Day 15: We met with the royal family today and had lunch at the palace. The food was nice, and the conversations were interesting to hear. We found similarities with each other and quickly realized we were similar and had shared interests. The LNI officers were given the opportunity to eat with the queen! She was very kind. We had fun conversations about Netflix, books, and of course, LNI! Her favorite Netflix series right now is The Good Doctor. After lunch we all got pictures with her as well!! It feels extremely surreal that we ate at a small table with the literal queen. Having lunch with her was an experience none of us were prepared for. Yet, it was all very exciting and exceeded any expectations we had. When getting a picture with her, Emma asked the Queen if she could keep the napkin that was embroidered with the royal palace symbol. She bent over laughing and then eventually said yes. Apparently, she has never had such an "outlandish" request before.
Cafe What was an extremely cool experience. We were able to see a more modern, upbeat side of Lesotho and enjoy live African music performed by a DJ. It offered a chance for everyone to relax and take a break from all the hard work we have been doing and just have a blast. The atmosphere and mood of the cafe was similar to home, and it was like a little slice of home. We also had pizza there which was a little different than pizza at home, but it was a great treat! Emmalee got a strawberry milkshake, and it was made with real strawberries, so it was so yummy. The DJ played African drums with the music he played, and it was so fun to see. Everyone was dancing with each other and with the Basotho in the cafe and it was so fun for everyone involved.
Before lunch with the queen, we went to the mall and to a store called the Basotho Hat. That's where we were all able to buy souvenirs. The mall was bigger than the mall I have at home, it was really cool to see a different side of Lesotho than what we've been working in. They offered a ton of local crafts from clothing to collectibles. The mall even had a built-in food market.
Donald J. Butz, Taylor J. Insyxiengmay, Emma C. Gearhart, Emmalee E. Do
Day 16: Today is day 3 in Molimo Nthuse. We now have another great language teacher named Malineo. Let me tell you she is a hoot, but very intimidating. Today our crew working on the playground made a ton of progress. They have the base in and cemented, the swing section set up, the monkey bars, ladder, and the tire climb up. We are hoping to have the playground done on Monday. On the art side of things, we have 3 different groups currently working on painting 3 of the classrooms at the moment, graders 5-7. I was working in the 7th grade classroom along with Emma, Elyse, Kelly and Lauren. We brainstormed and then immediately got to work, with super exciting and bright ideas. We tried to incorporate all aspects of what they would be learning and make more visual representations for them. These paintings will allow the teacher to better teach concepts. On our back wall we are working on a solar system, and a map of Africa. On one of the sidewalls, we are working on different English topics. On the opposite sidewalls we have a 0-12 multiplication table. The classrooms are really coming along well, and we are excited to get back to work on painting on Monday. Tomorrow we are heading Thabo Bosiu to celebrate the 200 years since Moshoeshoe arrived in Lesotho and plant indigenous trees! I miss you Mom and Dad and Aidan I know you miss me so so much. I also got to meet a real-life princess. See you guys soon:)