Bits and pieces

I have officially eaten white rice four nights in a row and three lunches this week. I cannot explain to you how much Motswana love carbs. It's not uncommon to eat porridge, spaghetti, and bread all in one meal (all white, unfortunately). My host mother is literally trying to fatten me up, she told me so. They all want to be fat here and "look like the chief's wife". Statistically speaking, women tend to lose weight during PST and gain it during their service, so we shall see, but if my mother had her way I'd be eating about 3,000 calories a day in damn starch! I have to watch her and grab the plate away after about the fifth scoop of rice. Along with rice or spaghetti we have usually chicken cooked with spices, or beef (which I fricken love) that she cooks with spices, too. Super simple recipes but all pretty good, haven't had a problem yet except that she just gives me way too much and I never finish it. 

I don't know if I've touched on the bathing situation very well yet. Aside from taking bucket baths, which in all honesty I don't mind very much, we are supposed to take at least two baths a day. For pretty much anyone who knows me, is aware that bathing that much is a huge struggle and I had to lay it down right in the beginning, "Mma, I only bathe once a day". She just shook her head and walked away, and we've been swell ever since. Also, I dress roughly five thousand times nicer here than I did at home. Dresses pretty much daily, sometimes I really doll myself up with some mascara, I can see that ending pretty quickly, though. 

After class today (Friday) we got out early and they took us to the gym on campus and it was a blast. We all did yoga, basketball, ran, just blew off some steam after a week of being stuck in a classroom. After that we went to the bar right outside the college campus and it was even better. The locals were filming us in the bar because everyone was dancing and singing and acting crazy at 4pm. But, alas, we all have to be home before dark and all the zombies come out, so we left by 5:30pm. Great end to our first full week of PST. Here's to the next 9!

Oh oh oh, PS! They have great cheddar *flavored* popcorn. I don't care  if it's real cheese or not, as long as it tastes good, and it does. 

A nine year old is my best friend.

BOTSWANA

Botswana- the country

Batswana- the people 

Motswana- a singular person from Bots

Setswana- the language of Bots, although practically everyone speaks English, especially the young.

I have been in bots for about a week, and at my host families for 5 days. My host family is comprised of my host mother Mesego, and her grandson Lesego, who also lives in the house. Lesego's mother and three other children live next door with her 87 year old mother, as well as a plethora of her sisters whose names I cannot and will not ever remember or be able to pronounce. The community has been incredibly welcoming to us and we've had quite a few ceremonies to meet city officials as well as chief of our wards. There are many wards within the village and each ward has a chief who is born into the role. Their job is to oversee their designated community.

Every volunteer gets a Setswana name from their families when arriving and community members will always ask your English and Setswana name. No matter what, after you say your Setswana name, they will laugh. I've realized they aren't laughing at me, it's just what they do. Most people get names like "blessed one" and "gift from God" but nope, I am Gaone which means young one. I like it, I think it's endearing and not cheesy, it's the name she calls her children. 

Things I've learned about Botswana....a vast generalization:

1. Motswana  women have hands of steel. They can pick up a metal kettle that that has boiling water in it and think nothing of it, while I, very clumsily try to pick it up with a towel while also trying to not light the towel on fire and swearing profusely. It's an ordeal. I'm pretty sure she takes baths in boiling water.

2. They LOVE cooking oil and salt. I've grease stained 3 articles of clothing so far. It's been 5 days.

3. I don't know if it's peace corps or bots, but we clap....at EVERYTHING. "Oh, you stood up...*clap clap clap clap*"

4. Get this, cows actually WEAR cowbells. And they are everywhere! I watched a little boy chase cows through my front lawn last night.

5. They love sorghum. I hate sorghum. I love corn flakes.

6. Donkey carts are an acceptable method of transportation.

7. Every single family is different. It's awesome comparing our homestays with other volunteers because often times they are quite different, for example: I have electricity, a stove, a fridge, a TV (although there is only one channel and I'm already sick of it), and my room is huge. Some people don't have any of that and some people have that plus more. Also, many people have had to kill their dinner with an axe...not my cup of tea. 

8. Walking around topless of near topless in front of PCV's is ok (luckily, I have not experienced this). 

I could go one for hours, but I will leave it at that for now. I barely have Internet so who knows when I'll even be able to post this.

Finally in Bots!

Dumela (Setswana for hello, which is all I remember so far)!

So the past few days have been crazy/awesome/scary and I love it. My PC group has 61 people in it, which is a huge group for Botswana. We all met on the 11th for what is called staging, in Philly. It was long, and quite boring. Buuuuut, we finally got to meet everyone in person, after SO MANY months of Facebook meetings! Crazy seeing people in real life, felt like I was meeting an online date. On the 12th at 2:30am they bused us to JFK where we sat in the airport until our flight at 11:30am. It was super long, but solid bonding time. My group is from all over the United States and the ages vary greatly as well. My fellow PCV's are all very welcoming and "normal", so that's a relief!

