September Update

I have not posted in a while, and I felt like it was time. It seems like there has been a combination of a lot and a little going on since Lesotho. 

The reason why it feels like there is not much going on is because I have been falling asleep early on occasion, there is a public holiday this week so there is no class, the weather has been nice, and I haven't felt overwhelmed by school. 

The reason it feels like a lot is going on is because the mother load is about to arrive in October, and that is when things will get crazy. Final papers, projects, tests....etc. So, I feel that I am in the calm before the store. Nonetheless, I will tell you what I have been up to. 

Yesterday, September 22nd was Laura's 23rd birthday. In addition, her boyfriend, Julian, arrived the weekend before. Yesterday afternoon Laura, Julian, and I went to our favorite place which we call, "The Bakery." The waiter brought Laura a coffee that said, "Happy birthday Laura" in the foam. It was really amazing, and so sweet. 

Over a month ago Laura invited me to a small coffee shop she found and liked. We went together and we both liked the handmade bags they sell. There are purses, backpacks, and even larger bags. They are all handmade in Stellenbosch. We talked about buying one but decided against it, or at least we thought we would wait until before we left. I went back to check on these bags a few times. The one I really liked was gone. I asked them about it and they said they would order a new one and call me when it arrived. I decided it was the perfect present for Laura's birthday. 

I decorated the wrapping paper with stickers, and Laura did not even want to open it. She was super careful and said she is keeping the wrapping to frame. I spelled out "Happy birthday Laura" with stickers. My name was also in stickers, and then there were a few other cool ones added on there of course. She loved the bag, and our lunch together was amazing. Julian had to put up with the two of us, but he handled it quite well. He asked me if there was a word like "bromance" in English, except for girls, because that is what we have he said. 

Then I went to class yesterday evening, and unfortunately got out late. I tried to get home quickly to freshen up before Laura's birthday dinner. I forgot my camera, otherwise you would be able to see some pictures from last night. Laura decided to celebrate her birthday at a place called, Java. Many people you have heard of were there...Laurin, George, Sophie, Aylin, Kathrin, and a few others who you will not recognize. Plus me and Laura's boyfriend, Julian, of course. The evening was very nice. 

I did not go home too late because today I had my final test in digital photography. Now that today is over the theory part is finished for the class. Now we work on our pictures, framing, and work for our final exhibition at the end of the semester. 

It is already past 6:00 here, and it is a windy day...so I am going to head home. But I will try to get some more good updates out there soon!

The only other thing to look forward to is that I will be completely finished with school in October. Laura and I are looking into potential plans for where we want to travel together in November. It is very hard to decide! We will see soon enough :)

Final Lesotho Post

This post has a lot of pictures. And the pictures are only of the people. But it is important to me to show how beautiful these people are. 

Lesotho is an extremely poor country. I would never want to take pictures as a "tourist" and expose them in a negative light. I was specifically encouraged to take pictures of the people since they do not have cameras, and I was asked to please send them back so they could be given to the people in the photos. As I said in an earlier post, I will do this as soon as I can. 

As you can see, many people waved to us...especially the children. The children would even start running after us. You can see in one picture below they are following Stacey's horse. 

If some children saw us coming from a distance we could hear them yelling and running to tell the others in their village. By the time we got there the kids were all waiting and waving. Almost all the children we met said, "bye bye! bye bye!" I do not know if they thought this meant "hi" or "hello" or maybe they were saying "bye bye" because we were riding by and leaving. But the children and most adults all greeted us with "bye bye" rather than "hello." 

These villages do not have electricity. They rise with the sun, and the day winds down after sunset. To most people living in the modern world it might feel like the people are really missing out. Where are their televisions, computers, smart phones, running water, electricity, constant connection to the world, showers, and what we think of as a clean bathroom/toilet? I wondered about this. As a group we talked about this. Who was happier? Us or them? Was that even a possible question to answer? 

Ultimately I guess you really cannot compare. Although they do not have a lot, they were the kindest and most wonderful people. A child shared his corn with me even though he did not have shoes. I said I really did not need to eat it. He insisted. He is only 10 years old. They live in a different world. But it is a good world. A much more simple world (but I do not mean that in a bad or negative way).

 So after 4 days without internet, regular running water, a shower, or my smart phone...I felt weird coming back to the real world. I found myself missing my horse, the animals, the hut, the quiet, the people, and the stars that looked like you could just pick one right out of the sky. 

I will never forget Lesotho. I hope to go back one day. There are not enough of the right words to truly describe my experience there. Nonetheless, I was with the right people at the right time, and had an unforgettable experience. 

I hope you can enjoy the pictures and maybe feel a little bit of what I felt when I was there...

:)

Stacey and Brown Sugar.
Dorian and Braai Man.
Sophie and Jupiter. 

Found a kitty! 

It purred and followed us around :) 

Stacey.
She was really suffering. She truly was afraid. She was stressed. She liked to be back on the ground whenever the opportunity arose.
She is back alive though! :) 

Evening #2.
Sophie. Stella. Dorian. Stacey. 

Me. Stella. 

Me. Stella. 

Dorian.
Checking on the pasta. 

Stacey. 

Stella. Dorian.
Outside of our hut. 

Stacey. Me. Sophie. Dorian.
This is what we look like when we get off the horses. 

Me. Stella. And kitty. 

Quick haircut in the village.

Early morning hike to the waterfall before our trek continued.

Stacey did not join us on the hike. It turns out she was very afraid of horse back riding, and even more afraid of the heights and steep cliffs we encountered. She chose to stay in bed that morning :) 

Me. 

Our guide. Dorian. Stella. Sophie. 

Dorian. 

Stella. 

Dorian. Me. Stella. 

Sophie. Dorian. 

Me. Stella. 

Me. Sophie. 

Stella. Me. Sophie. Dorian.