Relaxation as a 21 year old...in Botswana

My birthday was about a week ago now. Wow, time really is going very quickly here. I did not have the traditional American 21st birthday and I did not have the traditional Botswana 21st birthday either. I went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant here with some friends. We have become their favorite customers, because whenever we are all feeling sick of the food Primi is our number one spot. I got some pizza, some pasta, some brownie, and some ice cream and just talked with some friends. It was great to have some good food! And yes mom, there were lots of vegetables involved! I had a few drinks, had a celebratory shot (tasted like a Banana split), and headed to a bar called The Room. The name of the "bar" explains it all. It is a room, with about 2 tables, 4 bar seats and a bar that serves a couple of beers and liquors, and also serves 3 meals every day. We have come to get to know the bartender there and she loves us, so it was great to see her! The drinking scene is a bit different here, as the bars close around 11pm, due to new laws by the new president. We arrived around 10 15, so we just had a drink and headed out. All in all I would say my celebration was a success. I got to spend time with the people I have gotten to know here, and was not tired or sick the next morning!! (a more successful 21st than a lot of people I know). It was a little bit sad to not be able to spend my birthday with family and friends from back home, although I know you were all there with me in spirit!
  This week I realized how expensive living here really is. I need to stop thinking that I am on an extended vacation and realize that I am LIVING here. As bad as the food gets, eating out needs to stop. So, this week I did not do a whole lot, which was actually nice. I went to class, hung out with friends, and did some reading (considering I'm in 4 English classes). This week 3 different times I had a teacher not show up, so my week was a bit shorter than usual. A birthday present to me, huh? Although the lack of organization is starting to get to me. When you show up at a school to fill out paperwork to volunteer and they tell you to just "keep trying back everyday, someone will help you eventually" (it is a 20 minute drive that costs me roughly 9 bucks), or when it takes you 2 hours to try and work out how to print 1 sheet of paper off, The University can be slightly frustrating. The culture, the people, the language, and the area are all amazing things, and I am really enjoying myself. However, the university can be slightly irritating. As much as we all want a relaxed school, I am finding that some aspects of an "uptight" schooling system are needed. I think that for my own teaching reasons, this experience will help me a lot.  I have not been able to volunteer yet, which has been a pretty big bummer, although I hope to sort that all out this week. I went to the school this past week and all of the kids came SPRINTING out of their classrooms, jumping out of windows (low ones, don't worry) and jumping all over me, begging to stay. They were absolutely adorable, and I cannot wait to start working with all of them. My driver told me that they probably were so excited because the area that they live in is rarely visited by white people, and many of them may have never seen a white person before. It was really an interesting feeling to have them "pick" at me and stroke my hair, as if I was out of a movie screen.
  This weekend has been very relaxing. Friday night a couple of us spent the night trying to figure out our "spring break" plans. We are trying to visit some beautiful beaches in Mozambique, although our eyes are much bigger than our wallets; we are working on downsizing. Saturday was one of the best days I have had here yet. One of our friends from here had invited us over to his house for the afternoon for a braai and to go swimming. He picked us up from campus around 11 30, and we spent the day there until about 8 at night! The house was absolutely gorgeous. They had a huge outdoor area with a pool, a shaded eating area with gorgeous wooden tables and benches, great trees and plants spread around the patio, and just an overall great outdoor area. The backyard area is what I want my house to be like when I am older. Living in a hot climate means that they are able to create almost another house that is outdoors. As we took a dip in the pool and went down their mini water slide, his parents cooked us up 2 different kinds of meat, a veggie roast with corn, squash, green beans, carrots and plenty of other great veggies, and a whole salad. It was the best meal I have had here!! They were incredibly generous, feeding us more than enough food and drinks, and letting us lazy around their pool all day. After we were done eating, they brought us ice cream with this AMAZING chocolate sauce to put on it. We were stuffed. We all headed to the pool area and we all had the same thing on our mind: naptime! So we all spread our towels out, found a spot in the sun, and closed our eyes for a while. It was really a food coma.  After napping we swam for a while longer and then headed inside to just hang out for a while. As the guys played foosball, all of us sat around, talked and braided each others hair. It was really relaxing. As we were on our way out, we stopped and chatted with his mother and her friends about all of the Do's and don'ts of Mozambique-it was really helpful. The day was not only relaxing, but felt very comfortable the whole time. When you are a student in a totally different area, you feel like a visitor much of the time. However, for the first time here, we went to our friends house and I almost felt like I was with friends from home, laughing, eating and enjoying the day. It was really enjoyable.
  Today, I woke up in hopes of a day next to the pool here reading for my classes. However, after sitting by the pool for a half an hour, a security guard came around and told all of us that the pool would not be opening today because they were cleaning it. We peered inside, did not see anyone doing anything, and started to crack jokes about how that was clearly an excuse. The security guard did not seem too pleased, and when we asked her about putting a sign up so that everyone would know, she told us that was not her job. Abby if you are reading this, welcome to Africa! Although I was disappointed, I found that occurrences like this are starting to not get to me as much. I have started to brush them off and move on, because dwelling on them would really ruin my time here. So now I will spend the day lying on my bed, reading with the sun shining in on me. I really can't complain :)
 I hope all of you are doing well, and I would love to hear from all of you! So skype me, email me, facebook me-anything! It's always great to hear from you all back home. I heard about all of the snow-THAT IS CRAZY!! and I am finding myself very sad I am missing the snow! I never thought I would miss it so much, but I really am sad that it will be a looong time before I see another really big snow storm. Happy February to you all (I can't believe I am in a tank top and shorts in february!!), and try to stay warm! I finally had a birthday in warm weather-who would have thought that would ever happen!

