12/31/2009 - I PASSED!!!!!

I AM so happy that I passed my Sesotho test...the language is lovely and easy grammatically...but quite difficult to speak...the mouth muscles used to make the Sesotho sounds are VERY different from the muscles we use for the English language. It will easily take me two years to be understood by the Basotho people. I love it here and truly hope that I'll be able to help some Basotho youth. The culture is quite laid back; people smile and say "yes" to you, but then do things in their usual ways. It is my hope that I'll touch the minds of some youth concerning sanitation, HIV/AIV's education and nutrition. I'm at the training center in Maseru for another week. I'll be sworn in as a Peace Corps volunteer on 1/7 and go to my permanent home in Tabola on 1/9. I've seen my place...it's a thatched roofed rondavel (one room round house) with no electricity or running water; I love it! The water pump is very close to me, but the pump is hard to use; I'm sure I'll have very strong upper arms when I return to the U.S. There's a house very close to me which has electricity; we're going to try to rig an electrical wire from that house to my rondavel when I get back. If it works, I'll be able to recharge and use my computer!!! The pit toilet I'm using is a luxury because it's brand new...built just for my use...with a lock on it.