Another week flies by!

Dumela!! ("Hi, how are you?")

I can’t believe the last week has gone; life here is becoming the norm, which is kind of nice. Enjoying my own company inter mingled with my increasingly busy social life.

Having run last Sunday in the cool drizzle, I haven’t been since – not helped by a pain in my knee, not sure what’s happened there, but easily could have partially twisted it as the pavements and roads are somewhat of an assault course…no excuses, I just have to man up and go, maybe this Sunday again.

Not running early in the morning is down to my main issue - the lack of sleep, struggled a bit with the sounds of the night, and the heat is difficult, have woken at 3am and had to go for a cool shower to chill me out or grab a glass of water on more than one occasion. The one thing about the sounds though is the morning – it’s amazing! The Cicadas echo across the valley and the birds feasting on the fruit trees create a cacophony (good word!) of noise.

The sun sets and sunrises as well as the starry skies are something I will miss when I leave they are incomparable to what we see at home, and with my (hutt) ‘Rondavel’ sitting on the hill I have a perfect vantage point and spend many a time chilling looking out. (I have photos on facebook but can’t get them on to the blog as the upload of the net is too slow and can’t access the blog on my phone).

Work is work, it’s going fine. Working hard on the content of the website to get it a bit more punchy and easier to find – keeping it simple as it’s pretty outdated. Otherwise I have been writing up a newsletter and creating a contacts database, realise now how useful it is to have these things ready made and others to keep them tidy…

One thing I am realising here is that there are interesting family dynamics and roles, for example many of the children are cared for by grandparents, this does happen in the UK, but not to the same extent. In some cases this may be because HIV / Aids has taken out the middle generation, but even if not, from a practical point of view the parents work and socialise and the kids are with the grandparents. I have also encountered a number of single mothers, so having family support is key for them to get work. Another thing that has also impressed me is the sheer number of professional women here in Maseru – I’ve been told it’s because in rural areas the men often tend to the cattle, so it’s the women who go and study.

Right, back to the social scene, went out last night…. Valentine’s Day is a big deal here it seems, the local hangout, Café Ouh la-la (owned by the Alliance Francaise) was packed and there was a well known Basotho singer there, singing covers of every classic us pop love song with a few local tunes thrown in, from Toni Braxton to Whitney Houston, song after song!! I was just happy to be out on a warm evening, in good company and enjoying a few beers. Many interesting chats with people from various NGO’s, and Gov Agencies like GIZ (Germany) – people here from Mozambique, the US, Germany, Holland, England, Slovakia, Cameroon (my friend Robert is a pro footballer here all the way from Cameroon) and many other countries, reminds me of the international mix at Uni - a puts a smile on my face.

I even taught a local Basotho guy how to say: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyllllantysiliogogogoch

In fact I spoke to one girl from GIZ who told me they found a Cobra in their house! Now Scorpions are one thing, but a Cobra, I would have freaked out completely. I even told my boss about it who told me the area they live in (opposite side of town from me) is famous for having lots of snakes…telling me, 'why would people live there!?' just hope I don’t have to deal with anything of that nature….

Plans for the weekend are that I need to cross the border to get my Visa sorted, so I’m heading to Bloemfontein with some friends to see what a South African city has to offer! Will try and fit in a run too. 

Have a good one!