“Measure twice, cut once.”
Jason's shop teacher taught him this, but we both seemed to forget this important piece of advice when getting windows for his school. If there were a window box with 16 window panes, you would think that each window is the same measurement, right? WRONG! They were only similar, but different enough to where the windows Jason purchased and had cut in town were not the right size. So we have learned two things -- 1. Measure twice, cut once (we learned it the HARD way) and 2. How to cut glass (Jason is pretty darn good now!)
Anyway, things are going well. We have been busy this winter with renovations at Jason's school. As soon as I finished grading I've headed out with him every day. We've painted, cut glass, repaired windows, built a movable wall to separate classes that meet in the same building, and that is only what WE'VE done. There have been several men and women from the community helping out. At the end of last week some of the community members were around as we were finishing working for the day and they said, “This is not Phechela Primary School. This is Phechela High School!”meaning that the school looks too nice to be a primary school.
We're headed out to our vacation next week. We're going to Namibia and Botswana. I'm excited to see the sand dunes in Namibia and more wild animals. We've been on two game drive type trips and the animals are so amazing!
Once we get back, it will be time for school to start again. For me, this quarter will start strangely because the students didn't finish writing exams last quarter. They are left with at least 2 days of exams. There was a nation-wide taxi strike and they didn't want the students to get stuck here, so the administration released them early. I'm not sure if they will write exams the first day back or what. We'll see.
On a final note I just want to mention that lambs are sooooooooooo cute. I'm not sure why, but here lambs are abundant in the winter season. I don't know if people breed them at a certain time or it is just nature. I would think that they would adjust and be born in warmer months since winter can be pretty harsh here. Anyway, they are adorable and every time I see one I almost always stop to watch them for a few minutes.
I better sign off now. I am supposed to meet Jason at school to work. He had to go to town this morning for some final supplies. Its now that we are missing Home Depot and cars that will take us where we want to go whenever we want to go!
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Seriously close...
July 6th, 2008 (written by Jason)
So it has been an incredible journey to get where we are today. I have been asking, begging pleading and what not. But today I am happy to announce we are almost there. This e-mail I received just the other day that informed us how close we are. Here is the e-mail in almost its entirety.
So it has been an incredible journey to get where we are today. I have been asking, begging pleading and what not. But today I am happy to announce we are almost there. This e-mail I received just the other day that informed us how close we are. Here is the e-mail in almost its entirety.
Hello Jason,
As of June 9th, I had deposited $2,000 in the bank for Pachela School (NGO). Just this week, I received $2,152 in several checks, and before that, checks for $1000, $100, $100 and $3000. I’ll try to make a deposit later this week and send a summary report to you and our Donations Committee...Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks.
John H.
FOL Treasurer
This is huge news for us and we are so excited to say that we are just $148 away from being done with the fund raising portion of the project. It is a great place to be in. I am so pumped and it has all been because of all of you back home. So if you have been waiting to make that donation, now is the time. Even if it is just 20 bucks. That will get us about 1/7th of the way there. So here is that information again.
Make checks out to Friends of Lesotho. Memo line can say something like
"Pechela-Samuelian". If the checks are already made out with a different
memo line, just have them include a brief note explaining what the checks
are for.
Mail them to our Treasurer:
FOL
c/o John Hollister
4110 Denfeld Ave.
Kensington, MD 20895
I will post some more pictures of our progress and what has been going on at the school with the remodel. It is going really well without getting into all the details of it.
So anyway, we will talk to you all later. We do love and miss you all.
All the best,
Jason
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Building Update #1
June 29th, 2008 (written by Jason)
So we have officially started the renovations of Phechela Primary School. Here is a small flavor of what it is that we are working on. We have painted 2 out of 5 classrooms, we have repaired a sidewalk in front of the office, we have begun to paint the outside of the std. 6 and 7 building, we have repaired and extended the floors in the the std. 3-4 classrooms and we have completely painted, cleaned and organized the office. This was all in just the first week!
The people I am working with are so great. They are dedicated to making this school the best that it can be and are working so hard to accomplish that. And this is good because we have a lot more work to do. We still need to fix all the floors, repair the cracked walls, build and install 2 folding walls (I am designing and building them which is both fun and a little scary), repair the bathroom floors and walls, finish painting the interior and exteriors of the classrooms, and build and install some play equipment. I want to have all of this done by the middle of July but I don't know if that will be possible. We are certainly going to try though.
Otherwise, all is well. There is supposed to be a big taxi strike this week so we probably won't be traveling to much. We loved all the little messages about our anniversary. Thanks to all of you who remembered to drop a little note. I will try and get on to post some pictures in the next few weeks but I don't know how much I will able too. So be patient. I will get to it. All the best
Jason
So we have officially started the renovations of Phechela Primary School. Here is a small flavor of what it is that we are working on. We have painted 2 out of 5 classrooms, we have repaired a sidewalk in front of the office, we have begun to paint the outside of the std. 6 and 7 building, we have repaired and extended the floors in the the std. 3-4 classrooms and we have completely painted, cleaned and organized the office. This was all in just the first week!
The people I am working with are so great. They are dedicated to making this school the best that it can be and are working so hard to accomplish that. And this is good because we have a lot more work to do. We still need to fix all the floors, repair the cracked walls, build and install 2 folding walls (I am designing and building them which is both fun and a little scary), repair the bathroom floors and walls, finish painting the interior and exteriors of the classrooms, and build and install some play equipment. I want to have all of this done by the middle of July but I don't know if that will be possible. We are certainly going to try though.
Otherwise, all is well. There is supposed to be a big taxi strike this week so we probably won't be traveling to much. We loved all the little messages about our anniversary. Thanks to all of you who remembered to drop a little note. I will try and get on to post some pictures in the next few weeks but I don't know how much I will able too. So be patient. I will get to it. All the best
Jason
Friday, June 27, 2008
June 27th 2008 (written by Janeen)
Just a short update: Jason started renovations on his school this week. Its going well. The workers are motivated and the school is looking great! Today is our fourth anniversary and we are going to pamper ourselves and head to Lady Brand, which is in South Africa. We are getting massages and eating good food that we don’t have to cook and clean up after! J
There is supposed to be yet another stay away starting on Monday. Apparently there will be a nation wide transport strike. I’m not sure what they are upset about this time. There have been several stay aways since we’ve been here. I’m not sure that they are effective, but I guess its better than violence and riots!
Not that the transport strike affects me much being that I now have loads of grading to do. They wrote my exam on Wednesday and pretty much all of Thursday I spent grading non-stop so that I can enjoy this weekend. I of course brought some along, but I intend to do it at a leisurely pace. Once I am finished I can help more at Jason’s school. I got to help one day this week. We painted a classroom. There is so much more to do!
Well the countdown is ON! We have about 5 months left. And for those of you who haven’t heard we are headed home December 4th! Miss you all!
There is supposed to be yet another stay away starting on Monday. Apparently there will be a nation wide transport strike. I’m not sure what they are upset about this time. There have been several stay aways since we’ve been here. I’m not sure that they are effective, but I guess its better than violence and riots!
Not that the transport strike affects me much being that I now have loads of grading to do. They wrote my exam on Wednesday and pretty much all of Thursday I spent grading non-stop so that I can enjoy this weekend. I of course brought some along, but I intend to do it at a leisurely pace. Once I am finished I can help more at Jason’s school. I got to help one day this week. We painted a classroom. There is so much more to do!
Well the countdown is ON! We have about 5 months left. And for those of you who haven’t heard we are headed home December 4th! Miss you all!
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Just a little more...
June 19th, 2008 (written by Jason)
So after all the pleading and begging and what not we are almost there on the second of my two projects. Many different people have contributed to the success of the amount of money raised thus far and I have been blown away that total strangers are contributing to what could be construed as frivolous during this difficult economic period. You may not realize what you have done, but you have literally changed the world for an entire village and it is all possible because you decided that you wanted to do something to change the cycle of poverty.
However, the work is not over yet. We are just about $1000 dollars short of our second goal of $8500. This project is going to build 2 new classrooms, furnish them and make them a comfortable environment to learn in. It is such a super opportunity that the returned volunteer organization Friends of Lesotho has decided to help sponsor this project so that we could make all donations tax deductible. It is such a great thing that they have decided to do for us and we are so thankful for their help.
So if you have been waiting to give, now is the time. We are in the home stretch and as Janeen and I only have about 6 more months in country, we need to get cracking. If we can get the rest of the funds by mid-July, their should be plenty of time to get the school building built and ready to use for the next school year (which starts next January). This might be the only time where you can see you money directly at work from a charitable donation. It really is an exciting opportunity.
For those that have already donated to the other project, we will begin our renovation this coming Monday the 23rd. I will try my hardest to post updates of pictures and stories about how the progress of the restoration of the school is going. Also be looking in the mail for special thank you letters and pictures to those of you that have donated. I really do appreciate all that you gave.
For those of you that still want to make a donation, here is the information on where to send your donation.
Make checks out to Friends of Lesotho. Memo line can say something like "Pechela-Samuelian". If the checks are already made out with a different memo line, just have them include a brief note explaining what the checks are for.
Mail them to the Treasurer:
FOL
c/o John Hollister
4110 Denfeld Ave.
Kensington, MD 20895
We really do love all that you have done for our community and can't wait to show you all the pictures and tell you all the stories that have been building up over the last 2 years. We miss you all!
All the best
Jason
So after all the pleading and begging and what not we are almost there on the second of my two projects. Many different people have contributed to the success of the amount of money raised thus far and I have been blown away that total strangers are contributing to what could be construed as frivolous during this difficult economic period. You may not realize what you have done, but you have literally changed the world for an entire village and it is all possible because you decided that you wanted to do something to change the cycle of poverty.
However, the work is not over yet. We are just about $1000 dollars short of our second goal of $8500. This project is going to build 2 new classrooms, furnish them and make them a comfortable environment to learn in. It is such a super opportunity that the returned volunteer organization Friends of Lesotho has decided to help sponsor this project so that we could make all donations tax deductible. It is such a great thing that they have decided to do for us and we are so thankful for their help.
So if you have been waiting to give, now is the time. We are in the home stretch and as Janeen and I only have about 6 more months in country, we need to get cracking. If we can get the rest of the funds by mid-July, their should be plenty of time to get the school building built and ready to use for the next school year (which starts next January). This might be the only time where you can see you money directly at work from a charitable donation. It really is an exciting opportunity.
For those that have already donated to the other project, we will begin our renovation this coming Monday the 23rd. I will try my hardest to post updates of pictures and stories about how the progress of the restoration of the school is going. Also be looking in the mail for special thank you letters and pictures to those of you that have donated. I really do appreciate all that you gave.
For those of you that still want to make a donation, here is the information on where to send your donation.
Make checks out to Friends of Lesotho. Memo line can say something like "Pechela-Samuelian". If the checks are already made out with a different memo line, just have them include a brief note explaining what the checks are for.
Mail them to the Treasurer:
FOL
c/o John Hollister
4110 Denfeld Ave.
Kensington, MD 20895
We really do love all that you have done for our community and can't wait to show you all the pictures and tell you all the stories that have been building up over the last 2 years. We miss you all!
