Reality of PST

Wowow, last week of PST (Pre-Service Training) and it's been a rollercoaster. I had read blog post on blog post of what PST looks like before arriving in Lesotho and it has been completely different than I expected. SO... an overview and the realities of PST...

(disclaimer I am writing and posting this on my phone so I apologize for spelling/grammar/format issues...)

my students from practice teaching

Structure of PST:

The last three months have been full of language and technical training classes.

Everyday during the week entails language class ranging from 1 to 4 hours and our technical training - sessions on teaching, the education system in Lesotho, and classroom information. We also have sessions on safety and security, medical, and culture. Monday through Friday is sessions and classes, with some weeks being student teaching weeks where we teach and work at our schools for half the day, and have sessions the other half. Midway through training, we got our site placements and did site visits. After training everyday, we all hang out as trainees or go back home and do hut chores, hang out with host families, or just chill. Our host families also cooked for us from arrival to mid -November, and now we all do grocery runs and cook for ourselves. Thank God because I couldn't eat papa (look it up. it's good every once and a while but they eat it every meal here, not always by necessity but by a true and pure love for papa.) for every meal for much longer. I was sick a few weeks ago and my host mom's solution was bringing me an enormous plate of papa which she promised would make me feel better.

Now, at the end of training, we have our last week bringing our LPI (language test to confirm we have at least an intermediate-low level of Sesstho before swearing in), visits to the Peace Corps office in Maseru, practicum days (to evaluate our teaching ability levels) and then our swearing in ceremony on Wednesday, after which we all will move to our respective sites where we will be for the next two years. While weeks and days have felt long, months have gone by fast. I genuinely can't believe I’ve already been living in this country for three months!

The Good of PST:

All of my favorite things about PST revolve around the friendships I have made. I love getting to hang and share this experience with my friends here and that has made all of these bizzare experiences so much fun. As much as the language has been a struggle, I do love learning it and seeing my improvement from when I first arrived. Adventuring and seeing the country a little has been fun to, just exploring on weekends and little field trips and adventures with all the other trainees.

The Bad of PST:

Honestly, the Peace Corps is disorganized with communication and schedules and the organization of our training. I don't know if this is true of every post or just here in Lesotho. This has been super frustrating since we are all subject to the schedules and rules of our training team and the staff here. While I am super excited and thankful for the opportunity the Peace Corps has provided to me, dealing with the organization itself has been the stem of my frustration upon being here.

Many of the sessions we have feel redundant or unhelpful or just last 4 hours for something that could've been said in 20 minutes. That's just the reality of life though, nothing can be perfect! I'm able to recognize the annoyances and at the same time be thankful for what I get to do here.

Other Things to Note:

- UV index is regularly 13 and my skin and hair are unlocking new shades.

- Stray dogs here are super mean but if you feed them they will become your personal guard dog.

- Taxis suck. A longer blog post on this to come.

- Why go on a diet when you can join the Peace Corps? The number of people dropping pounds like crazy is insane.

- My shoes simply aren't going to make it 2 years. I'm about to make new duct tape soles for my reeboks. My blundstones are quickly losing traction. Pray for them.

- I miss vegetables. It's a challenge to find them and when you see one in the market, it is the best day ever. I got a mango yesterday by some miracle and almost cried.

- My food cravings are becoming weirder. It started with missing Indian food - some chicken tikka masala and cheesy naan - (shoutout to Caroline, my partner in crime for this) and is now just any drink with ice in it. Iced coffee would be great. But an ice water would be equally exciting.

- I'm becoming a reader. Kind of. I have been reading the same book since I got here. But it's long guys. (The Stand by Stephen King. Highly recommend)

- Lesotho has really cool waterfalls and mountains and rivers to explore! All my favorite things.

quilane falls!

All in all, PST has been exhausting and incredibly sweet and fruitful at the same time. I am so so excited (and equally nervous) to get to site and start all of what I came here for. These kids and the Basotho people are awesome and I'm beyond honored to be invited into their culture. I'm super sad that all of us will be spread thin around the country, but that just means I get to visit everyone and explore more!

As always, love and miss all my people at home a ton! Thanks for reaching out and checking in and being supportive about it all :)

DISCLAIMER: My thoughts/opinions/and content of this blog are my own and does not reflect the views of the Peace Corps or U.S. Government.