May 10th, 2008 (written by Jason)
So I am so happy to announce that the first of the two projects has been filled. The Peace Corps Partnership has been fully funded! So awesome! This is really amazing as we are getting that much closer to being 100% ready to go with our schools restoration. It is really fun because now I get to look at stuff and think, “Oooh we could use that! Yeah that would go great in the 1st grade class”. So needless to say I am really excited!
I also want to take this time to brag on some people. Both of our families (Janeen's and mine) have been so amazing during our time here. You really have no idea how much you mean to us and to see the interest you have taken in our projects has been really cool. I won't really get into specifics now, but you all know who you are.
One really cool thing to report on though is how my own little sister did not take my last blog lying down. Her and her friends got together and decided that they were going to take my advice and do some fundraisers for the school. They even started a little web-page which is super awesome. It is www.raisetheirroof.org So if you get a chance check out some of the things that they are planning. Like I said it is not the big stuff but the little stuff that change the world. So take my little sisters lead and do your own fundraising events!
I will hopefully have some updated information on how to send money to the building project this next week. It is really easy and it will be tax deductible which is dope-a-licious!
Other news with me:
This week we (3 friends and I) put on another series of workshops. The workshop is actually the funniest part of why we get together. It is actually just a blast hanging out with these other resource teachers. It is super fun!
Otherwise, ditto on what Janeen said. Super fun stuff that is Lesotho!
All the best
Jason
Saturday, May 10, 2008
In Maseru Again
May 10, 2008 (written by Janeen)
Well I as I am writing I am pretty restless. Jason and I went to bed last night around 8:30. Yes, its early but the electricity had gone out and we were tired from a long week. We were rudely awakened at 12:30 when our neighbor decided to turn on his music full blast. Finally at around 1 or so Jason decided to go and ask them to turn it down. Fortunately they did. We eventually fell back asleep until 3 when they decided to turn it back up again. This time Jason went over and turned it down himself. That STILL didn't work. The volume continued to increase again until finally at 4 AM it started to rain and boy was I giving thanks to the Lord! I've never been so happy to hear rain!
I also had a fundraiser yesterday evening where I taught students how to line dance. It didn't quite work out as I had planned. More students paid the entrance fee than were willing to dance so I think they may have thought it was a show. We only charged a 1 Maluti entrance fee, so I don't feel too bad. Very unfortunately I found out as the event was starting that I am supposed to pay 100 Maluti for the use of the school hall. Which means that after all the hard work of running around setting things up and figuring out the electricity (the hall's electricity was out-it's a prepaid system so we had to rig up several extension cords to get electricity from a classroom), I will only have raised 16 Maluti (roughly equivalent to $2). I am going to complain to my principal. He's not the one running the hall, but he may get the fee waived. The guy in charge had a school prefect come and tell me about the fee right as the event was starting. I understand that the hall is supposed to be used to make money, however, I am trying to get supplies for a school club. So it doesn't really make sense to me.
Anyway, we are in Maseru again because Jason put a new operating system on our computer and we can't access all the old files on our computer. He wants to search the internet to see if he can find a remedy for this problem. I was also up for accompanying him since we have had problems with both water and electricity this week. I'm not sure if we've mentioned before but both South Africa and Lesotho are experiencing power shortages so there are rolling black outs. We've spent the last 3 nights in candle light. The pump broke this week so we didn't have water for a few days. So life has been pretty rustic. Last week when we were here it had been over a month since I had showered, not bathed, showered. Let me tell you--- showers are NICE! Maseru is not safe from the power outages, but at least I can shower again.
This blog sounds a little negative and whiny but I have one more not fun thing to share. As of Friday I now have 78 letters, 176 compositions, and 283 literature essays to grade. Oh so much fun. Do you feel bad for me yet???? :) When I am finished, I am going to post the best and worst composition so that all of you can get a feel of what a joy it is to grade compositions! :)Other than that things are going well. I am just busy working.
We are really excited that one of Jason's projects is now fully funded. He has two projects. 1)Listed on the Peace Corps website- to refurbish one of his schools. and 2)Not listed on a website and at this time information on donating is not available, but his parents have started raising funds to build the same school a new classroom block (2 classrooms) so that the standard 5 students do not have to meet in the old chicken coop. I'm sure I am just being repetitive because I think he has explained all this before. We are just really excited that the funds are available and the students will have a more conducive learning environment. The teachers work hard and the school deserves this. So, if you didn't donate to the first project. There is still a chance! For those of you who have donated already THANK YOU! :) We don't know who you are yet, because Peace Corps has those records, but we will know soon and you will get a proper thank you from us and the school!
Despite the negativity in this blog, we are doing OK. Rough days come and go, but there are some good days too. Like for example, I have been pretty upset about one of my classes because many students were not trying and not doing assignments. Well this week every single one of them did their assignments. I was SO excited and they were too. They all cheered and I even ululated, which made them laugh. I rewarded them by doing a "listening comprehension" activity (aka listen to a couple songs on my ipod and discuss what is being said). Sometimes its harder to remember the positive things, though.
By the way, we are going to become an aunt and uncle for the first time pretty soon! Make sure you all give Drew extra hugs and kisses for us!
We miss you all and hope that you all are doing well.
Well I as I am writing I am pretty restless. Jason and I went to bed last night around 8:30. Yes, its early but the electricity had gone out and we were tired from a long week. We were rudely awakened at 12:30 when our neighbor decided to turn on his music full blast. Finally at around 1 or so Jason decided to go and ask them to turn it down. Fortunately they did. We eventually fell back asleep until 3 when they decided to turn it back up again. This time Jason went over and turned it down himself. That STILL didn't work. The volume continued to increase again until finally at 4 AM it started to rain and boy was I giving thanks to the Lord! I've never been so happy to hear rain!
I also had a fundraiser yesterday evening where I taught students how to line dance. It didn't quite work out as I had planned. More students paid the entrance fee than were willing to dance so I think they may have thought it was a show. We only charged a 1 Maluti entrance fee, so I don't feel too bad. Very unfortunately I found out as the event was starting that I am supposed to pay 100 Maluti for the use of the school hall. Which means that after all the hard work of running around setting things up and figuring out the electricity (the hall's electricity was out-it's a prepaid system so we had to rig up several extension cords to get electricity from a classroom), I will only have raised 16 Maluti (roughly equivalent to $2). I am going to complain to my principal. He's not the one running the hall, but he may get the fee waived. The guy in charge had a school prefect come and tell me about the fee right as the event was starting. I understand that the hall is supposed to be used to make money, however, I am trying to get supplies for a school club. So it doesn't really make sense to me.
Anyway, we are in Maseru again because Jason put a new operating system on our computer and we can't access all the old files on our computer. He wants to search the internet to see if he can find a remedy for this problem. I was also up for accompanying him since we have had problems with both water and electricity this week. I'm not sure if we've mentioned before but both South Africa and Lesotho are experiencing power shortages so there are rolling black outs. We've spent the last 3 nights in candle light. The pump broke this week so we didn't have water for a few days. So life has been pretty rustic. Last week when we were here it had been over a month since I had showered, not bathed, showered. Let me tell you--- showers are NICE! Maseru is not safe from the power outages, but at least I can shower again.
This blog sounds a little negative and whiny but I have one more not fun thing to share. As of Friday I now have 78 letters, 176 compositions, and 283 literature essays to grade. Oh so much fun. Do you feel bad for me yet???? :) When I am finished, I am going to post the best and worst composition so that all of you can get a feel of what a joy it is to grade compositions! :)Other than that things are going well. I am just busy working.
We are really excited that one of Jason's projects is now fully funded. He has two projects. 1)Listed on the Peace Corps website- to refurbish one of his schools. and 2)Not listed on a website and at this time information on donating is not available, but his parents have started raising funds to build the same school a new classroom block (2 classrooms) so that the standard 5 students do not have to meet in the old chicken coop. I'm sure I am just being repetitive because I think he has explained all this before. We are just really excited that the funds are available and the students will have a more conducive learning environment. The teachers work hard and the school deserves this. So, if you didn't donate to the first project. There is still a chance! For those of you who have donated already THANK YOU! :) We don't know who you are yet, because Peace Corps has those records, but we will know soon and you will get a proper thank you from us and the school!
Despite the negativity in this blog, we are doing OK. Rough days come and go, but there are some good days too. Like for example, I have been pretty upset about one of my classes because many students were not trying and not doing assignments. Well this week every single one of them did their assignments. I was SO excited and they were too. They all cheered and I even ululated, which made them laugh. I rewarded them by doing a "listening comprehension" activity (aka listen to a couple songs on my ipod and discuss what is being said). Sometimes its harder to remember the positive things, though.
By the way, we are going to become an aunt and uncle for the first time pretty soon! Make sure you all give Drew extra hugs and kisses for us!
We miss you all and hope that you all are doing well.
Friday, May 02, 2008
Addition
May 2nd, 2008 (Written by Jason)
Sorry about this but I needed to stress the importance of getting this done soon. You see we are coming up to the end of our service in like 7 months. I need this to be understood that I have to have this thing finished by the time I go home. If I don't, then I have to stop the project and turn in the money back to Peace Corps. It sucks but that is the reality that I am facing. I hate to put this additional pressure on you all but now you see what we are working with. So please use those creative juices that you have and lets make a school building!
All the Best
Jason
Sorry about this but I needed to stress the importance of getting this done soon. You see we are coming up to the end of our service in like 7 months. I need this to be understood that I have to have this thing finished by the time I go home. If I don't, then I have to stop the project and turn in the money back to Peace Corps. It sucks but that is the reality that I am facing. I hate to put this additional pressure on you all but now you see what we are working with. So please use those creative juices that you have and lets make a school building!
All the Best
Jason
Thursday, May 01, 2008
April 29th, 2008
April 29, 2008 (written by Jason)
So it has been way to long since I have written a blog. I am really sorry about that. It is not that I not been around a computer. It is just that every time I get around a computer I have a lot to do. You see for the past 5-6 months I have been working on making a wiki for the southern Africa region of volunteers. So pretty much everytime I step into the office I do nothing but work on that.
So it has been way to long since I have written a blog. I am really sorry about that. It is not that I not been around a computer. It is just that every time I get around a computer I have a lot to do. You see for the past 5-6 months I have been working on making a wiki for the southern Africa region of volunteers. So pretty much everytime I step into the office I do nothing but work on that.
However a few weeks ago we officially launched the site. If you want to see what it is that I have been working on you can check it out at http://www.wikisarvn.pbwiki.com/ . It is pretty sweet and I would love to hear any constructive criticisim you have of it. It would really help us out.
So I know that many of you have already made contributions to my projects that I got going on and that is really really awesome of you all. I will have something special for you early contributors when I arrive home. However, there still is a lot of money left to be raised. We know that times are tough right now around the world (rising gas, food, etc.) and no one is immune. We have been feeling the extra strain of the rising gas prices here especially. So what better time to get together with a few family and friends and come up with a simple fundraising idea?
Here is a photo of my parents and some of their friends after a fundraiser that they did to help fund the new school building project. They called the fund raiser "Wood for Africa". You see a tree fell down at my parents place and so they decided to cut up the wood and sell off the cords. They made $700 bucks! Isn't that unbelievable?!
So if these middle aged (and some not so much middle but upper middle aged) people can spend a weekend cutting wood, what can you do?
Maybe the whole fundraiser thing though isn't your speed. Maybe you want to just give some money. Well there still is the other way of just giving us the money. You can contribute directly to the Peace Corps @ https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=632-047
We are also thinking about doing a buy-a-brick fundraising thingee. There will be different level bricks you can buy. We are thinking about doing a $10, $25, $50, $100, and up. What we will do is make a plaque to recognize you contribution (previous donors will automatically included. Although if you want to do this again, you can!). So if you want in on this action. Send me an e-mail here jason.samuelian@gmail.com
Well that just about wraps it up for me. But here is all we got so far done on the new building. We still need about $6,500. So think about what you can do!
