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.

Chapter 6: Mokolodi and a Banner Day

Monday:

I went to Mokolodi again on Monday with two other CIEE people to find out more about volunteering. We left at 8.00 am from UB and caught a combi going to the station. From there we crossed a bridge over a rail yard and got on a the Ramotswe bus which drops off by Mokolodi. Once at the edge of the reserve's property it's a little over a mile of a walk up some hills to get to the actual place. Once there we meet with Ian, the new director, and he gave us a stern talking to about volunteering and “not expecting any glamorous work”. So...no snuggling with the cheetahs then, damn. Anyway, he put us to work right away. We followed the HR rep (Dennis) out to dilapidated and temporarily closed Reptile Park and and animal sanctuary. It needs a lot of work! Redesigning, cleaning, sprucing up, all those good things to make it appealing to the public. The thing is, Mokolodi is non-profit and had a really small budget, so it's hard to get all the things which need to be done done. The poor playground doesn't really have anywhere for kids to play!

Anyway, we were set to work with the groundskeeper, a man whose Setswana name translates to English as “payment”. He backed up a truck and we filled it with broken cement chunks, cinder blocks, and the huge pile of rubbish which was accumulating along the fence of the Reptile Park. Now, by rubbish I don't mean wrappers, papers, and bits of plastic. I mean rotten old doors, planks, piping, twisted wires and chunks of metal, buckets, an old sink, and so forth. In this rubble Chris, one of the CIEE guys, found the skeleton of a HUGE spider. It it hadn't been dead it could very well have delivered a venomous bite to Chris. Needless to say, we were very freaked out after that. Especially when Chris started talking about the deadly puff adders, black mambas, and king cobras which are oh-so common in Botswana. Luckily though all we found was a very long porupine quill, which I am now keeping as a trophy.

After dropping all that stuff at the dump (which was full of little monkeys digging through the dumpsters and being a nuisance) we went back to start raking up leaves and making the paths more presentable. It was very hot and dry and we had no water. It was also hungry work. The upside was that there were animals all around us. In the Reptile Park there are puff adders, pythons, tortoises, monitor lizards, and some other various snakes. In the sanctuary there is a huge Martial Eagle, which is the largest species of eagle in Africa. This particular character is a permanent resident in the sanctuary because as a young eagle he attempted to attack a baby baboon and was in turn attacked by an adult baboon. He had a damaged wing and wouldn't survive out in the bush. Besides this guy, there are two vultures, one little owl, a heron, and two monkeys. Mr. Martial Eagle kept me company while I was raking.

When 2.00 rolled around we got a ride in the back of the grounds keeper's truck to the Mokolodi gate and started the mile long trek back. On the way I got stung by a bee and immediately started spazzing so much that one of my friend's had to pull the stinger out of my hand because I couldn't do it myself. We caught a bus at the edge of the property and rode back to the station in Gabs. Another combi ride from there to UB and I got to my room and passed out. Missed an hour of the Setswana language class. Oh well, I think it was justified.

Tuesday:

So far this day has been going so well! My journalism class is so much improved by jolly Prof Rooney, and today I sat around for two hours reading newspapers and chatting with the people nearby. They were really friendly! We talked about Wisconsin and Denzel Washington, with a side of Malcolm X.

After Journalism I had a mishap- and an embarrassing one at that. An electrician came to my room, only I didn't know he was an electrician so naturally when I heard someone fumbling with my door I ignored it as one of Fruits' friends, who are kind of annoying and rude. Anyway, he opened the door with a master lock and fixed my outlets, which were not working for the past week or so. When he left he left my door locked. I had better explain the locking system here: Ever door has a student provided padlock. In addition, there is a mechanism on the inside of the door to open it from the inside without disturbing the padlock. This is the master door lock and only the RA and cleaning ladies have keys to this. So even though I had my padlock keys when I came back from an unsucessful shower trip- wearing only a towel- I could not open the door. I had to gather up my remaining dignity and head upstairs to my friend Brooke's room. She lent me some sweatpants and a sweatshirt to wear while I searched for a cleaning lady. I finally did find one...and she didn't speak English. She did, however, send me to someone who did and I finally got my room unlocked. Few!

