Week 1

I have had quite the lack on internet access, in addition to a lack of time to use computers, so these next few blogs will be pretty long. It has been a big, busy week so there is a LOT to talk about :) Our days begin with breakfast from 7:30-8:30. Botswana is very slow paced, including their meal times. This is something that I still have not adjusted to because I am used to constantly being on the go and scarfing my food down as I am running out the door to my destination. Our first week was orientation-getting acquainted with the University of Botswana, the campus, the people, the city of Gaborone, and starting to get some more insight on what we would be doing for the next three weeks. We love tea time because we get a 15 minute or so break with tea or coffee, muffins, finger sandwiches, etc. It may or may not be our favorite part of the day. We also decided that regardless of how OU feels about it, we are going to implement this treasured time into our daily schedule. On Tuesday we got to tour the campus which was really helpful. We got a thorough tour of the library, which a few people mentioned looked like Ping. I didn't see it, but that might be because I kind of live there and see every inch of the building on a very regular basis :) The view from the library was amazing. You could see mountains in the distance and so much of the city, and from another side you could see the futbol stadium.

The inside of the library

View of city and other scenery from the library

Karabo and Thato, our campus guides and new friends, giving us a tour of campus. They were explaining the significance behind this statue of a man and a cow. To fund the University, each person had to donate cattle. I really liked the significance of this because it is a constant reminder of where the University came from and how they got to where they are today.

We have been having Setswana lessons, which is, interesting. Haha. We are having a LOT of fun with it, though, and making some progress. Our Setwana instructor is fantastic. She is a tall, loud, expressive and warm lady. We have really enjoyed the short time we have had with her. I am pretty good at pronouncing the sometimes awkward sounds, like "tle" or tswere" and just rolling "r's" in general. I am not great, however, at remembering the phrases and putting them together. I have some work to do, but I don't think I am the only one :)

Something that some of us have been craving are sweets!!! They don't really do dessert, which alone, was quite a shock for me because it is such a big part of my life...haha! Courtney and I, by the second afternoon, had made our way to the unversity convenience story to buy one of the two flavors of ice cream bars. They also have cream filled cookies that we have probably eaten wayy to many of.

On Tuesday night, we got Karabo to take us to play futbol(soccer), which I have realized is HUGE basically everywhere else in the world except for in the U.S. We walked to the soccer/netball/volleyball/soccer courts after dinner. We played a little bit of volleyball, but quickly transitioned to soccer. We didn't know what was about to hit us when we decided to play with Karabo. He has probably the quickest feet I have ever seen. He also scaled a 20-foot chain-linked fence, twice, because we kicked the ball over. He looked like Spiderman, and made it look like it was nothing. Amazing. I had not played soccer since I was about 7 or 8, so I was not great, but I suppose I held my own. It was a blast. It was really the first time we got to do something that was not scheduled and just spend some time getting to know one another. Unfortunately, my skills could not last all night, and when the other team was about to score when I was playing defense, I somehow kicked my own legs out from under me and beefed it. Leave it to me to be clumsy...oh well, somebody had to do it.

Our pitiful game of volleyball

On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, during the day, we had our lonnnnnnnnng lonnnnnnnnnng days of more orientation. What we discussed was really valuable information and the people who presented to us were helpful, it was just the sessions that were long when we didn't really have breaks in between the hour long presentations. But I was glad that we got this part over with at the beginning and after that we can just go do what we came here to do.

We have been doing some exploration of the malls and some shopping. The first mall we went to is called Riverwalk. It is about a 20 to 25 minute walk, but that is with a group of 20, so it takes much longer than it would with one or two people. When we walked into the entrance of the mall we had an interesting experience with some locals. They ran up to us screaming "White people!!" and "Whitey!" and tried to hug some of the people in the group. I knew that was not really an ok thing to do, so I bolted and luckily avoided that situation. Poor Karabo...he has to deal with being in an African country with 20 white people. He is such a good sport. After that happened, some of us couldn't get over it and couldn't stop laughing. We got a really big kick out of it because obviously it was something we had not experienced. We talked about how if the situation were reversed, how that situation would play out...probably not so good. Haha. Another time when we went to Riverwalk we ate outside at a restaurant and got a huge table. It was another really fun bonding time for all of us. Courtney, Zach, and I saw that they had Sambuca shooters on the drink menu, but they were different colors. We couldn't pass it up, so we order three blue ones.

During dinner, we had a fun time talking with Karabo and spending time with him on a more informal, personal level. We are pretty entertained by all of the funny myths and misconceptions that Motswana people have about Americans. He told us that they think that we get married sometimes at age 16 or 17. They also think everyone keeps a dog as a pet, which they think is weird because they only use dogs for protection. There are quite a few funny myths and things that he has shared with us that we get a kick out of.

We have been learning a lot of songs and dances and games that help us to get a little more familiar with their culture and things kids learn growing up. We learned their version of "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes." It is pretty entertaining to see a bunch of 20-somethings do dances and singing songs that kids learn in Kindergarten and early primary school.

We saw presentations from many of the organizations that we had the option of working with. The first day we saw SOS (A children's orphanage), SAPSSI (Salvation Army Psycho-Social Support Initiative), and LifeLinfe (a counseling service). SOS and SAPSSI caught my attention quite a bit because they involve working with kids. The second day, we had numerous presentations, none of which really sparked any of my interest because, again, I am really looking to work with kids because that is what is applicable to my major and what I am passionate about. There are a lot of great options though for the variety of people and majors we have on this trip. I am sure people will find something they are drawn to, and if not, hopefully they will end up having an amazing experience, regardless, and making the CHOICE to make it a good experience (even if it's not exactly what they had in mind). That is something that I think some people are struggling with but, again, I hope they just really make the best of any situation, because we are here to help and here for a life experience-whether it is positive or negative is up to them. Personally, I can't wait to start working, wherever I end up. It will be so exciting, scary, and incredible. I am really glad that most of the people on this trip are making an effort to keep this as positive of an experience for everyone as possible!