Ke rata ditaba le metsi haholo!

All of the Baithoupi babacha "New Volunteers" at Thaba-Bosiu "Mountain of the Night." We took a trip there during training. It is where King Moshoeshoe I founded the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho.

Sorry to all of my avid readers for the lack of posting. Unfortunately the compound where I live was without power for a few days, so the laptop was in hibernation. So where to start… I have been at my site for almost a week now and everything has been wonderful. I can honestly say I live in one of the most beautiful places on earth. I live in the district of Thaba-Tseka which is in the highlands. I stay in the village of Katse which is in the northern part near the border to Leribe district. I am surrounded by large mountains that are stunning and are snow capped for many months of the year. I am also a 10 minute walk from the Katse dam, the largest dam in Africa. There is water everywhere and I can even see the dam reservoir from my backyard. The compound I live in is very nice. I am very fortunate to have many luxuries that most of my Peace Corps colleagues do not have, like running water and electricity! The house also has a guest bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living room, and master bedroom… pretty sweet. Since school does not start until Monday I have been slowly settling in. My supervisor is great and got me some paint that I asked for so I could give a few of the walls a few coats of paint. The kitchen even has a refrigerator and an electric stove! There is also a lodge resort about a 10 minute walk from me. The food there is great and it will be a nice get a way when I need to take a mental health stress free day. It is located right on the dam reservoir. I have even made friends with one of the staff there. He is a real nice guy that I will be tutoring English to and in return he will teach me how to cook Basotho food, pretty sweet deal I think. So for the past week I have just been walking around meeting people and getting to know the area. We have to small grocery shops, think the size of a bedroom, a couple of small restaurants, think the size of a bedroom, and a bar, think the size of a bedroom… you get the idea. Some of the bo ntate have been teaching me how to play Snooker, which is essentially pool but with a few different rules. Maya I think about you every time I play, not quite the same as Gator City but it will have to do for the time being. The first thing I did when I got to site was build a fire pit. Im no boy scout, but I think it turned out pretty good. The next order of business was a BBQ. So for the past week I have been collecting these large boulders to build this BBQ stand. I would say it is about half way complete. The police chief even gave me a piece of an old car to serve as the part to cradle the charcoal. All I need is a few more stones and a make shift grill and I will be all set. Im going to have the police over for a Brie “BBQ” when it is finished, they seemed excited. On a side note I saw the milky way for the first time in Africa, wow how something so simple can make you so excited. I haven’t seen that since the British Virgin Islands, love you baby! I would like to thank everyone that has sent me letters or called me. A special thanks goes out to Karsten and Beth for the Christmas card. The picture was priceless and Im glad to see you are still rocking that sweet mustache brosef. My mailing address and phone number are on my facebook if you want to call or send me something. The cheapest way is through skype, it costs like 30 cents a minute. A birthday shout out next month would be great =) Monday starts the beginning of the new school year and with it brings a new chapter in my Peace Corps journey. I am still unsure of what classes I will be teaching, but I think my Supervisor is thinking of putting me in form D and E chemistry. That equates to like 11th and 12th grade. The school facilities are really superb. It actually looks like a small high school you would find in the United States, well sort of. They are even as we speak building another building that houses 3 more classes rooms and 2 bathrooms. The school is very new and was built in 2006 I believe. Sorry guys Im having a hard time uploading photos, the internet is very slow here. One photo is taking over 30 minutes.... and most of the time they dont show up. PS: I cooked pasta for the maintenance man last night and he freaked out, he definitely loves italian food!

Here is a picture of the front of my house, the window on the left is my bedroom, the window on the right is the living room!