Peace Corps: PST Resolvings

The last two weeks have been quite chill in comparison to how training was up until and throughout my week at permanent site. Now, we have entered the wind-down phase of pre-service training.

Days consist of language learning and group lectures on dry, government mandated topics; safety/security, medical, etc. Many of our days have been ending early, usually between 1-3 pm instead of our previous 5:30 pm. We have been filling our precious final days all together with lots of social time: Hikes, movies, crosswords, and a boatload of card games.

Today we had our final language test, which we all needed to pass in order to be able to swear in (on time) and become official PC volunteers. Everyone met the benchmark, so life is good! I am now officially an intermediate Sesotho speaker.

Now that our language test is done, PST is basically finished; This next week will be spent celebrating Thanksgiving, going to Maseru to buy things we need for permanent site, and attending our swearing in ceremony + village feast.

For Thanksgiving we are going to the Kome Caves, which is a historical site in Lesotho with preserved homes built into a cave wall. Plus, we will be eating burgers and fries, cooked by the guy in our cohort who went to culinary school (a no-brainer pick).

In Maseru I'll be buying all that I need to live at permanent site. This includes many buckets, utensils/plates, a broom/mop/dustpan, pots/pan, clothespins/drying rack, and a fabled Basotho blanket of course; Among other things unmentioned.

Lets talk buckets, because I'll be buying eight. Why? It may seem absurd but it is a necessity in Lesotho. You need a pee/waste bucket, two water buckets, two wide clothes washing buckets, two small dish washing buckets, and a bathing basin/tub. In terms of buckets that's fairly minimal; some people are planning on getting 14!

After shopping we have our swearing-in ceremony on December 2nd. Exciting! I've also been voted to make a speech in Sesotho to represent the health volunteers at swearing in, so I'm pumped for that.

Hope everything is well with you, and thank you for reading and for your continual engagement with my adventure out here. I think I'll be writing next sometime in mid-December, once I settle into my permanent site and have things to share.

Sala hantle! (Stay well)
Connor