Kanye, Botswana

Hey everyone!

There's so much to saaayyyyy!!!!!! I probably won't even get to everything I want to but I will try. First and foremost, I am healthy and happy and am living in Kanye for the next two months!

After landing in South Africa, I was terribly nauseous. We had some pretty crazy turbulence that really upset my stomach so I was sad that I wasn't feeling well to do more exploration around the airport. It was a small airport anyway. :P We had to walk downstairs to our terminal but our terminal consisted of a large waiting room with buses waiting outside the doors. We all had to stand with our carry-on's as the bus took us right up to the small express plane that was waiting for us. I felt like such a movie star, kinda like Whitney Houston in the Bodyguard, not going to lie.

Johannesburg Airport, South Africa

Terminals out to the buses

 

Me, feeling all Bodyguard status

Gabarone Airport, Botswana

My lovely Southern friend, Sarah. Love her accent!

Next few pictures are from the lovely Big 5 Lodge in Gabarone , the first day we landed.

Fail on making that face, on my part. Go Lisa.

My family are the nicest people, ever. There is about 7-8 of us in this small house and I have my own room and my own bucket! (I have to take bucket baths. Yay.) The culture here is very familial and traditional so when I met my host family at our matching ceremony they immediately took me in and gave me a Setswana name. My name I've adopted is Rothle Mogakolodi, which I am almost sure none of you will pronounce correctly when you try because I can't even pronounce it.  I was praying I'd get a name I could pronounce and of course they throw in a name that has a rolling R and a click. -__- I won't get much further into that. I have two nieces and pretty much two nephews that live down the street but constantly yell, "Auntie, Auntie!" I love them but they play in the dirt and always get me dirty. =] They constantly tell me I am beautiful and I'm just too spoiled with them. I also think they say that because I'm different and they've never seen anyone like me. haha The mom to my nieces  is a beautiful woman who is 5 years older than I am and her name is Dondo. She teaches me Setswana everyday and I enjoy learning from her. My host mom, who is the head of household, is a respected teacher and when I tell people my name they're like, "Ohhh. Ahhh." I'm guessing those are positive sounds...? Oh, and I can't forget my brother who is 21 years old and insists that I listen to Lil Wayne and Rick Ross. He and I had a pretty lengthy debate over how talented Nicki Minaj is but unfortunately he still loves her. haha My brother, Tau, does most of the cooking and cleaning, which I find is amazing. He is such a nice guy and wishes to see California one of these days so hopefully he will! I'm sad I don't yet have a picture of him but I will soon! I also added him on facebook. haha He is on it 24/7. Much like many people I know. Not naming names. 

Yes, I wash my clothes, bathe, and brush my teeth in buckets. No running water in my home.

I took Thati and Fefe to school on their first day back!

My sister Dondo. I did her makeup and put on fake eyelashes for a wedding she was in. ME. OF ALL PEOPLE! :)

Yaone with a weave on. haha No, it wasn't mine.

Yaone not looking too happy, Thepo, baby Junior, and silly Fefe.

I took this for my sister. (Hey hooch!) This is our house cat that bugs me. Sorry, not a cat person. 

I went to a wedding my second day in Kanye! Let me tell you, Batswana (people from Botswana) LOVE their weddings! It is also wedding season so I probably should expect to be at a lot of them. I met my host family and immediately they said, "We're going to a wedding tomorrow and the next day." Uh, cool. haha It was a very fun and interesting experience but I don't think I would like going to a lot of them because Batswana have these very long weddings that last all day with great food but I feel just like an outsider there. Don't get me wrong, I love how friendly everyone here is. Everyone, everywhere I go, looks at me and says, "Lekgoa! Lekgoa!" Which literally means vomited from the see. It pretty much means white person or foreign person. Which is funny because I'm not white. But I am foreign so I guess it fits. Everybody wants to take pictures of me or with me or ask me things in the little English that they know. And when I try to talk to them in Setswana they laugh at me. But one thing I learned from the Peace Corps is that you will soon get real comfortable and okay with making a fool of yourself on a daily basis. The people here are so nice and friendly, I can't stress that enough. Training is 6 days a week and we learn all sorts of topics like Safety and Security, Women Empowerment, Water and Food Preparation, etc. As you can imagine there is A LOT we need to know to be able to live on our own at our permanent sites in about two months. It is crazy and the days are long but it is well worth it! My favorite is the Setswana language sessions we have because I love language. I look forward to those days.

Moshupa

Traditional Botswana dance. Coolest thing ever.

My lonely walk to the education center 6 days a week.

Combi ridin'. A combi is a van that fills up and takes you where you need to go with no set schedule. One of the cheaper ways to get around.

I love my fat cakes!!!!!!!!! It's really a big ball of dough that's fried. They're dangerous!!!

They love their fatcakes, too!!

Yaone and Thepo

She insisted on "helping Auntie with her backpack."

Just ate some fried chicken today!!!!!!!!!! YUM!!!!!!!!!

So I don't really know what I've missed so far but my time at this internet cafe is running up! I get to come here only once a week, if I'm lucky, so I am trying to remember things to update everyone on. Ahhh, running out of time at the internet cafe. I'll have to post more pictures of me dancing and making a fool of myself at a wedding and other things I've seen here. Also, I have the best health care I have ever had in my life so I feel a bit better about that. Yay for government employees. See you all later and take care!

Go Siame!

Diane Rotlhe Phoolserm