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!)