Feb 13, 2008
We are finally here in Mphaki at the house where we are staying, and I am blogging my first entry! I don’t know if I have made this clear yet, but the reason we are here is to do the site surveying to help a multinational goodwill project (there is also a company in Sweden, hence Arve’s presence, plus BC Hydro). We are helping bring electricity to (really) rural areas of Lesotho.
After Shamus finally got back to the hotel room and everyone had checked their email, we packed the bags into our rental truck and went for a walk. We went to the bank in Maseru to try to use Shamus’ work card to take out some money, but first we decided to change the left over pounds into Rand. Also, they were unable to take money off of Shamus’ work VISA. Since we are in Africa, it took a long time (African time is relative), they needed Shamus’ passport information, then she has to photocopy it, she called someone else to talk about changing the money, then there was paper work, etc, you get the picture. Of course then there was another line to get into with our paper work to actually GET the money and that took forever too.
We had to go outside to use the ATM, and it wouldn’t take money from the VISA either. But it would from the debit card, so we took 1000 Rand (only $140) and went to do some other shopping. We went to the grocery store and bought some bottled water, juice, jam, chocolates, energy bars, and other small necessities. We stopped at a clothing store and bought Shamus a rain jacket and a sweat shirt to replace the one he had to leave behind. And then we stopped at the bank machine again to get out another 1000 Rand (the max he was able to take due to his daily limit). This was disappointing because that was not enough money to last us very long. Just a tank of gas is 500 Rand, and then if we have to pay to stay somewhere, that eats into our money too.
After buying lunch and filling up with gas, we were on the road. It was beautiful country we were driving through, but poor none the less. We stopped in the middle of nowhere to try calling Arve from the satellite phone (he had gone ahead earlier) to let him know we were on our way, but running late. The guys also took the opportunity to avail themselves of the facilities (aka the nearest bush). Rather than have to expose my pasty self, I held it in. However, when we stopped again later on so Klaus could use his South Africa cell phone (a gap in the mountains made a straight shot to SA), I gave in. It was a long drive. I am a little rusty at the art of the female bush pee. Besides there weren’t any bushes nearby. The truck provided good cover.
We stopped later on in Quthing for more gas (not empty, but it’s good to get a top up) and there was a little store with clothes inside. I was kind of looking for a pair of pants incase it got cool in the evenings, the the lady inside didn’t think they would fit me. Umm.
Driving along the road, we saw a lot of people walking. Especially kids on their way home from school. They would smile and wave when they saw us. They don’t see a lot of white people here, and the ones they do are usually men here on business. I think seeing a white woman was an oddity for them. I even think some of them were laughing at me. Oh well. A lot of the kids were yelling something at us, “sweets, sweets!”. But I didn’t bring any candy! Besides, if we did give sweets to every child that asked, I think we would all be broke. There are a lot of kids out there. And I noticed a lot of schools, too.
It was a very long 5 and a half hour drive.... My bum and Shamus’ were sore by the end of it. I thought the drive would never end, we just kept driving from town to town along this fairly well maintained road. We saw a lot of huts on the hill side beside the road, and some amazing views from the mountain passes.
The place we are staying is in the village of Mphaki and it’s a Farmer’s Training Centre. The Government of Lesotho was paying for us to stay here, for our meals, and for someone to clean for us every day. So it’s all free for us, well for BC Hydro, anyway. But staying here doesn’t eat into our precious Rand. Some time ago, with some foreign aid, they built a bunch of little houses with a living room, dining area, a kitchen (which is not used, but it does have a smelly propane powered refrigerator), 3 bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms. One bathroom has a toilet and a sink and the other has a bathtub, too. No shower, but the bath does have hot water (hot and cold have separate taps).
