Lumelang!

Sorry I've been so terrible at blogging. I've found that with such limited time and availability in the internet cafe's here, it's just easier to write mass emails for now. I've also found that EVERYONE reads eachothers blogs here, so emailing and letter writing is a much more intimate way of communicating things I don't necessarily want to share with the entire world. If you haven't been getting my emails I'm sorry... send me your email addresses and I will add you to my list. I have updated my phone number and address there on the right. That will be my permanent address up in Butha-Buthe for the next 2 years. If you look at the map, it's the northernmost district and my village is RIGHT outside the camptown of Butha Buthe. The volunteer who lived in my house (rondavel/round mut hut) previously told me that the camp-town is about a 15 minute walk from my house, which is phenominally close. I also have a water tap right outside my house, which I'm very thankful for. "BB" is also the home of the ski resort and the national park :) I've been uploading photos onto facebook whenever I get a chance, so visit my facebook page if you get a chance. It is absolutely beautiful here; even the "lowlands" are incredible!

Training has been great and my group is awesome. We just returned to the training center in Maseru on Christmas Eve after a 3 week stay in a nearby village called Mokema. I lived with a single mother and her two daughters. During those two weeks I got to practice teach in a preschool for a week (refer to facebook!). The second week we were there we gave workshops to local preschool and primary teachers. The other two preschool resource teachers and I gave a workshop about the importance of Art and another on Literacy. The Peace Corps provided us with a cook-book compiled by previous volunteers so we also spent a lot of time cooking dinner for eachother and learning how to prepare meals. No refrigeration is tough.

When we got back to the training center the PC staff asked us what we wanted to cook for Christmas; they shopped for us and got EVERYTHING we asked them for. We spent the majority of Christmas day cooking for eachother and relaxing after a fairly intense Christmas Eve party. Today we're in town food shopping for this weekend. Tomorrow I'm heading up to my actual site so I can check out my new place! Tuesday we will all return to Maseru until Jan 11 for more training and then head off for good.

My fellow Butha-buthe friends and I are already planning a winter (summer there) trip up through Swaziland to Mozambique for about 2 weeks. I can't wait to see more of Africa. Ok, time's up here.

Happy Holidayssss!