P.S. Still no sunburn...this is a miracle.

Almost 1 month already?

Instead of giving you a detailed version of everything that I have done in the past 12ish days, I thought I would give you a quick recap, and then tell you about the best things that have been going on lately, or those that have been consuming my mind. Last weekend I went on a camping trip with a group on campus called the UB wildlife conservation society. We went to a game reserve called the Gaborone Game reserve, pitched a big 40 person tent (looked kind of like an army tent), cooked pounds of rice, meat, fish, pap (Maize) and fat cakes (kind of like donuts without the sugar) all over an open flame in a HUGE caldron. It was a really fun time. This weekend was just a retreat, so we spent the day hanging out, talking, eating, and drinking. It was really nice to just hang out with some local students, outside of campus. I had never met any of these students before, so it was great to see new faces and learn about different people. I ended up having to return back to campus a little bit early, because I felt incredibly sick (from heat, not enough water, e.t.c.), but the weekend was very enjoyable. We were camping right in the bush with all of the animals! An ostrich wandered through our camping area! The weeks have been pretty laid back. I have class on tuesdays and thursdays. Monday I have a two hour class, but other than that I have no classes. I have been really enjoying doing a lot of reading, swimming and just hanging out with new friends. There is a pavilion right outside of our dorms that many of us have started to hang out in almost every night. The social life here seems very different from at home. People here spend a lot of time doing pretty much nothing, with good friends. Whereas in the U.S. it seems that many times people spend their time doing lots of things, with not as good of friends. I hope to encourage people to spend more time with friends that they really care about when I get home, rather than worrying about where the most happening party is. I am about a month deep in this experience, and although the campus is still very confusing to me (along with the country!) I am starting to feel more at home each day. As I look back, the month has gone incredibly fast, however some days seem to drag on. The days where I feel a bit lonely, or lost, or frustrated are a bit harder. These days are very few, but they do still happen. I think that most of the time when I feel homesick, it is usually because I am in a situation where I cannot do something that I can do at home. The nights where I want to just sit in and watch a movie, or order food to the room; it isn't that easy here. There are days where that is the main reason I love it here, but there are times where convenience brings comfort. I hope that by the end of this I will be more patient and have an easier time working with inconveniences.

