Curriculum Lesson One

Today is Friday, October 10, and we have now been here for less than three days. I am struggling so to try to keep this computer charged so that I can do this blog.

This morning was the first morning that I boiled water in my own R (hut) and took a bath before I even exited. We are learning all kinds of techniques for staying in our hut all night long which was one of the worries that troubled me the most. I am dealing with it - as all are.

Breakfast was simple: eggs and bread. What was amazing was how Mamekheta made the bread on the stove. From what I understand, I will learn to do this as well on Saturday. This will be quite an adventure as I am sure that there will much laughter during the process. I was off to Language lesson down the road when Me' Mamomile indicated that I was going the opposite direction. That was not the instruction we received last evening but it doesn't really matter as we rarely know in which direction we are going; we are very much like sheep these first few days. But since Me' Mamomile just pointed in the direction I was to go, I journeyed on and was directed by others along the roadside that I had had colleagues pass right in front of me and that was the direction that I was to pursue. I found my colleagues but we ended up at St. George's School - not at all where we were supposed to be since none of our other colleagues were anywhere to be found. It just so happened that the Peace Corps bus was passing by to pick up another group and we jumped on the van. It was quite amusing when we passed the whole group when they thought that we were picking them up when in fact we were just turning around and would be picking them up on the return drive to the "Kierke" (Church) where instruction was to take place.

We spent the morning learning about PC Core Expectations and the Lesotho School System. We have learned that we are in the transition period of the school system moving toward a more integrated system. It might be a bit difficult to understand since we will be having two sets of Lesson Plans but in reality, it is just a question of learning what needs to be accomplished with the new curriculum. They have moved to a more local educational system rather than a consolidated system with Namibia and ?.

Lunch was spent sitting around outside on the grass eating lunches that had been prepared for us by our M'e's and sent in plastic containers. There is a universal menu for all of us so we are all eating the exact same lunch menu, but each is prepared differently depending on the whims and extravagances of our host families. And some have so much more food than others. I am fortunate as I do not have too much. It is still way too much for my system if I do not do some exercise, which I am finding quite difficult to squeeze in to the schedule.

The afternoon was spent reviewing the curriculum of Grades 4, 5 & 6 which are the grades that we will be teaching. We will teach English as a co-teacher with the classroom teacher. We reviewed and were queried on the textbooks and teacher's guides - all this is a bit boring for me since i have been teaching for so many years. I had a lull and found myself falling asleep. I know, however, that this is vital for me to be successful here in Lesotho so I tried to give it my very best and remain attentive and participate often.

Two of the current PCVs that came to training to help us get oriented invited us to celebrate their 1 year anniversary of being in the PC by inviting all of us to have a beer at one of the "shops". I ventured home to drop off my stuff and had plans to go pick up a few essentials (a washrag), and it just so happened that I ventured upon the whole gang sitting around drinking beer. I had a Black Label - no clue what that meant - but I was tickled pink when my M'e showed up. I bought her a coke and was eager to have her join us. She stayed for a short time but left as soon as I returned to the table.