Saturday, February 14, 2004

Although I can think of other ways I would have liked to spend my Valentine’s Day, today was a pretty exciting day. Teboho (former Ambassador to the US, Canada and Brazil) and his wife, Teresa, took us to Bloemfontein in South Africa. The drive there was so FLAT! It definitely gave us a whole new appreciation for the mountains. And even during this short drive, AIDS was apparent…we passed about 12 funerals.


The best way to describe today is “surreal”. In some ways, it was like we were transported back to the States in 2 hours. In others, it felt like we were transported back to the 1950’s version of the States…segregated. Bloemfontein had been a major apartheid city, and even though the street signs were named after greats such as Nelson Mandela, segregation is alive and well. There were plenty of white people in the city, and they did not hesitate to stare in the car at us and marvel at the fact that two white girls were sitting in the back of a black couple’s car. Teresa confirmed that this was in fact what everybody was talking about. Being in this atmosphere makes me almost ashamed of my skin color.


But then we got dropped off at the mall. This was just like any mall in the United States…tight clothes, short skirts, low-cut tank tops, and lots of midriffs. And in which store did we spend most of our time? Singer, of course! We got enough yarn to keep us busy for a year!


Since it was a Saturday, pretty much everything was closed by 1:00…it’s crazy how dead everything is on the weekends! We got back by 4:00. Then I got phone calls from my family and Buck!!! It was just an all around great day!

  Thursday, February 12, 2004

The past couple days have been EXHAUSTING. I have been pouring over the PSI guidelines. I did most of the base work yesterday. But I am trying to figure out the rules and regulations of the National Laboratory and trying to get my hands on some additional documents I need. It is definitely harder to make appointments without Bill here. Shelley and I say we are students at Boston University, and it takes a month before we get an appointment. And even when we do manage to get an appointment, we often show up and then have to reschedule.

I have been waking up around 7:15 every morning, get to work pretty much right away and then work until I go to sleep. I have really only been taking breaks to respond to e-mails, but I haven’t been getting very many of those lately so my breaks aren’t very long. :o( Send me e-mail!!!

Today we went to the AIDS class at the school and worked in small groups with the students. There were 5 girls in my group and all so nice. They promised to be my friends forever. :o) They all got a kick out of writing down their names and listening to how I pronounced them. Sesotho names are HARD. How would you pronounce Qoly or Nthabiseng or Masekoche? One of the students asked me if I could lend her money. I told her I didn’t have money to lend. And she said that all white people in America have money. After explaining that I was a student and that students don’t have money, she insisted that I must have a rich grandfather. I then informed her how expensive school was and that I was about 280,000 R in debt. She decided that I really didn’t have money to lend her and that she never wanted go to school in the US.

  Tuesday, February 10, 2004

I thought I should tell you some of the great little things about this country including some very important lessons I’ve learned.

Lesotho may be one of very few countries that can have a nationwide phonebook. As you can see, this nationwide phonebook is quite small. And the best part about it is they have all the numbers listed numerically, alphabetically, and categorically, and it also includes a section listing all the post office boxes and all the fax numbers. Can you imagine the size of such a book for the States?!?

Basutho women are amazing. It is not at all uncommon to see a woman with a baby on her back, one in her belly, and carrying a full load of groceries on her head…with both arms free. If a man is busy and hard-working, he is often described as being like a Basutho woman.

The Basutho handshake is very cool and I fully intend to make it spread in the States when I return. A handshake is not an easy thing to describe though, so I will teach you all when I come back and I expect all of you to help make it popular. :o)

Hand-washing all your clothes takes quite a toll on your knuckles. I have decided that it is worth it to send away some laundry to let those with callused knuckles scrub it clean.

One should not put boiling hot water in a bottle and put it in the fridge. If one does this, one will witness the bottle shrinking more than one ever thought possible.

Ketchup here is actually “tomato sous” and tastes rather disgusting…sort of fruity. Who would have thought that Heinz would be the only food I really miss? I can't wait until March when Buck comes with a big bottle of Heinz!

Have I mentioned that the Dutch Consulate is the owner of Lancer’s Inn? So technically, I suppose I am residing at the Dutch Consul...at least that’s what the sign says. :o)


Rainstorms are wicked intense here (Shelley's making me a true Bostonian). It's so awesome! Every year a handful of people are hit by lightning. That's the only not-so-awesome part about it. Our hotel actually has a big lightning rod and we get a pretty good show when it storms. Tonight we lost power for most of the night and ended up knitting by candlelight.

  Monday, February 09, 2004

An appropriate tribunal tid-bit to my sister on her 30th birthday:

I learned a rather interesting fact this past weekend during my language lesson with Qachile. In learning about family relations, I inquired about the word for “aunt,” Qachile said that the Sesotho word “mmangoane” means “younger sister to my mother.” Well, now I knew what Victoria would call me, but what would she call Melanie? It turns out that (in keeping with Basotho culture) Victoria would call Melanie “nkhono,” which turns out to be the Sesotho word for “grandmother.” :o)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEL!!! :o)

  Sunday, February 08, 2004

This morning we went to Beautiful Gate to volunteer. The babies are SOOOO cute! The orphanage is for babies between the ages of 3 days and 3 years who have been abandoned. Some of the kids have HIV, but for many, they don’t know since they often test positive at birth because they have the mother’s antibodies, but test negative when the antibodies are out of their systems.

The older babies went to church, so we had just the teeniest ones. They were all so well-behaved for babies and so affectionate. The one-year-olds would just crawl into my lap and just rest their head on me. And such laughers! They would belly laugh at just about any silly thing you did. Of all the volunteering I’ve done, this is by FAR the most rewarding. And the best part about it: we aren’t ALLOWED to change the diapers AKA “nappies” (since some of the babies are HIV positive). ;o) I wish I could post pictures, but because all the kids are up for adoption, I can’t. I can’t wait to show all of you pictures in person, though!

After our few hours at Beautiful Gate, we went to lunch with Qachile, our language teacher. We went to this pizza place across the street that was FANTASTIC! We will certainly be returning there A LOT. We learned a bit TOO much Sesotho to take it all in, but it was nice getting to know Qachile a little better.