For the game. For the world.

You know those tickets N.X.B. purchased for us at the end of the post titled Ha Ke Nako for the 1D vs 2C match up, well you won’t be surprised to learn they never went through. Due to lack of internet we did not learn this until all the actual tickets were sold out. Determined to see a game seven of us departed for Bloemfontein, South Africa early Sunday morning. We got to the ticket office three hours before game time, no tickets. We walked the streets looking for scalpers, no luck. We scarfted down McDonalds like it was the best tasting food ever. I realize that is very unlike me and sounds disgusting to you, but it is amazing what eight months in isolation will do to your taste buds. Then there were three of us wallowing in the grass outside the Waterfront Mall, the other four had tickets to the game.

In a last minute attempt we sent J.P.B. off to try again for tickets praying he would not be arrested. He scored! For a bit over $100 each we had a ticket to see Germany play England. After all we had been through we were shocked when our tickets weren’t fake. It was so good to finally see a game (live) and fill my sports void. The game was awesome, the atmosphere unreal. The fans were alive and intense.

Following the game we raced to the last Kombi back to Maseru exchanging game stories the entire way. We all went to the same game but we were split off in four different sections of the stadium. Exhausted, the ride back was silent. Rejuvenated, we managed to make it to Maseru Sun for the last half of the Argentina/Mexico game.

The Dirty South

It’s finally time to socialize now that school has come to an end. Another lesson I have learned while teaching: teachers earn their breaks! To kick off the winter holiday my friend J.P.B. came to stay for a week. Next I was off to Quthing to spend time with two of my favorite volunteers! The two day trek for a three day stay was worth every second and penny. I made it just in time to catch the last USA game of the group rounds. We won in extra time in what might be described as one of the greatest sporting moments in my life. Then we (well they) cooked a hearty meal, we enjoyed terrible wine (not the taste, the effect, of course, kidding the company was the soul enjoyment on this bitter cold winter night), and chatted the night away. Thursday I got a tour of the school A.J.S. teaches at and a tour of another volunteers house nearby. It is amazing how different each volunteer house is (both of their houses have running water, one has a geyser). When they took me to the local scone shop I had to ask if I was in America. My question was answered when the “bakery” only had one of eight items on the menu.

In the afternoon K.A.B. and I headed to her place in Mohales Hoek. She is isolated. It is one thing for her to say and another thing to witness. No bar, neighbors (she is on a school compound), post office (although those are only in the camptowns, lucky me), soccer field, or shops. I like to pretend I would be able to handle that, instead I will admit I am much more of a city girl (or camptown girl in this instance). We relaxed at her site and continued to catch up on our three months apart. Friday night we taught her students how to make smores. They indulged in gooey goodness while I took advantage of the warmth of the fire. At one point I got a little too close managing to catch my shirt on fire.

On Saturday we were up early to head to Maseru to meet some friends for lunch. I felt so American, out to lunch with the girls. Then I took a warm shower. Normally the shower comes before the outing, in Peace Corps it comes whenever you find one. Afterwards, K.A.B. gave me my first hair cut since I left home. For having no experience she did a good job cutting my hair. The boys cooked us dinner and we headed to the Maseru Sun (a hotel) to watch the USA play what would ultimately be their last game. The capital is so different from village life. Picture big comfy couches, the game projected on to a big white wall, and a live band performing during half time. Every now and then it is nice to have a week away, more importantly to be American.

My grass is greener!

K.A.B. was one of the other three volunteers in my World Cup group. We have been refunded $10500 of the $13000, the remaining $2500 is on her credit card. A few weeks ago she was mugged in her camptown, all cash and Lesotho bank card stolen. New bank card, new week. When N.X.B. and her went to Bloemfontein to pick up our World Cup tickets (only to find out we have no tickets) she used an ATM and was scammed. Her Lesotho bank account was drained. She lives over a mountain in a valley where she has no access to anything, meaning she is able to save a lot of money for vacations. Peace Corps will only reimburse her for the amount of time remaining in the quarter, not the total amount in her bank account. Take that as a R7000 loss! They say bad things happen in three. Bad thing #3: She spilled boiling water on her leg, ended up with second degree burns, and as I write is in Maseru seeking treatment for her infected burns. Somebody cut this girl a break!