Shamus and I have a fairly large room with an uncomfortable double bed that sinks in the middle and causes Shamus and I to roll together. Trust me, when Shamus is uncomfortable and can’t sleep well, this is a bad thing. I miss the singles that we had in London! For dinner, women employed by the training centre deliver it to us at the house, and come to pick up the dirty dishes. For breakfast we go down to the centre which is just down the street, and they often prepare a box lunch.
February 14, 2008
Happy Valentines Day! Shamus forgot!! lol. In his defense, there are no calendars here and I don’t think the Lesotho people celebrate Valentines day. I am just glad we are together! I reminded him tonight and we will exchange cards before he goes to sleep. I already have my present from him, the pink 8 GB iPod Nano, which he gave me before we left. My gift to him was my $3000+ participation in this trip. So he gets the gift of ME... isn’t that romantic!?
Today a site survey was undertaken. A stop was also made at the Mt Moorosi Chalets, where Shamus and I might stay later on, when the project is based in that area. We had our choice of rooms - 2 single beds with a kitchen (self-catering), a double bed with a kitchen, or single beds with no kitchen (there’s a dining room on site). The chalets were very remote, with nothing else around for a small distance.
The entire route driven today took around 7 hours including a short stop for lunch. Arve does not eat lunch apparently. He just eats a very big breakfast. So he waited for lunch to finish. The route was a winding and bumpy road, and went in a bit of a circle. It went to some very remote areas where I am sure a vehicle full of white people is a rare sight. Once again, the kids ran beside the car yelling for sweets. I really need to go buy some of those. When ever the cars stopped, the people in the area would come and look. The trucks were a real attraction.
The roads were so terrible, the average speed of the day was only 14 km/hr and clocked only 105 km in the 7 hours of driving. The highest elevation reached was 2523 m, according to Shamus’ GPS. There were some places where the road was nearly washed away. On one side of the truck is the face of the mountain and out the other window was a long drop. The local villages were very interesting and there are some great pictures of them as well. My favorite picture so far is of a little boy, maybe 4 years old, wearing a traditional Basotho blanket. He just looks so innocent.
Dinner tonight was good food, chicken, fish, fresh picked french fries, a red and green pepper salad and carrots. I am not allergic too, but am forced to avoid for digestive reasons, both carrots and peppers. I also don’t like the taste of peppers, but I do like carrots. Seeing as how they were the only veggies available, I took the carrots.
February 15, 2008
Today I got up with the guys and went for breakfast at 8 am, but walked back to the house alone. Instead of boxed lunches, we were going to go to the dining room at the Training Centre for lunch at 2 pm, when the guys figured they would be back. When I got back to the house, I took my bath. It really is quite the endeavor to do a good job of bathing when you have to use separate taps for hot and cold and you are using a sawed off piece of water bottle to pour the water over yourself. I find it hard to get all the soap out of my hair.
I really hope it does not sound like I am complaining about things here, I am having a great time and I tend to dramatize things when I write to highlight just how different things are here. It’s all just part of the adventure - and I am glad to have so many conveniences here. We have the (noisy) generator for power a few hours in the evenings, running hot water in the bath, and a nice bedroom. I am happy to be here.
The cleaning lady came while I was brushing my hair and we exchanged names, but talk beyond that was limited by our language barrier. I stayed outside and read my book while she did her thing. After she was finished, I decided to set about washing some of Shamus and my clothing in the bathtub. Shamus was out of socks and underwear. It is not easy to wash clothes in the bath tub. I have respect for the women I have seen here in Lesotho washing clothing in the yard using buckets. So I washed a bunch of our underwear, and socks, as well as a pair of my pants and 2 of my bras. In a separate load, I did some more of Shamus’ stuff, including this navy sweatshirt we bought back in Maseru. It was shedding blue fluff everywhere and I had a hard time trying to rinse it all away. My hands and the tub were covered in the stuff. The socks, pants and Shamus’ boxers I hung outside to dry, but I felt funny putting my underwear and bras out there for all of the passers-by AND Klaus and Arve to see, so I put them in the bedroom, but obviously they are not drying well in there. I just can’t win.