Today I went to a school that is in the "slums" of Gaborone to talk to them about volunteering. IT WAS SO GREAT!! The headmaster was not actually there, but we turned in some of our paperwork so that she could discuss it with the headmaster when he/she returned. I am going back on monday to talk about my schedule. There seemed to be about 3-4 big classrooms with only one teacher in them, so I think there will be lots of room for me to help out. Some school volunteers get to be the main teacher in the classroom, some get to tutor, and some get to be a teacher's aid, so it will be really fun to figure out what I get to do. The coolest part about the school is that it is in a rural area. The surroundings seem very poor,  but I think that it is my favorite part of gabs that I have seen so far. The clothing was all really vibrant, the people were very welcoming, and it just seemed to be more like a real village. The classrooms are all just little buildings on their own, so you feel like you are outside, even when you are in class. As I was leaving to go back to campus, the whole school was let out for break. Students were running all over the place! Many of them however were very intrigued by the white girls in the taxi driving down this dirt road. I felt like I was famous. All of the kids were running next to the car waving, yelling hello, singing, smiling, and my favorite: dancing! A small boy who must have been in kindergarten did a dance for us while following the car the whole drive out of the property. It was adorable! Many times when children here see us, they tend to dance for us. I asked some locals why this was, and they said because most of the kids want to dance for you because they are very proud of their dancing skills, and want to impress you. Well I am impressed! And even if they aren't the best dancers, they are VERY adorable! While I was at the school, a lady overheard my conversation with one of the teachers there, and heard that  I was interested in special education. She started talking to me and gave me the name and number of a school that is just starting up that is purely for kids with disabilities. Most of the students have down syndrome she said, however there are many other disabilities as well. She said the school is called the Dream Center, and it is being started by a psychologist who sees a problem with the special education system here (basically non-existent). So, I will be giving that number a call as well. As much as I am loving school here and the campus, I am mostly looking forward to working with children. I really believe that these experiences are what will make this trip the most rewarding and memorable. The opportunities I will have here are also much more plentiful than those in the U.S. (because of requirements), so I am going to take advantage of everything that I can.

The weekend has started, which means lots of relaxing and socializing. I do not have anything big planned this weekend, except a braai tomorrow afternoon (barbeque). I will be laying low and saving money because monday is my birthday!! I will be interested to see what the celebration is like here. I hope all is well for you, and I will hopefully be updating more frequently again. There is just so much going on! For those of you about to go abroad, good luck!!! You will truly enjoy yourself, it is a crazy experience. And for family and friends at home, I miss you all!

P.S. I got my first sunburn. Do not worry, it was gone the next day, and it was only on my shoulders, however I thought I would inform you. Otherwise, still no burns, so I am doing well!

ay-yiy-yiy-yiy-yiiiiiy!!

