You're not in Kansas anymore...

Peace Corps training has begun!!! It's Sunday, 10 a.m. Lesotho time. We arrived in Lesotho last Friday morning. We took a 2 prop, 30 seater plane from Johanesburg to Maseru. There was one moment when the plane took a plunge to the left and dropped quite a bit...all of the sudden. This illicited some screams, hanging onto people. It woke me up. 2 of our team had to wait for the next flight because they said our plane was too heavy. That made me a bit nervous.

We arrived safe and sound. The associate director for Peace Corps, a current volunteer and several of our trainers were waiting for us. We received a very enthusiastic welcome, went through customs (it took many people several days to get all their bags) and were taken back to the Peace Corps training house in Maseru. When we got there all of our trainers sang "welcom to Lesotho" to us in Sesotho. Apparantly, Lesotho loves it's song, and their singing was beautiful. Harmony and everything. I've been told we are going to be doing much singing... and dancing. (stop laughing) For the rest of friday and saturday, we had a session that was an overview of the training time, sessions in the Peace Corps approach to development, safety and security, went for a walk around in Maseru, mapped out Lesotho and began the first of what will be a long list of innoculations. We first received yellow fever, and meningitis. We will begin a series of rabies, tb...etc.. (about 10 shots in all) All of the women also had to do pregnancy tests. (yes, mine was negative :) ) The instructors are mostly Basotho, who work for the Peace Corps and are incredibly patient. We've learned a few words of Sesotho, and begin our formal training on Monday, where they will assess us, split us into groups for language, interview us to try and determine the best fit for our site placements, etc...

For next week, (week 1) we are still at the training facility begining language, different sessions, and getting ready to be placed with our host families in week 2. Next sunday, we will go to our host families, (everyone with their own family, but the entire team divided up into 3 villages) and 2 peace corps language trainers per village. We will be taken shopping, so we will go complete with pots and pans (we will do our own cooking starting week 3) pee bucket, etc... We will have peace corps training until 4 pm everyday, and then chores with the family (they will teach us how to do the everyday things we need to know) and then "family time" every evening so that we can practice our language and complete other assignments. During this time up through August 6, we will take a few days to visit another volunteer at their site, going with them, and then getting back on our own. We will also spend a few days with our Basotho supervisor at our new site, checking it out and figuring out what we need to bring. And then we have a language test in which we need to score an "intermediate low" and then are sworn in August 6th. We will also learn during training about the agriculture here, how to plant our own foods, how to work with, teach HIV/ AIDS stuff..... and more, as Peace corps volunteers (while having one specialty..mine is health) are expected to do a little of everything.

This is all a little overywhelming for me. But I remain excited when I take it just one day at a time. The team is great, if not a little frazzled. But everyone is very kind and considerate to each other. They are easing us into the food... part American, part Lesotho, with Papa being a staple of most meals.. it's a mixture of corm meal and maize usually served with some kind of "gravy"

My internet time is running out. (Im at a cafe) I should be able to come back later on in the week and tell you more. They will be giving us money for and taking us later in the week to buy cell phones. It's expensive to call out, but texting is pretty cheap... so I hear.

I miss you all and hope things are well at home!!