Home (Almost as Sweet as Africa) Home

My study abroad experience has been the most amazing experience of my life. I cannot believe that almost 5 months has passed and I'm already back home. It seems like I just left a few weeks ago, but when I look back at everything I got to see and do I feel like it was an entire chapter of my life. It is wonderful to be home and see all my friends and family, but I miss everything about Africa. As much as I hated on the food, I miss papatas! I miss taking combis to the Station, Main mall, and S.O.S. Orphanage. I miss going on adventures to cities outside of Gabs and Countries outside of Botswana: South Africa, Mozambique, and my favorite.. Zimbabwe! I miss having the chance to do crazy things I will never do again.. bungee jumping at Victoria Falls off of the highest bridge in the world, night swims in the jellyfish infested waters of the beautiful Indian ocean in Ponta de Ouro, and climbing the -way harder than it looks- Table Mountain in Cape Town. I miss the feeling of being somewhere new and exciting and different full of different people, culture, foods, and environment. I miss the children at Tshwaragano Primary School in Old Naledi and at S.O.S. Orphanage. I miss hearing Liquideep and all the other fun house music beats at Bull and Bush, and dancing like crazy! During my African adventure I saw animals galore, traveled everywhere possible, bartered with street crafters, experienced a mediocre at best education system, met amazing people with fascinating stories, and I even fell in love. I miss Africa and everything it has to offer. And that is why this is not the end to my African adventure. A few years down the road I hope to return and explore more, meet more people, do more things, learn more, and grow even more than I already have from this trip. I thank God for this opportunity and for blessing me with people in my life that helped get me there like my Mom, my Aunt Amy and Uncle Rich, and all my other family, my church family at Townsend Congregational Church, and the people that enabled me to receive study abroad scholarship money from the University of Hartford. I also thank God for all of those people I met during my adventure that impacted me, especially my boyfriend, Fungai who still makes me smile everyday even when we live on opposite sides of the world. God has truly blessed me with unforgettable people and amazing opportunities and experiences that I do not take for granted. Africa, I'll see you soon.

Say, Say Zimbabwe!

It was Easter break, the long weekend before finals start and I was finally going to have an opportunity to see Victoria Falls, one of the seven wonders of the world. The trip began with a packed bus (including a woman sitting next to me with her chicken sitting on the floor between her feet) from Gabs to Francistown. We stayed the night in Francistown with a local friend's brother and then the plan was to catch another bus to Kasane in the morning. That night in Francistown was the worst start to a trip. Before we had gone to bed we realized that there were big spiders on the ceiling and a ton a tiny baby spiders throughout the web. I kept feeling something on me throughout the night but it took me a little while to realize that I wasn't dreaming and there actually were things crawling on me. I would brush my arm and could feel six or seven little things in my hand, what I had thought were those spiders. I would brush my leg, another ten, and the worst was on the back of my neck on my hair line, I would scrape six or seven off at a time. I didn't want to turn the light on and see, I wanted to just pretend like nothing was happening and try to get any sleep that I could. After being pretty unsuccessful at that, I woke up and saw my body, and my blanket covered in hundreds and hundreds of tiny ants. I was brushing them off, taking off my clothes and they were underneath my clothes even. There were four of us all sleeping on one big bed, and I was the only one with ants. I think it was because I was up against the wall/window. Then we noticed they were not only on me but all in our bags. I had a bag with food and a bag without, and there were hundreds in each. With little time to make it to the station to catch our bus, we quickly rinsed off packaged food, and shook out our bags over the bath tub, and washed about a thousand ants down the drain. Eww.

We eventually made it to Kasane (in Northern Bots) and then crossed the Zimbabwean border. I was so excited to be in this county. Even with the political and economic issues in Zim, it seemed so interesting to me, especially because that is where my very best friend here, Fungai, is from. We made it to Victoria Falls and stayed at Shoestrings backpackers, recommended to us by everyone else who had already gone to Vic Falls. We began to plan for the four days that we would be there, wanting to do a lot but not spend too much money that we didn't have. That Thursday night we realized that Shoestrings was a good choice! I felt like I was living at a club, which would not be good long term, but for four days of fun, it was great! I watched traditional Zimbabwean dancing, then did a lot of dancing on my own. But we didn't stay up too late that night because we new what we were in for the next morning.