All the best
Jason
Thursday, June 05, 2008
A really long blog
June 3rd, 2008 (written by Jason)
So I just finished a wonderful book called The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. Now this is not a book that I would recommend to everyone. This book is really just for people who want to understand how society at large works. This can be useful in a number of contexts. If you are in business, it can be helpful understanding how social epidemics can be created or sustained in any number of fields. For common people, you can see how you fit into the schema of this complex world and how you can be part of the next major revolution.
I am saying this because that is where I am most interested. I am interested in finding how normal people play into starting social epidemics. What I mean is how are we, you, me everyone going to be part of the next major revolutions of the world. The revolutions I am talking about are the renewable energy revolution, the expansion of peoples in developing countries, and the openness and interconnected nature of our societies. It is by thinking about these things and getting the right people at the right time that we will see the threshold tip on a number of these issues and many more I don't have the energy or knowledge to discuss.
I do think that you should all start thinking about how you can affect change on a daily basis. I know for many of you, you feel trapped in your daily existence and that it can difficult to think about anything other than just day to day issues. However, if you do just a little analysis of your situation, invest a little time and energy into yourself and your education into something that interests you and then you use that to the best way you know how you may be the start of something big. I guess all that I am saying is don't forget to dream. If you are young or old remember that it is the dreamers that change the world. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream that we would one day walk hand in hand white and black. JFK had a dream that we would see a man walk on the moon. Steve Jobs has the dream that each person on the planet might one day own and operate an ipod. Whether you dream is financially motivated or socially or based on a social imperative that you feel called to change, then think realistically about how you will achieve this.
Make connections. Utilize friends and families. Think big and who knows. You may have thought that you were done but really you were just getting started!I know I haven't really said anything about me or Janeen but this is what we are directly going through. We have to be the ones who push for this country. Many people here have lost that ambition to dream and change. It is part of the mission of Peace Corps to spread an alternative to just eating the same thing everyday or changing the way that you see yourself as part of the world. I feel that I am doing that here, but I also feel that we need to be reminded of this ourselves as we have been known to fall into complacency as well.
I hope I have inspired you today to to the best with what you can, where you are. If not, I hope that I haven't bored you too much!
All the best,
Jason
May 30th, 2008 (written by Jason)
So it is cold again. It isn't freezing yet, no snow or anything, but it is definitely cold. This means that we are once again back to eating lots of soup, drinking lots of tea and wearing lots more clothes. It is funny how the weather has such a direct impact on whether or not we will stay up past 7 p.m.
It also doesn't help that the electricity has been really inconsistent. It has been going off at nights due to the energy shortage that South Africa is experiencing. He is the hilarious part. Lesotho generates enough energy to meet its needs. However because of agreements that were made when the damns were being built, Lesotho must buy back the energy from South Africa that they are generating. Does this not seem absolutely crazy to anyone else? Therefore, when South Africa is running short on energy, which they are a lot lately, they pull from our grid.
It makes for long nights especially when the sun is usually fully set by half past 5. This has really affected our sleeping patterns too. We had been getting used to staying up at night watching DVD's and avi files that are swapped around Peace Corps, on our laptop. However, if you have ever tried to do anything on a laptop on battery alone (especially one that is 5 years old) it doesn't last very long. This week we were pleasantly surprised that on Wednesday night we were able to watch a whole movie and stay up past 9. This is a really big deal when it comes to sleep.
Seriously, think about it. If you sleep 8 hours a night and go to bed a 8, you wake up at 4 a.m. This being my normal waking time lately. Now, 4 a.m. in America and 4 a.m. in Lesotho are to totally different things. At home, I could get up make a cup of coffee, turn on the computer or TV and veg out until it is time to jump in the shower. All the while being nice and cozy warm in a heated home. 4 a.m. here entails laying in bed tossing and turning waiting for the sun to come up and provide the smallest amount of warmth so that your unheated house becomes slightly more bearable.
Now I know I am embellishing a little bit but really there is nothing to do at 4 a.m. that would not be absolutely freezing. I could go out and hang out with the herd boys as they take the cattle, sheep, donkies, etc. to be watered and fed. This would not be all that great though as they usually only know enough English to ask for money or if I have some cigarettes (which I don't. I quit years ago.). Those boys also tend to be pretty stinky because they use their blanket as their sleeping blanket, handkerchief, and a number of other things I would rather not think about. On top of that they very rarely wash those blankets. I know this as I have sat next to, walked by, and seen the green fog that comes off things in cartoons, coming from those blankets. Blech!
So needless to say I am a little sleep deprived. SO this is probably just ranting and raving but that is cool. Sorry if I offend anyone. I am seriously just telling it like it is. Life here can be stinky and hard. This is the truf!
All the best
Jason
So I just finished a wonderful book called The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. Now this is not a book that I would recommend to everyone. This book is really just for people who want to understand how society at large works. This can be useful in a number of contexts. If you are in business, it can be helpful understanding how social epidemics can be created or sustained in any number of fields. For common people, you can see how you fit into the schema of this complex world and how you can be part of the next major revolution.
I am saying this because that is where I am most interested. I am interested in finding how normal people play into starting social epidemics. What I mean is how are we, you, me everyone going to be part of the next major revolutions of the world. The revolutions I am talking about are the renewable energy revolution, the expansion of peoples in developing countries, and the openness and interconnected nature of our societies. It is by thinking about these things and getting the right people at the right time that we will see the threshold tip on a number of these issues and many more I don't have the energy or knowledge to discuss.
I do think that you should all start thinking about how you can affect change on a daily basis. I know for many of you, you feel trapped in your daily existence and that it can difficult to think about anything other than just day to day issues. However, if you do just a little analysis of your situation, invest a little time and energy into yourself and your education into something that interests you and then you use that to the best way you know how you may be the start of something big. I guess all that I am saying is don't forget to dream. If you are young or old remember that it is the dreamers that change the world. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream that we would one day walk hand in hand white and black. JFK had a dream that we would see a man walk on the moon. Steve Jobs has the dream that each person on the planet might one day own and operate an ipod. Whether you dream is financially motivated or socially or based on a social imperative that you feel called to change, then think realistically about how you will achieve this.
Make connections. Utilize friends and families. Think big and who knows. You may have thought that you were done but really you were just getting started!I know I haven't really said anything about me or Janeen but this is what we are directly going through. We have to be the ones who push for this country. Many people here have lost that ambition to dream and change. It is part of the mission of Peace Corps to spread an alternative to just eating the same thing everyday or changing the way that you see yourself as part of the world. I feel that I am doing that here, but I also feel that we need to be reminded of this ourselves as we have been known to fall into complacency as well.
I hope I have inspired you today to to the best with what you can, where you are. If not, I hope that I haven't bored you too much!
All the best,
Jason
May 30th, 2008 (written by Jason)
So it is cold again. It isn't freezing yet, no snow or anything, but it is definitely cold. This means that we are once again back to eating lots of soup, drinking lots of tea and wearing lots more clothes. It is funny how the weather has such a direct impact on whether or not we will stay up past 7 p.m.
It also doesn't help that the electricity has been really inconsistent. It has been going off at nights due to the energy shortage that South Africa is experiencing. He is the hilarious part. Lesotho generates enough energy to meet its needs. However because of agreements that were made when the damns were being built, Lesotho must buy back the energy from South Africa that they are generating. Does this not seem absolutely crazy to anyone else? Therefore, when South Africa is running short on energy, which they are a lot lately, they pull from our grid.
It makes for long nights especially when the sun is usually fully set by half past 5. This has really affected our sleeping patterns too. We had been getting used to staying up at night watching DVD's and avi files that are swapped around Peace Corps, on our laptop. However, if you have ever tried to do anything on a laptop on battery alone (especially one that is 5 years old) it doesn't last very long. This week we were pleasantly surprised that on Wednesday night we were able to watch a whole movie and stay up past 9. This is a really big deal when it comes to sleep.
Seriously, think about it. If you sleep 8 hours a night and go to bed a 8, you wake up at 4 a.m. This being my normal waking time lately. Now, 4 a.m. in America and 4 a.m. in Lesotho are to totally different things. At home, I could get up make a cup of coffee, turn on the computer or TV and veg out until it is time to jump in the shower. All the while being nice and cozy warm in a heated home. 4 a.m. here entails laying in bed tossing and turning waiting for the sun to come up and provide the smallest amount of warmth so that your unheated house becomes slightly more bearable.
Now I know I am embellishing a little bit but really there is nothing to do at 4 a.m. that would not be absolutely freezing. I could go out and hang out with the herd boys as they take the cattle, sheep, donkies, etc. to be watered and fed. This would not be all that great though as they usually only know enough English to ask for money or if I have some cigarettes (which I don't. I quit years ago.). Those boys also tend to be pretty stinky because they use their blanket as their sleeping blanket, handkerchief, and a number of other things I would rather not think about. On top of that they very rarely wash those blankets. I know this as I have sat next to, walked by, and seen the green fog that comes off things in cartoons, coming from those blankets. Blech!
So needless to say I am a little sleep deprived. SO this is probably just ranting and raving but that is cool. Sorry if I offend anyone. I am seriously just telling it like it is. Life here can be stinky and hard. This is the truf!
All the best
Jason
Saturday, May 10, 2008
May 10th, 2008 (written by Jason)
So I am so happy to announce that the first of the two projects has been filled. The Peace Corps Partnership has been fully funded! So awesome! This is really amazing as we are getting that much closer to being 100% ready to go with our schools restoration. It is really fun because now I get to look at stuff and think, “Oooh we could use that! Yeah that would go great in the 1st grade class”. So needless to say I am really excited!
I also want to take this time to brag on some people. Both of our families (Janeen's and mine) have been so amazing during our time here. You really have no idea how much you mean to us and to see the interest you have taken in our projects has been really cool. I won't really get into specifics now, but you all know who you are.
One really cool thing to report on though is how my own little sister did not take my last blog lying down. Her and her friends got together and decided that they were going to take my advice and do some fundraisers for the school. They even started a little web-page which is super awesome. It is www.raisetheirroof.org So if you get a chance check out some of the things that they are planning. Like I said it is not the big stuff but the little stuff that change the world. So take my little sisters lead and do your own fundraising events!
I will hopefully have some updated information on how to send money to the building project this next week. It is really easy and it will be tax deductible which is dope-a-licious!
Other news with me:
This week we (3 friends and I) put on another series of workshops. The workshop is actually the funniest part of why we get together. It is actually just a blast hanging out with these other resource teachers. It is super fun!
Otherwise, ditto on what Janeen said. Super fun stuff that is Lesotho!
All the best
Jason
So I am so happy to announce that the first of the two projects has been filled. The Peace Corps Partnership has been fully funded! So awesome! This is really amazing as we are getting that much closer to being 100% ready to go with our schools restoration. It is really fun because now I get to look at stuff and think, “Oooh we could use that! Yeah that would go great in the 1st grade class”. So needless to say I am really excited!
I also want to take this time to brag on some people. Both of our families (Janeen's and mine) have been so amazing during our time here. You really have no idea how much you mean to us and to see the interest you have taken in our projects has been really cool. I won't really get into specifics now, but you all know who you are.
