Ghanzi!

 Swimming in a quarry in Ghanzi

 Going for a walk with the bushmen

 Sitting outside the huts we slept in 

 Another beautiful African sunset

 Some of the bushmen showing us traditional dancing

Ash and I out in the bush--twins!

Although only a couple of days have passed since I last wrote I thought it important to write one more post before I take off for my world-wind month of traveling. This past weekend was the last cultural excursion and this time it was to Ghanzi which is on the western side of the country close to Namibia. We actually drove along the same road to get to Ghanzi as we did to get to Namibia in September.

Friday started off good as we only left the office a half hour later than expected which for Botswana is early. However we did have to pull about a block from campus and wait for 15 minutes until another driver showed up to give our combi the proper permits and then had to wait another 15 minutes at a filling station for ???? We think the driver had to drop something off to a friend, but we are really unsure.

Anyways finally by about 10am we were on our way traveling across Botswana. We stopped by Jwaneng for Nando’s for lunch which is noteworthy because Jwaneng is where one of the largest diamond mines in Botswana lives. We were actually supposed to go visit there earlier in the semester but unfortunately there was a mining accident with some casualties and the investigation is still ongoing and the mine is closed.

Back on the road after lunch for another 5/6 hours of intense heat and wind. The combi didn’t have air conditioning so we were left with opening the three windows we had and getting blasted with the wind and it was still so so hot. It’s only averaging between 95-100 which is hot but the real problem is that there is no air conditioning anywhere so you rarely get a respite from the heat.

Finally by around 6 we showed up to Ghanzi trail Blazers which is basically a camping site. It was really cool because you could either pitch your own tents or thye had little circular huts with two beds each which is what we got. After walking around and seeing the sunset we were served dinner where I had the first colorful vegetables since being here and a salad!!! Woot! Then the bushmen from this part of the country performed traditional dance for us around the fire. It was really cool because the bushmen do not speak Setswana but speak a different version of it with the clicks. The dancing involves a lot of stomping and singing in a circle and a couple of people from our group were chosen to dance with them too.

After the dance was over the CIEE group built our own fire and chatted, played charades and told stories before we were asked by the other campers to keep it down and go to bed!

We woke up bright and early Saturday morning for our 6:30 breakfast right before we were supposed to head out on a walk with the bushmen. The walk was so cool because the bushmen showed us all the different plants they use for medicinal purposes. To me all the different plants looked the same. We were in basically the dessert because the ground was just sand and the plants really did look very similar but after seeing the bushmen dig up the roots you could tell they were very different. A lot of these small plants would have huge, tuber-like roots that the bushmen use for various medicinal purposes. One was for kidney stones, some were for menstrual cramps, one was for infertility, tanning leather, etc. Basically for all of them they take the roots, grind it up and brew it in a tea. Other times they would take the more stick like roots and chew on them for other ailments like stomach pain. One plant had a huge tuber and they grate it and then squeeze the gratings and a cascade of water came out. Apparently they use this one when they are out in the bush for long periods of time and do not have any water. It was also cool because they all spoke in the click language and at one point gave each of us a seed, told us to put it under our tongue and it would help us learn the clicks. It turned out to be a practical joke because with these seeds when they get when the shell cracks open. The bushmen really enjoyed that one. They were so animated and since they knew we didn’t understand them they were very animated when they spoke so between the translator and the gestures we understood them perfectly. Nowadays they don’t live in the bush per se, but rather government sponsored compounds very similar to the American Indian reservations in the states.

After sweating it up on our early morning bush walk, we were driven to an old quarry that had been turned into a swimming pool. It was gorgeous and the water was absolutely perfect. Some people had doubts about swimming because of parasites and the fact that the grounds had just been freshly manured so it smelled like cow dung (which does eventually run off into the water we swam it) but once one person went in, everyone jumped in. It was so refreshing and such a wonderful time. They had surfboards and inner tubes that we found. It was one of those moments where life is good!

Headed back to the campsite to pack up and then before we knew it we were headed back to Gabs in that awful, hot, hot, sticky combi again. This time most people slept for like half of it, I got some studying done and then we played the celebrity name game for a good 3 hours!!

Finally got back to Gabs late Saturday night and went out to our favorite bar one last time all together. A lot of the international students from other programs are leaving this week so it was nice to hang out with them for a bit.

