Hi Everyone!
Sorry it’s been a while since our last post. We’ve been busy getting re-acclimated to life in Maseru. We ended up moving to a new house that is much larger than our old one in a neighborhood called New Europa. We have several beautiful balconies and an even better view of the Parliament building (the one that is sitting empty because the Chinese government, which helped fund the building, is unwilling to hand over the keys until the Lesotho government upholds their end of the financial obligation). Here is a picture from our bedroom window.
The house is actually a guest house on the property of a large estate which is owned by an Indian doctor who works at the Queen Elizabeth 2 Hospital in town (locally known as Queen 2 or QE2). The owners have four dogs, and the youngest one has taken to coming over to visit in the morning and get his belly rubbed by Jay. The cat is curious, but also has a healthy reticence to go outside. We’re pretty sure the dogs would eat him alive…
Besides moving, school has started up. We just made it through our third full week and we had a half week to start out the year, so we’re starting to get our stride. The students are changing classrooms for the first time in the history of AISL, and they also have lockers. It’s a big transition for them, but most of them are excited for the challenge. They’re especially delighted to have lockers – a little space to call their own with a lock and personalized decorations to boot!
This year we are planning to do a Classroom Without Walls (CWOW) trip to Cape Town, and the faculty decided to move the date of CWOW up from last year, so instead of March it is happening in November. That means a lot of planning has to happen pretty quickly on our part! Luckily the new upper school science teacher spent time studying in Cape Town, and knows the area well. He’s been great, and we are excited about the trip, which is set to include a visit to the Cape Nature Preserve, Table Mountain, the Holocaust Memorial Museum, several area places of worship, the beach, the waterfront, Parliament, the National Geo-Spacial Information Center (where they make maps!), the aquarium, the planetarium, and the Kirstenboch Botanical Gardens. We’ll be busy for sure.
October is going to bring some interesting things our way. The first week is a week off for us because of Lesotho’s Independence Day (October 4), and Columbus Day (October 10). Our plan is to head to Cape Town by car to do some more in-depth planning for the CWOW trip during that time. Then we head back to school for a short week, and then we both head to Nairobi, Kenya for the annual conference of the Association of International Schools in Africa (AISA) conference. I (Sarah) am presenting a workshop on the last day of the conference, which is especially exciting and nerve-wracking. We were fortunate to be offered some extra days in Kenya after the conference ends, and we have planned a four-day safari to Lake Nakuru (famous for its flamingos!) and Masai Mara National Game Reserve, which is supposed to be an awesome experience.
Because of the needed trip to Cape Town and the opportunity to go on safari in Kenya, we decided to put off our planned trip to Kruger National Park until next year. As you can imagine, funding all this travel is a challenge on teachers’ salaries, but we are trying to find the line between taking the once-in-a-lifetime opportunities and remaining cognizant of our finances. It’s hard work!
Also hard work is the continued care for the bearded dragon. His eye tumor was pretty much the same when we came back from holiday as it was before we left, so we were encouraged, but then two weeks ago it sprouted to an enormous size. The vet was optimistic about his overall health, so we decided to try another operation. Unfortunately there was no way to close the wound without taking his eye, so now he is a one-eyed wonder lizard. The vet said to give it some time and see whether he gains back some of the weight he’s lost, which will give some indication whether the cancer has spread to his internal organs. We have him staying at school right now, but we’re checking on him all the time. When we left him this evening he was doing circles in the tank trying to figure out what was going on. Hopefully he’ll calm down some and rest so he’ll be hungry in the morning for his spinach breakfast (a vet recommendation).
Tomorrow we are set to attend the funeral for the mother of one of our new 7th graders. She unfortunately died due to complications after what was meant to be a minor surgery. We met with her as a team before she left for the surgery, and we were all impressed by her energy and optimism. It is a huge loss for our school community and especially for her son. This will be the first full funeral we have attended in Lesotho, and we are told that it is an all-day affair and that we should bring water and wear hats (sun protection for a very long outdoor ceremony). We’ll give you an update on what the event was like next time.
We hope you all are well. Thanks for reading! Keep in touch!
Sarah and Jay
