Hi y'all! I hope everyone has had a great start to May. For us here in Lesotho, it's meant it's getting colder by the day. Next week the highs don't get above 60°F, and the lows will drop down into the high 30s. As a Texas girl, I'm not looking forward to it. BUT, I will be setting up my space heater hopefully tomorrow, so I won't freeze. Completely. Anyway, here are my updates from the last couple weeks!
Winter
As I mentioned, winter is really setting in here. Some classrooms at school do have space heaters, but we haven't started using them yet. The teachers make tea in the mornings, using the electric water heater. Our school is blessed with electricity in the office, computer lab, and many of the classrooms. Anyway, only having stone walls to separate us from the cold outside means we bundle up, and stay bundled up all day. Here's Mohapi and I from the other day. I'm wearing three layers on top, plus my scarf, hat, jeans and boots. (Excuse the chalk that's constantly on my clothes.) Some days I'll also wear leggings under my jeans, and many of the other teachers do the same. I will say, the worst thing for me is my feet being cold. So boots and warm socks are essential.
Small Groups
I have started teaching small groups in the mornings! I love working with a smaller group of students. There are 50 in Mohapi and I's 4th grade class, so I split them into 10 groups of 5. I take two groups a day first thing in the morning, and then generally teach computer lab the rest of the day. The first time I met with the groups, I had them make nametags, pictured on the right. They loved using the jumbo crayons I found in Maseru and drawing. The rest of the quarter, which is through June 2nd, I will be helping them review for their English test. This does mean teaching a similar lesson 10 times, but I don't mind at all. Small groups are also helping me finally remember all of their names!
Reeses and Kittens
I think my camera roll is now half kittens, half sky pictures. The kittens have been getting braver, and came into my house the other day. I usually don't let Reeses in, even though she cries outside my door pretty often, but I did this one time. And now the kittens always want to come inside too. I placate them with tuna sometimes, but I do get to pet them a lot now too which I enjoy!
Pictured above from left to right, top to bottom: Kitten right before hissing at, then running away from, the big bad chickens; bath time!; my attempt at a picturesque photo; playing; all three of them in my house; and what I now come home to every day-the kittens sitting against my door.
Leholimo
Leholimo (leh-ho-DEE-moh) means sky. It's interesting, because Molimo (moh-DEE-moh) means God. They have the same root. Anyway, there have been many beautiful skies recently, including a double rainbow! It's been a while since I've seen a rainbow, because it doesn't rain very often. We were spoiled with them during the rainy season. On the top left is a sunrise, and the other three are sunsets.
Public Transportation
I also want to share about how public transportation works here. It's how we get around everywhere. There are 4 types we usually take. 4+1s, which are sedans (4+1s in my camp town are pictured on the left, which all have yellow stripes); taxis, which are 15 passenger vans; quantums, which are also 15 passenger but are a bit bigger than taxis; and sprinters, which are ~22 passenger vans with standing room for ~9 people. The name "4+1" is pretty self explanatory, it means 4 passengers + the driver. I say 4, but sometimes they'll put people in the trunk so it'll be 5 or 6. A similar situation goes for the taxis; there may be 15 seats, but they'll stuff however many people they can if necessary.
I've even seen someone sit on the center console before! With taxis, quantums, and sprinters, there are also often driver helpers, who sit when they can or stand between the seats and the door and collect money. They also help people arrange their bags so everything fits. It makes for pretty squished rides, but you get used to it. A typical taxi, which I take to and from my village, is pictured right. Sprinters are the only vehicles that have standing room (besides buses). There will be however many people standing in the aisle as can fit, even if there's a certain "legal" number. I've only had to stand once, and it wasn't my favorite but it's not the worst thing. Everyone is used to being up close and personal with strangers so no one minds being squished. We do have to be careful of where we keep important things like our phones and money, so I make sure to have them in my front pockets or in my bag that I hold on my lap. Falling asleep on long rides alone isn't a great idea either. The window situation is also interesting; even when it's really hot, most Basotho don't like to have the windows open because they don't like feeling the wind. Other volunteers and I have had people get mad at us for having our window open and they always ask us to close it. One other thing, most drivers blast music. It's been so loud before I could feel it in my chest. That's probably my least favorite thing about public transportation, but thankfully not all drivers play it so loud. (It's always amazing to me how well Basotho can hear when they grow up with such loud music! Drivers will blast music even with babies as passengers.) All in all, I like taking public transportation just like everyone else. It's certainly an experience I never would've gotten in America!
That's all for now! Until next time, salang hantle! Stay well!