First things first: The true heat has finally come! Today I was sweating the entire day. It was brutal! The pool has not opened up yet for students, so we were left to sit on our beds in front of our fans! But to back up a bit, yesterday was a pretty uneventful day. We walked into town to a place called Riverwalk which is a shopping center, in hopes of exchanging some money at the Bureau de change. It was Sunday. So, of course, banks and companies like banks are not open. So after a 20 minute walk there in the blazing sun, I say in the shade for an hour waiting for everyone else to finish their shopping and then made the trek back to campus. The walk to Riverwalk follows a road that is semi-busy with crazy drivers zipping around on what we would think of as the wrong side of the road. It's pretty cool though because on the way we pass a junior secondary school (middle school) and tons of really cool stucko houses. There are also what seem to be like mansions here that have beautiful outdoor eating areas and gorgeous plants. You have to be careful though because there are plants sticking out that have thorns about as long as my pinkie sticking out of them! After we got back to campus, I took a nap because I was so tired. The heat just wipes me out. Later that afternoon one of the international students from last semester (who is here for this semester as well) had organized a huge brye. A brye is basically a barbeque. I have never seen more meat in my life!! We took about a ten minute walk to ther other side of campus, back to what seemed to be an old parking lots. There were frisbees, soccer balls, lots of nice cameras snapping photos and TONS of meat!! I'm talking about two black garbage bags filled with beef and pork. It was crazy! About 10-15 local male students came to cook the meat for us. They brought two really big grills and just slapped the meat on it. It was very unappealing to me, but the meateaters said it was delicious! They also made about 3 huge bowls of pasta and 3 huge bowls of salad. Everyone ate very well! After about an hour of being there, all of a sudden we turned around and about 50 yards away from us were about 10 cows! They were much bigger than any cows I had ever seen before, and they were just passing through. Some security guards who were guarding the construction site for the new medical school (which was right next to where we were) came and scared them away so that they would move along. Even though I have seen cows plenty of times, it was totally different to see them just walking freely strolling by to see what was up. Little did they know people were grilling their sisters and brothers! :( :( I unfortunately did not put any money in for the brye, because I did not think there would be much for me to eat. I left around 6 30 though, before it got too dark, because unless you are walking with really large groups of people, it is really unsafe to walk around even when it is dusk. Laura and I ended up getting some pizza and having some beer, super American huh? The brye was not really my thing. The guys that were there who were local were a bit too shady for my liking. I also downloaded the new episode of greys anatomy!! We could not watch it until today though because it took 24 hours to download! Super good for those of you who are fans and have not yet seen it.
Today I went to Riverwalk twice! We had registration this morning, which isn't done yet, so no, don't ask, I don't have my classes picked out. However they told us to "check-in" to the classes we are interested in taking tomorrow. Whatever that means. So we went to Riverwalk. I had to exchange some money, buy some toilet paper, and buy a swim cap for the pool. Did I tell you all that we have to wear swim caps to swim in the pool?! They think that it really improves personal hygiene or something...After doing some shopping, we ran into some friends from school who live in Botswana so they gave us a ride back. I was SO happy because the sun today was the hottest it has been yet. I was dying! We had a meeting around 4 to see if our schedules were done but they weren't. Our coordinator has to walk around with each students' schedule to every building and get a signature for every class we want to take, and the campus is really big. So I felt very bad for him today! After the meeting a group of us actually went back to Riverwalk to grab some food and some beer. A couple of students got some bloody marys and they were horrible. Pretty much tomato juice, so it was not the best experience. For as much as they love to drink here, their drinks are not too appealing. I just got back from Riverwalk and I am super wiped out. A group of students just left to play pickup soccer :( They play just about every other day, so I hope I will be able to join in at least one game by the end of the semester. I am about to lay down and go to bed. Too much sun for me today, and not enough water-it is hard to get! I hope that you all are not taking advantage of the fact that you have water at your sink everyday, toilet paper in the bathroom, soap in the bathroom, and cars or bikes for transportation-it is a whole different world over here and no one here minds it; it is a very reassuring thing to see. The people here are incredibly happy. I am going to try to "check-in" to some of my classes tomorrow, so I will let you all know how it goes!
Miss you all tons and I'm sending lots of love from Gabs!
P.S. Prepare to be shocked.............Still no Sunburn!
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