We woke up and headed off towards the actual falls, specifically to the bridge that connected Zimbabwe and Zambia (so technically, I also visited Zambia on this trip!). We had already paid for the package so there was no going back: Zip line over the falls, bungee jump off the bridge, and then Swing off the bridge. The zip line came first, and it was a nice and easy way to start things off and to see the beautiful falls. Then came the bungee.. I was so nervous. I watched about fifteen people go before I went, including my other three friends that I was traveling with. I sat on an overhang on the bridge, with two cameras in my face, and a guy wrapping up my ankles and connecting them to the bungee. My friends told me to make sure I jumped out far and put my arms out because it made for better pictures. A guy helped me waddle to the edge, told me to look at the horizon and to jump as far out as I could when he said “bungee”. Then before I could even think about what was happening.. “Three, Two, One, BUNGEE!”. He pushed me off and I jumped as far out as I could. For the next couple of minutes it was nothing but adrenaline, fear, dizziness, and pure ecstasy as the bungee flipped me up and down, and spun me around.

I felt so relieved after, but still nervous. I still had to do the swing. Which sounds so easy and boring, right? Its just a swing. No. Everyone who I had been talking to that had done both, said the swing was more scary than the bungee. This time I didnt want to wait to go, as soon as I could get on a harness, I put my name on the list and waited. Again, I was pushed out to the edge, this time with nothing on my feet, just ropes connected to my harness. They told me to hold onto one rope, and dont touch the other. Again, seconds later.. “Three, Two, One, SWING!”. I jumped off the edge, this time feet first instead of head first for a straight free fall, farther than the bungee. Once I felt like I was just a few feet away from the water (although it was more like a few yards away), instead of going back up like the bungee, I swung out towards the rocks and continued swinging back and forth. As I started to slow down and the fear was gone, I was able to enjoy my absolutely beautiful surroundings and be proud that I, a girl who used to have a fear of heights and doesn't even go on big roller coasters, jumped off the highest bridge in the world and completed the third highest bungee jump in the world.

The next day we went into the actual falls. I don't have many good pictures because I didn't want my camera to get wet. We got soaked. Didn't even bother to buy the ponchos that everyone was selling, just enjoyed every minute of the breathtaking falls.

On Sunday, Jenn and I met up with two friends we had met at Shoestrings who wanted to take us to “the location” where all the locals lived. The “short” 45 minute walk in the crazy heat was not amazing, but it was so great to how people lived. Matthew, one friend lived in a cement block house that was only partially constructed with some walls, and not many ceilings. He lived in a small bedroom with a mattress on the floor, a tin roof, and a T.V. even though they had not had electricity for several weeks. We then went on to see another friends place, Pardon. Similar, except he had an actual roof and he shared a real kitchen with others.. although, he too had not had electricity in awhile. Pardon was a 33 year old Rastafarian man who had a little table at Shoestrings of Rastafarian things he made and sold, as well as was the entertainer. He did drumming, played guitar, did fire spinning performances, and was an amazing break dancer. Oh, the people you'll meet at a backpackers. :)

The rest of my time in Zim included a lot of dancing, listening to live reggae, meeting new people, shopping and bartering for crafts, eating some good food, getting an outdoor manicure-pedicure and hour long sweetish deep tissue massage all for only $35, getting hit on by the bartender and a lot of other people, riding elephants on Easter morning, holding baby crocodiles, not sleeping too much (cause that wastes time!) and just enjoying the experience.

I decided I will go back to Zimbabwe some day. I never got to see the capitol where Fungai is from, which I really wanted to do. So somewhere in my 5 year plan is teaching at Harare International School for a year or two, and of course making another visit to Victoria Falls.

Taking on the Okavango Delta!

On Thursday we began making plans to go to the Okavango Delta on Friday. I am such a planner, but I love being spontaneous here! After celebrating St. Patrick's day by going to see Celtic Fusion, a band from Ireland, we got up at 4am the next morning to catch our 10 hour bus to Maun. Katie, an international student from Colorado, Jenn, and I got on the bus and there were a total of five other people. Excited, we laid down across three seats and went to bed, soon waking up as we realized that this bus stops every half hour picking up new people, and this was not going to be as comfortable as the intercape buses that we took to Mozambique. It was hot, crowded, and the seats were not comfy at all, but by 4pm we made it to Maun.

