Schoolwork and Mumsy's Visit, Part 1

Nose to the Books:

Since Mother is coming to stay on Friday for the week, and since the week after that is the trip to Mozambique I am trying to get as much work done this week as possible. I don't foresee too much time spent on homework in the future. My Arc class has an important paper coming up and Batsi dropped a 5-8 page paper full of interviews and cultural research (scary!) on us. Have I mentioned that Jerk Face McGee is a completely worthless teacher? He was spinning some more ridiculous notions about things, so I made a face. He decided to then launch into an attack on the U.S. saying things like, “Completely twisted and back handed politicians. A dirty history of shame. A scare on our country's history.” Whoa, slow down there Mr. Insecurities, aren't you the one who never stops talking about the U.S. and Britain? Give me an example of a country whose politics aren't back handed and twisted. A scar on your country's history? Hmm...if I remember correctly it's the British who used you as a protectorate, ignored you, and then threw you away because of your apparent uselessness. Hmmmmm.

Anyway, today I left campus in the morning to get some passport photos and get paperwork from the Mozambique embassy for our trip. Along the way we were walking through a field when Jamie stops and says, “Elephants.” We were all confused for half a minute before we saw them. Two circus elephants peacefully munching on some hay next to their trailer. Nearby was a trailer made up of about six cages, each with two lionesses chowing on chunks of meat. There were two white lionesses as well and they were quite a sight. Behind the lion trailer was a similar trailer but filled with tigers. Only one tiger per cage, and the reason for that was they were already snarling and lunging at each other. It was pretty terrifying. I am against circuses because of their inhumane animal practices, but I have to admit the sight of all these animals just sitting in a field (or a cage) was impressive. So now I have seen my first elephants and lions in Africa. Too bad I couldn't rescue them.

Mom's Visit- 16.9.11

Picked Mumsy up from Sir Seretse Khama airport on Friday evening. The cab I called turned out to have a pretty cool driver, so that's a number to keep. I got to the airport about an hour and a half early; partly because I was excited and partly because I wanted to be absolutely sure not to miss her arrival. I ended up reading my Henry VII library book, which was boring, for a while. Then I wandered the tiny airport. Her flight arrival time from Joburg was pushed further and further back. Eventually I ended up at the terminal bar drinking a Savanna Dry to kill time. One flight got on, but it was from Francistown. A young Irish woman came to the bar and ordered a beer, so I struck up conversation with her for lack of anything else to do. We chatted pleasantly (she is from Dublin, is working in Gabs, has been here for a year) until Mom's flight actually did arrive. Mom, as it turns out, made a friend on the plane. Her new friend is a probably-diplomat with three children- a son not much older than me, and two young daughters. She and her son are from Bots, but lived in the States for about 20 years and now they are back. Apparently the son, Femi, misses the States, and so we exchanged numbers so that we could gather our US friends and hang out in the future.

We left the airport and got a cab back to Mom's hotel, Innisfree Apartments. The room is comfortable, clean, and has a great view of the backyard full of palm trees, grass, jasmine, and a small pool. It pretty much looks like Florida. After we dropped her bags off we went right to Riverwalk for a late dinner. The only place still open was Linga Longa and we got the last food orders in before the kitchen closed. The food was good, the people were noisy, and we were tired so after dinner Mom went back to Innisfree and I went to UB.

The next day, Saturday, we got up early and I met her at the hotel to walk to Riverwalk and check out the weekend craft market. Mom bought a gorgeous hand crafted bag right away (which was to prove very useful in all our adventures) and I got some trinkets for friends and a cool cloth map of Africa in the 1590's. After that is was off to UB for Mom's first visit to my tiny (yet cozy) dorm room and some classic UB food for lunch. Mumsy took a short nap and I worked some on homework. Amanda and Megan came by briefly to introduce themselves because that's how cool they are. When we were done at UB we took another cab to Game City for dinner and a movie. Only it ended up being a movie (Crazy, Stupid, Love) and then dinner. We ate at a cool Portuguese restaurant. Who knew there was one of those in Gabs? After dinner it was back to Innisfree and UB.

