Day to day life

Hello again internet world! It is such a struggle finding working internet that it always feels like a huge treat when I can see something on facebook, let alone post. Anyway, since we are treating ourselves with a pizza brunch at a hotel, we’re all greedily taking advantage of the free wifi. I was struggling to figure what topic to dedicate this blog post to and I figured I should actually describe what my average day is like:

I wake up every day at 6AM and take my bucket to the kitchen where my water is heating on the stove for my morning bucket bath (also known as ‘bathing’). Then I grab my flashlight and toilet paper and head to the bathroom. My house doesn’t have running water, so it’s always a bit of a gamble to see if the toilet will flush. (Since this is a Peace Corps blog, be prepared for lots of bathroom talk). I still haven’t figured out when it’s ok to get a bucket and fill the tank myself, so sometimes I just wait until I can go at the college where they have running water. Then, I get my bucket and head to the tub where I either use my cup and washcloth to bathe or dunk my entire head in the bucket to try to wash my hair. I hate washing my hair, especially on chilly mornings. I still can’t figure out how to really wash the back of my head sometimes so it feels a little funny. After that I get dressed and brush my teeth before sitting down for breakfast. All of our meals take place in the living room in front of the TV. (I’ll do a whole other post about TV here because I find it so interesting).

Anyway, I’m lucky enough to be the one who hosts our language lessons every morning, so I just sit around until the rest of my language group shows up. I have Setswana lessons every morning from 7:30 to 9:30 on week days and from 8 to 12 on Saturdays. I won’t deny it, I find Setswana challenging. I have a hard time remembering phrases and already feel a little nervous about my first language test next week. After that we all climb into a van and head to the college. We have three or four sessions every day on anything from culture or security to gender norms or global health. We usually finish at around 4 or 5 and have a bit of free time. I have to be home by 6 so that I’m not out after dark.

When I come home I play with the kids or try to help around the house. I have dinner, then sometimes a second bucket bath and go to bed by 8 or 8:30 to have a little time to read or watch a show before I fall asleep.

To be perfectly honest, PST is exhausting sometimes. I’m a pretty introverted person, so I find being around people constantly from 7AM to 8PM every day to be pretty draining. But it isn’t just about being around people, it’s being ‘on’ all the time. Peace Corps really emphasizes that we represent the US 24/7 and always need to be ready to interact with locals, practice our Setswana, and actively participate during PST. Sometimes at the end of the day I feel like I just don’t have it in me to talk to another person. All of us get pretty worn out some days. We have something called ‘healthy outlets’ once a week and I am so grateful for it. We can use that time to go to the gym, read, play games, or journal. 

So that’s what my life is like these days. It’s hard to believe we’re three weeks in! It feels like it’s been forever and no time at all at the same time. On Monday we’re going to a rhino sanctuary (yay US holidays!), which I’m really excited for, and the week after this we get to leave Serowe to shadow a current Peace Corps volunteer. I can’t wait.

Mail shoutout: thank you to my parents for the wonderful letters, to Klyzza for the two lovely postcards, et merci Tante Anne pour la doudoune!

I love walking past this sign every day on my way home

A lovely contrast of traditional and modern in my neighbourhood

Botswana Birthday

On August 21^st I turned 22! I wasn’t expecting anything, but it turned out to be a really nice day. I started my mornings the way I always do, with a bucket bath and breakfast. My host family wished me a happy birthday and then I had my language class. I love my language class, there are five of us and our instructor (Zeeman) and everyone is just very supportive and wants to learn as much as possible. Anyway, after some birthday hugs (yay!), my friend Keeshma pulled out a card she had made and had others sign the day before. I was really touched by the gesture. Keeshma if you happen to read this, thank you!

The 21^st was also the day my group had to go to the bank so we went to the mall, which means I got ice cream and chocolate on my birthday. Then we had some interesting talks about gender roles and culture in Botswana and got an hour and a half of healthy outlets time. All in all, a good day.

Before I left for Botswana, I received 4 cards to take with me and open on my actual birthday. It was really nice to have a piece of ‘home’ with me. Some of my friends also set up a dropbox folder before I left that was full of music and postcards and videos of them saying happy birthday and wishing me luck. I can’t even express how much that meant to me. I love being able to look at their faces whenever I want. If anyone reading this has a friend or family member joining the Peace Corps, I definitely recommend making them a folder like that before they leave.

p.s. Thank you to everyone that sent facebook and email birthday wishes, I can’t respond individually just yet, but it means a lot and I’m so grateful!

Birthday cards :)

Host family - The Twins Edition

I mentioned briefly in my last post that I have a host sister (Wabobedi) and she’s the one who decided to take part in the Peace Corps matching program. I am the first volunteer she’s ever had and I am so glad she chose to be a host. She lives with her four children: Tso Tso (16), Sadi (10), Lera (2) and Lere (2), and her mother (aka my host mom) Ogaufi who is 61.

Here's a picture of my house!

And here's my beautiful front door

I was the youngest child growing up so I was thrilled to have twin little boys to play with and get to know. Lera and Lere are hilarious and cute as can be. They can also be quite a handful, all drawers have to be tied shut and I’ve learned never to leave anything on the ground. 