Here is a map to show you where Maun and the Delta is! (Gaborone, the capital in the south being where I stay, and also Serowe is where the Khama Rhino Santuary was that I blogged about in the last post)

We got to The Old Bridge Backpackers which was recommended to us by friends, and to save money decided to only pay for one room (which meant paying 150 pula for a backpacker, and then paying for two 'campers' which is 50 pula each). So two people shared a small bed, one one person slept on the floor (luckily I got the bed!). The Backpackers was located right on the Thamalakane river, which leads to the Okavango Delta. It was beautiful to watch the sunset over the river, and read my book while I laid on a hammock under a tree.

When we first arrived we met these two girls in their mid twenties from the States who had been traveling around the world for a couple years, and had no plan of stopping anytime soon. They would travel until they ran out of money and then stopped to work for awhile. They had lived in three different cities in Australia working as waitresses or doing other little jobs working 50 hour weeks to save money. Then when they had enough, they continued on their way. They had already done most of Asia, some of Europe, and was working their way up Africa. All having a love for travel, it was safe to say that all three of us wanted to be these girls. After hearing about their adventurers, I too want to travel the world as much as possible!

These girls invited us to catch a ride with them to the local bar where there was a pilot party. Maun has one of the busiest airports, with small planes flying travelers all around different areas of the Delta and of course getting people to and from the Delta. We met pilots from all across the world now working or training in Maun, including people from New Zealand, Europe, Canada, and of course South Africa. The pilots do some sort of initiation by making each person do “an omelet” once they have completed their training. Two guys stood on chairs and first had to eat an entire egg, shell and all. They just plopped it in their mouths and chewed! So gross! Then had to chug a drink that was a shot of 15 different types of beer with a shot of some sort of hard liquor dropped into that. We danced with a pilot that used to be an aerobics instructor on a cruise ship (and boy was that obvious, haha), met as many people as possible, and then after stopping at a club that did not look safe, we decided to just call it a night and head back to the backpackers.

The next morning we got up and went on a Makoro trip. A makoro boat is a dug out canoe that is used in the shallow waters of the Delta. It is pushed by a man standing at the back of the boat pushing against the ground with a large pole. We were very nervous to go on this trip. We felt like this was probably going to be the riskiest thing that we do during all our time in Africa. Why were we so nervous? Well, less than three weeks before, four people were out in the evening on the river very close to the backpackers. There were two girls, including one American, and two local guys, including one that was the bartender at Old Bridge. They had been attacked by a hippo.. one guy getting killed from the hippo, and the other drowning, because he couldn't swim. The two girls were able to make it to shore. Everyone had been talking about what had happened, even people 10 hours away in Gabs. Everyone knows that hippo are extremely dangerous and for no reason at all.

We first took a motor boat down the river, already seeing dozens of different types of birds including herons, and the African fish eagle! Then we went to a small shore where we got onto the Makoro boats. Jenn and Katie went on one boat, and I went on another. My 'driver' was the young one, only 21 but looked 16. His name was Rogah, pronounced like Roger with an accent! Of course I had to tell him that was my Dad's name :) They steered us through the narrow pathways of the shallow delta, getting hit in the face often with the reeds shooting up from the water. But when I wasn't protecting my face, and we had a little more space, I felt so peaceful surrounded by water lilies. Rogah pointed out these little white frogs that were sitting on the reeds, and told me about how he loved being able to meet tourists from all over the world. Then he pointed out this noise that he said was a hippo! The water opened up and we could see the ears and noses of two hippos sticking out of the water (the most that most ever see of hippo). We sat behind some reeds, far enough away that we were safe, and watched ready with cameras in hand. Then one hippo sprang out of the water, mouth open, and left a big splash in the water. I hoped that I got a good picture! After watching them “play” for about 20 minutes we continued on our way.