Saturday, April 19, 2008
April 14, 2008 (written by Janeen)
Well it seems that it has been a while since I have written a blog. So I hope not to go on forever boring you with details of my life. I’ll first give you a health update. My eyes are not entirely healed despite the fact that I’ve been on meds for over a month. I think the problem is that I still live in a dusty environment and it won’t fully heal until I don’t. So the Peace Corps doctor said that as long as it doesn’t flare up again, I’ll just wait until I go home to see another specialist. Peace Corps will pay for this. If I have more troubles I’ll go back to Bloemfontein.
Not much has been going on. This is the 4th week of second quarter. I’ve already been busy grading my students’ work. It is such a chore! But I know they can’t improve unless they get feedback from me. Also, by grading their work I can see their strengths and weaknesses and base my lessons on that. I’m pretty sure that if the Form C students took the English exam now they’d do pretty decently. We are basically reviewing grammar topics until the exam comes. The only new knowledge they are getting is from literature, which we are almost done with the short stories book. After that it is on to poetry and I am pretty much dreading that. I don’t really enjoy poetry myself and I’m not so sure how well I’d be able to teach it.
Jason and I have two side things going. He just started an income generating project for my school. All students have to have their heads shaved for school. So we bought electric clippers and have students cutting hair twice a week for 5 Maloti. Last year my principal suspended students from an exam until they cut their hair. Students were frantically running around finding whatever they could to cut their hair! Now this should never happen again because hair cuts will be available regularly and we are charging ½ the price that they would get in town. My project is actually a “Healthy Living” Club. So far we have met once and we did aerobics. It was fun. I have 36 members. I even have 5 boys! We are not only doing aerobics. We will also have discussions on how to live healthily (here is where I can get some good HIV/AIDS education in). I also want to give cooking demonstrations on how to eat healthfully. I am really excited about this and so far it seems like fun!
“Waiting is one of life’s hardships.” (Lemony Snicket, Horseradish p. 154) This statement is so true! Grandpa Durkee sent this book to us and it is pretty hilarious, sad, and just the bitter truth! It is full of short sayings about life. It is like a coffee table book. Anyway I wanted to share this quote with you because I’ve been ready to come home since January! Now it is April and I still feel the same way. In the first year we had ups and downs of homesickness. This is by far the longest spout and we’re pretty sure it probably won’t go away until we come home. We have less than 8 months! We know we’ll make it through but are at the point where we want to get on with our lives. I want a baby. Jason wants to go to business school. I’m sure Andy and Mari know exactly how we feel! So at this point we are just waiting. I’m sure the time will pass quickly enough and we’ll still have some great experiences, but we’ll miss out on a lot too!
Winter is approaching. As it is warming up for you all its getting colder for us! The name of the game here is to wear everything you own to keep warm. My outfits are pretty interesting.
Anyway, on Friday (18th) I get to go to Qoaqoa with the Form C students. It is a Basotho cultural village in South Africa. I am pretty excited about it. Jason is headed to Maseru for a meeting that day, so that is why you get to read my update! Well now that I’ve typed a page, I think its time to go. I miss In N’ Out, I miss good Mexican food (Taco Lita, Taco Treat, even Taco Bell), I miss California Pizza Kitchen, I miss pizza with pepperoni, I miss bread sticks from Olive Garden, I miss… the list could go on, my mouth could water and my stomach can grumble more, but most of all I miss YOU!
Well it seems that it has been a while since I have written a blog. So I hope not to go on forever boring you with details of my life. I’ll first give you a health update. My eyes are not entirely healed despite the fact that I’ve been on meds for over a month. I think the problem is that I still live in a dusty environment and it won’t fully heal until I don’t. So the Peace Corps doctor said that as long as it doesn’t flare up again, I’ll just wait until I go home to see another specialist. Peace Corps will pay for this. If I have more troubles I’ll go back to Bloemfontein.
Not much has been going on. This is the 4th week of second quarter. I’ve already been busy grading my students’ work. It is such a chore! But I know they can’t improve unless they get feedback from me. Also, by grading their work I can see their strengths and weaknesses and base my lessons on that. I’m pretty sure that if the Form C students took the English exam now they’d do pretty decently. We are basically reviewing grammar topics until the exam comes. The only new knowledge they are getting is from literature, which we are almost done with the short stories book. After that it is on to poetry and I am pretty much dreading that. I don’t really enjoy poetry myself and I’m not so sure how well I’d be able to teach it.
Jason and I have two side things going. He just started an income generating project for my school. All students have to have their heads shaved for school. So we bought electric clippers and have students cutting hair twice a week for 5 Maloti. Last year my principal suspended students from an exam until they cut their hair. Students were frantically running around finding whatever they could to cut their hair! Now this should never happen again because hair cuts will be available regularly and we are charging ½ the price that they would get in town. My project is actually a “Healthy Living” Club. So far we have met once and we did aerobics. It was fun. I have 36 members. I even have 5 boys! We are not only doing aerobics. We will also have discussions on how to live healthily (here is where I can get some good HIV/AIDS education in). I also want to give cooking demonstrations on how to eat healthfully. I am really excited about this and so far it seems like fun!
“Waiting is one of life’s hardships.” (Lemony Snicket, Horseradish p. 154) This statement is so true! Grandpa Durkee sent this book to us and it is pretty hilarious, sad, and just the bitter truth! It is full of short sayings about life. It is like a coffee table book. Anyway I wanted to share this quote with you because I’ve been ready to come home since January! Now it is April and I still feel the same way. In the first year we had ups and downs of homesickness. This is by far the longest spout and we’re pretty sure it probably won’t go away until we come home. We have less than 8 months! We know we’ll make it through but are at the point where we want to get on with our lives. I want a baby. Jason wants to go to business school. I’m sure Andy and Mari know exactly how we feel! So at this point we are just waiting. I’m sure the time will pass quickly enough and we’ll still have some great experiences, but we’ll miss out on a lot too!
Winter is approaching. As it is warming up for you all its getting colder for us! The name of the game here is to wear everything you own to keep warm. My outfits are pretty interesting.
Anyway, on Friday (18th) I get to go to Qoaqoa with the Form C students. It is a Basotho cultural village in South Africa. I am pretty excited about it. Jason is headed to Maseru for a meeting that day, so that is why you get to read my update! Well now that I’ve typed a page, I think its time to go. I miss In N’ Out, I miss good Mexican food (Taco Lita, Taco Treat, even Taco Bell), I miss California Pizza Kitchen, I miss pizza with pepperoni, I miss bread sticks from Olive Garden, I miss… the list could go on, my mouth could water and my stomach can grumble more, but most of all I miss YOU!
Friday, March 14, 2008
St. Patricks Weekend
March 14th, 2008 (Written by Janeen)
Jason just passed over the computer to me to write a blog. So mine will appear first. :) I have a funny story for you all:
This week I have been on duty which means that I am out patrolling the campus at 7 am while the students should be studying. They are in the midst of writing their quarter one exams (which means I have A LOT of grading to do— 290 literature essays, 180 compositions on a variety of topics- one of which is the time I visited the traditional doctor, 180 grammar and reading comprehension papers… anyone jealous??? Now back to the story…). So, all the students are in the hall for study time.
Anyway, yesterday morning our cat (Tau) did not stroll in at 6 am like he normally does after his night of gallivanting. I was a bit concerned, but was just hoping he would show up. I went out for duty and had just gotten the students settled down in the hall reading their notes when all of a sudden I hear screaming and see a bunch of students running out of the hall. I asked them what was going on and could not think of what would make them so upset. They didn’t hear me so I had to yell and finally was told, “Madam, a cat.” Knowing it was my cat, I ran in the hall and tried to find where he was. Students were jumping on top of their desks, others were screaming, and yet others were chasing our cat. Finally he broke loose and was able to run outside of the hall. He ran along some of the classes. I was running after him mainly to get the students away, but the students were also running after him. So I stopped and yelled at the kids that it was my cat and that they needed to go back inside the hall. Unfortunately there were already 2 classes outside picking up trash and I only stopped a few students when I yelled at them to get back in the hall. So they were all running after our poor cat and some students even went to the extent of trying to stone him. I’m not sure what happened, but he somehow managed to get away from the chasing students.
Here is my morning announcement at assembly, “I am sure you are all aware that it was my cat that caused the chaos this morning and I apologize for the disruption. However, my cat has now gone missing because you all scared him away. If you see him, please leave him alone. He is five times smaller than you, so you should not be afraid of him.”
A few hours later Tau came home somewhat safely. The pads on his paws have been torn and his nails have been filed down to a nub. But he is back and I am sure he won’t be making any more surprise visits to the hall. Jason thought that Tau had heard my voice on the other side of the hall and thought that going through the hall would be the shortest way to me. I am also not quite sure why the students were so upset over a cat. Maybe they were just surprised and once they started screaming it was infectious.
Anyway, once it was all over, I thought it was quite comical and thought you would enjoy it. I better get back to grading. Love and miss you all!
March 14th, 2008 (Written by Jason)
So it is 3:48 a.m. and I can’t sleep so I decided to get up and do some work. It is not that uncommon for me to wake up in the wee hours of the morning because we go to bed relatively early here. Our normal time to go to sleep I would have to say is probably close to 9:00 p.m. It is actually kind of nice to be up this early. Things here can get pretty hectic with all the students coming and going from the house. I like the early morning. I call it my thinking/brainstorming time. If you ever want to clear your mind and be able to brain storm try and wake up early as possible when it is quiet. You will be amazed at the thoughts that run through your head. It is kind of fun.
This week has been a good one. Not doing a lot at the schools right now because of Moshoeshoe’s day (the founder of the Basotho nation and therefore a national holiday) and the end of the first quarter. But just because I am not doing a lot at my schools doesn’t mean a lot of stuff is going on. On Tuesday (Moshoeshoe’s Day) we went up to my school, Phechela Primary for school singing and athletics competitions. Basotho people don’t have a lot to celebrate so when they have something, they cut loose. It was fun watching the children and adults get really into the athletics competitions. There was dancing and singing whenever their school came in a placing position. Often times a whole herd of students and adults would rush out to congratulate their champion.
Because a lot is not going on at school, I have been in the capital a lot recently doing all kinds of stuff for the advancement of my assignment and the advancement of Peace Corps. As I wrote last week, a newly formed committee and myself partnered together to clean the transit house for volunteers in the capital. It was a lot of work but we felt really good about the progress we made and it actually feels like a place that you would want to stay now.
Janeen and I are in Maseru together for the first time in a long time to have a weekend in the city. We are going to go to a party at the Lesotho Sun tonight for St. Patrick’s Day which should be fun. We are then going to hang out over the weekend catching up on blogs (hence this thing) and responding to e-mails and other business. Then on Monday we will be attending the Irish Ambassadors Reception for St. Patrick’s Day. It is their biggest party of the year and we have heard that the King is likely to be there so if he is we will try and snap a few photos with him. I have heard that he is very kind but a little shy. Hopefully we will see.
Then after the party Janeen will return home to continue marking as I stay in the capital for a few more days. I am working with another committee to build a Wiki for volunteers in the Southern Africa region. I don’t know if any of you have tried to build a web-page before, but getting it to look and feel right is a huge task. It is made even more so when you have the internet connection that we do here. Now don’t get me wrong I am glad to have it. We are very fortunate to have the internet at all but it is a huge change from home. I was talking to a friend the other day who said that he was getting 15 mbps (megabytes per second) that is like getting a 5 mb song in a 1/3 of a second. FAST!! Here we are getting just about 80 kbps. Do you remember the days of 56 kbps modems? Yeah we are just barely above that speed. So think about that when you are asking me for photos (which are 3 to 6 mb) and movies. I will hopefully get some posted but that is just because I will have 2 full days on the computers.
