Your Favorite PCV’s Day in The Life

Well, I'm certainly getting into a rhythm here with teaching and living and all the things. The first few months of living here came with a lot of change, moving around, and newness. Life is now starting to move at a slower pace and I'm really getting a glimpse at the reality of what the next two years will really look like. So here’s a little update and a day in the life…

Quick Life Update:

We are well into the first quarter of school. My successes include…

• Learning all the names of my students

• Finding fun and creative ways to teach (like making paper airplanes for math lessons, playing football to teach English, and somehow making fractions so fun that my kids ask me to practice them in our break time)

• Learning to cook with the limited ingredient options I have. I also don't own measuring cups, so my creativity combined with guessing proportions has gotten pretty good and I must say, I'm kind of proud of myself with some of the meals I have come up with.

• Carrying water on my head. Give me anything to carry on my head, I dare you. I've got the 25L bucket balance down and I never thought the day would come where I could confidently carry my bucket full of water, on my head, all the way back to my hut from the pump without holding both sides in a death grip or feeling like it’s going to fall off of my head. I even vlogged my fam while carrying it home last week. So if you need proof you just let me know.

Challenges have been…

• Teaching English. This language makes absolutely no sense. Grammar lessons for a language the students barely speak when there really aren't any actual grammar rules because of all the exceptions the English language has feel pretty impossible at times.

• Sesotho is also tough to learn. I'm actually putting off studying by writing this blog post… oops. I'm learning that I don't have a knack for languages like some do and that's proved difficult. My host sister is my new Sesotho tutor so I am hoping that helps and I will start learning quickly. Not having a firm grasp on this language is the root of all my problems. 

• Making bread. How tf these women are making the most beautiful and delicious bread without an oven is beyond me. I'm trying and it never comes out right. Just ask my sister, Katelyn, who had the joy of being on a FaceTime call with me this week as I wrestled with bread in my pot just to burn it anyway. Choice words were said and I’m about to enlist a horde of Basotho women to help me master this skill.

• When it rains, you can't teach because the rain on the tin roof is so loud no one can hear anything. Just a fun side note.

me teaching an English lesson from the eyes of my coteacher’s phone

Day in The Life

(This is a perfect day in the life. Some days, I'm too tired to get up and run and end up going back to sleep and barely getting out the door on time. Some days, I come home and take a nap and am so unproductive it's not even funny. So take this with a grain of salt as my average ideal day.)

5:00am - Wake up and go for a run. I like to do this before the rest of the village is awake because when I've run through the village in broad daylight I get endless questions - Where are you going? Why are you running? Are you okay? Running and exercise is not a thing here. Seeing a white girl running early in the morning is uncommon. To say the least.

6:00am - Get home and put water on the stove to start heating, make my bed, make some breakfast, grab clothes for the day. Once my water is heated I get my nice little bucket bath ready and get in there.

6:20am - Post bucket bath, I make some good old instant coffee and breakfast (almost exclusively oatmeal) and sit down at my table to eat and journal.

7:00am - Empty buckets, clean up, get water if I need to, and get ready for the day (literally just doing my hair and getting dressed. My face hasn't seen makeup in months)

7:30am - Say good morning to my host sister if she’s up and head to school! It's about a 10 minute walk up the road from my hut.

7:45am - Arrive at school and unlock the office, send students with keys to unlock the classrooms, and have one student ring the bell to gather everyone for assembly. The other teachers come from in town, so they usually don't get there until 8 and I have been tasked with starting the school day.

8:00am - The other teachers arrive, we have assembly outside which consists of students singing a hymn, doing class presentations, and singing their marching song to head to class. After this, all the teachers head to the office where we sign in, say a prayer, maybe have a staff meeting that takes up way too much time and is all in Sesotho so I only know half of what is going on anyway, and head to class.

8:40am - Teaching time! I teach English and math lessons and my co-teacher does Sesotho and LBSE (life skills). 

11:40am - Lunch! Either papa and peas or samp and soya. Papa and peas is my favorite. I'll sit and have lunch with my coteacher or the second grade teacher, Refiloe, or sometimes head down to the office and let myself have some peace and quiet while I eat and maybe read a little bit.

12:40pm - Back to classes for the rest of the school day. 

2:00pm - End of school! I walk home with Refiloe, we are around the same age and she lives in a nearby village, so we have a good talk and debrief on how our days were.

2:20pm - Home for the day! Time to set out the solar charger and try and get my phone above 30 percent. I'll sweep my hut, do dishes, and take care of any other tasks or chores I have. After, I'll typically sit outside and plan lessons for tomorrow. Then I've got all the time in the world. Talking with my host sister or neighbor, going for a walk, reading, painting, playing guitar, etc. are all common afternoon activities. About every other day I'll have a group of kids come knocking on my door and we will play football or other games, and those days are just my favorite. I love the village kids! They are too fun.

6:00pm - Time to make dinner! Fried rice, chickpea curry, a little egg scramble, or good old rice and beans with veggies have been stars on the roster lately. I haven't had meat in a hot minute and am definitely an involuntary vegetarian at this point. 

7:00pm - Usually I'll phone a friend at this point or talk with people from home. If not, it's time for more hobbies and entertaining myself if all my chores and things are done. You'll also catch me doing yoga or a hut workout before bed most nights.

9:00pm - Bedtime. Maybe go look at the stars for a little because no electricity makes for the clearest night sky you ever did see. The milky way and constellations are popping and I couldn’t be happier about it.

And that's most weekdays in my life here! Saturdays I usually go to town and Sundays are my big chore days - I'll probably do a blog post for what weekends look like soon! Life is sweet and tough all at the same time here. The move to Lesotho is one of the best and hardest things I could've chosen to do and it depends on the moment if I feel more like it's the best or the hardest :)

a photo from a recent hike up a mountain close to my hut!

a recent hike around my site!

Disclaimer: Don't you know we gotta add her. This post does not reflect the views of the Peace Corps or US Government. It's all from your favorite PCV's wonderful little brain. Enjoy.