February 26, 2007 (written by Jason)
So I know we don't normally post this often but I had the chance to come back into the city to send a letter to Peace Corps that will be going out to the new trainees. I am going to include it because it is kinda funny and you can see what kind of sense of humor we are developing here. All the best,
Jason
Dear New Trainees,
Greetings from the Mountain Kingdom! We would like to wish you the warmest of welcomes as you will soon be our new neighbors in the small country of Lesotho. Congratulations on getting through the arduous and sometimes monotonous application process. We know that you must be nervous now that things are finally starting to materialize into reality and you will begin selling or consolidating your possessions. Enjoy this time while you are at home. It may be for most of you the only time that you will see your favorite restaurants, television shows and most importantly friends and family for quite some time.
But that is not the purpose of why we are writing. We don’t want you to have any apprehension of coming to this lovely country. Lesotho as I am sure that you have read by now is one of the highest countries in the world. This gives us the distinct advantage over other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa of having seasonal weather. That means you will get 4 distinct and very different seasons.
As we write this letter, we are on the tale end of a very hot summer. Not to worry for those people who sweat buckets because it is a very dry heat and the summer is typically the rainy season though this one has been rather dry. The season that you will probably need to worry about most is the winter. We have heard that it can get down to below zero (in centigrade) and is commonly this way in the mountains. So pack warm clothes if you were not planning on it. However be warned because we have heard that it heats up during the day, sometimes even up to 60º so be sure to pack clothes that layer.
Other than the weather, things here are as normal as can be expected. Some volunteers have access to modern conveniences like running water, electricity and even modern super markets. This is not always the case though so it still might be a good idea to pack that solar powered i-pod charger just in case. Also if you are thinking of bringing a computer, you can, it just might only get charged every once in a while or you might have to by a solar charger and car battery (what can we say, Peace Corps Volunteers are rather industrious and we steal a lot of ideas from the Basotho).
Other “luxury” items that we would say are a must pack item:
Solar Shower (such a nice break from bucket baths), I-pod or other mp3 musiDear New Trainees,
Greetings from the Mountain Kingdom! We would like to wish you the warmest of welcomes as you will soon be our new neighbors in the small country of Lesotho. Congratulations on getting through the arduous and sometimes monotonous application process. We know that you must be nervous now that things are finally starting to materialize into reality and you will begin selling or consolidating your possessions. Enjoy this time while you are at home. It may be for most of you the only time that you will see your favorite restaurants, television shows and most importantly friends and family for quite some time.
But that is not the purpose of why we are writing. We don’t want you to have any apprehension of coming to this lovely country. Lesotho as I am sure that you have read by now is one of the highest countries in the world. This gives us the distinct advantage over other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa of having seasonal weather. That means you will get 4 distinct and very different seasons.
As we write this letter, we are on the tale end of a very hot summer. Not to worry for those people who sweat buckets because it is a very dry heat and the summer is typically the rainy season though this one has been rather dry. The season that you will probably need to worry about most is the winter. We have heard that it can get down to below zero (in centigrade) and is commonly this way in the mountains. So pack warm clothes if you were not planning on it. However be warned because we have heard that it heats up during the day, sometimes even up to 60º so be sure to pack clothes that layer.
Other than the weather, things here are as normal as can be expected. Some volunteers have access to modern conveniences like running water, electricity and even modern super markets. This is not always the case though so it still might be a good idea to pack that solar powered i-pod charger just in case. Also if you are thinking of bringing a computer, you can, it just might only get charged every once in a while or you might have to by a solar charger and car battery (what can we say, Peace Corps Volunteers are rather industrious and we steal a lot of ideas from the Basotho).
Other “luxury” items that we would say are a must pack item:
Solar Shower (such a nice break from bucket baths), I-pod or other mp3 c device (however many of the taxis down here do have CD players and yes, even tape decks so if you want to have American music in the taxi, bring those if you want), cards, gold-bond or baby powder (if you are a moist character) ear plugs (you’ll see!), those favorite pair of jeans or t-shirt that makes you feel good just wearing it, patience (make sure you pack lots of this as many times you will want to pull your hair out because the pace of life moves much different here), some kind of sport sandal ( I recommend Chaco’s and I heard that they even give a Peace Corps discount), pictures of family (you will want them and your Basotho family and counterparts love seeing pictures of your life back home), a pack-able sleeping bag (we bought synthetic and it was good as I got rained on, on a hike, and my bag stayed warm even wet. However down is lighter and can be just as good!), coffee and a non-breakable French press (for you caffeine addicts), a sense of humor (sometimes you just gotta laugh), a small backpack or day bag for traveling, a sleeping pad (I once again recommend Therm-a-rest), perhaps a few DVD’s (the Transit House for Volunteers does have a DVD player!), maybe and this is a big maybe a GSM SIM Card ready cell phone (we do have cell phone service here and the phones are pretty cheap, in fact most volunteers have purchased a cell phone… it’s a good way to keep in touch with fellow volunteers as well as your family), anything that makes you feel good after a long day, a journal or some way to record what you are going through, lots of energy and ideas and an authentic desire to meet some of the best people you will ever meet!
Things that you should leave at home:
Bowling Ball (not really needed here, though it could be an income generating project), bad attitude or inflexibility (go with the flow man!), pets (I know we had to leave our little girl Bella at home too), too many clothes (girls and guys can buy clothes here if you really need them), too many books (there are all kinds of books here but a few more paperbacks to keep the flow going would probably be enough) and any doubt that you aren’t ready! You will be great!!
We have separate jobs here in Lesotho. Janeen is teaching English at a high school where we also live and Jason is working at 2 elementary schools as a Primary Resource Teacher. Our jobs are distinctly different primarily in the amount of structure that they have. Janeen’s job is very organized and structured as to when she will have classes and how long they are. Jason has a little bit looser makeup of how his job works. He is currently observing his schools to assess for needs and in the future will hold workshops, coaching sessions, and model teaching lessons in hopes that it will improve the overall achievement of the school. Topics that we will work on will range from classroom management to how to teach conceptualized math. This and everything in between will be the topics that he will hopefully address over the next two years.
As secondary projects (which almost everyone here does) we are planning to do many things. Youth groups that hold discussions on life skills, being responsible in an HIV/AIDS environment, and about life in general have been very popular with PCVs here. Others have done fund raising and building projects in the community as well as many more exciting things that are too numerous to mention here. Though remember, one of the best resources for projects or help in any area (travel advice, information on writing grants, etc.) are your fellow volunteers.
To summarize, we are here to help the Basotho people, who are very welcoming and friendly. You will be in good hands when you enter this community! The biggest part of your service is just by being here and having and open perspective. So come, bring that big, friendly smile and that attitude that you can change the world (a positive attitude here will take you long way), and we will see you on the ground.
All the Best,
Jason and Janeen Samuelian (2007-2009 ED PCV’s)
P.S. You can check out our website and blog if you want to find out a little bit more of the inside scoop on us and Lesotho @ www.jasonandjaneensam.com
Peace Corps OUT!!
Monday, February 26, 2007
Saturday, February 24, 2007
POSTED FEBRUARY 24, 2007
February 16, 2007 (written by Janeen)
For the past two to three weeks, we have been typing some blogs and saving them to our flash drive. Unfortunately, the computer at school that we were working on had some viruses and when I put my flash drive into another computer to post the blogs, the files were deleted by the virus software on that computer. I was so bummed!
To summarize my five typed pages will not be the same, but here is what I wrote about:
I wrote about my feelings on corporal punishment. Two weeks ago I was one of the teachers on duty, which meant that I had to be on campus at 7:00 am to be sure students arrived on time and we wearing the proper uniform. That was the third week of school, and up until that point I had not seen much beating. That week I saw A LOT! Now it may not hurt too badly, as it does not leave any lasting marks (no bruises, just redness for a short time), but it makes me sick to my stomach when I see it happening. Part of the problem here is that I may not necessarily agree with WHY the student is being punished. For example, they are beaten for speaking Sesotho (in fact I had 3 of my Form A students suspended for a month merely for speaking Sesotho), not wearing the proper uniform, misbehaving in class and others. I have been coming up with alternative forms of punishment like pulling weeds after school, jumping jacks for falling asleep in class, etc. If you have any other ideas, let me know. I have also been discussing the matter with a few of my fellow teachers. I think I have convinced one teacher that beating is not necessarily effective and he is going to try another punishment, such as taking away part of their break (Which is a BIG deal because students are at school from 7-4:30 and again from 7-9 at night. They only have a 20 min. break from 10:40-11 and an hour for lunch). Technically beating students is against the law here in Lesotho, but because it has been a common practice for so long and the law is not enforced, it still occurs. I also spoke with my principal about the punishments because I wanted him to know that I would not beat the students. I asked his permission to use other forms of punishment, and he even said that he encourages his teachers to use other forms of punishment first, but he leaves the decisions up to them.
I also wrote about elections. Elections are tomorrow and we are a little nervous about the outcome of the elections. There is a lot of tension. Many people are not happy with the ruling party, but others still support them. There are about 20 political parties here, but it seems that there are 2 that it is mainly between right now. We are a bit worried because Lesotho has a history of rioting after elections. The fear is that 1) the new party will win and the governing party will not relinquish power, or 2) the new party will lose and they will riot. Like I said the tension is high and both parties have already made claims that the elections may not be fair. Here elections are not completed by the government. A third party was created to ensure fairness, but some people still do not think that they will run fairly. Peace Corps has an emergency action plan to keep us informed and safe. If there are riots we will probably evacuate to South Africa. Though it would be nice to take a trip to South Africa, I still pray for peace for Lesotho. Jason and I normally go into town on Saturdays or Sundays, but this week we are heading in on Friday and coming back to Tsa Kholo. Don’t worry about us. We’ll be safe. We have begun to build relationships here and our community will keep us informed and help take care of us! Also, when there were riots after previous elections, our town only heard of them. It was only the main cities that were affected by the riots.
I also wrote about our packages! We were visited by our supervisor from the Peace Corps and he brought packages! The day we got them felt like Christmas!!! J So that the senders can have peace of mind that the packages arrived, here is who we received packages from: Mom & Dad L-2 packages, Mom & Dad Sam- 2 packages, the Valvos and our life group, the Allens, Bari- 2 packages, Dan, Fiona, and Tracee. Yep, that’s right 11 packages! We were so excited! Thank you all, a thousand times! We appreciate all of you so much and we definitely feel loved. I finally got to remove the stickers on our pots and pans with the goo-gone. We were so thankful and so excited about these gifts! We send our hugs and kisses as thanks. I know that there are a couple packages still on their way (we hope that they will arrive safely). Jason talked to another volunteer whose longest package took 6 months. So we may be waiting a while for the others. We appreciate you too! We got so much stuff that we will have to update our wish list. I’m pretty sure we have at least a 2 year supply of deodorant. Jason has 7 and I have 9! I know we asked for it, but do we smell that bad??? We have updated the wish list of items that can be sent. We removed some items that we no longer need and added a few other items. We got a lot of jerky and gum, but those things can keep coming! I didn’t add this to the wish list, but if you feel like sending candy here are some that we miss: Red vines, Milk Duds (must be wrapped separately in case of melting), Junior Mints (same as Milk Duds), and Reeses Pieces. I didn’t add them to the wish list because we really don’t need that much candy! We have both lost a few pounds (we are still healthy) and both feel good about that. On another note, we appreciate receiving packages, but please don’t feel like you must send one. We know they are expensive to send. Correspondence through letters will keep us happy because we miss you all so much and want to hear about you!
So I have been keeping busy with school. I have about 200 students and I have to learn their names, teach them, and grade their papers. Today all students wrote an English exam, so I will be busy grading those now (they call it marking here). I have also been designated the school librarian. The library was a mess when I got here, so I’ve been cleaning and organizing with the help of some students and of course Jason. He has helped me set up some procedures to keep the library books in the library (apparently some students like to steal books) and keep the library neat. Unfortunately it has taken me 4 weeks to complete this project, but I am happy to say that the library will be open for student use next week (provided that elections go well and I am not in South Africa)
Please lift Lesotho up in prayer tomorrow and the following days. I think the results can be announced as early as Monday, but it could be later.
We hope everyone had a happy Valentine’s Day! We miss you and love you AND can’t say it enough!
OK so elections will be over by the time this actually posts because we are staying away from town until the results are announced, but I guess its still important to let you know about what’s been going on! –Feb. 17, 2006
February 17, 2006 (by Janeen)
Today is Election Day in Lesotho! So far everything is running smoothly. I am told we could start getting partial results as early as tonight. We had about 5 guests sleep over last night. Some were trying to avoid being in town for elections and some were just visiting. We had a great time. I think about 3 people are planning to stay tonight & tomorrow as well. We are not anticipating anything to happen, but we’ll see! So I did not save my portion of the blog correctly so here is what I wrote (some is now outdated… the joys of inconsistent computers and a mistake by the operator).