Well that just about does it. I would love to hear from any of you. I know you are probably loving the spring weather after what sounded like a cold and rainy/ snowy winter. Yesterday was the first day it felt like autumn was coming. I am not ready for the cold again. Oh well. I will live.
All the best
Jason
Jason just passed over the computer to me to write a blog. So mine will appear first. :) I have a funny story for you all:
This week I have been on duty which means that I am out patrolling the campus at 7 am while the students should be studying. They are in the midst of writing their quarter one exams (which means I have A LOT of grading to do— 290 literature essays, 180 compositions on a variety of topics- one of which is the time I visited the traditional doctor, 180 grammar and reading comprehension papers… anyone jealous??? Now back to the story…). So, all the students are in the hall for study time.
Anyway, yesterday morning our cat (Tau) did not stroll in at 6 am like he normally does after his night of gallivanting. I was a bit concerned, but was just hoping he would show up. I went out for duty and had just gotten the students settled down in the hall reading their notes when all of a sudden I hear screaming and see a bunch of students running out of the hall. I asked them what was going on and could not think of what would make them so upset. They didn’t hear me so I had to yell and finally was told, “Madam, a cat.” Knowing it was my cat, I ran in the hall and tried to find where he was. Students were jumping on top of their desks, others were screaming, and yet others were chasing our cat. Finally he broke loose and was able to run outside of the hall. He ran along some of the classes. I was running after him mainly to get the students away, but the students were also running after him. So I stopped and yelled at the kids that it was my cat and that they needed to go back inside the hall. Unfortunately there were already 2 classes outside picking up trash and I only stopped a few students when I yelled at them to get back in the hall. So they were all running after our poor cat and some students even went to the extent of trying to stone him. I’m not sure what happened, but he somehow managed to get away from the chasing students.
Here is my morning announcement at assembly, “I am sure you are all aware that it was my cat that caused the chaos this morning and I apologize for the disruption. However, my cat has now gone missing because you all scared him away. If you see him, please leave him alone. He is five times smaller than you, so you should not be afraid of him.”
A few hours later Tau came home somewhat safely. The pads on his paws have been torn and his nails have been filed down to a nub. But he is back and I am sure he won’t be making any more surprise visits to the hall. Jason thought that Tau had heard my voice on the other side of the hall and thought that going through the hall would be the shortest way to me. I am also not quite sure why the students were so upset over a cat. Maybe they were just surprised and once they started screaming it was infectious.
Anyway, once it was all over, I thought it was quite comical and thought you would enjoy it. I better get back to grading. Love and miss you all!
March 14th, 2008 (Written by Jason)
So it is 3:48 a.m. and I can’t sleep so I decided to get up and do some work. It is not that uncommon for me to wake up in the wee hours of the morning because we go to bed relatively early here. Our normal time to go to sleep I would have to say is probably close to 9:00 p.m. It is actually kind of nice to be up this early. Things here can get pretty hectic with all the students coming and going from the house. I like the early morning. I call it my thinking/brainstorming time. If you ever want to clear your mind and be able to brain storm try and wake up early as possible when it is quiet. You will be amazed at the thoughts that run through your head. It is kind of fun.
This week has been a good one. Not doing a lot at the schools right now because of Moshoeshoe’s day (the founder of the Basotho nation and therefore a national holiday) and the end of the first quarter. But just because I am not doing a lot at my schools doesn’t mean a lot of stuff is going on. On Tuesday (Moshoeshoe’s Day) we went up to my school, Phechela Primary for school singing and athletics competitions. Basotho people don’t have a lot to celebrate so when they have something, they cut loose. It was fun watching the children and adults get really into the athletics competitions. There was dancing and singing whenever their school came in a placing position. Often times a whole herd of students and adults would rush out to congratulate their champion.
Because a lot is not going on at school, I have been in the capital a lot recently doing all kinds of stuff for the advancement of my assignment and the advancement of Peace Corps. As I wrote last week, a newly formed committee and myself partnered together to clean the transit house for volunteers in the capital. It was a lot of work but we felt really good about the progress we made and it actually feels like a place that you would want to stay now.
Janeen and I are in Maseru together for the first time in a long time to have a weekend in the city. We are going to go to a party at the Lesotho Sun tonight for St. Patrick’s Day which should be fun. We are then going to hang out over the weekend catching up on blogs (hence this thing) and responding to e-mails and other business. Then on Monday we will be attending the Irish Ambassadors Reception for St. Patrick’s Day. It is their biggest party of the year and we have heard that the King is likely to be there so if he is we will try and snap a few photos with him. I have heard that he is very kind but a little shy. Hopefully we will see.
Then after the party Janeen will return home to continue marking as I stay in the capital for a few more days. I am working with another committee to build a Wiki for volunteers in the Southern Africa region. I don’t know if any of you have tried to build a web-page before, but getting it to look and feel right is a huge task. It is made even more so when you have the internet connection that we do here. Now don’t get me wrong I am glad to have it. We are very fortunate to have the internet at all but it is a huge change from home. I was talking to a friend the other day who said that he was getting 15 mbps (megabytes per second) that is like getting a 5 mb song in a 1/3 of a second. FAST!! Here we are getting just about 80 kbps. Do you remember the days of 56 kbps modems? Yeah we are just barely above that speed. So think about that when you are asking me for photos (which are 3 to 6 mb) and movies. I will hopefully get some posted but that is just because I will have 2 full days on the computers.
Well that just about does it. I would love to hear from any of you. I know you are probably loving the spring weather after what sounded like a cold and rainy/ snowy winter. Yesterday was the first day it felt like autumn was coming. I am not ready for the cold again. Oh well. I will live.
All the best
Jason
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Back in the city
March 6th, 2008 (written by Jason)
So I know what you are thinking. Why isn't Jason ever with his wife? When he is writting these long boring blogs what is his wife doing? Well the short answer is that she is BUSY! She, as many of you know, is teaching a lot this year. 28 teaching hours which means that she is doing a full time job with a part time job on the side (marking papers).
But what does this have to do with why I am here? Well the answer is I am working on secondary and tertiary projects. This week, we are in the process of cleaning and reorganizing the volunteer transit house. This is the place that volunteers stay when they are in the capital. I was nominated to be the chairperson of this committee. We are busy painting and cleaning to make the house as nice as possible for all volunteers who stay there.
I am doing this mainly because lately my teachers have been less interested in working with me. This is not a bad thing because I am seeing really positive results in how they act and behave. It is really inspiring to see teachers that last year thought a text-book was something for the kids to use only to revise with. Now they are using them intelligently and consistently which is a remarkable change.
I have been doing some primary project stuff though too. Last week we (me and 2 other volunteers) held 3 workshops in different villages on using manipulatives in for teaching math. It went really well though there was still some feedback that the food provided was inadequate. Oh well you can't win them all.
As for now though I need to cut this short. Thanks for all the recent e-mails and what not. We love you more than we can say.
All the best,
Jason
So I know what you are thinking. Why isn't Jason ever with his wife? When he is writting these long boring blogs what is his wife doing? Well the short answer is that she is BUSY! She, as many of you know, is teaching a lot this year. 28 teaching hours which means that she is doing a full time job with a part time job on the side (marking papers).
But what does this have to do with why I am here? Well the answer is I am working on secondary and tertiary projects. This week, we are in the process of cleaning and reorganizing the volunteer transit house. This is the place that volunteers stay when they are in the capital. I was nominated to be the chairperson of this committee. We are busy painting and cleaning to make the house as nice as possible for all volunteers who stay there.
I am doing this mainly because lately my teachers have been less interested in working with me. This is not a bad thing because I am seeing really positive results in how they act and behave. It is really inspiring to see teachers that last year thought a text-book was something for the kids to use only to revise with. Now they are using them intelligently and consistently which is a remarkable change.
I have been doing some primary project stuff though too. Last week we (me and 2 other volunteers) held 3 workshops in different villages on using manipulatives in for teaching math. It went really well though there was still some feedback that the food provided was inadequate. Oh well you can't win them all.
As for now though I need to cut this short. Thanks for all the recent e-mails and what not. We love you more than we can say.
All the best,
Jason
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
February 26, 2008 (written by Janeen)
I went to the eye doctor in Bloemfontein again yesterday (which is kinda a bummer because I had to miss school yet again and the stress is on since I am teaching Form C students who will write a national exam at the end of the year). So basically I am getting multiple styes in my eyes. The problem is that they are releasing the fluid into my eyes. Since my eye is blocking the release, they get clogged and become chronicly infected, which basically means that the fluid hardens and can no longer come out on its own. Last week when I went she had to cut them out. Which was quite strange as I have never had anything done to my eyes. The strangest part was when I opened my eyes and could see a red tint from the blood. My eyes are healing fine from the minor "surgery" (I think Jason may have freaked some people out with his blog). I went back yesterday because I thought that she had missed one of the clumps, when it turns out what I was feeling was just scar tissue. I realized I was probably wrong as the swelling finally started going down on Saturday, but the Peace Corps medical officer said I should go again since they were already making a trip to Bloemfontein with another volunteer. I'm glad I went because she helped tell me what to do to get the rest of these infections taken care of. (e.g wash my eyes with hot water twice daily, use the ointment she prescribed, but rub it in- I wasn't doing that before) She also prescribed doxycyclin (sp) to thin out the liquid. That is a malaria medication that is often used to get rid of acne. And I guess you could basically say that I have acne in my eyes- GROSS! :) So there is the update. I am at the office waiting for staff to get in so I can get my meds and a reimbursement and go home. I am hoping to make it back before my 11 o'clock classes, but that might be wishful thinking!
Well now that you have my health update. I can tell you what else is going on-- don't worry its not much. I am teaching away. I have been busy because I try to make up the time I missed while at the doctor's. Plus I have been grading the first exam. I'm sure I'll finish just in time for them to write their first quarter exams! Lucky me! Fortunately Jason has helped a bit. He has been bored. Not many of his teachers have been asking for his help, so he has not been doing much while at school. So when he comes home he wants to hang out with me and then gets bummed when I am busy. And the problem is he doesn't want to be busy for busy's sake. He wants to do something that matters.
The days that we want to come home are more frequent than they have been the previous year. I've already got a mental count down for the number of months (9). It will probably get even harder come May when our nephew will arrive and in July and August when Rachel & Kevin and Mike & Heidi are getting married. We hope everyone knows that we REEEEEEALLY want to be with you all and miss you SO much. It has been nice getting some emails from people recently. Maybe since our blogs have been a tad morose people feel like telling us we are missed (which makes us feel really good!). Well it is almost time for me to head out so I'll sign off here. I hope everyone has a very special leap year day! :)
Well now that you have my health update. I can tell you what else is going on-- don't worry its not much. I am teaching away. I have been busy because I try to make up the time I missed while at the doctor's. Plus I have been grading the first exam. I'm sure I'll finish just in time for them to write their first quarter exams! Lucky me! Fortunately Jason has helped a bit. He has been bored. Not many of his teachers have been asking for his help, so he has not been doing much while at school. So when he comes home he wants to hang out with me and then gets bummed when I am busy. And the problem is he doesn't want to be busy for busy's sake. He wants to do something that matters.
The days that we want to come home are more frequent than they have been the previous year. I've already got a mental count down for the number of months (9). It will probably get even harder come May when our nephew will arrive and in July and August when Rachel & Kevin and Mike & Heidi are getting married. We hope everyone knows that we REEEEEEALLY want to be with you all and miss you SO much. It has been nice getting some emails from people recently. Maybe since our blogs have been a tad morose people feel like telling us we are missed (which makes us feel really good!). Well it is almost time for me to head out so I'll sign off here. I hope everyone has a very special leap year day! :)
Friday, February 22, 2008
February 20th, 2008 (written by Jason)
Hey all! So I had just started a blog that was going to be a bitch fest and then I decided, why do I want to do that? I am sure these good people reading this blog don’t want to hear me bemoan the same old crap day after day. So I won’t. That’s right. I am making a conscious decision to keep this blog positive and by golly that is what I am gonna do!