I apologize ahead of time for how long this entry is about to be: you may have to take some breaks. I do not remember if the last time that I wrote was on thursday or friday, but nevertheless, nothing exciting happened on either of those days. I went out with some friends on thursday night to some local bars, and friday I just went out for dinner and hung around the dorms. Saturday morning however, the best part of my stay here in Africa started! We got on a bus around 8am and headed out for a cultural weekend excursion. I did not know what to expect because many of the activities that we do here, that are set up by the school, tend to never be what we all expected. We spent about two hours on a bus riding out into the rural areas of Botswana. I am in the city of Gaborone, but we were heading to some small villages outside of the city. On the way I saw more goats than I have ever seen in my entire life! Small, medium and large goats lined the roads just eating grass. We passed by many mud huts with thatched roofs. all made of completely different colors. The dirt here is a very deep, vibrant red (if that makes any sense), so many of the huts have shades of this red painted on the sides. There were many clothes lines with all of the weeks laundry hanging out to dry, little kids running around barefoot through the little villages, and chickens, goats and dogs running all over the place. It was incredibly fun to see. Not to mention the giant hills in the distance that made us feel like we were headed to the mountains. I started reading a book on the ride called A Whole New Mind by Dan pink. I would highly recommend the book to ANYONE. I am only 100 pages in, but it is truly fascinating (thanks mom and dad!). It is all about R-Directed thinkers and L-directed thinkers, and about creativity. The two hours flew by for me, and we ended up pulling up to a small village in the middle of the hills. We were required to wear skirts, so all of the boys piled off the bus, while the women slipped skirts over their shorts. As we walked into the village, a little girl greeted us with a little "booty-shake" dance for us. She waved her hands in the air, giggled, and shook her but right in the middle of the road. She was adorable! We continued on into the village. There were some mud huts, some more house-like buildings, and many other random sheds and smaller huts. It was like stepping into a whole different world. The atmosphere in these villages seems to be very slowed down, relaxed and extremely friendly. We went into an open hut (just a floor and ceiling) called a coutla (I don't know how to spell it), which means the court area or meeting area. There were about 5 gentlemen there who were representing the chief and the headsmen. The men did an interactive presentation for us. They used students from our group to do a mock wedding and two mock trials. Both were very interesting! The weddings in Botswana are not left mostly up to the people getting married, or their parents; it is the Uncles who have most of the say. Uncles from both sides of the families get together to negotiate the wedding and marriage agreements. The average bride pay for a wedding here is 4 cattle. This is not just in rural areas, my friends here at school say that when they get married, the bride pay will be paid with cattle as well. The average Motswana in the villages gets married at about age 16, in order to get the process of having children going early. However, in urban areas times are changing, and my generation is starting to follow western marriage trends. Everyone here at UB comes from a village however. No matter if their family moved to Gabs city at some point, they come from a village, and that is where they have their roots, and their morals from. The mock trials were also very funny. There was a case about a man stealing another man's cattle, and a case about a wife who was refusing sex from her husband. The second case was very interesting. The Chief ruled that in the marriage agreement, she had agreed to have sex with the man, so she must hold her end of the agreement. This was shocking to all of the students, and we had a hard time digesting it. Sometimes the values here are very different from our own, which puts us in a very uncomfortable position. In some ways it is much more free here, and in some ways it seems there are strong restrictions. The whole time the presentation was going on, our group leader was translating everything that the men said, because none of them could speak English. We spent more time asking questions about the culture and hanging out, and then we set off for lunch. The Chief representative came along with us to lunch. We went to a resort-like place. There were very commercialized huts, a pool, flat-screen TVs, and many other modern day objects, stuck in what looked like a cultural village. After eating lunch, we headed out to look at some rock paintings.
  A guide met us, and showed us some very faded rock paintings. Although it was pretty cool, I would say that there were probably only about 3 paintings and the hype was much more than what we actually saw. I did get to watch some pick-up soccer however! Soccer is loved by almost everyone here, and wherever you go there are dirt fields with goal posts made of sticks with groups of about 20 kicking around a ball. It is great to see. We also visited the Livingston Tree, which is pretty well-known. It was a very old fig tree, that had all sorts of low branches that wrapped around each other. Outside of this area there were three little girls who were very adorable that we stopped to talk to. Well, they did not speak English, so we mostly smiled and laughed with them, which to me was much better than talking. We gave them some sour candies that a student had brought and they were VERY appreciative. As we got on the bus and drove away they ran alongside the bus waving and shouting at us. They didn't stop until the fence at the end of the road.
