I am afraid this blog post isn’t as cheerful as the past ones have been. I have had many struggles so far here in Lesotho. Peace Corps is not the easiest nor is it for everyone. However I still feel it is for me. I just seem to have hit every obstacle possible. Which to be honest has basically been my whole life. Nothing is ever easy. Sometimes it just gets to a point of why something can’t just go right. If you have been following my adventure then you know that I have been sick, I have been moved to a completely different site then the one I wanted, I found out the organization I am supposed to work with does not exist, and I have been doing things completely on my own at site. So this blog post might be more of a venting session. I am afraid I am yet again sick. I am on 3 different allergies medications and my allergies are still up a wall. As we move out of winter here in Lesotho, it becomes dusty season. It becomes very windy and dust just goes everywhere. From accounts of other volunteers who have been through it so far, they say you get home and can create streaks on your face because by the time you walk home, you are covered in dirt. It has been windy recently and my nose is just not happy. This is also something that is not new so I know I will be ok, but it can be very annoying at times. I have been drinking lots of tea and the last couple of days I have decided to make rest days and just rest and read. Waking up at 4am to listen to the Seahawks game did not help my situation, even though I was just lying in bed. I am very proud of my HAWKS though! Even though it is only preseason and people think I am nuts for waking up so early. But I love football. It is probably one of my favorite sports and I have followed the Seahawks for so many years, it would be wrong for me to just catch highlights. One of the things we learn in Peace Corps is to work with what you got. Unfortunately we have a 9 hour time difference between Seattle and here in Lesotho, so I work with what I got.
I have also just been feeling like I have no support. My counterpart who I am supposed to work with never shows up and since I started doing my own thing, because my organization does not exist I hardly even speak with my supervisor and I live on his compound. It is also hard because people want to get paid, as my counterpart it is all volunteer and also since my organization does not exist they can’t even give them anything in return, so it is very hard to keep people willing to work with me. Now it seems I am left to find a counterpart on my own as well. There comes a point in Peace Corps service where we are supposed to get down in the dumps and wonder sometimes what we are doing here. That usually does not happen though till about a year in or at least right before. I have only been here 3 months. I do not want that to happen and I want nothing more than to complete my full service. But if things do not start to change, then I am not sure I can take much more. It is already hard enough to try and integrate and learn a language in a completely different country.
I have also just been feeling like I have no support. My counterpart who I am supposed to work with never shows up and since I started doing my own thing, because my organization does not exist I hardly even speak with my supervisor and I live on his compound. It is also hard because people want to get paid, as my counterpart it is all volunteer and also since my organization does not exist they can’t even give them anything in return, so it is very hard to keep people willing to work with me. Now it seems I am left to find a counterpart on my own as well. There comes a point in Peace Corps service where we are supposed to get down in the dumps and wonder sometimes what we are doing here. That usually does not happen though till about a year in or at least right before. I have only been here 3 months. I do not want that to happen and I want nothing more than to complete my full service. But if things do not start to change, then I am not sure I can take much more. It is already hard enough to try and integrate and learn a language in a completely different country.