One really cool thing to report on though is how my own little sister did not take my last blog lying down. Her and her friends got together and decided that they were going to take my advice and do some fundraisers for the school. They even started a little web-page which is super awesome. It is www.raisetheirroof.org So if you get a chance check out some of the things that they are planning. Like I said it is not the big stuff but the little stuff that change the world. So take my little sisters lead and do your own fundraising events!
I will hopefully have some updated information on how to send money to the building project this next week. It is really easy and it will be tax deductible which is dope-a-licious!
Other news with me:
This week we (3 friends and I) put on another series of workshops. The workshop is actually the funniest part of why we get together. It is actually just a blast hanging out with these other resource teachers. It is super fun!
Otherwise, ditto on what Janeen said. Super fun stuff that is Lesotho!
All the best
Jason
In Maseru Again
May 10, 2008 (written by Janeen)
Well I as I am writing I am pretty restless. Jason and I went to bed last night around 8:30. Yes, its early but the electricity had gone out and we were tired from a long week. We were rudely awakened at 12:30 when our neighbor decided to turn on his music full blast. Finally at around 1 or so Jason decided to go and ask them to turn it down. Fortunately they did. We eventually fell back asleep until 3 when they decided to turn it back up again. This time Jason went over and turned it down himself. That STILL didn't work. The volume continued to increase again until finally at 4 AM it started to rain and boy was I giving thanks to the Lord! I've never been so happy to hear rain!
I also had a fundraiser yesterday evening where I taught students how to line dance. It didn't quite work out as I had planned. More students paid the entrance fee than were willing to dance so I think they may have thought it was a show. We only charged a 1 Maluti entrance fee, so I don't feel too bad. Very unfortunately I found out as the event was starting that I am supposed to pay 100 Maluti for the use of the school hall. Which means that after all the hard work of running around setting things up and figuring out the electricity (the hall's electricity was out-it's a prepaid system so we had to rig up several extension cords to get electricity from a classroom), I will only have raised 16 Maluti (roughly equivalent to $2). I am going to complain to my principal. He's not the one running the hall, but he may get the fee waived. The guy in charge had a school prefect come and tell me about the fee right as the event was starting. I understand that the hall is supposed to be used to make money, however, I am trying to get supplies for a school club. So it doesn't really make sense to me.
Anyway, we are in Maseru again because Jason put a new operating system on our computer and we can't access all the old files on our computer. He wants to search the internet to see if he can find a remedy for this problem. I was also up for accompanying him since we have had problems with both water and electricity this week. I'm not sure if we've mentioned before but both South Africa and Lesotho are experiencing power shortages so there are rolling black outs. We've spent the last 3 nights in candle light. The pump broke this week so we didn't have water for a few days. So life has been pretty rustic. Last week when we were here it had been over a month since I had showered, not bathed, showered. Let me tell you--- showers are NICE! Maseru is not safe from the power outages, but at least I can shower again.
This blog sounds a little negative and whiny but I have one more not fun thing to share. As of Friday I now have 78 letters, 176 compositions, and 283 literature essays to grade. Oh so much fun. Do you feel bad for me yet???? :) When I am finished, I am going to post the best and worst composition so that all of you can get a feel of what a joy it is to grade compositions! :)Other than that things are going well. I am just busy working.
We are really excited that one of Jason's projects is now fully funded. He has two projects. 1)Listed on the Peace Corps website- to refurbish one of his schools. and 2)Not listed on a website and at this time information on donating is not available, but his parents have started raising funds to build the same school a new classroom block (2 classrooms) so that the standard 5 students do not have to meet in the old chicken coop. I'm sure I am just being repetitive because I think he has explained all this before. We are just really excited that the funds are available and the students will have a more conducive learning environment. The teachers work hard and the school deserves this. So, if you didn't donate to the first project. There is still a chance! For those of you who have donated already THANK YOU! :) We don't know who you are yet, because Peace Corps has those records, but we will know soon and you will get a proper thank you from us and the school!
Despite the negativity in this blog, we are doing OK. Rough days come and go, but there are some good days too. Like for example, I have been pretty upset about one of my classes because many students were not trying and not doing assignments. Well this week every single one of them did their assignments. I was SO excited and they were too. They all cheered and I even ululated, which made them laugh. I rewarded them by doing a "listening comprehension" activity (aka listen to a couple songs on my ipod and discuss what is being said). Sometimes its harder to remember the positive things, though.
By the way, we are going to become an aunt and uncle for the first time pretty soon! Make sure you all give Drew extra hugs and kisses for us!
We miss you all and hope that you all are doing well.
Well I as I am writing I am pretty restless. Jason and I went to bed last night around 8:30. Yes, its early but the electricity had gone out and we were tired from a long week. We were rudely awakened at 12:30 when our neighbor decided to turn on his music full blast. Finally at around 1 or so Jason decided to go and ask them to turn it down. Fortunately they did. We eventually fell back asleep until 3 when they decided to turn it back up again. This time Jason went over and turned it down himself. That STILL didn't work. The volume continued to increase again until finally at 4 AM it started to rain and boy was I giving thanks to the Lord! I've never been so happy to hear rain!
I also had a fundraiser yesterday evening where I taught students how to line dance. It didn't quite work out as I had planned. More students paid the entrance fee than were willing to dance so I think they may have thought it was a show. We only charged a 1 Maluti entrance fee, so I don't feel too bad. Very unfortunately I found out as the event was starting that I am supposed to pay 100 Maluti for the use of the school hall. Which means that after all the hard work of running around setting things up and figuring out the electricity (the hall's electricity was out-it's a prepaid system so we had to rig up several extension cords to get electricity from a classroom), I will only have raised 16 Maluti (roughly equivalent to $2). I am going to complain to my principal. He's not the one running the hall, but he may get the fee waived. The guy in charge had a school prefect come and tell me about the fee right as the event was starting. I understand that the hall is supposed to be used to make money, however, I am trying to get supplies for a school club. So it doesn't really make sense to me.
Anyway, we are in Maseru again because Jason put a new operating system on our computer and we can't access all the old files on our computer. He wants to search the internet to see if he can find a remedy for this problem. I was also up for accompanying him since we have had problems with both water and electricity this week. I'm not sure if we've mentioned before but both South Africa and Lesotho are experiencing power shortages so there are rolling black outs. We've spent the last 3 nights in candle light. The pump broke this week so we didn't have water for a few days. So life has been pretty rustic. Last week when we were here it had been over a month since I had showered, not bathed, showered. Let me tell you--- showers are NICE! Maseru is not safe from the power outages, but at least I can shower again.
This blog sounds a little negative and whiny but I have one more not fun thing to share. As of Friday I now have 78 letters, 176 compositions, and 283 literature essays to grade. Oh so much fun. Do you feel bad for me yet???? :) When I am finished, I am going to post the best and worst composition so that all of you can get a feel of what a joy it is to grade compositions! :)Other than that things are going well. I am just busy working.
We are really excited that one of Jason's projects is now fully funded. He has two projects. 1)Listed on the Peace Corps website- to refurbish one of his schools. and 2)Not listed on a website and at this time information on donating is not available, but his parents have started raising funds to build the same school a new classroom block (2 classrooms) so that the standard 5 students do not have to meet in the old chicken coop. I'm sure I am just being repetitive because I think he has explained all this before. We are just really excited that the funds are available and the students will have a more conducive learning environment. The teachers work hard and the school deserves this. So, if you didn't donate to the first project. There is still a chance! For those of you who have donated already THANK YOU! :) We don't know who you are yet, because Peace Corps has those records, but we will know soon and you will get a proper thank you from us and the school!
Despite the negativity in this blog, we are doing OK. Rough days come and go, but there are some good days too. Like for example, I have been pretty upset about one of my classes because many students were not trying and not doing assignments. Well this week every single one of them did their assignments. I was SO excited and they were too. They all cheered and I even ululated, which made them laugh. I rewarded them by doing a "listening comprehension" activity (aka listen to a couple songs on my ipod and discuss what is being said). Sometimes its harder to remember the positive things, though.
By the way, we are going to become an aunt and uncle for the first time pretty soon! Make sure you all give Drew extra hugs and kisses for us!
We miss you all and hope that you all are doing well.
Friday, May 02, 2008
Addition
May 2nd, 2008 (Written by Jason)
Sorry about this but I needed to stress the importance of getting this done soon. You see we are coming up to the end of our service in like 7 months. I need this to be understood that I have to have this thing finished by the time I go home. If I don't, then I have to stop the project and turn in the money back to Peace Corps. It sucks but that is the reality that I am facing. I hate to put this additional pressure on you all but now you see what we are working with. So please use those creative juices that you have and lets make a school building!
All the Best
Jason
Sorry about this but I needed to stress the importance of getting this done soon. You see we are coming up to the end of our service in like 7 months. I need this to be understood that I have to have this thing finished by the time I go home. If I don't, then I have to stop the project and turn in the money back to Peace Corps. It sucks but that is the reality that I am facing. I hate to put this additional pressure on you all but now you see what we are working with. So please use those creative juices that you have and lets make a school building!
All the Best
Jason
Thursday, May 01, 2008
April 29th, 2008
April 29, 2008 (written by Jason)
So it has been way to long since I have written a blog. I am really sorry about that. It is not that I not been around a computer. It is just that every time I get around a computer I have a lot to do. You see for the past 5-6 months I have been working on making a wiki for the southern Africa region of volunteers. So pretty much everytime I step into the office I do nothing but work on that.
So it has been way to long since I have written a blog. I am really sorry about that. It is not that I not been around a computer. It is just that every time I get around a computer I have a lot to do. You see for the past 5-6 months I have been working on making a wiki for the southern Africa region of volunteers. So pretty much everytime I step into the office I do nothing but work on that.
However a few weeks ago we officially launched the site. If you want to see what it is that I have been working on you can check it out at http://www.wikisarvn.pbwiki.com/ . It is pretty sweet and I would love to hear any constructive criticisim you have of it. It would really help us out.
So I know that many of you have already made contributions to my projects that I got going on and that is really really awesome of you all. I will have something special for you early contributors when I arrive home. However, there still is a lot of money left to be raised. We know that times are tough right now around the world (rising gas, food, etc.) and no one is immune. We have been feeling the extra strain of the rising gas prices here especially. So what better time to get together with a few family and friends and come up with a simple fundraising idea?
Here is a photo of my parents and some of their friends after a fundraiser that they did to help fund the new school building project. They called the fund raiser "Wood for Africa". You see a tree fell down at my parents place and so they decided to cut up the wood and sell off the cords. They made $700 bucks! Isn't that unbelievable?!
So if these middle aged (and some not so much middle but upper middle aged) people can spend a weekend cutting wood, what can you do?
Maybe the whole fundraiser thing though isn't your speed. Maybe you want to just give some money. Well there still is the other way of just giving us the money. You can contribute directly to the Peace Corps @ https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=632-047
We are also thinking about doing a buy-a-brick fundraising thingee. There will be different level bricks you can buy. We are thinking about doing a $10, $25, $50, $100, and up. What we will do is make a plaque to recognize you contribution (previous donors will automatically included. Although if you want to do this again, you can!). So if you want in on this action. Send me an e-mail here jason.samuelian@gmail.com
Well that just about wraps it up for me. But here is all we got so far done on the new building. We still need about $6,500. So think about what you can do!