February 19, 2007 (by Janeen)
So far we have heard no news of any violence. As of now, the current ruling party (LCD) is in the lead, though ABC, the new party has won some constituencies, which is a new thing for Lesotho. Even if ABC does not win the power, they will still be able to affect change in Lesotho. We’ll keep you update.
February 22, 2007 (by Jason)
Well things here have been pretty quiet. Falling into a routine is sometimes the easiest thing to do around here. An average day for us begins around 5:30 a.m. with the alarm clock going off. That’s right no more roosters or donkeys to wake us up in the morning now that we are on a school compound. It is at this time that one of us, usually Janeen (not that I don’t offer) gets up and begins boiling water for our shower. We brought a solar shower (think we mentioned this) and we have a tub in the house. Man is it nice compared to bucket bathing.
After our showers, we prepare a breakfast of 1 of 3 things. Cereal with milk or yogurt, Eggs in multiple forms or Oatmeal. Lack of variety is something that we are definitely feeling here so if you have any ideas for quick and easy breakfast foods (sorry no pop-tarts here) let us know.
Then Janeen heads to class and I head to one of my 2 schools. Still biking as that is the most reliable (although both wheels on my bike right now are busted) form of transport other than walking that takes 2 to 3 times as long. Then at around noon to 2 o clock, depending on whether or not the school is doing something or there is a meeting, I will head home. This is the hottest part of the day mind you and not usually much fun but I have been seeing my endurance steadily increase so that is kind of cool.
Upon returning home, we usually make a quick lunch consisting of a sandwich or tuna and crackers and then a myriad of activities can take place. Some days I just veg-out playing Gameboy or reading. Other days I go to the library and type blogs or do work for school. Most days that is what happens. There is the occasional day where I have to head to town after work for something or another and this usually kills the rest of my day.
In the evening, usually around 5:30 or 6:00 we begin preparing dinner. After dinner we wash the dishes that we have used the whole day and then just chill out. The days have been so hot, the nights have been some reprieve. Last week we actually watched a movie (once again, think I told you that already)! That was a nice change of pace. We still have no way to watch our DVD’s being that the DVD player our friend has is Region 2 and all our disks are Region 1 (what is the deal with that anyway??). That is fine though as I just finished my 29th book since being in country and am already half way through number 30. I will probably at this rate have read between 100 and 150 by the end of the year but who knows.
We still miss all of you and thanks again to all those who so graciously sent in ideas for grants. Also be thinking about doing small community things like a book-drive or bake sale. Maybe you will only raise a few hundred bucks but here that is a whole bunch of money! Love you all
Jason
February 23, 2007 (by Janeen)
Yippee! Office Live (the server that our website is posted on) has changed the format for editing our website. So, it seems that the process will be easier and there are not as many pages to load before we can post what we need! Hopefully everything will still go smoothly when we try to post tomorrow. Though, please don’t worry about us if we miss a week of posting. The internet is really expensive for us. We are going to try a new place tomorrow that is about ½ the price. Hopefully it will work just as well. Well, it is Friday and normally I am thankful that the weekend has come. I am only half excited today because I still have about 150 compositions to mark. And, Oh! how I love to grade essays! (Can you sense the sarcasm???) I procrastinated last weekend because we had visitors, but just didn’t get them done throughout the week. : ( We also have a busy weekend ahead of us. A Peace Corps volunteer is having a BBQ Saturday afternoon and one of Jason’s schools is having a mokete (Sesotho word for party) on Sunday because the Bishop of the neighboring district is coming to visit.
One of the things that I thoroughly enjoy is morning assembly. Because the school I teach at was begun by a Catholic church, we meet every morning to recite the Lord’s prayer (which I now know by heart… never did before), sing a few songs, and hear a bible verse. Most of the time I cannot hear what verse is being read because the students do not speak loudly enough, but I still enjoy it. I already have some favorite songs though I do not know any of them because they sing in Sesotho. My favorite is about the story of Jesus and Zachias. I only figured that out because I knew the Sesotho word for tree- sefate! Singing in the morning lifts my spirit, especially when it is a fun song. The teachers are in the back dancing while the students sing and sometimes dance themselves. By the way, they can SING here! On Thursday and Friday mornings we are blessed with selections from the school choir, and they are amazing. I wish you all could hear them!
Boy this is getting long, but I have to share one final story (or two). The topic of HIV and AIDs has come up a lot this week. We think we have just about convinced a fellow teacher to go and get tested for HIV. We had a long discussion about why he should know his status. He kept saying, “But what if I’m positive?” They are really afraid here. I know that it is a terrible disease, but we told him that if he does not get tested, he could spread the disease. AND, if he is positive than he needs to get on ARVS (which by the way are provided by the government here) so that he can live a longer, healthier life.
The sad thing is that most people don’t go to get tested until it is too late and ARVs are not an option for them. Also, today I began the discussion with one of my classes about HIV and AIDS. We mostly just discussed because I wanted to see what they knew about the disease. I asked students, “What should you do if you find out that you are HIV positive?” The response I got was outrageous. A student stands up and says that he would kill himself and other students supported his response! I could not believe it. They said that they would rather die than go through the pain. I also got a student who said he would go to the bar and drink so that he would not have to think about being positive. So then we had to discuss healthy choices verses irresponsible choices! Well, it’s a start and this beginning conversation has only convinced me that we need to continue discussing the issue. I know that my specific job title is “English Teacher” but Peace Corps has also made it apparent that we need to also deal with the crisis that is hitting this nation.
Two more things (I promise!): 1)I have a student who is struggling with his eyes. Today he went home early because he could not see out of one of his eyes. He has also been having headaches. I do not know what the doctors have said, or even if he has been to see a doctor, but if you could pray for him I’m sure he could use it! 2)There is another volunteer in our district whose friends and family pay for several students’ school fees. If that is something you are interested in, let us know. So far, I do not know of any students who have dropped out of this school because they could not pay their school fees, but I am told that it is common for students to leave in the middle of the year for that reason. Just so you know: for the entire year, the fees for my school are about 1800 Rand (divide that by 7 and you get US dollars—somewhere between $200-300).
Today it is raining! YEAH! The temperature will cool down for a day or so!
Khotso! Pula! Nala! (That is Sesotho for Peace, Rain, and Prosperity… most speeches end with these words, and it is a part of the national anthem. It is the country’s motto)
Love you all sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much!
February 23, 2007 (written by Jason)
So let me tell you how nice little luxuries are again! We have a friend here at school, Lebaka, already mentioned him in a prior blog, has so graciously given us space in his refrigerator which we quickly filled with water bottles. These water bottles will then freeze and we will have a few hours of cool refreshment before we have to start all over again and have luke-warm to warm water! Blech!!
Also I am reading “Reaching for the Invisible God” by Phillip Yancey. If you want to see almost to the “t”, where I am at spiritually, read this book. I am being humbled again, by how someone I don’t know can look directly into my soul and yank out huge chunks to be examined like that. It is such a good feeling. Well I promised to keep this short (per Janeen’s Orders). Love again
Jason
February 16, 2007 (written by Janeen)
For the past two to three weeks, we have been typing some blogs and saving them to our flash drive. Unfortunately, the computer at school that we were working on had some viruses and when I put my flash drive into another computer to post the blogs, the files were deleted by the virus software on that computer. I was so bummed!
To summarize my five typed pages will not be the same, but here is what I wrote about:
I wrote about my feelings on corporal punishment. Two weeks ago I was one of the teachers on duty, which meant that I had to be on campus at 7:00 am to be sure students arrived on time and we wearing the proper uniform. That was the third week of school, and up until that point I had not seen much beating. That week I saw A LOT! Now it may not hurt too badly, as it does not leave any lasting marks (no bruises, just redness for a short time), but it makes me sick to my stomach when I see it happening. Part of the problem here is that I may not necessarily agree with WHY the student is being punished. For example, they are beaten for speaking Sesotho (in fact I had 3 of my Form A students suspended for a month merely for speaking Sesotho), not wearing the proper uniform, misbehaving in class and others. I have been coming up with alternative forms of punishment like pulling weeds after school, jumping jacks for falling asleep in class, etc. If you have any other ideas, let me know. I have also been discussing the matter with a few of my fellow teachers. I think I have convinced one teacher that beating is not necessarily effective and he is going to try another punishment, such as taking away part of their break (Which is a BIG deal because students are at school from 7-4:30 and again from 7-9 at night. They only have a 20 min. break from 10:40-11 and an hour for lunch). Technically beating students is against the law here in Lesotho, but because it has been a common practice for so long and the law is not enforced, it still occurs. I also spoke with my principal about the punishments because I wanted him to know that I would not beat the students. I asked his permission to use other forms of punishment, and he even said that he encourages his teachers to use other forms of punishment first, but he leaves the decisions up to them.
I also wrote about elections. Elections are tomorrow and we are a little nervous about the outcome of the elections. There is a lot of tension. Many people are not happy with the ruling party, but others still support them. There are about 20 political parties here, but it seems that there are 2 that it is mainly between right now. We are a bit worried because Lesotho has a history of rioting after elections. The fear is that 1) the new party will win and the governing party will not relinquish power, or 2) the new party will lose and they will riot. Like I said the tension is high and both parties have already made claims that the elections may not be fair. Here elections are not completed by the government. A third party was created to ensure fairness, but some people still do not think that they will run fairly. Peace Corps has an emergency action plan to keep us informed and safe. If there are riots we will probably evacuate to South Africa. Though it would be nice to take a trip to South Africa, I still pray for peace for Lesotho. Jason and I normally go into town on Saturdays or Sundays, but this week we are heading in on Friday and coming back to Tsa Kholo. Don’t worry about us. We’ll be safe. We have begun to build relationships here and our community will keep us informed and help take care of us! Also, when there were riots after previous elections, our town only heard of them. It was only the main cities that were affected by the riots.
I also wrote about our packages! We were visited by our supervisor from the Peace Corps and he brought packages! The day we got them felt like Christmas!!! J So that the senders can have peace of mind that the packages arrived, here is who we received packages from: Mom & Dad L-2 packages, Mom & Dad Sam- 2 packages, the Valvos and our life group, the Allens, Bari- 2 packages, Dan, Fiona, and Tracee. Yep, that’s right 11 packages! We were so excited! Thank you all, a thousand times! We appreciate all of you so much and we definitely feel loved. I finally got to remove the stickers on our pots and pans with the goo-gone. We were so thankful and so excited about these gifts! We send our hugs and kisses as thanks. I know that there are a couple packages still on their way (we hope that they will arrive safely). Jason talked to another volunteer whose longest package took 6 months. So we may be waiting a while for the others. We appreciate you too! We got so much stuff that we will have to update our wish list. I’m pretty sure we have at least a 2 year supply of deodorant. Jason has 7 and I have 9! I know we asked for it, but do we smell that bad??? We have updated the wish list of items that can be sent. We removed some items that we no longer need and added a few other items. We got a lot of jerky and gum, but those things can keep coming! I didn’t add this to the wish list, but if you feel like sending candy here are some that we miss: Red vines, Milk Duds (must be wrapped separately in case of melting), Junior Mints (same as Milk Duds), and Reeses Pieces. I didn’t add them to the wish list because we really don’t need that much candy! We have both lost a few pounds (we are still healthy) and both feel good about that. On another note, we appreciate receiving packages, but please don’t feel like you must send one. We know they are expensive to send. Correspondence through letters will keep us happy because we miss you all so much and want to hear about you!
So I have been keeping busy with school. I have about 200 students and I have to learn their names, teach them, and grade their papers. Today all students wrote an English exam, so I will be busy grading those now (they call it marking here). I have also been designated the school librarian. The library was a mess when I got here, so I’ve been cleaning and organizing with the help of some students and of course Jason. He has helped me set up some procedures to keep the library books in the library (apparently some students like to steal books) and keep the library neat. Unfortunately it has taken me 4 weeks to complete this project, but I am happy to say that the library will be open for student use next week (provided that elections go well and I am not in South Africa)
Please lift Lesotho up in prayer tomorrow and the following days. I think the results can be announced as early as Monday, but it could be later.
We hope everyone had a happy Valentine’s Day! We miss you and love you AND can’t say it enough!
OK so elections will be over by the time this actually posts because we are staying away from town until the results are announced, but I guess its still important to let you know about what’s been going on! –Feb. 17, 2006
February 17, 2006 (by Janeen)
Today is Election Day in Lesotho! So far everything is running smoothly. I am told we could start getting partial results as early as tonight. We had about 5 guests sleep over last night. Some were trying to avoid being in town for elections and some were just visiting. We had a great time. I think about 3 people are planning to stay tonight & tomorrow as well. We are not anticipating anything to happen, but we’ll see! So I did not save my portion of the blog correctly so here is what I wrote (some is now outdated… the joys of inconsistent computers and a mistake by the operator).