Sunday is a lazy day. I am just spending my day in my room studying for my two tests tomorrow and finishing up a paper. However, tonight I am heading over to Riverwalk with Tshego, Ashely and Charlotte to see the new Twilight movie which should be a lot of fun. Tshego is finally done with exams and has more free time which is great except that I am leaving for my 3 week crazy vacation tomorrow! Oh well, I will do what I can!

Okay so this might be my last post for a while. In Mozambique if they have internet I might try there!!! Oh and HAPPY  (early) THANKSGIVING!!

Last Full Week in Gabs

Since this was my last full week in Gaborone, my friends and I were working on crossing things off our bucket list which started right away on Monday.

After heading to the gym for one of the last times, I met up with Charlotte, Anthony and Ashley and walked a couple of blocks down towards Princess Marina hospital where a couple of blocks behind it is this white house that serves traditional Tswana food. Now I could just get the same thing on campus at Curry Pot or at my house as this is what I’ve been eating everyday but I heard the “White House” was great and oh my goodness was it. Basically it’s just a lady’s house where there is an outdoor seating area and she brings trays of food out and for 30 pula you get this heaping plate of food. It was probably the best Tswana food I have had here. I got stampa which is like hominy, grilled chicken, beetroot salad, potato salad and butternut squash. Fantastico!!! While we were eating this American girl came over and asked if she could sit with us. It turns out she had just gotten to Botswana the night before and was already at work at the hospital and really didn’t know anyone or know much about Botswana. We all chatted for a bit sharing our knowledge about the country and hopefully not overloading her too much. We were so happy to have helped her out and were glad we could be there for her to sit with and eat lunch with and chat for a bit. I can’t imagine showing up and literally the next morning going to work in a completely new, different country! Crazy!!!

I went to my last Media in Botswana class and then headed home, getting home minutes before Tshego. Even though she had a test the next day she consented to hanging out with me and making dumplings. So she made dumplings while I made chicken with some vegetables. It was a really fun evening because for some reason the dumplings did not turn out, either too much baking soda or too much of some other ingredient. When we were boiling them the water kept overflowing, there was flour and starch everywhere an they wouldn’t cook all the way through so we were stuck with gooey dumplings…it was so much fun!!!  Once we had finished cooking our “dumplings” and chicken, Tshego and I both did homework as we watched the weirdest South African show called “Scandal.” It was a really fun evening spent with my sister.

Tuesday was another fun day. It was my last time at Old Naledi and thank goodness too because I burnt all the onions I was supposed to be sautéing. I got there and began cutting up the potatoes the ladies had been peeling then we all took like a two hour break and there weren’t that many kids there so I literally just took a nap on the picnic tables outside the kitchen. Finally it was time to start cooking and that is when the onion fiasco started. No one there really speaks English so the main cook motioned for me to sautee some carrots and onions and I am stirring it while all the ladies go back outside. Before I knew it the carrots started burning and I had no idea what to do and then it all went downhill. Everything in the pot burned and started smoking!!! Needless to say we had to throw that batch out and start over again. As I left I was so happy it was my last day until I got to the combi stop. I was walking down the street and all these little kids yell Makgowa which means white person and come racing over, grabbed my hands and walked me to the combi stop. Then at the stop they helped me wave down a combi and when I had to get in they didn’t want to let go of my hand. No matter how superficial their attention was, it was still nice to be wanted. Overall, I really don’t know if I got anything out of volunteering for Old Naledi and not sure if they got anything out of me being there but I would like to think that I might have made the day for some of those kids. Not a lof of them had ever seen a white person so even though I was kind of exploiting myself I hope that they now at least can have a better understanding of what white people are really like.

That night I again got to hang out with Tshego and Elt as we watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall and then the news (in Setswana) while eating dinner.

Wednesday was the last day of scheduled classes at UB so I got up bright and early for my last 8 am which literally lasted 45 minutes (it’s a two hour class). Headed to the gym one last time, thank goodness because I am not only bored of the equipment but my gym shoes are on their last leg; there are holes in them, no support left, the insoles are ruined! Right before lunch I worked on a CIEE group project and then hung out with Ashley to plan our Cape Town adventure!

After planning for a bit, Charlotte, Kylee and I walked to River Walk to do some shopping but unfortunately the little craft stands we wanted to visit apparently are only there on the weekends! So instead we got nice creams from Milky Lane and waited until Ashley and Anthony showed up for dinner. We were going to go to this Brazilian steakhouse called Rodizio but they don’t start serving until six which would have meant we would have to wait an hour so instead went to Linga Longa, again!