Saturday, April 19, 2008
April 14, 2008 (written by Janeen)
Well it seems that it has been a while since I have written a blog. So I hope not to go on forever boring you with details of my life. I’ll first give you a health update. My eyes are not entirely healed despite the fact that I’ve been on meds for over a month. I think the problem is that I still live in a dusty environment and it won’t fully heal until I don’t. So the Peace Corps doctor said that as long as it doesn’t flare up again, I’ll just wait until I go home to see another specialist. Peace Corps will pay for this. If I have more troubles I’ll go back to Bloemfontein.
Not much has been going on. This is the 4th week of second quarter. I’ve already been busy grading my students’ work. It is such a chore! But I know they can’t improve unless they get feedback from me. Also, by grading their work I can see their strengths and weaknesses and base my lessons on that. I’m pretty sure that if the Form C students took the English exam now they’d do pretty decently. We are basically reviewing grammar topics until the exam comes. The only new knowledge they are getting is from literature, which we are almost done with the short stories book. After that it is on to poetry and I am pretty much dreading that. I don’t really enjoy poetry myself and I’m not so sure how well I’d be able to teach it.
Jason and I have two side things going. He just started an income generating project for my school. All students have to have their heads shaved for school. So we bought electric clippers and have students cutting hair twice a week for 5 Maloti. Last year my principal suspended students from an exam until they cut their hair. Students were frantically running around finding whatever they could to cut their hair! Now this should never happen again because hair cuts will be available regularly and we are charging ½ the price that they would get in town. My project is actually a “Healthy Living” Club. So far we have met once and we did aerobics. It was fun. I have 36 members. I even have 5 boys! We are not only doing aerobics. We will also have discussions on how to live healthily (here is where I can get some good HIV/AIDS education in). I also want to give cooking demonstrations on how to eat healthfully. I am really excited about this and so far it seems like fun!
“Waiting is one of life’s hardships.” (Lemony Snicket, Horseradish p. 154) This statement is so true! Grandpa Durkee sent this book to us and it is pretty hilarious, sad, and just the bitter truth! It is full of short sayings about life. It is like a coffee table book. Anyway I wanted to share this quote with you because I’ve been ready to come home since January! Now it is April and I still feel the same way. In the first year we had ups and downs of homesickness. This is by far the longest spout and we’re pretty sure it probably won’t go away until we come home. We have less than 8 months! We know we’ll make it through but are at the point where we want to get on with our lives. I want a baby. Jason wants to go to business school. I’m sure Andy and Mari know exactly how we feel! So at this point we are just waiting. I’m sure the time will pass quickly enough and we’ll still have some great experiences, but we’ll miss out on a lot too!
Winter is approaching. As it is warming up for you all its getting colder for us! The name of the game here is to wear everything you own to keep warm. My outfits are pretty interesting.
Anyway, on Friday (18th) I get to go to Qoaqoa with the Form C students. It is a Basotho cultural village in South Africa. I am pretty excited about it. Jason is headed to Maseru for a meeting that day, so that is why you get to read my update! Well now that I’ve typed a page, I think its time to go. I miss In N’ Out, I miss good Mexican food (Taco Lita, Taco Treat, even Taco Bell), I miss California Pizza Kitchen, I miss pizza with pepperoni, I miss bread sticks from Olive Garden, I miss… the list could go on, my mouth could water and my stomach can grumble more, but most of all I miss YOU!
Well it seems that it has been a while since I have written a blog. So I hope not to go on forever boring you with details of my life. I’ll first give you a health update. My eyes are not entirely healed despite the fact that I’ve been on meds for over a month. I think the problem is that I still live in a dusty environment and it won’t fully heal until I don’t. So the Peace Corps doctor said that as long as it doesn’t flare up again, I’ll just wait until I go home to see another specialist. Peace Corps will pay for this. If I have more troubles I’ll go back to Bloemfontein.
Not much has been going on. This is the 4th week of second quarter. I’ve already been busy grading my students’ work. It is such a chore! But I know they can’t improve unless they get feedback from me. Also, by grading their work I can see their strengths and weaknesses and base my lessons on that. I’m pretty sure that if the Form C students took the English exam now they’d do pretty decently. We are basically reviewing grammar topics until the exam comes. The only new knowledge they are getting is from literature, which we are almost done with the short stories book. After that it is on to poetry and I am pretty much dreading that. I don’t really enjoy poetry myself and I’m not so sure how well I’d be able to teach it.
Jason and I have two side things going. He just started an income generating project for my school. All students have to have their heads shaved for school. So we bought electric clippers and have students cutting hair twice a week for 5 Maloti. Last year my principal suspended students from an exam until they cut their hair. Students were frantically running around finding whatever they could to cut their hair! Now this should never happen again because hair cuts will be available regularly and we are charging ½ the price that they would get in town. My project is actually a “Healthy Living” Club. So far we have met once and we did aerobics. It was fun. I have 36 members. I even have 5 boys! We are not only doing aerobics. We will also have discussions on how to live healthily (here is where I can get some good HIV/AIDS education in). I also want to give cooking demonstrations on how to eat healthfully. I am really excited about this and so far it seems like fun!
“Waiting is one of life’s hardships.” (Lemony Snicket, Horseradish p. 154) This statement is so true! Grandpa Durkee sent this book to us and it is pretty hilarious, sad, and just the bitter truth! It is full of short sayings about life. It is like a coffee table book. Anyway I wanted to share this quote with you because I’ve been ready to come home since January! Now it is April and I still feel the same way. In the first year we had ups and downs of homesickness. This is by far the longest spout and we’re pretty sure it probably won’t go away until we come home. We have less than 8 months! We know we’ll make it through but are at the point where we want to get on with our lives. I want a baby. Jason wants to go to business school. I’m sure Andy and Mari know exactly how we feel! So at this point we are just waiting. I’m sure the time will pass quickly enough and we’ll still have some great experiences, but we’ll miss out on a lot too!
Winter is approaching. As it is warming up for you all its getting colder for us! The name of the game here is to wear everything you own to keep warm. My outfits are pretty interesting.
Anyway, on Friday (18th) I get to go to Qoaqoa with the Form C students. It is a Basotho cultural village in South Africa. I am pretty excited about it. Jason is headed to Maseru for a meeting that day, so that is why you get to read my update! Well now that I’ve typed a page, I think its time to go. I miss In N’ Out, I miss good Mexican food (Taco Lita, Taco Treat, even Taco Bell), I miss California Pizza Kitchen, I miss pizza with pepperoni, I miss bread sticks from Olive Garden, I miss… the list could go on, my mouth could water and my stomach can grumble more, but most of all I miss YOU!
Friday, March 14, 2008
St. Patricks Weekend
March 14th, 2008 (Written by Janeen)
Jason just passed over the computer to me to write a blog. So mine will appear first. :) I have a funny story for you all:
This week I have been on duty which means that I am out patrolling the campus at 7 am while the students should be studying. They are in the midst of writing their quarter one exams (which means I have A LOT of grading to do— 290 literature essays, 180 compositions on a variety of topics- one of which is the time I visited the traditional doctor, 180 grammar and reading comprehension papers… anyone jealous??? Now back to the story…). So, all the students are in the hall for study time.
Anyway, yesterday morning our cat (Tau) did not stroll in at 6 am like he normally does after his night of gallivanting. I was a bit concerned, but was just hoping he would show up. I went out for duty and had just gotten the students settled down in the hall reading their notes when all of a sudden I hear screaming and see a bunch of students running out of the hall. I asked them what was going on and could not think of what would make them so upset. They didn’t hear me so I had to yell and finally was told, “Madam, a cat.” Knowing it was my cat, I ran in the hall and tried to find where he was. Students were jumping on top of their desks, others were screaming, and yet others were chasing our cat. Finally he broke loose and was able to run outside of the hall. He ran along some of the classes. I was running after him mainly to get the students away, but the students were also running after him. So I stopped and yelled at the kids that it was my cat and that they needed to go back inside the hall. Unfortunately there were already 2 classes outside picking up trash and I only stopped a few students when I yelled at them to get back in the hall. So they were all running after our poor cat and some students even went to the extent of trying to stone him. I’m not sure what happened, but he somehow managed to get away from the chasing students.
Here is my morning announcement at assembly, “I am sure you are all aware that it was my cat that caused the chaos this morning and I apologize for the disruption. However, my cat has now gone missing because you all scared him away. If you see him, please leave him alone. He is five times smaller than you, so you should not be afraid of him.”
A few hours later Tau came home somewhat safely. The pads on his paws have been torn and his nails have been filed down to a nub. But he is back and I am sure he won’t be making any more surprise visits to the hall. Jason thought that Tau had heard my voice on the other side of the hall and thought that going through the hall would be the shortest way to me. I am also not quite sure why the students were so upset over a cat. Maybe they were just surprised and once they started screaming it was infectious.
Anyway, once it was all over, I thought it was quite comical and thought you would enjoy it. I better get back to grading. Love and miss you all!
March 14th, 2008 (Written by Jason)
So it is 3:48 a.m. and I can’t sleep so I decided to get up and do some work. It is not that uncommon for me to wake up in the wee hours of the morning because we go to bed relatively early here. Our normal time to go to sleep I would have to say is probably close to 9:00 p.m. It is actually kind of nice to be up this early. Things here can get pretty hectic with all the students coming and going from the house. I like the early morning. I call it my thinking/brainstorming time. If you ever want to clear your mind and be able to brain storm try and wake up early as possible when it is quiet. You will be amazed at the thoughts that run through your head. It is kind of fun.
This week has been a good one. Not doing a lot at the schools right now because of Moshoeshoe’s day (the founder of the Basotho nation and therefore a national holiday) and the end of the first quarter. But just because I am not doing a lot at my schools doesn’t mean a lot of stuff is going on. On Tuesday (Moshoeshoe’s Day) we went up to my school, Phechela Primary for school singing and athletics competitions. Basotho people don’t have a lot to celebrate so when they have something, they cut loose. It was fun watching the children and adults get really into the athletics competitions. There was dancing and singing whenever their school came in a placing position. Often times a whole herd of students and adults would rush out to congratulate their champion.
Because a lot is not going on at school, I have been in the capital a lot recently doing all kinds of stuff for the advancement of my assignment and the advancement of Peace Corps. As I wrote last week, a newly formed committee and myself partnered together to clean the transit house for volunteers in the capital. It was a lot of work but we felt really good about the progress we made and it actually feels like a place that you would want to stay now.
Janeen and I are in Maseru together for the first time in a long time to have a weekend in the city. We are going to go to a party at the Lesotho Sun tonight for St. Patrick’s Day which should be fun. We are then going to hang out over the weekend catching up on blogs (hence this thing) and responding to e-mails and other business. Then on Monday we will be attending the Irish Ambassadors Reception for St. Patrick’s Day. It is their biggest party of the year and we have heard that the King is likely to be there so if he is we will try and snap a few photos with him. I have heard that he is very kind but a little shy. Hopefully we will see.