While I was sitting outside, I was listening to the birds cooing (there are doves all around) and the live stock making their noises. A horse wandered past where I was sitting, following the grass. He had his two front hooves tied together, to make sure he doesn’t run away, I guess.
The guys came back and we went for lunch, and they served some really tasty goat meat. Not a meat I would choose to eat at home, but it was good. After lunch was nap time. The weather was starting to cloud over, so I stayed outside to make sure I could bring the clothes in if it started to rain. I have been really enjoying listening to my pod casts, probably due to no television. My favorite pod cast has been Betty in the Sky with a Suitcase, a flight attendant who gets her colleagues to tell funny travel and airline stories.
I had a nap around 5pm and we went for supper at 6pm down at the centre. There’s a black cat, very skittish, who I have seen hanging around the Farmer’s Training Centre (FTC) dining room. Well, tonight it came wandering in looking for food. It had a very pathetic meow, and Klaus fed it a little bit of chicken. That was eaten very fast, so naturally I gave it some too. I tried to get it to let me pet it, but did not seem interested. Very cute little cat. Even after we ran out of chicken, it stayed under our table.
Back at the house, it got dark fast. The guys are all sitting around the dining room table on their laptops, talking shop. I get bored listening to them talk GPS and coordinates, so I think I will go listen to a pod cast or read my book now!
February 16, 2008
This morning started with me rolling out of bed and getting dressed to go down to breakfast with the guys. We had our usual breakfast of the local porridge, eggs, and bread. There were also some long european style hot dog/sausages, but they were cold so I passed. The cat was back at the centre outside, so I tried to feed some of the hot dog to the cat, but something spooked it and it climbed a pillar and into the roof. I left the rest of the hot dog behind and I hope it ate it.
We went back to the house and the guys set to work at the dining room table talking shop. I was bored so I did other things.... I crocheted a bit, read my book. The cleaning lady came and went. Lunch was fish and french fries. More free time in the afternoon, I took a nap. I have become a real woman of leisure. Dinner almost seemed like a waste (we had mutton and rice), seeing as how I had done nothing all day. It is too hot here in the sun to go for very long of a walk, and Shamus is (sort of) busy with work. I don’t think there is a medical clinic here that I could volunteer at. So I just hang out.
Tomorrow, Arve leaves us and on Monday some other guy shows up. Klaus is staying until Wednesday. And we still don’t know how long we are going to be here.
February 17, 2008
Today is Sunday and breakfast was a little later. We got to sleep in today! Except on our very uncomfortable bed, it proved to be slightly impossible. Not to mention the rooster that started up doing his annoying job at 4:30 am.
Arve was due to leave today, and he took off right after breakfast, and the rest of us walked back up to the house. Shamus and I washed some more clothes by hand in the bath tub and we hung them outside to dry. He and Klaus did some work and I hung out and entertained myself with my podcasts. We walked down to lunch at 1pm, where a gaggle of the local children watched us eat. I don’t know if they were hungry, I think they just wanted to get a good look at the white folks.
After lunch we went for a drive in the local area looking for some silly monument that we never actually found. Shamus was using his hand-held GPS and it was telling us the monument was somewhere that is really wasn’t. So we drove around a bit more looking at the local villages and taking readings. The kids all waved at us and asked for sweets. We stopped at the store in upper Mphaki, called Fraser’s Trading store. It also has a gas station, but it was closed. Back at the house, Klaus stubbed his toe outside and so I got to finally use some of my first aid supplies and skills - I gave him a bandaid, ha-ha. But I do hope that no one actually hurts themselves seriously while we are here.