So last you all heard, my school had started well and we were plugging right along. That has continued to happen over the course of the last month. Although we do waver from time to time, the school is doing well and staying on track. One of the more successful stories out of that has been the parents’ council. They have really stepped up and taken the initiative at restoring one of the classrooms by themselves. It has been really inspiring watching them over the weeks collecting mud, stones and even cinderblock bricks to repair the wall between the two classes. As you can see they have smeared it with a thick mud. This will help diffuse some of the sound and can also be use as a giant tack board. It is pretty sweet. You can also see how they have smeared a lighter color mud on the walls that really brightens the place up! It is so cool!
But we are no where near done. There are still all kinds of opportunities for you to get involved in helping our school raise some much need funds. There are two different projects. There have been some questions about this. One is being sponsored by my parents. They took it upon themselves to help raise enough money to build a new classroom. They are doing fundraising projects to achieve this goal like a yard sale and selling a cord of wood from a tree that fell in our backyard. So far they have raised about a $1200! This is great but it is still well short of our goal of $7000. This project as of right now is not tax deductible because my parents are collecting the money. I am working on getting a partner here that you can send your money to so that all donations will be tax deductible. But do be thinking about interesting and creative ways that you might be able to raise some money for this project.
The other project is the school restoration. This will not include any new buildings but will be a total refinishing of the school. We are talking new chalkboards, windows, doors, paint, etc. It will make the school functional again as opposed to its current state in most of the classroom. Any extra money from this project will go towards stoves for those oh so cold winter school days. Brrrrr!! This project you can donate directly too by going to https://www.peacecorps.gov/resources/donors/contribute/projdetail.cfm?projdesc=632-047®ion=africa . All donations made here are tax deductible.
So be thinking about it. I don’t want to pressure you but this would really mean a lot to me and the community that I am working with. Anyone that does sponsor one of these projects will be recognized on a memorial plaque that I am going to make and will be thanked by me personally with a little gift from Lesotho for you to remember you donations that you made to the community here.
Other than that, we have been hearing sporadically from a few of you and that is great. Right now we are feeling a little homesick and would love to hear from a lot of you. So send those e-mails and letters. It will take a few minutes out of your busy day but it truly does mean so much to us. We hope to hear from you soon and that you are all doing well.
All the best
Jason
Hey all! So I had just started a blog that was going to be a bitch fest and then I decided, why do I want to do that? I am sure these good people reading this blog don’t want to hear me bemoan the same old crap day after day. So I won’t. That’s right. I am making a conscious decision to keep this blog positive and by golly that is what I am gonna do!
So last you all heard, my school had started well and we were plugging right along. That has continued to happen over the course of the last month. Although we do waver from time to time, the school is doing well and staying on track. One of the more successful stories out of that has been the parents’ council. They have really stepped up and taken the initiative at restoring one of the classrooms by themselves. It has been really inspiring watching them over the weeks collecting mud, stones and even cinderblock bricks to repair the wall between the two classes. As you can see they have smeared it with a thick mud. This will help diffuse some of the sound and can also be use as a giant tack board. It is pretty sweet. You can also see how they have smeared a lighter color mud on the walls that really brightens the place up! It is so cool!
But we are no where near done. There are still all kinds of opportunities for you to get involved in helping our school raise some much need funds. There are two different projects. There have been some questions about this. One is being sponsored by my parents. They took it upon themselves to help raise enough money to build a new classroom. They are doing fundraising projects to achieve this goal like a yard sale and selling a cord of wood from a tree that fell in our backyard. So far they have raised about a $1200! This is great but it is still well short of our goal of $7000. This project as of right now is not tax deductible because my parents are collecting the money. I am working on getting a partner here that you can send your money to so that all donations will be tax deductible. But do be thinking about interesting and creative ways that you might be able to raise some money for this project.
The other project is the school restoration. This will not include any new buildings but will be a total refinishing of the school. We are talking new chalkboards, windows, doors, paint, etc. It will make the school functional again as opposed to its current state in most of the classroom. Any extra money from this project will go towards stoves for those oh so cold winter school days. Brrrrr!! This project you can donate directly too by going to https://www.peacecorps.gov/resources/donors/contribute/projdetail.cfm?projdesc=632-047®ion=africa . All donations made here are tax deductible.So be thinking about it. I don’t want to pressure you but this would really mean a lot to me and the community that I am working with. Anyone that does sponsor one of these projects will be recognized on a memorial plaque that I am going to make and will be thanked by me personally with a little gift from Lesotho for you to remember you donations that you made to the community here.
Other than that, we have been hearing sporadically from a few of you and that is great. Right now we are feeling a little homesick and would love to hear from a lot of you. So send those e-mails and letters. It will take a few minutes out of your busy day but it truly does mean so much to us. We hope to hear from you soon and that you are all doing well.
All the best
Jason
Friday, February 08, 2008
February 8, 2008 (written by Janeen)
Well this morning I woke up with a swollen eye, and am now in Maseru (3 hours after leaving my site). The Peace Corps doctor decided to refer me to an optomologist. He said that the optomologist is normally busy and might not be able to get me in today. Which is true. He called and I can't get in for the next month because THE optomologist is out of the country. So I may have to go to Bloemfontein. We are just concerned because it is recurring and I don't even know what it is. I thought it was a stye, but I've got them in both eyes and the pimple looking whiteness has gone away and left a small hard bump on my eyelid. Today is the second time my left eye has been swollen. Now that I have somewhat described my condition, I will move on.
The past few weeks have been the roughest by far of all my service. I don't really want to get into it on my blog for all to see, but it was the first time that I actually felt like coming home. I of course still want to come home and can't wait until the end of 2008, but I'm sure we'll stick it out!
I was thinking about trying to get back for my afternoon classes at 2:00, but I now realize that was wishful thinking. But am bummed that all I came for was to find out that the optomologist is out of the country!
Jason and I are planning on going to Bloemfontein for Valentine's weekend. We'll get to watch a movie. Has anyone seen any good movies you'd like to recommend? It will be nice to get away for the weekend.
Love you and miss you all! P.S. We've only gotten 1 letter in the past 3 weeks. :( (Yes I am trying to guilt some of you into writing!!)
The past few weeks have been the roughest by far of all my service. I don't really want to get into it on my blog for all to see, but it was the first time that I actually felt like coming home. I of course still want to come home and can't wait until the end of 2008, but I'm sure we'll stick it out!
I was thinking about trying to get back for my afternoon classes at 2:00, but I now realize that was wishful thinking. But am bummed that all I came for was to find out that the optomologist is out of the country!
Jason and I are planning on going to Bloemfontein for Valentine's weekend. We'll get to watch a movie. Has anyone seen any good movies you'd like to recommend? It will be nice to get away for the weekend.
Love you and miss you all! P.S. We've only gotten 1 letter in the past 3 weeks. :( (Yes I am trying to guilt some of you into writing!!)
Monday, January 28, 2008
A new start...
January 24, 2008 (Written by Jason)Good day to all our faithful readers out there in cyberspace. Over the last year and a few months you have followed the trails and tribulations of living as a cross-cultural, diplomatically placed volunteer here in the country of Lesotho. It has been a strange year, one full of extreme highs and disparaging lows. But through it all I have received many e-mails asking how if you were able to, how you could help.
Well now is that time. This week we began our second school year here in our village of Tsa-Kholo. I returned to school to find that after a great meeting with about 100 parents at the end of the school year about restoring the school, that work had already been done to this effect. I have told you all about how our class 5 is meeting in an old chicken coupe and that our class 3 and 4 share a large hall with no walls separating the 2 classes (hence it gets extremely loud in there). I haven’t really shared about our class 1 and 2 that meet in a building that was originally used as the first church on the site back around 1930. Yeah it is that old.
Over the years they have done the best they can installing windows and what not but they never got around to building the wall up to the roof and therefore it is like the class 1 and 2 are in the same room. Once again it gets extremely noisy during lessons and activities. Well, after a long and wonderful break from school, I returned to find that the parents of the school had torn down the old wall that was made of mud bricks and had begun building up a new wall of cinder blocks that had been scavenged from around the community.
The parents haven’t stopped there either. The parents have continued to gather bricks from around the community, while also smearing the wall with a nice thick clay, so that the wall can be used like a giant cork board. It is so cool. While working on the wall, some other parents cleaned and repaired (as best they can) the rest of the classes so that on the first day of the school, the teachers were able to come right in and start teaching classes.
Now if you have been following my blogs from the beginning you would realize that this is a dramatic difference from last year, when it took about 3 weeks for us to finally get down to the business of teaching. And that is not the only thing. This school, named Phechela Primary, is so motivated for change and progress that they have been going the entire school day taking only the breaks that they have scheduled and following the school time table as far as I have seen.
You may be thinking ‘well so they are doing what they are supposed to. Big deal!’ What you don’t understand is that this is a massive change in approach and philosophy. Last year I could barley get anyone to listen the smallest suggestions that I made. This year though, it is like everything that comes out of my mouth is gold the way that they are responding. I would say that 90% of my suggestions have been attempted or implemented and we are only going on day 4 of the first week of school. It is AWESOME!!
That all being said, I have decided to go forward with a project that I put in an application for earlier this year due to the nature of the commitment that I have seen thus far in words and in action. The project in its very basic form is a complete overhaul of the schools infrastructure. At its very core it is to provide a place that is safe , clean and more efficient than the current areas that exist for learning at the school. We will do this by repairing walls and floors, adding and completing walls in buildings to provide separate learning areas, new chalkboards, new doors and windows for classes that need them, and improving the facilities so that it is more conducive to continued learning.
However, I can only do this with your help. The Peace Corps does not provide funds for projects like this anymore. They have created an office called the Office of Private Sector Initiatives that handles projects for volunteers and gives family members and friends an outlet to donate to those projects. My community and I have completed an application for such a project and it has been approved by OPSI. They have issued me a project # which means that I can begin asking for support and help from all of you out there. If you feel that this is something that you would be interested in doing, please go to
https://www.peacecorps.gov/resources/donors/contribute/projdetail.cfm?projdesc=632-047®ion=africa
Then you can look for my project with the # 632-047. You can read more about the history of the school and the goals of the project. Also you can choose at that point if you want to make a donation to my project.
Once the full amount of the project has been funded, OPSI will cut me a check which I will then deposit in a bank account here and we will begin the reconstruction of my beautiful school. The only constraints that I am under are that I can not begin to work until I have received all of my funding. Now this may seem cruel but it is important as they don’t want half built libraries and pit latrines to be the legacy of Peace Corps volunteers. So it means that I need you to e-mail your friends and family, post notices at schools and churches, and help me get this thing funded!! The sooner it is, the sooner these beautiful kids can learn in an environment that is suitable and appropriate.
Once the full amount of the project has been funded, OPSI will cut me a check which I will then deposit in a bank account here and we will begin the reconstruction of my beautiful school. The only constraints that I am under are that I can not begin to work until I have received all of my funding. Now this may seem cruel but it is important as they don’t want half built libraries and pit latrines to be the legacy of Peace Corps volunteers. So it means that I need you to e-mail your friends and family, post notices at schools and churches, and help me get this thing funded!! The sooner it is, the sooner these beautiful kids can learn in an environment that is suitable and appropriate.
If you have ever felt that your donations go to some nameless project at best and at worst into the pockets of corrupt charities, this is your chance to donate directly to a school and a group that needs it. I will of course be updating this blog with pictures and links to pictures as often as I can and you will see your money directly at work. How cool is that?!?Ok so that is it. No more begging for me. I hope that you feel compelled to give. I pray that this finds you all happy and healthy in the New Year. All the best
Jason
Friday, January 18, 2008
January 18, 2008 (written by Janeen)
Well we are done with our all volunteer conference/one year reconnect with our group. It was nice to be in Maseru and with other volunteers. School starts on Monday and things will get busy (at least for me). Right now I am waiting to see our doctor. I've got some funky things going on with my eyes. I had what I thought was a stye in one eye, then the exact same thing happened in the other eye, but worse. Now in each eye I have a small bump. So I might go on antibiotics. Well there's my health update for the year, sorry to bore you I am just tired of waiting! Miss you! Love you!