Thursday was another busy day. Although there weren’t any classes, all the CIEE kids had to go to campus to present our research projects that we had been working on. My group chose nutrition and looked at the nutrition of Tswana food, what the government is doing, consequences of the high carbohydrate diet, etc. To make our presentation a bit more interesting, Kim made a ginger drink with her mom for everyone and we passed out chocolate to anyone who answered questions. Some of the other groups presented on women’s rights in Botswana, UB vs USA colleges, traditional medicine, street vendors and gender issues in HIV.  The presentations took all morning but we did get Debonair’s Pizza which was awesome.

Afterwards, Charlotte and I walked down to the Gaborone Sun Hotel which is like 3 or 4 blocks from campus. Apparently you can swim in their pool if you buy a drink. We ended up swimming but not buying a drink. The pool was basically empty and it was such a nice afternoon just sun bathing and taking some dips to cool off. We then wandered off to Main Mall to take some pictures and do some last minute shopping before heading home for the afternoon.

Now I am finally back at my homestay and have just finished writing up this blog before writing my last paper and preparing for my two finals on Monday. Tomorrow I leave bright and early for Ghanzi, a CIEE planned trip for the weekend! I am so excited! I get back late Saturday night and then have Sunday before I take my finals on Monday and head off to Mozambique for two weeks!!!!! All I can really say right now is that life is grand!!!!

Volleyball Banquet!

 Me and Lorraine

 Me, Ngirl, Ashley and Bonolo

 Most of the girls team, Bomber and Anthony

Me and Rocas from the boys team

Hello once again. As I am nearing the end of my time here in Botswana, there is actually less to blog about. This week was really one of normalcy without anything that exciting happening.

Monday was my Setswana final which was basically an oral exam where I had to converse with my teacher, Nthati, for roughly 10 minutes in Setswana. I was so nervous for it but it ended up being a lot easier than I had anticipated and I was rated intermediate-high, a score I think too generous but I will take it. She asked me the basic questions that she taught us on the first day of class such as “O naa kae? Where do you stay,” “O tswa kae?-Where are you from” “O dira eng mo Botswana-what do you do in Botswana” “O tsile leng mo Botswana-When did you arrive in Botswana” just to name a few. As the conversation progressed we got to talking about my family both here in Botswana and back home. Unfortunately I forgot how to say younger sister so just said “Ke nale aubuti bidiwa Patrick-I have an older brother named Patrick” and pretended that I didn’t have a younger sister-Sorry Lainie. To celebrate being done with Setswana, after volleyball me and some friends went to Embassy which is this Indian restaurant that I think I have mentioned before-so good!

Unfortunately Monday night we learned that the grandpa of the family had passed away so the house was busy with people coming in and out to pay their respects and in preparation for the funeral.

Tuesday I was supposed to go to Old Naledi one last time but had so much homework that I needed to get done (and wanted to head to the gym to work off Embassy) so I decided to go this upcoming week and instead spend the day in the computer lab getting as much work done as possible. It was not as productive as I had expected but I did make progress on a lot of assignments.  When I got back home my host mom was having a prayer group for the grandfather so I was able to meet a few more cousins of the family and a lot of the ladies from my mom’s church.

Wednesday again was anything too exciting. I did however go to Main Mall in the afternoon to get passport pictures taken which were necessary for my visa to Mozambique. But even this was so different than in the US. For my picture I just walked up to this lady who has a little stand on the sidewalk, sat in front of white fabric and she took the pictures-no smiling and I had to have my shoulders covered. From there me and my companions traveled to the Mozambique embassy where we arrived right at one, primo lunch time. We were showing up just as the guy was leaving and he begrudgingly said he would stay to fill out our paperwork for our visas. Unfortunately we didn’t know that along  with the passport photos we needed an actual copy of our passport so Ashley and Anthony raced across the street to the Gaborone Sun hotel to do that for us while the rest of us stayed and filled out our paperwork and paid our 375 pula fee. Even though it was a pain to run around, we were all happy that we had accomplished that and it was one more thing off the list of things to do. Once getting back to campus we were also able to book all of our book tickets and hostel for Mozambique so we are ready to go! One week until I adventure off to the beaches of paradise and to snorkel with the nurse sharks and mantarays!