  Next we arrived at the cultural village. We were greeted by two older women dressed in traditional clothing making these crazy noises with their mouths! The noise was a welcome greeting, and it made us feel like they were very excited to have us. On the walk from the area we parked the bus, to the part of the village which we stayed in, the women had us clapping and singing along with them to a traditional song. No one knew the words, or could really understand them for that matter, so we mostly laughed, hummed, clapped and walked, but is was a great welcome. When we got to the center of the village, there were other women sitting there, with a fire waiting for us. The village is not a true village. It used to be, however it is now set up to host guests. Everything is left the way it was, however there are not people who live there now. The women there used to live there, however they now just come and host groups. There were two big huts, with blankets and foam set up for some of us to sleep in. There were also green tents set up (about 8) for groups to sleep in as well. All of the guys were taken away to go and  set up their belongings at the cattle post; basically a clearing farther away from everything where the men would go to fight off animals. After we had settled in, we all headed back to the fire for our real greeting. I am in the process of uploading the pictures right now, but as soon as it is done I will send you the link so you can take a look at everything- it is hard to explain! The women sang, danced, and played the drums for us to welcome us to their village. They introduced the Chief- an older man who was also dressed very traditionally, who did a dance for us which was the official welcome. He also did something called "throwing bones" where he took a sack of bones and dumped it onto the ground. If the bones landed together, we were welcomed with open arms. If the bones fell and did not group together, we were not welcome. As you could have guessed, we were welcomed! After that they sang some more songs for us, and had us dance along with them. The Chief's dance was my favorite. He played a little whistle as he danced. All of the people were probably about the age of 50 and up (the Chief is 76), yet they were so agile and full of life. They were bending down, getting up, dancing around, and really moving better than any of us could! It made me so happy to see people with such life left in them. The people were incredibly heartwarming. As the sun went down, we headed in for a traditional dinner of greens, bread (not like ours), a pumpkin, green-bean, zucchini mix (for vegetarians), and potatoes. There was also plenty of meat for the carnivores (haha)! After dinner a group of about 15 of us spent the rest of the night, sitting around the fire playing camp games. We played a game called Mafia for about 3 hours. I have really only played it with campers, so to play with 20-23 year olds was very fun! It was probably one of the most fun nights I have had in a long time. Lots of laughing, talking and having fun. I realized that here in Botswana, although there is a very large drinking culture, there are also MANY people who still know how to have a good time without drinking. I know that all of you adults reading this are feeling weird about me saying that, but it is true. It seems to me that college life in America is so centered around drinking, however here there is so much else that fulfills the need for excitement. Sitting around the fire with friends playing games was very reassuring to me, and was something I really won't forget. I have no idea why; it seems so simple. We headed to bed around midnight, into our huts where we fell asleep listening to birds, a light rain, and the creaking of our door opening and closing.
  In the morning we woke up to a decent amount of rain coming down. It was nothing too hard, but it was not a sprinkle. We ate porridge, coffee, eggs and bread with peanut butter (my first bite of peanut butter since I got here!!). We hung around a bit after breakfast, but then sadly had to leave. I wanted to buy a plot in the village and live there forever- it was really that fun! Time was so slowed down and life seemed so simple. Sadly, I climbed onto the bus and headed to Mokolodi.
  Mokolodi is a game reserve about 30 minutes outside of Gabs. We were greeted with Champagne and Mimosas the second we stepped off of the bus! After drinking some champagne we loaded the safari cars and headed out to look for some animals. We rode around for about an hour and saw some great animals. Our guide had a great eye and pointed out some animals I never would have seen. We saw Zebras up on a hill VERY far away, impalas, warthogs, ostriches and we got to see two cheetahs (although there were in a fenced in area so that they would not hurt any other animals). The impalas were everywhere, and they came up pretty close to the car, so we got to really see their details. I have plenty of pictures for all of you, but the details that you could see in person were gorgeous. We arrived to the lunch area about 30 minutes after everyone else (we were searching for the Rhinos!), but we were greeted with some of the best food we have had yet. We had bread, a bean casserole thing, something kind of like coleslaw, pap ( a traditional dish made of maize), and salad. It was verry good! Although we did not get to see anymore animals really after lunch, the tour before lunch was great. I cannot wait until I get the chance to go on a real safari-everything is much larger and more detailed than I had imagined!
Unfortunately we had to get on the bus after the game drive and head back to school. I am sitting here writing to you now basically falling asleep. The weekend was one of the most fun things I have done in a VERY long time. The culture that exists outside of the city is so strong and rich. It makes you wonder why the U.S. is so culture-less. Yes we have pop culture, but true moral culture is severely lacking, and I believe it is what makes places like Africa so appealing. The people were so welcoming, and had so much to tell us about their culture. This entry gave you a very surface level overview, but the trip was really amazing. It is time now for me to shower, go eat dinner and then pass out. Classes tomorrow! After this weekend it is hard to think that I have to sit through classes tomorrow :(
  I hope all is well wherever you find yourself reading this, and that you all had a great weekend! I will post the link as SOON as possible for my pictures. I took about 400 so there will be plenty for you to see.
I miss you all, and hope you are doing well!