Then after the party Janeen will return home to continue marking as I stay in the capital for a few more days. I am working with another committee to build a Wiki for volunteers in the Southern Africa region. I don’t know if any of you have tried to build a web-page before, but getting it to look and feel right is a huge task. It is made even more so when you have the internet connection that we do here. Now don’t get me wrong I am glad to have it. We are very fortunate to have the internet at all but it is a huge change from home. I was talking to a friend the other day who said that he was getting 15 mbps (megabytes per second) that is like getting a 5 mb song in a 1/3 of a second. FAST!! Here we are getting just about 80 kbps. Do you remember the days of 56 kbps modems? Yeah we are just barely above that speed. So think about that when you are asking me for photos (which are 3 to 6 mb) and movies. I will hopefully get some posted but that is just because I will have 2 full days on the computers.
Well that just about does it. I would love to hear from any of you. I know you are probably loving the spring weather after what sounded like a cold and rainy/ snowy winter. Yesterday was the first day it felt like autumn was coming. I am not ready for the cold again. Oh well. I will live.
All the best
Jason
Jason just passed over the computer to me to write a blog. So mine will appear first. :) I have a funny story for you all:
This week I have been on duty which means that I am out patrolling the campus at 7 am while the students should be studying. They are in the midst of writing their quarter one exams (which means I have A LOT of grading to do— 290 literature essays, 180 compositions on a variety of topics- one of which is the time I visited the traditional doctor, 180 grammar and reading comprehension papers… anyone jealous??? Now back to the story…). So, all the students are in the hall for study time.
Anyway, yesterday morning our cat (Tau) did not stroll in at 6 am like he normally does after his night of gallivanting. I was a bit concerned, but was just hoping he would show up. I went out for duty and had just gotten the students settled down in the hall reading their notes when all of a sudden I hear screaming and see a bunch of students running out of the hall. I asked them what was going on and could not think of what would make them so upset. They didn’t hear me so I had to yell and finally was told, “Madam, a cat.” Knowing it was my cat, I ran in the hall and tried to find where he was. Students were jumping on top of their desks, others were screaming, and yet others were chasing our cat. Finally he broke loose and was able to run outside of the hall. He ran along some of the classes. I was running after him mainly to get the students away, but the students were also running after him. So I stopped and yelled at the kids that it was my cat and that they needed to go back inside the hall. Unfortunately there were already 2 classes outside picking up trash and I only stopped a few students when I yelled at them to get back in the hall. So they were all running after our poor cat and some students even went to the extent of trying to stone him. I’m not sure what happened, but he somehow managed to get away from the chasing students.
Here is my morning announcement at assembly, “I am sure you are all aware that it was my cat that caused the chaos this morning and I apologize for the disruption. However, my cat has now gone missing because you all scared him away. If you see him, please leave him alone. He is five times smaller than you, so you should not be afraid of him.”
A few hours later Tau came home somewhat safely. The pads on his paws have been torn and his nails have been filed down to a nub. But he is back and I am sure he won’t be making any more surprise visits to the hall. Jason thought that Tau had heard my voice on the other side of the hall and thought that going through the hall would be the shortest way to me. I am also not quite sure why the students were so upset over a cat. Maybe they were just surprised and once they started screaming it was infectious.
Anyway, once it was all over, I thought it was quite comical and thought you would enjoy it. I better get back to grading. Love and miss you all!
March 14th, 2008 (Written by Jason)
So it is 3:48 a.m. and I can’t sleep so I decided to get up and do some work. It is not that uncommon for me to wake up in the wee hours of the morning because we go to bed relatively early here. Our normal time to go to sleep I would have to say is probably close to 9:00 p.m. It is actually kind of nice to be up this early. Things here can get pretty hectic with all the students coming and going from the house. I like the early morning. I call it my thinking/brainstorming time. If you ever want to clear your mind and be able to brain storm try and wake up early as possible when it is quiet. You will be amazed at the thoughts that run through your head. It is kind of fun.
This week has been a good one. Not doing a lot at the schools right now because of Moshoeshoe’s day (the founder of the Basotho nation and therefore a national holiday) and the end of the first quarter. But just because I am not doing a lot at my schools doesn’t mean a lot of stuff is going on. On Tuesday (Moshoeshoe’s Day) we went up to my school, Phechela Primary for school singing and athletics competitions. Basotho people don’t have a lot to celebrate so when they have something, they cut loose. It was fun watching the children and adults get really into the athletics competitions. There was dancing and singing whenever their school came in a placing position. Often times a whole herd of students and adults would rush out to congratulate their champion.
Because a lot is not going on at school, I have been in the capital a lot recently doing all kinds of stuff for the advancement of my assignment and the advancement of Peace Corps. As I wrote last week, a newly formed committee and myself partnered together to clean the transit house for volunteers in the capital. It was a lot of work but we felt really good about the progress we made and it actually feels like a place that you would want to stay now.
Janeen and I are in Maseru together for the first time in a long time to have a weekend in the city. We are going to go to a party at the Lesotho Sun tonight for St. Patrick’s Day which should be fun. We are then going to hang out over the weekend catching up on blogs (hence this thing) and responding to e-mails and other business. Then on Monday we will be attending the Irish Ambassadors Reception for St. Patrick’s Day. It is their biggest party of the year and we have heard that the King is likely to be there so if he is we will try and snap a few photos with him. I have heard that he is very kind but a little shy. Hopefully we will see.
Then after the party Janeen will return home to continue marking as I stay in the capital for a few more days. I am working with another committee to build a Wiki for volunteers in the Southern Africa region. I don’t know if any of you have tried to build a web-page before, but getting it to look and feel right is a huge task. It is made even more so when you have the internet connection that we do here. Now don’t get me wrong I am glad to have it. We are very fortunate to have the internet at all but it is a huge change from home. I was talking to a friend the other day who said that he was getting 15 mbps (megabytes per second) that is like getting a 5 mb song in a 1/3 of a second. FAST!! Here we are getting just about 80 kbps. Do you remember the days of 56 kbps modems? Yeah we are just barely above that speed. So think about that when you are asking me for photos (which are 3 to 6 mb) and movies. I will hopefully get some posted but that is just because I will have 2 full days on the computers.
Well that just about does it. I would love to hear from any of you. I know you are probably loving the spring weather after what sounded like a cold and rainy/ snowy winter. Yesterday was the first day it felt like autumn was coming. I am not ready for the cold again. Oh well. I will live.
All the best
Jason
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Back in the city
March 6th, 2008 (written by Jason)
So I know what you are thinking. Why isn't Jason ever with his wife? When he is writting these long boring blogs what is his wife doing? Well the short answer is that she is BUSY! She, as many of you know, is teaching a lot this year. 28 teaching hours which means that she is doing a full time job with a part time job on the side (marking papers).
But what does this have to do with why I am here? Well the answer is I am working on secondary and tertiary projects. This week, we are in the process of cleaning and reorganizing the volunteer transit house. This is the place that volunteers stay when they are in the capital. I was nominated to be the chairperson of this committee. We are busy painting and cleaning to make the house as nice as possible for all volunteers who stay there.
I am doing this mainly because lately my teachers have been less interested in working with me. This is not a bad thing because I am seeing really positive results in how they act and behave. It is really inspiring to see teachers that last year thought a text-book was something for the kids to use only to revise with. Now they are using them intelligently and consistently which is a remarkable change.
I have been doing some primary project stuff though too. Last week we (me and 2 other volunteers) held 3 workshops in different villages on using manipulatives in for teaching math. It went really well though there was still some feedback that the food provided was inadequate. Oh well you can't win them all.
As for now though I need to cut this short. Thanks for all the recent e-mails and what not. We love you more than we can say.
All the best,
Jason
So I know what you are thinking. Why isn't Jason ever with his wife? When he is writting these long boring blogs what is his wife doing? Well the short answer is that she is BUSY! She, as many of you know, is teaching a lot this year. 28 teaching hours which means that she is doing a full time job with a part time job on the side (marking papers).
But what does this have to do with why I am here? Well the answer is I am working on secondary and tertiary projects. This week, we are in the process of cleaning and reorganizing the volunteer transit house. This is the place that volunteers stay when they are in the capital. I was nominated to be the chairperson of this committee. We are busy painting and cleaning to make the house as nice as possible for all volunteers who stay there.
I am doing this mainly because lately my teachers have been less interested in working with me. This is not a bad thing because I am seeing really positive results in how they act and behave. It is really inspiring to see teachers that last year thought a text-book was something for the kids to use only to revise with. Now they are using them intelligently and consistently which is a remarkable change.
I have been doing some primary project stuff though too. Last week we (me and 2 other volunteers) held 3 workshops in different villages on using manipulatives in for teaching math. It went really well though there was still some feedback that the food provided was inadequate. Oh well you can't win them all.
As for now though I need to cut this short. Thanks for all the recent e-mails and what not. We love you more than we can say.
All the best,
Jason
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
February 26, 2008 (written by Janeen)
I went to the eye doctor in Bloemfontein again yesterday (which is kinda a bummer because I had to miss school yet again and the stress is on since I am teaching Form C students who will write a national exam at the end of the year). So basically I am getting multiple styes in my eyes. The problem is that they are releasing the fluid into my eyes. Since my eye is blocking the release, they get clogged and become chronicly infected, which basically means that the fluid hardens and can no longer come out on its own. Last week when I went she had to cut them out. Which was quite strange as I have never had anything done to my eyes. The strangest part was when I opened my eyes and could see a red tint from the blood. My eyes are healing fine from the minor "surgery" (I think Jason may have freaked some people out with his blog). I went back yesterday because I thought that she had missed one of the clumps, when it turns out what I was feeling was just scar tissue. I realized I was probably wrong as the swelling finally started going down on Saturday, but the Peace Corps medical officer said I should go again since they were already making a trip to Bloemfontein with another volunteer. I'm glad I went because she helped tell me what to do to get the rest of these infections taken care of. (e.g wash my eyes with hot water twice daily, use the ointment she prescribed, but rub it in- I wasn't doing that before) She also prescribed doxycyclin (sp) to thin out the liquid. That is a malaria medication that is often used to get rid of acne. And I guess you could basically say that I have acne in my eyes- GROSS! :) So there is the update. I am at the office waiting for staff to get in so I can get my meds and a reimbursement and go home. I am hoping to make it back before my 11 o'clock classes, but that might be wishful thinking!
Well now that you have my health update. I can tell you what else is going on-- don't worry its not much. I am teaching away. I have been busy because I try to make up the time I missed while at the doctor's. Plus I have been grading the first exam. I'm sure I'll finish just in time for them to write their first quarter exams! Lucky me! Fortunately Jason has helped a bit. He has been bored. Not many of his teachers have been asking for his help, so he has not been doing much while at school. So when he comes home he wants to hang out with me and then gets bummed when I am busy. And the problem is he doesn't want to be busy for busy's sake. He wants to do something that matters.
The days that we want to come home are more frequent than they have been the previous year. I've already got a mental count down for the number of months (9). It will probably get even harder come May when our nephew will arrive and in July and August when Rachel & Kevin and Mike & Heidi are getting married. We hope everyone knows that we REEEEEEALLY want to be with you all and miss you SO much. It has been nice getting some emails from people recently. Maybe since our blogs have been a tad morose people feel like telling us we are missed (which makes us feel really good!). Well it is almost time for me to head out so I'll sign off here. I hope everyone has a very special leap year day! :)
Well now that you have my health update. I can tell you what else is going on-- don't worry its not much. I am teaching away. I have been busy because I try to make up the time I missed while at the doctor's. Plus I have been grading the first exam. I'm sure I'll finish just in time for them to write their first quarter exams! Lucky me! Fortunately Jason has helped a bit. He has been bored. Not many of his teachers have been asking for his help, so he has not been doing much while at school. So when he comes home he wants to hang out with me and then gets bummed when I am busy. And the problem is he doesn't want to be busy for busy's sake. He wants to do something that matters.