Sunday I got up early again and scooped up Mom and we caught a taxi to the bus rank. Just FYI, do NOT take Smiley Cabs if you are in Gabs because they way overcharge. They suck. The cab fiasco over, we got on one of the buses to Mochudi and were pleasantly surprised when it didn't fill with people, so we were able to sit comfortably. The ride was shorter than usual and we arrived in Mochudi ahead of schedule. We got on a route 7 cab almost immediately and what with one thing and another we ended up in front of Mogorosi Shop and my host family's house an hour early. Oops. When we walked through the gate into the yard we were greeted by my host mother and sister, who were busy hurrying around and getting things ready. Mom and I made introductions and then went out back so that I could introduce her to the pups. Sepiso informed me that they had sold the larger of the two white pups to a family in Remotswe. I hope he does alright! He seems very young to leave Mama Dog, but life is tougher for a pup her than at home.

After visiting with the dogs we visited with the family. We distributed the gifts and everyone seemed pretty pleased. Granny tried on her scarf and seemed pleasantly surprised that we had brought her something. Sepiso immediately put on one of the pairs of earrings and some of the blue nail polish. Lesedi tried on his shirts and gave us hugs. Lone toted her unicorn pillow pet around, and host mom came out of the kitchen to thank us for her kitchen accoutrement. Lunch was ready about 45 minutes later and it turned out to be a pretty rich spread. My host family pulled out all the stops, including using the nicest dishes and chair covers. We ate while watching some BTV, per usual, and then I helped Sepiso to clear away the dishes. I had a bit of a Nam flashback to doing dishes all the week before by candle light. Luckily this time I didn't actually have to wash anything. After the dishes were gone and we had sat for a bit host mom brought out the crowning glory of food on Mochudi; the trifle. I was so pleased! Mom and I discussed possibly making it at Christmas time. I took photos of it, so check out those on facebook and beware of your mouth watering.

We left about half an hour after the trifle and host mom and Sepiso put us on a combi to the bus stop. Mom's first combi ride! We didn't have to wait long at the bus stop, but it was hot and there was no shade. Luckily, Mom had her trusty umbrella with her, so there was some relief. The ride back to Gabs was very hot and we were on a bus circa the 1950's. I caught a small nap until we arrived in Gabs and got out at the bus rank. It took us no time at all the catch a combi back to UB.

Mochudi Part Deux

Other Things:

I spotted the coolest pair of shoes! They are built a bit like Puma's, but the outer shell is a silky pale green with ruffles, and the shoe laces are the same green but made of velvet. They were so pretty I almost drooled! Also, this morning (Thursday) I saw a gecko come out of a crack in the wall of my house in Mochudi. Instead of creepy centipedes they have cute little geckos! My sister Sepiso said that geckos were icky and that she wouldn't be able to sleep if she saw one in her room. Oh well.

More On Mochudi:

I am back from Mochudi now and I am happy to have my own space again in my room at UB. Although right now, as usual, my roommate has a loud pack of friends taking over. I will miss the giant bathtub, candlelit baths, puppies, home cooked meals, and people who aren't noisy rude friends of my roommate.

Most of the week I feel like I spent in commute! I got up Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 5 am in order to get to the bus stop at 6.30 and class by 8 or 9 am. The buses are cramped, but in the morning it is blissful to zone out and watch the countryside go by. I got off at Main Mall, which is a very interesting place to be, and either walked or caught a combi to UB. Wednesday morning I was 10 minutes late to my PR &Advertising class, which by the way hasn't met for the past month and is now being taken over by Jerk Face McGee, and the door was locked. The other 10 or students with me all tried knocking on the door for a while. No response. We slipped a note under the door asking to please let us in. No response. Jerk Face was on a power trip again. His class, when I went again on this past Monday, was solidly two hours of worthless facts about famous people in the U.S. and poor information on the Ivy League and criticisms of WWII. So worthless.

Anyway, Thursday was my last day of class for the week, so I was quite excited to sleep in on Friday morning. For breakfast we had soft porridge, which is porridge with creamy milk and sugar mixed in. Not the dread sour porridge, which is porridge with sour milk chunks mixed together. My host mom invited me to come to a funeral with her on Friday and I agreed. Funerals here in Botswana can take all week and there are many parts. There is a lot of food, a lot of people, and a lot of socializing. On Friday we reached the home around noon and set up chairs in the shade. There we sat for approximately five hours, being fed plates of food every so often. As with everywhere in Botswana the fare was sorghum porridge/corn meal, beef liver, and sauce. There was the also the grisly equivalent of two dead cows hanging from a tree in the yard. The hides of the cows were taken out and hosed down, then rolled up and left in a heap which looked disturbingly like a sleeping animal. Here the meat is not cooked or frozen right away, but left in the tree all day. It was still there when we let around dark.

