Things are really moving along now. But first… let us backtrack a bit.

Saturday was a weird day. A volunteer that lives in a village just 40 minutes away came into the camptown for the day. We walked around town and wandered into the different shops. One of which was an upscale shoe store that was playing rave music… felt like America. There were 5 women inside who were all just tickled to meet us. We went into the grocery store where I had a woman ask me for money because she needed to buy bread and a guy asked me to give him my nalgene. I don’t think so, Ntate. Then we came back to my house where she made spiced cider (which was too spiced for my liking) and I made lunch (which apparently didn’t suit her fancy either). Fail. We proceeded to be bums and watch Rachel Getting Married and 2 episodes of South Park before it was time for her to go. For the rest of the day I was on and off in tears because I suddenly realized how lonely I felt. I was sitting on my porch talking to my parents on skype when my neighbor walked by and asked if I was missing home, yes, then he said ‘you don’t have to.’ It was very comforting but at the same time really got the tears flowing. I cried three days after arriving in village for training, and I cried three days after arriving at my new site here. I see a pattern… must take me 3 days to get over my denial of being lonely. Just as I suspected, I have felt fine since.

Sunday was laundry day. I still have to handwash my laundry, which I actually enjoy because it gives me something to do. It was a quite the reality check when my running water suspiciously ran out. The director of the school came to warn me, but I had already discovered the problem. He then proceeded to tell me that it often runs out so I should keep a spare bucket of water and then pointed out the tap. But not to worry, the water came flowing again in a few hours.

Today, I am beat. I had to report to work at 8am. I was introduced to all the students and instructors and was given a tour. It was pretty cool to see all the students putting to work what they have learned in 2 short months. The director of the school really seems motivated. He doesn’t take any crap from his teachers, students, or even from his own boss (the Ministry of Labor & Employment). We had a meeting this morning with my two counterparts and my supervisor in which he laid out a timetable for them to gather all of the materials and resources I will need for us to sit down and create a work plan. It looks like I am going to have a busy schedule.

After all of this, my supervisor took my into town where I met everyone in the D.A.’s office including the District Administrator, Assistant Administrative Manager, the woman in Human Resources and the District Chief. At the Police Station I met the District Commissioner and the Deputy. I also went to the Hospital and met the Administrator who told me that if I ever feel ill to go straight to her office and she will have a doctor come to help me. Last but now least I went to the Dept. of Health and Social Welfare and met a very nice man who wants to work with me. All of the people that I met today made me feel incredibly welcomed, most of which gave me their personal cell phone numbers in any event that I need their help.

While I was waiting at the police station, my supervisor ran into this older woman that he knows. She was sitting next to me reading a magazine and would look up periodically to ask me questions. She asked me if I am single or married.
“I’m single ‘M’e.”
“Ooooh I have a son… I will tell him that this is a girl from America who is at Ntlafatso and she is single!”
“‘M’e I don’t want to ever get married.” (I tell people this because I am awkward and don’t know how to say no, sorry, I will not marry your son.)
“Do you read the Bible?”
“No ‘M’e, I don’t read the Bible.”
“Oh… That is why you don’t want to get married!”
My supervisor laughed and clarified that God created marriage, therefore I don’t want to get married because I have not heard the teachings from God. Damn missionaries.

My supervisor keeps encouraging me to speak Sesotho. At the end of training I was so burnt out of language training that I completely gave up. Luckily I managed to pass the Sesotho exam. Everyone here speaks English… some better than others. The director of the school uses phrases like: on that note, the key is at large, there are many ways to kill a cat, and I want to hammer this out. It impresses me every time he busts out a new one. But I do want to learn more Sesotho, so I guess I will have to cave under the pressure from my supervisor.