A VERY NEEDED, LONG OVERDUE, AND TEDIOUS UPDATE

I’ve been MIA for way too long now. Seems like an eternity. I will make amends and try to update you on everything that has happened in the past 6 months (and perhaps upload some photos/videos). The update is as follows:


January -
Came back from Durban (which I currently miss - mmm, Indian Food) and the end of my first summer break. My training centre opened for school Jan 17th...students showed up 2 weeks after lol (that’s how things work). Had to complete my first trimester VRF (Volunteer Reporting Form) - this takes all my possible attention span, which takes some time to recover. The VRF basically summarizes what we volunteers have done, accomplished, have started, etc in our primary projects (i.e. the place where we work). This is to help lobby for Peace Corps in Washington (more funding?). Also this month, I spend too much of my money to call friends on their birthdays. and I realize have too many friends with January birthdays.

February -
This month I can’t remember anything I did except work. Work work work. And some more work. Restless nights. I search for my appetite again. I get sick of grilled cheese sandwiches and beans. I start eating grilled cheeses again. Ignore Valentine’s Day. But have a good dinner anyway that night (meat). I also realize people back home think Peace Corps is more exciting than it is lol.

March -
Beginning of March is hectic (naturally), and I have a 5 day training for Peace Corps the week after at a hotel in my camptown. Food is provided, and every room has a shower in it (this is a vacation to me). I eat too much, and shower too much. Consequently, I break out incredibly, and immediate gain several pounds. Cut to the week after and I lose that weight. I officially stalemate at 155 lbs (about 30-35 pounds less than I arrived in Lesotho). Ariana goes on a South African vacation with her parents and uncle. I become slightly jealous of their fantastical safari rides and I bond with my cat, Winnie “Hunter” Anderson, in the meantime. She eventually comes back and we celebrate St. Patty’s Day with a few other volunteers and I get to enjoy some beautiful Guiness, brought over from SA by Ariana. We also make tacos. This makes sense to me somehow. The week after, I celebrate turning Quarter of a Century. This is a good thing - I somehow find comfort in the fact that I'm getting older. Celebrate it in my camptown on a mountain (you’ve seen photos) with some drinks. Not a bad birthday. March has come and gone.
April -
I have a pretty stressful first couple of weeks. On the 15th I head to Maseru (the capital) for the Lesotho Solar Energy Exhibition at the National Convention Centre. I get in the day before and Peace Corps puts me up in a local hostel and look forward to eating good food, drinking good beer, watching Toy Story 3, and relaxing overall. However, I spend a good part of my night killing an army of cockroaches. My rest and relaxation dissipates (cockroaches are not as cute as they are in Wall-E). I leave the room looking like a crime scene - cockroach carcasses everywhere - walls, ceiling, sink, floor, bed, and closet. I used the hostel’s bible to kill them. I laugh at this. One of the Peace Corps Staff - Jim - picks me up to drive me back to our office before I go to the exhibition and I realize he may be the nicest man I have ever met. His daughter won the NCAA Div 3 national championship in basketball at UMASS. We talk sports. The next week my training centre closes early for Easter holiday and I get some real relaxation finally. My centre opens again and it slowly pics back up.

May -
So far, my training centre has been rushing to get things done for customers (furniture, burglar bars for windows and doors, etc) before we close for winter break. Most schools and training centres close for the winter (June and July) because there is just not enough money to constantly run their gas heaters. It gives the students a good break since Christmas too. I start planning on how I’m spending two months off because things can get pretty quiet when the cold and snow comes. Plan on traveling to Clarens, SA, in June for vacation (a shorter, quieter, relaxing vacation). I find out restaurants there have beers on tap. This makes me jubilant. I also realize I will be in Lesotho for a year on June 4th. Preparations ensue to not lose my mind completely. June 4th. One year. Jeez, that went by too quickly, and most volunteers say the second year goes by even quicker. Go to a going away party up north for the CHED ‘09 group that is leaving in the next couple of months. Does not make my one year anniversary any easier. Start planning for my transition back into America - no, I’m not talking about grad school, employment, or school loans. I’m talking about Feast Week 2012. What’s Feast week, you ask? Well, sometime when I’m back in America after I COS (Close of Service) I will be integrating back in the best way I know how - by stuffing my face with good ol’ American food. I say “week” but traveling and resting in between meals will dictate my time. My (very tentative) Feast Week schedule is as follows:

Part One - NYC - Sushi at that place I can never remember the name of, and the dessert place close to it that I can never remember the name of. But most importantly, Happy Hour at Brooklyn Brewery. A taxi cab ride home will be needed because I will not be able to walk. No, not because of the beer, but because of my nausea from eating so much food. I might buy a pint glass.

Part Two - Dinosaur Barbeque, Troy, NY. Although I would have probably already have eaten it before Feast Week, it clearly belongs in this schedule. Also, this will be an all day affair with multiple rounds of food and pitchers. I. Miss. Micro. Brews. A barf bag may be needed. As well as stretchy pants. Will jeggings still be in style?

