Me outside the cave paintings during our cultural excursion weekend

Giraffe cave paintings

Outside Livingston's tree

View from the mouth of the Kobokwe's Cave

Local children's group performing traditional dances and songs

an IMPALA

a wildebeest

warthogs: cutest, ugliest little creatures

Kudu

Hyena!!!

It’s been a while since my last post so thought it was time to write up new one about the last week and a half. A lot has happened ranging from seeing giraffes to being kicked out of two classes. Here are some of the highlights of the my second week of school and third week in the country! Thanks for all the comments and for your thoughts—I appreciate it more than you know!  Sidenote-Here are some pictures but I am putting most of them up on facebook. Friend me if you want to see them: Jules Brice. Sidenote #2: please excuse any typos or grammar problems as I am exhausted and my eyes are burning as it is so dry here!!!

Monday morning rolls up and I get up for my 8am Abnormal Psychology class which means getting up at 6:15 to get on the combis by 7 to get to campus by 7:45. I show up for abnormal psyc only for my professor to inform me that she just learned that I am unable to take the class because it was restricted to students in a certain bio-psyc program. This means that I had to find a replacement class that both fit in my schedule, was semi interesting and was open to all students. However, unlike UMD and other American universities where you can simply add/drop classes online , UB is a completely different story. It first entails finding a class that would work in your schedule which in itself is a huge pain in the butt. There is a course catalogue (over 200 pages) listing all the courses. Once you find one you like you then have to look in a completely other packet to see if the course code is listed where you will then find the time and perhaps the room number. (It’s common for the time table to be wrong or for professors to show up and choose a different meeting time for the class which is impossible to know about unless you are there as nothing is online). Now that you have your classes picked out, you have to somehow find the building that houses the department for that class and get a professor and secretary of the department to sign your add form. Problem with this is that professors run on Africa time meaning that the time listed on their office door saying when they are available is virtually useless and instead it’s hit or miss if they are there. Anyways, needless to say I was less than excited when I found out that I would have to go through this entire process. In the end I added three psyc classes, planned on going to all of them and then would drop the two that were least interesting. The day didn’t get any better in the afternoon when I waited around all day for a 2pm class where the professor didn’t even show up.

Tuesday morning rolls around and again I have an 8am: Women In Literature in Botswana. Well, got kicked out of this class too. Professor shows up and calls me out. “Ms. Brice, welcome to our country. Unfortunately I do not think this class if for you as many of the books are in Setswana that you will not understand.” Back to running around campus getting new classes approved. However later that day as I was venting to a friend learned that club volleyball was starting up and practices were held everyday at 5 at the outdoor courts. And I mean outdoor courts as in it looks like a basketball court so when you dive your knees are wrecked—that will teach me to move my feet.

Wednesday rolled around. I attended a million classes trying to figure out which ones I wanted-all of which were really interesting and exciting. Then two of my friends and I headed over to play volleyball.  This ended up being a lot of fun and the girls were so welcoming, trying to talk in English the whole time, learning our names, yelling when we did something well.  Just like in the US, volleyball players in Botswana love to cheer and high-five, yell and jump up and down. That night I became part of the club volleyball team. Only problem was trying to get home. We had to call a cab because by the time practice ended it was too dark to take a combi (basically 7pm). But the gate out of campus was locked so I had to climb over the gate that prevents cars from coming into campus. I’m sure it won’t be the last time I have to jump a gate/fence here is Bots.

Thursday was much of the same-lucky that I had all my classes and was able to narrow down my class schedule. Attended volleyball and had a really great time as I was able to set during our scrimmage. Friday I didn’t have class but went to UB anyways to work out and run some errands around campus. However, by the time I finished working out most of my friends were done with class so I figured my errands could wait and instead walked to Main Mall (basically a strip mall with street vendors) to buy cakes for two of my friends birthdays to celebrate at a program meeting we had that night.  I spent the night on campus Friday night because the following morning any international student who wanted could participate in a weekend cultural excursion trip. However, the fun started even before we left for the trip as we tried to squish as many people as possible into a small dorm room. This meant two people sharing a twin bed, three people on the floor and the other ones breaking into empty dorm rooms to steal the beds in there! Crazy!!!

