Lumela from Ha Sefako, Lesotho!

Tonight will be my second night staying in my new village! Each time I walk out the door, I am amazed at how beautiful it is here. Huge mountains surround my village. When I walk out my door, a Lesotho mountain range is on my left and to the right is South Africa! There is a river* about 10 minutes from myhouse that separates the two countries. I will be working with teachers in 4 schools and will have to walk along the river for about 1-2 hours to get to three of the schools. My house is amazing! I was worried that I wouldn't like it or feelcomfortable in it, but really enjoy it! I spent the entire day cleaning, unpacking, and rearranging the furniture. My friend Phil also lives in this village and he helped me to rearrange my furniture and kill spiders. I lost count, but I am pretty sure there were over 100 spiders in my house. I think I got most of them, but we'll see tomorrow. Last night I jumped up several times because I heard things moving around my hut. I am pretty sure I have a rat living in or around my house. I heard something really big last night and found alittle bit of rat poop in the bottom of my dresser. I also might have bed bugs. I was definitely bit, but I'm not sure when. They take afew days to show up, so I am going to attack my hut with 2 cans of bug spray before I leave tomorrow morning! My family is also incredible. Now that I am living here, I am a part of the family. So I have new parents and siblings. I think it might take me a while to feel comfortable calling other people my family. I am not completely sure what the situation is next door, but I know that I have 2 sisters, 2 brothers, and 3 other children. The ones that I am directly related to are my age, and the children are my nieces and nephews, I guess? My mother and one of my brothers just passed away, but I am not sure how recently. My water pump is about a 5-minute walk from my house. I have a 5 gallon (I think) bucket that I fill up and use sparingly. I went to fill it up today so I wouldn't have to walk to the pump at 5AM tomorrow and was encouraged to take the wheelbarrow so it wouldn't be as hard. Pushing that big piece of metal up a hill took everything out of me! I was exhausted by the time I got to the pump. The wheel on it points in every direction, so I zigzagged all the way up the hill. Once I got water, I figured it would be an easy walk down. I made it 5 feet before I hit a rock and flipped my bucket on the ground. There must have been 10 people standing around watching the show. I was so embarrassed that I started sweating. So I walked my bucket back to the pump, filled it up and went to try again. By this time a few more people came outside to see what was going on. I managed to avoid the rock that I hit the first time, made it an extra 15 feet and lost it again. Without even looking up, I took my remaining gallon of water and went home. I sent my brother to get the wheelbarrow! Great way to introduce myself to the village! Tomorrow Phil and I will be going to the town in our district to meetup with 3 other volunteers. We will be going back to the Peace CorpsTraining Center on Tuesday and thought we should break it into two days. We are about 2 hours from the town and are the second to last village in northern Lesotho! I thought that was pretty cool. I will be working in the two farthest north villages! My schools are all right on the border. Well I am going to cross my fingers that the bed bugs aren't in the bed that I will be sleeping in tonight. I sleep with a flashlight incase anything creepy decides to jump on my face. Hope everyone has a great new year! Wish I was there to celebrate with you!! Oh, I do not have cell phone service in my village. I am planning to buy a South African cell phone, which will be much less expensive to call! I will keep you up to date! I will be in Maseru, where I do have service, until January 10 and hope to get some calls or texts!

*The Orange River (Afrikaans/Dutch: Oranjerivier), Gariep River, Groote River or Senqu River is the longest river in South Africa. It rises in the Drakensberg mountains in Lesotho, flowing westwards through South Africa to the Atlantic Ocean. The river forms part of the international borders between South Africa and Namibia and between South Africa and Lesotho, as well as several provincial borders within South Africa. Although the river does not pass through any major cities, it plays an important role in the South African economy by providing water for irrigation, as well as hydroelectric power.