Exactly a year ago today, Cary and Ted and Josephine and I arrived here in Lesotho on this great adventure. After almost 48 hours of travel, including more than 8000 miles on 3 airplanes, and a night in the nicest hotel room I have ever stayed in, we got to our new home at around 10:30 am. The drive from the Bloemfontain airport to the border is beautiful, and the color and the landscape reminded me of southern Utah.
My first impression was that it was way colder that I expected. It was winter here when we arrived, but I had always assumed there was no such thing as real winter in Africa. It also didn't help that we were leaving DC at the height of the hottest June on record, so the cold was particularly hard to deal with. That and we didn't have hot water for most of the first month which was simply brutal.
In the year since we arrived here at our first Foreign Service post, I have learned a great deal about Lesotho, about the State Department, about expat living, and I have met some phenomenal people. The expat community here is filled with friendly, smart, and talented people, which has made for a soft landing. I recently described Maseru as a hardship post without too much of the hardship. I think that about sums it up.
All in all, it has been a good first year.
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