Saturday, January 28, 2006

Lesotho has changed so much in two and a half months! I sit down Tuesday night for my first meal at Lancer’s Inn and order my usual…chef’s salad with a side of chips. My meal comes and with it comes a big fat bottle of HEINZ KETCHUP. This was more than enough to make my week (and I had a very rough week). Then I go to the Shoprite and they’ve got Heinz in all shapes and sizes! I no longer have to travel with my ketchup in tow!

The other HUGE change is the opening of the Kingsway Cinema. Lesotho has a movie theatre! I asked Nthunya what type of movies it shows, and his response is “I’m not really a movie guy.” I couldn’t help teasing him a bit since I can’t see how he could possibly know if he is a movie guy or not since Lesotho has just opened the movie theatre and he has no TV at home.


Anyway, I had no problem adjusting to the time change this time. Melatonin rocks. I did, however, have a very rough night my first night here. I had a lot of work to do in order to prepare for the next morning as I was interviewing applicants for a health trainer all day starting at 8am. I finally finished reviewing the applications at 3am, which should have meant that I would get the four hours of sleep that I require. My friend, Mr. Mosquito, had another idea. It’s my first night so I have no doom plugs (which usually do the trick). As I was drifting off to sleep…bzzzzz…right in my ear. I ignore it and drift off…bzzzzzzzzzzz…right in my ear. I tuck the sheet over and around my head...bzzz...bzzzzz…bzzzzzzzzzz. After about 20 minutes of the incessant buzzing, I turn on a light and begin my 10 minute fruitless hunt for Mr. Mosquito. I give up, turn off the light and stick my fingers in my ears. I start drifting…bzzz...bzzzzzz...bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Then I remember that I have OFF. I get it despite my disgust for breathing chemicals all night. I saturate my pjs and my sheets with the stuff, and get back in to bed. I can hear a steady bzzzzzz coming from somewhere in the room, but I have absolutely no sense of what direction it is coming from. It’s driving me crazy. I get my discman and play my CD of collected albums, none of which is peaceful. I find a quiet song and start to drift off and then the next song is crazy loud. This goes on for about 8 tracks. I give up on that and finally fall asleep sometime after 5:30.

Despite my exhaustion the next day, the interviews went well, and I got 9 hours of sleep the next night. We’ve met with a bit of an obstacle (okay a gargantuan roadblock) with one of our projects, but we are trucking along and hoping that it will get resolved early next week. I’m hoping that an ounce of diplomacy is worth a pound of cure. I could certainly use prayers Tuesday and Wednesday of next week (and perhaps a miracle).

Today it has been absolutely pouring all day. Funny how you don’t realize how much you walk in the dirt until it rains a lot.