Use Somebody

School started again this week. Surprisingly my kids have remembered much of what I taught them last quarter. I’m more than pleased. The first day of classes I introduced “question boxes” for my grade 6 and 7 students. They are for questions that kids may want to ask, but are too shy or embarrassed to do so in front of the class. I’m excited to see how this experiment works. This quarter we are going to learn about puberty which should definitely be an impetus for all sorts of questions.

This month I am traveling a lot! I am in Maseru this weekend for a Gender and Development (GAD) meeting, next weekend I am traveling to Bloemfontein, South Africa for a girl’s weekend (I’m going to get my hair cut for the first time in 7 months! I’m so excited!), and the last weekend of the month I am going to Maseru again for PSN training. I was just nominated to be on the Peer Support Network (PSN) and will now be a resource for other volunteers to call when they need to talk to someone. My program director said he approved of my nomination because I have had some experience with difficult situations. Lol. I am excited to be on this committee.

I’m reading a really good book called Dead Aid (note I did not put an S). We’re talking about charity, cash money given to people who claim to need it. Some believe that giving money to people doesn’t solve problems. After living in Lesotho for over a year now I have seen (and heard) about lots of corruption taking place within NGOs and other charitable organizations. Bilateral aid (governments giving other governments aid) isn’t the answer either. I haven’t finished the book yet, so I don’t know what the answer is, but I am relieved to read something that includes not giving handouts to people in developing countries. Many PCVS (including me) believe that all foreign aid should be taken out of Lesotho, besides maybe Peace Corps only because we teach instead of handing out money. And why stop at Lesotho?

Eleven full months of service left! I plan to COS (leave) in July at the earliest date possible. :) A couple people have asked what I plan to do after this and much to my parents chagrin I believe I will live abroad again for another few years. I don’t have a job in mind yet, but I’ve just started looking. Who knows exactly what the future will bring? I am very excited about it though. And I will probably be living in Africa. I never thought I would make this place home, but this might be the case. I can call my village in Lesotho “my site” or my “place of assignment” instead of “home”. I don’t have to make Lesotho seem like a permanent place of residence, but next year I will probably be calling South Africa “home”. It’s a surreal feeling.

Have I ever mentioned that Maseru has a mall now? It’s owned by South Africans I believe and is really nice. We have a supermarket, a movie theater, and three sit-down restaurants as well as a food court and some decent shops. I saw the Alice in Wonderland movie there when it first came out. The seats aren’t the most comfortable and the popcorn I bought was slightly burnt, but it was a blast! It’s nice to have a place to do everything when I go to Maseru. And it’s open later than the other shops which is really nice. Also, the supermarket always has dates. I flippin love dates.

Right-o. Not much else to write. I should get busy and do something productive like write up a lesson plan. That would be the responsible thing to do. :)