Monday, January 14, 2008
January 10th, 2008 (written by Jason)
Hello to all our loyal readers around the blog-o-sphere. I know that it has been quite a while since we have written anything. I know also that to many of you this is your only link to our adventure here in the mountain kingdom and that you look forward to reading about what we are doing. For this I am truly sorry but as I have mentioned many times before our internet use here is inconsistent at best and when we do get on it is usually to catch up on e-mails, check out the latest happenings in the news and maybe see what friends are doing on Facebook. We rarely have uninterrupted time to use the computer and write out a blog and then get on both websites to update them (hence the incongruity sometimes). We are going to be trying to be more diligent now that we are back home and we have our own computer.
You see for the majority of the last month we have been in and out of Lesotho on holiday/vacation. School let out for us around Nov. 30 and this afforded us about 6 weeks to do what we want. Before we could get to traveling and vacation we did a few technical trainings for the new group that arrived here around the 10th of November. This sucked up the first part of December.
About mid-December we left for our trips that included going to Cape Town and the surrounding area and touring Lesotho, South Africa and Zimbabwe with Janeen’s family. I don’t want to bore you with everything that we did during that time but I do want to give you the highlights (and lowlights) of the trip.
Cape Town and surrounding area
• Great White Shark Cage Experience (seasick for the first time in my life)
• Camping
• Wine Tasting in Stellenbosch (awesome wine and cheese; check out Goats do Roam from the Fairview Vineyards. Easy drinking red blend)
• Table Mountain (didn’t hike it because we are lazy but it is beautiful)
• Beach
• Cape Point and crazy baboons
• Long Street (ripped off at a bar that raised its prices after 10 p.m. and had it printed in fine print on the last page of the menu.)
• Great food
• New Friends (Abby, Meera and Tamar and Christoff)
• Sleeping in
You can see we packed a bunch of stuff into a very short period of time. This is how we do things here though: long periods of work followed by sprint vacations. It is the only way we can do things affordably (you know we only get paid $235 a month, right?).
Almost immediately after coming home from Cape Town, Janeen’s family arrived from the states. It was so great having them here for Christmas and New Years. We had the joy of having Janeen’s parents, her brother and his wife, her sister, and her grandparents with us for 2 weeks. It was so cool being able to see them that it just made everything else just pale in comparison. Not to say that we didn’t do some amazing things. Here is a concise list. I am being serious too. We did way more than just the stuff mentioned here.
Lesotho
• Christmas Eve dinner of pea soup, Thai cucumber salad, rice and home made bread. It was a weird combo but it was the easiest thing we could do for 9 people on short notice (We thought we would have dinner at the hotel we were staying at, but it closed its services).
• Windy mountain roads are even more fun in the rain (right Carla ;-))
• Horse riding in the mud
• Amazing Christmas dinner
• Mountains- Yes grandpa there ARE mountains in Lesotho!!
Kosi Bay
• Lake system boat ride
• Hippos and birdlife
• Monkeys on the deck eating a mango at 3:30 a.m.
• Watched a Loggerhead turtle come up the beach, lay its eggs, bury them and go back to the ocean (long walk on the beach)
• Snorkeling (Devil Fish and Morrey Eels)
Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe side)
• Victoria Falls Hotel (a colonial beauty)
• Depressed economy (shelves were empty at the store and restaurants had more things missing from the menu than on them)
• Curio Markets and aggressive traders
• Bungee Jumping (only Jason)
• Gorge Swinging (unbelievable and again only Jason did this)
• Gorge Zip-Line
• River Cruise (that we missed because of the bungee jumping)
• The Falls (the awesome power of the Victoria Falls)
• Elephant interaction and riding
• Walk with lion cubs (so cool)
• Being chased by monkeys (both Janeen and Andy had an unwelcome monkey encounter)
Sabi Sands Reserve (Vuyetela)
• Big 5 Action (Lions, Elephants, Buffalo, Rhino (white), and a Leopard!! So cool)
• Best Massage in a year
• Lazy Afternoons in the plunge pool
• Amazing food!
• Great service
• Saying good-bye to family for another year
Of course this is just a list of what we did and doesn’t really tell you anything about them. If you want to know about anything in further detail, either Janeen or I would love to fill you in. All you have to do is drop us a little message at either janeen_samuelian@yahoo.com or jason.samuelian@gmail.com and we will get back to you with details about a specific thing. We would love to be able to write about all of them but it would make a blog of like 20 pages and we know that you have lives and jobs that need attending too.
We know that many of you also would like to see what we did. For this we left it up to our family of paparazzi that followed us around. Janeen’s grandfather, father and brother all had really nice cameras so we just let them be our official photographers for this vacation. To view the photos all you have to do is go to Andy & Mari’s website at www.thelansfords.com From there you can read about their perspective of the vacation and check out some of our older photos from Lesotho and some new ones from this last vacation.
Let me know if you want to hear about anything in particular, otherwise I am just going to bore you with what is happening this year and what to expect from us in the upcoming year.
We love and miss you all.
Jason
January 10, 2008 (written by Janeen)
Jason did a great job at summarizing our trip. I tried to do that in a letter to his parents and it took me about 3 pages- hand written. So, mom and dad Sam expect a novel sometime soon. That is, of course, if it actually gets to you. Jason and Andy have kinda had a correspondence poker game going since we’ve been gone. I say kinda because it takes a long time, Andy took FOREVER to respond and they’ve pretty much just done 2 hands in 14 months! (Yes, I can still rile my brother up even though I am thousands of miles away!) Anyway back on track here… Jason folded his hand and we mailed the cards back to Andy in a letter sent back in September (Yes, I keep a list of the letters I send. Have you noticed that there is a small number on the left hand corner of the envelope?) and Andy hasn’t received that letter. So that saddens me to know that some letters are not getting back home. But, I guess if only a few don’t make it that is a pretty good percentage being that I have written about 325 since we’ve been gone. I respond to all letters or packages that are sent to us. So if you’ve written a letter and have not gotten a response, we either never got the letter OR my response is lost in post office space.
Today was the first day back on the job. We had a staff meeting that was supposed to start at 9:00am, but didn’t start until 10:00am because some members of staff weren’t here. This same meeting went until 3:00pm. There was sort of a break when the heads of departments were meeting to discuss which teachers would teach what classes, but we all had to hang around because there was not a specified time to meet back. At the end of the meeting it was discussed that we should start on time. I also put my two cents in that we should designate an end time and stay on task so that we can be done at a reasonable time. I didn’t mention this, but I think that it might even be helpful if the agenda was drawn ahead of time so that if there were other issues that needed to be addressed, staff members could bring them to the administration to either put them on the agenda or be saved for a later date. Maybe this is just my Americanism coming forth, but it does seem that the teachers here have other things they need to do and that they value their time and don’t want it wasted. Many times I feel like things can be done more efficiently, but maybe my culture is just different than theirs. Maybe they want the whole staff to be involved in decision making that I would deem fit for the administration. I just don’t know. Regardless I am only here for one more school year and I am still learning a lot even if I get frustrated sometimes.
We got the results back from the Junior Certificate exam (taken by Form C students) and our school did fairly well. We got 9 merit passes which is less than last year, but everyone was worried and in crisis-mode over these students that these results were not expected. We did have 5 failures, which they were upset about, but not surprised. One of the failures was a girl who got pregnant during the winter was expelled from school and went into labor while writing her exams. Needless to say she did not complete all of her exams so she failed. I am teaching 2 classes of Form C this year and the pressure is on to get good results. Not a single student earned an “A” in English from our school, so my goal is to get at least one. My principal says 20, but I try to be more realistic. I’ll of course be back in the good ‘ol US of A when the results are out, but will still be very interested in how my students perform.
I am working on a series of study skills workshops to do with students at the beginning of the year. I brought it to the attention of staff today and the idea was well received. I had 4 teachers volunteer to help, which I was very happy about. This way if it turns out to be good, they can continue teaching them when I am gone. I am also trying to type out a curriculum so that I can share it with other Peace Corps volunteers.
Today I also found out my work load. I will be teaching 3 more class periods than last year, and I will have different classes. I am kinda bummed about that and asked to switch, but it didn’t work out. I will have C1 (had them), C4 (new), B1 (had them), and A1 (new). I wanted to teach C1, C2, B1, and B2 to keep all my students since I know their names and their abilities. My head of department said that they wanted me to teach one form A class to help lay the foundation for their later years. Oh well, I’ll just have to learn about 100 new faces and names. I did it once, I’m sure I can do it again. The part about teaching 3 extra hours I am not stoked about since I have other things I want to work on like the study skills workshops, but I don’t always get what I want (despite what my husband might say!!).
Now that I’ve written a novel (sorry!), I have only one more thing to say. Thank you to all of you who have sent us packages and letters. We had another Christmas when we returned home from vacation and opened 11 packages! Five of them were those from my mom and grandparents that were being held hostage with a ridiculous tax rate since October. They were finally released for the bargain price of 10 Rand each! I have been working hard to respond to letters that we got while out on vacation. I’ve written about 15 since we’ve been back and still have 7 letters waiting for responses. I’ll try to get them done before school starts on the 21st because after that my main focus will be school and hanging out with my hubby (he doesn’t like it when I ignore him and write letters).
We’ll be home this year! YIPPEEEEE! Is it bad that we are already counting down? There are only 11 months until we are home. I’m told the second year goes by too fast, but I think I am OK with that.
Love you and miss you all,
Janeen
You see for the majority of the last month we have been in and out of Lesotho on holiday/vacation. School let out for us around Nov. 30 and this afforded us about 6 weeks to do what we want. Before we could get to traveling and vacation we did a few technical trainings for the new group that arrived here around the 10th of November. This sucked up the first part of December.
About mid-December we left for our trips that included going to Cape Town and the surrounding area and touring Lesotho, South Africa and Zimbabwe with Janeen’s family. I don’t want to bore you with everything that we did during that time but I do want to give you the highlights (and lowlights) of the trip.
Cape Town and surrounding area
• Great White Shark Cage Experience (seasick for the first time in my life)
• Camping
• Wine Tasting in Stellenbosch (awesome wine and cheese; check out Goats do Roam from the Fairview Vineyards. Easy drinking red blend)
• Table Mountain (didn’t hike it because we are lazy but it is beautiful)
• Beach
• Cape Point and crazy baboons
• Long Street (ripped off at a bar that raised its prices after 10 p.m. and had it printed in fine print on the last page of the menu.)
• Great food
• New Friends (Abby, Meera and Tamar and Christoff)
• Sleeping in
You can see we packed a bunch of stuff into a very short period of time. This is how we do things here though: long periods of work followed by sprint vacations. It is the only way we can do things affordably (you know we only get paid $235 a month, right?).
Almost immediately after coming home from Cape Town, Janeen’s family arrived from the states. It was so great having them here for Christmas and New Years. We had the joy of having Janeen’s parents, her brother and his wife, her sister, and her grandparents with us for 2 weeks. It was so cool being able to see them that it just made everything else just pale in comparison. Not to say that we didn’t do some amazing things. Here is a concise list. I am being serious too. We did way more than just the stuff mentioned here.
Lesotho
• Christmas Eve dinner of pea soup, Thai cucumber salad, rice and home made bread. It was a weird combo but it was the easiest thing we could do for 9 people on short notice (We thought we would have dinner at the hotel we were staying at, but it closed its services).
