![\"Some](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/IMG_1507.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a>I got out of bed and shuffled carefully in the black to the table upon which I kept my box of matches. I struck a match — the light was small and orange, not blinding white — and then I lit the wick of the nearby candle. The room was slightly, partially, innocently illuminated. I eased into the day.<\/p>\n
Electricity is cool, yes. I like being able to use this laptop computer. But sometimes I think of switching back to candles, just in the pre-dawn mornings, just for that smoother transition between sleep, darkness, and a busy day.<\/p>\n I get up for work before the sun, and then I turn on the light and I cringe. It blinds me. I look the other way and I blink and I stand and wait until slowly I acclimate. Then I can see the shower to turn it on and get to the business of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8huLi-7Y","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":614,"url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/lesotho-as-an-enclave\/","url_meta":{"origin":494,"position":0},"title":"Lesotho as an enclave","author":"Greg Alder","date":"March 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"There aren't many countries which are entirely surrounded by a single\u00a0other country, as Lesotho is entirely surrounded by the Republic of South Africa. There's also San Marino within Italy, and then there's Vatican City within Italy too. That's it. Three in the whole world. Nancy Wright teaches political science at\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/lesotho-as-an-enclave\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":467,"url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/facebook-sesotho-style\/","url_meta":{"origin":494,"position":1},"title":"Facebook, Sesotho Style","author":"Greg Alder","date":"October 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Mornin guys? Kele hopotse kao fela n cn't wait 2 c some of u s i knw dt we gna mt.\" What? A former student from Lesotho posted this on Facebook the other day, and that\u2019s my usual reaction to any posting from someone in Lesotho: What? Actually, Facebook for\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 3 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 3 comments","link":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/facebook-sesotho-style\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":683,"url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/tsoeneng-mountain\/","url_meta":{"origin":494,"position":2},"title":"Ts’oeneng Mountain","author":"Greg Alder","date":"June 13, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"When I arrived in Ts'oeneng I assumed the village got its name from the rock atop its mountain that looked like the profile of a monkey.\u00a0Ts'oene means \"monkey\" in Sesotho. Later, I was told a couple of other origin stories. There used to live troops of monkeys in the caves\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/tsoeneng-mountain\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tsoeneng mountain","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Tsoeneng-mountain.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Tsoeneng-mountain.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Tsoeneng-mountain.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Tsoeneng-mountain.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Tsoeneng-mountain.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":398,"url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/new-voice-on-the-chinese-in-lesotho\/","url_meta":{"origin":494,"position":3},"title":"New Voice on the Chinese in Lesotho","author":"Greg Alder","date":"May 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"During all my years in Lesotho, I spoke to a Chinese only once. I encountered many Chinese at the shops they own in villages and towns throughout the country, yet I really only conversed with one man who drove his pick-up truck to our school in the countryside one afternoon\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":323,"url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/radio-lesotho-streaming\/","url_meta":{"origin":494,"position":4},"title":"Radio Lesotho, Streaming","author":"Greg Alder","date":"March 7, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Years I've been waiting for this! The Government of Lesotho is finally streaming their radio station, Radio Lesotho. It gives me the chance to listen to the language I miss so much here in California -- there are no Sesotho speakers in this part of the world. It also gives\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Click the logo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Radio-Lesotho.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":550,"url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/malefa-an-update\/","url_meta":{"origin":494,"position":5},"title":"‘Malefa: an update","author":"Greg Alder","date":"February 13, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Where is she now? My super student is married with a daughter named Pinkie, and she lives in a village just a few miles from Ts'oeneng. In Lesotho, the wife becomes part of the husband's family and therefore usually moves to his family's home village. She recently graduated from the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":496,"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494\/revisions\/496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>by <\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"