African Crashcourse

Dumelang!

I am loving it here so far, the people are very friendly, I'm with a great group of other students, and the country is beautiful. I'm having trouble uploading pictures, but I will try again when I have internet again. Our days have been spent in a combination of culture adjustment activities, Setswana language classes, and game drives/walks. The people here are all very friendly, as long as you are polite and present yourself well.



We are currently in the middle of our "drop off" activity, where myself and 2 of the other students were dropped off in a shopping center/market in the capital city of Gaborone with a set of objectives and a place that we must meet the group at the end of our time.

We have seen so much wildlife already, elephants, wildebeest, ostrich, impala, kudu, warthog, and hornbills. The pictures I'm sending will be of some of those. It's going to be very hard going back to normal school at UPS when here our classroom is outdoors and we regularly see kudu and families of warthogs grazing around our class, as it's happening!

Everyday it seems like we get several reminders of the fact that we are in Africa, and just visitors to the bush. Last night, we got back late from watching the Africa Cup Soccer finals in Gaborone, and one of the other guys walked into the bathroom, only to find a Spitting Cobra coiled in the middle of the floor. Needless to say we all rushed into the bathroom and watched the "snake guy" come and get it, not without it spitting several times at him and putting up a good fight. The Cobra is one of the most deadly snakes on the continent, and can spit up to 3 meters.

Today was had our first thunderstorm, but with only light rain. At the end of classes today, two people from the animal rehab center here at the nature reserve came and brought a Marsh owl, which I got to touch, an African Peregrine Falcon, which I got to hold, two Rock Boa Constrictors, the smaller of which I held, and a Puff Adder, one of the seven most deadly snakes in Africa.

I'm already beginning to see why people who come to Africa fall in love with it and don't want to leave. We start our first homestay on Wednesday, so I'm excited to start using my Setswana skills and learn what it's like to live in a small village (3,000 people).

I'll hopefully post pictures soon, it will be a while before I can post again since I'll be out of contact, but I'll try again soon. Hope everyone is doing well!

Go siame!