This past week I was able to travel through the country and visit a volunteer who has been serving here for a year. Traveling here is always an adventure. For this trip, that adventure included fitting 17 people in a taxi van built for 14, a 4 hour wait for a car to move, dirt roads falling off mountains, cows and sheep wandering the streets, a car driving into the night with no headlights and 8 passengers (including me), and unfortunately 12 hours of travel each way in these conditions with a sore throat and a raging headache. But hey, I survived and I even enjoyed most of the trip. I figure this means I am able to travel just about anywhere here now and it has to be a better trip than this was.
The stay itself was great. My fellow trainee Erin came along and we stayed with a very friendly volunteer named Jackie. Jackie lives way up in the eastern mountains in a small remote village. She teaches math to Grades 8 & 9 at the local secondary school. We were able to co-teach with her for two days, which involved an awful lot of questions from curious students, most of whom I doubt had ever seen blonde hair before. While those two days may not have been the most productive for the students (they may disagree- I taught the grade 9s how to do origami and they were very enthusiastic learners), Erin and I learned a lot about how to control a class room and how to teach to room full of kids who speak English as a second language.
At Jackie’s home, we got a feel for the living quarters of most volunteers. She lived in a cheery round one-room home with a thatch roof. She’d painted the inner walls bright blue and decorated with candles, a useful addition since there was no electricity. We cooked delicious food and ate outside, sitting on the stoop and enjoying the sunset over the mountains. The other major highlight of the homestay was that Jackie’s cat had recently given birth to 2 kittens. Erin and I played with the little fuzz balls for about 60% of the visit. My favorite was Winston- very very cute!
Anyway, the host volunteer visit was a great success- very informative and confidence building. I just wish it didn’t make me more sick than I was when I started. But alas, here I am. I left class early today, just as I did yesterday, with a fever. Apparently the stress of a new environment is getting to all of us, as I am one of four volunteers to get sick this week alone. The bug has passing around, hardly surprising when you keep 41 people in the same room all day everyday. I’m taking antibiotics, as per the doctors orders and trying to enjoy some rest. It’s been a long week and I have hope that I will recover quickly.
Three Americans and 2 Basotho cats named Koala Bear and Winston
Mountain Tales 