I Beg Your Pardon

My dear family, friends, colleagues, and al' the rest of y'all,

I sincerely apologize. I have faulted in the maintaining of my blog and failed to keep you updated on my ventures here in The Mountain Kingdom. First I ask your forgiveness and offer insufficient reasoning for this negligence:

I - When I first arrived at my site, I was without internet. Yet some time ago now, I obtained a special internet card which uses the cellular telephone network to access the internet. Yet, by that time I had become accustomed to neglecting my blog.

II – Said internet card works by charging it with a prepaid code that allows a certain number of megabytes of upload/download information. Since photos, usually, eat up a good amount of this allowed capacity, I figured I would wait until I was in the lowlands where I could get free internet. Problem – I very rarely leave my site. Also, if I shrink the photos, I should be able to upload a few.

III – Life here moves S...L....O...W... and I have adjusted. Things just don't get done with a fraction of the diligence as is standard State-side. Also, when night falls it becomes hard to work on anything. Since I am at school most of the day, come home and cook, then perhaps read before sleeping, some things get pushed back until tomorrow, or next week, or when I get out of the mountains, etc. Yet, while Peace Corps Volunteers are called upon to integrate into the community....it is to a DEGREE! We are still Americans and there are many characteristics that I would like to hold onto (thank you very much). One of which is getting things done – like writing on the blog.

Now for those of you that are reading this, something has drawn you back to this meager blog of mine. I have received many kind and thoughtful notes from friends and family, both through snail-mail and electron-mail, and most, in kind but certain terms, inquire “What the hell happened to your blog?!” This is usually followed by a myriad of questions I did not realize remained unanswered.

My first task is to apprise you in response to some of those unanswered queries. Then I will write on some of the interesting episodes of my time here. With due diligence I will set a deadline of Friday 29 May to have reviewed the letters, collected the question, and uploaded answers in addition to having written on two (2) episodes of my time here. If I fail to meet this deadline, I deserve and expect a a barrage of emails consisting of what should amount of to a severe (verbal) kick-in-the-ass.

With that,

Cheers to all,

I love and miss you,

Cordially,

Jack/Katleho