Tom the Pool Boy! Oh MY!

Although I miss my family and friends dearly I can say without reservation that the last few weeks at site have been nothing but amazing. I am meeting new members of the community on a daily basis and the kids are really starting to warm up to me, which is great. So what have I been doing lately… this is in no particular order and some parts are rather comical. Here is a random assortment of my musings as of late. I dropped a quart on my toe, its black and blue and the nail will probably come off, oh well another Africa scar =) I am becoming a master at baking bread, last night I made a cayenne pepper loaf, how delectable! I have driven around in WFP (World Food Programme) SUVs and provided assistance, that was great. I have done condom demonstrations in my life skills class with my students. That was hilarious, none of them knew you could blow one up the size of a beach ball, they were kind of scared however when it popped! Dogs ran away with my sheep pelt, which I am kind of bummed about. I lost a pair of aviator sunglasses, also another bummer. I spent my birthday alone, also another bummer. It did turn out great because my counter part and another colleague of mine cooked me dinner, absolutely amazing Basotho food. They know I like spicy so they load up on the cayenne, delicious! My friends also brought a smile to my face with all of the birthday facebook greetings, thanks guys! I introduced The Boondock Saints to a few teachers on a movie night, they loved it. I spent 5 hours on a bus ride that should have only taken 2, also another bummer. I am in the process of finishing the ALP (African Library Project) library at my school. The previous volunteer did a great job securing books and shelving. I am in the process of getting a couch and table and some more shelving, then time to catalog! My latest project however, is becoming a pool boy. The LHDA (Lesotho Highlands Development Authority) and Katse Lodge co-own a swimming pool in Katse Village. For the past three weeks I have been pestering them to give me free electricity to run the pool and free chemicals (chlorine and acid) to keep it clean. Things are slowly coming together and the pool is almost clean. I have scrubbed so much algae lately its insane. Today was finally the day I was able to take my students swimming. VICTORY! I took the entire senior form E class (12^th grade), almost 30 in total. It was a little chaotic, but the kids loved it and can’t wait to go back, if the weather permits we will go tomorrow. Growing up on the water swimming is something I cannot remember not doing. I now realize that it is difficult watching some thirty students try to do it who have lived in the mountains their entire life. The scenery is beautiful; it is an outdoor pool so there are gigantic mountains in every direction you look. Unfortunately winter is coming furiously. It is only mid February and there is already a slight chill in the air. The kids surprised me at how quickly they were able to pick up the basics. I even have one student who floats around without effort showing off to all of his friends. Either he is a natural or I am an amazing teacher… but I digress. I am making plans to bring piggery to the school. I want to teach the kids about small scale sustainable income generating projects. It will also give them opportunities to have pig on a semi regular basis for extra nutrition, I am really excited about this project, hopefully it will get off the ground. Did you know you can buy a pig for less then 45 US dollars? WOW! I am growing a pretty ridiculous beard. Maya I wish you could see it. It is six weeks old now and is starting to scare even me. I am not shaving until phase III training starts in Maseru on March 21… yeah gonna be grizzly Adams by then but it will be good times for sure. On a random note, Mom, buy the Glen Phillips cd “Live at Largo” I’m not going to tell you who it is, but I know you and dad will thoroughly enjoy it. On another random note this post goes out to Maya’s mom K. I miss you guys a lot and thanks for reading! Enjoy the pictures. Sorry mom I will post pictures of the inside of my house this weekend after I get a chance to clean it!

Hot Dam!