P.S. Still no sunburn!

Classes?...Oh that's why I am here...

Yesterday a thing called the first week of classes at the University of Botswana started. HA. The first week seems to be a very casual, show-up if you want to, week. As put by a local student "It is add and drop week, so why would we go to class?". Just like in the states, there is a period where you are allowed to add and drop classes. Here, that is this week, and apparently students do not usually show up to classes until schedules are finalized, so teachers do not really hold lecture. Yesterday I got up early, got out my map, brought my notebook and my pencils and headed to class. I got there easily, however the door was locked. After asking some people if they knew where my teacher was, a male student overheard me and told me we had to go up the stairs, go down a hallway, and enter a room that was basically hidden. How did I not know that was where I was supposed to go? This was my intro to art education class. The professor was very cool. She had super long dreads and was wearing what seemed to be more traditional Setswana clothing. She went over the syllabus VERY loosely. She asked the class if the meeting time worked for everyone's schedule. 3 students said that the time did not work for them, so we spent the next 30 minutes voting on new meeting times. It was crazy! I explained to the guy sitting next to me that this would never happen in the U.S. The class could not all agree on a time, so we decided that some students would come from 9-11 and some would come from 10-12. I'm thinking I will go to the 10 o' clock one so that I can sleep in more! This time switching thing is very common across all classes here. They do not expect you to sign up for classes that do not conflict. You sign up for whatever you want, and hope that the times change. Very relaxed. The guy that I was sitting next to was a law student, in his fifth and final year here. He is in the process of applying for law schools in the U.S. His top choices are Yale and Harvard, but his third choice is New York Law School!!! How crazy P?! I told him that my sister goes there and he seemed very impressed. Attending this class made me truly feel culture shock for the first time; I really felt like an international student. Although the class was taught in english, when they were debating the time changes they spoke in Setswana. I just sat there and looked at my notebook while they all talked about the times. It is weird to be such a minority that you do not even understand anything that is going on around you. The teacher did a very good job though of filling me in at the end and making me feel like a part of the class. My second class was an african children's traditional games class. The class sounds very cool, and the professor was awesome. She studied at UCLA for 9 years, and then went to UW-Madison for 3 years! It's crazy that within two hours of my day I met two people who talked about locations in the U.S. that were meaningful to me. As far away as you get, there is always a sense of home. I feel that little connections like that are what help me become less overwhelmed that I am so far away. I unfortunately cannot take that class because it is a 400 level class, which is restricted to 4th year students, but I really enjoyed the hour that I did spend in the class. The third class I went to was the Setswana course. I am actually going to be dropping this course as well. Although it seems very cool, the professor (and other students) said that the class focuses mostly on old grammar that is not used today, and also focuses on written translation. I am thinking that I will just work very hard to learn about the language from the local friends I make. Our schedules are still not done, so I still have two days to figure out my classes; it is very stressful! The course catalogue is very confusing, and we have little help with our schedules. I think that when I return to the U.S. I will make areal effort to get involved with the international students, because there are a lot of little things that just seem to slip through the cracks here. I have made a couple of friends here who I think will end up being good friends of mine. Their names are Nkamu, Gwizzy and Goms. We call Gwizzy weezy, although her name is truly pronounced gee-whizz-y (like our saying gee-whiz!). We met them in the cafeteria one day, and we have been hanging out with them a lot. They area super nice, and very fun to talk to about their culture. Although I think the best part is that we are now past the stage of just asking questions. I have realized that the process in making friends here is difficult. Whenever we meet someone, we just spend a lot of time asking them questions about Botswana, rather than actually talking to them like they are a friend from back home. Last night however, we spent a lot of time just talking about soccer, shoes, and other things that I would talk to friends about. It feels really good to actually start to progress towards a real friendship with someone from here! Two of them do not know how to swim, so Laura and I told them we would teach them-how fun! They are very excited to learn. One of them has never been in the water and is very scared of the water, so I am really excited to help her learn. 

  Today, I did not have any classes, because my schedule is just messed up, so I slept in until about 12. It felt very good. I spent the rest of the day however in a pretty frustrated state of mind. The lack of organization rarely gets to me, however our schedule and ID process is very frustrating. Let's just say that I spent most of my day trying to figure out my schedule, get my ID, and help Laura get signatures for her add and drop form. It was a lot of walking around today! The best part however, was that I went swimming for the first time! A swimming pool has never felt so good. Today was incredibly hot, so it was great to go swimming. There is an olympic size lap pool, and then a smaller pool next to it for just hanging out in. A group of us just swam around in the smaller pool (with our swimming caps on, don't forget!). I got a chance to kick around which felt really good on my knee. I think that going there will be an every day occurrence. I am now back at my room, just waiting for a sub to be delivered. A pizza and sub place here is SO good, so once and a while we order some food. No matter where you are in the world it seems, pizza delivery is always available. No animals to tell you about today, other than a lizard, but I did find out which end of campus I can go to to see monkeys so I am very excited to do that!! As always I hope the snow is treating all of you very well, and that you are finding fun ways to enjoy it! I miss all of you very much, and will update again soon!

P.S. STILL NO SUNBURN! Even after swimming in the pool-I think you should be very proud (mom, dad and Saskia)

Bryes and banks

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!

Baboon and Bull and Bush

I apologize for the lack of an entry yesterday, but my day was very full with hardly any time to sit down! We finished up our orientation which was again unorganized and a bit boring. We got some good information about how the internet and email here work, however just because we got information does NOT mean that we understand. It seems to me that directions here are almost always hard to follow. I have gotten very used to the accent already, however the way in which the locals organize sentences can be a bit hard to follow. With time I am sure it will get much easier. Our orientation lasted until about 1 o' clock, ending with a nice section about using condoms. The HIV/AIDS campaign has really flourished here within the past years, and they are telling students much more about how to protect themselves. There are signs all over about using condoms, and in the bathrooms that lack toilet paper; there are boxes and boxes of condoms. Priorities eh? It is really good to see that they are all about HIV education now, because they said that the education is really helping the numbers of people carrying HIV much lower. Oh, and during orientation I spent most of my time enjoying some amazing instant coffee. I'm serious. No Folgers or water tasting coffee here, I mean REALLY good, strong coffee.