For dinner we had some mystery meat - interesting sausages that we ate, but the taste wasn’t great. And more of the pudding surprise they seem to like giving us - it’s usually a mix of flavored jello and different flavors of pudding. Sometimes there is coconut covered marshmallows, or slices of canned peaches. It’s a dessert free for all. Despite the mix of interesting flavors, it does actually taste okay. Back at the house by 7 pm, I began the nightly ritual of killing time until bedtime. I am almost done my blanket - I am out of yarn. I hope I can buy more in Maseru next time we are there. I also finished one of my books “She’s come undone” by Wally Lamb, and now I am on “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini. I am about half way through already. I try to pace myself to make the books last longer, but with so little else to do here, I can’t help myself.
February 18, 2008
Shamus slept on the floor part of last night, just to see if both of us were able to get a better night’s sleep. I slept great. He did not. So we will see what happens tonight.
I have an upset stomach today - I am not very hungry. I wonder if it was something I ate, or just several days of strange food catching up with me. In the morning after breakfast, we went up to Upper Mphaki to Fraser’s Store. They have lots there, at least by Mphaki standards. I got some washing power (yay, no more using the bar of soap to wash clothes in the bath tub), some bottles of Sprite, juice, a bar of soap, and best yet, SWEETS! I asked for a box of suckers, and I think I confused the guy.... he didn’t realize I wanted the whole thing, he thought I only wanted a few. Now I have candy to give the kids.
So this morning Klaus and Shamus went off to work with their boxed lunches, and I hung out at the house. I was able to take a leisurely bath, and the cleaning ladies came. It is the strangest feeling just sitting and doing nothing while someone else cleans the house. But these women are employed and paid by the government to clean for us and they rely on the income. I just make sure not to make too huge of a mess for them to clean. They were asking me questions about where I was from, and whether I had any children. They seemed confused when I said no. I told them my husband wouldn’t let me, ha-ha.
Shamus and Klaus showed up at 1 pm right as I was thinking of eating my boxed lunch. And the new guy Tlali, an engineer from Maseru, showed up right behind them. He seems nice, speaks great english, and better yet, speaks Sesotho - he is our new interpreter! Yay! Now we can know what the people are yelling at us.
After lunch the guys got to work on the new data they had collected today, and I was hard at work making a dent on my list of pod casts. They also got the new engineer up to speed. I took a nap, Shamus came in and out to annoy me, lol. I woke up to a chewing noise outside the bedroom window. It was the horse I named Buddy. I went out back to say hello to him and pet him. He is so skinny and seems people-shy. Before we walked down to supper, we walked up the hill for a little exercise. I saw a little boy and gave him a sucker. He was really shy, but thanked me in English.
After dinner, which I wasn’t really hungry for, we walked back up. Buddy was still in the yard (his owner lets him loose in the area to graze, but ties his front hooves together so he can’t run away) and we got a picture of me petting him. I wish I had some food to give him.
Tonight we made hot chocolate/tea and while the guys exchanged work information, I killed some more time with my book and writing this blog entry. Good news though - Shamus thinks that this upper section of the project will be done by Sunday and we can go into Maseru for a few days for internet and ‘supplies’. I can’t wait to have a SHOWER!!! I am really excited about going to Lancer’s Inn again and maybe swimming in the pool and checking my email and talking to my family and friends. When we come back up (Shamus really wants to get some laundry done, too) we will stay somewhere further down the line. Probably in Quthing. Maybe this project will be done by the end of the month! And maybe Shamus and I will decide to take a little safari before coming home, and MAYBE we will be home by my 26th birthday on the 11th of March. Yay! I can’t wait to see the cats again. 2 questions though - I wonder how long the stuff we shipped home will take to get to us (they told us at the office that it would be 6-8 weeks) and how much will it cost me to change our flight home (Shamus’ is covered by Hydro, so that doesn’t matter).
Time to shut down the generator, it’s nearly 10 pm. I have never gone to bed this early so consistently since.... high school? Yikes!
