Gabs week one.

Hello. And welcome to my first endeavor with writing a blog. I am just getting into the swing of it so forgive me if it is not so interesting yet. I have been in Botswana officially one full week now and am already overwhelmed with how to properly update. But I promise I will get better.

First and foremost I am so grateful for my wonderful send off by friends and family alike. I am thinking and missing everyone so much. All notes and prizes were so comforting through the very scary/frustrating/crazy 37 plus hours of travel to arrive in Gaborone. (Pronounced Ha-BAR-own-eh or Ha-BAR-own-eee dependent on who you are talking to) Any one who’s cool though refers to it as Gabs (pronounced exactly like it reads G-A-B-S).

Travel time was insanity. I took a 10 hour flight from Seattle to Amsterdam. Three hour layover in Amersterdam, which was very silly the airport has all of these neat things for instance a cheese stand that is in a giant cheese block or a tea and coffee shop where you sit in a giant mug- I felt very miniature and had a nice time walking around feeling small and looking at swatches. Then an 11 hour flight to Johannesburg or Jo Burg as I learned to call it. I slept for the majority of both flights waking only to watch Date Night (which was okay) and eat my odd meals. I had an overnight layover in Jo Burg which as sort of expected was a bit lonely, I was kept company though by a good book, familiar sweater and a plethora of American top 40 jamz that played throughout the airport ALL 9 hours I was there.

I got to Gabs on Tuesday July 27th after flying the tiniest plane ever to be greeted by Batsi and Khumo! Being near to tears it was very comforting to see a little name placard and two very smiley people. Batsi (Bought-See) is the resident director of our program with CIEE and our hero. Khumo (Koo-MO) is our ‘soulmate’ (along with Sharon who I have just recently met but is great too.) Batsi takes care of all of our planning, all of our schooling, all of our safety, he is on call 24/7 with not one but two cell phones, just in case one is not working! We meet with Batsi weekly and he is the professor for our cultural practicum as well.  Khumo is a fourth year student, who serves a similar purpose, if we are lonely or lost we call her. She takes us out, tells us nice places to go etc etc. All of the girls and myself are very pleased with both. I say “the girls” because our CIEE program consists of 11 girls (counting myself) no boys. All of the girls are really fun and lovely and we are getting along very well. There are about 60 international students total though outside of our program who we live and spend time with. 71 total out of 15,000 Batswana students- it’s crazy how much you notice us.

Orientation with the university was relatively run of the mill minus the excessive amount of waiting time  and scary stories used to insure we are not getting into trouble. Basically no being out after dark (which comes at 6 ish since it is winter) unless you are in a car or with a huge group of people. It has felt a bit constricting but I think will get easier as time progresses and we are more acquainted with the city, and the sun starts going down later. ALSO freshers kick off (freshmen orientation) ended with a performance by Vee Mampeezy who is THE celebrity performing sort of hip-hop House Kwasa music. He came out mayhem ensued.

Food is difficult. I have not experienced classic ‘travelers tummy,’ but beef is the number two contributer to GDP here and as much as a practiced eating meat these last few months, it is not going so hot. I ate a sandwhich yesterday called “something meaty.”
I also ate some panni (caterpillars).

The dorm room is nice and quaint- sort of- I live in Block 480 which is the newest fanciest dorm on campus and referred to exclusively (even by the faculty and staff and cab drivers) as Las Vegas*.

My roommate is so great and silly. She is very artsy, writes poetry and we have listened to Maci Gray’s I Try at least 3 times in row today. She also loves John Legend which is making me miss home, but feels good to hear. Her name is Millie she is Motswana. She also LOVES astrology.

There is this funny line here in which everything is very familiar but not quite there. I think it is a culture of appearances - things often look nice but don’t function properly. The dorm is a prime example, it looks similar, is used very similarly, but power goes out, and there is no hot water, and some times on the top floor (my floor) no water BUT I have housecleaning service once a week and my linens are washed for me. It is a very odd merging of developed and developing. Or even the university, they have full fledge services, even things like learning centers and disability services that you might not expect and in theory everything is very readily available for students but trying to access the services is nearly impossible. I received a student ID which is essentially a gold card into everything. It is a difficult thing to navigate.

Going out with some friends, Khumo and Eddie, I explained I was surprised/excited to see Jordan’s everywhere- really interesting fun Nike Air Jordan’s - and Eddie was almost offended that I wouldn’t have expected such staple foot wear in this country saying “If you have it, we have it.” I am finding validity in that, but then I haven’t had internet or hot water in a week and my cell phone drops a call if I get a text because it can’t do two functions at once.

Gabs is a city of malls, very american-esque malls. Malls are where you go to do anything, so going out has consisted of going to the malls or going to the clubs. There (so far) has been no middle ground. The restaurants in the malls range from KFC to  fine[r] dinning. It is reminiscent of junior high in that I keep making plans and getting ready to go to the mall. Our local mall is called Riverwalk, and Riverwalk is where things happen.

Only one night in the club so far. About thirty of the international students hauled ourselves to the lizard lounge. Beers are 15 pula, shots are 13 pula i.e. very cheap. Batswana are super into house music which I am very bad at describing, needless to say house isn’t my first choice genre for time in da club but has turned out to be a lot of fun.

Also Vee(Botswana’s ‘Hip-Hop’ (it isn’t exactly hip hop) sensation) was there as well so that was exciting. As it turns out celebrities here are pretty accessible, I already got to meet the national soccer team- the Zebras buying hot dogs across the street from campus.

Mostly I have spent my time waiting, waiting for everything for things to start, taxis to come, food to be served. Wimpy’s one of the local ‘fast food’ establishments (along with Chikn Lickn) is a 45 minute ordeal at least.

Batsi has explained that Motswana (people from Botswana) place a higher intrinsic value on doing what is important in the moment, rather than being on time. i.e. if my good friend runs into me on a way to an appointment, culturally it is far more valuable to spend time time with that friend than be on time to said appointment. I am equally appreciative and frustrated with the ‘botswana time.’ The amount of time I have spent waiting in lines is absolutely nuts. Everything seems to take a million times longer than expected (or necessary) but I am learning to be much more meditative and patient, I suppose also I feel like I have read, or perhaps just heard via the narration of Carrie Bradshaw that “...its the things that happen while your waiting that are so special.” In any case, I am sure to have a lot of special thoughtful moments in the future.

I feel very far away, but am happy and excited for things to come.

 ketchup and toilet paper are not the happs here. miss miss you all.



promise to get better at this.


jackie



*surprisingly ‘what happens in vegas stays in vegas’ has only been used maybe one time, and is most definitely an expression the locals do not seem to be familiar with.

7 pula (which means rain) = 1 Dollar.


ALSO, pictures will be posted soon.