February 19, 2007 (by Janeen)
So far we have heard no news of any violence. As of now, the current ruling party (LCD) is in the lead, though ABC, the new party has won some constituencies, which is a new thing for Lesotho. Even if ABC does not win the power, they will still be able to affect change in Lesotho. We’ll keep you update.
February 22, 2007 (by Jason)
Well things here have been pretty quiet. Falling into a routine is sometimes the easiest thing to do around here. An average day for us begins around 5:30 a.m. with the alarm clock going off. That’s right no more roosters or donkeys to wake us up in the morning now that we are on a school compound. It is at this time that one of us, usually Janeen (not that I don’t offer) gets up and begins boiling water for our shower. We brought a solar shower (think we mentioned this) and we have a tub in the house. Man is it nice compared to bucket bathing.
After our showers, we prepare a breakfast of 1 of 3 things. Cereal with milk or yogurt, Eggs in multiple forms or Oatmeal. Lack of variety is something that we are definitely feeling here so if you have any ideas for quick and easy breakfast foods (sorry no pop-tarts here) let us know.
Then Janeen heads to class and I head to one of my 2 schools. Still biking as that is the most reliable (although both wheels on my bike right now are busted) form of transport other than walking that takes 2 to 3 times as long. Then at around noon to 2 o clock, depending on whether or not the school is doing something or there is a meeting, I will head home. This is the hottest part of the day mind you and not usually much fun but I have been seeing my endurance steadily increase so that is kind of cool.
Upon returning home, we usually make a quick lunch consisting of a sandwich or tuna and crackers and then a myriad of activities can take place. Some days I just veg-out playing Gameboy or reading. Other days I go to the library and type blogs or do work for school. Most days that is what happens. There is the occasional day where I have to head to town after work for something or another and this usually kills the rest of my day.
In the evening, usually around 5:30 or 6:00 we begin preparing dinner. After dinner we wash the dishes that we have used the whole day and then just chill out. The days have been so hot, the nights have been some reprieve. Last week we actually watched a movie (once again, think I told you that already)! That was a nice change of pace. We still have no way to watch our DVD’s being that the DVD player our friend has is Region 2 and all our disks are Region 1 (what is the deal with that anyway??). That is fine though as I just finished my 29th book since being in country and am already half way through number 30. I will probably at this rate have read between 100 and 150 by the end of the year but who knows.
We still miss all of you and thanks again to all those who so graciously sent in ideas for grants. Also be thinking about doing small community things like a book-drive or bake sale. Maybe you will only raise a few hundred bucks but here that is a whole bunch of money! Love you all
Jason
February 23, 2007 (by Janeen)
Yippee! Office Live (the server that our website is posted on) has changed the format for editing our website. So, it seems that the process will be easier and there are not as many pages to load before we can post what we need! Hopefully everything will still go smoothly when we try to post tomorrow. Though, please don’t worry about us if we miss a week of posting. The internet is really expensive for us. We are going to try a new place tomorrow that is about ½ the price. Hopefully it will work just as well. Well, it is Friday and normally I am thankful that the weekend has come. I am only half excited today because I still have about 150 compositions to mark. And, Oh! how I love to grade essays! (Can you sense the sarcasm???) I procrastinated last weekend because we had visitors, but just didn’t get them done throughout the week. : ( We also have a busy weekend ahead of us. A Peace Corps volunteer is having a BBQ Saturday afternoon and one of Jason’s schools is having a mokete (Sesotho word for party) on Sunday because the Bishop of the neighboring district is coming to visit.
One of the things that I thoroughly enjoy is morning assembly. Because the school I teach at was begun by a Catholic church, we meet every morning to recite the Lord’s prayer (which I now know by heart… never did before), sing a few songs, and hear a bible verse. Most of the time I cannot hear what verse is being read because the students do not speak loudly enough, but I still enjoy it. I already have some favorite songs though I do not know any of them because they sing in Sesotho. My favorite is about the story of Jesus and Zachias. I only figured that out because I knew the Sesotho word for tree- sefate! Singing in the morning lifts my spirit, especially when it is a fun song. The teachers are in the back dancing while the students sing and sometimes dance themselves. By the way, they can SING here! On Thursday and Friday mornings we are blessed with selections from the school choir, and they are amazing. I wish you all could hear them!
Boy this is getting long, but I have to share one final story (or two). The topic of HIV and AIDs has come up a lot this week. We think we have just about convinced a fellow teacher to go and get tested for HIV. We had a long discussion about why he should know his status. He kept saying, “But what if I’m positive?” They are really afraid here. I know that it is a terrible disease, but we told him that if he does not get tested, he could spread the disease. AND, if he is positive than he needs to get on ARVS (which by the way are provided by the government here) so that he can live a longer, healthier life.
The sad thing is that most people don’t go to get tested until it is too late and ARVs are not an option for them. Also, today I began the discussion with one of my classes about HIV and AIDS. We mostly just discussed because I wanted to see what they knew about the disease. I asked students, “What should you do if you find out that you are HIV positive?” The response I got was outrageous. A student stands up and says that he would kill himself and other students supported his response! I could not believe it. They said that they would rather die than go through the pain. I also got a student who said he would go to the bar and drink so that he would not have to think about being positive. So then we had to discuss healthy choices verses irresponsible choices! Well, it’s a start and this beginning conversation has only convinced me that we need to continue discussing the issue. I know that my specific job title is “English Teacher” but Peace Corps has also made it apparent that we need to also deal with the crisis that is hitting this nation.
Two more things (I promise!): 1)I have a student who is struggling with his eyes. Today he went home early because he could not see out of one of his eyes. He has also been having headaches. I do not know what the doctors have said, or even if he has been to see a doctor, but if you could pray for him I’m sure he could use it! 2)There is another volunteer in our district whose friends and family pay for several students’ school fees. If that is something you are interested in, let us know. So far, I do not know of any students who have dropped out of this school because they could not pay their school fees, but I am told that it is common for students to leave in the middle of the year for that reason. Just so you know: for the entire year, the fees for my school are about 1800 Rand (divide that by 7 and you get US dollars—somewhere between $200-300).
Today it is raining! YEAH! The temperature will cool down for a day or so!
Khotso! Pula! Nala! (That is Sesotho for Peace, Rain, and Prosperity… most speeches end with these words, and it is a part of the national anthem. It is the country’s motto)
Love you all sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much!
February 23, 2007 (written by Jason)
So let me tell you how nice little luxuries are again! We have a friend here at school, Lebaka, already mentioned him in a prior blog, has so graciously given us space in his refrigerator which we quickly filled with water bottles. These water bottles will then freeze and we will have a few hours of cool refreshment before we have to start all over again and have luke-warm to warm water! Blech!!
Also I am reading “Reaching for the Invisible God” by Phillip Yancey. If you want to see almost to the “t”, where I am at spiritually, read this book. I am being humbled again, by how someone I don’t know can look directly into my soul and yank out huge chunks to be examined like that. It is such a good feeling. Well I promised to keep this short (per Janeen’s Orders). Love again
Jason
Friday, February 16, 2007
February 16, 2007(written by Jason)
Well what a week, what a week! As many of you probably read, we had previously typed long blogs that were in depth about what is going on with us and how we are coping with everything. But I think the computer gods did not want us to send that one out because; the files got the flu (virus) and had to go bye-bye. But such is life here in Lesotho. We are just very grateful to have a computer on which we can type frequently and use to play free cell and solitaire (we get very bored sometimes.).
The week it self went really well. I returned home after a weekend in the mountains hiking and camping. It really is so gorgeous here. The beauty just continues to take my breath away every time I see one of the gargantuan mountains. I also saw the most wildlife, I have seen since I have been here. It was not a lot but I saw 3 bearded vultures, 3 spring bok (deer like creatures), 2 snakes, and numerous other wildlife in various shapes and sizes. The hike itself was tiring and just as we were about to end day 1, the skies decided to pour rain on us.
In case you have never slept in a thunder storm on the side of a mountain, I don’t really recommend it for a deep nights sleep as water will most likely come through your tent and drench you, your companions, and everything that you brought with you. The weather did clear up though for the rest of our journey and it was a real delight to see this beautiful country in more detail.
Work this week went rather well as well. I was able to coach a few teachers on some simple practices and although I know it will take time, we are going to move ahead. The funny part is, is that I am writing this the morning before I am going to go to school. My schools are very far apart from each other and I have been riding my bike back and forth from them 3-4 days a week. Needless to say I am getting in pretty good shape. By the end of the two years, many of you will probably not recognize me.
Otherwise, we also had a nice treat, watching a movie last night at a friend’s house here at school. Trying to explain certain euphemisms from “Sweet Home Alabama” was a fun cultural experience. It is also bonding us together with one of my closest friends at site. We talk about everything, including politics and religion and he is a really good guy! His name is Lebaka and I am thinking about giving him the nickname Chewbaca! We will have to wait and see though.
Thanks to all of those who have been sending ideas for foundation grants and the like. It really does mean a lot to me that you are being so active in trying to help this little country! Thanks again, but don’t stop. I still need fresh ideas from all of you. To date we have had something close to 3000 visits to our site but I have only had a few responses with ideas! Lets keep them rolling in! And pass this site along if you think someone would enjoy it or wants to know what Peace Corps life is kind of like! All the love in the World!
Jason
Well what a week, what a week! As many of you probably read, we had previously typed long blogs that were in depth about what is going on with us and how we are coping with everything. But I think the computer gods did not want us to send that one out because; the files got the flu (virus) and had to go bye-bye. But such is life here in Lesotho. We are just very grateful to have a computer on which we can type frequently and use to play free cell and solitaire (we get very bored sometimes.).
The week it self went really well. I returned home after a weekend in the mountains hiking and camping. It really is so gorgeous here. The beauty just continues to take my breath away every time I see one of the gargantuan mountains. I also saw the most wildlife, I have seen since I have been here. It was not a lot but I saw 3 bearded vultures, 3 spring bok (deer like creatures), 2 snakes, and numerous other wildlife in various shapes and sizes. The hike itself was tiring and just as we were about to end day 1, the skies decided to pour rain on us.
In case you have never slept in a thunder storm on the side of a mountain, I don’t really recommend it for a deep nights sleep as water will most likely come through your tent and drench you, your companions, and everything that you brought with you. The weather did clear up though for the rest of our journey and it was a real delight to see this beautiful country in more detail.
Work this week went rather well as well. I was able to coach a few teachers on some simple practices and although I know it will take time, we are going to move ahead. The funny part is, is that I am writing this the morning before I am going to go to school. My schools are very far apart from each other and I have been riding my bike back and forth from them 3-4 days a week. Needless to say I am getting in pretty good shape. By the end of the two years, many of you will probably not recognize me.
Otherwise, we also had a nice treat, watching a movie last night at a friend’s house here at school. Trying to explain certain euphemisms from “Sweet Home Alabama” was a fun cultural experience. It is also bonding us together with one of my closest friends at site. We talk about everything, including politics and religion and he is a really good guy! His name is Lebaka and I am thinking about giving him the nickname Chewbaca! We will have to wait and see though.
Thanks to all of those who have been sending ideas for foundation grants and the like. It really does mean a lot to me that you are being so active in trying to help this little country! Thanks again, but don’t stop. I still need fresh ideas from all of you. To date we have had something close to 3000 visits to our site but I have only had a few responses with ideas! Lets keep them rolling in! And pass this site along if you think someone would enjoy it or wants to know what Peace Corps life is kind of like! All the love in the World!
Jason
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Saturday, February 03, 2007
February 2, 2007
(Written by Jason)
Hello all once again! It has been a really long week here in Lesotho! We have had intermittent rainstorms all week but still not enough for the crops that are fed only by the rain. The people here are very scared to talk about it as you can probably imagine. It is a not a great situation as things here may get really bad if there is not enough food this next years harvest. However it is not that bleak as there is still 2 months left in the rainy season. Yet if you think about it throw a shout up to the big man and tell him to let it pour here in little ol’ Lesotho!
We had a friend come stay with us the last few days. Nichol, who is from Colorado, came to hang out with us and bring us our mail that she got from a volunteer who went to Maseru (Yeah it is that confusing right now for us to get our mail. Sorry if you wrote a while ago and we haven’t responded. We really will write you!). That is not the only reason she came though. She is a Resource Teacher like me, but she is working with the ECCD (Early Childhood Care and Development) sector of education. This is a very new program here in Lesotho and needs constant care and support. The ECCD teachers are all volunteers that get paid like M 400 a month. That is less than 100 dollars (to be exact it is close to $50) a month! The pay is so low that these teachers really do it for the love of the students and to see them develop into good students. I will tell you too that in my observations, you can see the difference in those that have been to the schools and those who have not!