My host mom noticed how glazed over I looked (everyone was speaking in Setswana, so there was really nothing for me to do) and invited me to come help the other young women cook vast tubs of dough into papatas and fat cakes. Mmm, delicious! There were three of four HUGE metal tubs full of dough, and one team of women was in charge of shaping the dough balls. Another team, myself included, shaped the dough balls into the appropriate papata shape. Then we placed them on iron cooking “stoves”, which really looked more like woks, over hot coals and waited for them to bake. So I was busy doing that for a while, and then a large group of people left to retrieve the body (always referred to as a corpse) from the mortuary. When they returned the coffin was carried inside and everybody sang. Then we sat and several people spoke. Again, it was all in Setswana so I am not sure what they said, but it seemed very similar to a standard eulogy.

Then it was time for dinner. Then, home at last. My host mom managed to fill a Tupperware bin full of papatas and fat cakes for me; in the morning these had all been eaten before I even got to them. A bitter disappointment.

Saturday my host mom got up at 4.45 am and returned for the final part of the funeral, which was the actual burial. I was not asked to go along this time, so I was able to sleep later. I got up and had a tasty breakfast and then...sat around for a while. I asked my sister Sepiso if there was anything in Mochudi that I could sight see, or at least check out. She said no. I later found out that this was not true- some CIEE kids got to go rock climbing, swimming, attend a festival, and other no doubt fabulous activities. Instead, around noon, Sepiso took Lone and I to the shops, which turned out to be a small strip mall next to the gas station and combi stop which was a hubub for activity. There was a Spar (hooray!), some hardware stores, a Chinese clothing store, and a few other miscellaneous places. We mostly sat around while Sepiso visited with friends. Then we went grocery shopping I was happy to get my hands on my latest food obsession, yogurt.

When we got home I walked across the road to my favorite little shop, Mogorosi, and bought Lesedi, Sepiso, and myself some cold Fanta's in glass bottle. I favor grape, myself, and I bought a pineapple and an orange for the others. Then, after a lunch of chips (fries) and Fanta I decided that it was high time for a nap. The heat of the day is a good time to hide from the sun and do absolutely nothing. When I woke up I had a text saying that my friend Grant was having a bonfire and his family was cooking a braai. A braai, in case I haven't mentioned it before, is like a barbeque. It basically means, everyone come over, we have an abundance of food and chibuku! Okay, I exaggerate here, most people won't touch Chibuku with a ten foot pole. It is, after all, sorghum fermented with yeast and poured into a milk carton and sold without shame for the bargain price of P5. Yep, that's less than $1 for a whole carton. The real challenge comes when you try to choke down a whole glass. Some CIEE-ers are getting quite good at it and will finish a whole carton. It takes a lot of Chibuku to actually feel the alcoholic effects, however. There was dancing (mostly enjoyed by the little kids who were Grant's host siblings) and we even made s'mores. They were comprised of regular marshmallows, heavenly Cadbury milk chocolate, and tea biscuits, which means buttery cookies. I think these were an improvement on the usual graham crackers and Hershey's.

When it was time to go I texted Sepiso and asked how I was supposed to get home. In order to get to the bonfire in the first place I had to take a taxi to the combi pick up, and then get on a combi to the police station, and walk a short distance from there. Sepiso texted me back to call her friend Bico. I did, and he said he was already waiting for me. Alright-very-well-so, I found him sitting in a school bus, waiting to pick me up. It turns out he was very talkative and friendly and dropped me off right in front of my house, free of charge. Yay for Sepiso's connections!

Sunday morning and afternoon I helped my host mom and sister cook a big lunch and make the most delicious custard desert. It was a layer of custard, sprinkeled with a layer or crushed cookies, topped with cream, then a layer of jello, and repeated about four times. Oh yes, just think about that. I sincerely hope they make it again when mom and I go visit on Sunday.

After the big meal it was time for goodbyes (I spent a lot of time with the dogs) and then Sepiso and Lone and I got a cap to where the bus was waiting to take all the CIEE-ers back to Gabs.

So that's my story.

