Hello friends in Mrs. Steiger’s Class!
Thanks for taking the time to read my letter and to write
again, what a blessing it was to receive your email. Today in Lesotho it is
very chilly but we have crystal clear skies – I can see all the way to the mountains.
Maybe someday you’ll get to come visit me here, it is a beautiful country. All
of the grass that was green is now turning brown and all the leaves are changing
colors and dropping to the ground. One of the craziest things about living in
Lesotho is the seasons. We are in the southern hemisphere which means that
while you are having warm weather in the spring, we are getting colder each day
because it is autumn. Usually it’s no big deal, but I still have a hard time
having a really hot Christmas and a freezing 4th of July – even after
5 years it still feels weird J
Can you imagine having snow on the 4th of July?
I hope you enjoyed the pictures and answers to your
questions… looks like you have some more questions, so why don’t we get to them
now? I’m going to answer the table groups as they wrote to me:
Table 1:
When was the last time you had pizza? I had pizza about a
week ago, we have a chain here called Roman’s Pizza and it is pretty yummy… one
of the flavors here is called Fiji, it is bacon and banana. At first I thought,
“Who would put banana on a pizza??!!” but you know what, now I really like it!
How old were you when you started preaching about God? I
think I have been sharing my faith since I was about your age, but preaching? I
guess I preached officially when I was 41 years old. Here’s a picture from that
day, I was preaching at Maseru United Church:
When was the last time you went to a fast food restaurant?
We have a KFC here and I got chicken for lunch while I was running errands last
Thursday, April 30th.
Table 2:
What type of house do you live in? I live
in a town home, here they call it a flat. It has 3 small bedrooms, one
bathroom, and a toilet room upstairs and a small kitchen and family room
downstairs with a one car garage. Here you don’t often put the toilet in the
same room with your shower/bathtub. The toilet is in a very small room like a
closet. I also have a small garden in the back. I live there with Em &
Henry my cats.
Are you enjoying Africa? I really am, I love living here but
by far the hardest part is being so far away from family and friends.
Table 3:
Are there crickets in Africa? Yes, though they are quiet now
because it is cold outside. We also have grasshoppers – and they are HUGE!
Do they play football/soccer? Soccer is by far the most
popular sport followed by rugby and cricket. No American football here but at
the gym they have basketball courts and tennis courts and squash court too.
What kind of clothes do they wear? Most Basotho dress just
like we do with one very large exception. Here, especially in winter, most
people wear a Basotho blanket or even a regular blanket like we would wear a
coat or jacket. The Basotho blanket is made of wool, it is very heavy and keeps
you very warm. I have a Basotho blanket and I’ll wear it in winter over my
clothes since we do not have a heater in the hangar and sometimes the
temperature in my office is in the low 40’s – brrrrrr!
Table 4:
Do you eat modern food we eat here? Yes, almost everything
there can be made here. The biggest difference is you have to make it, you can’t
just go and by something already made. I really miss good Mexican food though.
We have to make our own tortillas and then we can make tacos, or chips or enchiladas
or whatever from them. Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving, I made pumpkin
pie:
Did you bring any food from the U.S.? I did. I brought
tarragon which is one of my favorite spices but one I haven’t found here. I
brought chocolate chips, butterscotch chips and toffee chips for baking, ranch
dressing packets, canned pumpkin, Reece’s peanut butter cups and candy canes as
these are all things you cannot find here. Reece’s are my favorite candy and
many of my missionary friends like them too, so I shared them.
Table 5:
Do you have kids? I don’t… yet. I am in the process of
adopting an orphan here, I’ve asked for a girl between the ages of 3-4. So
hopefully one day soon I will have a daughter.
Do you play any sports there? I love to swim, but for
enjoyment not competitively. Sometimes we’ll play soccer or volleyball or Frisbee
for fun, volleyball is my favorite.
What is the weather like there? Right now it is getting
chilly here. The autumn and winter are our dry seasons usually. There will be
snow in the mountains and sometimes we’ll even get snow in Maseru but it will
only last a day or two. Houses here do not have central heat or air
conditioning, nor do they have insulation as most homes are made of sandstone
or bricks with tin roofs. This means it can get as hot and cold inside as it is
outside. Right now the temperature in the morning is in the 40s and it will
reach the 70s during the day. My bedroom was 50* this morning when I jumped out
of bed. I have never enjoyed hot running water as much as I do here in Lesotho.
If it is too cold the pipes will freeze and I’ll not have water until they
thaw. Sometimes the water or power will be off which will also keep me from a
warm shower in the morning.
Thank you all again for taking the time to write, if you
have any more questions I’d be only too happy to answer them! Maybe if we can
arrange it, I could make a skype call to your classroom and we could talk face
to face, well sort of.
I pray God is blessing you and that you finish your school
year well!
Blessings,
Kimberly ‘Mamosa Baker
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