My job is going well if not very fast. I have so many ideas for improving the schools and the teaching practices but I know that patient diligence is the only way that I will be able to make a sustainable impact. I know that I have harped on the point that I need ideas from you all out there in cyberspace to look for ideas and possibilities for grants and cooperatives that I can apply for. I have yet to really receive any ideas. I know that you out there are busy, but you have easy access to the internet and that you could spend 10 to 15 minutes surfing for technology or education grants. Some of the places I was thinking that might have them are the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Kellogg Foundation, The Ford Foundation, etc. IF you could do some small bits of research for technology or education grants and send me a link or info. to jason.samuelian@gmail.com that would help me out so much.
I want to leave you with one story on why this is so important for the country and its many students. This morning as I was walking home from taking Nichol to the taxi stand, a woman I have talked to before invited me to her house for peaches. On the way to her house, she told me about her husband who died in 2003 and how she now has no way to make an income or even to plow her plot of land and grow food for her self. She showed me the dry and grown over fields that at one time provided enough food for her, her husband and her 4 children.
She then took me to her house that was barren except for a small wood burning stove and a table. There were no chairs or visible food in the room. In the small bedroom off to the side, there were 2 bags of WFP (World Food Program) maize meal that had been given to her by the chief so that she would not starve. However in order to cook this she had to spend all day collecting enough fuel for her stove in order to boil water so that she can make Papa (corn maize mush). That is basically all she will eat other than the few peaches that she has on her trees.
Her story is all too common. She had no training on anything so that after the death of her husband she was left with no skills except those to get by with. She has no way of advancing her self or moving beyond her desolate situation. This is why I need your help out there. We must train the next generation with the tools and skills that will make them able to compete in the modern world.
So off my soap box again. I love and miss you all! I desperately wish I could see all of you and just hug you for a few minutes. With all my heart,
Jason
(Written by Jason)
Hello all once again! It has been a really long week here in Lesotho! We have had intermittent rainstorms all week but still not enough for the crops that are fed only by the rain. The people here are very scared to talk about it as you can probably imagine. It is a not a great situation as things here may get really bad if there is not enough food this next years harvest. However it is not that bleak as there is still 2 months left in the rainy season. Yet if you think about it throw a shout up to the big man and tell him to let it pour here in little ol’ Lesotho!
We had a friend come stay with us the last few days. Nichol, who is from Colorado, came to hang out with us and bring us our mail that she got from a volunteer who went to Maseru (Yeah it is that confusing right now for us to get our mail. Sorry if you wrote a while ago and we haven’t responded. We really will write you!). That is not the only reason she came though. She is a Resource Teacher like me, but she is working with the ECCD (Early Childhood Care and Development) sector of education. This is a very new program here in Lesotho and needs constant care and support. The ECCD teachers are all volunteers that get paid like M 400 a month. That is less than 100 dollars (to be exact it is close to $50) a month! The pay is so low that these teachers really do it for the love of the students and to see them develop into good students. I will tell you too that in my observations, you can see the difference in those that have been to the schools and those who have not!
My job is going well if not very fast. I have so many ideas for improving the schools and the teaching practices but I know that patient diligence is the only way that I will be able to make a sustainable impact. I know that I have harped on the point that I need ideas from you all out there in cyberspace to look for ideas and possibilities for grants and cooperatives that I can apply for. I have yet to really receive any ideas. I know that you out there are busy, but you have easy access to the internet and that you could spend 10 to 15 minutes surfing for technology or education grants. Some of the places I was thinking that might have them are the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Kellogg Foundation, The Ford Foundation, etc. IF you could do some small bits of research for technology or education grants and send me a link or info. to jason.samuelian@gmail.com that would help me out so much.
I want to leave you with one story on why this is so important for the country and its many students. This morning as I was walking home from taking Nichol to the taxi stand, a woman I have talked to before invited me to her house for peaches. On the way to her house, she told me about her husband who died in 2003 and how she now has no way to make an income or even to plow her plot of land and grow food for her self. She showed me the dry and grown over fields that at one time provided enough food for her, her husband and her 4 children.
She then took me to her house that was barren except for a small wood burning stove and a table. There were no chairs or visible food in the room. In the small bedroom off to the side, there were 2 bags of WFP (World Food Program) maize meal that had been given to her by the chief so that she would not starve. However in order to cook this she had to spend all day collecting enough fuel for her stove in order to boil water so that she can make Papa (corn maize mush). That is basically all she will eat other than the few peaches that she has on her trees.
Her story is all too common. She had no training on anything so that after the death of her husband she was left with no skills except those to get by with. She has no way of advancing her self or moving beyond her desolate situation. This is why I need your help out there. We must train the next generation with the tools and skills that will make them able to compete in the modern world.
So off my soap box again. I love and miss you all! I desperately wish I could see all of you and just hug you for a few minutes. With all my heart,
Jason
Friday, January 26, 2007
January 26, 2007
Exciting News!! WE have our pictures posted online thanks to Andy! I can’t really explain them but they are super cool check them out!!
http://thelansfords.com/ftp_photos/jason/cd1/
(Written by Jason)
Ok so I know the last blog that I wrote was pretty negative. It is tough sometimes to fight off the birds of negativity that land on your shoulder and leave the remnants of despair and anguish. But things are not bad here. In fact more and more it is feeling like home.
Turning on the gas to light the oven seems more and more like a normal practice everyday. Seeing cars that zoom by as you wait for the bus feels normal. Sweating out of every pore from sunup to sundown is becoming comfortably familiar. Riding my bike long distances is to get somewhere not just for fun or exercise (which we get plenty of so we can eat most all the carbs we want!). Seeing cows, donkeys, chickens, goats, sheep and having them watch us, feels practically like they expect us to be there.
I mean not everything is like this. The classrooms here are a mess. Some are missing bricks, they have cracks, no electricity or windows that open for the breeze, chalkboards with more holes in it that if it were shot with a shotgun and none of the chairs have backs on them (this will most likely be the reason that Janeen and I look like old people when we return. Well that and the wrinkled skin on our arms, faces, pretty much anywhere that the sun touches…). But the children and the teachers are generally happy. Their happy energy is contagious and becomes difficult to be negative or sad. I love to ride into my little school, having 10 or so kids trailing after me, to see the smiling faces of my colleagues and quickly forming friends.
The strange parts is, is that I am making mostly female friends here as the men are typically very secretive and keep to themselves. I wonder quite often how they view us strange white people in their land. Do they see us only as white land lords like the Boers of South Africa? Or are they generally guarded as a people? These questions haunt me as I search for Basotho male companionship.
So in conclusion, things are not as bleak as I led on. We are good and although there will be many more blogs where I am confounded and confused by life here, we know again that this is the reason we have come. All our love to you!
January 23, 2007
(Written by Jason)
This is our second day of school for the both of us. Janeen if you all did not remember is teaching at the High School and I am working with 2 primary schools to improve teaching and learning techniques. Janeen’s assignment for this term is 3 form A classes (8th Grade) and 1 form B classes (9th Grade). She is also responsible for the library this year which will most likely be a huge project, getting the books and materials organized and making sure that everything is in order. The one great part is, that there is a computer so that we will be able to blog and create spreadsheets and what not for work. We will also be able to print from the computer in office which is really nice!
I can not speak for Janeen, she does that rather well for herself, but I am finding things tiring and wearing at this point. I know that it is only the second week but with the constant heat during the day, the intensity of the sun and the lack of a social network, things can get pretty tense and tiring at home. This is not to say that Janeen and I have not been doing exceptionally. WE are doing great! I am super excited about that. It is that we have a short fuse for each other and other things around us. Needless to say we need your prayers for patience (one that I have been praying repeatedly today) and temperance.
Let me tell you why I am typing this. The first day at my schools was yesterday. The night before happened to be the first big rain storm we have had in some time and so the ground was very muddy and sloppy. Therefore, when I arrived at my school about 5 minutes late, my legs and shoes were covered in poop smelling mud (as most of the mud mixes with cow, sheep, goat, chicken and other animal fecal matter.). I rushed because I thought that I would miss assembly which is supposed to start at 7:45. Silly me, that on the first day of school the principal/head teacher would not show up and all of the teachers stood around until 8:30 waiting for her to unlock the office. Once we did actually start school, we did not actually start school. The kids milled around cleaning out the classes and making sure that there were desks in the rooms. The teachers meanwhile, kind of supervised, yet I noticed more than one kick, hit, spit fight, play at the tap, etc.
Then finally at 10:00 we started our meeting. The whole purpose of the meeting was to meet me. And me, being the long winded person that I am, spent all of 15 minutes talking about what we are going to do together. This put us at 10:15 when the teachers said that they were going to let the kids go home early and teach tomorrow and that I could leave.
This was fine with me as I had to get to my other school for a meeting that was taking place. However after waiting for the bus which was supposed to come at 10:30 for an hour, I decided to start walking. I was finally picked up and taken to my site right around noon.
At the important meeting that I was supposed to attend, there was a large group of parents and students. This got me really excited and I thought we would be doing something really important. Over the next 3 hours of sitting in the burning sun (yes I do get sunburned), listening to a meeting in Sesotho, of which I understood maybe 3%, I was finally introduced to the crowd. My introduction however got me very nervous because the principal introduced me as the newest teacher to their school. I am not a teacher! Let me repeat that! I am not teaching these next 2 years. I am here to be a means of support and resource not a classroom teacher (come to find out that my supervisor had not talked to him and she promised me that she would write a letter to correct this misunderstanding. We will see!). This took a total of 10 minutes to do mind you and I spent 3 hours baking like a biscuit for that!!
All of this to say that it is only Tuesday and I am already fried. I do hope that you find all of this as funny as I do because what else can you do but laugh, right??
Exciting News!! WE have our pictures posted online thanks to Andy! I can’t really explain them but they are super cool check them out!!
http://thelansfords.com/ftp_photos/jason/cd1/
(Written by Jason)
Ok so I know the last blog that I wrote was pretty negative. It is tough sometimes to fight off the birds of negativity that land on your shoulder and leave the remnants of despair and anguish. But things are not bad here. In fact more and more it is feeling like home.
Turning on the gas to light the oven seems more and more like a normal practice everyday. Seeing cars that zoom by as you wait for the bus feels normal. Sweating out of every pore from sunup to sundown is becoming comfortably familiar. Riding my bike long distances is to get somewhere not just for fun or exercise (which we get plenty of so we can eat most all the carbs we want!). Seeing cows, donkeys, chickens, goats, sheep and having them watch us, feels practically like they expect us to be there.
I mean not everything is like this. The classrooms here are a mess. Some are missing bricks, they have cracks, no electricity or windows that open for the breeze, chalkboards with more holes in it that if it were shot with a shotgun and none of the chairs have backs on them (this will most likely be the reason that Janeen and I look like old people when we return. Well that and the wrinkled skin on our arms, faces, pretty much anywhere that the sun touches…). But the children and the teachers are generally happy. Their happy energy is contagious and becomes difficult to be negative or sad. I love to ride into my little school, having 10 or so kids trailing after me, to see the smiling faces of my colleagues and quickly forming friends.
The strange parts is, is that I am making mostly female friends here as the men are typically very secretive and keep to themselves. I wonder quite often how they view us strange white people in their land. Do they see us only as white land lords like the Boers of South Africa? Or are they generally guarded as a people? These questions haunt me as I search for Basotho male companionship.
So in conclusion, things are not as bleak as I led on. We are good and although there will be many more blogs where I am confounded and confused by life here, we know again that this is the reason we have come. All our love to you!
January 23, 2007
(Written by Jason)
This is our second day of school for the both of us. Janeen if you all did not remember is teaching at the High School and I am working with 2 primary schools to improve teaching and learning techniques. Janeen’s assignment for this term is 3 form A classes (8th Grade) and 1 form B classes (9th Grade). She is also responsible for the library this year which will most likely be a huge project, getting the books and materials organized and making sure that everything is in order. The one great part is, that there is a computer so that we will be able to blog and create spreadsheets and what not for work. We will also be able to print from the computer in office which is really nice!
I can not speak for Janeen, she does that rather well for herself, but I am finding things tiring and wearing at this point. I know that it is only the second week but with the constant heat during the day, the intensity of the sun and the lack of a social network, things can get pretty tense and tiring at home. This is not to say that Janeen and I have not been doing exceptionally. WE are doing great! I am super excited about that. It is that we have a short fuse for each other and other things around us. Needless to say we need your prayers for patience (one that I have been praying repeatedly today) and temperance.