• Windy mountain roads are even more fun in the rain (right Carla ;-))
• Horse riding in the mud
• Amazing Christmas dinner
• Mountains- Yes grandpa there ARE mountains in Lesotho!!
Kosi Bay
• Lake system boat ride
• Hippos and birdlife
• Monkeys on the deck eating a mango at 3:30 a.m.
• Watched a Loggerhead turtle come up the beach, lay its eggs, bury them and go back to the ocean (long walk on the beach)
• Snorkeling (Devil Fish and Morrey Eels)
Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe side)
• Victoria Falls Hotel (a colonial beauty)
• Depressed economy (shelves were empty at the store and restaurants had more things missing from the menu than on them)
• Curio Markets and aggressive traders
• Bungee Jumping (only Jason)
• Gorge Swinging (unbelievable and again only Jason did this)
• Gorge Zip-Line
• River Cruise (that we missed because of the bungee jumping)
• The Falls (the awesome power of the Victoria Falls)
• Elephant interaction and riding
• Walk with lion cubs (so cool)
• Being chased by monkeys (both Janeen and Andy had an unwelcome monkey encounter)
Sabi Sands Reserve (Vuyetela)
• Big 5 Action (Lions, Elephants, Buffalo, Rhino (white), and a Leopard!! So cool)
• Best Massage in a year
• Lazy Afternoons in the plunge pool
• Amazing food!
• Great service
• Saying good-bye to family for another year
Of course this is just a list of what we did and doesn’t really tell you anything about them. If you want to know about anything in further detail, either Janeen or I would love to fill you in. All you have to do is drop us a little message at either janeen_samuelian@yahoo.com or jason.samuelian@gmail.com and we will get back to you with details about a specific thing. We would love to be able to write about all of them but it would make a blog of like 20 pages and we know that you have lives and jobs that need attending too.
We know that many of you also would like to see what we did. For this we left it up to our family of paparazzi that followed us around. Janeen’s grandfather, father and brother all had really nice cameras so we just let them be our official photographers for this vacation. To view the photos all you have to do is go to Andy & Mari’s website at www.thelansfords.com From there you can read about their perspective of the vacation and check out some of our older photos from Lesotho and some new ones from this last vacation.
Let me know if you want to hear about anything in particular, otherwise I am just going to bore you with what is happening this year and what to expect from us in the upcoming year.
We love and miss you all.
Jason
January 10, 2008 (written by Janeen)
Jason did a great job at summarizing our trip. I tried to do that in a letter to his parents and it took me about 3 pages- hand written. So, mom and dad Sam expect a novel sometime soon. That is, of course, if it actually gets to you. Jason and Andy have kinda had a correspondence poker game going since we’ve been gone. I say kinda because it takes a long time, Andy took FOREVER to respond and they’ve pretty much just done 2 hands in 14 months! (Yes, I can still rile my brother up even though I am thousands of miles away!) Anyway back on track here… Jason folded his hand and we mailed the cards back to Andy in a letter sent back in September (Yes, I keep a list of the letters I send. Have you noticed that there is a small number on the left hand corner of the envelope?) and Andy hasn’t received that letter. So that saddens me to know that some letters are not getting back home. But, I guess if only a few don’t make it that is a pretty good percentage being that I have written about 325 since we’ve been gone. I respond to all letters or packages that are sent to us. So if you’ve written a letter and have not gotten a response, we either never got the letter OR my response is lost in post office space.
Today was the first day back on the job. We had a staff meeting that was supposed to start at 9:00am, but didn’t start until 10:00am because some members of staff weren’t here. This same meeting went until 3:00pm. There was sort of a break when the heads of departments were meeting to discuss which teachers would teach what classes, but we all had to hang around because there was not a specified time to meet back. At the end of the meeting it was discussed that we should start on time. I also put my two cents in that we should designate an end time and stay on task so that we can be done at a reasonable time. I didn’t mention this, but I think that it might even be helpful if the agenda was drawn ahead of time so that if there were other issues that needed to be addressed, staff members could bring them to the administration to either put them on the agenda or be saved for a later date. Maybe this is just my Americanism coming forth, but it does seem that the teachers here have other things they need to do and that they value their time and don’t want it wasted. Many times I feel like things can be done more efficiently, but maybe my culture is just different than theirs. Maybe they want the whole staff to be involved in decision making that I would deem fit for the administration. I just don’t know. Regardless I am only here for one more school year and I am still learning a lot even if I get frustrated sometimes.
We got the results back from the Junior Certificate exam (taken by Form C students) and our school did fairly well. We got 9 merit passes which is less than last year, but everyone was worried and in crisis-mode over these students that these results were not expected. We did have 5 failures, which they were upset about, but not surprised. One of the failures was a girl who got pregnant during the winter was expelled from school and went into labor while writing her exams. Needless to say she did not complete all of her exams so she failed. I am teaching 2 classes of Form C this year and the pressure is on to get good results. Not a single student earned an “A” in English from our school, so my goal is to get at least one. My principal says 20, but I try to be more realistic. I’ll of course be back in the good ‘ol US of A when the results are out, but will still be very interested in how my students perform.
I am working on a series of study skills workshops to do with students at the beginning of the year. I brought it to the attention of staff today and the idea was well received. I had 4 teachers volunteer to help, which I was very happy about. This way if it turns out to be good, they can continue teaching them when I am gone. I am also trying to type out a curriculum so that I can share it with other Peace Corps volunteers.
Today I also found out my work load. I will be teaching 3 more class periods than last year, and I will have different classes. I am kinda bummed about that and asked to switch, but it didn’t work out. I will have C1 (had them), C4 (new), B1 (had them), and A1 (new). I wanted to teach C1, C2, B1, and B2 to keep all my students since I know their names and their abilities. My head of department said that they wanted me to teach one form A class to help lay the foundation for their later years. Oh well, I’ll just have to learn about 100 new faces and names. I did it once, I’m sure I can do it again. The part about teaching 3 extra hours I am not stoked about since I have other things I want to work on like the study skills workshops, but I don’t always get what I want (despite what my husband might say!!).
Now that I’ve written a novel (sorry!), I have only one more thing to say. Thank you to all of you who have sent us packages and letters. We had another Christmas when we returned home from vacation and opened 11 packages! Five of them were those from my mom and grandparents that were being held hostage with a ridiculous tax rate since October. They were finally released for the bargain price of 10 Rand each! I have been working hard to respond to letters that we got while out on vacation. I’ve written about 15 since we’ve been back and still have 7 letters waiting for responses. I’ll try to get them done before school starts on the 21st because after that my main focus will be school and hanging out with my hubby (he doesn’t like it when I ignore him and write letters).
We’ll be home this year! YIPPEEEEE! Is it bad that we are already counting down? There are only 11 months until we are home. I’m told the second year goes by too fast, but I think I am OK with that.
Love you and miss you all,
Janeen
Thursday, January 03, 2008
December 5, 2007 (written by Janeen)
Well I have been in Maseru since Sunday and have not had a chance to write a blog. Everytime I've come to get on the computers there have been several people waiting and all I've had time to do (without feeling guilty) is read my emails.
Things are going well. I am here helping with training of the new group. They are practice teaching this week. A school is having a summer session strictly for the new volunteers to practice. I think it is great practice for them and they are doing really well and responding to our critiques. I'm almost running out of suggestions!
There are less than three weeks until the whole Lansford clan comes out to Lesotho and we are really looking forward to their arrival. It will make it much easier being away from home for Christmas! Fortunately we get to go to Cape Town before they arrive. I think it would be pretty torturous having not all that much to do while we waited for them to arrive.
I am getting my mid-service medical done while I am here. So far all I've done is my TB test. It's only been 24 hours, but I am pretty sure that I am TB free (which is actually a good thing because some volunteers do get TB). I'll be sure to let you all know the final results after I find out tomorrow!
I hope you are all enjoying the Christmas season. We've been getting into the spirit by playing Christmas music, but somehow it feels strange singing along to wintry songs in summer, but it makes me happy! Miss you and love you all!
Things are going well. I am here helping with training of the new group. They are practice teaching this week. A school is having a summer session strictly for the new volunteers to practice. I think it is great practice for them and they are doing really well and responding to our critiques. I'm almost running out of suggestions!
There are less than three weeks until the whole Lansford clan comes out to Lesotho and we are really looking forward to their arrival. It will make it much easier being away from home for Christmas! Fortunately we get to go to Cape Town before they arrive. I think it would be pretty torturous having not all that much to do while we waited for them to arrive.
I am getting my mid-service medical done while I am here. So far all I've done is my TB test. It's only been 24 hours, but I am pretty sure that I am TB free (which is actually a good thing because some volunteers do get TB). I'll be sure to let you all know the final results after I find out tomorrow!
I hope you are all enjoying the Christmas season. We've been getting into the spirit by playing Christmas music, but somehow it feels strange singing along to wintry songs in summer, but it makes me happy! Miss you and love you all!
January 3, 2008 (written by Janeen)
Happy New Year! We hope that everyone is enjoying 2008 so far! We had a great Christmas and are enjoying spending time with family. We miss you all and will get a good update typed out when all settles down a bit. Be prepared for "Back from Vacation" blues from us!
Monday, November 26, 2007
November 26, 2006 (written by Janeen)
Today feels a little more like the Christmas season. I put up the few decorations we have and we are listening to Christmas music. It’s fun!
Here is the anticipated list that I promised in my last blog. I know the suspense is high!!!
As the anniversary of being in Lesotho has come and gone, I thought I’d create a list of things that I have learned and how I’ve changed.
Things I’ve Learned and How I’ve Changed
I can now bridge cards when shuffling
I am willing to try new foods and have found that I do like onions. I’ve even gone so far as eaten some raw, though I still don’t want to put them on my hamburgers.
Sadly, I have become more cynical and jaded. Many people want to help poor people in developing countries and their way of helping is often sending money. I know that a lot of money is being sent to Lesotho in general. It doesn’t seem to be helping the people that need it most, but the ministers get to drive around in Mercedes Benz cars. Does that sound right?!?!
I have a new love for cats. Don’t worry I have not become a cat lady, but I no longer fear them and even would go as far as saying that I love the little guy that we’ve got! AND I wouldn’t be opposed to having a cat when I get home.
We’ve changed the way we shop for food. This is mainly out of necessity, but we make a list of the meals we want to eat for the week and only buy the things we need. This has also changed how we eat. If we didn’t buy snack food, we don’t eat snack food. Of course its not like home where you can jump in your car when you have a craving. We have to walk to the road, wait for a taxi, & ride to town. It is a pretty big deal! Needless to say we’ve both lost weight. I gained some back after the vacation with Jason’s family, but we both look and feel healthy. We hope that we can keep that trend going when we get home!
I am now afraid of dogs. At least I am here in Lesotho. Even the ones that look cute can run at you out of the blue. They are trained to be mean and they are. Jason has been rushed at and almost attacked at least 3 times. I wouldn’t hesitate to throw a rock at a dog if I felt I was in danger, and that wasn’t the case when I first arrived.
I’ve learned that making fresh bread is not only delicious but rewarding, especially if you tried something new. Today I just made ginger bread and it was pretty good for a first attempt.
I’ve learned that you can make some pretty neat toys with what you may normally just throw away.
I’ve realized that we make A LOT of trash. We’ve tried to cut down by utilizing every last resource and making a compost pile, but we still have a large footprint on the earth. I’ll keep this in mind when I get home and hopefully keep the same ideals of making the smallest footprint possible. In fact I have told Jason that when we shop for a house, finding a community that recycles is important to me.
I’ve learned that you can bake almost anything in a Dutch oven.
I’ve learned to appreciate all the resources we have at home. You don’t realize what you’ve got until its gone!
I’ve learned how to bathe with a small amount of water. Albeit, I still enjoy some nice long hot showers.