February 19, 2008
Last night was a night to remember - it started at around midnight, just as I was getting to sleep (Shamus next to me, refused to sleep on the floor again, haha). I had my ear buds in, listening to music when I heard a strange noise. It sounded like wind hitting the side of the house. I took the ear buds out and listened, but it did not do it again. But just a couple of minutes later, CRASH, the thunder hit and lightning flashed and the room was light up like mid day. I admit, I HATE thunder storms. When I was little a house down the street was hit by lightning and had a fire, then when I was sixteen, a bolt of lightning hit a transformer out side of a gym I was in with 100 under 10 year-olds. That made a loud noise and a lot of kids were screaming and the power went out, etc. So back on topic, the thunderstorm last night. It was intense, with lighting coming down every 3 seconds, no break in between and hard to tell how far away it was. It lasted about 30 minutes and I just laid there with music playing on iPod and waited for it to stop. I survived.
So apparently people, men actually, have been coming from miles around to see the white men putting in the power. They know we are here and that we are helping put in the electricity and want a job with it. Except the power won’t actually be going in until 2009 and we have nothing to do with how the jobs are allocated.
Today another site survey was undertaken up past a village called Ha Lazaro to Lets’eng-la-Letsie (not a name, but a description of the area, apparently) where there is a dam. The area around the dam is beautiful. Shepherds from the area bring their animals there to graze because the dam keeps the area well irrigated. There are birds, sheep, horses, donkeys, and goats wandering around the grassy areas. Shamus, Klaus and Tlali went for a walk to see some more of the lake/dam. A pair of young boys, shepherds, were hanging around, so they got a sucker each and some left over lunch.
Driving past a school, kids were running alongside the car begging for sweets. It makes for a really neat video to watch.
We went for a short walk before dinner again. Dinner was good, pasta and stew. The little black cat came into the dining room and was begging for food. I gave it the fat from my beef (was it beef?), since I wasn’t going to eat it anyways. Shamus got mad at me because he thought I was teaching the thing to beg at the table. Maybe he is right, maybe not.
I am done my crochet project, a baby blanket for a friend. I am now out of yarn. I finished my second book. I only have one left. I just went and asked Shamus where the bible was, cause I wanted to start reading it... well apparently it is among the many other things he jettisoned in London. GRRR. He is no longer allowed to pack for himself.
We were talking today that we will have to wait until Monday to go Maseru, Shamus remembered another area that he needs to do and it’s a whole day job. He is getting pretty home sick now and really wants to finish up so he can go home. I am interested in doing some kind of safari first. We will see.
February 20, 2008
So today was kind of a sad day - Klaus left us to go back to South Africa, and eventually, home. We got up early because we were supposed to meet some guy from the Lesotho Electrical Commission down at the Quthing substation. We ate breakfast at 6:45 am and we were on the road in separate vehicles. Except when we got to the substation, the guy wasn’t there, there had been a mix up and he thought we were going to pick him up. So we waited 30-45 minutes, Shamus met with the guy, walked around a bit, and we left poor Klaus there to do his research (he needed to know what fault level was for whatever reason) while we went into Quthing to get money from the ATM (we’re rich!), to the local Pep (think Zellers) for cheap sandals for Shamus, a wool store for yarn for me (YAY!!), to see the hotel where we will be staying next week (Orange River Lodge, anyone ever been? Tladi’s people say it is nice) and to buy toilet paper (we’re out at the house).
So funny story about the TP, I went into a little tiny store with Tlali to buy 2 waters and toilet paper. But he asked about the toilet paper (my interpreter) but I asked for the waters. But for some reason she thought I was only paying for the waters. So she freaked out when I walked out with the TP and the waters. I walked out without paying! Luckily Tlali was still in there and took care of it, cause I had no idea what she was saying.
So we got back to the FTC just in time for lunch at 1 pm, and after lunch we came back to the house. Shamus plotted his route for the afternoon and then he and Tladi left. While they were gone I washed some more laundry in the bath tub, using my new washing powder this time. Shamus was out of boxers again.