Let me tell you why I am typing this. The first day at my schools was yesterday. The night before happened to be the first big rain storm we have had in some time and so the ground was very muddy and sloppy. Therefore, when I arrived at my school about 5 minutes late, my legs and shoes were covered in poop smelling mud (as most of the mud mixes with cow, sheep, goat, chicken and other animal fecal matter.). I rushed because I thought that I would miss assembly which is supposed to start at 7:45. Silly me, that on the first day of school the principal/head teacher would not show up and all of the teachers stood around until 8:30 waiting for her to unlock the office. Once we did actually start school, we did not actually start school. The kids milled around cleaning out the classes and making sure that there were desks in the rooms. The teachers meanwhile, kind of supervised, yet I noticed more than one kick, hit, spit fight, play at the tap, etc.
Then finally at 10:00 we started our meeting. The whole purpose of the meeting was to meet me. And me, being the long winded person that I am, spent all of 15 minutes talking about what we are going to do together. This put us at 10:15 when the teachers said that they were going to let the kids go home early and teach tomorrow and that I could leave.
This was fine with me as I had to get to my other school for a meeting that was taking place. However after waiting for the bus which was supposed to come at 10:30 for an hour, I decided to start walking. I was finally picked up and taken to my site right around noon.
At the important meeting that I was supposed to attend, there was a large group of parents and students. This got me really excited and I thought we would be doing something really important. Over the next 3 hours of sitting in the burning sun (yes I do get sunburned), listening to a meeting in Sesotho, of which I understood maybe 3%, I was finally introduced to the crowd. My introduction however got me very nervous because the principal introduced me as the newest teacher to their school. I am not a teacher! Let me repeat that! I am not teaching these next 2 years. I am here to be a means of support and resource not a classroom teacher (come to find out that my supervisor had not talked to him and she promised me that she would write a letter to correct this misunderstanding. We will see!). This took a total of 10 minutes to do mind you and I spent 3 hours baking like a biscuit for that!!
All of this to say that it is only Tuesday and I am already fried. I do hope that you find all of this as funny as I do because what else can you do but laugh, right??
Thursday, January 11, 2007
January 11, 2006
Well we have finally arrived here, swearing in day! It has been two months to the day that we arrived in country and we are swearing in about the time that we first arrived at the training center where we have lived off and on during that time. An exciting piece of news is that my fellow volunteers asked me to give the speech today at our swearing in ceremony. I will post the speech possibly some other day. But today we just want to say hello, give our NEW ADDRESS and let you know that we are good and that we love you all!! This will also be the last time for a while that we get to use the internet for the next few months. This however does not mean that we don't want those ideas for grants and stuff to stop rolling in. IN fact, this will give you all plenty of time to do your homework and find the really juicy ones that will provide long lasting sustainable aid. Ok no pressure, but really keep the ideas coming.
So our NEW ADDRESS is:
Jason and Janeen Samuelian
Tsa-Kholo High School
BOX 7
Tsa-Kholo 960 Lesotho
Keep those snail mail letters and stuff coming! They seriously do mean the world to us and we really enjoy writting back! We will see you later Jason and Janeen
Well we have finally arrived here, swearing in day! It has been two months to the day that we arrived in country and we are swearing in about the time that we first arrived at the training center where we have lived off and on during that time. An exciting piece of news is that my fellow volunteers asked me to give the speech today at our swearing in ceremony. I will post the speech possibly some other day. But today we just want to say hello, give our NEW ADDRESS and let you know that we are good and that we love you all!! This will also be the last time for a while that we get to use the internet for the next few months. This however does not mean that we don't want those ideas for grants and stuff to stop rolling in. IN fact, this will give you all plenty of time to do your homework and find the really juicy ones that will provide long lasting sustainable aid. Ok no pressure, but really keep the ideas coming.
So our NEW ADDRESS is:
Jason and Janeen Samuelian
Tsa-Kholo High School
BOX 7
Tsa-Kholo 960 Lesotho
Keep those snail mail letters and stuff coming! They seriously do mean the world to us and we really enjoy writting back! We will see you later Jason and Janeen
January 8, 2006 (by Janeen)
WE ALL PASSED! Everyone in our group passed our language assessment. Jason received an Intermediate Mid level. The rubric states that a sympathetic listener will understand what he is saying. I got an Intermediate High level. The rubric says that most people will understand me, though my errors are evident and I lack vocabulary.
The test made me very anxious. I really do not like to take tests—especially orally. I was nervous pretty much most of the day since I was third from last. The tester was very nice and helped calm me down a bit. I know that I could have done better. After taking the test I thought of things that I could have said, but I didn’t say them. Oh well-- I passed and that is all that really matters.
Today we had an administrative session about money and vacation. I still think that we will be living pretty comfortably even though we are in a developing country. Of course we will be lacking amenities, but we will still be comfortable.
January 7, 2007 (by Jason)
Well I am back again, with another story in the saga that is Janeen and my life. Today is our language test day of which we must pass at an intermediate low level to pass for service (this basically means that we have to speak at a level of a 4-5 year old in order to pass). As things worked out, I was the first one to be tested, along with my friend Rachel. Janeen is probably testing as I write this blog, so if you get this in the next 5-10 min (11:28 lesotho time) throw a prayer up for Janeen.
As for me, I think that my test went pretty well. I won’t really know the results until this evening but I should definitely pass maybe even at a 6-7 year old level!! Pretty excited about that though. So lately Janeen and I have been a little tired and stressed out. We are anxious to get to our site and get some normalcy to a routine, a clean house, etc. However, after the test, we have a week of procedures, exit interviews of training (where they ask like 50 times if you are still committed to the Peace Corps, which we are by the way and if we will stick it out, which we will God forbid anything happen), and finally swearing in. It is not that we don’t love being in Maseru and hanging out with our friends, but we just want to go and get started. You know what I mean?? I don’t know if you do but it is just a little unnerving sometimes.
Thinking about the future at our site, I was already informed that 1 of my schools is going to be expanding starting in 2008. So I know that it is a long way away but the way that I am, I have already begun thinking of ideas that this could possibly mean. I think that it might be the perfect time to put in a library or an art room or something. This means that I am going to need funding for it. This is where all you out there reading this can help me out. I get very limited access to the internet and hence limited time to search for stuff like grants and what not. If you could start researching grants and funds that might be available for such things that would be awesome. Also, other volunteers in the past have petitioned local community groups and churches to collect money and resources for such projects and have had great success. We have a year to do something incredible and I would be so cool if we could do this together. If you find anything or have any ideas, shoot me an e-mail @ jason.samuelian@gmail.com
Thanks for the help! Keep the prayers and e-mails coming! They truly lift our spirits in these strange times! Love you all
WE ALL PASSED! Everyone in our group passed our language assessment. Jason received an Intermediate Mid level. The rubric states that a sympathetic listener will understand what he is saying. I got an Intermediate High level. The rubric says that most people will understand me, though my errors are evident and I lack vocabulary.
The test made me very anxious. I really do not like to take tests—especially orally. I was nervous pretty much most of the day since I was third from last. The tester was very nice and helped calm me down a bit. I know that I could have done better. After taking the test I thought of things that I could have said, but I didn’t say them. Oh well-- I passed and that is all that really matters.
Today we had an administrative session about money and vacation. I still think that we will be living pretty comfortably even though we are in a developing country. Of course we will be lacking amenities, but we will still be comfortable.
January 7, 2007 (by Jason)
Well I am back again, with another story in the saga that is Janeen and my life. Today is our language test day of which we must pass at an intermediate low level to pass for service (this basically means that we have to speak at a level of a 4-5 year old in order to pass). As things worked out, I was the first one to be tested, along with my friend Rachel. Janeen is probably testing as I write this blog, so if you get this in the next 5-10 min (11:28 lesotho time) throw a prayer up for Janeen.
As for me, I think that my test went pretty well. I won’t really know the results until this evening but I should definitely pass maybe even at a 6-7 year old level!! Pretty excited about that though. So lately Janeen and I have been a little tired and stressed out. We are anxious to get to our site and get some normalcy to a routine, a clean house, etc. However, after the test, we have a week of procedures, exit interviews of training (where they ask like 50 times if you are still committed to the Peace Corps, which we are by the way and if we will stick it out, which we will God forbid anything happen), and finally swearing in. It is not that we don’t love being in Maseru and hanging out with our friends, but we just want to go and get started. You know what I mean?? I don’t know if you do but it is just a little unnerving sometimes.
Thinking about the future at our site, I was already informed that 1 of my schools is going to be expanding starting in 2008. So I know that it is a long way away but the way that I am, I have already begun thinking of ideas that this could possibly mean. I think that it might be the perfect time to put in a library or an art room or something. This means that I am going to need funding for it. This is where all you out there reading this can help me out. I get very limited access to the internet and hence limited time to search for stuff like grants and what not. If you could start researching grants and funds that might be available for such things that would be awesome. Also, other volunteers in the past have petitioned local community groups and churches to collect money and resources for such projects and have had great success. We have a year to do something incredible and I would be so cool if we could do this together. If you find anything or have any ideas, shoot me an e-mail @ jason.samuelian@gmail.com
Thanks for the help! Keep the prayers and e-mails coming! They truly lift our spirits in these strange times! Love you all
Friday, January 05, 2007
January 5, 2007
Back in Maseru and back to the internet café!! We went to our actual home for the next two years and had a sweet time moving in and getting settled. It is a huge place that has four rooms and a bathroom. In case you have not heard yet, we do have running water and electricity, and yes it as nice as we remember. Although the water is cold, it is nice to be able to turn on the tap to wash your hands or brush your teeth.
When we first arrived at our site. We were greeted by 3 of my co-workers and a mother from one of the schools that we will be working in. They helped us move in an get settled into our new life in Tsa Kholo. It is a cool village even though it is not small by any means. We have all the modern conviences of a post-office, clinic and multiple shops (that carry the same thing). IT is kind of funny really, but it is really nice, set against a large hill. We are certain to get cell phone coverage and this means you can call whenever you want.
Speaking of which we have cell phones too! If you get a calling card you can talk to us for cheap! Incoming calls are free for us, but it costs us about $2/minute to call you!
011 266 584 70 277--Jason
011 266 584 70 278—Janeen
So call us already! WE would love to chat with you and see how you are doing!! Love you all
Jason
December 31, 2006
(written by Janeen)
Happy new year (almost)! We will experience 2007 10 hours ahead of all you Californians. So at 2:00 PM we will be ringing in the new year. We are very excited to see what 2007 has in store for us. We have left our village from training and will spend the next few days in Maseru at the training site. On January 2nd we will leave Maseru and head to our new home in the Mafetang district.
Christmas and my birthday were enjoyable. We had several people cooking in the kitchen for most of the day. The feast was HUGE and delicious. We went back to the village on my birthday after going food shopping. We tried to get on the internet that day, but it was closed because they celebrate boxing day here. Jason and I wore the cone hats that Bari sent us during dinner. It was a nice day.
While we were back in Maseru during the Christmas break, the kitchen staff spoiled us with American food. We had pizza twice and fish & chips (Ok so that is British…) and I brought out my Heinz Ketchup that Andy & Mari bought for us the night before we left. We shared it with everyone and finished about ¾ of the bottle. Everyone was very excited about it! They have ketchup here called All Gold that is pretty good, but its just not the same as Heinz 57! J I’ve heard that we can get Heinz in South Africa, so I am going to wait to request it until we have permission to check out the South African goods. Once we swear in on January 11, we have to remain in our districts for the first 3 months. So we are even restricted in our travel within Lesotho.
Another note about Christmas…. We THOUGHT that we were escaping the hustle and bustle of Christmas, but it was the same here in Maseru. Of course in the village it was quiet. They do get new clothes at Christmas and they clean their homes, but the commercial aspect is quiet. We came back to Maseru and had to brave the horrendous Christmas lines to get Secret Santa gifts. It was fun. Jason got a permanent marker and some toy cars, and I got a tank top and some measuring cups. Its amazing how excited we got over so little! J
So… a few things about the internet here---it is HORRIBLE. Not only is it slow, it does not work consistently. I’ve learned to type the blogs on word, while I am waiting for the pages to load. I’ve had to email what I wrote in word to myself several times and had to post them later when I got the page to load in the hour of internet that I paid for. Or right now I just read an email from Val, tried to respond and then instead of sending the email response, I got “Cannot find server.” So most likely we will read your emails and respond with snail mail. With the internet being so slow, we have also tried to post pictures without being successful. I’ve heard internet in South Africa is faster, so we’ll try again in about 3 ½ months. So until then you’ll only get to see the few that we have posted so far. L
By the way… we have consolidated our “send us” list and posted it under the “contact us” section of our site. You will also find a running list of books that we have read. I am currently in the process of finding a book. I was going to read Dear Exile next, but one of our trainers borrowed it and is reading it now.
