Sharp How's It! (Shop-Hoo-Zayd!)

That's South African/Sesotho for "I'm good how are you." Note, it's perfectly appropriate to say even when no one asked you how you are.

Hello again, it's been a while I know. Today was my first day back at school after 2.5 weeks away from site. I spent most of that in Maseru, at the training center with the rest of my ED '10 buddies, getting in some final training. This was a good time, packed with plenty of useful information and tons of reconnecting and story telling. It was a much needed time to decompress after 3 pretty heavy months of service.

One highlight, at the end of training, was meeting with a committee that I joined called PAC, which oversees Peace Corps' role in the Lesotho education system. We meet every 6 months to discuss ways to improve the entire program, and we tackled some pretty worthwhile stuff. I had been gunning to get on this committee since I first heard of it months ago, excited by the chance to represent my peers and optimize our program on their behalf. Indeed, it was really nice, and I'm now looking forward to implementing the changes we discussed.

Anyway, if you're still awake, now for the really fun stuff. I just spent the Easter holiday on the South Coast of South Africa, and to call it a great trip would be a massive understatement. We stayed at an incredible hostel called Mantis and Moon (hey awesome, free plug, 15 whole people on the other side of Earth read this every single day). It's literally carved out of the jungle, and it has everything you'd ever want. Great bar, great food, amazing staff, monkeys, a barbecue, fooz ball. It's a 5 minute walk to the Indian Ocean (which, by the way, is beautifully blue, with monster waves that somehow did not kill me), and the hostel staff provide daily trips to all kinds of adventurous excursions.

Since we only had 3 full days there, we could take one such excursion. Some of the gang opted for white water rafting, but most of us, myself included, went on a 3 hour jungle hike to a really beautiful waterfall. Following the hike, I jumped off a cliff into a gorge, on what is the largest swing on Earth (watch someone else do it!). This jump is really incredible. The adrenaline rush leading to it, heightened by a bunch of friends screaming at me, was an experience in itself. I swan dove off the edge, and proceeded to fall through the air for three seconds (longer than it sounds) before swinging around at the bottom. At the bottom, things are suddenly very quiet. All you see is treetops below you, and all you hear is birds chirping, and a waterfall not too far in the distance. The rapid contrast between the rush at the top and the serenity at the bottom was absolutely striking, a sensation I hope I never forget.

That was certainly the most noteworthy point of the trip, but far from the only highlight. We met some amazing people, some of whom put our own travel experiences to shame (namely a 32 year old Brit who has been to every country in Africa but Lesotho and Angola). The beach was beautiful and the weather was mostly perfect. There was free snorkeling a 30 minute walk down the beach, where we found gorgeous coral and schools of happy fishes. I slept outside in a hammock, and I'm pretty sure I didn't get malaria.

And if you didn't think I'd devote a whole paragraph to the food, you've never met me. In short, it was great. Sadly we didn't get a chance for anything gourmet, but there is quality meat everywhere. Every gas station, and just about everywhere else too, sells all kinds of meat pies - single serving pastries full of curries, or chicken/mushroom, or something else delicious. Great Indian food abounds (did you know, South Africa has the largest Indian population outside of India), including a local adaptation called bunny chow, basically a bread bowl of meat and vegetable curry. But wait, there's more. On our first morning at the hostel we were lounging around the kitchen, finishing up breakfast in particularly sluggish fashion. A beefy, gruff, 50ish shirtless chain smoking Afrikaaner who we had befriended earlier walked up to our table. WIth very little conversation, he abruptly slammed down two massive steaks and two racks of pork ribs. I'm paraphrasing here, but he basically said to us, "This is the best meat you will ever eat, I challenge you to tell me otherwise. I have to leave, I'll be back in a few days. There's a barbecue next to the bar, they'll let you use it." He didn't realize that 5/12 people in our group are vegetarians, but I certainly didn't mention it. We slowly processed what just happened, and grew giddy. My friend Ryan and I grilled up the meat that night, and we had a grand feast. All 5 vegetarians even gave in and ate what was, indeed, among the best meat we've ever had.

By the way, I know you all are getting itchy to see some pictures, and I'm getting just as itchy to post them. I'm having some technical difficulties in that department, so please bear with me, I am hoping to get that straightened out in the near future.

With that said, my computer battery is about to die, so I'll end it here. One other quick note - my principal invited me today to give a presentation to my school about alternative forms of discipline. My suggestions were received well, and at the end, my principal announced that he loves the idea of detention, and is making it a system-wide procedure. Now all teachers will assign and hold detention, which is a massive victory for me. It's a great step in demonstrating that child abuse is not the only way to instill discipline. We're also making a push towards positive reinforcement in addition to punishment, in an effort to help kids realize that they aren't worthless (I discussed this earlier here).

Boroko bo monate!