Another day in the life: my 'me and her father show up at my door and they say something about the dog. A few people have said that there is an issue with the dog's mouth, but I've just kind of ignored it because it looks normal to me. Ntate Moholo [grandfather] asked me for a knife, so I give him my pearing knife. He has my 'me and me hold the dog down by its feet and he's kind of holding it in between his feet/legs. He pries open the dog's mouth and proceeds to carve into the roof of its mouth with the knife. Blood is splattering, the dog is whining and squirming, not a pretty sight. Then after some more cuts, he lets the dog go, and it slinks into the back of its little house. I still don't know exactly what he was trying to dig out. Poor little Bo Bo.
Started off a lazy Thursday with a delivery of fresh apricots to my door, followed by a nice hike up the mountain with my ausi. Can't beat it.
Overheard on Whatsapp
"Is there a better feeling in the world than when a Mosotho is intently staring at you so long that they walk smack into a pole? I really don't think so."
Ah the versatility of a washtub. I use it to collect rain water under my host family's roof, wash clothes, put clean clothes in from the line before I put them away, wash large quantities of potatoes (that only happened once), put it up on a chair and wash my hair in it, once used as a puppy bed, and oh yeah, occasionally use it for its original purpose and bathe in it.
One of my biggest time sucks/distractions now is just staring at my world map and planning fantasy trips. Like where did half an hour just go? I'll tell you: figuring out a good route to hit all the South American countries in one stretch. Start from French Guinea and swoop around and down.
Ahh another flat tire on the dirt road from my village to town. Why am I not surprised?
Just outside of Maseru, I see a bouncy castle in someone's yard. I wonder how much it is to order one to my village.
South Africa has THREE capital cities: Pretoria, Cape Town, and Bloemfontein. Who knew?!
I was wandering around the training village and I found what I believed to be a crop circle-type pattern in the grass. A circle with a dot in the middle and lines coming out of either side. Later realized it could have been the middle of a soccer field? Nah. I've started making my foil hat.
I stumbled upon what I can imagine is an amphitheater. On second thought, maybe it was just a quarry or some stones holding up the walls of the little canyon to prevent erosion. I immediately thought it could be used for Shakespeare in the park or something. But in Lesotho it would be more like Moshoeshoe in the donga.
Overheard on Whatsapp
"I'm on a taxi with a female driver playing country. Am I dreaming?"
Monna ea mona o mona = the jealous man is here. Sesotho is a tonal language, people.
For the next two weeks, I'm officially the only one PCV my district. Though I don't think it actually counts because I won't be in my district, as I'll be on vacation. I have officially declared myself DIQTATOR of QUTHING!
"You have the perfect 90s grunge hair." -Riley
"You're never really alone if you don't want to be."
Even though I have never seen a snake in this country, Basotho are irrationally afraid of snakes. They are scared to go swimming in rivers and whatnot because they are told as small children that gigantic snakes live at the bottom and will suck you under and drown you. As such, they never learn to swim, and then when they get into deep water, like fall into reservoirs or try to cross rivers, they drown anyway because they don't know how to swim. Trying to prevent drowning causes drowning.
"Best friend" in Sesotho translates to "cow's head friend"
Last time I took a big taxi in SA, they played pop music. Today, they're playing gospel at a deafening level, the bass shaking my bones. Why? It's Sunday.
Even the little slum towns in SA, filled with houses made of corrugated metal, have electrical lines going through them. Get it together, Lesotho.
I've been so deprived of good food. I know this because in the meal on my flight to Madagascar, I was elated to find little chunks of cheese in the pasta, then I discovered the little chocolate bar. So happy.
Update: just got ice in my juice. Fancy.
People in Madagascar call Americans Bekintana, literally many stars, because of the American flag.
The only two words I learned in Malagasy are salama (hello) and mafana (it's hot). The only words necessary.
I just spent a good chunk of time mesmerized by my family's pig's one day old piglets. They're so wiggly. Piggly wiggly.
Dog: the original pre-wash cycle for dishes
It seems PC has a mole among its ranks.
Last night at 2am, I woke up to the sounds of scratching on metal. I got my light and found that a scorpion had just happened to fall (from the thatch, I assume) into an open tin can. I promptly took the can and dumped the creeper outside. Ugh.
Slightly drunk guy in our 4+1- "I work in South Africa. I've returned for the holidays to see my child. Not my wife. I don't like my wife, only my child." Aw that's sad.
I go to sleep at 4am (for New Years) and my body STILL wakes me up at 6. Cool.
On Paris being an unfriendly city: "Paris can't be bothered to woo you because she knows you are already impressed by her beauty." Well that explains a lot.
Durban is a city perpetually stuck in the past, architecturally. The fancy buildings are all Art Deco, and the apartment complexes haven't moved on from the 80s.
Summer number crunch: If we're estimated to COS on 16 Dec, we have 343 days remaining, a bit less than half of them (180) being school days. We've been here for 456 days. Total is close enough to 800 days.
I just wanna go surfing every day. Is that so much to ask? Or at least touch the ocean again. Please?
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