Settling In

Apologies for the long delay in posting! The reasons are several, first of which is that the internet at UB has finally decided to show its real colors and they are ugly. The connection here is sporadic and frequently non-existent so that I, in a fit of frustration, gave up on it. In addition to that, I have to admit that this week has been a slow one so this post is more a collection of short stories and reflections.

This past weekend Ani and I went to Riverwalk for some much needed shopping and to see Sherlock Holmes (again). The movie theater there is nice, but it was a somewhat odd experience to watch this film surrounded by a group of kids up from South Africa while a thunderstorm raged audibly outside. These thunderstorms are much more frequent than I expected, but they are a welcome reprieve from the heat. And in Botswana, when it rains it pours.

My attempt to capture the rain on film

Thank goodness for the gutters that line all the paths on UB’s campus

Then Sunday I went with myself and one other CIEE girl went to watch our fellow CIEE participant Allie play with the UB women’s soccer team. Although Allie couldn’t play due to some issues on the school’s part of completed paperwork, it was interesting to watch the team. The field is dirt (this is pretty typical for the soccer fields around here) and the boundaries are drawn ahead of time. I have absolutely no idea what they do when it rains. Our team lost, but apparently the team they were playing (Township Rollers) is pretty good, so I will suspend any assessment of their skill until I’ve seen more games – that was Kaija Bergen, your weekly sports reviewer J

Girls playing sports

Dudes watching the game under a tree get the front row seats

Today in addition to classes (more on those in a bit) Batsi got the former Minister of Health to come and speak to the CIEE kids about the AIDs epidemic in Botswana, which was wonderful! The focus was the socio-cultural factors that contribute to the spread of the virus, as well as a basic review of what the government has been doing to stop it. It may interest some to know that health care in Botswana is free J This evening, we went to a UB writer’s workshop where anywhere from 50 to 70 of us crammed into a very hot room to listen to students recite (mostly) poetry. Having sat through a number of poetry gigs at Mac, it was fun to listen to what these students were writing. There’s much more of a rap/hip hop feel to a lot of what’s being done here, as well as more incorporation of music.

Poetry ‘round the world

I was told that school here at the University of Botswana would be a change from Macalester, and thus far that has certainly proven itself to be true. Quite apart from the fact that I am not currently slogging through snow and that internet continues to remain an elusive commodity, there are various changes in just how school works. Because UB is several thousand students larger than Macalester, I was prepared for much larger classes and (foolishly) a degree of anonymity.

My literature classes were surprisingly not larger than a Mac class and even the Poli Sci classes are not huge. I think this is in part due to the fact that attendance at UB isn’t very consistent. The first week I had several students laugh at me when I asked if they had gone to class (the first week isn’t officially a “shop” week, but unofficially everyone recognizes that only about half of the students actually come). But despite the relatively small class size, the lesson doesn’t operate like those to which I’m accustomed. From what I’ve been told, students in Botswana learn under a heavily “teacher-centered” approach that involves a teacher lecturing in front of the class for 50 minutes and perhaps two assignments for the semester. Ironically, this is the college my high school teachers told me to expect. Things are more laid back here, with the understanding that the end of the semester is reserved for cramming.

I’ve yet to see a clock on time here at UB – they are all on Botswana time!

The other “culture-shock” experience with which I am currently dealing is, dramatically J, that of my own “whiteness.” I knew I’d be a minority here in Botswana and I was, if not looking forward to it, at least aware of the learning opportunity this presented. It’s really on-campus (with its forty white students) that I am most aware of my own skin color. Students often stare and guys come to get your number simply because you are foreign. For someone hesitant to engage in conversation with people I don’t know even when I’m in the height of my comfort zone, this has all been a bit disconcerting. I’m frequently possessed by the urge to tell people, “You’ve got it wrong. I’m actually really not that interesting. ” I remind myself that what I’m experiencing here as a minority is what a lot of people live every day. Except that for many people in, say, the United States, it isn’t simply curiosity that fuels peoples’ stares, but hostility and judgment, something I have not felt here at all. So is it a learning experience? Most certainly. Are there days when I just wish I looked like a Motswana? Oh yes.

Outside of classes, Ani and I have had a pretty dead week. If you don’t fill your time here yourself, it will remain empty. The homework load isn’t much to speak of and I never realized just how much time I spent doing that at Mac until it was gone and now I’m suddenly staring at hours of uncharted time. Part of this has been nice. It’s given us the opportunity to adjust, get some time to ourselves, and put a dent in our pleasure reading (oh Harry Potter books how lovely you are J). However, I can see where this would rapidly get old. Ani is working to set up a volunteer position with a local hospital and I’ve asked Batsi to look into something government related for me (as you can see, I have very specific desires).