By the way, Jason is also writing something to post on the blog. We are both sitting at the internet café right now. If we repeat any info, we apologize.
Once again, we love you all and miss you sooooo much! Happy New Year, may 2007 be good to you.
December 31, 2006
Written by Jason:
Hey all from the mountain kingdom!! We are finally done with CBT (community based training)! Hooray! I do say this with some regret as we made some close friends there and I don’t really know if we will ever make it back there to see those people ever again, which is kind of sad! Let me give you a run down on some of the funny and not so funny things that we have seen:
Bats flying in and out of our ceiling making all kinds of racket all hours of the night
A grasshopper flying into Janeen’s hair while she was sleeping and we are not talking the tiny kind. We are talking 3 inches long!!
Pit Latrines that you should never, ever, ever spray bug killer down in, but you have to or risk being overtaken by flies, bees, spiders, etc.
Sickness everything from HIV, to TB, to Colds
Children being hit, chastised, laughed at because they can not defend themselves.
Children doing the same thing to each other because that is the model that they have been given.
Poverty, because of the world food program. Don’t get me wrong. IT is a good thing but it makes some people very lazy and unproductive. Giving food can not be the answer!
Habitual Alcoholism-mostly by men but some women too
Did I mention HIV/AIDS??
We had a great time at site learning the language (ke bua Sesotho Hahoolo! I speak Sesotho a lot!! NOT REALLY, but I try really hard!) learning the culture, everything from witch doctors to circumcision school (our Masotho Brother just went and came back, weird!!), and eating bland starchy foods!! But the best part is the people. Happy, sad, real people. We can only put on a mask for so long and then everybody shows there true colors. Our m’e (mother) really let us into her life and let us see her pain and her joy. The exhaustion that poverty and sickness takes and most of all the beauty of her language and people. We really do love it here!
Pray for Lesotho and the people here! Pray that we will be accepted at our site and most all pray for Janeen and mine continued great relationship. We love and miss you all and appreciate all those e-mails, letters, packages, etc. that you are sending! Keep it up!
December 22, 2006
We are back in Maseru at the training compound for a few days! J We will get to take warm showers and use the laundry machine. Jason and I will try to post more pictures tomorrow, when we have more time! We’ll update you all as well. Merry Christmas! We miss you all.
December 23, 2006
It feels like Christmas! J Yesterday we received 4 packages. One from Mom Samuelian and three from Bari & Eric Amos (Jason knows Bari from semester at sea). We got lots of goodies. Bari sent a care package, a Christmas package, and a birthday package! We got stockings and fun toys.
Yesterday everyone else found out where they will be living for the next two years. We have known for about a month now, so there were not any surprises for us. Except that we got to view a short video of what our home will look like. Our home will have both electricity and running water! Jason was a little disappointed because he feels that our experience will not be roughing it as much as he thought we would be. We will have 3 rooms, a living room, and a bathroom. We get to see our site on January 2, when we will visit for 4 days before swearing in. The purpose of this visit is to have a reality check and to be sure that we really can live like that for 2 years. They really want to be sure that we will not quit.
On our cell phones—we are 10 hours ahead right now. The best times to call are from 8 PM-10PM (CA time) or 6 AM-10 AM (CA time). During training we have sessions and are not always available. We’d love to hear from you (but be sure to buy a calling card so that it does not cost you an arm and a leg). Incoming calls for us are free, but it is $2 a minute for us to call you!
Jason might update also today. We are really missing you all right now. We hope you have the merriest of Christmases!
December 14, 2006
So we are back in Maseru today for food shopping because we are going to the national park on Saturday as a field trip. We have heard great things about this trip and are quite excited. We’ll let you know how it goes. There is not much new today. We have received quite a few letters recently and are VERY happy about that! It helps us feel connected to home and we really miss everyone! We are coming to the end of our Community Based Training (CBT). We will have a few days in Maseru over the holidays and will respond to emails at that time. Please do not feel that we are being short with you. We are really just limited on internet time. We have written over 40 snail mail letters. Which reminds me, can you let me know when you have received them and also let me know what # you received. That would be very helpful in knowing how long mail takes. Merry Christmas everyone! We wish we could celebrate with you, and enjoy the cooler weather. It has been VERY hot the past few days! Love to you all!
December 9, 2006
Hey all those folks out there in the rest of the planet! Greetings once again from Lesotho. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas all. It has been a little hard to get into the spirit this year as we are currently dealing with temperatures in the 90’s. It is dry though so not that unbearable. It will certainly make for an interesting X-mas!! We are really starting to miss friends and family as we are about to reach our month mark in country. On the bright side though, getting into routines of bucket baths, cooking at 4:30 to 5:00 p.m. because it is still light and because we want our house to be cooler for sleep time and those trips to the pit latrine, now seem almost (emphasis on almost) normal. Life is much simpler when all you have to think about is walking to work, walking home, eating and that is pretty much it. It is really nice. Some new experiences this week as we had our first practice weeks of teaching. Janeen is teaching Form A which was the equivalent of 8th grade and I taught class 5 (5th grade equivalent). Needless to say, kids here are starved for education. In the 5th class, the students did not have a teacher the entire year and had to make due with teachers that would come in at intermittent time periods. It is crazy to think that they would even have class for them. The students basically just hang out and do the assigned reading. Then someone may or may not come and check their exercise books to see if they finished them. Then they test and fail and have to repeat the class again. At least primary education is now free, unlike where Janeen is teaching where it costs money to go to school plus books, uniform, food, boarding, etc. One bit of exciting news was that our Ntate (Dad) came home 2 nights ago from the mines in South Africa. He will come home only twice annually and then for periods ranging between a few days and a few weeks for close family deaths. It is customary to bring a gift for family members when they do come home and he brought us some chicken. Not live, like our trainer thought, but just meat. It was a little weird having our M’e knock on the door at 6:00 a.m. with chicken meat. Our Ntate looks older than I think he is and very, very tired. Health update for our M’e (mom), we still think that she might have breast cancer as we have not gotten a contrary story to that thus far. We don’t think that they treat it here and it really is quite sad to think about. Other than that we will try and post some more pictures next week if we get a chance. We would love you to see our daily life here and we will attempt to post some of those pictures. . Please E-mail us if you can. We miss you all and it is our First x-mas away from family and friends.
December 2, 2006
First of all, we now have cell phones! You can get a calling card and call us anytime you wish! :)
Here are our numbers:
011 266 584 70 277--Jason
011 266 584 70 278--Janeen
We are not sure just yet, whose phone will be whose, but wanted to give you the numbers.
We are currently living in a village with a host family. The communication barrier is certainly difficult. For example, one morning our 'M'e wanted to iron our clothes and the situation went like this: a lot of misunderstanding. When we figured out that she wanted to iron our clothes, we went and got some clothes to iron. Then still not doing what she wanted, I took the ironing board into my room thinking I had to iron there. Finally we figured out that she wanted us to iron the clothes that we had on! It was pretty crazy!
Another interesting story I have is from when we went on our site visit about a week ago. I was in the staff lounge with the teachers and they began a debate on gender equality. One male teacher stood up and said that women are inferior because they were made from the man's rib according to the bible. I also broke out with a bibical response and told him that in the bible it says that women were created from the rib in order to stand beside man, not in front of or behind him! Apparently we will be working on gender issues here in Lesotho.
Just a side note--- if we email you (or write a blog) that contains many errors, it is because we are trying to write really fast as we are very limited on time and internet availability!
We are having a great time and are really enjoying ourselves. We still have about 6 weeks left of training before we are officially volunteers! Happy Holidays everyone! We love and miss you much!
November 22, 2006
Hey all! Just got back from Ha Sefako in the Butha-Buthe district. It was in the northern most part of the country. It is an extremely remote location with beautiful views and a totally quiet pace of life. Janeen and I went with two other Trainees; Sasha and Karli. These girls are both from Minnesota and grew up 20 minutes away from each other. They added a whole other dimension to our travels.
Our hosts for the weekend were Marissa and Anthony. They have been volunteers for a year and have had a variety of different experience. It was our first time with no electricity and no running water on the trip. It wasn’t half bad. It actually did make you consume less and think about every drop that you were using. It really was interesting when we choose to bathe. I guess you just adopt different meanings of “clean”. Other than the lack of normal amenities, the location was beautiful. It would be the ideal place if the population had work or if there were basic health services. I also think that I would get pretty tired of Papa and Morroho (Corn meal fluffed and chopped up spinach sauted in sunflower oil).
Mainly the trip got us excited for being in our CBT (community based training) villages and stressed the importance of knowing the language. Being able to communicate to the nationals in the native tongue brings such an impact as they are struck with how much you value their culture. Anthony is basically fluent and communicates so well that he is often called a son of Moshoeshoe (the first king of Lesotho). We both hope that we will be there in a years time.
Also posting some pics. Don't miss em!!!
All our Best
Jason and Janeen
November 17, 2006
Khotso! (pronounced Hho- tszo and is a greeting that means peace)
We have now been in Lesotho for a full week. It feels like we have been here a month! Initially the pace was slow. Last Saturday we were anxious to get started because we got here and had a few relaxes sessions, and then had a free day on Sunday. Little did we know what would begin on Monday! This week has been full of activities from breakfast at 8:00 AM to our final session ending at 8:30 PM. We are learning A LOT about the Basotho (pronounced Ba-soo-too) culture as well as the Sesotho (pronounced Si-soo-too) language. We are practicing our language, but still talk in English outside of Sesotho class. I am sure that when we go to the village next week we will get a lot more practice.
Jason and I are lucky enough to find out what our placement will be for the next 2 years (after our swearing in ceremony on January 11, 2007). Because we are a couple, they had a place ready for us. Jason has already met one of the teachers that he will be working with. He even met the volunteer that he will be replacing. She went home today and had worked very hard to make improvement in the school. He will have a good base and will be able to continue some of the things she began as well as introduce new ideas. He will be the resource teacher for 2 schools that are on both sides of where I my project will be.
I will be teaching English at Tsa-Kholo (pronounced Sa Hollo) high school and we will be living on the school compound. The school is located in the Mafeteng district (one of 10 districts in Lesotho), which is just south of the Maseru (capital) district. We will have electricity, but will have to fetch water from the pump. We have also been told that internet is VERY expensive there, so we will have to wait to post blogs for when we are able to go into Maseru (or very rarely).
As for the next few weeks: here is what’s up. We leave on Sunday to visit current volunteers. We will return to the training site on Wednesday, but will leave again on Thursday (Thanksgiving) for our Community Based Training (CBT). We will be adopted into families in three different villages. We will learn to cook, wash our clothes and dishes with limited water, as well as speak Sesotho better. We will still have training activities during the day as well. We are really looking forward to getting out there because we feel that we have been very sheltered staying here on the training compound.
Now that I have written a LOT… I will bid adieu. We really do love you all and think about you all the time! We appreciate your prayers.
By the way… we also received our first piece of mail! Thank you Mom Sam! J We LOVE it… keep it coming!
--Janeen
Hey everybody! Lumela ea Lesotho! Greetings once again from the mountain kingdom of Lesotho. Well as you can see, we have been super busy moving around and doing stuff. We are in sessions daily from early in the morning to what has been very late at night. The sessions range from everything from Cultural Awareness to language training. Things are very good. We love it here. I did have a moment of anxiety when we did find out our placement. I took a few deep breaths was wide eyed for a while but then was fine.
I also found out that the person that I am replacing is like mega ultra amazing volunteer. She was instrumental in setting up a national HIV/ AIDS awareness campaign using puppetry for youth. She also started a library at her school and received 1200 books from donors around the world. So I have no shoes to fill what so ever! But I am super excited!!
Well we would love to hear from you all and see how you guys are doing. Life here may be very busy but it moves very slow as well!
Khotso! Pula! Nala!- Peace, Rain, Prosperity!
--Jason
November 14, 2006
Lumela! (hello in Sesotho, pronounced Doomayla) We are in Lesotho, Africa! We are really enjoying our time here, but are VERY busy learning about the culture and language! Currently we are living at the Peace Corps training center and have hot showers and electricity. Next week we will go to our villages to live with a family for about 5 weeks.
We have 22 other Peace Corps trainees in our group and are enjoying getting to know them. Everyone is a lot of fun. Peace Corps volunteers aren't all granolas! They are normal people like us! :)
We miss everyone and will write again when we have more time! Love you all!
P.S. We are 10 hours ahead of PST.
