Week 7 and 8

Well, I tried to update my blog last week, but the power kept going in and out so I eventually gave up. It’s probably a good thing anyway, because week 7 turned out to be pretty rough. When we got here we were told week 7 is one of the hardest weeks of PST, and now I understand why. It’s difficult to explain, but I basically think we were all burnt out. After all the excitement of site announcements, I think we lost all of our energy and drive. Anyway, week 8 was hard too, but now we’re getting much closer to the countdown for site and we’re all just trying to push through and finish strong. We also got a bit of a break because Botswana’s independence day was this week! September 30^th marked 48 years of independence for the country and we were graciously invited to the kgotla to see some of the festivities. Then I hopped into a combi (little van) and went to my host family’s independence day gathering. For this holiday, people tend to return home and have big parties, so I got to meet my host mom’s entire family! It was a pretty wonderful experience. Some of her younger nieces and nephews speak perfect English so I got to ask them all about Botswana culture. Some of the best times I’ve had here involve just sitting under trees, enjoying the breeze, and talking about Botswana.

This Saturday was our host-family appreciation party. We had to plan and provide food and entertainment for 250 people on our own. It got pretty stressful sometimes, but our group was amazing and really well organized. The night before the party was probably one of my favorite moments of PST so far. We finally managed to buy our supplies and bring them to the school. Someone put on some music and everything fell into place. Everyone had their assigned jobs and we were all working together and it made me really happy. I was on the decorations committee and we managed to put together some pretty great things with our limited resources. One volunteer, Laura, managed to draw a giant map of America and we all got to add our names for the places we’re from. It was really cool to have our host families walk up to it and see how diverse our group is and how we literally come from all over America.

Overall, I think the party was a big success. We had great food and music and even a Jell-O eating contest! Some of the younger kids learned to do the Macarena and the electric slide with us, and at one point we had a big circle going so people could jump in the middle and show off their moves (including some awesome old ladies).

Only 10 more days until I swear in as an official Peace Corps volunteer!

Me and my host niece Sadie at the party