Part Three - Fast Foods. So far (and in this order) Taco Bell, Dominos, Burger King, Arby’s (curly fries), McDonalds, and Wendy’s. And more Taco Bell. And, any place that serves nachos with that fake nacho cheese sauce. OMG, do I crave that nacho cheese sauce. ABSOLUTELY NO KFC. KFC is found everywhere in Lesotho. In fact, I may be completely sick of chicken by this time. And surely this list will grow. Antacids and lots of Gatorade and aspirin will be involved. Perhaps catching up on famous Youtube videos. Stretchy pants will still be on. Something tells me I should eat fast food while sitting on a toilet...

Part Four - Chinese Food. With the large Chinese population found in Lesotho, you’d think one could find Chinese food. Nope. None. And I miss dearly the greasy, messy, unidentifiable glory that is Lo Mein. With pork. And Spring Rolls. Actually, everything found at a Chinese Food place. Perhaps other Asian foods will be involved - Vietnamese anyone?

Part Five - Mexican Food. Preferably not from Taco Bell. Also, margaritas. With salt. People, make this happen for me. I’ll take Beano before any of the mexican food. Promise.

Part Six - SANDWICHES. Pastabilities bread and garlic dipping sauce (from Syracuse) will be necessary. I will eat sandwiches from all the good places you could think of - delis, bagel places, etc etc. I’ll even settle for Subway. No, wait. No I won’t.

Part Seven - This is where all Miscellaneous foods and drinks could be involved. Good coffee - at an actual coffee house, local beers, Indian food, Italian food, that place on the corner that you’re just dying to take me, more nachos and nacho cheese sauce, cheesecake, pies, cookies, brownies, jalapeno poppers, garlic sticks, soup, steaks, I think you understand the point I’m trying to make.

Better yet, a small pool has been started to guess the amount of weight I will gain from the start of Feast Week until its end. Ariana says 11 lbs. I say 16. Everyone guess, and the winner gets to buy me a gym membership. Kidding. So, everyone start to think of places to take me, etc. And someone needs to provide a scale for scientific proof of weight gain.


Lesotho's Winter -
Some of you have asked me how cold it really gets here. Well, it depends on where we volunteers are located. As for me, since I’m located in the south where the mountains start up again, it tends to get freezing here. We’ve already had our first frosts, and I need to greatly layer up in the mornings and at night. The middle of the day, when the sun hits my house, it tends to be a bearable temperature. As for snow, I’ll get a little, nothing compared to the Northeast this past winter, but enough to enjoy. Some roads in the most mountainous and rural areas of Lesotho are closed during winter because of the amount of snow they get.

Mail -
I just want to take some time to thank everyone who emails me, sends cards, letters, packages, and/or calls me. Even if its been only once since I have arrived in Lesotho. You have no idea how much it means to get mail - virtual or otherwise, while being a volunteer. No matter how short or seemingly stupid, it’s like Christmas when it happens. It picks us up when we’re down. Makes us sane. It gives us a little reminder of what we miss in America when sometimes we can’t even picture what we looked like before coming here. It remind us that there’s people who miss us back home.

One more thing. If you're wondering what I would want to get sent to me, there's only two things: 1. Gatorade powder mix, and 2. Magazines/Newspapers - Time, Newsweek, Economist, Foreign Policy, The New Yorker, Wired, Science, Scientific American, National Geographic, The New York Times. There's one thing for certain during my service - although I get one radio news station, they cover South African news, and only gigantic world events - i.e. Bin Laden's death; so I am completely in the dark with everything else, other than the royal wedding. So, I am in DESPERATE need of anything news. These magazines are my lifeline to the world I no longer live in. Just...putting that out there.


All in all, I’m happy, healthy (knock on wood - because some of you know about my latrine story - damn lock...), and realize I never want to leave this place, even on my worst days where I just want to curl up in my bed and shun the world. And as I am writing this - Monday, May 9th - have no more than 460 days left in Lesotho. Sometimes I find this as a good thing (enough time to enjoy myself and not rush) and sometimes I find this as a bad thing (too many to go). But, it is what it is. And I still look forward going to work, seeing my coworkers, and teaching my students (solar stuffs or Life Skills - a.k.a. sex ed, health, or real life issues - like gender equality).


Always, Kelly

P.S. The King’s Speech is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time. The new season of Futurama was awesome. And, I don’t understand anything that’s happening on Tosh.0. I’ll need to get updated on Youtube videos.

P.S.S. My cat, Winnie, has turned from litter’s runt to amazing African critter killer. Bats tend to be her favorite, with moles and lizards following. She has thankfully stopped bringing them into my house. She also prefers pasta over rice. Just an FYI.


...stay tuned for more photos and even a video, what?!