I always felt a bit uncomfortable around small children because I had no idea how to interact with them, but I’m proud to say I’m learning a lot and loving it. The other day I picked up Lere for the first time and carried him around! It also took a couple of days for the two of them to get used to having me in the house. I’ll never forget my first interaction with Lera, he looked at me like I was the strangest thing he’d ever seen (I probably was). For the first few days he could not stop staring at me and would occasionally walk into my room, stare at me for a few minutes, and then walk out again. Nowadays they’re comfortable scrambling all over me and demanding that we play. They don’t have any toys, but we chase each other around and play peek-a-boo with the curtains and it's great. My hair is also a big topic of interest, Lere really likes to run his fingers through it and play with the texture. Anyway, having little kids in the house has really made my host stay experience even better. They break the ice and it’s nice to have people to play with after an exhausting day of PST.

Lere is a cutie who always tries to grab my camera before I can take a proper picture

08/16/14

We’re one week in!  I am now living in Serowe where I will stay for 10 weeks of intensive Pre-Service Training (PST). So much has happened I’m not even sure how to put it all into words. Instead of writing a giant post, I’m going to break down my thoughts and observations into different theme posts.

I won’t always have internet, so I’m writing posts out on my laptop as I think of them and then saving them to a USB for whenever I can get to an internet café.

The Matching Ceremony - Week 1

This first week has been so many things I’m not even sure how to explain it all. I was a bundle of nerves during the matching ceremony. I felt very anxious about joining a family I had never met and becoming a part of their lives. I didn’t know what to expect or how to act and I so badly wanted to make a good first impression. However, the second I met my host sister all of my worries went away and I knew I would be ok.

My host sister’s name is Wabobedi, she’s 39, and she is one of the warmest people I’ve ever met. I was one of the few people who was called up during the official ceremony (in the interest of saving time) and after giving me a big hug, she took my hand and brought me back to her seat. She then gave me my new Setswana name: “Lorato Lame”, which roughly translates to ‘love of mine’. Since that was a bit of a mouthful when I knew no Setswana, my family has since shortened it to Lame (pronounced Lamie) or ‘mine’.

The matching ceremony was also my first introduction to Setswana prayers. Every gathering usually begins with a prayer, which always involves singing. I love the singing here. Everyone seems to know how to sing in unison and everyone also seems to know the words to every song. When people begin to sing the entire room swells with it and it fills you up in the most wonderful way. I definitely want to learn as many Setswana songs as possible.

That’s all for now! Adjustment takes a while and I have my ups and downs, but so far I feel like I’m where I’m supposed to be.

 

Here's a photo of me meeting my host sister for the first time at the matching ceremony

Staging

Sorry for the lag in updates! I’ve been having such a hard time getting my internet to work.

Staging was pretty much a blur of emotions and exhaustion. It was really great to finally meet everyone and to have this big departure we’ve all been imagining for months become a reality.

A lot of what we did involved going over expectations and anxieties about training and moving to Botswana. I found it reassuring to see that most people had the same concerns and aspirations. We’re a diverse group of 75 and naturally, I’m still struggling to get everyone’s name. After we finished registrations and orientation, we had some time to walk around Philadelphia for a while to get one last dinner in the US. From what little I’ve seen, I’m a fan of Philly. I liked the architecture, the lively restaurant scene and the artistic leanings of the city.

Anyway, at 2am we all crammed our bags into two buses and headed for JFK. Then, there was waiting. A lot of it. We were there long before we could even check in our bags. And after our 15 hour flight to Johannesburg we had another 5 hours to wait for our flight to Gaborone. Needless to say, we were a sleepy mess by the time we made it to our hotel.

Here’s a photo of the whole group!

We’ve had two days of Setswana lessons, history lessons, and cultural instruction. So tonight we’re enjoying our last night of ample wifi, hot showers, and endless buffets for quite a while. Tomorrow we’re taking a 5 hour drive to Serowe where we will be matched to our host families and begin our 10 weeks of training. 

A sunset in Gaborone

P.S. I've been told to expect very minimal internet time during training, but I'll try to update whenever possible! 

After!

After a very hectic and stressful morning (I'm a last minute packer, it's the worst), I said goodbye to my parents and flew to Philadelphia. My bags weren't overweight! That was one of the issues I was most anxious about. My big bag was 49 pounds and the little one was 30. I can't even believe it, I'm well within Peace Corps limits (of 100 pounds for two bags). And I still felt like my arms were going to fall off after dragging everything through three airports. Thursday will definitely be interesting.

Here are a few pictures of the pre-staging experience; I'll be sure to update again after I meet everyone tomorrow. It's all finally happening! I've been working towards this moment since I started my application in September, it's hard to believe I'll be a Peace Corps Trainee (PCT) in a couple of days.

My last glimpse of Florida skies

Exhausted me demonstrating my carrying process (minus one purse)

The after: packed, heavy, and ready to go

(sorry about all the reflectors) 

 For my last night at home my parents let me choose what we had for dinner. Champagne and pizza, of course.

During

Sigh
This whole packing thing is exhausting. I managed to get everything I'll need by Friday, but now it's a question of weeding out what I don't need/don't have enough space to take with me. I'm making good progress, but it's taking forever. I also had to pack up all the stuff I'm not taking with me into boxes that I'll be leaving at my parents' house (thank you Mom and Dad!)
Anyway, here's my updated picture of the 'during' process. I can't wait for it all to be done! I found it really helpful to check out the blogs of other volunteers for packing lists and ideas, so I'm going to post my packing list in a few days. After about a year of living in Botswana I'm going to go back to that list and highlight the items I found incredibly useful and cross out the ones I never use.
Three days until I leave for staging, four days until staging actually starts, and five days until I leave for Botswana. It's crunch time.

During: