{"id":683,"date":"2018-06-13T20:14:33","date_gmt":"2018-06-13T20:14:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/?p=683"},"modified":"2018-06-13T20:19:00","modified_gmt":"2018-06-13T20:19:00","slug":"tsoeneng-mountain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/tsoeneng-mountain\/","title":{"rendered":"Ts’oeneng Mountain"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/em> means “monkey” in Sesotho.<\/p>\n

Later, I was told a couple of other origin stories. There used to live troops of monkeys in the caves near the mountain summit, that’s where the village got its name.<\/p>\n

Shrouded in fog in the photo above, you can’t see the village well, but it is all around the foot of the mountain.<\/p>\n

Then there is a clan in Lesotho called Bats’oene<\/em>, which you might translate as “people of the monkey” — that’s their totem animal. Maybe the village was settled by them.<\/p>\n

Regardless, Ts’oeneng Mountain was something I looked at every day. This photo was taken from my house on the Ngoana Jesu school grounds, looking east, on a summer morning.<\/p>\n

It was from behind that mountain that the sun rose dramatically, as did the moon. And among the villagers, the mountain’s nickname was Khoeli-e-kae<\/i>. “Where the moon is.”<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"reddit\"<\/a>\"pinterest\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>by <\/span>\"feather\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 near the mountain summit, that’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":684,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_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":true,"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-683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8huLi-b1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":236,"url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/236\/","url_meta":{"origin":683,"position":0},"title":"Videos Related to The Mountain School","author":"Greg Alder","date":"February 7, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I came to Lesotho at the right time in terms of technology. Digital cameras had just become affordable, and though mine didn't take a high-quality picture, it did have a video mode. Here are some videos taken during the time I lived in Ts'oeneng (except for the taxi rank video,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"videos\"","block_context":{"text":"videos","link":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/tag\/videos\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":288,"url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/initiation-ceremony-new-men\/","url_meta":{"origin":683,"position":1},"title":"Initiation Ceremony – New Men","author":"Greg Alder","date":"February 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the first warnings I received upon arriving in Lesotho was not to hike aimlessly in the mountains, for if you happen upon an initiation school you'll be captured. A group of boys spend about six months in initiation school up on a summit, being circumcised, learning to stickfight,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Boys just become men, freshly returned from the mountain school.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/IMG_1464-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":442,"url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/book-reviews\/","url_meta":{"origin":683,"position":2},"title":"Book Reviews","author":"Greg Alder","date":"August 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I've heard of writers who don't read reviews of their books. I understand the temptation to avoid being criticized, but I see \"The Mountain School\" as a conversation starter, just the first word in a dialogue, and so for me to ignore a review would be like refusing to participate\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 3 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 3 comments","link":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/book-reviews\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":550,"url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/malefa-an-update\/","url_meta":{"origin":683,"position":3},"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":[]},{"id":388,"url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/what-is-a-bono\/","url_meta":{"origin":683,"position":4},"title":"What is a Bono?","author":"Greg Alder","date":"April 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"It caught my eye as it ran across the CNN ticker: \"Madonna, Angelina Jolie, George Clooney, and Bono are some of the celebs pledging to 'save Africa.' But does Africa want them?\" I was on my way to teach a class, so as I continued down the hall I thought\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/what-is-a-bono\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":517,"url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/a-rainy-day-i-will-never-forget\/","url_meta":{"origin":683,"position":5},"title":"“A Rainy Day I Will Never Forget”","author":"Greg Alder","date":"August 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday was 97 degrees, the hottest day of the year. I expected more of the same today: the National Weather Service had forecast a high of 91 with clear skies. But at 9:30 AM it began to rain. 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