Soon, we stopped, had lunch, and walked around “the bush” (in case you haven't heard this term, it means the places in Africa that are wild and free; rural areas with trees, bushes, and animals roaming free). We didn't see much during our walk besides one elephant way off in the distance. But we were so far away that I barely count it. I know that when I go up north to Chobe I will see tons of elephants, so I was not that disappointed. We headed back, seeing one more hippo's ears and nose on the way, but didnt stop to watch, because it soon went under water and we didnt know where it was. It really was an amazing once in a lifetime trip into the famous Okavango Delta.. well worth the 650 pula (about $100 USD).

The rest of the short weekend adventure was full of meeting new people and relaxing by the pool. On Sunday morning we went out to breakfast at a place near the airport, where coincidentally we saw several of the pilots we had met at the pilot party. We headed back, enduring another long and uncomfortable bus ride back to Gabs.. but it was well worth it!

Lists

Classes I'm Taking (with a score of 1-10 based on how much I am enjoying the class overall.. 0 being the worst, 10 the best)

Politics of Poverty in Southern Africa (3)

HIV/AIDS: Education, Prevention, and Control (my professor never really shows up so its hard to judge but.. 3)

Sociology of Race and Ethnicity (8)

Sociology of Cultural and Social Anthropology (was a 5 or 6 but now that the Professor has changed to the same as my Race and Ethnicity class.. its up to a 7)

Health and Wellness (1)

Weird Things I've Eaten

Mopane Worm

Common Words/Phrases

Dumela (hello)

hows it? (hows it going?)

Wa reng? (Whats up?)

is it? (oh really?)

aye...yaaaaa (meaning something like oh boy.. for example.. if someone says they have three tests today you could respond by saying aye yaa. I use it in a joking way usually.. like when a group of friends are talking in Setswana i'll just say aye yaaa or aye raa (meaning yes sir).

Animals I'v Seen

Zebra

Ostrich

Ampala

Warthog

Monkey

Rhino

Giraffe

Water Buck

Springbok

Wildebeest

Kudu

Favorite African Songs (for my girls to listen to!)

HOUSE MUSIC!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA3Z9S2zVVk Liquideep – Alone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7RU9T-UgQ8 Liquideep – Fairytale

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQbxy9WLsA8 Zakes Bantwini - Clap Your Hands

Favorite Places to Eat

Primi – Italian

Equatorial Cafe

Linga Longa

Rodizio – Brazillian

Chicken Licken – fast food

Favorite Places I've been so far

1. Ponte De Ouro, Mozambique of course!

2. Khama Rhino Sanctuary in Serowe – about 4 hours northeast of Gaborone. We stayed in a beautiful chalet on the reserve and enjoyed three game drives at sunrise, afternoon, and early evening! All the pictures in this post are from the Rhino Sanctuary!

Possibly the best week of my life... so far!

Semester break was finally here, and I was more than ready for it. The excitement had been building as locals told me that Mozambique had the most beautiful beaches in all of Africa. We left early Friday morning for the bus pickup where we had already bought all of our bus tickets ahead of time. Everyone got off at the South African border (only about 25 minutes away from school) to fill out their departure/arrival forms and such and less than an hour into the trip, I was almost brought to tears. To stay in Botswana Americans don't need visas but once we get here we have to get a waiver.. basically a piece of paper saying were allowed to be here for less than six months. The University of Botswana international office had made a copy of my waiver for me, telling me not to bring my actual waiver anywhere so I don't lose it, to just keep it in my room and bring the copy everywhere I go. Well, it just so happens to cross borders you need your original waiver, a copy will not do. After arguing with immigration officers for 20 minutes about how we already paid for our bus and we couldn't go back, we eventually took our stuff off the bus and began thinking of a plan. I was traveling with three other international students, two of which had their real waivers with them so continued on to Johannesburg, and one of which was stuck at the border with me.

Rushing off the bus, we were telling Laura and Sagan (the two continuing on, best friends from Wisconsin) that we would try to catch the bus the next morning and somehow meet them in Mozambique. Frustrated and upset that our break was being ruined we tried to think of what else we could do. Jenn, my roommate and travel partner from Washington state thought of the idea to hitchhike. [Worrying family, please brace yourself for the following story and know that I am being very safe here and I do realize that some things that I did may not have been the safest decisions in the world but they were the best choices at the time, they were learning experiences and I do not regret them] At first, I didnt want to. Of course it sounded dangerous to me even though I did know that hitchhiking is extremely common in Africa, unlike the States. We went to the border security guards and told them our situation and asked if they thought it would be safe to hitchhike back to school, get our waivers, then hitchhike to Johannesburg so we could catch out next bus as Laura and Sagan waited at the station during our layover. They all agreed that we would be perfectly fine.