  After taking a lunch break, we all met outside the international dorms to get a bus tour of the city. Ironically the international hostel is called Las Vegas because it is the highest hostel and it is always very brightly lit. The local students however told us that what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas applies to the building. I guess we will see what that means? We took a bus that was kind of like a coach bus in the states. It was incredibly nice compared to any sort of transportation we have had so far. We rode around the city so we could get a feel for what it was like. I do not remember if I have mentioned this yet, but no one lives in the city. It is just where everyone works, and all of the locals live in the villages. The city looks pretty much like the African desert that we all picture in our minds with a few buildings and small stretches of concrete along the way. It displays an upcoming city that is being made out of a natural area very well. (I might have already said this).
  Our first stop was at a monument called the Three Dikgosi Monument. The monument was incredibly large. Back in the 1800s Botswana was going to be taken over and become a part of the South African union, so these three chiefs went to Great Britain to visit the Queen of England to negotiate a way for the area that is now Botswana to stay a separate country. The locals were telling me that the monument signifies freedom for the people here, and represents their independence. The monument was huge! Very beautiful and detailed. I was able to use my camera to snap some pictures, but I was having trouble because I could not see the display screen, so I could not tell how the pictures were turning out. Oh well, I will improve!
  Our next stop was at a place called Game City. This mall was actually pretty boring. I felt as if I were sitting in west towne mall in the U.S. They had nike stores, clothing stores, the equivalent to an REI, and many other stores that looked exactly like forever 21. As we all know I hate shopping very much, so I sat down with three friends, got a beer, and just talked. It was really nice out-not too hot- so we just sat at an outdoor table. There is a mountain/hill right behind game city that is gorgeous, so the setting was really great. We are having trouble finding traditional food here. The locals say that the only way to really eat traditional food is to go into the villages. At the university and at the restaurants in shopping malls they serve very similar foods to the ones in the U.S. While we were eating, a little black kitten came up right by our table and took a little drink from the fountain- this is really common. Cats are all over, so Laura is in heaven! After eating we headed back to the bus (after purchasing a cheap cellphone) and of course had to wait for about 45 minutes because everyone is on "Botswana time" here. As I was sitting on the bus futzing with my phone I heard "Look! A monkey!". Everyone immediately jumped out of their seats and started scanning the parking lot from their windows. What looked like a baboon was just strolling through the parking lot! It was probably taller than my waist (while it was on all fours) and was just heading towards the shopping mall. He easily jumped over one fence, crossed the street (where cars were coming) and then jumped a very tall fence into the courtyard of the mall!! I have no idea what happened once he got over that fence, but it was a crazy sight to see! Even when we are in what feels like "little America" here, we get large reminders that we are indeed in Africa.
  After the baboon sighting, we headed back to campus. A couple of locals had offered to take us out to a club called Bull and Bush. So around 10 o clock we headed out to the club. There were about 8 Americans and 6 locals in our group, so we didn't stick out QUITE as much...until the dancing started. I have never seen so many good dancers in real life! As sad as this sounds, I felt like I was watching step up two. As "rude boy" and "Move, Bitch" (two American songs) along with some House music blasted loudly through the speakers, many of the locals formed a circle and each took turns showing off their moves. It was truly crazy. Very good dancers, very nice people and lots of fun. By the end of the night there were tons of people there and everyone was having a great time. It was a great experience because instead of just us going out together, we got to know the ins and outs of the club from the girls we went with. And let me tell you, the best dancers were all of the guys! Wish I had taken videos. We got home around 3 o clock and I immediately fell asleep. So, today I slept in until about 1 o clock, got lunch, and now I am writing to you. It has been cooler here the last two days so it has been very nice for walking around and being outside. I hope that it is getting warmer for you all in the US! I do not know what is in store for tonight, but I hope I get another chance to learn about the "night life" here! We have been talking to many local students at meal times who have been filling us in on the dos and don'ts-so many!
  I hope that you all are doing very well, and that every time you are hating the cold you can think of me and hopefully it will help you warm up a bit! (I slept under a light blanket for the first time last night!) I'm having trouble uploading the pictures because everything works so slowly on the computers here, but I am working on it! So pictures will be uploaded soon. Miss you all and I'm sending lots of love!

P.S. Still no sunburn and my knee is doing great.