The days that we want to come home are more frequent than they have been the previous year. I've already got a mental count down for the number of months (9). It will probably get even harder come May when our nephew will arrive and in July and August when Rachel & Kevin and Mike & Heidi are getting married. We hope everyone knows that we REEEEEEALLY want to be with you all and miss you SO much. It has been nice getting some emails from people recently. Maybe since our blogs have been a tad morose people feel like telling us we are missed (which makes us feel really good!). Well it is almost time for me to head out so I'll sign off here. I hope everyone has a very special leap year day! :)
Friday, February 22, 2008
February 20th, 2008 (written by Jason)
Hey all! So I had just started a blog that was going to be a bitch fest and then I decided, why do I want to do that? I am sure these good people reading this blog don’t want to hear me bemoan the same old crap day after day. So I won’t. That’s right. I am making a conscious decision to keep this blog positive and by golly that is what I am gonna do!
So last you all heard, my school had started well and we were plugging right along. That has continued to happen over the course of the last month. Although we do waver from time to time, the school is doing well and staying on track. One of the more successful stories out of that has been the parents’ council. They have really stepped up and taken the initiative at restoring one of the classrooms by themselves. It has been really inspiring watching them over the weeks collecting mud, stones and even cinderblock bricks to repair the wall between the two classes. As you can see they have smeared it with a thick mud. This will help diffuse some of the sound and can also be use as a giant tack board. It is pretty sweet. You can also see how they have smeared a lighter color mud on the walls that really brightens the place up! It is so cool!
But we are no where near done. There are still all kinds of opportunities for you to get involved in helping our school raise some much need funds. There are two different projects. There have been some questions about this. One is being sponsored by my parents. They took it upon themselves to help raise enough money to build a new classroom. They are doing fundraising projects to achieve this goal like a yard sale and selling a cord of wood from a tree that fell in our backyard. So far they have raised about a $1200! This is great but it is still well short of our goal of $7000. This project as of right now is not tax deductible because my parents are collecting the money. I am working on getting a partner here that you can send your money to so that all donations will be tax deductible. But do be thinking about interesting and creative ways that you might be able to raise some money for this project.
The other project is the school restoration. This will not include any new buildings but will be a total refinishing of the school. We are talking new chalkboards, windows, doors, paint, etc. It will make the school functional again as opposed to its current state in most of the classroom. Any extra money from this project will go towards stoves for those oh so cold winter school days. Brrrrr!! This project you can donate directly too by going to https://www.peacecorps.gov/resources/donors/contribute/projdetail.cfm?projdesc=632-047®ion=africa . All donations made here are tax deductible.
So be thinking about it. I don’t want to pressure you but this would really mean a lot to me and the community that I am working with. Anyone that does sponsor one of these projects will be recognized on a memorial plaque that I am going to make and will be thanked by me personally with a little gift from Lesotho for you to remember you donations that you made to the community here.
Other than that, we have been hearing sporadically from a few of you and that is great. Right now we are feeling a little homesick and would love to hear from a lot of you. So send those e-mails and letters. It will take a few minutes out of your busy day but it truly does mean so much to us. We hope to hear from you soon and that you are all doing well.
All the best
Jason
Hey all! So I had just started a blog that was going to be a bitch fest and then I decided, why do I want to do that? I am sure these good people reading this blog don’t want to hear me bemoan the same old crap day after day. So I won’t. That’s right. I am making a conscious decision to keep this blog positive and by golly that is what I am gonna do!
So last you all heard, my school had started well and we were plugging right along. That has continued to happen over the course of the last month. Although we do waver from time to time, the school is doing well and staying on track. One of the more successful stories out of that has been the parents’ council. They have really stepped up and taken the initiative at restoring one of the classrooms by themselves. It has been really inspiring watching them over the weeks collecting mud, stones and even cinderblock bricks to repair the wall between the two classes. As you can see they have smeared it with a thick mud. This will help diffuse some of the sound and can also be use as a giant tack board. It is pretty sweet. You can also see how they have smeared a lighter color mud on the walls that really brightens the place up! It is so cool!
But we are no where near done. There are still all kinds of opportunities for you to get involved in helping our school raise some much need funds. There are two different projects. There have been some questions about this. One is being sponsored by my parents. They took it upon themselves to help raise enough money to build a new classroom. They are doing fundraising projects to achieve this goal like a yard sale and selling a cord of wood from a tree that fell in our backyard. So far they have raised about a $1200! This is great but it is still well short of our goal of $7000. This project as of right now is not tax deductible because my parents are collecting the money. I am working on getting a partner here that you can send your money to so that all donations will be tax deductible. But do be thinking about interesting and creative ways that you might be able to raise some money for this project.
The other project is the school restoration. This will not include any new buildings but will be a total refinishing of the school. We are talking new chalkboards, windows, doors, paint, etc. It will make the school functional again as opposed to its current state in most of the classroom. Any extra money from this project will go towards stoves for those oh so cold winter school days. Brrrrr!! This project you can donate directly too by going to https://www.peacecorps.gov/resources/donors/contribute/projdetail.cfm?projdesc=632-047®ion=africa . All donations made here are tax deductible.So be thinking about it. I don’t want to pressure you but this would really mean a lot to me and the community that I am working with. Anyone that does sponsor one of these projects will be recognized on a memorial plaque that I am going to make and will be thanked by me personally with a little gift from Lesotho for you to remember you donations that you made to the community here.
Other than that, we have been hearing sporadically from a few of you and that is great. Right now we are feeling a little homesick and would love to hear from a lot of you. So send those e-mails and letters. It will take a few minutes out of your busy day but it truly does mean so much to us. We hope to hear from you soon and that you are all doing well.
All the best
Jason
Friday, February 08, 2008
February 8, 2008 (written by Janeen)
Well this morning I woke up with a swollen eye, and am now in Maseru (3 hours after leaving my site). The Peace Corps doctor decided to refer me to an optomologist. He said that the optomologist is normally busy and might not be able to get me in today. Which is true. He called and I can't get in for the next month because THE optomologist is out of the country. So I may have to go to Bloemfontein. We are just concerned because it is recurring and I don't even know what it is. I thought it was a stye, but I've got them in both eyes and the pimple looking whiteness has gone away and left a small hard bump on my eyelid. Today is the second time my left eye has been swollen. Now that I have somewhat described my condition, I will move on.
The past few weeks have been the roughest by far of all my service. I don't really want to get into it on my blog for all to see, but it was the first time that I actually felt like coming home. I of course still want to come home and can't wait until the end of 2008, but I'm sure we'll stick it out!
I was thinking about trying to get back for my afternoon classes at 2:00, but I now realize that was wishful thinking. But am bummed that all I came for was to find out that the optomologist is out of the country!
Jason and I are planning on going to Bloemfontein for Valentine's weekend. We'll get to watch a movie. Has anyone seen any good movies you'd like to recommend? It will be nice to get away for the weekend.
Love you and miss you all! P.S. We've only gotten 1 letter in the past 3 weeks. :( (Yes I am trying to guilt some of you into writing!!)
The past few weeks have been the roughest by far of all my service. I don't really want to get into it on my blog for all to see, but it was the first time that I actually felt like coming home. I of course still want to come home and can't wait until the end of 2008, but I'm sure we'll stick it out!
I was thinking about trying to get back for my afternoon classes at 2:00, but I now realize that was wishful thinking. But am bummed that all I came for was to find out that the optomologist is out of the country!
Jason and I are planning on going to Bloemfontein for Valentine's weekend. We'll get to watch a movie. Has anyone seen any good movies you'd like to recommend? It will be nice to get away for the weekend.
Love you and miss you all! P.S. We've only gotten 1 letter in the past 3 weeks. :( (Yes I am trying to guilt some of you into writing!!)
Monday, January 28, 2008
A new start...
January 24, 2008 (Written by Jason)Good day to all our faithful readers out there in cyberspace. Over the last year and a few months you have followed the trails and tribulations of living as a cross-cultural, diplomatically placed volunteer here in the country of Lesotho. It has been a strange year, one full of extreme highs and disparaging lows. But through it all I have received many e-mails asking how if you were able to, how you could help.
Well now is that time. This week we began our second school year here in our village of Tsa-Kholo. I returned to school to find that after a great meeting with about 100 parents at the end of the school year about restoring the school, that work had already been done to this effect. I have told you all about how our class 5 is meeting in an old chicken coupe and that our class 3 and 4 share a large hall with no walls separating the 2 classes (hence it gets extremely loud in there). I haven’t really shared about our class 1 and 2 that meet in a building that was originally used as the first church on the site back around 1930. Yeah it is that old.
Over the years they have done the best they can installing windows and what not but they never got around to building the wall up to the roof and therefore it is like the class 1 and 2 are in the same room. Once again it gets extremely noisy during lessons and activities. Well, after a long and wonderful break from school, I returned to find that the parents of the school had torn down the old wall that was made of mud bricks and had begun building up a new wall of cinder blocks that had been scavenged from around the community.
The parents haven’t stopped there either. The parents have continued to gather bricks from around the community, while also smearing the wall with a nice thick clay, so that the wall can be used like a giant cork board. It is so cool. While working on the wall, some other parents cleaned and repaired (as best they can) the rest of the classes so that on the first day of the school, the teachers were able to come right in and start teaching classes.
Now if you have been following my blogs from the beginning you would realize that this is a dramatic difference from last year, when it took about 3 weeks for us to finally get down to the business of teaching. And that is not the only thing. This school, named Phechela Primary, is so motivated for change and progress that they have been going the entire school day taking only the breaks that they have scheduled and following the school time table as far as I have seen.
You may be thinking ‘well so they are doing what they are supposed to. Big deal!’ What you don’t understand is that this is a massive change in approach and philosophy. Last year I could barley get anyone to listen the smallest suggestions that I made. This year though, it is like everything that comes out of my mouth is gold the way that they are responding. I would say that 90% of my suggestions have been attempted or implemented and we are only going on day 4 of the first week of school. It is AWESOME!!
That all being said, I have decided to go forward with a project that I put in an application for earlier this year due to the nature of the commitment that I have seen thus far in words and in action. The project in its very basic form is a complete overhaul of the schools infrastructure. At its very core it is to provide a place that is safe , clean and more efficient than the current areas that exist for learning at the school. We will do this by repairing walls and floors, adding and completing walls in buildings to provide separate learning areas, new chalkboards, new doors and windows for classes that need them, and improving the facilities so that it is more conducive to continued learning.
However, I can only do this with your help. The Peace Corps does not provide funds for projects like this anymore. They have created an office called the Office of Private Sector Initiatives that handles projects for volunteers and gives family members and friends an outlet to donate to those projects. My community and I have completed an application for such a project and it has been approved by OPSI. They have issued me a project # which means that I can begin asking for support and help from all of you out there. If you feel that this is something that you would be interested in doing, please go to
https://www.peacecorps.gov/resources/donors/contribute/projdetail.cfm?projdesc=632-047®ion=africa
Then you can look for my project with the # 632-047. You can read more about the history of the school and the goals of the project. Also you can choose at that point if you want to make a donation to my project.
