Drakensberg Mountains and Lesotho!

I just returned from a much needed vacation, and all I can say is the Drakensberg Mountains are absolutely stunning.

Lane and I traveled for a little over a week, hiking, riding horses, doing a donkey pub crawl (yes, donkeys), and of course relaxing and enjoying each other's company. I will let the photos speak for themselves because it was truly an incredible trip.

This week I am headed to Pretoria for Mid Service Training, where our entire cohort will reunite and attend a conference preparing us for the second year, closing service, etc. It feels great to be in the second year!

Besides photos from my recent trip, I will also upload some random village moments and pictures of the dance studio I am working on building.

Thanks again for following, love and miss you all very much!

All my love,
h

Lately

For a while, it felt like January would never end, but now its mid February and it feels like it went so quickly!

What can I say, the one year slump is REAL. This past month has been one of the lowest of my service. I think it was set off when my mom left, but the emotions I was experiencing just wouldn't seem to go away, no matter how hard I tried or how much I thought they were done for good. I think that is the part of this point in service that makes it so difficult. You are so close to being finished, so part of you is thinking, “one more year, that's nothing,” and the other half is like “one more year, that is such a long time.” Projects are also picking up (yes it often takes a year if not more to get one project going), and people usually expect more from you. Either that or we as Americans put that pressure on ourselves all on our own. This mixes with stress, homesickness, thoughts of the future, and all the other stressors at site that you as a PCV have accepted as “the norm,” and at least in my case, it was really hard to come out of. Although it is getting better, I am still slumping and days are excruciatingly long sometimes.

However, despite this, I still feel lucky to have little pieces of my day that get me through it, and many projects to look forward to. Running, teaching dance to my girls club members, and my host family, are some of the beautiful parts of my day that keep me sane here. I will list some other updates below so you guys get some sort of an idea of what is “new” in my life :).

• Construction on Boiketlo's Learning Center has officially started! With the help of donations we have replaced the roofing and are now working on painting, burglar bars, and installing brackets and shelving to hold the books and study materials!
• I had site visitors come stay with me from SA29 (the health cohort following mine) at the end of last month. The goal of the site visit is to give trainees an idea of what real PCV life is like, and they really enjoyed their time here! It was great to see some fresh faces and show them around.

• My girls' dance club is up and running, we meet every Monday and I teach them a dance routine, then we eat and talk about touchy topics like mental health, relationships, etc. I am loving teaching dance again!
• I am continuing to teach English to grade 6 learners at 3 different schools, but am thinking next term I want to do after school clubs instead.
• We officially submitted a grant for an all girls' camp planned for June 29-July 2nd. I cannot wait to start passing out applications and get that going!
• I am back into running again and thinking of training for a half marathon.

That is about all I can think of for now, even though I know there is more. It just gets difficult to remember what I have and haven't shared, and so much to me is a common day occurrence now. I will let the photos speak for themselves. Some of the pictures include my host grandma and her best friend chatting behind our house (I just find them adorable), my host siblings, Valentine's Day treats and cards I made for my family, a card my host sister made for me (adorable) pictures of my girls club meetings and hopefully a video of them dancing, construction on the learning center, and some other random pcv memories.

I miss all of you more than you know, I will see you in a little over a year!

All my love,

H

Elephants and Wine

SUCH a late post—my apologies! December flew by and January did too as I rushed to start the new year off with some projects and work!

My moms visit was absolutely AMAZING! I can't believe it has already been two months since she boarded that plane to South Africa.

I met her at the airport with two of my PCV friends, and we went to a nearby hotel and relaxed by the pool for a couple days so she could recover from the long flight. It was so crazy to see her with South Africa in the backdrop, I guess mentally I had just separated home and Peace Corps life so much that it was startling to me at first.

After the first couple days which were filled with lots of beer, catching up, and laughing, we drove to my training village, Mosesetjane, about 3 hours away from Johannesburg, to see one of my best PCV friends, MJ, and my old host family from training almost a year ago. We had a wonderful time catching up with them, giving them gifts for the holidays (lots of Lakers and LA apparel) and they were so excited to meet my mom. It was also great to see how quickly my mom clicked with MJ, as she is super important to me. I felt like we all became family within hours haha. The following day, we were off to another village, except this time it was my site! We arrived at my site in the early afternoon, and relaxed with the family and had a braii (South African commonly used term for bbq) with my family and some of my close friends in the community. A lot of PCVs that live near me also came, so I was so glad my mom got to meet all of them! We brought lots of coloring books, clothes, makeup, candy, and treats for my family and they absolutely loved spending time with us. I was so happy my mom got to see where I lived, bond with some of my best friends in Peace Corps, and get at least a small taste for village life. It meant a lot to me that she was able to have that experience!

Sadly, I have no photos from that day because near the end of our trip my mom lost our camera. STILL upset about it but at least we have the memories and some photos of the other experiences!

After briefly traveling throughout Limpopo and Mpumalanga, we were off to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe 2 different parts of Botswana for safaris, and ended in Capetown.

All I can say about this part of the trip is I am such a lucky girl. I was absolutely spoiled the entire time! It was so much fun to be in the middle of nowhere relaxing with my mom for almost 2 weeks and I know the trip is something we will never forget. I think the pictures speak for themselves but all I can say is, the animals were great but nothing really beat the company and knowing my mom was always just a few footsteps away!

Saying goodbye was one of the hardest parts of my service thus far. Yes, the beginning was super emotional, but everything was so new. This time, when she arrived, I subconsciously felt like I had finished my service, I think because I associated her with home, and home with being done. I was a wreck when we said goodbye at the airport (still makes me choked up even typing about it), but I wouldn't take back her visit for anything and I am so thankful she decided to come all the way out here.

The pictures from this trip speak volumes, and are way more exciting than my description so enjoy! You will see photos from the falls, our safari, wine tasting in Capetown, hiking Table Mountain, limited pictures of the visits with our host family, etc. I hope you enjoy!!