In front of our house here is where they dump all of our garbage, down a little knoll. Today they were burning it, and what a stink. And a waste. There is no recycling here, not even for cans or plastic bottles. Glass bottles need to be returned to the store where you bought it, there is no deposit system. And no garbage pick up, they just burn it all. Coming from Canada, it seems like such a waste.
On the way back from dinner with the guys, I gave out some more suckers. I just give them to the little kids, and they are so cute! When they accept things, or gifts here, they take them with both hands and it shows respect. Very cute to see from a little kid. My favorite thing is seeing the babies tied on their mothers backs with blankets or even towels. It’s so cute to see their little heads poking out of the blanket.
Shamus and I were talking to Tladi tonight and he says that just a few years ago, many people denied that HIV/AIDS even existed. He says that some some people called it AIDS - Americans Idea to Discourage Sex. I just thought this was hilarious. But through an intensive education campaign, more people know what AIDS is and how to prevent it. There are billboards in the cities with cartoon condoms, signs telling people to get tested (it’s free to be tested here) and stickers everywhere. In the office of the Orange River Lodge, where we went to look today, they had stickers on the filing cabinets saying “AIDS is a disease we ALL need to fight”. This is so strange because in Canada, people just don’t talk about HIV/AIDS, and it’s not advertised like this. I have heard that in the country of Lesotho as many as 25% of people are infected. Yikes!
So I bought some new yarn today in Quthing, but they only had yellow, black and dark blue to choose from. I got the blue, but the other problem is that it is a very light gauge of yarn, and I only have the one crochet hook with me..... so the scarf I am currently working on (I think I will make things to give away to the people here) is a very open weave. Oh well, I am combining 2 different stitches to try to make it look pretty.
It’s crazy how slow the time during the day passes when I am alone and have nothing to do. But after dinner, when we head back up to the house and we are on our computers, it’s easy to look up and all of a sudden it’s 9 pm and time to shut the computers off and go to bed. Of course I listen to podcasts or read my book for a while first. I miss TV and my bed and the cats and the INTERNET and my pillow. Shamus sleeps so much better back home....
February 21, 2008
Well we are in the midst of another thunderstorm right now. Shamus was teasing me, but I am fine. I had an uneventful day today. The guys took off in the morning for work. I settled in for a long day. I read my magazine for a little while, then went and took my bath. Right while I was getting out, I could hear someone come in the house - I thought it was the cleaning lady, but think they were changing the propane tank for the fridge or something. The cleaning lady came later, and did some laundry in our bath tub. She sat down in the living room and we were chatting, but it was awkward due to the language barrier. When she left, she forgot or left behind her keys. Later in the afternoon she came back for the keys but then forgot her umbrella! There was a man out in the yard raking the grass and he was talking to me. I have no clue what he was saying, but I did pick out the word ‘water’. I was sitting with my legs in the sun drinking a coke, so I thought maybe he was thirsty? So I brought him some cold water from the fridge. He seemed to appreciate it.
I entertained myself today by reading my book, listening to podcasts, and getting some sun. I think I am getting a tan! It’s really hot in the sun here, due to less atmosphere, so I wear sunscreen and I don’t stay in the sun longer than 30 minutes at a time. But I still have sandal tan lines. I am getting pretty bored. We have been in Mphaki for over a week now, and it is pretty monotonous for me - same thing day after day. Often the same meals, too.
We got boxed lunches today, cause the guys were off working. It was fried chicken and fries. Fried chicken again. I think in the last 3 days, we have had fried chicken 3 or 4 times! Everything is deep fried here. From the chicken, to the sausages for breakfast, to the fries. I will be curious to see what our cholesterol levels will be once we get home.
Dinner was stew on rice, very tasty, but the meat was very fatty. The cat didn’t wander in this time to eat the fat, so I just left it on the plate. NO dessert this time, thank goodness. I came here to Africa with the hopes of maybe loosing a little bit of weight, but my hopes are slowly fading as we are fed these huge high fat meals. Tladi says it’s because here in Lesotho, people eat 3 solid meals and that’s it, whereas in Canada, we eat a small breakfast, a donut at coffee break, then lunch, mid-afternoon snack, and finally snacking in front of the TV after dinner every night. So true. But it’s still too much food for me.