Mochudi Days

Mochudi

Starting on Saturday 9/3 all the CIEE students were taken to spend a week with host families in Mochudi, a “village” which is 45,ooo people strong. It takes about two and half hours to commute from Gabs to Mochudi. The income level goes from very poor to rich and everything in between. Batsi selected our families for us (of course) and he scattered us both around the village and in terms of the income level of our families. We are expected to live not as guests, but as actual members of the family and help out with chores and so forth,

I think I ended up in a pretty good place. I have a mother, a granny (whom I never interact with. To tell the truth, she is a bit scary and stays in her room), a 28 year old sister, a 15 year old brother, and a 5 year old niece. They live in a nice house, which consists of a main house where most of the family lives, and a back house where mom and I stay, and a bathroom attached to the back house. The bathroom has a gigantic tub and HOT WATER! The hot water from the tub is also what the rest of the household uses for washing dishes. There are also two sheds, one of which is home to three tiny two week old terrier puppies. They are so cute! I can't even handle it most of the time. They are just learning to walk, and since they are so new they spend most of their time sleeping in a heap wherever Mama Dog decides to stash them. I need to think of names.

Besides Mama Dog, there is another small white dog with long curly fur and a cheery disposition. His name is Fundi and he is chained up all the time. He's not dangerous, he just goes berserk with joy whenever anyone comes near. There is a third adult dog who is much larger and is a mixed breed. He/she looks similar to a German Shepard/Australian Shepard mix and is very pretty and very shy. This dog is more aloof where as the others are centered around the house. Yesterday evening I went to the shop right across the street from my house with my brother, Lesedi, and I bought a can of dog food for them. In Botswana dogs are not pets, so they stay outside, are very dirty, and don't get a lot to eat. I thought I would give them an extra treat. Mama Dog especially needs extra food and a rich diet since she has three pups to feed. Lesedi, who is uncharacteristically fond of dogs for a Batswana, helped me dish out the treats. He is always the one who gathers table scaps and leftovers for the dogs.

My sister, Sapiso, is mainly in charge of helping me out. She cooks and takes care of her 5 year old, Lone, in addition to doing her own thing. In the morning she makes me breakfast and sends me to school with a lunch. She helps me get around and she sent me to church on Sunday with Lesedi and Lone. Church, by the way, was a very interesting experience. My sister Sepiso lent me a head scarf so that I was properly covered as all women are expected to cover their heads. I walked with Lsedi and Lone the ten or so minutes it took to get there. It was a medium sized building with a wing for senior and important women, a wing for men, and a wing for everyone else, namely young women and children. Lone went and squirmed with the little kids, Lesedi went with the boys, and I sat on a bench amongst a group of girls my age who were all wearing the “church uniform”. All the men and women who were members had a conservative blue and white outfit that matched. I say members because this is my best guess as to why most people had on matching outfits and some didn't. The whole service was conducted in Setswana and there was a lot of singing. I pickout the Joy to the World tune, as well as Clementine. A man would be preaching, and at any given moment one of two of the women would decide that it was time for a song and so they would start to sing, which prompted everyone else to stand up, start singing, and clap. Sometimes less than a minute would elapse between song interruptions. The service was still going strong at 2 hours and 45 minutes when Lesedi came and got me and told me we were going home. Lone was already outside.

I spent the rest of the weekend watching Botswana TV and eating. So far this week the majority of my time has been spent commuting, I think. I get up at five or six am in order to catch a bus to Gabs and get onto campus on time. Monday morning Sapiso put me on a cab to the bus stop, where I met up with Megan (another CIEE-er) and her host sister. We were supposed to be waiting for a bus to Gabs, but her sister flagged down a car and put us into it. Before I knew it I had officially hitched a ride in a car with several other commuters. We made record time into Gabs for only P10 (the same price as the bus) but we had also broken a cardinal rule of Batsi's. Oops. The car dropped us off in the outskirts of the city where we caught a combi to Main Mall. From there we made the aquaintance with another American, a lady in the Peace Corps who hailed from none other but Green Bay, WI. She pointed the way to UB for us, so we walked the rest of the way.

Tuesday was a little smoother, but I walked to the bus stop just as the sun was coming up. It was cold, and I was alone this time. I got on an actual bus, and later on a bunch more of us CIEE kids got on. I took the bus to Main Mall and got out and walked again. Now it's Tuesday afternoon and I think I have to navigate back to Mochudi on my own. Yesterday I caught a combi to the station, got on a bus to Mochudi, then in Mochudi I got on another combi to my house. Yep, that's a solid sweaty and cramped 2.5 hours of transit all for the bargain price of P16.60.