I spent my Christmas with fellow PCVs Justin, Lauren, and Mary at Justin's house in the Quthing district. Quthing is right next to Qachas Nek, and I had a trouble-free time getting there. I had to catch a Sprinter (no longer a van, but not yet a bus) that passed by my site at 5:30, so I was up at 4:00. I got on the Sprinter and found a seat next. To my right the hills fell away down the Senqu River valley, and a thin ribbon of cloud mirrored the river's path. To my left sat an inebriated bricklayer from Qachas Nek, who was on his way to see family in Maseru for the holidays. He was very friendly, and periodically took sips from his bottle of Castle (Africa's Premium Lager, if you hadn't heard). At one point while I was looking out the window, I felt him tap on my wrist. He was pointing at my watch.
"What time, he said?"
"6:30," I said.
"6:30," he repeated, looking at me suspiciously. "Morning? Or Evening?"
"Morning," I told him.
"Oh! I am so tired."
I said goodbye when the Sprinter came to Quthing, and met up with Justin and Lauren in town. We spent the afternoon at a hotel, met Mary, and then went on to Justin's site. The next day was Christmas, and after I made everyone listen to the Neil Diamond Christmas Album, we hung out, chatted, and read. I thought it would be a fun idea to go down and read by the river, and so we went down and around midday. Justin had been given a bottle of wine as a Christmas present, and I remembered that scene in The Sun Also Rises where Jake Barnes and his friends go fishing and they store a bottle of wine in a stream, I thought we should bring our wine down. The river was muddy, and having stabbed the cork into the bottle with a fork, I was wary of placing the wine in the river and polluting the content, so instead we just let it out in the sun. It was a wonderful day out in the sun, and only as I went to sleep that night did I realize how badly my legs were burned. They are looking a lot better a week later, and I predict a full recovery, though for a while they looked like that textbook picture of second-degree burns.
A good Christmas, all in all!
"What time, he said?"
"6:30," I said.
"6:30," he repeated, looking at me suspiciously. "Morning? Or Evening?"
"Morning," I told him.
"Oh! I am so tired."
I said goodbye when the Sprinter came to Quthing, and met up with Justin and Lauren in town. We spent the afternoon at a hotel, met Mary, and then went on to Justin's site. The next day was Christmas, and after I made everyone listen to the Neil Diamond Christmas Album, we hung out, chatted, and read. I thought it would be a fun idea to go down and read by the river, and so we went down and around midday. Justin had been given a bottle of wine as a Christmas present, and I remembered that scene in The Sun Also Rises where Jake Barnes and his friends go fishing and they store a bottle of wine in a stream, I thought we should bring our wine down. The river was muddy, and having stabbed the cork into the bottle with a fork, I was wary of placing the wine in the river and polluting the content, so instead we just let it out in the sun. It was a wonderful day out in the sun, and only as I went to sleep that night did I realize how badly my legs were burned. They are looking a lot better a week later, and I predict a full recovery, though for a while they looked like that textbook picture of second-degree burns.
A good Christmas, all in all!
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