One Year in Peace Corps

I'm a high school Math teacher... So as I contemplate my one-year anniversary of Peace Corps service, it's not all that surprising that I find myself reliving it in numbers...

It has been...
- 426 days or 14 months since I arrived in Lesotho
- 364 days or 1 year since I took my Oath of Service and joined the US Peace Corps.
- 8,205 miles away from my home and family
- 1 new language, Sesotho
- 3 new countries travelled (Lesotho, South Africa, and Swaziland)
- 2 Basotho families (I'm a Mothobi in Berea district, and a Qoaqoa in Butha-Buthe district!)
- 2 rural villages/Basotho communities (Makola during training, and Ha Selomo since becoming a PCV)
- 1 school (I love Linokong High School!)
- 326 students or 7 classes taught
- 14 awesome work colleagues
- 4 school quarters
- 1 Young Women's Group
- 1 English/Debate Club
- 1 "Write On!" Creative Writing Competition
- 15 short stories for my Basotho Youth Book Project
- 1 inspirational GLOW Camp (with 189 awesome young women!)
- 35 books read
- 1 broken Kindle (and 1 subsequent nervous breakdown! Ha!)
- 2 Peace Corps Committees (Volunteer Action Committee, and Gender Equality Lesotho)
- 4 Global Development/HIV or Teacher Training workshops attended
- Thus, 4 opportunities to take hot showers!
- 9 trips into the capital city, Maseru
- 4 trips to the PC Medical Office, and 1 to the hospital
- 1 bout of tonsilitis, and 1 of the flu virus
- 2 new scars (1 burn on my left wrist, and 1 one cut on my right knee)
- 2 charcoal water filters
- 3 trashed/tattered pair of shoes
- $300+ in postage for packages from home (Thanks, Mom!)
- 5 inches of new hair (since shaving my head 13 months ago!)
- 22 new freckles or sun spots
- 1 thatch roof repaired
- 4 garden plots
- 1 cat + 1 kitten
- 2 chickens butchered
- 1,200+ km hiked around Lesotho
- R460 in cheese
- 3 bottles of pepto bismal, and 1/2 a box of anti-diarrheals
- 3 dead rats/mice in my house
- 1 more birthday passed (which I share with my awesome friend and fellow PCV, Kim!)
- 2 trips to visit my wonderful friend, Makabelo, and her family
- 15km traveled down the Usutu River in Swaziland (and 4 dunkings in crocodile-infested waters!)
- 5 Basotho funerals attended (and 2 missed at home)
- 4 important family events missed (1 wedding, 1 retirement, 1 college graduation, and 1 high school graduation)
- Countless new Basotho friends and neighbors!

And it all adds up to ONE absolutely price-less adventure!

With Love from Lesotho... -Mary E.