Ok, so 16 hours later we arrive in Johannesburg, South Africa. From there we took a flight to Gabarone, Bots which is the capital and where we have been staying. Our hotel here is definitely one of the nicer ones and we have all the amenities! Hot(ish/sometimes) showers, wifi, and yummy food. The are wining and dining us before the REAL show starts.

Tomorrow we take a bus to meet Serowe, which is our training city, and we meet our host family. We are all pretty scared, but excited. The families that host are usually very respected citizens in the community and it is seen as an honor and privilege to host a PCV. The houses are required to give us our own room with a lock, and they're job is to teach us the Botswana lifestyle, while we attend classes during the day with our group.  I may or may not have Internet, so of course I'm trying like hell to get as much in a possible (because that totally makes sense). 

It will be nerve wracking, but I know I am lucky to have really awesome fellow PCV's to be there with me. Also, even though our hotel has wifi, it's hard to find time to be on it because we are busy ALL day. We have barely left this hotel so tomorrow will be an adventure.  I'll try to post pictures and more interesting things about the culture when I have more time!

Medical clearance, yay!

To a future peace corps volunteer, the words "medically cleared" Instill the same happiness as the words "would you like 1000 dollars". The medical aspect is by far the most daunting and so far the most frustrating part of my process to serve, and judging by the obvious rants that plaster the Future Peace Corps Volunteer Facebook group, I am not alone. They ask for about 5 shots, depending on what you had during childhood and stuff, as well as multiple blood draws and labwork, full dental exam with X-rays, paps for the ladies, eye doctor exams, and a very detailed health history where they examine every sneeze and sniffle you have ever had. Ok. Maybe it's not THAT in depth. Luckily, we are reimbursed up to a certain amount of money for each thing so it's not a whole lot of out of pocket expense (except the gas it takes for the multiple drives back to the dr office because you forgot something on one of the 5,000 sheets they have to fill out). I did my medical stuff very quickly. I made the appointments practically the day I found out what all I had to do (even though it was during a really busy time of my school semester, because I wanted anything to get me out of studying, even needles). I would have been done a month sooner, but no one told me (or my doctor, apparently) that live vaccines must be given on the same day. After educating my doctor in very harsh tones, I waited a month to received two more shots and was finally MEDICALLY CLEARED! No more doctors and anger! It's just smooth sailing from here, folks.

Moral of the story: do not administer live vaccines three days apart, but instead on the same day...your arm will thank you.

A little summary of why I want to live in Africa for two years.

Hello friends! So many people have asked why I joined the peace corps, and for some reason this is a really tough question because my initial response is "well, why not?" but then I realize they want a legitimate response, so here is a little bit of how I became interested in PC and I'll try to answer a few more common questions! One and a half years ago I was sitting in my Food Issues class with my friend Joselin. The whole class is about food issues globally, and focused a lot on food shortages, GMO's, and first world countries.  Well, I was not particularly fond of that class (or any class for that matter) so Joselin and I joked around saying how we were sick of school and "I'm just going to join the peace corps". Well, after joking around for a few weeks, I really started to look into it, and I fell in love with the idea. I applied the next semester while I was studying abroad in New Zealand, had my Skype interview while I was there, and was nominated in July. It took me a full YEAR, almost to the day from the day I applied, to be invited to serve in Botswana. I checked my email roughly ten times a day waiting for that damn invitation. Initially, I did not really tell anyone for fear I would realize this isn't what I wanted to do and have my family get used to the idea and then me back out. So basically I applied because...

1. I like the idea of getting to help people. 

2. I will *hopefully* get to do some sort of medical type work which will help me in the future if I do end up going back to school.

3. It is awesome.

4. I get to learn a new language (Setswana) although they speak a lot of English there.

5. Everyone needs a picture surrounded by adorable African children (You know the one I'm talking about)

6. I want to see if Tom is really giving out $60 shoes.

Would you like to know where I will be living? ME TOO. I could end up in a house with running water and electricity, orrr I could end up in the opposite. Do not know yet, and won't know until until September-ish.

So far I've had three blood draws, four shots, one dental exam, one physical exam, and numerous calls to the insurance company. There is many more of that to come! Knowing I'm going to be leaving has made my motivation to do school work drastically plummet. Only 9 days......just 9. I'm starting to see the light at the end of this dark tunnel they call "senior year". I know that this was the best four years of my life, and I truly have loved pretty much every minute of it, but I am definitely ready for the NEXT best four years. Bring it on Bots.

P.S. I am not a great writer, or a consistent one. Buuut, I will try to post them as much as possible once I get over there in August, it all depends on my living situation.