I was going to walk to Riverwalk today for groceries, but was really not looking forward to it. It's getting quite hot here and the sun is brutal. I also have an ARC test tomorrow to study for. Luckily my friend Megan tipped me off about a new convenience store which just opened up in the student center, right next to the all important post office. I went in and found almost everything I was going to buy! I bought some apples, decided to come back later, and headed to class. Then I found out class was canceled! I met up with Brooke and we headed back, and then I found P20 on the ground- score. I took that P20 and bought some more groceries. I found the Botswana equivalent of Goldfish crackers, and I also bought some of my new favorite Lays potato chips, which is cheddar and spring onion. Not as good as Flanagans, but much lighter and crispier.

So here I am now, blogging, and listening to Lily Allen. It's been a good day! Oh, and bonus, I sent out some stuff in the mail. Productivity ahoy.

Friday:

So begins my four day weekend! I was foiled in my attempt to sleep in this morning, which isn't a big deal. It gave me more time to read my latest bookstore purchase, The White Queen, another great historical fiction novel by Phillipa Gregory. It is part of my attempt to understand the War of the Roses (aka, how England managed to screw themselves up and kill everybody). Anyway, I eventually met up with Diana and we headed to Game City, which I think is the biggest and flashiest mall in Gabs. So...probably in Botswana? Unless Francistown has a nice mall, but I doubt that. We did indeed go to the shop run by the Tanzanian women and it had beautiful things! Diana spent too much money but bought some Harem Pants (which some people call Aladdin Pants) made up colorful patchwork pieces full of designs and embroidery. I didn't buy anything, but I was sorely tempted. We went to Mr. Price after that- of course, and found more treasures. Then we left Game City and went to Riverwalk so I could buy my weekly supply of groceries. I decided to try out the Pick n' Pay this time and found some good stuff. PnP is slightly cheaper than Spar and much more affordable than Woolworth's, just in case you are ever grocery shopping in Botswana on a budget.

Groceries:

Every time I go grocery shopping my diet evolves a little. Trying to eat healthy here is incredibly difficult. As I've mentioned before every campus meal (apart from breakfast...sometimes) involves chicken and rice, some kind of coleslaw/cooked carrots/spinach, and some overly-sweetened juice. Sometimes you can eat the delicious papatas, which is a slightly sweetened break, or a fat cake, which is a ball of dough deep fried. There are also muffins and donuts and meat pies. Cheeseburgers, Russian rolls, and beef/chicken livers round out the options. Fanta, coke, ginger ale, and Liquifruit are the drinks of choice. With this menu in mind I try to buy food on the opposite end of the spectrum: Granola bars, apples, bananas, cheese, yogurt, chips, and Lunchbars (a very delicious Botswana candy bar). I can only buy food which does not require cooking as the most cooking I can do is adding hot water to Botswana's version of Ramen noodles. There is a fridge in another CIEE students' room which I store my cheese and the occasional milk and yogurt in. Oh, did I mention that the yogurt I bought was Rooibos and tea flavored? It tasted like tea but it was yogurt! On this particular shopping trip I picked up a box of cereal to eat dry. It's called Choco Bitz, and it's chocolate oat clusters with milk and white chocolate chips. I just opened the box while I was typing and it tastes quite good. I also tried the Cadbury version of a health bar, which is “musli” (granola and dried fruit) on a bed of Cadbury milk chocolate. Yum, health bars Botswana style!