I’ve learned to appreciate the rain. At home I looked at is as a nuisance that made my hair frizzy and made all the California drivers forget how to drive. Here, I see it as a necessity and it is especially for those who depend on their fields to support them. In fact, I get excited when it rains here. I even jumped up and down with joy when the first rains of the season came.
I have learned to be more patient. The emphasis here is on the more as I have not perfected this trait and don’t think I ever will. There is a part of me that screams inside every time we have a staff meeting that takes three hours when it could have been done in one.
I have found that it is pretty cool to be able to go outside to your garden
and pick fresh vegetables for a meal. Of course all I have done to help with the garden is provide student workers (weeding is a good punishment) and I occasionally water the garden. I give Jason all the credit for the success. We have corn, green beans, peas, sunflowers, tomatoes, cucumber, rape, swiss chard, onions, basil, cilantro, green squash, and carrots. Its SWEET!
I’ve been reassured that God provides for us. We get paid quarterly which makes it difficult to budget for 3 months on an already small salary. We usually are penny pinching towards the end of the pay period, but we always seem to make it. This last time we got a generous gift from a couple of Irish people who were visiting Lesotho and that helped get us through without stress to the next pay check.
I’ve learned that there will always be challenges and you have to give it all you got and just accept that everything is not going to be perfect.
That is about all I can think of for now. I’ll update my list as I think of more. Hope you enjoyed reading it!
November 26th, 2007
Hey to all my friends and family around the globe. It has been a few weeks since I have written anything other than my Thanksgiving wishes. I hope that you are all enjoying the holiday season (Hanukkah starts on Dec. 4th) and are enjoying all those sweet foods and wonderful parties. We are not alone (lots of friends) here and that makes being away from you a little bit easier.
Despite some sad news last week (my favorite teacher’s husband died) we are doing really pretty well. As you have read in Janeen’s blog we are learning a lot about ourselves and our world. The fun part is that we get to impart some of this knowledge onto our fellow volunteers. Last week Janeen and I did 3 days of technical training with the new group. They are 23 bright and eager people from a variety of different backgrounds and places around the U.S. It is really nice being around their optimism and exuberant energy. It refreshes the body and soul.
On top of being around those positive new people, we were also invited to go to the American Ambassadors house for Thanksgiving dinner. We wouldn’t really have been normally invited but he had invited all of the trainees to dinner and since we were in town we got a chance to go with them. Let me tell you, it was awesome. We arrived about an hour before dinner after a long day of thundershowers. It was cool but not cold and he had a heated pool for us to swim in. Now I have not swam in a heated pool for maybe a year and a half and after living in Lesotho for so long it really did feel like a giant chlorinated bath. It was pretty outstanding.
After swimming and playing the mandatory pool games (marco polo, colors, etc.) we sat down to a huge feast. I have eaten well here at funerals or other parties but we Americans know how to party. There were approximately 40 people there and we had 4 turkeys with like 12 sides. This does not include all the chips and fresh veggie platters before dinner. These were all washed down with beer, wine and soda provided by the Ambassador. After dinner we enjoyed all 6 desserts. That’s right 6 desserts. We definitely pigged out. I had to sit down multiple times after dinner and just breathe so that I would not go into food shock. It was pretty great!
All in all though I would say the best part of being at the ambassadors was the way that he made us feel. Our previous ambassador did not exactly reach out to Peace Corps as part of the mission in Lesotho. In contrast the current ambassador expressed his feeling of gratitude to us as members of the greater mission of the United States government and welcomed us as informal ambassadors to the country of Lesotho. He really made us feel like we are part of something larger than ourselves and even though we don’t get all the perks and respect of the state department people, we are still important to what is going on here. It was a really nice thing to hear especially at this point in our service.
I concluded the evening running around and playing with kids for about an hour (doesn’t sound like me at all right? Could have been rubbing shoulders with the ambassador instead I was the clown for the kids. Man where are my priorities?). It was a blast. I don’t really get to do it all that often at school because if you play with 1 child in 2 minutes you will have 100 around you. This can be seriously overwhelming. So I enjoyed not having more than 5 at one time that I would get mobbed by. It was really fun. I was a tickle monster.
So now we are back home. It rained really well today. We are happy about that to be sure. We hope that the weather wherever you are is good and that you are happy and safe.
All the best, Jason
November 24, 2007(written by Janeen)
Well it has been quite some time since I have last written a blog. The last month or so I have been busy with school, but I am happy to say that on November 21st I finished my last obligation for the school year. I am done grading, done with meetings, done with everything for 2 months! School starts again January 21st. Of course I still have projects to work on, but I can take a very relaxed pace. AND even better is that we have family coming in less than a month! YIPPEE! Mom, Dad, Grandma & Grandpa Lansford, Andy, Mari, & Lynette all arrive December 23rd. We’ll definitely be having a Merry Christmas here!
Jason and I just finished two days helping train the new group of education volunteers. Today they are going to the village. I can remember the strange overwhelming feeling of going to the village and having NO IDEA what they were saying to me. I just told some of them the story about how our mother wanted us to iron the clothes we were wearing. The situation went something like this: When she mentioned something about ironing, I brought different clothes for her to iron. Then I took the ironing board into our bedroom thinking she wanted me to iron there. Finally after at least 20 minutes or so, we changed clothes so that she could iron the clothes we were wearing. My skirt was a peasant style skirt that is supposed to be wrinkled, so she struggled to iron that and I didn’t have the heart (or the words) to tell her not to iron it. So I had creased ironed in wrinkles on my skirt that day!!
Since we have now passed the year mark, (Yes we have been gone a year now!) I’ve been thinking about making a list talking about how I’ve changed and what I’ve learned. Now that I’ll have more time at home I’ll be sure to get on that and get it posted. Some things will be funny, some will be sad, and some neutral. Here’s one example: I have learned how to bridge when shuffling cards. Some of you may not be impressed, but it is something I’ve always wanted to be able to do and just thought that I was completely incompetent, BUT I have learned that I am not! You should all be proud!
Well I need to sign off now so I can make it to the post office before it closes. We’ve had some difficulties with packages here. Lesotho started charging outrageous taxes to pick up boxes. It has been fixed and we recently got 3 packages (1 from Gma & Gpa D & 2 from Aunt Sharon & Uncle Bob—Thanks!) without the taxes, but we have 5 waiting for us that we could not afford to pick up. For some reason the Maseru post office can’t relay the message of canceling the fees to our post office. So, I have to run to the post office today and get some proof that the taxes should be removed in order to pick up the 5 packages waiting for us! Whew! Now after explaining all that I really have to go!
We send our love to all of you and are certainly thinking of all our friends and family as the Christmas holiday approaches.
We hope you have a wonderful season.
Today feels a little more like the Christmas season. I put up the few decorations we have and we are listening to Christmas music. It’s fun!
Here is the anticipated list that I promised in my last blog. I know the suspense is high!!!
As the anniversary of being in Lesotho has come and gone, I thought I’d create a list of things that I have learned and how I’ve changed.
Things I’ve Learned and How I’ve Changed
I can now bridge cards when shuffling
I am willing to try new foods and have found that I do like onions. I’ve even gone so far as eaten some raw, though I still don’t want to put them on my hamburgers.
Sadly, I have become more cynical and jaded. Many people want to help poor people in developing countries and their way of helping is often sending money. I know that a lot of money is being sent to Lesotho in general. It doesn’t seem to be helping the people that need it most, but the ministers get to drive around in Mercedes Benz cars. Does that sound right?!?!
I have a new love for cats. Don’t worry I have not become a cat lady, but I no longer fear them and even would go as far as saying that I love the little guy that we’ve got! AND I wouldn’t be opposed to having a cat when I get home.
We’ve changed the way we shop for food. This is mainly out of necessity, but we make a list of the meals we want to eat for the week and only buy the things we need. This has also changed how we eat. If we didn’t buy snack food, we don’t eat snack food. Of course its not like home where you can jump in your car when you have a craving. We have to walk to the road, wait for a taxi, & ride to town. It is a pretty big deal! Needless to say we’ve both lost weight. I gained some back after the vacation with Jason’s family, but we both look and feel healthy. We hope that we can keep that trend going when we get home!
I am now afraid of dogs. At least I am here in Lesotho. Even the ones that look cute can run at you out of the blue. They are trained to be mean and they are. Jason has been rushed at and almost attacked at least 3 times. I wouldn’t hesitate to throw a rock at a dog if I felt I was in danger, and that wasn’t the case when I first arrived.
I’ve learned that making fresh bread is not only delicious but rewarding, especially if you tried something new. Today I just made ginger bread and it was pretty good for a first attempt.
I’ve learned that you can make some pretty neat toys with what you may normally just throw away.
I’ve realized that we make A LOT of trash. We’ve tried to cut down by utilizing every last resource and making a compost pile, but we still have a large footprint on the earth. I’ll keep this in mind when I get home and hopefully keep the same ideals of making the smallest footprint possible. In fact I have told Jason that when we shop for a house, finding a community that recycles is important to me.
I’ve learned that you can bake almost anything in a Dutch oven.
I’ve learned to appreciate all the resources we have at home. You don’t realize what you’ve got until its gone!
I’ve learned how to bathe with a small amount of water. Albeit, I still enjoy some nice long hot showers.
I’ve learned to appreciate the rain. At home I looked at is as a nuisance that made my hair frizzy and made all the California drivers forget how to drive. Here, I see it as a necessity and it is especially for those who depend on their fields to support them. In fact, I get excited when it rains here. I even jumped up and down with joy when the first rains of the season came.
I have learned to be more patient. The emphasis here is on the more as I have not perfected this trait and don’t think I ever will. There is a part of me that screams inside every time we have a staff meeting that takes three hours when it could have been done in one.
I have found that it is pretty cool to be able to go outside to your garden
and pick fresh vegetables for a meal. Of course all I have done to help with the garden is provide student workers (weeding is a good punishment) and I occasionally water the garden. I give Jason all the credit for the success. We have corn, green beans, peas, sunflowers, tomatoes, cucumber, rape, swiss chard, onions, basil, cilantro, green squash, and carrots. Its SWEET!
I’ve been reassured that God provides for us. We get paid quarterly which makes it difficult to budget for 3 months on an already small salary. We usually are penny pinching towards the end of the pay period, but we always seem to make it. This last time we got a generous gift from a couple of Irish people who were visiting Lesotho and that helped get us through without stress to the next pay check.
I’ve learned that there will always be challenges and you have to give it all you got and just accept that everything is not going to be perfect.
That is about all I can think of for now. I’ll update my list as I think of more. Hope you enjoyed reading it!
November 26th, 2007
Hey to all my friends and family around the globe. It has been a few weeks since I have written anything other than my Thanksgiving wishes. I hope that you are all enjoying the holiday season (Hanukkah starts on Dec. 4th) and are enjoying all those sweet foods and wonderful parties. We are not alone (lots of friends) here and that makes being away from you a little bit easier.
Despite some sad news last week (my favorite teacher’s husband died) we are doing really pretty well. As you have read in Janeen’s blog we are learning a lot about ourselves and our world. The fun part is that we get to impart some of this knowledge onto our fellow volunteers. Last week Janeen and I did 3 days of technical training with the new group. They are 23 bright and eager people from a variety of different backgrounds and places around the U.S. It is really nice being around their optimism and exuberant energy. It refreshes the body and soul.
On top of being around those positive new people, we were also invited to go to the American Ambassadors house for Thanksgiving dinner. We wouldn’t really have been normally invited but he had invited all of the trainees to dinner and since we were in town we got a chance to go with them. Let me tell you, it was awesome. We arrived about an hour before dinner after a long day of thundershowers. It was cool but not cold and he had a heated pool for us to swim in. Now I have not swam in a heated pool for maybe a year and a half and after living in Lesotho for so long it really did feel like a giant chlorinated bath. It was pretty outstanding.