Tonight after Shamus does his work stuff on the computer (plotting tomorrow’s route or modifying some other route), we are going to sit down and really look at the possibility of going on a safari at the end of the trip, time and money-wise. This is something I want to do and I think we would regret NOT doing, cause when else are we going to be in AFRICA to do something like this? Shamus is really home sick and would like nothing better than to just go home as soon as possible. Hmmm.....
Can I also add just how IMPRESSED Shamus is with Google Earth. Every single night he goes on and on about how awesome it is, and how accurate it is, and that the imaging is free. He says that pretty much between Google Earth and the topo maps is how he has developed the entire route. He barely needed to come here in the first place. (Just kidding, Shamus’ bosses, he is working very hard and is irreplaceable and invaluable on this project. Money well spent.)
Shamus and I went outside to watch the lightning show. It’s pretty cool to watch, as long as it’s far away, ha-ha. We couldn’t hear any thunder, but there were lightning bolts on either side of us. It seemed as though one or two particular spots in the distance were getting drilled by lightning bolts. So Tladi says that some people here put old car tires on the roofs of their little huts. One day he asked why. Apparently some people here think/thought that the car tires protect cars from being hit by lightning, so they put old tires up on the roof to protect the house, too! I thought it was just to keep the wind from blowing the roof off. That’s funny.
February 22, 2008
Oh man, it’s really hard to believe that we have been in Lesotho for 12 days already. Just counting it on the calendar just now made me think “That’s it??”. It really feels like we have been here for longer. I think we are getting a little sick of being up here in the middle of nowhere. Thank goodness we are going to Maseru (internet! a shower!) on Sunday, and then staying the Orange River Lodge in Quthing after that.
Shamus and Tladi went out to do more work today - they did the section that they call the school on top of the world, because the school is located kind of on the edge of a bluff. It’s not the highest elevation Shamus has clocked, but when you are out there and look around you, it seems like it.
We were able to eat our lunches together, and 2 little boys saw us there and stopped, asking for sweets. I didn’t want to encourage their begging, most of the kids I have given candy to so far haven’t asked. But I was hoping that if I gave them candy, they would leave us alone while we ate lunch. No such luck. They settled in to join us instead. I don’t finish all of my lunch anyways, so Shamus and I gave them some of ours, including my can of juice. I try not to drink the juice they give us as much anymore, just the water, because I realized that each can has a lot of extra calories and sugar (my teeth have been through enough).
When I walked into our bedroom after the cleaning lady had been, the bed had been moved from one wall to the next! I was surprised to see it, but the new arrangement makes more sense. That poor woman must think we are slobs. I had a nap this afternoon, and Tladi brought a woman back here at 5 pm, just before dinner time. They spent some time in his room.... We stayed out in the living room, as we did not know what was going on back there.
After dinner, Tladi headed off to another town to meet people and have some beers. where as Shamus and I settled in for a fascinating evening.... Well we did a whole lot of nothing.
Tladi has been teaching us a lot about Lesotho. Apparently it’s illegal to have an abortion here - you can be arrested for murder. So strange compared to Canada, where it’s covered for free by basic medical. Apparently here, if you go to the hospital for an ultrasound, they will not tell you the sex of the baby. Apparently boys are much preferred here over girls and it is feared that a woman pregnant and disappointed in the gender might try to get an illegal abortion. This can happen back in Canada, too, but back home they are not supposed to tell you the sex of the baby until after a certain point (21 weeks??). Also, polygamy is alive and well in Lesotho. Shamus and I are both why anyone would want the bother of more than one wife, ha-ha.