Orphanage and National Museum

Today (Saturday 27/8/11) we woke up early and got on a combi to go to a local orphanage and spend some time with the kids there. We didn't really know what to expect; sick kids? Happy kids? Were we supposed to do arts and crafts or something? As it turns out we were greeted and then led to a large dirt field with some football goals, a building with various sports equipment (I think) and told to just play with the kids, doing whatever. They were mostly very small and very cute. Some of the little ones immediately picked “friends” whom they glued themselves too. Ragtag yet spirited games up football cropped up, piggy back rides were given, races were held, and the kids seemed to be having a good time with us strange visitors with the funny accents. Lots of the kids were exploring my bracelets. One girl, who was probably around 10, asked to borrow my camera. I politely refused, but offered to take her picture. She asked me several more times and I refused several more times, so she started to lightly hit me and called me a bully until one of the people who worked there told her to stop. A little while later some furious hand slapping games started, and we even sang some silly childhood songs.

I am posting pictures from the trip in my facebook album “Jurassic Park” so you can see the kids for yourselves.

When we got back I asked one of the guys (named Eric. He is our certified genius on the trip) if he would show me the way to the National Museum. The first hedgehog I have seen in Africa was here, but it was very dead and stuffed. Apparently some tribes prescribe hedgehog skin to be worn close to the skin as a love potion for men to use. I'll tell Phinneus he is a love potion. Outside of the museum is a big passenger train car leftover from the old Rhodesia Railways, a failed project by the British. Again, pictures on facebook.

Eric and I parted ways at the museum as he caught a combi back to his homestay and I walked back to UB. Now I am hiding in my room and recovering from the heat. I am also putting off doing my homework by blogging. Listening to Trio on my itunes. I think I will get dinner from a vendor and then watch the latest movie Matt sent me with some friends. A quiet Saturday evening.

Later:

Did watch 'Super 8' with some friends- it was thrilling- we all screamed. Excellent. By the way, I also saw 'Crazy Stupid Love' at the theatre at Riverwalk and it was definitely a quality rom com. Bekky, make sure your husband sees this! I know how he loves his chick flicks.

The Glorious Downfall of Jerk-Face McGee

The Glorious Downfall of Jerk-Face McGee

Today in my Intro to Journalism class Jerk-Face McGee was finally replaced with the rightful and true Prof, a Mr. Richard Rooney. Mr. Rooney is a very jolly Englishman who has been spending the last few years teaching in Papua New Guinea, Swaziland, and Cyprus. He graciously let the editor from UB Horizon yell at the class for failing to write and hand in articles (Diana and I did ours, of course) for 45 minutes, and then took over. He taught us some important basics witch Jerk-Face never mentioned and then let us out early. Triumph!

Also, yesterday we learned that the Prof for Intro to PR and Advertising who has been teaching our class was “not the appointed professor” and our class “will not meet until further notice”. Shit. I guess on the lighter side of things, I won't need to get up at 8 am tomorrow. Just my ARC class at 9 and then TV Production (probably not happening) at 2.00.

Hanging Out With Diana Abankwah

I spent a few hours this afternoon with Diana, my friend with the white yarn woven into her dreadlocks. Not only this, but she has a beautiful script tattoo running down her calf, and always wears clothes I am jealous of. We drove to Riverwalk and got some shopping done. Work pants for me, as well as a cool bowl so that I can stop eating out of plastic cups. We also bought candy -OF COURSE. After the mall we stopped at a local artists workshop/display place/gallery to admire the work. I found some lovely animal paintings which are tattoo worthy, and Diana went mad for a sculpture of a man praying. After this cultural outting we returned to UB for a round of watching 'Bridesmaids'. Now Diana has gone home and I have just finished eating my first bowl of Botswana Ramen Noodles, curry flavored. Diana and I made plans to meet up on Friday and go to Game City to look at a shop run by a Tanzanian woman. Diana guarantees that I will love the stuff there. I trust her.

Chapter 5: A Collection of Times

Thursday:

You know that joke in the movie Eurotrip where Scotty wakes up and says, “I'm never drinking again,”? Yeah, that was me Friday morning.