A little worried, we decided we would ask people that were crossing into Botswana that looked harmless (that sounds so stupid when I write it because I know you cant really tell good and bad people from looks) and see if they would bring us back to school. The first guy that pulled up was a middle aged white South African man in a jeep, he had no problem bringing us so we hopped in and began our journey. We had been driving for 20 minutes and he said he just needed to stop by his house real quick before we went to UB. We're sitting in his driveway, Jenn in the passenger seat and me in the back, and after 10 minutes he comes out of his house with nothing but rope (that kind of looked like a karate belt?) and a box cutter. As he walked towards the jeep I kept saying between my teeth to Jenn “Is that a box cutter? Why does he have a box cutter? Why would be have rope and a box cutter?” My stomach tightened as he opened the back door, put the rope and box cutter behind the drivers seat and got back into the car. He said nothing about it. We continued on our way and he began making small talk. It ended up he is a scientist that is working at the University. He stopped and bought us fat cakes (doughnut things) from his favorite bakery then dropped us off, telling us where his office is if we ever wanted to stop by. And that was that. I will never know, and didn't want to ask, why he stopped at his house for rope and a box cutter.. but luckily, he actually was a very nice man and hopefully had a very normal reason for needing those things.

Once back at school we had to run around using peoples phones and such and eventually had our good friend Anthony come to bring us Jenn's phone (he was keeping all our valuables at his house for the week) and he ended up being us back to the border.. after we had gotten our waivers of course. At the border, finding another car to hitchhike to Jo'burg in was easier than I ever would have thought. In line at immigration, a man overhearing us talking offered to drop us off there on his way back home to Pretoria. We took the first offer we got! The man seemed very nice, another middle aged white South African who was traveling with his business partner back home from a business trip to Gaborone. On our way to their car as we walked through the border, we got another offer from a sweet looking couple to bring us to Jo'burg. We actually would rather have gone with them, but the other guys were already waiting for us, so we kept to the plan. Four hours later, after driving through the beautiful hills and small towns of South Africa, we made it to the station and managed to find Laura and Sagan sitting at a restaurant after about 20 minutes. People must have thought we hadn't seen each other in years, we were so excited to be reunited and back on track with the plan. After an overnight bus to Maputo, the capitol of Mozambique, we took a ferry to Catembe and then got picked up by a guy from the place we were staying at. It was another three hour drive, very bumpy and very dusty with house music blasting nice and loud the whole way.

Finally we had made it to our final destination of Ponta de Ouro, Mozambique. We were staying at Kaya Kweru in the backpackers hostels. We stayed in bunk beds and shared a kitchen area with a couple other people. There was a pool, a bar, and most importantly a two minute walk to the beach from our room! Our week consisted mostly of relaxing on the beach, swimming in the ocean (my first time seeing and being in the Indian ocean!), boogie boarding, trying to avoid the blue jellyfish, and exploring the town. In the mornings we would take a walk to the market where locals have little tables and booths with fruit, vegetables, eggs, pasta, and a few other things. We would go to this little bakery hidden in the market every morning for fresh little loaves of bread for 10 meticais (32 cents in USD!) that would last me three meals or so. A couple days into the trip we found tons of booths selling African souvenirs with jewelery, artwork, carvings, and all that good stuff. I had a good time making small talk with the guys from Maputo selling things that their “dad or brother made”.. we literally met over 30 people that have very creative dad's and brothers..haha. And of course I bargained my way into getting many good souvenirs.

In Mozambique they speak Portuguese, and really the only word I learned other than hola was obrigado, meaning thank you. On the first day I must have said it 20 times to different people at the backpackers and the market, every time getting a laugh when I said it. I assumed my accent sounded funny to them, until the next day I was told boys say Obrigado and girls are supposed to say obrigada.. the laughing now made even more sense.

One day we rented 4-wheelers and took them up the coast for awhile. We went to a place called 360 and ate a meal with a beautiful 360 degree view of Ponta de Ouro. We saw many friendly locals including little boys trying to sell us chameleons (which is illegal to do), and found some other booths with similar crafts.