Thursday and Friday came and went without anything really exciting happening. Friday I had no classes so after going to the gym, Charlotte, Anthony and I headed to over to Broadhurst, a neighborhood in Gabs, to go to the Red Lantern, the only Chinese restaurant I have heard of in Gabs. It was, well, it was Chinese food in an African city. I got fried eggplant stuffed with pork which was basically just fried dough so it was good but for sure not nutritious. Afterwards we ventured over to the Craft Market and Botswana Craft where I had planned on buying lots of gifts for people but really only ended up with postcards. There is just not a tourism market in Gaborone and therefore there aren’t a lot of “touristy” stores to buy souvenirs.

After wearing ourselves out we headed back to campus and then I headed over to volleyball practice where it was casual Friday which basically meant the girls and guys mixed together and scrimmaged. We played king/queen of the court with four players and up to 3 points and I had a really funny team. It was me, Rocas and two of the tallest players on the boys team, Shakes and The Great. They are all really animated and really funny. For example I hit a ball into the net and they all gave me grief that I was being paid to sabotage the game  and they should call the authorities. Or whenever we got a great point Shakes would roll on the court pounding the floor in joy. I had a blast! I then headed home where it was just me, Tshego and Tshego’s friend for the night. Even though I got home pretty late I ended up making pancakes for all three of us as we sat and watched “Flava Dome” (a Botswana music show) and some old Chuck Norris western on the eBotswana channel.  

Saturday morning was the first morning in a long tiem that I got to spend at home just relaxing. Woke up late, finished an episode of Desperate Housewives I had strated the night before, had a breakfast of bogobe (porridge) with Tsehgo and her friend, worked on some homework, relaxed! By the afternoon the house was starting to really warm-up and I was getting really hot as there is no air con (as they call it) in my house and the temperatures have been between 95 and 100 the past week. So to get out for a bit I went with Anthony and Charlotte to Airport Junction, this newly opened mall by the airport in Gaborone. There wasn’t too much to do in the mall but I was able to buy some ridiculously expensive deodorant from Clicks (aka CVS), try on some clothes at Mr. Price (their version of Forever 21) and buy some wonderful Cadberry TopDeck chocolate from Spar (Giant). We were spent after a couple of hours and went to Nandos to just relax before heading to campus.

Once on campus there was a volleyball going away, end of the semester celebration so Ashley, Anthony and I ventured over to the dining hall, Curry Pot to celebrate. It was really nice of the team as they had bought pizza, soda and chips to eat and even made short speeches about having us on the team this semester. We did a range of things from playing volleyball with a balloon inside one of the dorms to playing old school truth or dare spin the bottle to going to the volleyball courts and playing real volleyball at 11:30 at night. Overall it was really a great way to say good bye to really the only Batswana friends that I have made during my time here.

By the time the party was winding down it was pretty late so I stayed on campus with Ashley and ended up watching some of New Moon before completely passing out. Got up bright and early and was able to use Ashley’s computer and the internet to finally watch a video from my wonderful siblings. One of the best surprises was seeing both Patrick and Lainie on this video postcard as it is usually just Lainie! Loved it—Thanks guys!!!!

Once Ash was up and we had both eaten a Phaphata with egg from Foodlovers on campus we combi’d over to Rail Park to meet up with Charlotte and Kylee to walk to Malopo Crossing which is another small mall that was supposed to have great fabric stores. A lot of the stores ended up being closed but Charlotte was able to buy a traditional skirt from one of the open stands. We were really hot, shocker, so went into this bar around 11am for some tap water and fries. However after getting our tap water the waitress never came back and none of us were that hungry so we just left. Not sure what the protocol is on that one!

We ventured over to Charlotte’s house to work on a research project about nutrition for CIEE. However her mom wanted us to work outside which was fine because there was a shaded patio but by 2 the shade did nothing and we were sweating like crazy so decided to finish up quickly and head back to Rail Park for some wonderful Milky Lane nice creams (aka a 75 cent ice cream cone or 1.50 with sprinkles).  It was so refreshing and we got to see our favorite worker, Alice!

Since I had been gone from home for so long I got back to the house by around 3 where I spent the afternoon making pumpkin bread (thanks mom!) and watching friends as Tshego and I did our homework. After giving up on homework, I played cards with Elt where I taught him both trashcan and Egyptian Rat Screw while Elt’s brother, Aaron (who was in for the funeral) made dinner. Overall it was a really fun night and it was great to hang out with Elt and Tshego since my days left in Botswana are numbered!

