I would like to introduce you to my friend Mr. Pee Bucket

What a week! Although some of this blog post is embarrassing, I am keeping our motto T.I.A. (This Is Africa) in mind. We refer to it when anything goes wrong or when really embarrassing things happen!
This was the first week that I was responsible for cooking for myself and many of my vegetables went bad because I didn’t use them! I can’t blame it solely on poor planning, though. On Tuesday morning, I didn’t feel great when I woke up, but figured I would feel better when I got to school. I only had a little bit of oatmeal for breakfast and had planned on having a big lunch. By 10:00, I had a very upset stomach and decided to go home to sleep. Four days later, I am finally feeling better and am not going to the bathroom almost every hour. When we first got to Lesotho, the Peace Corps told us about all of the things we would need to survive during our two years here. I couldn’t understand why they insisted on us having a “pee bucket.” Now, however, I completely understand and can’t live without it! I think I’ve said before that we really aren’t supposed to go outside at night, even to use the latrine. I didn’t think it was a big deal and wasn’t worried about it. On Tuesday night, I found myself laying in bed at 2AM thinking, do I use my bucket, knowing that everyone in my house will know exactly what is going on, or do I sprint out to the latrine and get in trouble for leaving. I am so happy that I made the decision to use the bucket on that first night, because it was the first of many times in only 3 nights! I couldn’t keep my mouth shut about it the next day, so when I retold the story, I was welcomed into the Peace Corps by several of the current volunteers!

With all of that said everyone else in my group has been really helpful. I helped out as much as I could during the workshop that we had planned, but my friends really covered for me. During most of the first day, I only spent about 20 minutes at a time in our workshop. Most of the teachers there noticed me racing to the latrine and realized that I wasn’t feeling well. Every time I saw them they rubbed their stomach and said something in Sesotho!

My computer is almost dead and a really loud thunder storm just came rolling in, soooo… Tomorrow we are hiking Thaba-Bosiu. I am not really sure what we are doing, but I heard it was a great time! After that, I will find out my site for the next two years! We will get to see video of our hut and will find out more about it. I can’t wait to see which volunteers, if any, are close to me! By the time I post this, I should be able to write about that!

UPDATE! Obviously I figured out my USB drive! I am still working on pictures though! my phone number is.... 001 266 59166881. I am not so positive about the first 2 area codes. the 001 is to get out of the US and 266 is to get into Lesotho...dad, if this is wrong, can you post the real number? CALL ME!! We are 7 hours ahead of Pittsburgh.
Next, I found out my site! I will be living in a village called Ha Sefako. It is in Botha Bothe. I am very excited! I have a very small house, but that is Ok. Some people have really amazing places with hot water and electricity, butttttt whatever. There are 5 people in my district and it is about a 2 hour bus ride from Maseru.

Hope everyone is doing well!!!! Miss you all so much! I can't believe it is snowing where you are and I am sweating my face off here! I should be back on here next Saturday and will be back together as a group at our training place on Christmas Eve. OH! I posted i think 2 more posts below this, so check them out! Hopefully pictures and a wish list of things that would be great to have here will be posted next week!!!!