Friday, February 19, 2010

Back in Gabs!

Dumela!

Sorry for the long lapse in updates. I just arrived back into the capital of Botswana, Gaborone, after spending two weeks in homestay in a village about 45 minutes outside the city.

Although very tired, I am having a great time. Homestay was very cool, I spoke a ton of Setswana( my skills have greatly improved!), drank bush tea, played with goats, learned how to make bread from scratch(and several types at that!), listened to a lot of old school rap, learned how to use a pit latrine rather than a flush toilet, watched a ton of Generations (a South African soap opera that everyone here loves and follows religiously, dinner in my house was served every night to coincide with watching it as we ate.), and met a lot of new people. My host family was great, very supportive of my learning and willing to take me all the places of interest within the village. It's the summer here, so air con was def something I miss, seeing as how it was often 95 degrees in my room where I was sleeping at 1 or 2 am, but I got used to it.

We also have gone on a few excursions, where, among other things, we went on a game drive (where we saw giraffe, wildebeest, zebra, impala, and ostrich), learned how to track rhinos, and ended up getting within 40 feets of 3 fully grown, wild rhinos (very cool, granted a bit nerve wracking!), learned about natural products that come from the ecosystem, such as fruits, honey, etc., and finally climbed to the top of the hill that overlooks Gaborone, a humbling experience.

Botswana is amazing! The people are very friendly, especially if you make an attempt to speak Setswana with them. A few people have asked if I get nervous at all, and I'm getting more and more used to being the minority in every situation. People are always willing to help and show you the way or a lot of the time, walk you to your destination. Crime is very low and usually petty, so no worries there. As for food, nothing too weird yet, a lot of starches, sorghum, maize, and rice mostly, along with chicken and beef.

I'm in Gabs for the next 3 weeks, so more updates will come soon, maybe with another pic or two! I hope everyone is well!

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