Saturday:

I had a lovely quiet Saturday this week. I went to bed Friday night (after watching my friends drink A LOT of Shake Shake at Linga Longa) with Toy Story 2 on my computer and woke up comfortably late on Saturday to finish it up. Then I had a leisurely shower in my own building for once, and headed across campus to Batsi's. I should probably mention here that last weekend I left my precious sunglasses at the Baharutshe Cultural Lodge and Batsi informed me that sadly they were not found after we left. Sad, sad, sad Erica. Later, however, Batsi happily texted me that the sunglasses had been found and that he had them in his office and I should come and collect them before noon on Saturday. I did, and then I decided to try out the Botswana version of a pasty- so good! I am officially addicted.

After that late breakfast I met up with some friends and we headed to Riverwalk to catch a combi to one of our fellow CIEE-ers rugby match. By the time we got to Riverwalk I just wasn't feeling doing a long hot combi ride and then sitting in the sun all day, which was quite brutal by then. Instead I just did a solo tour of Riverwalk and intended to run some errands. What I ended up doing was stumbling upon a great weekend craft market! There were a bunch of booths set up selling all manner of traditional African crafts; jewelry, art, paintings, woven bowls, bag, statues, and other paraphenalia. I went round to each one and bargained my way into buying three pairs of earrings, one sweet garden ornament for Ma and Pa, a wax-painting cloth, and a jewelry tree in the shape of a Baobab tree made out of wire and banana leaves. I think that this Baobab jewelry tree is going down in my life history as one of the coolest items I have ever had the pleasure of purchasing. I can't wait to go back next weekend and buy more presents for people!...and for me of course, hee hee hee.

Saturday Night:

Since Saturday August 20th was Matt's 25th birthday we arranged for me to skype into his party so that I could "attend". I woke up (by myself, no alarm involved) at 4.00 am Botswana time and got online. I "stayed" at the party for a good hour and a half and watched my drunk friends and boyfriend have what seemed to be a really good time. Matt opened his present from me- nicely wrapped and delivered by Miss Emily Morrison-Weeks- and then another present from the same Emily and Scary. I left the party to go to bed, but I hoped it continued to be a good time. Will find out later when I talk to Matt!

Jerk-Face McGee and a Herd of Cattle

Tuesday:

Let me start explaining this Tuesday by saying that everyday I wake up in Africa and I think, “Hmm, what will happen today?” Although I am beginning to fit into the rhythm of life here there is no set pattern yet. Every day is different, and things can go very well or very badly. Tuesday began pretty normally, but about halfway into my Journalism class things definitely went to the “very badly” end of things. So far in that class we have had a prof filling in and he just loves to talk about his own achievement and his time studying in England. In the middle of class he picked up a newspaper with a headliner in Setswana. My brain ticked off realizing that it couldn't comprehend. This is when Jerk-Face McGee said, “Erica, can you read this? Setswana Phrase.” Obviously I couldn't and everyone laughed uproariously. I pretty much just put my head down to hide. Then Jerk-Face continued with another jab, again more laughter, and this time I looked at him with the most murderous look I could muster. If the door hadn't been locked I would have just left. That's another, by the way, the doors are locked on both the inside and outside, so no one can use it without the code. HELLO FIRE HAZARD. After class my friend Diana from Botswana/Ghana came over and apologized about the incident even though it was clearly not her fault. She trash talked Jerk-Face McGee, which of course made me feel better.

Luckily the day got much better as I was able to make a run to the Riverwalk Mall for groceries and other supplies. I split off from the main group of five I was with and accomplished my shopping in record time. I got the coolest pants from Cape Union! Now I have cool pants from Ireland and Botswana. I also bought cards to send back home, a cool looking bottle of red wine from SA, and some much needed groceries. I got Gouda cheese! CHEESE I tell you! I also decided to try out the super creamy milk they produce here and let me tell you, I am tempted to just go onto a liquid diet of creamy milk and wine.

The day got even better when on the way home, Alexis and I came face to face with a heard of cows being run along the road by a couple of guys with sticks. We stared at the heard thundering toward us (obstructing all traffic) and thought for a silly moment, “What happens if we don't move?” We die, that's what happens. So we moved off to the side of the dirt path/sidewalk/ditch and watch the cows go past. It was awesome! I wish that would happen every day. Diana told me she once saw a warthog run past campus...