Once the full amount of the project has been funded, OPSI will cut me a check which I will then deposit in a bank account here and we will begin the reconstruction of my beautiful school. The only constraints that I am under are that I can not begin to work until I have received all of my funding. Now this may seem cruel but it is important as they don’t want half built libraries and pit latrines to be the legacy of Peace Corps volunteers. So it means that I need you to e-mail your friends and family, post notices at schools and churches, and help me get this thing funded!! The sooner it is, the sooner these beautiful kids can learn in an environment that is suitable and appropriate.
Once the full amount of the project has been funded, OPSI will cut me a check which I will then deposit in a bank account here and we will begin the reconstruction of my beautiful school. The only constraints that I am under are that I can not begin to work until I have received all of my funding. Now this may seem cruel but it is important as they don’t want half built libraries and pit latrines to be the legacy of Peace Corps volunteers. So it means that I need you to e-mail your friends and family, post notices at schools and churches, and help me get this thing funded!! The sooner it is, the sooner these beautiful kids can learn in an environment that is suitable and appropriate.
If you have ever felt that your donations go to some nameless project at best and at worst into the pockets of corrupt charities, this is your chance to donate directly to a school and a group that needs it. I will of course be updating this blog with pictures and links to pictures as often as I can and you will see your money directly at work. How cool is that?!?Ok so that is it. No more begging for me. I hope that you feel compelled to give. I pray that this finds you all happy and healthy in the New Year. All the best
Jason
Friday, January 18, 2008
January 18, 2008 (written by Janeen)
Well we are done with our all volunteer conference/one year reconnect with our group. It was nice to be in Maseru and with other volunteers. School starts on Monday and things will get busy (at least for me). Right now I am waiting to see our doctor. I've got some funky things going on with my eyes. I had what I thought was a stye in one eye, then the exact same thing happened in the other eye, but worse. Now in each eye I have a small bump. So I might go on antibiotics. Well there's my health update for the year, sorry to bore you I am just tired of waiting! Miss you! Love you!
Monday, January 14, 2008
January 10th, 2008 (written by Jason)
Hello to all our loyal readers around the blog-o-sphere. I know that it has been quite a while since we have written anything. I know also that to many of you this is your only link to our adventure here in the mountain kingdom and that you look forward to reading about what we are doing. For this I am truly sorry but as I have mentioned many times before our internet use here is inconsistent at best and when we do get on it is usually to catch up on e-mails, check out the latest happenings in the news and maybe see what friends are doing on Facebook. We rarely have uninterrupted time to use the computer and write out a blog and then get on both websites to update them (hence the incongruity sometimes). We are going to be trying to be more diligent now that we are back home and we have our own computer.
You see for the majority of the last month we have been in and out of Lesotho on holiday/vacation. School let out for us around Nov. 30 and this afforded us about 6 weeks to do what we want. Before we could get to traveling and vacation we did a few technical trainings for the new group that arrived here around the 10th of November. This sucked up the first part of December.
About mid-December we left for our trips that included going to Cape Town and the surrounding area and touring Lesotho, South Africa and Zimbabwe with Janeen’s family. I don’t want to bore you with everything that we did during that time but I do want to give you the highlights (and lowlights) of the trip.
Cape Town and surrounding area
• Great White Shark Cage Experience (seasick for the first time in my life)
• Camping
• Wine Tasting in Stellenbosch (awesome wine and cheese; check out Goats do Roam from the Fairview Vineyards. Easy drinking red blend)
• Table Mountain (didn’t hike it because we are lazy but it is beautiful)
• Beach
• Cape Point and crazy baboons
• Long Street (ripped off at a bar that raised its prices after 10 p.m. and had it printed in fine print on the last page of the menu.)
• Great food
• New Friends (Abby, Meera and Tamar and Christoff)
• Sleeping in
You can see we packed a bunch of stuff into a very short period of time. This is how we do things here though: long periods of work followed by sprint vacations. It is the only way we can do things affordably (you know we only get paid $235 a month, right?).
Almost immediately after coming home from Cape Town, Janeen’s family arrived from the states. It was so great having them here for Christmas and New Years. We had the joy of having Janeen’s parents, her brother and his wife, her sister, and her grandparents with us for 2 weeks. It was so cool being able to see them that it just made everything else just pale in comparison. Not to say that we didn’t do some amazing things. Here is a concise list. I am being serious too. We did way more than just the stuff mentioned here.
Lesotho
• Christmas Eve dinner of pea soup, Thai cucumber salad, rice and home made bread. It was a weird combo but it was the easiest thing we could do for 9 people on short notice (We thought we would have dinner at the hotel we were staying at, but it closed its services).
• Windy mountain roads are even more fun in the rain (right Carla ;-))
• Horse riding in the mud
• Amazing Christmas dinner
• Mountains- Yes grandpa there ARE mountains in Lesotho!!
Kosi Bay
• Lake system boat ride
• Hippos and birdlife
• Monkeys on the deck eating a mango at 3:30 a.m.
• Watched a Loggerhead turtle come up the beach, lay its eggs, bury them and go back to the ocean (long walk on the beach)
• Snorkeling (Devil Fish and Morrey Eels)
Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe side)
• Victoria Falls Hotel (a colonial beauty)
• Depressed economy (shelves were empty at the store and restaurants had more things missing from the menu than on them)
• Curio Markets and aggressive traders
• Bungee Jumping (only Jason)
• Gorge Swinging (unbelievable and again only Jason did this)
• Gorge Zip-Line
• River Cruise (that we missed because of the bungee jumping)
• The Falls (the awesome power of the Victoria Falls)
• Elephant interaction and riding
• Walk with lion cubs (so cool)
• Being chased by monkeys (both Janeen and Andy had an unwelcome monkey encounter)
Sabi Sands Reserve (Vuyetela)
• Big 5 Action (Lions, Elephants, Buffalo, Rhino (white), and a Leopard!! So cool)
• Best Massage in a year
• Lazy Afternoons in the plunge pool
• Amazing food!
• Great service
• Saying good-bye to family for another year
Of course this is just a list of what we did and doesn’t really tell you anything about them. If you want to know about anything in further detail, either Janeen or I would love to fill you in. All you have to do is drop us a little message at either janeen_samuelian@yahoo.com or jason.samuelian@gmail.com and we will get back to you with details about a specific thing. We would love to be able to write about all of them but it would make a blog of like 20 pages and we know that you have lives and jobs that need attending too.
We know that many of you also would like to see what we did. For this we left it up to our family of paparazzi that followed us around. Janeen’s grandfather, father and brother all had really nice cameras so we just let them be our official photographers for this vacation. To view the photos all you have to do is go to Andy & Mari’s website at www.thelansfords.com From there you can read about their perspective of the vacation and check out some of our older photos from Lesotho and some new ones from this last vacation.
Let me know if you want to hear about anything in particular, otherwise I am just going to bore you with what is happening this year and what to expect from us in the upcoming year.
We love and miss you all.
Jason
January 10, 2008 (written by Janeen)
Jason did a great job at summarizing our trip. I tried to do that in a letter to his parents and it took me about 3 pages- hand written. So, mom and dad Sam expect a novel sometime soon. That is, of course, if it actually gets to you. Jason and Andy have kinda had a correspondence poker game going since we’ve been gone. I say kinda because it takes a long time, Andy took FOREVER to respond and they’ve pretty much just done 2 hands in 14 months! (Yes, I can still rile my brother up even though I am thousands of miles away!) Anyway back on track here… Jason folded his hand and we mailed the cards back to Andy in a letter sent back in September (Yes, I keep a list of the letters I send. Have you noticed that there is a small number on the left hand corner of the envelope?) and Andy hasn’t received that letter. So that saddens me to know that some letters are not getting back home. But, I guess if only a few don’t make it that is a pretty good percentage being that I have written about 325 since we’ve been gone. I respond to all letters or packages that are sent to us. So if you’ve written a letter and have not gotten a response, we either never got the letter OR my response is lost in post office space.
Today was the first day back on the job. We had a staff meeting that was supposed to start at 9:00am, but didn’t start until 10:00am because some members of staff weren’t here. This same meeting went until 3:00pm. There was sort of a break when the heads of departments were meeting to discuss which teachers would teach what classes, but we all had to hang around because there was not a specified time to meet back. At the end of the meeting it was discussed that we should start on time. I also put my two cents in that we should designate an end time and stay on task so that we can be done at a reasonable time. I didn’t mention this, but I think that it might even be helpful if the agenda was drawn ahead of time so that if there were other issues that needed to be addressed, staff members could bring them to the administration to either put them on the agenda or be saved for a later date. Maybe this is just my Americanism coming forth, but it does seem that the teachers here have other things they need to do and that they value their time and don’t want it wasted. Many times I feel like things can be done more efficiently, but maybe my culture is just different than theirs. Maybe they want the whole staff to be involved in decision making that I would deem fit for the administration. I just don’t know. Regardless I am only here for one more school year and I am still learning a lot even if I get frustrated sometimes.
We got the results back from the Junior Certificate exam (taken by Form C students) and our school did fairly well. We got 9 merit passes which is less than last year, but everyone was worried and in crisis-mode over these students that these results were not expected. We did have 5 failures, which they were upset about, but not surprised. One of the failures was a girl who got pregnant during the winter was expelled from school and went into labor while writing her exams. Needless to say she did not complete all of her exams so she failed. I am teaching 2 classes of Form C this year and the pressure is on to get good results. Not a single student earned an “A” in English from our school, so my goal is to get at least one. My principal says 20, but I try to be more realistic. I’ll of course be back in the good ‘ol US of A when the results are out, but will still be very interested in how my students perform.
I am working on a series of study skills workshops to do with students at the beginning of the year. I brought it to the attention of staff today and the idea was well received. I had 4 teachers volunteer to help, which I was very happy about. This way if it turns out to be good, they can continue teaching them when I am gone. I am also trying to type out a curriculum so that I can share it with other Peace Corps volunteers.
Today I also found out my work load. I will be teaching 3 more class periods than last year, and I will have different classes. I am kinda bummed about that and asked to switch, but it didn’t work out. I will have C1 (had them), C4 (new), B1 (had them), and A1 (new). I wanted to teach C1, C2, B1, and B2 to keep all my students since I know their names and their abilities. My head of department said that they wanted me to teach one form A class to help lay the foundation for their later years. Oh well, I’ll just have to learn about 100 new faces and names. I did it once, I’m sure I can do it again. The part about teaching 3 extra hours I am not stoked about since I have other things I want to work on like the study skills workshops, but I don’t always get what I want (despite what my husband might say!!).
Now that I’ve written a novel (sorry!), I have only one more thing to say. Thank you to all of you who have sent us packages and letters. We had another Christmas when we returned home from vacation and opened 11 packages! Five of them were those from my mom and grandparents that were being held hostage with a ridiculous tax rate since October. They were finally released for the bargain price of 10 Rand each! I have been working hard to respond to letters that we got while out on vacation. I’ve written about 15 since we’ve been back and still have 7 letters waiting for responses. I’ll try to get them done before school starts on the 21st because after that my main focus will be school and hanging out with my hubby (he doesn’t like it when I ignore him and write letters).
