Baby It's Cold Inside

Winter is here.

It is very cold these days. Inside, it is usually colder than outside.

Lately, it has been sunny outside, which provides a great deal of warmth.

Inside, however, there is not much in the way of insulation and heaters are expensive to run or non-existent. I am lucky to have 3 blankets to sleep under, a hot water bottle to fill each night - and hot water to fill it with, a small heater I can warm my room with and long johns to sleep in. Still, I am cold.

Many others are much colder. Maybe having only 1 or even no blankets. Not having paraffin to use in their heaters or to use to cook something warm to eat. Maybe they don't have anything to eat at all. Winter is a tough time in Lesotho. I am not sure how much longer the vegetables from people's gardens will last and when they go, for many, there will be nothing left. The staple foods of papa and samp take a long time to cook, which means they take a lot of electricity, paraffin or fire wood. All of these things cost money or take a great deal of work to get.

I find it tough to get out of bed in the morning. I am huddled and bundled up but can feel the cold air on my nose and know that as soon as I hop from my bed, my feet will touch the cold concrete floor. Most kids get up at least two hours before I do, to bath, maybe eat and head off to school while it is still dark out. The classrooms, they tell me, are usually cold. Luckily toques are allowed to be worn and track suits in the schools colours pass for uniforms in the colder months. I have seen some primary teachers conducting their classes outside so that everyone can sit in the sun.

My tea intake has skyrocketed and each time I complain I wonder how everyone else manages. Drafty doors and windows, leaky roofs, worn thin clothing and not a smart wool sock to be seen for miles. Maybe Basotho are used to the cold? Or maybe they are just used to the suffering.

Sorry for the downer posting but that is my mood today and that is the reality here in Lesotho. I'll make it up to you somehow. Maybe when my hands and feet aren't numb.

Alison

Inspired By

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEU_LRfpLe8

and

http://www.jcleroux.co.za/age-check?destination_url=/

That is

by this guy

AND BY

This guy

Introducing Notorious B.I.G. LeRoux

Proud parents Max and Tara, welcomed their first car into their world Friday, the 20th of May at around 12:15. After much waiting and anticipation, this 19 year old beauty arrived to the joy of all around them.

Please enjoy a few photos below. More to come but the compound is swarming with kids today so a photo shoot is out of order. We hope to buy some speakers to install and give her a great wash to get her really shining.

I hope you all enjoy her as much as I am so far

Where we found and rescued her.

Sure I can move some bricks for you.

It feels right, we be chillin already

What? Yeah we can see it now.

.

There she is, home, safe and sound and feeling free.

Coming Soon...

News, stories and photos of my first ever car...you're going to like it.

And if you don't, you'll end up loving it.

Dance Bingo

One thing I did in Mozambique that I didn't mention before is play a game called Dance Bingo. I had never heard of it so but I recommend it to anyone who likes to have a good time. While we were in Tofo Tara and I met some entertaining British guys that we ended up constantly running into and then hanging out with. It was one guys birthday mid-way through our stay so we met up with them at the Tofo hot spot Dino's to celebrate. This is the place that generally was blasting terrible techno but we decided to try out Dance Bingo anyway.

Each person gets to choose a song for someone else and if that song gets played, whoever's song it is has to dance to the song in its entirety, regardless of whether or not anyone else is on the dance floor. It was tough to pick songs because the music was so awful, unknown and unpredictable. The song chosen for me can be heard below...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2Cr4h9O4ak&feature=related

It's a HUGE hit in South Africa and Lesotho right now. And apparently Mozambique because it got played. So did a Shaggy song, which I mistook for Sean Paul, insisted that the British Allergist who didn't know any better had to dance to it and then Tara broke the news to him after I realized half way through the song that he was not dancing to his Bingo Song after all. Luckily he was a good sport.

Here is another MASSIVE hit. It gets going at the chorus 3 minutes in and you might as well watch the video because that's pretty much what my Saturday nights are like. Okay, maybe not but the style of dance is definitely how it goes down here in Lesotho.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDMBB3lAMPE&feature=related

Play Dance Bingo!

Mozambique - a Visual

View from our beach side casita

Chillin, drinking coffee, checking out the view

Sunset in Tofo

Tara ready for a night on the town

Faux balling on the streets of Maputo

I Went to Mozambique

As you may or may not know by now, I spent last week on the beach in Mozambique. Well not entirely on the beach. I had a few beach days and then 4 days doing my PADI dive course. This involved a day in the classroom watching cheesy yet informative videos, a day in a disgustingly dirty swimming pool and 2 days with some under the sea time. I didn't see anything fancy like a whale shark - largest fish in the world - or a manta ray but I saw some fun colourful fish, a few sting rays and a bunch of other random stuff. I also got to destroy some centuries old coral reef as I crashed around the ocean floor trying to find my buoyancy, drank a lot of salty sea water, got carried around in a very strong current and did some unintentional barrel rolls when my weight belt weights were unevenly distributed. Fun times.

The weather was warm but not too warm, the mosquitoes were malaria filled but generally blown away by the night breeze, the accommodation was simplistic but comfortable and the music was bad but not, wait it was too bad. Really bad. Cliche 'beach music' of Jack Johnson, John Mayer, Bob Marley and Ben Harper was tolerable but night club techno like I have never heard before was at times, unbearable. Tara and I still managed a good time and some good meals. We also really enjoyed our two nights in Maputo, Mozambique's happening capital city.

Our first night there, we discovered a parking lot dance party - bring your own car (or hire one), with your own music - open the doors and pump the tunes of your choice and buy your beer from kindly older ladies with ice boxes along the beach. On our last day in Mozambique we enjoyed delicious coffee and wandered from restaurant to bar to restaurant to bar enjoying the fact that we could 1- walk around at night and 2 - had so many different places to see and choose from.

If you're in the neighbourhood, I would definitely recommend Mozambique. Brush up on your Portuguese and you'll be all good.

Pictures to follow

Freshlyground

Yes, I went to see Freshlyground in concert...again.

I love them, I can't help it.

Tara loves them now too so she was excited to plan a trip to Jo'burg to check them out live.

They are fantastic live. Better than on CD which isn't always the case.

We had a great day in Johannesburg - went to a delicious restaurant, stayed at a nice guest house and went to a fun fun show.

Watching them live just makes me smile so that is great.

We were in the third row and managed to force a few band members to take photos with us after the show. Very uncharacteristic of me but I guess I was in the mood.

The only Jo'burg scare was when I thought I lost Tara's camera and the it got taken. Turns out, I'd given it back to her and she had it in her bag all along. Oh the antics of two interns deprived of a social life living it up out and about in a big city.

Check the photos below.

The band owns the stage

I spotted Simon chatting with some friends and more or less anticked my way into a photo with him.

Because of Tara's sneak around tactic, Zolani had no choice to take a photo with her. Then a friendly Canadian insisted I get in for a photo as well.