Ha Ke Nako

One of the many slogans for the World Cup is ‘Ke Nako’ meaning it’s time. And it was time, time for me to finish marking my exams, turn in my grades, pack my replaceable belongings, catch the opening match at the Katse Lodge, and then head to Johannesburg for four days and two games of World Cup action. The ticket process for the World Cup has been an emotional nightmare. I have kept you out of the World Cup drama loop for several reasons. Today I welcome you to the past six months of my life. Prepare yourself for the descent:

December 31, 2009: Volunteer R.X.P. gave a 30 minute presentation complete with visual aids on how to apply for World Cup tickets. We broke into groups of four and decided which matches we wanted to attend. FIFA instructed us to have ALL four people apply for tickets to seven different games, insuring you get tickets to at least one game.

January 7, 2010: This is the day we swore in as official PC volunteers and raced of to the Volunteer Resource Center (VRC) where we have access to four US Embassy computers. Once we become an official volunteer we can use the internet on these computers for free. It is also a lot safer to input credit card numbers on these computers than at the sketchy internet cafes used during training. They are rated up to “Sensitive, but Unclassified Information” Oh and the sessions last longer than 15 minutes.

February 14, 2010: Happy Valentines Day. Or not. Besides getting a phone call from A.L.R.L. I got a phone call (big sign something is terrible wrong as we can’t afford to make phone calls) from N.X.B. telling me we “won” 80 of the 84 tickets leaving us with a combined credit card bill of 13,000 US dollars.

Mid to Late February 2010: We spent at least 1000 Rand (approximately another 132 US dollars) calling and emailing FIFA to voice our concerns. How is it possible that we won 12 tickets to the same game? It’s 2010. One would assume FIFA’s lottery program would screen for that, after all our passport numbers were required for the ticket lottery. You know what they say when one assumes.

Late February 2010: After sitting with hefty credit card bills and new phone bills, thanks to the hard work of N.X.B. FIFA agreed to let us return 13 sets (four tickets per set) of tickets.

Late March: Living got slightly easier when the $10500 refunds appeared in our bank accounts. FIFA obviously took there sweet time with this. Still with six sets of tickets at a price tag of $2500 it was time to decide on what two games we were actually going to attend. We decided on Ghana vs. Germany and Brazil vs. Ivory Coast. Both of these games were being played at Soccer City in Johannesburg 3 days apart making logistics easy to work out.

Hostel Debacle: Due to the fact we waited so long to make reservations finding lodging in the city at an affordable rate was tough. We found a place where we were able to book a sweet B&B at a total of R7000 ($1750). It was more expensive than what we were looking for, but we were just happy to have a place to stay. As an added bonus, according to the website it was less than 9km from both stadiums in Jo’burg. It got even more exciting because another group of ED10 PCVs were also going to be staying at the same B&B for the second game. Making reservations at One Fontein B&B was not so simple, however. The total amount was supposed to be R7000 and the deposit 50% of the total for R3500. Due to some errors and dropped zeros by the secretary at the B&B, though, we only paid a deposit of R350. They later discovered their error and were ready to cancel our reservations unless we paid the outstanding R3150. Unfortunately, we were all on vacation in Durban when this part was working out so we didn’t know about it until very last minute and barely managed to save those reservations. We got lucky. For a little while.

At this point we thought we were all set and ready to go. Yes there was the issue of getting the FIFA refunds to go through and selling back the extra tickets. And the accommodations were pricier than expected, but we were getting to see two unbelievable games. Tragedy struck again early in May, however, when some clever sleuthing uncovered that our hostel was not actually in Johannesburg. Not even close. It was on the outskirts of Bloemfontein, in fact - a drive that would take a couple hours each way. This left us even closer to the games, still with nowhere to stay and having already shelled out R3500 deposit for a B&B in the wrong city. Desperate phone calls were made from both sides of the Atlantic looking for new places to stay. Finally, after a week or so of searching, we managed to find a specially built hostel for World Cup called Ball n’ Kicka. It was significantly lower class next to our gorgeous B&B, and significantly more expensive to boot with a 60% deposit of $850. But once again, we thought that was another bullet dodged and were just happy to be going. Our friends who were also homeless after the One Fontein B&B debacle even followed us to Ball n Kicka, so everything was working out all right. The only loose end to tie up was to get our deposit back from One Fontein.

April 11, 2010: We were able to put the four sets of tickets back into the lottery for resale. The only way to get rid of your tickets is to sell them back to FIFA and there was no guarantee they would actually sell. Oh AND once you agreed to sell the tickets you lost access to those tickets, even if they did not sell. Because that makes sense! We managed to sell the most expensive tickets to the worst games almost immediately so we felt like we were in the clear. For kicks, this is right when we found out about the hostel… there has not been a week of sanity since mid February.