Bright and early Saturday morning we headed out for our weekend adventure. And when I say bright and early I mean that all the international students showed up right at 8 while the chaperones and bus driver showed up at 8:45. After ensuring we had the fifty or so students on the bus (and I mean the chaperones asking, “Hey are there 50 or so people on this bus? Yes, good, let’s go”). The first stop was to the Bahurutshe Cultural Lodge where we had the best breakfast yet. It included wonderful scrambled eggs, a less processed version of corned beef hash, papatha which is like thick naan bread and a legwinya which is going to be the death of me. Legwinyas or fat cakes are basically just fried dough. They are sold all over and are basically pure goodness.  The lodge is basically the Batswana Williamsburg where, for lack of a better word, reenactments of traditional Batswana culture are performed.

After overstuffing myself we headed over to see some cave paintings. There were ancient paintings of antelopes, giraffes, trees and symbols. There was also a cave where it was said that the pregnant wife of the chief of the surrounding village hid during the wars to protect the unborn heir of the tribe.

We also traveled to Livingston’s tree which is this massive, wide, fig tree that the locals used to come to for shade though now it’s a protected national treasure. Livingston was a Scottish missionary who introduced Christianity and brought Western medicine to the country. We then traveled to Livingston’s living quarters , Kolobeng, and checked out the site of his home and clinic. As well as the graveyard where his daughter and two adventurers are buried and saw the site of the first church in Botswana built in the 1850s (please keep in mind that this is just what I got from the guide but he spoke barely louder than a whisper with a pretty thick accent,

After another great meal back at the lodge we headed out again to visit Kobokwe’s Cave. Kobokwe was a man who committed a crime and was sentenced to death. He managed to escape and made his way to the cave and legend says he never came out making people fear the cave. However, Livingston did the impossible and spent a night in the cave making many of the Bakwena people support Livingston and convert to Christianity.  The cave itself was cool but even better was the views from the top of the hill as the cave is built into the rockwall of the hill/baby mountain.

Later that night we learned about the chores and tasks of men and women from the village which including grinding flour with a rock and using cow dung to clean/protect the floors, It also included watching a young dance group perform traditional dances of Botswana.

Hoping for a relaxing sleep we headed to bed in either our huts or tents. However, even though I headed to bed early I ended up staying late helping my friend take out her weave that she had put in last week. Never did I ever think I would be in a hut in Botswana, freezing my butt off, listening to people drumming outside as I removed fake hair from my friend. But there is a first for everything!!! Going to bed early or late didn’t make a difference as I didn’t sleep at all anyways. They gave us huge thick blankets which at first I thought was an overkill then realized was not going to be enough. Botswana gets freezing cold at night especially since it’s the winter season and it is snowing in South Africa. I tried huddling in a ball all night but it was no use especially since these huts basically just keep in the cold and the door was half open the whole night (it was one of those doors that is cut in half so the top half was open all night allowing for a “nice” cross breeze).

Although the following morning was just as cold I was excited because we were going to the Mokolodi Game Reserve where I was finally going to get to see what Americans think is Africa!!! It was awesome!!!! From our jeep we got to see Kudu (spelling??? Basically large deer looking animals), impalas (antelope-type deer), wildebeest, warthogs (cutest ugliest things ever), giraffes, zebras, hippos, a hyena, ostriches. We were also treated to a Brush Brai which is basically a barbecue with a lot of meat! Once back at the home base we were able to walk around their reptile exhibit where I got to see a variety of dangerous snakes, owls and turtles. Overall it was a really great afternoon.

I’ve given a pretty detailed account of my life here in Gabs over the past week but have failed to mention how up and down life is here. One minute I’m over the moon and so happy to be here then the next I can be having a panic attack feeling trapped. It’s not easy studying abroad in Africa and there’s a reason it’s not a popular study abroad destination. It’s hard being the only American in class and have people speaking in a completely different language around you. In all honesty, it can at times be very lonely and you can only be pushed out of your comfort zone ever so far. It’s difficult when people come up to you and right away want to be your friend simply because you are an American and always wondering whether or not you can trust them. There is no doubt that people are very friendly in this country but there is always the shimmer of doubt that people can’t be trusted especially in a country where white=rich. 

Walking to the combis every morning I’ve done a lot of thinking about why I came to Botswana??  Gaborone is not the most picturesque city and there isn’t a whole lot to do besides going to the malls. I’m still trying to answer that question but everyday I gain a piece to the solution. Last weekend it was having that small baby hold my hand and look straight into my eyes fascinated with my white skin. Today it was on the game reserve ride when we reached the top of the hill and I saw the vast landscape and beauty of a country so different. It was the real life version of my destressing mechanism when I am home. When stressed I always use google earth to look at the world forcing me step back and realize how small my stress is in the grand scheme of things. Today I did just this as I stared out over Botswana. There are too many beautiful, huge things in the world to worry about such little problems.