ABCDE

This week was full of random things from A-E.

Anthem - We learned Botswana's national anthem and our language teachers learned America's national anthem. It was really cool to see everyone joining in together to sing both the anthems. It was definitely a cross cultural session. It was sad that the LCF's (Language and Cross-Cultural Facilitator's) knew America's anthem better than some of us knew our own. haha Sad, sad world...

Our Batswana LCF's singing the American national anthem.
Too bad my video won't  load because it was amazing to see.

One of my favorite LCFs sporting the Barcelona jersey.
Batswana love their football!

Bathing, balancing, and baboons: I was in the capital city for a PC med. appt. and randomly saw a baboon chilling on the street. Just sitting there in front of a parking lot. That was interesting.

I also spent this past weekend with my nieces and nephew. They can really make my day. As I was eating breakfast on Sunday (I made eggs and hash browns!) they were getting ready to bathe because they had already spent the early morning playing in the dirt! They were singing and dancing and it was the funniest sight to see because I have never seen kids so excited to bathe (they say "bath" here), so much that they danced to the bathroom! haha 

When we first arrived in Botswana we saw Motswana women balancing all kinds of things on their heads. My friend, Sarah, and I made it our goal to be able to balance things on our heads too. So when we walked back home from the local supermarket we placed our shopping bag on the top of our heads and walked ALL THE WAY home. That's right, be jealous. We got skills!

Look Ma, no hands!

Cooking, cows, and craziness - Lately I have been anticipating being on my own for the first time in my life, in about two weeks. I get nervous about what I will eat because if you haven't heard, I have no electricity in my new place which also means I have no refrigerator! So you can imagine what limited groceries I have to buy that do not need refrigeration. I feel like I will gain 12 pounds in the first week. So, I am enjoying all the time I have to cook at my homestay and enjoy what I COULD eat until I leave. I have been pretty successful with breakfast foods but this week I cooked for my family twice! All by myself! I cooked a "traditional" meal one night and I cooked macaroni with meat another night, the way they make it here. I was really scared at first that I didn't do it correctly or that it may be too salty but my mom asked for more, my sister finished it in 5 minutes, and my niece said, "Auntie knows how to cook!" Success!

A common thing to see are animals crossing the road at random times so it is expected that cars stop and let these animals cross. It's really funny to see and sometimes you are waiting a really long time for all of them to cross. I love it.

During dinner yesterday I took a photo shoot of my crazy brother. He thinks he is funny. haha jk

I'm trying to eat healthier here. For some reason I now enjoy tomatoes
and green bell peppers. Never liked them before.

This may or may not look appetizing to you but my family gave me "Well done!"

Cut up my omelette but it was delicious. And yes, I like my eggs and hash browns browned.

Dancing - The other day during our tea break we put on some Beyonce, Mariah Carey, and other divas and had a dance party. At first the Peace Corps staff was like, "Wtf?" but then some of them joined us. We had people battling and I showed some of my diva moves while Crazy in Love was playing and everyone was having a good time. Too bad there aren't any pictures. Too bad.

Escaping & Eating Out - During the medical appointment Sarah and I was able to escape to Game City and shop for our homes! It was nice but everything was a bit expensive. The best part of shopping was finding paper towels!! This is the first time I have seen paper towels since I've been here. Daily wiping and hand-washing here is almost nonexistent  so I almost cried when I saw the paper towels and hand soap because I only use it at the Education center. I will definitely be using it in my house. Whew! Even though Game is really expensive, people get excited to come here because you find food and other things that are not available in the villages that we will stay in. We were also able to finally try Nando's Peri Peri chicken that EVERYONE swears by over here and although it was tasty the conclusion is: I am still a Chicken Licken lover. I did like the Peri Peri hot sauce but I prefer my food fried. I guess some things will never change.

Soup mix, bacon potato seasoning, cream of mushroom sauce...ahhh!

Oh paper towels, how I've missed you.

My southern belle at Nando's Restaurant

A 1/4 chicken and some chips with hot sauce and tomato sauce. Yum.

Yes Ice Cube, today WAS a good day.