November 1, 2006
So we are finishing packing up, tying up those loosed ends and taking care of business. We are about 95% finished packing and will be moving all of our worldly posessions (minus the stuff that is staying here, will explain, and the things we are taking with us) to Sonora. The stress levels have been moderate to low, but we are getting tired of packing and moving stuff out. One good thing is that even though we aren't being billed for cable, they haven't shut it off yet and we are enjoying free internet and TV until pack the last of our things.
The Peace Corps did send us our final packet of information and letters from country staff. Pretty interesting to check out!!
I am also trying to sell our XC-90. SO if you know anyone that has a interest in a slightly used luxurary SUV, send them to my E-bay site http://http:/cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&sspagename=ADME:L:LCA:US:31&viewitem=&item=110050365040
One more interesting aside, Andy and Mari are going to be living in our house for a while and they will be keeping some of our stuff during that period of time. It is nice to be able to have the flexibility of them staying here so that we don't have to move all of our stuff.
Well that is pretty much it. Keep on praying for us and we will do the same if you ask it of us. Much love!!
This page was last modified on November 01, 2006 11:49 AM
October 25, 2006
We would be delighted to hear from everyone while we are away. Our mailing address is:
Jason & Janeen Samuelian, PCT
c/o Peace Corps/Lesotho
PO Box 554
Maseru, 100 LESOTHO
PCT stands for Peace Corps Trainee, and becomes PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) after our three months of training.
We have heard that the mail system is pretty reliable, but that it takes about 2 weeks to get mail there.
Sept. 12th 2006-
Announcing the news... That we have been waiting to give you all for a year now.
Janeen and I have been invited to join the Peace Corps in the country of Lesotho (pronounced Lesutu). We recieved the invitation yesterday, on my birthday and are happy to say that we accepted the invitation this morning. We will be leaving the good ol USA on the 10th of Nov. for our new home. We will be in staging beginning the 7th of Nov. and then we will leave for our new adventure.
There is a lot to tell and so little time to do so, hence we would love to hear from any and all of you and answer you questions individually. Please feel free to e-mail me or Janeen at our emails. http://jasonandjaneensam.com/_layouts/wh/Designer/mailtjason.samuelian@gmail.com http://jasonandjaneensam.com/_layouts/wh/Designer/mailtjaneen_samuelian@yahoo.comYou can also check out our website that we will update, internet permitting, from time to time. The address is http://www.jasonandjaneensam.com/
Pretty simple to remember and look at. We have also posted our graduate thesises and we will be posting the PDF of information that the Peace Corps gave to us for more info. about our situation while in Lesotho. We are so excited to share this adventure with all of you and know that we will be in your thoughts and prayers.
All our Best
Jason and Janeen Samuelian
Peace Corps Volunteers 2006-2008 (Lesotho)
August 2nd, 2006
So I am in an Excel class @ CompUSA in Monrovia. It is for work, however some of the class is a little behind what I am already capable of doing. We were having some difficulties at work today and I can't help but think of what kind of challenges that they are having over there today and I can't wait to get this class over with so I can head back there and see if I can do anything.
I also don't even remember the slow pace of life that was easy to get used to on vacation just 1 short week ago. It feels like an eternity since we were there. But that is the nature of life.
Till tomorrow.
Jason
Back in Maseru and back to the internet café!! We went to our actual home for the next two years and had a sweet time moving in and getting settled. It is a huge place that has four rooms and a bathroom. In case you have not heard yet, we do have running water and electricity, and yes it as nice as we remember. Although the water is cold, it is nice to be able to turn on the tap to wash your hands or brush your teeth.
When we first arrived at our site. We were greeted by 3 of my co-workers and a mother from one of the schools that we will be working in. They helped us move in an get settled into our new life in Tsa Kholo. It is a cool village even though it is not small by any means. We have all the modern conviences of a post-office, clinic and multiple shops (that carry the same thing). IT is kind of funny really, but it is really nice, set against a large hill. We are certain to get cell phone coverage and this means you can call whenever you want.
Speaking of which we have cell phones too! If you get a calling card you can talk to us for cheap! Incoming calls are free for us, but it costs us about $2/minute to call you!
011 266 584 70 277--Jason
011 266 584 70 278—Janeen
So call us already! WE would love to chat with you and see how you are doing!! Love you all
Jason
December 31, 2006
(written by Janeen)
Happy new year (almost)! We will experience 2007 10 hours ahead of all you Californians. So at 2:00 PM we will be ringing in the new year. We are very excited to see what 2007 has in store for us. We have left our village from training and will spend the next few days in Maseru at the training site. On January 2nd we will leave Maseru and head to our new home in the Mafetang district.
Christmas and my birthday were enjoyable. We had several people cooking in the kitchen for most of the day. The feast was HUGE and delicious. We went back to the village on my birthday after going food shopping. We tried to get on the internet that day, but it was closed because they celebrate boxing day here. Jason and I wore the cone hats that Bari sent us during dinner. It was a nice day.
While we were back in Maseru during the Christmas break, the kitchen staff spoiled us with American food. We had pizza twice and fish & chips (Ok so that is British…) and I brought out my Heinz Ketchup that Andy & Mari bought for us the night before we left. We shared it with everyone and finished about ¾ of the bottle. Everyone was very excited about it! They have ketchup here called All Gold that is pretty good, but its just not the same as Heinz 57! J I’ve heard that we can get Heinz in South Africa, so I am going to wait to request it until we have permission to check out the South African goods. Once we swear in on January 11, we have to remain in our districts for the first 3 months. So we are even restricted in our travel within Lesotho.
Another note about Christmas…. We THOUGHT that we were escaping the hustle and bustle of Christmas, but it was the same here in Maseru. Of course in the village it was quiet. They do get new clothes at Christmas and they clean their homes, but the commercial aspect is quiet. We came back to Maseru and had to brave the horrendous Christmas lines to get Secret Santa gifts. It was fun. Jason got a permanent marker and some toy cars, and I got a tank top and some measuring cups. Its amazing how excited we got over so little! J
So… a few things about the internet here---it is HORRIBLE. Not only is it slow, it does not work consistently. I’ve learned to type the blogs on word, while I am waiting for the pages to load. I’ve had to email what I wrote in word to myself several times and had to post them later when I got the page to load in the hour of internet that I paid for. Or right now I just read an email from Val, tried to respond and then instead of sending the email response, I got “Cannot find server.” So most likely we will read your emails and respond with snail mail. With the internet being so slow, we have also tried to post pictures without being successful. I’ve heard internet in South Africa is faster, so we’ll try again in about 3 ½ months. So until then you’ll only get to see the few that we have posted so far. L
By the way… we have consolidated our “send us” list and posted it under the “contact us” section of our site. You will also find a running list of books that we have read. I am currently in the process of finding a book. I was going to read Dear Exile next, but one of our trainers borrowed it and is reading it now.
By the way, Jason is also writing something to post on the blog. We are both sitting at the internet café right now. If we repeat any info, we apologize.
Once again, we love you all and miss you sooooo much! Happy New Year, may 2007 be good to you.
December 31, 2006
Written by Jason:
Hey all from the mountain kingdom!! We are finally done with CBT (community based training)! Hooray! I do say this with some regret as we made some close friends there and I don’t really know if we will ever make it back there to see those people ever again, which is kind of sad! Let me give you a run down on some of the funny and not so funny things that we have seen:
Bats flying in and out of our ceiling making all kinds of racket all hours of the night
A grasshopper flying into Janeen’s hair while she was sleeping and we are not talking the tiny kind. We are talking 3 inches long!!
Pit Latrines that you should never, ever, ever spray bug killer down in, but you have to or risk being overtaken by flies, bees, spiders, etc.
Sickness everything from HIV, to TB, to Colds
Children being hit, chastised, laughed at because they can not defend themselves.
Children doing the same thing to each other because that is the model that they have been given.
Poverty, because of the world food program. Don’t get me wrong. IT is a good thing but it makes some people very lazy and unproductive. Giving food can not be the answer!
Habitual Alcoholism-mostly by men but some women too
Did I mention HIV/AIDS??
We had a great time at site learning the language (ke bua Sesotho Hahoolo! I speak Sesotho a lot!! NOT REALLY, but I try really hard!) learning the culture, everything from witch doctors to circumcision school (our Masotho Brother just went and came back, weird!!), and eating bland starchy foods!! But the best part is the people. Happy, sad, real people. We can only put on a mask for so long and then everybody shows there true colors. Our m’e (mother) really let us into her life and let us see her pain and her joy. The exhaustion that poverty and sickness takes and most of all the beauty of her language and people. We really do love it here!
Pray for Lesotho and the people here! Pray that we will be accepted at our site and most all pray for Janeen and mine continued great relationship. We love and miss you all and appreciate all those e-mails, letters, packages, etc. that you are sending! Keep it up!
December 22, 2006
We are back in Maseru at the training compound for a few days! J We will get to take warm showers and use the laundry machine. Jason and I will try to post more pictures tomorrow, when we have more time! We’ll update you all as well. Merry Christmas! We miss you all.
December 23, 2006
It feels like Christmas! J Yesterday we received 4 packages. One from Mom Samuelian and three from Bari & Eric Amos (Jason knows Bari from semester at sea). We got lots of goodies. Bari sent a care package, a Christmas package, and a birthday package! We got stockings and fun toys.
Yesterday everyone else found out where they will be living for the next two years. We have known for about a month now, so there were not any surprises for us. Except that we got to view a short video of what our home will look like. Our home will have both electricity and running water! Jason was a little disappointed because he feels that our experience will not be roughing it as much as he thought we would be. We will have 3 rooms, a living room, and a bathroom. We get to see our site on January 2, when we will visit for 4 days before swearing in. The purpose of this visit is to have a reality check and to be sure that we really can live like that for 2 years. They really want to be sure that we will not quit.
On our cell phones—we are 10 hours ahead right now. The best times to call are from 8 PM-10PM (CA time) or 6 AM-10 AM (CA time). During training we have sessions and are not always available. We’d love to hear from you (but be sure to buy a calling card so that it does not cost you an arm and a leg). Incoming calls for us are free, but it is $2 a minute for us to call you!
Jason might update also today. We are really missing you all right now. We hope you have the merriest of Christmases!
December 14, 2006
So we are back in Maseru today for food shopping because we are going to the national park on Saturday as a field trip. We have heard great things about this trip and are quite excited. We’ll let you know how it goes. There is not much new today. We have received quite a few letters recently and are VERY happy about that! It helps us feel connected to home and we really miss everyone! We are coming to the end of our Community Based Training (CBT). We will have a few days in Maseru over the holidays and will respond to emails at that time. Please do not feel that we are being short with you. We are really just limited on internet time. We have written over 40 snail mail letters. Which reminds me, can you let me know when you have received them and also let me know what # you received. That would be very helpful in knowing how long mail takes. Merry Christmas everyone! We wish we could celebrate with you, and enjoy the cooler weather. It has been VERY hot the past few days! Love to you all!
December 9, 2006
Hey all those folks out there in the rest of the planet! Greetings once again from Lesotho. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas all. It has been a little hard to get into the spirit this year as we are currently dealing with temperatures in the 90’s. It is dry though so not that unbearable. It will certainly make for an interesting X-mas!! We are really starting to miss friends and family as we are about to reach our month mark in country. On the bright side though, getting into routines of bucket baths, cooking at 4:30 to 5:00 p.m. because it is still light and because we want our house to be cooler for sleep time and those trips to the pit latrine, now seem almost (emphasis on almost) normal. Life is much simpler when all you have to think about is walking to work, walking home, eating and that is pretty much it. It is really nice. Some new experiences this week as we had our first practice weeks of teaching. Janeen is teaching Form A which was the equivalent of 8th grade and I taught class 5 (5th grade equivalent). Needless to say, kids here are starved for education. In the 5th class, the students did not have a teacher the entire year and had to make due with teachers that would come in at intermittent time periods. It is crazy to think that they would even have class for them. The students basically just hang out and do the assigned reading. Then someone may or may not come and check their exercise books to see if they finished them. Then they test and fail and have to repeat the class again. At least primary education is now free, unlike where Janeen is teaching where it costs money to go to school plus books, uniform, food, boarding, etc. One bit of exciting news was that our Ntate (Dad) came home 2 nights ago from the mines in South Africa. He will come home only twice annually and then for periods ranging between a few days and a few weeks for close family deaths. It is customary to bring a gift for family members when they do come home and he brought us some chicken. Not live, like our trainer thought, but just meat. It was a little weird having our M’e knock on the door at 6:00 a.m. with chicken meat. Our Ntate looks older than I think he is and very, very tired. Health update for our M’e (mom), we still think that she might have breast cancer as we have not gotten a contrary story to that thus far. We don’t think that they treat it here and it really is quite sad to think about. Other than that we will try and post some more pictures next week if we get a chance. We would love you to see our daily life here and we will attempt to post some of those pictures. . Please E-mail us if you can. We miss you all and it is our First x-mas away from family and friends.