I’m in this weird state now where I am nearing ready to come home. I miss my family, my house, my friends, my pets. I miss being completely comfortable and feeling like I fit in because even though I have been here for over 4 months I still feel like an outsider. I still don’t know the language enough to converse with people on the combi, I still get talked to and harassed (that might be too strong of a word) when walking through the station and I still feel like I am treated like an idiot a lot of the time. All of this makes me want to go home to a place that I completely understand and have missed terribly. Now at the same time there are so many things I am going to miss. The lizards that run around the trees and are the Botswana version of squirrels or the goats and chickens that pop up all over the place. I’m going to miss the crazy friends that I have made here and their fun personalities. I’m going to miss the English language here and the way in which text messages are written in short hand. For example everyone always uses “Hwzit”when texting the phrase “How’s it?” which is their way of saying how are you. Or when someone says “gud 9t” for good night. The way people say “serious” when in the states we would say “seriously?” and they say “it was very nice” for anything they like whether it be food, a dress, a person, etc. I have grown accustomed to so many little things here like driving on the other side of the road, calculating costs in pula, paying for everything in cash, etc. So even though I am desperately missing the states I am going through withdrawal and am going to desperately miss Botswana and all my friends when I go back to the states. What an adventure!!!

Two Weeks Left in Bots!

 Volunteering at Mokolodi

Playing tug of war with the thorny, prickly, dangerous trees

 taking a dip in one of Mokolodi's watering hole

 Hanging out with two of my favorite volleyball players: Moleti and Anthony

My waffle-ice cream-pb-banana waffle for breakfast!!!

 Hello once again. As a study break I thought I would update all of you on the happenings of this past week. I can’t believe I am already studying for finals! I have my first final tomorrow-Setswana which is going to be an oral test where I will have to converse with my teacher, Nthati. I am pretty nervous about it because even though I am living with a host family and surrounded by the language I mainly speak English to them and am spoken to in English by them and my friends. Then I have another final this upcoming Thursday for my Psychological Challenges of HIV/Aids course. Technically finals are not supposed to start until November 19^th but many teachers here do not like teaching the last week of actual classes (the week of the 12^th) and instead of waiting around until the 19^th to give the final are giving it to us early. This is fine with me since now I have only two finals during the actual finals week and was able to get both of them to be on the same day, the 19^th. This then means that I am done with all my courses on the 19^th and have free time until December 1^st when CIEE takes all the students to the Okavango Delta. Since I have like 10 days with nothing to do I am going to be heading to Maputo and Tofo in Mozambique which are supposed to have amazing beaches! So although I am not technically going to be leaving Africa until December 12^th I really only have two more weeks in Gaborone and the last 3 weeks will be spent traveling: Mozambique, then the Delta then Cape Town for 4 days.

Since I have such a short amount of time left in Gaborone I am trying to hit everything that I like to do one more time which included two for one whizzers at Milky Lane on Tuesday night. On Tuesday I didn’t go to volleyball because CIEE had a meeting where we got to present a media project we had been working on. For our CIEE class, we were split into groups of 5, given a topic about Gabs and then were to make a 5 minute instructional video about it. My group did transportation while some of the other topics were Setswana, homestays, dorm life and CIEE in general. So CIEE got us pizza and juices and we all came together to watch each other’s videos which was great. Then it was time to head to Milky Lane for our whizzers which are kind of like DQ Blizzards. But of course nothing is simple in Bots. Even though Anthony and I had been going to Milky Lane for this deal for the past two weeks we order and she charged us for both. When we complained she said the deal was no longer going on and they forgot to take down the sign. When we asked then for the money back and to cancel the order she said she couldn’t cancel the order. What??? After arguing for a bit, the manager comes over. I love her! Her name is Alice and she is one of the few people in Botswana who practices customer service and she knows us because we go there so often. It turns out that the deal is still going on it was just that the two particular ones we ordered couldn’t count for it because they were two of the expensive ones. Long and short of it we did end up getting two cheaper ones for free but eish, what a hassle.

Wednesday was Halloween but no one here celebrates it and so it wasn’t that special of a day at all. No one even knew it was Halloween here. However, us Americans thought we had to do something to celebrate so after volleyball, me, Ashley, Anthony, Kylee and Charlotte headed to Linga Longa Restaurant for some good old, orange macaroni and cheese. Of course we needed chocolate too though so while waiting for our food, Ash and I ran to Pick and Pay to get some wonderful Cadberry chocolate to satisfy our need for Halloween candy! It wasn’t the typical American Halloween but we did what we could with what we had!