What an eventful two weeks. It started off with a trip from Katse to Maseru for a Swine Flu H1N1 vaccine. It felt good to be back in the lowlands. I was really happy because I was able to stock up on food that I cannot get in Katse and bring it back. There is not much in Maseru but compared to the highlands it is like NYC. Cheese is the main thing that comes to mind, wow I had been craving that for a while. It was also nice to see a few familiar faces after so long out at site. I even got a package from Maya that was incredible. Books, pepperoni, gold fish, peanut butter, salami, slim jims, crystal light are only just a few things that were inside, it was amazing! The following weekend was really incredible. A friend of mine took me fishing and showed me how to catch fish the Basotho way. Equipped with nothing but a long piece of line and a fly hook we were able to catch half a dozen yellow fish. Not a bad catch for the first try. Later that day I through a party for my Basotho friends and teachers. I recently finished my BBQ stand so I was eager to have a cook out and try it out. The teachers decided to buy an nku (sheep) and slaughter it so we could have a cookout all day. They showed me how to kill it and how to skin it, which was not nearly as bad as I expected. For the rest of the day we cooked fish and sheep, drank, and danced. It was really cool. The next day I walked to the dam because the weather was so nice. The Katse dam is the largest curved dam in Africa and is really something to look at.

Beautiful Day!

I just finished trimming some of the trees in my backyard. This serves three purposes. One is that they are huge and take up most of the space, so now I am reclaiming my yard back. Second is that now once the branches dry out I will have fire wood, score. Last but not least now I have a fantastic view of the water. I stumbled across some more pictures that I thought you guys might enjoy so here they are. The christmas eve swimming pool picture as promised! The other picture is of me and some bo abuti after a quick football match in Quiting. They definitely let me know how out of shape I was, well I'll just blame it on the high altitude. Tomorrow school begins. I'm sure with it will come many interesting blog posts so stay tuned.

This picture was taken on the last day of CBT, we are all sitting in front of our host mothers. The village chief of Barea mission is the man in the front on the right. Woot woot Barea Ballers!Kids in Quiting that enjoy beating the Lehuoa in football. Below is the best African Christmas Eve. For Christmas Santa got me a really nice sunburn!

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!

Khotsong

This post has been a long time coming, but I promise they will start to be more frequent. I have just bought a wireless modem so now its blogging time. Tomorrow is swearing in! After 8 weeks of training it is time to become a PCV, score! Anyway today we are having a banquet with our supervisors that we will be working with for the next two years. Sorry for this short post but I have to get ready and the battery on the laptop is almost done, but here are a few pictures that I have been promising. There will be a lot more in the next few days!

Me shaking hands with the US Ambassador to Lesotho. Ambassador Nolan.
These are a few of my students at Berea Secondary School. A really great group of kids that I learned a lot from and enjoyed teaching tremendously during CBT, hopefully I will be visiting them sometime during the middle of this year to see how they are progressing on their studies. And a final note to my friends, set up a skype and call me its super cheap. You can get the number from my parents, would love to hear from you all.

Khotso! Pula! Nala!

I finally made it to a computer! I cannot begin to describe the joy that I have had since I have been in Africa and Lesotho. Things are great here, today marks our 1 month in country. Things have been excellent. The first 2 weeks were training in Maseru, the capitol city. We have since moved to different host villages for more training and practice teaching. The village I live in in called Barea, which is subsiquently in the district of Barea. We taught for 2 weeks in Barea. The final days we spent testing the students and last friday we gave an assembly for the top 3 students in each class. One of my students got first place for his entire grade so i was extremely happy and proud, his name is Abuti Jon and he is really a great kid. I teach forms that would roughly equate to 12th grade science and 10th grade maths. Today I am back in Maseru to do some grocery shopping to get supplies to bring back to barea. I am sorry i cannot post pictures at this time. The internet cafe will not allow photos to be downloaded onto their computers which is really lame. I have some really good pictures and videos I will post once I am able to use the PC computer or get a wirelesss modem, whichever comes first.

Barea has been great. My host family has been taking extremely good care of me. I have a mom, 2 sisters, and 3 brothers. My mom is called 'M'e Manthihli. So far she has taught me how to wash clothes by hand, make bohobe (bread), and moroho (Basotho vegetables). We live about 30 minutes outside of Maseru in a village that is nestled into the side of a mountain. At the bottom there is a valley where another mountain starts to rise. My host mother gave me my Sesotho name which is Reitumetse (Ray-Two-Metsey). This means "the one we believe in". My host mother has said that I am a gift from god who has come to teach their children. These are pretty big shoes to fill, no? lol.

