{"id":2,"date":"2012-12-18T22:28:46","date_gmt":"2012-12-18T22:28:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2026-05-20T00:44:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T00:44:38","slug":"the-mountain-school-three-years-learning-as-a-peace-corps-teacher-in-lesotho-africa","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/the-mountain-school-three-years-learning-as-a-peace-corps-teacher-in-lesotho-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mountain School"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Mountain School: Three Years Learning as a Peace Corps Teacher in Lesotho, Africa<\/p>\n

\"The_Mountain_School_Cover_thumbnail<\/a><\/p>\n

In a way, this book grew out of this website, on which I posted blog entries throughout the three years I lived in Lesotho. They had an immediate and hurried feel to them since I was\u00a0often racing the sun to punch in the last few words on the computer at the Peace Corps office in the city — where there was electricity and an Internet connection — before running to get a minibus taxi back to the village.<\/p>\n

This book tells a more cohesive narrative, includes incidents I never got to bring up on the website, and provides deeper reflection than the blog entries.<\/p>\n

Here<\/a> are a few reviews of\u00a0The Mountain School<\/em> that you might like to read.<\/p>\n

Here’s the synopsis from the book’s back cover:<\/p>\n

“The Kingdom of Lesotho is a mountainous enclave in southern Africa, and like mountain zones throughout the world it is isolated, steeped in tradition, and home to few outsiders. The people, known as Basotho, are respected in the area as the only tribe never to be defeated by European colonizers.<\/p>\n

Greg Alder arrives in T\u0161oeneng as the village’s first foreign resident since 1966. In that year, the Canadian priest who had been living there was robbed and murdered in his quarters. Set up as a Peace Corps teacher at the village’s secondary school, Alder finds himself incompetent in so many unexpected ways. How do you keep warm in this place where it snows but there is no electricity? For how long can dinners of cornmeal and leaves sustain you? T\u0161oeneng is a world apart from his home in America. But he persists in becoming familiar with the new lifestyle, he learns to speak the strange local tongue and is eventually invited to participate in initiation rites. Yet even as he seems accepted into the T\u0161oeneng fold, he sees how much of an outsider he will always remain — and perhaps want to remain.<\/p>\n

The Mountain School<\/i>\u00a0is insightful, candid, at times adaptive and at times rebellious. It is the ultimate tale of the transplant.”<\/p>\n

The book is available on Amazon by clicking here<\/a>, it is at Barnes and Noble here<\/a>, and it can be purchased through independent booksellers as well. Find an independent bookstore near you that sells\u00a0The Mountain School\u00a0<\/em>through IndieBound<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As you read, or after you’ve read, augment your perspective on the people and places in the story by browsing these photos<\/a>\u00a0and videos<\/a>.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"reddit\"<\/a>\"pinterest\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>by <\/span>\"feather\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Mountain School: Three Years Learning as a Peace Corps Teacher in Lesotho, Africa In a way, this book grew out of this website, on which I posted blog entries throughout the three years I lived in Lesotho. They had an immediate and hurried feel to them since I was\u00a0often racing the sun to punch […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P8huLi-2","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":156,"url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/the-mountain-school-three-years-learning-as-a-peace-corps-teacher-in-lesotho-africa\/the-mountain-school-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":2,"position":0},"title":"Photos","author":"Greg Alder","date":"January 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/the-mountain-school-three-years-learning-as-a-peace-corps-teacher-in-lesotho-africa\/the-mountain-school-photos\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/IMG_1464.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/IMG_1464.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/IMG_1464.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/IMG_1464.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/IMG_1464.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/IMG_1464.jpg?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":226,"url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/the-mountain-school-three-years-learning-as-a-peace-corps-teacher-in-lesotho-africa\/videos\/","url_meta":{"origin":2,"position":1},"title":"Videos","author":"Greg Alder","date":"January 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Shepherds in Ts'oeneng stickfight. http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=uyl6SY0ZBb4 \u00a0 Female hostelers at Ngoana Jesu Secondary School sing \"Pula ea na\" at night. http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ecRuevd8fcU \u00a0 Music and dancing in Motsie's Bar in Ts'oeneng. Ntate Motsie himself makes a cameo at the end -- he is the one who limps and is accompanied by his\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/uyl6SY0ZBb4\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":648,"url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/books-about-lesotho\/","url_meta":{"origin":2,"position":2},"title":"Books about Lesotho","author":"Greg Alder","date":"February 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Mountain School: Three Years Learning as a Peace Corps Teacher in Lesotho, Africa, by Greg Alder I'll use the Basotho poet Rethabile Masilo's description: \"Greg's book is true: it happened, and it depicts Lesotho as it is. I like the conversational and non-rambling style the book is written in.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":149,"url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/resources\/about-lesotho\/","url_meta":{"origin":2,"position":3},"title":"Websites about Lesotho","author":"Greg Alder","date":"January 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"On Sesotho:\u00a0A blog by Rethabile Masilo -- master-purveyor of all things Lesotho across the Web\u00a0-- which contains lessons on the language, explanations of its myriad idioms, as well as gems of cultural insight. Lesotho Wikipedia:\u00a0It may seem obvious, but no other source on the Internet has as comprehensive and accurate\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":483,"url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/the-mountain-school-three-years-learning-as-a-peace-corps-teacher-in-lesotho-africa\/reviews\/","url_meta":{"origin":2,"position":4},"title":"Reviews of\u00a0The Mountain School \"Greg's\u2026","author":"Greg Alder","date":"October 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Reviews of\u00a0The Mountain School \"Greg's book is true: it happened, and it depicts Lesotho as it is . . . and I am from Lesotho!\u201d \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0- Rethabile Masilo, on Lesotho.blogspot \"He is brutally honest with himself and his readers and tells us even of things about\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":417,"url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/the-mountain-school-three-years-learning-as-a-peace-corps-teacher-in-lesotho-africa\/discussion-questions\/","url_meta":{"origin":2,"position":5},"title":"Discussion Questions","author":"Greg Alder","date":"May 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"A dozen prods about\u00a0The Mountain School: 1. If judged through most news stories, we get the impression that Africa is two things: a romantic land of wild animals, and a desperate place of war and poverty. What is the Africa you experience through The Mountain School? 2. Alder predicts early\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2"}],"version-history":[{"count":49,"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":793,"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions\/793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}