December 2, 2006
First of all, we now have cell phones! You can get a calling card and call us anytime you wish! :)
Here are our numbers:
011 266 584 70 277--Jason
011 266 584 70 278--Janeen
We are not sure just yet, whose phone will be whose, but wanted to give you the numbers.
We are currently living in a village with a host family. The communication barrier is certainly difficult. For example, one morning our 'M'e wanted to iron our clothes and the situation went like this: a lot of misunderstanding. When we figured out that she wanted to iron our clothes, we went and got some clothes to iron. Then still not doing what she wanted, I took the ironing board into my room thinking I had to iron there. Finally we figured out that she wanted us to iron the clothes that we had on! It was pretty crazy!
Another interesting story I have is from when we went on our site visit about a week ago. I was in the staff lounge with the teachers and they began a debate on gender equality. One male teacher stood up and said that women are inferior because they were made from the man's rib according to the bible. I also broke out with a bibical response and told him that in the bible it says that women were created from the rib in order to stand beside man, not in front of or behind him! Apparently we will be working on gender issues here in Lesotho.
Just a side note--- if we email you (or write a blog) that contains many errors, it is because we are trying to write really fast as we are very limited on time and internet availability!
We are having a great time and are really enjoying ourselves. We still have about 6 weeks left of training before we are officially volunteers! Happy Holidays everyone! We love and miss you much!
November 22, 2006
Hey all! Just got back from Ha Sefako in the Butha-Buthe district. It was in the northern most part of the country. It is an extremely remote location with beautiful views and a totally quiet pace of life. Janeen and I went with two other Trainees; Sasha and Karli. These girls are both from Minnesota and grew up 20 minutes away from each other. They added a whole other dimension to our travels.
Our hosts for the weekend were Marissa and Anthony. They have been volunteers for a year and have had a variety of different experience. It was our first time with no electricity and no running water on the trip. It wasn’t half bad. It actually did make you consume less and think about every drop that you were using. It really was interesting when we choose to bathe. I guess you just adopt different meanings of “clean”. Other than the lack of normal amenities, the location was beautiful. It would be the ideal place if the population had work or if there were basic health services. I also think that I would get pretty tired of Papa and Morroho (Corn meal fluffed and chopped up spinach sauted in sunflower oil).
Mainly the trip got us excited for being in our CBT (community based training) villages and stressed the importance of knowing the language. Being able to communicate to the nationals in the native tongue brings such an impact as they are struck with how much you value their culture. Anthony is basically fluent and communicates so well that he is often called a son of Moshoeshoe (the first king of Lesotho). We both hope that we will be there in a years time.
Also posting some pics. Don't miss em!!!
All our Best
Jason and Janeen
November 17, 2006
Khotso! (pronounced Hho- tszo and is a greeting that means peace)
We have now been in Lesotho for a full week. It feels like we have been here a month! Initially the pace was slow. Last Saturday we were anxious to get started because we got here and had a few relaxes sessions, and then had a free day on Sunday. Little did we know what would begin on Monday! This week has been full of activities from breakfast at 8:00 AM to our final session ending at 8:30 PM. We are learning A LOT about the Basotho (pronounced Ba-soo-too) culture as well as the Sesotho (pronounced Si-soo-too) language. We are practicing our language, but still talk in English outside of Sesotho class. I am sure that when we go to the village next week we will get a lot more practice.
Jason and I are lucky enough to find out what our placement will be for the next 2 years (after our swearing in ceremony on January 11, 2007). Because we are a couple, they had a place ready for us. Jason has already met one of the teachers that he will be working with. He even met the volunteer that he will be replacing. She went home today and had worked very hard to make improvement in the school. He will have a good base and will be able to continue some of the things she began as well as introduce new ideas. He will be the resource teacher for 2 schools that are on both sides of where I my project will be.
I will be teaching English at Tsa-Kholo (pronounced Sa Hollo) high school and we will be living on the school compound. The school is located in the Mafeteng district (one of 10 districts in Lesotho), which is just south of the Maseru (capital) district. We will have electricity, but will have to fetch water from the pump. We have also been told that internet is VERY expensive there, so we will have to wait to post blogs for when we are able to go into Maseru (or very rarely).
As for the next few weeks: here is what’s up. We leave on Sunday to visit current volunteers. We will return to the training site on Wednesday, but will leave again on Thursday (Thanksgiving) for our Community Based Training (CBT). We will be adopted into families in three different villages. We will learn to cook, wash our clothes and dishes with limited water, as well as speak Sesotho better. We will still have training activities during the day as well. We are really looking forward to getting out there because we feel that we have been very sheltered staying here on the training compound.
Now that I have written a LOT… I will bid adieu. We really do love you all and think about you all the time! We appreciate your prayers.
By the way… we also received our first piece of mail! Thank you Mom Sam! J We LOVE it… keep it coming!
--Janeen
Hey everybody! Lumela ea Lesotho! Greetings once again from the mountain kingdom of Lesotho. Well as you can see, we have been super busy moving around and doing stuff. We are in sessions daily from early in the morning to what has been very late at night. The sessions range from everything from Cultural Awareness to language training. Things are very good. We love it here. I did have a moment of anxiety when we did find out our placement. I took a few deep breaths was wide eyed for a while but then was fine.
I also found out that the person that I am replacing is like mega ultra amazing volunteer. She was instrumental in setting up a national HIV/ AIDS awareness campaign using puppetry for youth. She also started a library at her school and received 1200 books from donors around the world. So I have no shoes to fill what so ever! But I am super excited!!
Well we would love to hear from you all and see how you guys are doing. Life here may be very busy but it moves very slow as well!
Khotso! Pula! Nala!- Peace, Rain, Prosperity!
--Jason
November 14, 2006
Lumela! (hello in Sesotho, pronounced Doomayla) We are in Lesotho, Africa! We are really enjoying our time here, but are VERY busy learning about the culture and language! Currently we are living at the Peace Corps training center and have hot showers and electricity. Next week we will go to our villages to live with a family for about 5 weeks.
We have 22 other Peace Corps trainees in our group and are enjoying getting to know them. Everyone is a lot of fun. Peace Corps volunteers aren't all granolas! They are normal people like us! :)
We miss everyone and will write again when we have more time! Love you all!
P.S. We are 10 hours ahead of PST.
November 1, 2006
So we are finishing packing up, tying up those loosed ends and taking care of business. We are about 95% finished packing and will be moving all of our worldly posessions (minus the stuff that is staying here, will explain, and the things we are taking with us) to Sonora. The stress levels have been moderate to low, but we are getting tired of packing and moving stuff out. One good thing is that even though we aren't being billed for cable, they haven't shut it off yet and we are enjoying free internet and TV until pack the last of our things.
The Peace Corps did send us our final packet of information and letters from country staff. Pretty interesting to check out!!
I am also trying to sell our XC-90. SO if you know anyone that has a interest in a slightly used luxurary SUV, send them to my E-bay site http://http:/cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&sspagename=ADME:L:LCA:US:31&viewitem=&item=110050365040
One more interesting aside, Andy and Mari are going to be living in our house for a while and they will be keeping some of our stuff during that period of time. It is nice to be able to have the flexibility of them staying here so that we don't have to move all of our stuff.
Well that is pretty much it. Keep on praying for us and we will do the same if you ask it of us. Much love!!
This page was last modified on November 01, 2006 11:49 AM
October 25, 2006
We would be delighted to hear from everyone while we are away. Our mailing address is:
Jason & Janeen Samuelian, PCT
c/o Peace Corps/Lesotho
PO Box 554
Maseru, 100 LESOTHO
PCT stands for Peace Corps Trainee, and becomes PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) after our three months of training.
We have heard that the mail system is pretty reliable, but that it takes about 2 weeks to get mail there.
Sept. 12th 2006-
Announcing the news... That we have been waiting to give you all for a year now.
Janeen and I have been invited to join the Peace Corps in the country of Lesotho (pronounced Lesutu). We recieved the invitation yesterday, on my birthday and are happy to say that we accepted the invitation this morning. We will be leaving the good ol USA on the 10th of Nov. for our new home. We will be in staging beginning the 7th of Nov. and then we will leave for our new adventure.
There is a lot to tell and so little time to do so, hence we would love to hear from any and all of you and answer you questions individually. Please feel free to e-mail me or Janeen at our emails. http://jasonandjaneensam.com/_layouts/wh/Designer/mailtjason.samuelian@gmail.com http://jasonandjaneensam.com/_layouts/wh/Designer/mailtjaneen_samuelian@yahoo.comYou can also check out our website that we will update, internet permitting, from time to time. The address is http://www.jasonandjaneensam.com/
Pretty simple to remember and look at. We have also posted our graduate thesises and we will be posting the PDF of information that the Peace Corps gave to us for more info. about our situation while in Lesotho. We are so excited to share this adventure with all of you and know that we will be in your thoughts and prayers.
All our Best
Jason and Janeen Samuelian
Peace Corps Volunteers 2006-2008 (Lesotho)
August 2nd, 2006
So I am in an Excel class @ CompUSA in Monrovia. It is for work, however some of the class is a little behind what I am already capable of doing. We were having some difficulties at work today and I can't help but think of what kind of challenges that they are having over there today and I can't wait to get this class over with so I can head back there and see if I can do anything.
I also don't even remember the slow pace of life that was easy to get used to on vacation just 1 short week ago. It feels like an eternity since we were there. But that is the nature of life.
Till tomorrow.
Jason
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
I have begun posting more regularly and find it to be a nice break from the monotony of work. You see, I am working less hours in the office, as most of the things that I am working on can be done at home. So I bring it home with me to get some of it done, and it goes by rather quickly. I don't know if I just like working at home better or that there are less immediate distractions. You know the constant barrage of e-mail, the phone endlessly ringing and people coming into your office to see if you boss is there, not say one word and then turn around and walk out again. I find it rather annoying really. But I digress.
Last night, I happened to turn on the TV and to my surprise I heard a familiar voice emanating from the screen. A friend from college was on the popular show, "Deal or No Deal". I knew her as Kacie Wooster, but she is now Kacie Bell. She looked good, if not different but her vivacious spirit was still very evident. She went on to win almost $200,000 dollars. It was fun to see another person, from what seems another life, doing well and making something of themselves, even if it is on a game of luck.
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Tuesday, June 06, 2006
As Janeen has finished up her masters degree, it has got me thinking about people and what motivates them. What is it that pushes people to do the things that they want to in life? Is it solely the motivation to buy and sell goods to each other or are we more aware of ourselves than that?
It has got me thinking about what I want to do. I had a conversation with Janeen about attempting to take the MCAT's. The draw to become a doctor has always been on the back of my mind and I don't believe that it was put there by accident. I am just trying to figure out what to do with that. I am thinking about taking a MCAT study book to the Peace Corps and studying that while we are there to see if that is something that I am capable of doing. If I fail the practice exam a few times, I think that would be answer enough. Until that time, I am left wondering...
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Friday, May 26, 2006
Ok So here is the background. The Peace Corps has a super extensive backround, medical, dental, vision and financial check. The process feels like that they can ween them out in the beginning that we will be all the better. I happen to agree with them, even though I think that they are hilarious in some of their rationale (according to my BMI, I am obese, but then so is Arnold Swazenegger). Anyway, back to the real point. I need some help. I have to choose a second pair of glasses so if I lose, break or destroy my first pair I have a back up. Now I would like to save my nice pair as the back up and have the Peace Corps issue pair be my primary. That is where you the reader come in. I need you to help me pick a pair. So in the comment field, leave which number and color you think I should choose. The pair with the most ammount of votes will be the pair that I choose* (*All descions are subject to final approval of my superior, my wife).
Happy Voting!
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
For those who don't know what the life of a Peace Corps Nominee is like, this is for you. For those lucky few who have gone through the seemingly enless questions of "So when are leaving?" and "Have you signed up for Timbuctoo yet?", you will understand fully what it is that I am talking about. I have been inspired by the wonderful writings of past volunteers, hearing stories of their harrowing and sometimes, bone-chiling stories, to begin to document my own story. While my story right now might not be bone-chiling or harrowing, it might serve as an outlet for something productive to do other than buying useless, but awesome, stuff on the internet or watching the idiot box. This will be a platform for me to complain, inspire, digress and hopefully decompress all the thoughts that I am having about our adventure.While I know that I am prone to wander and possibly bore all those who read this (mom and maybe wife?), It is a place that is more about me than the reader. It is my thoughts on life, the things I find myself wondering and questioning. It is a place for dreamers and mostly a place to think. To stop and ask the questions that I am not going to be affraid of asking. And that is as they say is that. First blog down, hopefully, many more to follow...
Did I mention that I often get bored with things and lose interest?
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