Also, Tladi thinks it is not safe to have x-rays more than once a year or so, because of the radiation. I don’t know if this is ignorance on his part (lack of knowledge about x-ray radiation) or maybe the x-rays here are a lower technology and therefore less safe than ours. Tladi also believes that Elvis and 2-Pac (is that how you spell it??) are both still alive and that the moon landing (aka Neil Armstrong) never happened, that it was filmed at the notorious Area 51 in the Nevada desert. Uhhh.... Okay. He is an interesting guy. He is really eager to get back to Maseru too. He has a place there, so it looks like Shamus and I will have some privacy (finally) at the Lancers Inn. We also get our own room at the Orange River Lodge next week (showers... drools).
February 23, 2008
I had another pretty chill day. I did a few things of laundry in the tub, but it was cloudy much of the day so it took a long time to dry. Fried chicken and fries again for lunch. I can’t take much more of this!
Shamus and Tladi got back at 3:30 pm after long day on the road. We settled in to wait for dinner, but Tladi came home with the CCS lady (not sure what that stands for, but she is the local council secretary) and another girl we are calling his girlfriend. People here in Lesotho are very friendly. They seem to just wander in to the house and sit down next to us on the couch. Shamus was laying down and he had to sit up quick to let Tladi’s girlfriend sit down next to him, and the CCS lady sat next to me. It was weird, cause Tladi and the CCS lady we talking back and forth in Basotho, with strange giggles coming from the girlfriend, who seemed embarrassed. Every once in while there will be a word in English that we could pick out, and then occasionally one of them would ask us a question in English and catch us off guard.
When we were walking to dinner, there seemed to be a lot of crazy people out. One very happy drunk guy came running up showing me his bloody finger, saying that someone had cut him with a knife and he was going to go tell the police right away. He was smiling and laughing, but it freaked me out a little bit because I didn’t know what he was going to do with the bloody finger, and remember the HIV infection rate here. Later Tladi told us that he WAS a member of the police. Apparently it was the police that threw the beer party last night that Tladi went to. And the police here can do whatever they want, as long as they are not wearing their uniforms when they are doing it. Someone drove by us on the road blaring their horn, apparently it was a government vehicle and the driver was likely celebrating that his boss was out of town by driving drunk. Shamus wants to go home.
For dinner tonight, we had, guess what, FRIED CHICKEN. We are too chicken (oh, un-intended pun, I swear) to say anything to them about it, and besides we are leaving tomorrow anyways. Not worth saying anything now. At dinner Tladi told us that people in Lesotho don’t do public displays of affection. Apparently even holding hands or kissing in public is too sexual. It’s different for us because we are foreigners, but apparently people turn and look. I thought it was just because they have never seen such a hot white couple before. Oops!
After dinner and back at the house with the generator running, Tladi and I went through the music library on my laptop, because he wants to burn a few CDs of some of my music once we get back to Maseru. Another thunderstorm started. Shamus kept going outside to watch the lightning. I went out with him, and it was kinda neat to watch. We turned off the generator to hear better. Some of the lightning strikes were really close and they were lighting up the front yard like it was the middle of the day and burning the image into our retinas. We sat out on the concrete pad on a blanket for a little while watching it.
I felt something drop on my head and I thought the roof was dripping, but what I found on my head felt like I had feathers. I yelled at Shamus to turn on the light - it was a giant black winged bug. I swear it was bigger than a twoonie. I see a lot of them here, it’s like a cockroach or something. I threw it away. I am proud to say that i am not one of those girls who freaks out when a bug lands on her (not much anyways). Thank God I had the hood of my sweat shirt up or that THING would have been in my hair. Ew.
I have great news to report! Tonight is our LAST night in Mphaki! Tomorrow we leave for Maseru, where I can finally post my blog entries instead of just writing and saving them. It’s 9:30 pm and Shamus has already gone to bed and the generator is turned off. The lightning keeps lighting up the otherwise dark living-room. Moths are attempting to mate with my lit computer screen, which makes it difficult to type, so I think I will go now!
