Getting settled...

We arrived at the University of Botswana, UB, and got our room assignments. I am in an apartment with Courtney, Clare, Kate, and two local women. One is named Esale and when she first walked in the door, she grabbed Courtney by the hand, dragged her to our main room, got the rest of us out of our rooms and greeted us with a warm and excited "Dumela, mma!"(how they say hello to a woman) and hugged us all with all of her might. It was the best way to be welcomed into our new home for the next month. Our rooms are simple but the apartments are nice. There are 6 rooms, a toilet room, and shower room, and a main living room/kitchen. Each room has a twin bed, a desk, a big closet, and a shelf. I spent quite a bit of time unpacking, organizing, reorganizing, refolding, and being really OCD...cuz I tend to do that sometimes :)

bed

desk

We got padlocks for each of our doors and our room door and the door to the apartment stays locked pretty much at all times, even when we are here. It really is safe here, the locks are just to protect our stuff, because they never know who is walking around campus since it is pretty open.

After we g0t settled we went to the staff cafeteria for our first meal. We did not go to the student cafeteria because they are on a three-month winter break. Our first meal consisted of papa, this mushy white stuff that looks liked mashed potatoes, but it pretty much tastes like thick and dry grits...haha. They are pretty plain but they are good if you put something on it, like gravy. The food was more varied than I expected. I literally expected just meat and rice for every meal. Those are a big part of every meal but they always offer a few more sides, which was pleasantly surprising! Some other things we have eaten are cabbage, chicken, beef, pumpkin, etc. They drink this super sweet fruit drink that comes in cans. It is a little much for me but it has been fun to try all the different fruit flavors.

cafeteria

Thato, Kate, Zach and me eating in the cafeteria

Luckily the water is perfectly fine to drink out of the tap, so we have been filling up water bottles. The meals are good, but BIG, and really filling. They also don't really snack. It is basically just 3 large meals a day, which is a little different because we tend to snack a lot at home. I like the food, I LOVE the people, and I really enjoyed interacting with all these people-OU students, UB students, UB faculty, and others. The people from Botswana, who are called Motswana-not "Botswanans." They are so loving, welcoming, joyful, and just friendly! It is sooo refreshing and wish Americans could take some notes from the people in Botswana. I can't wait to spend the majority of my days with these incredible people.