After leaving Katie’s house, I had just been lying here at my friend’s house all day. I’m wasn’t feeling 100%, but more than that, it was supposed to rain all day, and I didn’t want to travel/hike up my mudslide of a hill in this weather. I’m still kind of snotty from being semi-sick. The next day was the first day of school. I told my principal I’d just go to school in the afternoon after I got to the village. Surprisingly, she said she was doing the same thing. Phew- in the clear. Though from experiencing the first day of school last year, I knew that the first day, they were only going to do registration, books, cleaning, etc. No worries, no stress.
That day, I went to town, had a good workout at the hotel, took a shower, and commenced what will now be known as Sugar Day. Here’s the backstory: Jen and I have a running bet until we leave Lesotho, that I’ll get a visible 6 pack and that she’ll lose 20 more pounds and stop smoking for 2 months. Whoever doesn’t make it has to give up their last living allowance (~R2500) to the other person. High stakes, people. Since the end date is pretty far in the future, we have decided to do a mini challenge to get going, that will last for the first quarter of school. I can’t eat any (added) sugar or papa, and she has to drink only 2 beers a week or something. I don’t remember the exact number. Anyway, this would start on the first day of school, so I was taking advantage of my day in town, eating candy, ice cream, yogurt, etc. etc.
I wish I could say that I were excited for school to start for reasons other than me being bored out of my mind. I moseyed on down to my village after buying foods and whatnot. I got off at the school with my big backpack and carrying 2 flats of eggs from town. I was legitimately happy to see the students again. The teachers, meh. They were in the staff room working on the timetable (I still think it’s funny that they call it a timetable and not a schedule). They had me down for 27 classes! Beezus! That was way more than any other (actually hired and paid) teacher had. I’m a volunteer for bog’s sake! I’m not supposed to be the pillar holding up the entire school. The next day, I talked with my principal and the other math teacher about me teaching fewer classes, so now I’m down to 20. Up from 18 last year. I’m teaching B math and co-teaching C math, and I also have A and B computer and C life skills. Seeing as that I was legitimately going stir crazy sitting at school last year for hours and hours between classes having nothing to do, I told my principal that I only wanted to teach in the mornings before lunch so I could leave to go do other things in the community and study for the GRE and do other PC stuff. I can tell the other teachers might resent me for this. I can tell because I’ve been here for over a year and I CAN UNDERSTAND YOU WHEN YOU SPEAK SESOTHO RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME, OK? But they’d never tell me to my face because this is such a passive aggressive society. But I can still play dumb and pretend nothing’s wrong, right? Cool.
Explaining my new papa-less life was confusing for the teacher who was dishing up lunch. She was explaining it to another teacher in Sesotho, and I heard the word “diabetes.” No, I corrected. I don’t have diabetes. I’m just tired of papa. Apparently, it’s unfathomable not to eat a starch with a meal. Even when I said I had brought some extra peanuts and hard boiled eggs to eat with the moroho the school served up. I know starches like papa are cheap and filling, so they’re essential for most people, but somehow Basotho habits die hard.
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