We’ll be home this year! YIPPEEEEE! Is it bad that we are already counting down? There are only 11 months until we are home. I’m told the second year goes by too fast, but I think I am OK with that.
Love you and miss you all,
Janeen
You see for the majority of the last month we have been in and out of Lesotho on holiday/vacation. School let out for us around Nov. 30 and this afforded us about 6 weeks to do what we want. Before we could get to traveling and vacation we did a few technical trainings for the new group that arrived here around the 10th of November. This sucked up the first part of December.
About mid-December we left for our trips that included going to Cape Town and the surrounding area and touring Lesotho, South Africa and Zimbabwe with Janeen’s family. I don’t want to bore you with everything that we did during that time but I do want to give you the highlights (and lowlights) of the trip.
Cape Town and surrounding area
• Great White Shark Cage Experience (seasick for the first time in my life)
• Camping
• Wine Tasting in Stellenbosch (awesome wine and cheese; check out Goats do Roam from the Fairview Vineyards. Easy drinking red blend)
• Table Mountain (didn’t hike it because we are lazy but it is beautiful)
• Beach
• Cape Point and crazy baboons
• Long Street (ripped off at a bar that raised its prices after 10 p.m. and had it printed in fine print on the last page of the menu.)
• Great food
• New Friends (Abby, Meera and Tamar and Christoff)
• Sleeping in
You can see we packed a bunch of stuff into a very short period of time. This is how we do things here though: long periods of work followed by sprint vacations. It is the only way we can do things affordably (you know we only get paid $235 a month, right?).
Almost immediately after coming home from Cape Town, Janeen’s family arrived from the states. It was so great having them here for Christmas and New Years. We had the joy of having Janeen’s parents, her brother and his wife, her sister, and her grandparents with us for 2 weeks. It was so cool being able to see them that it just made everything else just pale in comparison. Not to say that we didn’t do some amazing things. Here is a concise list. I am being serious too. We did way more than just the stuff mentioned here.
Lesotho
• Christmas Eve dinner of pea soup, Thai cucumber salad, rice and home made bread. It was a weird combo but it was the easiest thing we could do for 9 people on short notice (We thought we would have dinner at the hotel we were staying at, but it closed its services).
• Windy mountain roads are even more fun in the rain (right Carla ;-))
• Horse riding in the mud
• Amazing Christmas dinner
• Mountains- Yes grandpa there ARE mountains in Lesotho!!
Kosi Bay
• Lake system boat ride
• Hippos and birdlife
• Monkeys on the deck eating a mango at 3:30 a.m.
• Watched a Loggerhead turtle come up the beach, lay its eggs, bury them and go back to the ocean (long walk on the beach)
• Snorkeling (Devil Fish and Morrey Eels)
Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe side)
• Victoria Falls Hotel (a colonial beauty)
• Depressed economy (shelves were empty at the store and restaurants had more things missing from the menu than on them)
• Curio Markets and aggressive traders
• Bungee Jumping (only Jason)
• Gorge Swinging (unbelievable and again only Jason did this)
• Gorge Zip-Line
• River Cruise (that we missed because of the bungee jumping)
• The Falls (the awesome power of the Victoria Falls)
• Elephant interaction and riding
• Walk with lion cubs (so cool)
• Being chased by monkeys (both Janeen and Andy had an unwelcome monkey encounter)
Sabi Sands Reserve (Vuyetela)
• Big 5 Action (Lions, Elephants, Buffalo, Rhino (white), and a Leopard!! So cool)
• Best Massage in a year
• Lazy Afternoons in the plunge pool
• Amazing food!
• Great service
• Saying good-bye to family for another year
Of course this is just a list of what we did and doesn’t really tell you anything about them. If you want to know about anything in further detail, either Janeen or I would love to fill you in. All you have to do is drop us a little message at either janeen_samuelian@yahoo.com or jason.samuelian@gmail.com and we will get back to you with details about a specific thing. We would love to be able to write about all of them but it would make a blog of like 20 pages and we know that you have lives and jobs that need attending too.
We know that many of you also would like to see what we did. For this we left it up to our family of paparazzi that followed us around. Janeen’s grandfather, father and brother all had really nice cameras so we just let them be our official photographers for this vacation. To view the photos all you have to do is go to Andy & Mari’s website at www.thelansfords.com From there you can read about their perspective of the vacation and check out some of our older photos from Lesotho and some new ones from this last vacation.
Let me know if you want to hear about anything in particular, otherwise I am just going to bore you with what is happening this year and what to expect from us in the upcoming year.
We love and miss you all.
Jason
January 10, 2008 (written by Janeen)
Jason did a great job at summarizing our trip. I tried to do that in a letter to his parents and it took me about 3 pages- hand written. So, mom and dad Sam expect a novel sometime soon. That is, of course, if it actually gets to you. Jason and Andy have kinda had a correspondence poker game going since we’ve been gone. I say kinda because it takes a long time, Andy took FOREVER to respond and they’ve pretty much just done 2 hands in 14 months! (Yes, I can still rile my brother up even though I am thousands of miles away!) Anyway back on track here… Jason folded his hand and we mailed the cards back to Andy in a letter sent back in September (Yes, I keep a list of the letters I send. Have you noticed that there is a small number on the left hand corner of the envelope?) and Andy hasn’t received that letter. So that saddens me to know that some letters are not getting back home. But, I guess if only a few don’t make it that is a pretty good percentage being that I have written about 325 since we’ve been gone. I respond to all letters or packages that are sent to us. So if you’ve written a letter and have not gotten a response, we either never got the letter OR my response is lost in post office space.
Today was the first day back on the job. We had a staff meeting that was supposed to start at 9:00am, but didn’t start until 10:00am because some members of staff weren’t here. This same meeting went until 3:00pm. There was sort of a break when the heads of departments were meeting to discuss which teachers would teach what classes, but we all had to hang around because there was not a specified time to meet back. At the end of the meeting it was discussed that we should start on time. I also put my two cents in that we should designate an end time and stay on task so that we can be done at a reasonable time. I didn’t mention this, but I think that it might even be helpful if the agenda was drawn ahead of time so that if there were other issues that needed to be addressed, staff members could bring them to the administration to either put them on the agenda or be saved for a later date. Maybe this is just my Americanism coming forth, but it does seem that the teachers here have other things they need to do and that they value their time and don’t want it wasted. Many times I feel like things can be done more efficiently, but maybe my culture is just different than theirs. Maybe they want the whole staff to be involved in decision making that I would deem fit for the administration. I just don’t know. Regardless I am only here for one more school year and I am still learning a lot even if I get frustrated sometimes.
We got the results back from the Junior Certificate exam (taken by Form C students) and our school did fairly well. We got 9 merit passes which is less than last year, but everyone was worried and in crisis-mode over these students that these results were not expected. We did have 5 failures, which they were upset about, but not surprised. One of the failures was a girl who got pregnant during the winter was expelled from school and went into labor while writing her exams. Needless to say she did not complete all of her exams so she failed. I am teaching 2 classes of Form C this year and the pressure is on to get good results. Not a single student earned an “A” in English from our school, so my goal is to get at least one. My principal says 20, but I try to be more realistic. I’ll of course be back in the good ‘ol US of A when the results are out, but will still be very interested in how my students perform.
I am working on a series of study skills workshops to do with students at the beginning of the year. I brought it to the attention of staff today and the idea was well received. I had 4 teachers volunteer to help, which I was very happy about. This way if it turns out to be good, they can continue teaching them when I am gone. I am also trying to type out a curriculum so that I can share it with other Peace Corps volunteers.
Today I also found out my work load. I will be teaching 3 more class periods than last year, and I will have different classes. I am kinda bummed about that and asked to switch, but it didn’t work out. I will have C1 (had them), C4 (new), B1 (had them), and A1 (new). I wanted to teach C1, C2, B1, and B2 to keep all my students since I know their names and their abilities. My head of department said that they wanted me to teach one form A class to help lay the foundation for their later years. Oh well, I’ll just have to learn about 100 new faces and names. I did it once, I’m sure I can do it again. The part about teaching 3 extra hours I am not stoked about since I have other things I want to work on like the study skills workshops, but I don’t always get what I want (despite what my husband might say!!).
Now that I’ve written a novel (sorry!), I have only one more thing to say. Thank you to all of you who have sent us packages and letters. We had another Christmas when we returned home from vacation and opened 11 packages! Five of them were those from my mom and grandparents that were being held hostage with a ridiculous tax rate since October. They were finally released for the bargain price of 10 Rand each! I have been working hard to respond to letters that we got while out on vacation. I’ve written about 15 since we’ve been back and still have 7 letters waiting for responses. I’ll try to get them done before school starts on the 21st because after that my main focus will be school and hanging out with my hubby (he doesn’t like it when I ignore him and write letters).
We’ll be home this year! YIPPEEEEE! Is it bad that we are already counting down? There are only 11 months until we are home. I’m told the second year goes by too fast, but I think I am OK with that.
Love you and miss you all,
Janeen
Thursday, January 03, 2008
December 5, 2007 (written by Janeen)
Well I have been in Maseru since Sunday and have not had a chance to write a blog. Everytime I've come to get on the computers there have been several people waiting and all I've had time to do (without feeling guilty) is read my emails.
Things are going well. I am here helping with training of the new group. They are practice teaching this week. A school is having a summer session strictly for the new volunteers to practice. I think it is great practice for them and they are doing really well and responding to our critiques. I'm almost running out of suggestions!
There are less than three weeks until the whole Lansford clan comes out to Lesotho and we are really looking forward to their arrival. It will make it much easier being away from home for Christmas! Fortunately we get to go to Cape Town before they arrive. I think it would be pretty torturous having not all that much to do while we waited for them to arrive.
I am getting my mid-service medical done while I am here. So far all I've done is my TB test. It's only been 24 hours, but I am pretty sure that I am TB free (which is actually a good thing because some volunteers do get TB). I'll be sure to let you all know the final results after I find out tomorrow!
I hope you are all enjoying the Christmas season. We've been getting into the spirit by playing Christmas music, but somehow it feels strange singing along to wintry songs in summer, but it makes me happy! Miss you and love you all!
Things are going well. I am here helping with training of the new group. They are practice teaching this week. A school is having a summer session strictly for the new volunteers to practice. I think it is great practice for them and they are doing really well and responding to our critiques. I'm almost running out of suggestions!
There are less than three weeks until the whole Lansford clan comes out to Lesotho and we are really looking forward to their arrival. It will make it much easier being away from home for Christmas! Fortunately we get to go to Cape Town before they arrive. I think it would be pretty torturous having not all that much to do while we waited for them to arrive.
I am getting my mid-service medical done while I am here. So far all I've done is my TB test. It's only been 24 hours, but I am pretty sure that I am TB free (which is actually a good thing because some volunteers do get TB). I'll be sure to let you all know the final results after I find out tomorrow!
I hope you are all enjoying the Christmas season. We've been getting into the spirit by playing Christmas music, but somehow it feels strange singing along to wintry songs in summer, but it makes me happy! Miss you and love you all!
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