Serowe and Johannesburg

 Winning Gold in Serowe

 Entering South Africa

 JOBURG

 German Pub on Queens Street

Nelson Mandela's House in Soweto

Hello once again. It has taken me so long to write because I have been uber busy traveling around, playing volleyball, hanging out with friends and more. And boy what a difference a week can make. The last time I wrote I was pretty homesick and frustrated with Botswana but since then my attitude has changed and now that time in winding down I feel myself not wanting to leave Bots and all my friends here.

The rest of the week, last Wednesday and Thursday, flew by as I was kept busy preparing for the volleyball championships that I had the weekend of October 20^th and 21^st. Volleyball practice was supposed to end at 7 but because we were leaving Friday for the championships in Serowe, practice on both Wednesday and Thursday went way past 7:30 meaning that I didn’t get home until like 8:30/9ish. The frustrating part was that we would actually end practice at like 7 but then would talk and talk forever, again without really saying anything. Half of it would be in Setswana too so I had no idea what was going on and when it was in English it would take 5 minutes to say something that could have been said in 1 sentence. But that is the Batswana way-no rush, no need to move quickly!

Anyways, Friday rolled around and even though the bus was supposed to leave at one, we ended up not leaving until 3:45=shocker. Of couse, Ashley and I showed up at the meeting place at one and had to kill time until everyone else and the buses showed up. In fact, basically all UB sports teams were going to Serowe together because it was the Botessa National Championship Games so the basketball teams went, the tennis teams, badminton, netball, softball, soccer and volleyball were all traveling together.

We finally get on the bus and it is HOT! There is no AC on the bus and Friday was one of the hottest days I’ve had in Botswana so far. I was just sweating basically the entire time. The bus ride was really interesting because it really felt like we were riding with a bunch of middle schoolers-people were yelling, bothering those who were sleeping, taking a million pictures, yelling out the window, running around the isles, crazy!! After a couple of hours we stopped at the same rest stop I had been at a week earlier with CIEE as we were going to the same place as last week. We got snacks then headed back on the bus to finish our ride there. Got to Serowe after another couple of hours and first stopped at the college where the games would be held the following day to pick up mattresses for us to sleep on. This sounds simple enough but this 20 minute stop turned into a 2 hour stop. Why??? I do not know.

By this time it is nearing 9pm and we finally get to ISH (the college we were going to be housed in for the next weekend) but of course we didn’t go to our rooms right away but hung out in the parking lot for about an hour. Luckily dinner was provided so we were able to eat as we waited in the lot. It was weird though because each team only got 10 meals so if you had more than 10 players you had to share with other players. We finally are shown to our rooms which is very, very chaotic with everyone pushing and no one hearing what exactly is going on. The boys vball team would be staying on mattresses in an empty classroom whereas the girls would be staying in a dorm (they call them hostels).  Each girls team got 3 rooms no matter who big the team was so we had to have 4 girls per room. However, we soon learned that the doors didn’t lock and even more we were staying on a floor of a boys hostel. A lot of the girls got really uncomfortable with the idea of unlocked doors and a bunch of guys staying around us so we ended up moving to sleep in the classroom with the volleyball boys who we actually knew. So finally at like 1am we are settled in this sweltering hot classroom. Some of the kids were playing a game similar to charades so the lights were on until like 2am. Thank god for my eye mask which completely blocked out the light, noise was another issue. Finally asleep at like 2.

Before I knew it people were getting up to go take showers. The first people who got up, got up at 4am and by 5:30 the lights in the room were on again. Why people wanted to take showers before they were about to exercise? I do not know! But they got up so early and we didn’t even have to leave until 7:45 so when people were done taking their showers they went back to playing that game from the night before. Ashley, Anthony and I were all so confused as to why they didn’t just wait to wake up and take showers so they didn’t have all this extra time but oh well.

