There are moments that it feels a lot like America here. There are about 75-80 Americans on the base this week. So conversations feel oddly like the ones at home. Food seems American-ish [I had a tortilla for lunch- pronounced tort-til-la here- that hasn't happened in a while] AND rumor has it we’re all going out for cheeseburgers for the 4th of July [you don't get much more American than that--although, I'll refrain from the burger part...].

Then, random things happen that make me realize how far I really am from American culture. How far I am from the life I lived just a few months ago. Today I got an email from The Palm…

To put it into perspective $130 is over R800. That’s a monthly salary for a lot of Basothos. Crazy how much can change in 6 months…