This has been a long, busy, and exhausting week of orientation. On the one hand I have had no time for myself (except late at night...like right now) because of the constantly full schedule of lectures and events, but on the other hand CIEE had become a little American family. The head of our family is Batsirair Chidzodzo, fondly known as Batsi. He is helped by our three crazy “aunts”, Kopo, Phatsimo, and Tainia. They Shepard us around like toddlers, and let's face it, we kind of are.

I have my room set up as cozy as I can make it. I just want to say right now THANK YOU MA AND PA for sending me off with such good stuff. The silk bed shell from REI came in quite handy when we were taken away from the dorms so fast on move in day that we didn't get bedding before the laundry department closed. Luckily I had the silk sheets, and Batsi lent us all blankets. The scented linen bags from Aerie make my side of the room smell nice and sweet and homey. The critters on the bed make it look welcoming.

One thing I wish had been more proactive about, however, is dealing with the cold weather here. I wish I had brought sweatshirts! Luckily my German friend Ollie gave me one of his sister's old sweatshirts, which kept me going until I could buy a fuzzy fleece UB sweatshirt today. Next on the agenda: fuzzy slippers. My feet are freezing right now!

Batsi has given us many lectures, but one which sticks with me is the one about culture shock in which he used bananas as examples. He asked us to pretend we had never seen bananas before (he had a big bag of them with him) and he opened one and ate it, describing in detail how good it tasted. He really went all out with this banana, yet only ate one bite. This first banana was to represent out initial excitement about being in Botswana. Then he put it down and picked up another whole banana and took a bite. This “second banana” represented the time when the culture shock begins to wear you down and things don't seem so great anymore. Then, he picked up a third whole banana, took a bite, and told us that the third banana was the time when were finally began to feel more comfortable and at home. Thus, we now as a group rate our daily experiences as “a first banana” (yay!) or a “second banana” (oh dear).

The conversion rate here is great! Divide everything by 6.5 and that's the real price. So a bag of tasty Simba chips costs less than a dollar. Or that fuzzy UB sweatshirt is only around $30, despite a price in the hundreds of pula. Bought a book for P20? Okay, it really cost you roughly $3.

We went on a trip to a village in the Kalahari, and enjoyed some traditional foods and drinks around a big bonfire. Now, nights are quite cold, so we were all numb, but nevertheless had a fantastic time! There was a biiiig bowl of Mopane worms that most of us had the courage to try. That includes me, too. They were juicy, which was hard to get over, and very chewy, but had a good flavor. We also played native games from each nationality represented (there were many) and I taught the group how to do Amidst the Mist. The American factor also sang the theme song from Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

On Sunday the exhausting schedule of orientation events drew to a close with a group hike up Kgale Hill. This is no mean hill, it is a towering and rocky landmark that dominates Gaborone. There are thick shrubs and trees, a healthy population of baboons, and a make-your-own trail attitude. So, under the guidance of our own Papa Batsi, we began to forge our own path up the...”hill”. The landscape was beautiful and so we were mostly too distracted to notice the big acacia thorns that were constantly grabbing at us as we maneuvered around the bottom. The higher we got, the less acacia, so that was nice. Pretty quickly the group separated into two distinct groups: The accomplished hikers/determined not to miss anything-ers, and the i-hatethis/i-have-asthma/sloooooowwwwww down-ers. Just because you must be burning to know (hee hee), I was in the first group, and not the accomplished people I mean. The determined not to miss-ers. There was a lot to see! We were constantly finding good rocky outcropping that overlooked the hill and the country. We could see the city, the country side, and the industrial development, as well as the dam. Batsi told us that his fastest group climb took 24 minutes up and 24 minutes down. We had to beat that! But after a while it became obvious that we wouldn't, so in despair we asked Batsi how big that group had been. He said it was 8 people. We are 21 strong. Not happening,

We finally did reach the summit and it was very rewarding. After all the climbing were quite happy to sun ourselves on the rocks up there and sip our water bottles (mine tastes like pears). The hike down was less exciting and less fun, although I did lead for a while, much to my suprise. I also came down on the wrong side of a rock. Dinner, many hours later after we all freshened up, was at a tasty tasty Indian restaurant, and I took a healthy sampling of wine. Mmmmmmm. The conversation and the food were both excellent.

That's all for now! I have to go and figure out my life, I can't just sit here and type for you slackers ;)