After swimming and playing the mandatory pool games (marco polo, colors, etc.) we sat down to a huge feast. I have eaten well here at funerals or other parties but we Americans know how to party. There were approximately 40 people there and we had 4 turkeys with like 12 sides. This does not include all the chips and fresh veggie platters before dinner. These were all washed down with beer, wine and soda provided by the Ambassador. After dinner we enjoyed all 6 desserts. That’s right 6 desserts. We definitely pigged out. I had to sit down multiple times after dinner and just breathe so that I would not go into food shock. It was pretty great!
All in all though I would say the best part of being at the ambassadors was the way that he made us feel. Our previous ambassador did not exactly reach out to Peace Corps as part of the mission in Lesotho. In contrast the current ambassador expressed his feeling of gratitude to us as members of the greater mission of the United States government and welcomed us as informal ambassadors to the country of Lesotho. He really made us feel like we are part of something larger than ourselves and even though we don’t get all the perks and respect of the state department people, we are still important to what is going on here. It was a really nice thing to hear especially at this point in our service.
I concluded the evening running around and playing with kids for about an hour (doesn’t sound like me at all right? Could have been rubbing shoulders with the ambassador instead I was the clown for the kids. Man where are my priorities?). It was a blast. I don’t really get to do it all that often at school because if you play with 1 child in 2 minutes you will have 100 around you. This can be seriously overwhelming. So I enjoyed not having more than 5 at one time that I would get mobbed by. It was really fun. I was a tickle monster.
So now we are back home. It rained really well today. We are happy about that to be sure. We hope that the weather wherever you are is good and that you are happy and safe.
All the best, Jason
November 24, 2007(written by Janeen)
Well it has been quite some time since I have last written a blog. The last month or so I have been busy with school, but I am happy to say that on November 21st I finished my last obligation for the school year. I am done grading, done with meetings, done with everything for 2 months! School starts again January 21st. Of course I still have projects to work on, but I can take a very relaxed pace. AND even better is that we have family coming in less than a month! YIPPEE! Mom, Dad, Grandma & Grandpa Lansford, Andy, Mari, & Lynette all arrive December 23rd. We’ll definitely be having a Merry Christmas here!
Jason and I just finished two days helping train the new group of education volunteers. Today they are going to the village. I can remember the strange overwhelming feeling of going to the village and having NO IDEA what they were saying to me. I just told some of them the story about how our mother wanted us to iron the clothes we were wearing. The situation went something like this: When she mentioned something about ironing, I brought different clothes for her to iron. Then I took the ironing board into our bedroom thinking she wanted me to iron there. Finally after at least 20 minutes or so, we changed clothes so that she could iron the clothes we were wearing. My skirt was a peasant style skirt that is supposed to be wrinkled, so she struggled to iron that and I didn’t have the heart (or the words) to tell her not to iron it. So I had creased ironed in wrinkles on my skirt that day!!
Since we have now passed the year mark, (Yes we have been gone a year now!) I’ve been thinking about making a list talking about how I’ve changed and what I’ve learned. Now that I’ll have more time at home I’ll be sure to get on that and get it posted. Some things will be funny, some will be sad, and some neutral. Here’s one example: I have learned how to bridge when shuffling cards. Some of you may not be impressed, but it is something I’ve always wanted to be able to do and just thought that I was completely incompetent, BUT I have learned that I am not! You should all be proud!
Well I need to sign off now so I can make it to the post office before it closes. We’ve had some difficulties with packages here. Lesotho started charging outrageous taxes to pick up boxes. It has been fixed and we recently got 3 packages (1 from Gma & Gpa D & 2 from Aunt Sharon & Uncle Bob—Thanks!) without the taxes, but we have 5 waiting for us that we could not afford to pick up. For some reason the Maseru post office can’t relay the message of canceling the fees to our post office. So, I have to run to the post office today and get some proof that the taxes should be removed in order to pick up the 5 packages waiting for us! Whew! Now after explaining all that I really have to go!
We send our love to all of you and are certainly thinking of all our friends and family as the Christmas holiday approaches.
We hope you have a wonderful season.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Saturday, November 10, 2007
November 10, 2007 (written by Jason)
Hey all the peoples in the world. It is Jason yet again. I know you are all thinking, 'why hasn't Janeen written a blog in a while'? The short answer is, is that she is marking like a mad woman. You see our jobs are inherenetly different. She has a lot of marking at the end of the quarters while I have very little work all the time. So I have time to do things like read, blog, ponder the deep questions of life and other such endevours. Thus many of you can spend you days (or nights) being bored to death by my irrelevant comments about life and the nature of things.
Life is getting back to somewhat semblance of normallcy. I am in Maseru for a meeting and because of this I will be missing the funeral of Motlatsi. I am pretty good about this though as I am slowly coming to terms with his death and what that means at large. I am feeling really weird about being so self-absorbed about this. I mean, he was 16 years old. His family seems to be taking it in stride but I am having a really hard time moving past it. It affected my whole last week and I was a rather large pain in the butt to live with (sorry Janeen).
I will work this out but it is just really stupid. I don't want to feel bad about feeling bad, but what can you do?
Otherwise, we still don't know anything about the packages. We will keep you up to date as we love getting packages here. It really makes us happy when we open them and see all the love poured out on us. Please keep sending letters and cards. We love those just as much.
My best friend comes in just 17 days and I am PUMPED!! Can't wait to see him.
All the best
Jason
Hey all the peoples in the world. It is Jason yet again. I know you are all thinking, 'why hasn't Janeen written a blog in a while'? The short answer is, is that she is marking like a mad woman. You see our jobs are inherenetly different. She has a lot of marking at the end of the quarters while I have very little work all the time. So I have time to do things like read, blog, ponder the deep questions of life and other such endevours. Thus many of you can spend you days (or nights) being bored to death by my irrelevant comments about life and the nature of things.
Life is getting back to somewhat semblance of normallcy. I am in Maseru for a meeting and because of this I will be missing the funeral of Motlatsi. I am pretty good about this though as I am slowly coming to terms with his death and what that means at large. I am feeling really weird about being so self-absorbed about this. I mean, he was 16 years old. His family seems to be taking it in stride but I am having a really hard time moving past it. It affected my whole last week and I was a rather large pain in the butt to live with (sorry Janeen).
I will work this out but it is just really stupid. I don't want to feel bad about feeling bad, but what can you do?
Otherwise, we still don't know anything about the packages. We will keep you up to date as we love getting packages here. It really makes us happy when we open them and see all the love poured out on us. Please keep sending letters and cards. We love those just as much.
My best friend comes in just 17 days and I am PUMPED!! Can't wait to see him.
All the best
Jason
Monday, November 05, 2007
November 5, 2007 (written by Jason)
So last week I wrote a really emotional e-mail. I really appreciate all the words of encouragement. It has been a long and really weird week. It was emotional going to school today talking to the teachers about the funeral and working out how it is going to work. It looks like due to a prior commitment that I won’t be going to the boy’s funeral. I think that this is probably better for me anyway. I am going to go to the families house on Thursday and pay my respects then.
The crazy part is that we have been gone now for exactly 1 year. We had our going away party on the 3rd of last year. We then left for Washington on the 4th really early in the morning. I can’t believe that this year has already flown by. It is totally nuts. We have had our ups and downs here but I still feel that we are happy to have come.
One thing that is frustrating is that the postal service here has decided that it is going to start charging sales tax (on what exactly we still don’t know) that is about 20 to 30 US dollars per package. Needless to say because our salaries are around 250 dollars they are sitting in storage until we get paid or they revoke the sales tax. My favorite part about all this is that the post office never notified us that this change would take place. We just went in one day and the charge had increased by 500%. It is so the way things sometimes work here. Cracks me up!
Well I hope that you are all doing good. We love and miss you all. Drop us a line if you get a chance!
Peace Corps Out!
Jason
So last week I wrote a really emotional e-mail. I really appreciate all the words of encouragement. It has been a long and really weird week. It was emotional going to school today talking to the teachers about the funeral and working out how it is going to work. It looks like due to a prior commitment that I won’t be going to the boy’s funeral. I think that this is probably better for me anyway. I am going to go to the families house on Thursday and pay my respects then.
The crazy part is that we have been gone now for exactly 1 year. We had our going away party on the 3rd of last year. We then left for Washington on the 4th really early in the morning. I can’t believe that this year has already flown by. It is totally nuts. We have had our ups and downs here but I still feel that we are happy to have come.
One thing that is frustrating is that the postal service here has decided that it is going to start charging sales tax (on what exactly we still don’t know) that is about 20 to 30 US dollars per package. Needless to say because our salaries are around 250 dollars they are sitting in storage until we get paid or they revoke the sales tax. My favorite part about all this is that the post office never notified us that this change would take place. We just went in one day and the charge had increased by 500%. It is so the way things sometimes work here. Cracks me up!
Well I hope that you are all doing good. We love and miss you all. Drop us a line if you get a chance!
Peace Corps Out!
Jason
Thursday, November 01, 2007
November 1, 2007 (written by Jason)
Hello to all the readers around the globe. I hope that as you are reading this that you are happy and healthy. Life here is an up and down journey as I know that many of your lives are as well. Last time I posted a rather extensive blog (one person even called it a novel). I am really sorry about that but I am trying to get you to understand the depth and gravitas of what we are experiencing here.
Along that line, almost immediately after I posted the blog I wrote last week, a teacher from one of my schools called me to notify me that one of our students had passed away. His name was Motlatsi and he was in standard 6 (Sixth Grade). He was a young and beautiful person. He was one of the few students that took it upon themselves to really engage me as an adult and as a person. He was tall and handsome and his singing voice rang exquisitely above all the rest as he sang in the school choir.
I think what is most difficult about this is that he probably died of something that if he were in a country where his health was monitored and the right medicines were administered, he may have gone on to be a productive and integral part of figuring things out in this country. The death of one so young with so much promise makes my heart heavy with the tears I can not shed. I feel nothing but regret and sadness but my heart won’t let me weep. I think this is part of the self-preservation that takes place here.
We are ensconced in so much death. Basotho family members, colleagues, neighbors and students die every week. With the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in our country we see funeral tents up all around the country side on Friday and Saturday (the traditional days to bury someone here). We become callused to these events.
Yet when someone young or close dies, it rips the callus of our hearts and exposes the raw flesh underneath. We have little to buffer us from the blow that this brings to us. It is so real and so raw, it is difficult to know what to do with this. We sit and we try and understand why but we are often found wanting.
All the best
Jason
Hello to all the readers around the globe. I hope that as you are reading this that you are happy and healthy. Life here is an up and down journey as I know that many of your lives are as well. Last time I posted a rather extensive blog (one person even called it a novel). I am really sorry about that but I am trying to get you to understand the depth and gravitas of what we are experiencing here.
Along that line, almost immediately after I posted the blog I wrote last week, a teacher from one of my schools called me to notify me that one of our students had passed away. His name was Motlatsi and he was in standard 6 (Sixth Grade). He was a young and beautiful person. He was one of the few students that took it upon themselves to really engage me as an adult and as a person. He was tall and handsome and his singing voice rang exquisitely above all the rest as he sang in the school choir.
I think what is most difficult about this is that he probably died of something that if he were in a country where his health was monitored and the right medicines were administered, he may have gone on to be a productive and integral part of figuring things out in this country. The death of one so young with so much promise makes my heart heavy with the tears I can not shed. I feel nothing but regret and sadness but my heart won’t let me weep. I think this is part of the self-preservation that takes place here.
We are ensconced in so much death. Basotho family members, colleagues, neighbors and students die every week. With the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in our country we see funeral tents up all around the country side on Friday and Saturday (the traditional days to bury someone here). We become callused to these events.
Yet when someone young or close dies, it rips the callus of our hearts and exposes the raw flesh underneath. We have little to buffer us from the blow that this brings to us. It is so real and so raw, it is difficult to know what to do with this. We sit and we try and understand why but we are often found wanting.
All the best
Jason
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