So the games finally start on Saturday morning. We were able to watch most of the boys win their first game before ours started. It was pretty awesome to watch everything that was going on as there were so many people and so many things happening all around us. It was time for our first game and Ash and I had to get in our ridiculously ugly, unattractive and really unflattering sky blue uniforms with our names on the back. I thought it was cool to have our names on the back but boy was I wrong. As soon as we started warming up people all around started heckling us yelling our names and “American” and “white girl.” It was so, so overwhelming and Ash and I jut wanted to get off the court. I actually never even got on the court during the game and didn’t’ play at all. Not sure why but the team played pretty well and won the first match. Afterwards though both Ash and I were on the verge of a breakdown because the heckling never stopped even after the game. We would walk around and people would yell our names and stare. What made it worse was that we felt so alone as none of the other girls stood up for us and instead would tell us what to do the entire time or pick us apart. For example for Ash on the court, they would tell her to pass better or run faster and for me on the side they would say oh you need to wash your hair or you have a weird skin color, etc. So Ash and I had to leave the courts for a bit, have a breakdown and regroup. We talked about how we were feeling with our friend Mo, a matswana, who explained that they get heckled terribly too but it is in Setswana so you can’t understand. And the girls are in all truth jealous of us because of all the attention we get, especially from males, and therefore do things to us not out of spite but of jealousy and because they are intimidated. This helped a lot and the second game of the afternoon was a lot better as we were able to block out a lot of the ridicule.

Our games ended in the early afternoon but we had to wait around for the rest of the sports to finish so I ended up watching a basketball game and some netball. Some of the boys vball players were watching netball too and they tried to explain all the rules to me but it’s really weird and, for me, not that exciting.

We didn’t do much that night except eat dinner back at the school and walk to the gas station (filling station) for some snacks.  However, Ash and I did take a shower and when we walked back into the classroom received wide applause because according to the girls by that time we should have showered at least 3 times. Oh well—it was hilarious. And on the way back from the shower we heard one of the best pickup lines yet. “Hi ladies! I like you.” Pretty blunt!!

The morning ritual was pretty much the same on Sunday except that this time the lights stayed off until 6:30 which allowed for a bit more sleep! We headed over to the courts around 8 and once again were able to watch some of the boys game befor ours started. This was the championship game so I really wanted to watch all of it but unfortunately could only watch the first two games before I had to start warming up for our championship game. The boys did end up winning 3 games to 2 and therefore got their gold medal that so many of them wanted. And we, the girls volleyball team, did too! It went to five games but we ended up winning in the end. However I think I might have played a grand total of 2 minutes so I don’t really feel like I earned my medal but hey, oh well! It was so windy out though that the volleyball really wasn’t that pretty, not to mention the levels here are just lower than US levels. After the medal ceremony we just had to hang out and wait for the other teams to finish before finally heading back to Gabs.

The bus ride back was similar to the ride there with a bunch of kids yelling and running around. I thought at least this ride would be quiet cause everyone would be tired, but nope, I was wrong. It really felt like I was in middle school again.

Overall, the weekend was for sure an experience. I had some great moments hanging out with the girls and boys, learning some Setswana here and there, seeing how tournaments are done in Botswana, meeting kids from other UB teams and more. But I also definitely struggled at times. It’s so much harder than I ever thought to be a true minority; to not know the language, not understand the culture and be looked at and treated differently. Just the pure fact that heckling is part of the sport is hard to overcome because although it happens in the US it is more at the professional level rather than friendly competition. It was hard with the fact that when Ashley and I walked around we got stares, people yelling our names and guys saying weird stuff to us. For example on Sunday one guy goes, “Hello. I’m single by the way” which I just replied “hello, good for you.” I mean I don’t know what they want when they say things like that. It was definitely very trying emotionally but an experience that helped me understand life as a minority.

We got home late Sunday night so Monday morning was for sure a struggle especially when I had to go to Setswana class and learn the 14 different noun classes!! However, it did help me understand why certain things are said this way or why sounds seem to repeat themselves. And it was helpful that since volleyball practice was cancelled, me, Ashley, Anthony and Mo all went to a local bar called Bull and Bush for Monday half off rib night. Although the ribs weren’t as good as those from MiRancho in Silver Spring, it was so much fun to hang out with Mo, Ash and Anthony even though I had hung out with them all weekend.

Tuesday went to Old Naledi again to volunteer. However I am finding it harder and harder to go because I really don’t understand my purpose for being there. When I showed up most of the food had already been cooked so I just hung around until it was time to serve which was like 3 hours later. There weren’t that many kids to play with and the ones were around simply want to jump on my back which I can only take for so long before my back gives out. After cleaning up from lunch at Old Naledi I headed to campus even though there was no volleyball again. Instead I had to teach a fitness class for the OIEP (Office of International Exchanges and Partnerships) Wellness Week. Apparently the government makes various offices host these wellness weeks even if the department has nothing to do with health so OIEP got a hold of me and asked if I could teach an hour long fitness class in the student center. I ended up only teaching the OIEP staff that were required to come but still had to do it right in the middle of the student center which was pretty nerve racking to have all these students walk past and see me teaching cardioboxing. It ended up being really fun though and I think everyone got a workout even if we did start a half hour late so the class was a half hour instead of hour.

