My house is so cold... ["How cold is it?"]

1. My house is so cold, I woke up to find a semi-conscious mouse shivering uncontrollably in the middle of my floor a few days ago (I proceeded to perform a cervical dislocation to humanely put it out of its misery). 

2. My house is so cold, I left a raw hamburger wrapped in foil sitting on my floor for 48 hours, and it was still 100% perfect for dinner tonight.

3. My house is so cold, condensation forms on my corrugated tin roof every night, and then drips all over my floor, my bed, and sometimes even my face every morning.

Only one of those three stories is fake. Can you guess which one?

OK just saying hello, and rubbing it in your face how much character I'm building. Tomorrow is the last day of school, then I have off until July 21. Gonna be a nice break, but I'll miss all my little @#!%ers, as I've come to call them (affectionately of course).

Mantis and Moon Pictures!

As this was one of the best vacations I will probably ever go on, it warrants reliving it once more on the blog, this time in photos. Also a good way to introduce some my close friends here.

Abortion is illegal in Lesotho, but legal in SA. So Basotho will at times cross the border to get the job done. Here, at the border gate, is an advertisement for abortion doctor, Dr. Mama Lerato (lerato being Sesotho for "love"). Kimiko is doing something here with her hands, maybe illustrating the Circle of Life, since Lion King took place in Africa... I'm not sure.

Insert your own "Why did the baboon cross the road?" joke here. Seriously though, this was the defining "Welcome to South Africa" moment for us, about one hour into the drive.

I'll just say, it was a long ride to Mantis and Moon.

This is actually what it looks like in South Africa. This is not fake. Hamonate, e??

Durban. Our first time in a real city since leaving New York, though we were only there to change taxis. While most of us were busy saying things like "Where the hell is the taxi going South?" or "We are all about to get robbed," or "Someone just stepped in a puddle of urine and splashed it all over my leg," good old Kimiko was wandering around joyfully taking photos. Thanks Kimiko!


HOSTEL

Seriously, treehouses in the middle of the jungle. Absolutely incredible, I might just apply to work here one day. 

Oh, and the food here is awesome too. Here are two fellow maths le science teachers, Shanthi and Party House (aka PH aka "Fuhh" aka Adam).


BEACH

Rory - Smarter than he looks. You can also see him in action here: http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/09/23/110-frisbee-sports/ He's the white people who loves frisbee.

What you see here is a really ugly ocean, not to mention a putrid sunset.


GORGE

Hiking through the jungle on the way to the gorge (Kimiko, Dustin's shoulder, Shanthi, PH, me in the back).

The gorge! It's big. You dive into it. Lush foliage, waterfalls, and chirping birds surround you as you swing around helplessly across the bottom.

Taking a nap on the side of the gorge before my dive. Though it looks a bit like I'm clutching my head in anxiety, I'm actually sound asleep here. Sara is testifying how peaceful the moment was.

Just before jumping...

Sadly, EVERYONE with cameras spaced out when I jumped and forgot to take pictures. So here's my friend Katie jumping, and you can pretend it's me. I swear I jumped though.

OK Computer dying! That's all.

Pictures!

Finally! Thanks Mom for funding the External Hard Drive that made this possible. Now, without further ado, some pictures from my house and my school. Pictures from vacation will come next time.

So, I'm actually at the PC Training Center here, on the day of Swearing In. I'm pinning my name on the big Lesotho map where my site is. Not sure if it's usually a ceremonial thing, but about 4 of us pretended it was. Notice my Seshoeshoe shirt (very popular with the Bo'me) and my back sweat - apparently, it was really hot here once. Seems like a distant memory.

School

A view from my school on a cloudy day. I teach on top of a mountain, though in Lesotho terms, it's called a hill. Here you see one of the toilets, not very exciting. The point is, look, I'm in the clouds!

But when the weather is nicer, it's quite beautiful up here. On a hot day, the wind you get on the mountain top is refreshing.

"Lesotho, Fatse La Bontata Rona..." 

These aren't my students - this was on a school field trip to a Cave Village called Ha Kome, where we saw many other schools too. Some kids were sitting hanging over a ledge overlooking this expansive mountain landscape, and I thought the silhouettes made for a nice picture. This is currently the wallpaper on my computer.

This is just a completely silly response to a recent test question. Actually it's kind of cute. Nevermind that the answer to "Organ that produces sperm" is "male and female." In case you can't read it, the question is "Describe, in detail, the process of fertilization in humans." The answer is "human have a baby and have a big house. Human have money but not all. The want a work because she want a money." This was FAR from the worst answer I got to this question. The worst was "Tail. Uclens. Tail. Uclens. Tail."

FASFAC - Form A Super Fun Academic Competition

I had a competition in my classes for a month. I divided the class into teams of 9, and the team with the highest test average for the month won. The winning team got a pen, a goofy certificate, and got to come to my house for home-made chili. It was a blast.

Here's one of the certificates. Palesa Mokete is the "magrabilitationalism" girl. I drew everything on the certificate, then gave it to another teacher who helped with the compteition, to add some color.  She unknowingly drew a Jewish star (in Christmas colors, no less) which gave me a good laugh.

5 of the winners, at my house, eating chili and showing off their sweet new certificates. From left to right, Ntsoaki Morake, Palesa "Magrabilitationalism" Mokete, Dimakatso Nkabane, Puseletso Lentjeka, and Mankoane Maimane. All really good kids, and some of them are really bright (hence them winning).

Showing the kids my music, and pictures of my family and America. A very Peace Corps picture, no doubt.

They took my camera and started playing with it out on my front lawn. This is just a ridiculous picture that I can't stop laughing at. In my head, Palesa is screaming "Magrabilitationalism!" and Puseletso is saying "What the F are you thinking?" 

Finally, one last picture, this one of Selabalo, the 4 year old I talk about from time to time. This is also on my front lawn.

Enjoy! Ke tla ngola hape haufinyane (I'll write again soon).