Wa batha haholo!

I just bought a modem for my computer! Now i can get on the internet. this is amazing! i am sitting in mpho's house watching Trace Channel and MTV Base on his tv with his new South African decoder. and i am on the internet!!!! this is just like america. well earlier today i did wash all my clothes by hand. treat my scabies. wash out my pee bucket. and eat 3 day old cabbage soup. so its not exactly like america.

i have so many things to report on. luckily my mom called today and i told her mostly everything, so i forget something you can just ask her.

lets see here. first the bad stories. when i came home from durban last month, i realized that momma doggy was missing. i asked my family and they said to check behind the barn. i went out there and saw that momma doggy was in extreme pain and dying of rabies. it was a horrifying death that lasted 3 more days. and will always be imprinted in my memory. the thing you have to remember about africa is that these things happen literally everyday and you just get numb to them. its not like im suppressing anything, ive seen 6 dogs die in 4 months. death is a main part of living here. and i know that sounds terrifying but its not really. you get used to seeing people and animals die. every saturday there is at least one funeral in my village. my tiny village. and with the hiv/aids rate so high here everyone knows someone who is dying or has recently died. even peace corps volunteers have had host mothers, host fathers, fellow teachers, neighbors, friends die in their short time here.

oh just so you know. pumpkin is fine. hes fat and happy. probably eating something as we speak.

lets see what else happened. i built a very large keyhole garden with my community last weekend. and planted some nice winter crops.

oh yeah its winter here. freakin freezing. i have to pep talk myself out of bed every morning. like "okay natalie we can do this. its really not that cold. you are a polar bear...you love the cold. you love swimming in polar ice caps and eating fish...". i really dont know about my pep talk ability or why it involves polar bears. it just does. and i eventually do get out of bed.

right now i have a full plate. i am trying to bring water to my village and school. my school currently has no water. and has had no water since it existence. and my students get so thirsty they get sick. right now i make the troublemakers hike an hour one way each morning at 7 to get some water for the teachers and the kids who play sports. i really hate having to interrupt class to ask if a student is okay because she/he is so thirsty they have almost passed out.

in less depressing news, i attended a Lehloenya wedding. i met my whole extended host family and wow are they wealthy. its really irking to be in the middle of a third world country where half the population is dying and the other half is starving and then all of a sudden be inside a huge mansion with maids and butlers and convertibles and terraces. but such is africa and the corruption that has been here since longer than most care to remember.

school is going really well. i get along with all the teachers and i love the students. i wish you all could visit and see how great my students are. they are the best kids in the world. \

hmm many other things happened but i have forgotten about them. miss you.