On the last morning of our trip we woke up at 5:15 to go out on a 'swimming with dolphins' trip. This wasn't the kind where you swim on their backs or anything, this was with wild dolphins and there were very specific instructions about what we were supposed to do. We even learned what it meant when the dolphins did certain things, and what we should do in response. We were so excited even though all of us had sunburn on some part of our bodies (Me being the least burnt by far). We helped push the catamaran boat into the water and everything began moving very quickly and they were yelling for us to jump in. We just did our best to jump in, and for me it didn't work out so well, haha! I cut open my leg and scrapped my knee. It really wouldn't have been that big of a deal if it wasn't for my blood phobia. As the blood dripped down my leg and I wiped it away over and over again all my friends and I could think about was me passing out while sitting on the edge of a boat going 30 MPH through the ocean's waves. Luckily I was able to zone out the blood and focus on the beauty around me, the peacefulness of the ocean and the wind blowing through my hair. 20 minutes went by looking for the dolphins, then 30, then 40.. then we started to worry. Eventually we stopped to get out and snorkel anyways, hoping to see something until we found the dolphins. As we plopped into the water and looked down at the black and brown rocks on the bottom of the ocean's floor we began noticing jellyfish everywhere. There were jellies literally a foot away from my face, and since Sagan had just been stung the day before we were not willing to risk getting stung to look at a boring oceans floor. We all agreed that if there were dolphins we would go back in and risk it. So we got back in the boat where Laura began trying to throw up over the side because of sea sickness and Jenn curled up in pain from having her sunburnt stomach dragged across the boat as she was pulled back in. We continued looking for another 20 minutes, then headed back to shore with nothing but pain and disappointment all around. They said that hasn't happened in a very long time and that we could come back the next day for a free trip out to try again. Unfortunately, that was our last day and the next offer do it the next time we come back to Ponta de Ouro didn't sound too much better considering the chances that we will ever be in this place again are not the highest.

Trying to forget about the 300 rand (44 USD) I had wasted on the dolphin trip, I was so happy with our relaxing but adventure filled trip. We then headed back to Gaborone, the same way we got here.. minus the hitchhiking. Ended the trip with a marriage proposal on the ferry from a man from Catembe who wanted me to stay in Catembe with him forever. Unfortunately, I had to break his heart. We had a wonderful meal in Maputo, a very large, busy city that was kind of dirty and did not interest me too much, before boarding our bus back to Jo'burg. During our long layovers in Jo'burg we took turns watching the bags and going out to explore the city for a little bit. Jenn and I adventured out first, having been warned that we were in a somewhat dangerous area of the city. We walked for about 15 or 20 minutes both times that we went being bombarded with “Hello beautiful! Can I be your friend? Can I walk with you? Onions! Three Rand! Can I take you to the movies? Kiss me!” and our repetition of “No” and “Don't touch me” got old and we made our way back to the station after buying a few treats for the ride. It is not a place your should walk around with more than 10 rand on you, and never walk alone or at night, but it was great to experience the crazy streets of Jo'burg.. I still find it amusing that even in South Africa we stood out as the only white girls around, getting way more unwanted attention than we ever have in Gabs.

This trip was amazing. This was why I wanted to study abroad: to experience new lands, meet new people, and learn about new cultures though once in a lifetime experiences. It made me even more excited for my next traveling adventures up to northern Botswana to Chobe, to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, and to Capetown, S.A.

Weekend Cultural Excursion

I woke up early Saturday morning not feeling very well (I'll explain this later) and boarded the bus with most of the other international students. We began our trip by going to a village where we learned about culture and customs from the Chief Representative, Pastor, and other important men in the tribe. They only spoke Setswana but there were people from the international office that came and acted as translators. After introductions they asked for five girls and five guys to volunteer, of course I stood right up! They took us away from the rest of the group and explained we would be doing a mock wedding. The Chief Representative looked at all of us for a minute and then chose me as the bride, and a guy who was one of the few international students who I had never met before to be the groom. Everyone else were given other titles like.. mother to the bride, uncles, etc. We then took part in the traditional wedding where my groom was asked many questions like “Where did you first meet her?” and “What were the first words you said to her?” (I believe his response to that one was.. you light up my life? Haha). I had more yes or no questions but when asked “What do you plan to do once you are married?” I said, “We are going to build a home and have many children”. :)

