Friday, August 20, 2010

Just Follow the Music..

Yet another vibrant week in Botswana! I don’t think that I will be able to blog next week because I will be heading north to the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans (for information to follow) either Thursday evening or at the crack of dawn Friday morning, so hopefully this will suffice for a few weeks! I’ve been a bit lax when its come to writing in my journal every night…I’m always just so exhausted by the time I get home, do a bit of homework, and have dinner!

Friday night Alicia and I decided to go out to dinner with our host sisters, Aty and Tumie. Although they wanted to hit up the clubs on Friday, Alicia and I wanted a more modest night given the fact we needed to be back at UB to go on our cultural excursion at 8 am on Saturday morning (meaning a 6:00 am wake up call)! Tumie suggested Linga Longa at Riverwalk Mall so we agreed to meet at 6:30 pm and see where the night took us. Alicia and I got to Linga Longa much earlier because they supposedly have free Wi-Fi—mine wasn’t working but others had great connectivity! So frustrating, but someday, maybe I too will be able to skype from there! We sorted out a lot of the details for the Salt Pans excursion…a bit more drama than my liking. Aty arrived at Riverwalk a half hour late (oh Botswana time!) and told me her mom didn’t want her at a bar (I guess I shouldn’t have told her we were going to Linga Longa?!) even though it is also a restaurant and café. She was pretty adamant that we go somewhere else, even though a) Alicia and I had been sitting there for at least 2 hours and had yet to order food and b) Tumie had recommended the restaurant in the first place! Once Tumie arrived (now it was like 7:30 pm) she agreed with Aty that we should leave since it was “too loud in their anyways.” At this point I was pretty frustrated and embarrassed we would have to walk out after waiting in the restaurant for 2+ hours, but we complied anyways. We ended up going to Spur, just upstairs for pretty good food (and for the record, an equally loud experience). Despite the rigamarole, I think we all had a good time.

The cultural weekend was, without question, the highlight of the past week. We ended up leaving 2 hours behind schedule as per Botswana time—thank God I got up at 6 am ;) The bus was cramped but it was exciting to be going on a trip with all the international folk (~70 of us!) We stopped in Kanye first (yes, that is in fact West of Gaborone) and learned about the kgotla (traditional house of government) and met with a traditional healer. We did a little role playing to understand how marriage is handled in traditional Batswana culture as well.
After exploring Kanye for a bit, we headed to a traditional buffet lunch on the edge of a serene lake. Spectacular scenery and spectacular food! All the usual—chicken, pap, rice, kale, squash, salad, and trifle for dessert—but much higher quality than anything you would get at the vendors outside UB! Given time restraints, the OIP leader decided we should head straight to the cultural village/lodge where we would be spending the night. We were greeted by two very boisterous grandmothers clad in traditional Botswana prints who were drumming away and making obnoxiously loud sounds by vibrating their tongues. Later they showed us this powder that they snuffed—a combination of tobacco and a
“special herb.” No wonder these ladies were all so crazy and jovial—they were high half the time! They led us to our tents we would be staying in for the night—I was with Alicia and Krisstina (known to all of the CIEE girls as “krisstina with a k”). Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries but Krisstina offered to give me all her pictures on a flash drive when we returned to UB. Never again will I leave for a weekend without 2 fully charged camera batteries!! We were given time to explore the surrounding village before dinner.
Alicia, Krisstina, and I decided to test out our knowledge of Setswana and ended up meeting a lot of awesome people. We had a nice conversation with some ladies who own and run an orphanage in Mogodisthane (right outside of Gaborone) that would like our help cooking and playing with the kids. Hopefully they will contact us (we gave them our numbers) because that would be such a rewarding experience. The highlight of the afternoon though was when we decided to just “follow the music” and ended up at a wedding rehearsal! Everyone there was soo excited to see us, so we joined in dancing to the music outside until the sun began to set. The energy and happiness at the wedding rehearsal was so genuine—a very rewarding and refreshing experience. The father of the bride was pretty adamant that we stay and enjoy some Shake-Shake (traditional beer), but we needed to head back to meet up with everyone else. Krisstina and Alicia got some great photos and even a video of dancing—hopefully I can put them up at some point. Dinner back at the village was even more delicious as the lunch. A bit more variety and even some warm, home cooked bread!! Dinner was followed by campfire songs and stories and then bed. It was pretty chilly—luckily I brought my sleeping bag for extra warmth! After a delicious breakfast (eggs, toast, sorghum porridge which was kind of like grits and even fat cakes!) we headed over to the San Rock Paintings and the tree where David Livingstone did a lot of his “pondering”. Took some requisite “Lion King-esk” photos on the rock formations at the San Rock Paintings and then headed off to Mokolodi Game Reserve. Although we had just been to Gaborone Game Reserve, I was excited to see a much bigger/legit game reserve! We rode around in your stereotypical safari 4 wheel drive and saw animals a plenty! When the guide drove fast and we bounced up and down, nearly falling out of the vehicle it kind felt like I was on one of those “Disney:African Safari Adventure rides minus the safety bar on your lap! Highlights include the zebras, giraffes (though they were sitting down for most of the time), warthogs, rhino, two cheetahs (though they were caged in because they were raised by the park rangers), and ostriches. Since we were a little bit late returning, we were driving back pretty fast and nearly hit an ostrich that was running across the road! Quite an exciting time, but it will be cool to go to see the Big 5 once we get farther North at the Okavango and Kalahari. Most mimosas and the most delicious lunch yet (such a variety of salads!!) and then we were headed back to UB.

