Gabz

I don't have much time but I wanted to post some of the interesting cultural differences I've been noting as I've been here. Things are great, my family is really neat and has been helping me with my Setswana, even though they mostly speak English. On Friday night a small group of us went to a music festival of sorts with all local bands that was awesome. We were the only makoa(white people) to stand up and dance and we actually got cheered on when we got up, it was great. Hope everyone is well!

-It is expected that we take 2 baths/showers a day, even if our families don't, because a stereotype of westerners is that we are very clean

-Almost all food is eaten with your hands, rice, corn, meat. My family still gives me a fork and knife but I'm the only one that is given them, so I haven't been using them.

-People are shocked when we are able to use even basic Setswana, which says a lot about the ex-pat population here. Some ex-pats even boast about the fact that they have managed to avoid learning the language, which is a bit disheartening

-children are expected to do all the serving when it comes to food, so at big parties, all the kids will make plates and take them to the parents before they are allowed to get food themselves, which def expedites the process when it comes to some of the large gatherings I've been to of 40+ people.

All for now. My family is buying pani worms, a Botswana favorite, which is actually a caterpillar about 5 inches in length that is braii-ed(barbequed) and eaten, so I'll def be updating about that experience!

Cheers!