Thursday and Friday weren’t that particularly interesting. On Friday volleyball practice was a lot of fun though. There weren’t that many people there so the boys and girls mixed and we scrimmaged for most of practice. It was so so much fun. Unlike with the girls when you make a mistake the boys will correct your mistake without saying anything about it or will give you a high five and say good try. Plus they love to tease each other which is hilarious. At one point I was with these two guys in the back row and they kept saying to set them because the back row is where the points are coming from. This started this huge chorus of “Julies” every time I went to set the ball with 5 different hitters yelling my name and hoping I set them. It was awesome! The rest of the night was good too because my mom was at the hospital just down the road so I was able to get a ride home with her and found out that she made dumplings for dinner. They were great. Then I just spent the night hanging out with Tshego watching My African Dream which is like a talent show.

Saturday I had to get up really early because the CIEE kids were volunteering at Mokolodi Game Reserve so had to meet on campus by like 8. It turned out to be an awesome day full of crazy happenings. It started when we were on our way to Mokolodi and got pulled over at a police check point. What should have been a five minute check turned into an hour detour because it turns out the combi company we hired didn’t have the registration to drive these cars and therefore had to pay a 1800 pula fine immediately which they didn’t have. So we were literally just stranded at this police check point. Eventually Mokolodi came in their game drive trucks to come pick us up and take us into the park where we met the headman for the day, Ian (funny story-because of his accent many of us thought he said Yen so for a good part of the day people just kept calling him Yen!).  Once inside the park and at our worksite we divided into three groups. The main problem they were having was that when the heavy rains came the water would pool in the road and form a river and even washed some of the road away. There were three tasks to be done; collecting rocks to fill in the huge holes in the road, digging ditches/creating barriers and trimming branches to clear the game drive road. I started on rock collecting which was actually pretty fun. We got to wander around the bush finding large rocks and eventually created an assembly line from the bush to the road to fill in the holes. It was so rewarding to see how many rocks we collected and how much of the road we were able to fill in. After a short break for snack time I switched tasks and hopped in the back of Ian’s pick up truck to drive to another part of the road to cut down tree branches that were in the way of the road. It was so much fun flying through Mokolodi in the back of the pick-up truck as Ian was a crazy driver but it was so much fun. Cutting the trees back, however, was a completely different story. These are no normal trees but smart little devil trees. They look really leafy and green and soft but in fact they have a ridiculous amount of tiny thorns that face inward so when you get stuck in them and try to pull back you just get more caught.  I got my head stuck in these trees like five times and had to have people come untangle me and had the branches stick to my shirt, pants, shoes, skin!!! Came out with some “real nice” scratches all over my arms (take note of the tug-of-war pictures with the tree!). To cool off on the way back to the other kids, Ian took us to a watering hole that we got to dip our feet in and play with the mud for a bit. So much FUN!!

We then got to have our lunch which was this awesome braii!!! Braiis are huge here and are basically just a barbeque with a bunch of different meats so we got like three different salads, pap, butternut squash, chicken, sausages, steak. Everything was so good and I definitely had my fair share of food. After sufficiently gorging myself, some of us walked over to this huge lake and got to see a crodocile and two hippos. Then on the way back from the braii we saw like 5 zebras. The afternoon was definitely another “aha moment, my life is so great!” I mean I just got to rebuild a path in a game reserve, splash around in a watering hole, eat at a braii right next to a hippo-infested lake and then see zebras running around and that’s a normal weekend now!! Loved it!!

The day wasn’t over yet though. After hanging out at UB for a bit, most of the international students decided to go out to a local bar we go to once in a while for the night. It was so much fun to hang out with the other kids because we really do not have much time left together.

Sunday was yet another good day. One thing that has been on my and Anthony’s bucket list is to go to Milky Lane and get their icecream covered waffles-today was the day. We headed out to railpark and got our peanut butter banana, ice cream waffles which were delicious!!! Yet at the same time made you want to throw up. Definitely glad I got them but for sure something I would not do again. Afterwards, some of us went to another mall to hit up a target-like store called Game and then walked back to my house for an afternoon of chocolate-chip cookie making. Basically it was a day filled with my closest American friends, ice cream, cookies and waffles-who could ask for more???