Toilet Paper and padlocks

In my last post I completely forgot to inform all of you of the access to toilet paper. It is always a shock when you go to a new country because so many things are different than in the U.S. One thing that usually never changes though, is that bathrooms supply the "customer" with toilet paper. Well, not in Botswana! We are responsible for supplying our own toilet paper! So when you sprint up the stairs to your room and have to go to the bathroom VERY badly, you have to make sure to run into your room and grab your toilet paper first! It is something that I have yet to get completely used to. This applies to all buildings. In the academic buildings they do not supply you with toilet paper, so you have to make sure to carry it around with you wherever you go. I hear that during the semester they give each student 2 rolls a month for your own use, but as of now I have yet to see a roll! We also have to supply our own locks for our doors. On the first day they took us to the store and we all had to buy padlocks to put on our doors. Locks and toilet paper are two things in the U.S. that I would never think of having to supply; a perfect example of how different it is and how much I have to learn! Another thing (mom you will CRINGE), they do not supply soap in the bathrooms either. It is the same as the toilet paper; we must keep it in our rooms and bring it with us.

  Well enough about accommodations! Today we started orientation; the first organized thing that we have done. It was a lot of sitting and listening to rules and regulations. Nothing too different from the U.S. The computer system here is still not working, so instead of registering for classes this afternoon we got a chance to do some exploring. Luckily, today was somewhat shady so we were not burning in the sun. A local guy, named Kevin, has befriended all of the international students because he went to UNC greensboro last semester so he knows what it is like to be the odd one out. He took three of us into town to look for some really cheap converters, adapters and cellphones. We took the combe (sp?) into town, which runs similarly to the bus system in the U.S. Although they are just  10 person vans that drive around. No matter where you are going, the combe only costs 3 pula, which is the equivalent to about 50 cents. The place that we went today, called the station, was a mix of tons of stores. It was basically an outdoor shopping place with stores to go into, vendors outside (hawkers), and lots of random items all over the place. We spent about 2 hours wandering around going into so many shops asking for converters. The trip was incredibly unsuccessful, but it was really fun to get away from campus and go to a place where you could mingle with the locals. Mangos here are very in season right now so every corner you turn there is someone selling mangos-yum!

  After we got back from the station, I was DRAINED. I am not yet adjusted to the hot heat, so I am very tired around 5 or 6 o clock here (Abby they use military time here, and I think they do where you are going as well, so start practicing!). Today I felt a bit more "at home". I still feel like I am very foreign to the areas obviously, but I am starting to feel less and less like an outsider. The campus and surrounding areas here are so beautiful. Tonight walking back from dinner the clouds were so big and clear, and the sunset was incredibly gorgeous. Gaborone is very interesting because there are regular concrete streets, and sometimes stop lights, however right next to that are red dirt fields and green trees (the coolest trees I have ever seen!!) that looks just like you would picture the desert in Africa. The city perfectly displays the mixing of the natural desert and an up and coming city-really cool to be around. 

  Kevin also showed us around the campus today, so we got a chance to see a lot of buildings we had not seen yet. The campus is really big, but so cool! All the walkways are outdoors, and there are trees growing throughout the walkways. I really wish I could just snap a picture of everything! Oh! I forgot. Laura and I are roommates. They paired all of the international students up with other international students. I think this is a really bad idea, because it just puts all of the international students into one group and secludes them. Laura and I figured since we were going to have an American roommate anyway, we might as well just live together. The dorms (called hostels here) have about 6 rooms in one "block". Everyone in the block shares a bathroom and a big open space (kind of like a common room). So Laura and I are the only U.S. students in our block, which I hope means we will make a lot of friends from Botswana. 

  One last thing before I finally take a shower to cool down; we don't know when we are starting classes. Since registration is taking a long time for everyone, they said that classes will most likely not start on Monday, or even tuesday. It seems to me that this happens a lot. So for now, it is still "winter" break for me! I hope all is well wherever you are reading this, and that you are enjoying the cold weather-some day you will miss it!

  For those of you going abroad, one tip I have: prepare for things to be more unorganized than you think. It may not be to the extreme that is going on here, but from talking to other students, it seems that the U.S. is overly organized, and other places are not, especially with study abroad. You know how you all feel like everything is a bit unclear? (Saskia) Just wait until you arrive! ISEP, CIEE and other programs like that do a good job of setting you up, but not as good as you are expecting. I am learning to embrace all of the things that I do not know that I feel I should, and learning ways to figure so many things out on my own. Independence to the max is coming your way, and it is great!

Sending lots of love from 80 degrees at 8 o clock at night!

P.S. No Sunburn yet.