Today was an extremely exciting day for a number of reasons. 1 we get to go to Maseru which is always a welcome to break up village life. 2 we had Chinese food in Maseru which was AMAZING! 3 we found out our permanent site visits. This is where we will be for the next 2 years of our lives. I will be moving to the district of Thaba-Tseka in the mountains! By the grace of god I was placed in the nicest house of any volunteer currently serving in Lesotho. I am 5 minuters away from the Khotse Dam and many lakes and rivers... so excited about this. Are you ready mom...? I also have running water and electricity! The other volunteers cant believe it. They placed me in the village of Khotse. The school is brand new and was built in 2006. One of the faculty told me they wanted to place me in a school that had new teaching materials and an adequate facitility that would be conducive to my teaching styles. This was great news to hear as I have really enjoyed teaching the learners. The past two weeks in Barea have been great. I have learned so much and have had some really good constructive criticism to help my teaching methods. I did not realise how hard teaching is but thankfully it comes pretty natural to me. I would like to that all of the teachers I have had the pleasure of working with during my tenures in High School and the University of Florida. These teachers have shaped who I am and I cannot begin to express my deepest gratitudes towards them.

I want to thank all of my friends and family for their continued support. This has been a life changing experience and I have only been here for a month and I would not be able to do it without all of your thoughts and prayers. I want to especially thank my parents who have been the biggest blessing in my life and my girlfriend Maya! Goodluck baby climbing Kiliminjaro this week, Im so proud of you! If you guys have any questions please send them to my email: tmaresco@gmail.com and I will respond to them as soon as I can. If you would like to send me a package or a letter you can send them to:

Tom Maresco/PCV
Peace Corps/ Lesotho
PO Box 554
Maseru 100
Lesotho
Southern Africa

I would love to recieve a letter from you and I will definitly write you back. When I get the address for my permanent site in Khotse I will be sure to post it on here. I love all of you!
I wish you all the best and God Bless,
Reitumetse Tsenolti

PS: There is lots more to say but that is for another email... I am running out of internet time and I have to be back at the training center soon... eek!

Lisztomania

So the final countdown has finally started. My last day of work is September 30th, so that leaves 12 nights of work left and 58 days until departure for staging (Nov 11th). After almost a year on Tokyo time I will be thrilled to be on a day schedule again. Sleeping in a bedroom with covered windows until 5pm is hardly healthy, even for a vampire. Everything seems to be slowly falling into place. Bills are getting paid and equipment for the trip is being acquired. Every week I have been trying to find deals on the web and purchase more gear for the trip. So far I got a pretty sweet NF duffel, Jacket, hiking shoes (thanks work), pants (thanks mom), Ipod Classic (thanks Maya!)and a camera (thanks dad). Next on the wishlist is a Backpack, lightweight pullover, Flip MinoHD cam, ASUS netbook, head lamp, sleeping bag, solar charger and some more clothes. I have also been meeting other volunteers from my group through the Lesotho November 2009 facebook group. Everyone seems really qualified and excited. I have also been trying to map out the remainder of my time here in the states which is kind of a surreal feeling. This includes seeing Blink 182, The Decemberists, Pinback, and Thursday. I am also going to a tattoo expo in Miami with Pops which I am really excited about. A trip to NYC is also in the works for a international non-profit banquet which I really hope works out. Would also be cool to see good ole H-less Jon in Rhode Island one last time while i'm up there. I must also tell you guys about a band Phoenix if you haven't heard of them. I just picked up their newest album "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix" and it seriously is one the best and most refreshing albums I have listened to all year, so check them out. I also think they are on tour atm so you might be able to catch them if your interested. What else?... The Peace Corps Globe Talks at UF have started again which is cool because I get to see Amy my recruiter who I haven't hung out with in a while.... and no Amy I will not get in trouble before departure ( no FL/GA) and yes we should have an imported beer tasting, or any kind of social gathering for that matter. I'm sure Miss Meffert and her fancy shoes would love to be in attendance as well. Sorry for the scattered post, it has been a while since I have been on here and my blogging organizational skills are substandard.