After that we went to see the village dam, then rock painting that were up to 2000 years old and the Livingstone tree. Before I got back on the bus at the rocks, I noticed two little girls behind a fence waiving. I went over waiving and saying “Dumela!” and showed them Sweetarts that I had brought with me. They did not speak English but I was trying to explain what they were and showing them that you eat them and they are sweet. They were very nervous eating them, but then smiled as I had to run back to the bus where everyone was waiting. More little girls were near the bus at the Livingstone tree as well. Many of us tried talking to them and then took pictures with them, and of course they got sweetarts too.

We went to have lunch at a cultural lodge or something. When you are on a cultural excursion in Botswana, going to eat a

traditional meal, you do not expect the first things you see and hear when you walk in is Snoop Dog playing on a flat screen TV. But anyways, the food was okay. Everyone else loved it but turns out.. I am the pickiest eater ever (Kasey, you would starve here). I usually like things that they serve for breakfast but I do not like too much of the day to day food here. Next, we made our way to the “village” that we would be spending the night at. I thought we were going to an actual village, but this was more of a tourist lodge that is a village-like experience. There were five or six older women and one old man that led the welcoming ceremony, danced, and told us about their cultures growing up. I believe it was all very culturally accurate and it was still so much fun even if it was not a real village. At dinner I tried a sip of their traditional beer and it was ten times worse than regular beer... yuck. At night there were two different fires going, and the one I was at we all played Mafia for a long time and then I headed off to bed in my mud hut (that had lights and an outlet?).

The next morning I woke up for the best meal that I have had here so far (not counting going out to an Italian restaurant). I had porridge with lots of sugar in it, eggs, and a fat cake. Fat cakes are very common here, it is a bread that has been fried...delicious but not nutritious! Then we left the village to go to the Mokolodi Game Reserve. We were welcomed with juice and champagne.. which ended up being mimosas! Then we began the game drive where I saw two beautiful zebras right away, ostriches, warthogs, and this deer like animal with big ears which I cannot remember the name. I thought that the best place to sit would be on the outside so I could get the best pictures, but it turned out to be the worst place to sit because I got hit with branches and thorns many times and I would have to duck every thirty seconds in defense of some tree. We then made it to where we would have lunch. Everyone loved it, and even I thought some things were pretty good but I had ate so much at breakfast because I was so excited that there were so many things I actually liked, that I was not very hungry at lunch. We then made our way back to campus late Sunday afternoon, where I just relaxed for the rest of the night.

So about why I was not feeling well... Saturday morning I woke up feeling so tired even though I had slept a good amount, and my eye lids were swollen. During the whole trip my body ached a little and my eyes were swollen some of the time, but it was not that bad. Now its Tuesday, and it has not gotten any better. I am so tired even though I have been sleeping a lot, my whole body aches, my eye lids are all swollen and my eyes hurt, I felt nauseous once but Pepto Bismol fixed that, I have had a few headaches (which I normally never get), and been a little dizzy. My self diagnosis is heat exhaustion from being out in the heat a lot and not drinking enough water, so ive been trying to take it easy and drink a lot of liquids. I may go to the health clinic tomorrow and I will keep everyone updated, but I think its nothing to worry about.

(So I wrote this all on Tuesday and am now posting it on Wednesday but update.. went to the clinic, still waiting for blood test results, they cant give me anything for my eyes, oh yeah and then I passed out.. One second I'm feeling dizzy so I sit down on a bench, next thing I know I wake up on the ground with people surrounding me... so then I went back to the health clinic again. I think I passed out from the horrible combination of heat, being sick, and having my blood taken.)

The People of Botswana: good and bad

THE GOOD

As I said in my last post, the people here are so friendly and welcoming! Everyone is always saying “Dumela” and more than happy to answer any questions. At meals sometimes I go sit with random locals instead of at an empty table or with just international students. The girls here love telling me about their culture, and about the villages which they come from (everyone says that no one is from Gaborone, everyone is from a village and they come to Gaborone for school or work). By the end of the meal we will be practicing saying each others names and exchanging phone numbers.

