We are a week late but

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY PALE CITY TEENS! The AU that permanently changed my brain chemistry and destroyed my view that @remadra was a cool serious AU guy.

But also, it lead me to meet some incredible artists and people, one of them being @paodocinh whit who I had the honour of colabing on this piece!

I had a lot of fun working with you and your sketches are sooo fun to ink!! Thanks you so much!!

15 Random Facts

@nofearinfailure and @fitnessgeekandcoffeefreak tagged me to post 15 random facts about myself.  Thanks ladies!

My middle name is Caitlin (and I got tagged by the lovely Cate and Katie 😂, kinda a funny coincidence) but my mother taught me to spell it wrong for years growing up. I only realized it wasn’t spelled with a “y” when I finally saw my birth certificate lol.

Speaking of names, if I was a boy my parents were going to name me Earl (of all possible names, WHY did it have to be that one?) and loved the name so much that even though I was in fact not a boy, they still call me “Josie-Earl” to this day (it drives me nuts).

I’m a middle child, with one brother only a 1.5 years younger than me, and the other brother 12 years older.

I am quite addicted to coffee. I’m the kind of person who can drink two entire pots of the stuff by herself in a day.

My favorite animals are porcupines and skunks. They’re just too cute not to love.

I despise winter.  I’ve lived in Maine the entirely of my almost-22 years of life, and I absolutely hate the cold and snow.  I would much rather live somewhere where it rains all of the time lol.

I collect rocks.  Not just pretty crystals (though I have my fair share of those too), mostly just plain old boring rocks that I pick up anytime I go somewhere I want to remember (or you know... when I see a cool one on the side of the road or something lol).  I have SO MANY.

I have one tattoo that I just got earlier this month, and I found it to be addicting!  I’ve already got plans for a couple more.

I’m a senior in college, and I’m almost finished with my anthropology degree!

I can twist my left thumb around backwards and put it under my knuckle.

Lilacs are my favorite blossoms/flowers (though stinkin’ benjamins are a close second)

I work in a library and it’s my happy place.

I have a scar on my ankle from when my best friend in elementary school decided to yank a jump rope out from under me and gave me a really horrible rope burn 😂

I had two pet pygmy goats when I was younger, a boy named Smokey and a girl named Fang lol. I’d love to have more someday!

Some day I’d like to hike the AT and the PCT.  Once I have the money for them, anyway!

Thanks again for the tag!  I’ll tag @greensgrainsgains, @janelibeli, @wildteadrinker, and @littlebean-jellybean if you’re all so inclined :)

Lebisto la ka ke Bonolo Ntia: New Name, New Family

When we first arrived in Lesotho, Peace Corps put us in hostel to allow us to shake off some of the jet lag before meeting our new host families the following day. So, after the first day of getting adjusted to that fact that yes, I was no longer in the United States, I traveled with my fellow Peace Corps members to my training village. The village I live in, called Bela-Bela, has about 10 trainees. Four of us live in what is called Bela Bela West. FYI, the main difference between Bela-Bela and Bela-Bela West seems to be that Bela-Bela West is up a hill! (More pictures of my journey to and from the training hub and main village later).

 At Bela-Bela we were greeted by all of our host mothers, their children, and other interested members of the community.  I wasn’t sure what I had been expecting, but I had not expected what was essentially a re-naming ceremony. All of our mothers sang and danced before the head chief addressed the crowd. Then one-by-one we were called up by our U.S.  names to meet our new mother who promptly renamed us. Upon hearing our new name, the whole community would cheer and greet us with our new name.  

 In case you don’t know Sesotho (the language of Leostho) and thus didn’t know what my post title was referring to, I am officially now called Bonolo Ntia. Bonolo (pronounced boh-no-low) means “soft”, “mellow”, and/or “easy going”.  Since both my host mother and sisters all speak a great amount of English, I believe that they might have chosen my name based on American name, Caress-a.  My last name is Ntia, which is the last name of everyone in my host family.

Names are very important in Lesotho, especially for women.  This is because women often change their name at least once or twice during their life. The first time is when they are born. Many of the names of children mean specific things about the circumstances of the birth or the mental state that the mother/family was in when they found they were with child. For example, one of my fellow Peace Corps Trainees is called Karabelo which roughly means an answer (to prayer).  My host niece is called Khnoholofasto, meaning blessings. Another PCT is called Mpho, meaning talent. Some people are named after sorrow or death if the family experienced such around the time of the child’s birth or the pregnancy.  

 A mother knows exactly what she is going to name her child, but then holds onto the name until several days after the child is born. If the child is a girl, she is likely to change her entire name when she gets married. Often times her mother-in-law might want to give her a new first name in addition to her new last name.  A woman’s name can change yet again when she has her first child. This is because many times a woman will change her first name to be mean “mother of (her first child’s name).  For example, my host mother is called  ‘m’e Matafita or Mrs. Mother of Tafit (David).

 After being re-named by our host mothers, who already had a name in mind before they met us, each of us was escorted by a host of children and our host mothers back to our new homes.(More about my home life and room set-up later).

 At my house, I live with:  my host father (Katleho, i.e. Success in English), my host mother (Matafita) and my host sister (Tente). I technically have a host brother (Tafit). But he lives in the capital with his wife, Mamokhotso. They have a son (Khotso) and a two-year-old (Khonolofasto).  Their children’s names mean Peace and Blessing respectively.

Getting used to my new name took much less time than I had expected. Within two days, I automatically respond to “ausi Bonolo”. (Ausi means sister. One should always address someone as ausi (sister), abuti (brother), ntate (father) or ‘m’e (mother) in addition to their first name. Age of the person you are speaking to should be taken into consideration).

Having a new Sesotho name has helped a lot in terms of symbolic integration into my host family. I am now named by them and live with them just like one of their adult children does.

Having a Sesotho name also helps for meeting people on the road.Basotho (the name of the majority ethnic group of people living in Lesotho) are very big on greetings. It is considered very rude to walk past someone on the road and not greet them, especially in the more rural areas. There is a general order of greeting. One must first say hello (Lumela) . Then you must say their name or address them using one of the generic “sister/brother/mother/father”. Then you must ask them how they are doing and wait for their response and their return of the question. At this point if you do not know their name it is best to ask their name and then tell them yours. And then, if time permits, you may go on to other subjects. (Most of the time I stop there because I don’t have the language faculty to continue niceties). You can never ask a Basotho for help or anything without first properly greeting them.  If in a hurry, some of the steps are combined or said with a raised voice while walking away from the other person.  I plan to dedicate a mini-post to the various ways of saying hello Basotho.

 Anyways, when people see me on the road, generally walking with at least one other PCT or my host sister, they always, always ask me who I am.  Being able to answer in Sesotho with a Sesotho name makes so many of the villagers happy to meet me or see me again. They often ask me for my last name and then smile/laugh because my host family is well perceived in the community.

So, don’t be surprised if I forget how to respond to Caressa ;D  

Pictures to come!!!! My internet is currently not strong enough to make posts with pictures.