Cultural Excursion Weekend

So this weekend the international office planned an overnight trip for us, which was great. I was really happy to get a chance to see some of the villages surrounding Gaborone. First we went to see some rock paintings from about 2000 years ago. I guess the people would gather around a fire and talk and dance and then smoke "herbs"(as the guide said) and would draw pictures of what they saw on the cave. Mostly it was pictures of giraffes and other animals with the occasional person thrown in there. After that we went to see a tree that David Livingstone (one of the big Europeans that came into Africa, I believe he brought Christianity to much of the continent) camped under. As we were leaving a whole bunch of village children came up to us and we took pictures with us. They LOVED having their picture taken and always wanted to get in front of everyone else in the picture. They were all so adorable!

From there we had lunch at a dam. It was so weird to finally see water!! We had a really nice catered lunch, which shockingly included a salad! But otherwise it was the standard chicken and rice etc.

After lunch we got to go to a large village (one of the 10 biggest in the country) and meet with an elder and the chief. They were really funny and great.

The Kgosi (Chief) kept on pretending to marry different girls in our group.

The compound included a cattle pen for all of the lost cattle of the village as sort of a lost and found. It also included the courthouse and some old houses. After meeting with the chiefs we walked along a river gorge which was really just beautiful. Very large rocks and cliffs with water trickling through them. It was gorgeous.

When we got there a wedding party was taking pictures and asked us to be in a picture. All of the neighborhood children saw we were there and followed us as we walked through the gorge. It was really funny. Then we went to our "hotel". I slept in a traditional hut with a thatched roof on a thin mattress on the floor with about 12 other girls. At night we had a bonfire and some old women and an old man did a traditional dance for us. For breakfast Sunday I had my first fat cake which was like a donut but waay better. When we arrived at the game reserve they had mimosas waiting for us! So that day we went to a game reserve where we saw lots of springbok, ostriches, elephants, warthogs and even 2 cheetahs.

It was really fun and we were in one of those big jeeps that made so much noise. It felt so adventurous! We had a really great lunch, probably the best meal I've had here so far. It was right on a lake that had a sign that warned against hippos and crocodiles. Didn't see any up close though.

Ipromised Ellen I would post something today so here goes...

Not too much exciting has been going on here. Last night some of the international students (myself included) went to dinner at Rodizio, a Brazilian steakhouse at the Riverwalk Mall. It was really fun and lively (and expensive) The waiters came around with big slabs of meat and cut off portions for you. There was lamb, chicken, beef and pork and it was all really good. It was an all you can eat thing so that turny thing was for saying when you wanted a break or when you wanted the waiters to come to your table. Ours was pretty much on green the whole night. I think I'm still full. Anyways, we had lots of fun. That was pretty much the exciting thing of the week other than classes (which hardly existed) Oh and I finally got to the US Embassy and to Immigration so I just have to go pick up my waiver on Monday and I should be legal past the 30 days the airport lady gave me. wooo. Ok I promised Ellen pictures so these are some random ones I haven't put up yet.

So although my week wasn't very exciting today was. We went to a village nearby called Mochudi for a traditional ceremony marking the return of new men from the bush called the Kgotle. We took a bus that was sooo hot and crowded. I guess the group of international students that went earlier than the group I went with had to wait for a half hour en route because their tire exploded! It's totally like all the stories you hear about Africa. Hot and sticky and crowded. The woman next to us on the way back was nursing her baby. It was really cool to experience the whole bus journey even though at the time it was miserably hot.

Anyways so the men went into the bush 3 months ago and learned about becoming a man and they came back today. In the bush they were circumcised and learned to hunt. They wore feathers and the skins of animals they killed. There were about 4000 men who were being celebrated today. We weren't allowed to take pictures of the ceremony because it is secret and also we couldnt really see too much. The chief of the tribe within that city spoke. It was pretty cool. especially to see the blending of traditional and modern. We were watching this ceremony on a big monitor and some people were wearing jeans while others were wearing traditional clothing. Here are some pictures of the people and village because as I said we weren't allowed to photograph the actual ceremony. Once I steal pictures from others facebooks I'll put more up but here's a taste of what we saw.

When we first got there we decided to buy scarves to cover our hair because that is traditionally what women did so we had the ladies who sold the scarves to us help us tie them. I think I got pretty good at it! The picture below of the man and his animal skin is a springbok (I had to ask him because i didn't know!)

classes

Classes officially started on monday buuut i think i'm the only one who got the notice. apparently it's common for professors to just not show up the first few days of class because of the chaos that is registration. (believe me, non- computerized registration IS chaotic. see 4 hour line for ID card) So I guess I don't have too much to say on class. The only class I have actually had a lecture for thus far is Botswana Politics. This seems like it will be a really interesting class. We have started learning about the precolonial Tswana tribe's government and how the roots of Botswana's successful democracy can be traced back to the tribe. Other than that I am taking 2 French classes: Modern French Literature and Currents of thought in French-speaking Black Africa as well as a history class called Trade and Politics in Central African Kingdoms. I am also taking Industrial Economics and Setswana. That has pretty much been the only excitement for the past few days. I went grocery shopping and found REAL PEANUT BUTTER! which was great. The International office has set up a trip to a game reserve for the weekend of the 17th so I'm looking forward to that. Thanks for dropping by. Leave me a comment, I love to know who's checking in!

Kgale HIll

We climbed Kgale hill this morning. it was absolutely awesome. Here are some pics. on the way down we heard some baboons but we didn't get to see any up close.