Yesterday I was sitting on a bench eating lunch from a street vender with a few other international students and could hear three or four girls sitting on a nearby bench listening to “How You Remind Me” by Nickleback. Of course I sang along for a little while and at one time made eye contact with one of the girls who were also signing along. After we had finished and were walking away the girl game running up behind us and said, “I like you”. We smiled and I started to say, “I like you too!” with a giggle. Then she continued, “What I mean is.. I want to be your friend.” She had such a sweet and innocent face, and it was such a happy moment that someone who did not know us had the courage to come up and talk to us and say she wanted to be friends. Later I thought about how I have never done that to international students at my school (although here it is a little easier to tell who the international students are). But what I mean is, I feel that only during freshman orientation is it normal for someone to walk up to someone that they do not know and start a conversation. Here, it happens all the time.

Last night another girl stopped me to talk as I was walking back to my dorm, we ended up exchanging phone numbers and she invited me to go to church with her because “international students come here knowing God and Jesus and then once they get here they go party and drink”. This girl said she made it a goal that this semester to invite an international student to church with her, so maybe that wont happen. I thought that was so fascinating, and I hope that I wont be a disappointment to her when she finds out that I do like to go out to clubs with all my friends.

During our orientation it was explained to us that the relationship between men and women here are different. Guys are really only interested in talking to girls for some type of relationship, dating or sexual.. not friendship. It is not common for girls and guys to be good friends here like it is in the States. But so far, my friends and I have found that not always true. There is a local who studied abroad in the states last semester who is so willing to help, talk to, and be friends with any international student. Also, we have been hanging out with a group of local guys who are friends with another international student from France who has been here all year. These guys are very protective of us and make sure that we are safe at night. They talk to us and we hangout just like I would with guy friends from home. One guy that goes to the clubs with us even acts as my “fake boyfriend” (thats what I call it). Whenever he sees a guy that we do not know talking to me for too long or trying to dance with me when I do not want to, he comes over, grabs my hand and pulls me away (basically is my new Jordan and the rest of my girlfriends at home that do that for me haha). But not once has one of these guys crossed the line with me, they are very kind and I am glad I have locals to help protect me and some of the other international students.

THE BAD

We have been told a million times about being extra cautious of danger during our time here. Botswana is considered the safest country in Africa, a lot safer than even South Africa. I have made sure to always lock my door, even when I just run to the bathroom really quickly. I always walk in large groups at night that have some guys in it, and if not, we take a cab. And I go nowhere at night by myself at all. But not every international student has been as cautious and even so, there is still danger.

This weekend many international student went to Lizard Lounge, a local club. The streets you have to walk to get there and back are not the safest, but I walked in a group of about fifteen people, including five or six locals, some of which are big black guys that I know can protect us. Even so, I was cautious walking down the streets, and did keep my pepper spray with me. Another group of international students were going to take a cab back to campus but the driver would not let all six of them squish so the two guys let the four girls go in the cab and they walked back. When they arrived at the campus gate, there were four men trying to open the gate, they said it was locked. One international student tried to open the gate right as one guy attacked him from behind. The student tried to fight back at first because he was not a small guy himself but they continued choking him until he blacked out for a short period. By that time, the other guy that was with him had already been taken down and the attacker had taken out a knife and cut his neck, right below his ear. They took money, cell phones, and a camera and then left. As I already knew.. muggings are common here, but violent muggings are not. These four men were violent towards the two international students before they had even asked for their valuables. The first student who had been choked was fine, maybe having a couple bruises. And although the cut on the other students neck was small, he was bleeding, and no one can know for sure if that knife had been used before on others that may have had HIV/AIDS. This guy was taken to the hospital and is continuing to take preventative HIV treatment. His tests for HIV has come back negative, but he continues to take medication for about a month.

This was a scary event which the university took seriously, having a meeting about it with us on monday. I hope that it scared others into being more cautious. Those guys NEVER should have walked back at that time of night by themselves, I only felt safe because of the number of people I was with and who they were.

I am not trying to scare everyone back home, I just thought it was an interesting story. Most people are kind, some are not.. which is just like in every country. But I do feel safe here. I am not going to live in fear all of the time because that will just hold me back, but I will always be cautious and think about my safety with all the choices that I make.