Update Time!

here's what's happened in the last week:

presented at a primary school on the negative effects of drug/alcohol abuse. the students said they couldn't understand my english so my boss reviewed what i said. i'd been told presenting in english would be fine, but the kids certainly didn't think so. it was pretty embarrassing to be told to continue talking even after they said they couldn't understand me.

i finally learned the names of my three younger siblings: Tlotlo (boy. i think translates to pride) is 6. Peo (girl. translates to seed) is twins with Legae (boy. not sure of the translation) who are both 4.

my shoe broke at work yesterday so i stapled it 8 times and it held up the rest of the day.

i can successfully hail any combi or taxi going in my direction.

i visited Mochudi's museum with Ian, Katie and their students from a school for the visually impaired. it was super interesting to see all of the really old pictures and artifacts. there was one pot, probably a foot and a half deep with an opening about a foot wide that was used to bury people. someone was telling me there was little respect for the body of a dead person, so they were shoved into these pots and buried. after the museum, two students taught me to play mhele, a traditional game that's kind of like tic-tac-toe on steroids.

while i absolutely love the work BOFWA does, they don't really have anything for me to do. i sometimes read, sometimes talk to other volunteers, and sometimes do homework. or sometimes i leave early.

i've gone twice to Motswedi Rehabilitation Center with NT, the BOFWA employee I wrote about last time. It's super fun to play games with the kids. we do things similar to Simon Says and Duck-Duck-Goose. i have also sat in on physical therapy for young kids. that was super tough to watch because the kids were getting stretched out and screaming so loud. at the same time, there were older people (70s or 80s) who were from an org that works with people living with HIV. they were doing exercises to strengthen their muscles. they couldn't walk without a lot of support. their motivation to walk even just five feet was inspirational.

i went to a club friday night with Nt and Ian where live music was being played. we were interviewed for BTV (botswana tv). i also went to a party the police department was throwing because someone was retiring. a little weird to see police partying.

we discovered the Mochudi library, a cute little two room air conditioned building with books we can't check out and computers we can't use because we won't be here for two years. but they do have ethernet cables we can use and apparently it's the fastest connection around (i have yet to use it).

i've had a few more setswana lessons, so i keep trying to talk to people in the village and they laugh every time i do. but they're always impressed with how much we all know and how well we can get around town.

watched the first half of Home Alone 2 at cameron's house.

considering how long it's been since i last posted, not too much has happened. a lot of down time and relaxing. i finished a book: Cyclops. i never though i'd enjoy a scifi book, but i did!!