Since Saturday was my host mother’s birthday and I wasn’t around, I told her I would cook a meal and dessert for Monday night. I decided on vegetarian burritos and brownies, since I have yet to see either in Gaborone. When I returned on Sunday evening, we went shopping at OK Foods but I was pretty discouraged when I couldn’t find half of the ingredients I needed. It was a tad frustrating picking out ingredients because every time I picked something up, my host mother would comment on how expensive it was. (side note: I’d really like to go grocery shopping with her though in the future to buy food for breakfast and dinner. Batsi said we should do this to ensure we are getting the healthy food that we want.) My mom told me we could get the rest at Woolworth’s (an international grocery store on Monday evening). While I couldn’t find EVERYTHING at Woolworths (no black beans or chocolate chips) I made due with what I could find. My mom told me that Alicia, Tumie, and her mom would be joining. I was a little stressed because I hadn’t planned on making twice as much food (and didn’t really want to pay for everyones meals…) but I stayed calm. My mom told me she would just make some extra meat.
Alicia came and helped me cook, which was a ton of fun. Aty and Tumie played songs on my itunes while we prepared the food. The burritos (peppers, onions, baby corn, tomatoes, zucchini in a taco sauce with guacamole, semi-black beans, and salsa) and brownies were delicious but I don’t think my mother was a big fan. She tried a burrito but filled most of her plate with the chicken and sausage she had Aty prepare. Oh well..getting her to eat healthy vegetables was going to be a more difficult task than I thought!

Clinic work has been good, nothing too dramatic or out of the ordinary. We spent most of Monday in the TB room and in the doctor’s consultation room. Tuesday was spent primarily in the H1N1 clinic because of the high demand for vaccinations. When we arrived on Tuesday morning, the clinic was much more chaotic than usual. There was a line of at least 150 waiting to get the vaccine since the campaign was about to end. Unfortunately, the nurse who was supposed to be vaccinating everyone wasn't there yet, and the rest of the nurses were too lazy to help out in a different ward. So once the nurse arrived, Kelsey, Alicia and I got to work signing patients records and drawing vaccinations. Unfortunately, there was only about enough for 70 people so a riot nearly started when we told them we were all out. I would be mad too if I had waited around all morning to find out that there wasn’t going to be anymore left! On Wednesday, instead of going to the clinic we went with our environmental health professor and some of his students to visit the Ministry of Health. We were briefed a few hours on the roles of the 6 different units in the Division of Environmental and Occupational Health. I asked the man in charge of Healthcare Waste Management what he saw as the biggest challenges to his unit and he started rambling off the countless problems he faces. Although much more complicated, it seems like lack of resources and manpower is the greatest challenge the division as a whole faces. After the visit, I think Botswana is boding exceedingly well for the lack of organization and resources they face. Its kind of like Botswana is 50 years behind where the US is today in terms of technology, infrastructure, etc. Going to the Ministry of Health was definitely a unique and worthwhile experience.

Classes are well, still classes in the 3rd world country. We are starting to get into more of the material in Parasitology and traditional religions but at snail pace. My Parasitology professor teaches as if we Americans are the only ones in the class and exclusively asks us questions. He also explains to root of every word or defines hard concepts like “worldwide” (around the world) and “nausea” (when your stomach doesn’t feel well). Lab is frustrating because the professor and TAs assumed we knew how they went about drawing parasites from the slides and organizing questions. I have wasted a lot of time redoing work because I didn’t format things properly and typing/printing is too big of a hassle. There is a local girl named Kelly (or so she calls herself) that is a little too excited to be sitting next to me in parasitology. She tells me she wants to go to America and study since she doesn’t like it here. It will be interesting to see how our relationship develops.

It will be nice to have a quiet weekend this weekend. The only plans I really have a graduation party on Saturday for a cousin in the family, and birthday festivities later on Saturday for Krisstina! We were talking about perhaps doing dinner and a movie or clubbing—I guess we will have to wait and see! Six of us will be going to Planet Baobab at the Salt Pans for quadbiking, a visit to the historic Baobab Tree, a Meerkat walk, and gorgeous sunsets, sunrises, and starry nights. We will be staying in domed tents and eating many a PB&J. I’m excited to be going on our first adventure organized by ourselves. Hopefully there will be many more to come. In a few weeks things at school are going to start getting busier with papers—so I will probably get started on that this weekend! No need to procrastinate, even in Botswana. The CIEE gang is also starting up traditional dance lessons once a week for the semester next Thursday. Hopefully I will come back with some routines to show everyone!

I am also working on putting on Mt. Kilimanjaro adventure together with Ivy. We have been researching routes and rental equipment so hopefully that will be sorted out in the next few days. I am trying to find a time to meet up with Zach but his spring break clashes with when I am at my rural homestay in Mochudi. We definitely need to find time to see each other though—perhaps in Jo’burg or Swaziland some weekend!

I hope all is well for everyone at home and abroad. I had a dream last night that I was back in the US—pretty strange to wake up in my room in Gaborone. I’m loving every minute here but miss you all. After the initial honeymoon phase of culture shock, I’ve come to realize just how much all of you mean to me!!

Go siame!

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