Wednesday and Thursday flew by especially since Thursday afternoon, me and 6 others were going to be heading to Johannesburg for the weekend. So Thursday afternoon me and Ashley, Charlotte, Ellie and Kylee all boarded the TJ Motlegari’s Express to Johannesburg  for our 6 hour drive to Joburg(Mo and Anthony were going to bus down on Friday).  The drive was pretty uneventful but we did get to see a lot of South Africa since the border from Gaborone is only about a half hour and the rest of the drive is through SA. It is a lot greener with a  lot more trees than Botswana which was a really nice scenery.

We arrived in Joburg around 10pm and a wonderfully nice lady from our bus showed us where to catch a taxi and helped get us a driver to take us to our hostel in Kensington.  As we were driving our driver took us threw Hillbrow which is supposed to be a pretty dodgy area and one to for sure be avoided so that was interesting. We showed up at our hostel, Diamon Diggers Backpackers and were taken back by the awesome view of Joburg from the office. Pretty sweet place.

Friday it was just us girls so we spent the day exploring. It started by waking up early and walking down the street to the little grocery store to buy breakfast fixings. We ended up making banana pancakes and scrambled eggs! YAY!! I miss pancakes—so good. We then had the housekeeper, Kim show us how to get on a minibus which is basically like a combi and took us to the center of Joburg to the Carlton Center. The Carlton Center is basically a big mall but there is a huge building attached and for 15 rand (well 10  because I asked if there was a student discount and the lady said okay) you can ride the elevator to the 50^th floor and get a 360 view of Joburg.

From the “Top of Africa” as it is called we saw Joubert Park right by the Johannesburg Art Gallery and decided to venture out that direction. However the walk there was for sure an experience. It was super busy with a  lot of people hustling and bustling and a lot of people trying to sell us stuff. We were heading towards Hillbrow so it just got sketchier and sketchier making some of the girls feel a bit nervous and very guarded. But we made it to the art gallery (decided against the park because there were some suspicious looking people) and spent some time wandering the gallery looking at various Picassos and other works.

After the museum we made our way all the way to Newtown which was supposed to be a rejuvenated fun part of Joburg-Nope!! It was empty and pretty sketchy looking. We went to the one place the guidebook suggested for lunch called Nikki’s Oasis but it was anything but an oasis. Pretty terrible food, unfriendly wait staff and some things were way overpriced. The afternoon in Newtown didn’t get any better when we walked over to Market Theatre which was supposed to have little shops and a photo gallery but all we found was an empty theatre. We were tired by this point so had a security guard help us get a cab to take us to Bruma Lake World Market for some craft shopping before heading back to the hostel. Well we get all the way to Bruma Lake and then our cab driver goes “oh yeah they closed down the market for renovations.” Well thanks for telling us now! So instead we had to pay him an extra 100 rand to take us back to the hostel.

Once at the hostel, it had started to pour so we just sat in the living room watching TV and recuperating. The hostel manager and another guest were going to go to a local German pub to watch the rugby game and offered to drive us there. It ended up being a really awesome pub with great outdoor seating, cool inside with rugby flags all over, vu vu zelas hanging on the walls, traditional Germany mugs thrown around and a lot of locals. We all ended up getting some type of Bratwurst and had the nicest waitress ever named Pamela. While we were eating dinner we got to talking to some locals as well and spent a good deal of the night learning about South Africa from them. Soon enough, our boys, Mo and Anthony showed up too so we stayed until the bar closed just drinking, eating and chatting. The locals we met were nice enough to offer us rides home so that saved us some money which was nice. Overall it was a great evening…until we returned to the hostel.