June 12, 2010: K.A.B. and N.X.B. went to Bloemfontein to pick up the tickets because FIFA requires you to pick up your tickets in South Africa. Time and lines were not going to allow us to pick them up in Jo’burg the day of the games. Only when they showed up there were no tickets OR money. FIFA apparently resold all six sets of tickets, not just the four we returned. The money was apparently refunded in May, except there was no money in K.A.B.’s account to show for it. The best part is we were never informed about this decision FIFA made on our behalf.

Hostel Debacle Part 2: Conveniently, the 60% deposit on our hostel is unrefundable so we debated whether or not to still go to Jo’burg and bum around the fan parks. This is after looking into rebuying our tickets or simply finding other games to attend in the area. No such luck, all the tickets were sold out. We concluded hanging around would be super unsafe, a big waste of money (transport, food, and an additional $750 for lodging), and five vacation days swiped.

June 16, 2010: N.X.B. finds us tickets to the second round 1D vs 2C match in Bloemfontein. The price was way more than we wanted to pay for a game but at this point money seems obsolete. Right now, we are so deeply invested it would be ridiculous not to go to a game at all. Soccer may not be on the top of my list of sports to watch, but the World Cup is one of the biggest world sporting events (taking second to the Olympics I predict). And knowing how much I miss sports you can imagine how excited I was to be a part of this event. Now I will be part of the event and I have a good shot at seeing the USA play. With all that has gone wrong I am not crossing my fingers. Instead of living sports through the articles I receive via snail mail I am going to experience the action live. Sometimes life gives you lemons and you have to make lemonade, only life does not always teach you how to make the lemonade.

Katse Dam Tour

In the six months at my site I have already lost track of the number of times I have visited Katse,. This past weekend was the first time I got to take a tour of the Katse Dam. Finally, it’s something I have been dying to do since I learned I was coming to Lesotho! The tour requires a private vehicle and you will be shocked to learn Peace Corps does not provide each volunteer with their own car. That would certainly ruin the experience. During the tour I learned all about the positive and negative impacts of the dam, how a dam is built, and the next four phases of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP). The entire hour and a half was informative and entertaining. We got to go inside (!!!) and on top of the dam as well. I was 100% in my element.

After further research on my next trip to Maseru I will make my ultimate decision on whether or not I feel the LHWP is actually a good thing for this country. Right now it seems like too many people where displaced (and will continue to be displaced with the next four phases) and the entire future of this country has been mortgaged to South Africa. But what do my opinions matter anyways?

It’s always fun to be a tourist in your hometown!

Puppyville

I returned home from a fabulous weekend in Katse to one skinny mama and nine adorable puppies. My family insists they are not going to make it through the winter but I am trying to stay optimistic, already having named four of the nine (Ace, Diego, Maluti, and Oz). It has been really hard not having my sick kick accompany me to school, the shop, and the homes of other volunteers. Harder than not having her company is convincing her to stay home and take care of her young. She’s a terrible mother as she is willing to leaving the yelping helpless fur balls for a walk to town! My commute has substantially increased in time to each destination; having to explain to each villager Spads is at home feeding her new puppies. I thought nine was a large litter until I realized that everyone in the camptown wants one. I mean who wouldn’t; they all know what an amazing dog she is! I am not parting with any (not that they are mine to part with), at least anytime soon.
After my weekend away there were also eight new piglets and one baby calf. Unfortunately all eight piglets died a few days later before I could photograph them.

*Updated June 21, 2010: Two weeks and two snowstorms later I am happy to report all nine puppies are still alive!

What did you learn in PC?

I think I might have a problem, but that is not what I learned. What I learned is how to play a mean game of pool. Lately I have been experiencing an unhealthy addiction to this particular table game. And of course, my over the top competitive spirit is not satisfied with simply playing pool; I must win. Translation: I must play a lot. There is something that feels good about winning. In my day-to-day life I do not feel like I am ever “winning” so I seek my fill in pool.

Back in high school I had the opportunity to occasionally play with J.L.W. on her table, but she was usually bored out of her mind seeing as she could skunk me with her eyes closed. Then we became fixated on ping-pong after we both got tables for Christmas. The pool sticks were laid to rest until recently, now they have been as busy as ever.

The best part about playing pool is I am completing one of the PC goals, yet I do not feel like I am working at all. I am breaking gender stereotypes by serving as the sole female at the bar. I am making new village friends, and I am mastering Sesotho.

My game still has a long way to go. The stereotypes and my Sesotho do as well. Forget putting my finishing stipend towards grad school, I need a pool table.