Postcard from Lesotho II

I've decided Lesotho is basically a nation of Fonzies.  The Sesotho word for yes here is simply "A" - pronounced, like Fonzie, as the sound in "Hey."  But they don't use it just for "yes," they also use it for "yeah" and "I agree" and "no doubt" and "word!" and "uh-huh" and so on and son on.  Accordingly, you hear it a lot, and they literally pronounce it like Fonzie does on "Happy Days."  Most of the time it's amusing, but sometimes it just sounds weird coz they will use it so much in a really brief span (e.g., "A!" "A! blah blah" "A!" "A! blah" "A! blah" "A!"  "A!" - I am not making this up, I have heard numerous exchanges like this).

So I took my first trip to "civilization" last week (i.e., Bloemfontein, RSA).  I had to see an ophthalmologist (name a harder word to spell correctly!), so I tagged along with four Volunteers who were also being taken to specialists.  As you can imagine, Lesotho is a little low on medical specialists and we have to use S. Africa for, well, almost anything outside of a head cold.  "Bloem" (pronounced bloom) as everyone here calls it is not quite 2 hours away, due west (2 hours, that is, unless there's a big line at the border - which is about a mile away from the PC office).  It's about twice the size of Maseru, is the capital of the Free State Province, and is one of three national capitals of South Africa (the judicial one); the other two are Pretoria (administrative) and Cape Town (legislative).  Bloemfontein is Dutch/Afrikaans for "fountain of flowers" and is known as the "city of roses."  The city's Sesotho name is Manguang, or "place of cheetahs."

I was told by the previous DPT here upon my arrival that I would "need" to "escape" to Bloem on a monthly basis to keep from going insane.  But then he was much "needier" than me.  I will say it was a bit surreal to see the difference.  While not, say, a Dubai, it certainly is more modern, and "western" than Maseru.  After my appt. I hit the nearby mall and was able to have Thai food for lunch - that was the definitely the high point.  Otherwise, it was a bit disappointing to discover that most of the shops were, of course, RSA chains that we already have in Maseru!  D'oh!  But then, I was only in town for a couple of hours, and didn't get to see the other "glitzier" mall and what not.

There were A LOT of white people - I want to say it almost seemed like half and half - at least in the mall.  And I'm always thrown by "Afrikaans" (a variation of Dutch) as my "default" is to always think of RSA as "British" - when it was actually a Dutch colony for just about as long as it was British - in fact, English is only the 4th most common language spoken in RSA, and they have something like 10-12 "official" languages.  Talk about your melting pot!

Anyway, at the end of the day, it IS nice to know that "civilization" is a scant 2 hour drive away, but I don't feel it's worth a "day trip" as many here feel.  But that's partly coz I'm just not keen on the idea of spending 4 hours in a car to then spend spend, at most, maybe 6 hours in the city.  It would have to be at least an overnight trip for me - see some movies, do some shopping, eat Thai and other food I can't find here, etc.  You definitely don't want to be on the road here OR in RSA after dark because...

...if I die over here it will most likely involve being involved in a motor vehicle accident.  RSA has the 8th highest "road fatalities" rate in the world, and Lesotho is not far behind at around 11 or 12.  I normally bitch about drivers everywhere (although they didn't seem too bad in the Nordic countries), but the thing here is the crazy ass speeding.  I mean, I'm a fast driver, but to see the way people roar through residential areas, the speeds they go at down city streets, etc.  It's astonishing.

And, as I think I may have already mentioned, red lights here are a mere suggestion.  And that's being kind.  The weird thing is, driving schools are a big industry here - if I don't see at least 5-6 "learners" (identified by the large red L on the car) in my neighborhood each morning AND each evening as I walk to/from work, it's a slow day.  And ALL these learners drive PAINFULLY slowly - maybe the reason they all turn into maniacs is coz they're forced into such over-cautiousness when learning.

I don't think I mentioned that, right before Christmas, 3 Americans (including our newish DPT, Debra) were in a really bad accident coming back from Bloem.  Debra and Becky (a temporary duty program manager here) were in the hospital for a month--Becky longer, before finally going home a couple weeks ago to finish recuperating in the states.  So yeah, definitely need to watch out on the road here.  Sigh.

If I DON'T die in a road accident, it will be due to a rage induced stroke over the stupidity of the incessant 4+1 (taxis) honking on the street, trying to snag a rider.  Seriously, I've been on the job 182 days now, 154 days in country, and I STILL can not get used to this--despite everyone assuring me I would.  It's just so STUPID because it's so USELESS.  I have yet to see a single solitary person turn and flag the cab after hearing the stupid tooting.  Yet, I've seen multiple people simply - DUH - put their hand out while standing on the curb and had a non-honking cab stop for them.  Ugh.