We got back around midnight and Kylee says she can’t find her camera in the room. Then Ashley notices her money is missing. Then I check my belongings nad find that my iPod touch, 1000 Rand (which I hid in my sunglass case) and my camera charger are all missing and Charlotte’s camera and iPod are gone. All of us go into survival mode really. Some people go wake up the manager and start watching surveillance footage while others focus on making a list of what is missing and others sent emails to the insurance company and our director in Botswana. It turns out there were two other guests who took our stuff. Earlier in the day when we were in the living room talking about our plans for the evening there was this gentleman sitting there as well but he was a little sketchy, didn’t make eye contact or say anything to us. Then in the video the man he was staying with sat in the lobby at the foot of the staircase that led to the dorm rooms reading a magazine for 40 minutes, about 10 minutes after we had left for dinner. After about 40 minutes, the guy from the living room earlier comes up the stairs with a backpack and the two leave never to come back even though they had just checked in that afternoon. And it turns out that in a hostel they had stayed at a couple of days earlier, 300dollars had gone missing.

The police showed up and asked us to come to the police station in the morning to file a report. So about four hours later (after getting virtually no sleep) Kylee and I wake up and head on over to the Jeppe police station to file a report. We really didn’t think the police would find anything but wanted to have a copy of the report for the insurance company. It took forever at the station and the whole time I was kicking myself for leaving my valuables in my room even though all of us were sketched out by these two other guests. Luckily though my passport and credit cards, and important documents were locked in the safe and luckily these things were taken when I was out and I didn’t get mugged with a knife or gun which is pretty common in Joburg.

After filing the report and coming back for breakfast it was time to start our day. We filed into two taxis and headed to the outskirts of Joburg for the Apartheid Museum. The museum was huge and l thought there was a lot of information I really don’t feel like I learned that much. The museum had a special exhibit on Nelson Mandela that was organized more by topic than chronologically which made it pretty difficult to follow. Also, unlike in the states the museum basically just consisted of pictures and huge paragraphs of information. It was a pretty exhausting museum so after spending our afternoon there we headed back to the hostel for some rest.

After watching a movie and playing some cards we headed back to the German pub from the previous night where we got to sit inside and actually talk to the owner for a bit. She is Swiss and she and her late husband opened the bar up when they moved here a long time ago. She even gave us all a round of free shots as an apology for a rowdy customer who threw up near our table. It ended up being a really fun evening.

Sunday rolled around and we had most of the day before our 4pm bus back to Gaborone so we had arranged a tour of Soweto which is a famous township of Johannesburg. We went with a pretty cheap tour company and a cheap tour is what we got. All 7 of us and our luggage had to get squished in a ridiculously small car that kept dying as we drove around Soweto. However on the tour we were able to see the World Cup Soccer Stadium, the houses of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu and the Hector Peterson Museum.  Soweto has a rich political history and was instrumental in various uprising against the South African government in the 1970s. The Hector Peterson museum is dedicated to the black students who protested the use of Afrikaans language in their schooling system. The Hector Peterson museum was a lot more interesting than that of the Apartheid yet again though I felt that it was just a lot of pictures and words instead of artifacts.

The last stop on the tour was supposed to be a tour of Soweto’s shantytowns but many people felt this would be exploiting the people of Soweto and instead we went to the bungee jump of Soweto. Basically there is a bridge that is suspended between two old nuclear towers that have been painted with gorgeous murals. Anthony was the only one who wanted to jump but it was pretty cool to watch and take pictures.

It was nearing 2:15 by now so we squished back into the car and went to Park Station to get lunch before we headed home. We easily made our bus and had an uneventful yet fun ride back to Gabs.

Overall it was a really interesting weekend. Joburg is for sure a place I wanted to see and for sure one that I don’t think I have to visit again. It is a huge city, something I didn’t expect and yet there is not that much to do there. Now I understand why people questioned me when I said I was going to Joburg for the weekend. And in terms of getting my things stolen, oh well. Like I said it was our own fault for leaving our valuables in the room and we were so lucky that it was simply electronics and not our passports or credit cards. And we were lucky that it happened in this manner instead of being hurt or attacked on the street. At the Apartheid museum  there was a wall with a huge array of quotes of Nelson Mandela, one of which was all about forgiveness. After reading the quote, I forgave the men who stole from me. Who knows? Maybe they needed the money to feed their families. Whatever the reason may be I just hope that they can find justification for their actions instead of simply greed.

My time here in Botswana is coming to an end and these past two weekends have made it so difficult and made me really want to stay in this place where I have made so many great friends. I do not think I will miss Gabs at all but will for sure miss all the friends I have made and the things I have done. I mean I just popped over to South Africa for the weekend; that can’t really happen in the states. It’s for sure a different world over here and one that I am really going to miss.