we have been super busy moving around and doing stuff. We are in sessions daily from early in the morning to what has been very late at night. The sessions range from everything from Cultural Awareness to language training. Things are very good. We love it here. I did have a moment of anxiety when we did find out our placement. I took a few deep breaths was wide eyed for a while but then was fine.
I also found out that the person that I am replacing is like mega ultra amazing volunteer. She was instrumental in setting up a national HIV/ AIDS awareness campaign using puppetry for youth. She also started a library at her school and received 1200 books from donors around the world. So I have no shoes to fill what so ever! But I am super excited!!
Well we would love to hear from you all and see how you guys are doing. Life here may be very busy but it moves very slow as well!
Khotso! Pula! Nala!- Peace, Rain, Prosperity!
--Jason
November 14, 2006
Lumela! (hello in Sesotho, pronounced Doomayla) We are in Lesotho, Africa! We are really enjoying our time here, but are VERY busy learning about the culture and language! Currently we are living at the Peace Corps training center and have hot showers and electricity. Next week we will go to our villages to live with a family for about 5 weeks.
We have 22 other Peace Corps trainees in our group and are enjoying getting to know them. Everyone is a lot of fun. Peace Corps volunteers aren't all granolas! They are normal people like us! :)
We miss everyone and will write again when we have more time! Love you all!
P.S. We are 10 hours ahead of PST.
November 1, 2006
So we are finishing packing up, tying up those loosed ends and taking care of business. We are about 95% finished packing and will be moving all of our worldly posessions (minus the stuff that is staying here, will explain, and the things we are taking with us) to Sonora. The stress levels have been moderate to low, but we are getting tired of packing and moving stuff out. One good thing is that even though we aren't being billed for cable, they haven't shut it off yet and we are enjoying free internet and TV until pack the last of our things.
The Peace Corps did send us our final packet of information and letters from country staff. Pretty interesting to check out!!
I am also trying to sell our XC-90. SO if you know anyone that has a interest in a slightly used luxurary SUV, send them to my E-bay site http://http:/cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&sspagename=ADME:L:LCA:US:31&viewitem=&item=110050365040
One more interesting aside, Andy and Mari are going to be living in our house for a while and they will be keeping some of our stuff during that period of time. It is nice to be able to have the flexibility of them staying here so that we don't have to move all of our stuff.
Well that is pretty much it. Keep on praying for us and we will do the same if you ask it of us. Much love!!
This page was last modified on November 01, 2006 11:49 AM
October 25, 2006
We would be delighted to hear from everyone while we are away. Our mailing address is:
Jason & Janeen Samuelian, PCT
c/o Peace Corps/Lesotho
PO Box 554
Maseru, 100 LESOTHO
PCT stands for Peace Corps Trainee, and becomes PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) after our three months of training.
We have heard that the mail system is pretty reliable, but that it takes about 2 weeks to get mail there.
Sept. 12th 2006-
Announcing the news... That we have been waiting to give you all for a year now.
Janeen and I have been invited to join the Peace Corps in the country of Lesotho (pronounced Lesutu). We recieved the invitation yesterday, on my birthday and are happy to say that we accepted the invitation this morning. We will be leaving the good ol USA on the 10th of Nov. for our new home. We will be in staging beginning the 7th of Nov. and then we will leave for our new adventure.
There is a lot to tell and so little time to do so, hence we would love to hear from any and all of you and answer you questions individually. Please feel free to e-mail me or Janeen at our emails. http://jasonandjaneensam.com/_layouts/wh/Designer/mailtjason.samuelian@gmail.com http://jasonandjaneensam.com/_layouts/wh/Designer/mailtjaneen_samuelian@yahoo.comYou can also check out our website that we will update, internet permitting, from time to time. The address is http://www.jasonandjaneensam.com/
Pretty simple to remember and look at. We have also posted our graduate thesises and we will be posting the PDF of information that the Peace Corps gave to us for more info. about our situation while in Lesotho. We are so excited to share this adventure with all of you and know that we will be in your thoughts and prayers.
All our Best
Jason and Janeen Samuelian
Peace Corps Volunteers 2006-2008 (Lesotho)
August 2nd, 2006
So I am in an Excel class @ CompUSA in Monrovia. It is for work, however some of the class is a little behind what I am already capable of doing. We were having some difficulties at work today and I can't help but think of what kind of challenges that they are having over there today and I can't wait to get this class over with so I can head back there and see if I can do anything.
I also don't even remember the slow pace of life that was easy to get used to on vacation just 1 short week ago. It feels like an eternity since we were there. But that is the nature of life.
Till tomorrow.
Jason
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