Sites and Safari

Life here moves in sort of bursts of activity, where some days will pass with little to no excitement and then we’ll have a slew of them in a row where everything is packed together. Such was this past week, where classes were laid back, low key if they occurred at all. None of my classes are large, but they aren’t exactly discussion-based either. It’s a different kind of format to which I’m adjusting, and the pace is definitely slower. All of my classes were canceled on Friday so Ani, Sam and Nancy (two people from CIEE), and I went to Game City (the farther away mall) and browsed around. I caved to the inevitable and bought a hot water heater so I am now the contented drinker of morning tea once more. Ani thinks I’m crazy for having a hot drink when it is absolutely sweltering here, but those with an addiction such as mine may sympathize.

The beautiful object itself.

We’ve also been to the small kiosk in front of the library, where I discovered to my joy they sell vegetarian…pies? Pastry-things. Essentially, the kiosk food works a little big like the MN State Fair. Only instead of putting anything you want on a stick, they put it in pastry-puff. So there’s all sorts of chicken and beef and what have you in a pastry puff. This little kiosk has become my best friend.

Ani and Sophie enjoy their meat with phyllo dough.

Ani bought two shirts from Game City and then Ani, Nancy and I rode the combis (first time for Ani and myself doing this without an experienced guide! Although Nancy sort of filled that role) to Main Mall, which is the mall that is more open with stalls along the side of the walk way and then stores behind them. Here Nancy and I both got dresses that double as skirts – mine was only 45 pula which is the equivalent of about $7.50 so I was immensely pleased.

The following day was an early one with almost all the exchange students meeting at 7 (or around 7 really – it is still Botswana time after all) to go on a weekend excursion that functioned like an “experiential weekend.” We began by all sleeping on the ride out to Botswana’s National Food and Technology Research Centre. This was cool because they’re in charge of a range of projects, from determining the nutrients and labeling of Botswana’s food, to developing new food, to encouraging agriculture throughout the country. Right now Botswana imports a huge amount of its food (I think it was 90%), mostly from South Africa. Getting Botswana’s economy away from dependence on SA is a huge deal in most governmental projects for Botswana, so this wasn’t an exception. We were also given a brief tour of the facilities.

Where Science occurs

Then we went to the village/town (about 50,000 people) called Kanye (yes, like the rapper) to visit a kgotla. Kogtla’s are a traditional meeting place where everyone comes together to make decisions for the community. They function as sort of a combination of executive and judicial authority and are still very much in use around Botswana today. The chief presides, but chiefs are also officially part of Botswana’s national government so the whole process is very interconnected. These kgotla’s are also largely credited for helping to make Botswana such a successful democracy, as they contain a lot of democratic elements.

Kgotla from the outside

Kgotla from the inside (not that it isn’t really all outside as it’s an open structure).

Behind Kanye’s kgotla, there are the government offices, where the chief spends the rest of his day. From what I can tell, these combinations of traditional and modern function relatively well together. We were given the tour by two elders, who also showed us around the compound where traditionally the chief’s extended family would live. Today that doesn’t always happen, so a lot of the buildings were empty. We were also told by the women in the building that they could find Ani a husband. Being picky, she declined unless she could see him before deciding - thus throwing away a perfectly good opportunity for us to see a Setswana wedding. :)

The government building behind the kgotla

The two men showing us the kgotla then led us on a hike up to a small gorge. Once more, this was sort of a path-less excursion, though not as strenuous as Kgale Hill! The most embarrassing/impressive part of the whole adventure is that we were out-hiked by a 77 year old man.

I would like to be this man when I am 77.

The gorge itself was quite beautiful

Apparently people come up here to pray sometimes, which I thought sounded much nicer than Kgale Hill where they come to mug people

(new dress!)

Following a somewhat precarious hike back down, we bid out tour guides farewell and made our way to the day’s final destination – a somewhat traditional Setswana lodging. Here we were able to sleep in traditional homes, eat a traditional meal (no mopane this time though!), and watch/try and learn some traditional Setswana dances. It was fun; we all were sort of grotty so it was a bit like glorified camping, with a lovely bon fire and mattresses on the floor in the huts. The whole thing was very much set up to give the tourists an experience, but I think it was tastefully done and provided a good learning opportunity.

Myself in front of our lodging for the evening!

The bon fire – there was a man there whose job it was to ensure the fire stay lit all night, not a position I fancy!

Featured here: A traditional beer, also described to us as chunky beer. Let’s just say it was an experience to take one sip ;) Ani declined even that.

The following morning we all rose at 7am again (I sleep like a log these nights, let me tell you, hiking in 90+ degree weather is exhausting). On Sunday we first visited some rock paintings that were made by people almost 2000 years ago. The entire place was very informal, one man and the rocks were fenced off, but that was all. Nevertheless it’s incredible to think that what people painted thousands of years ago can last this long. It made me wonder how durable something we might do would be. If I drew something with sharpy on a rock somewhere would it be there 2000 years from now?

Giraffes

Some other animals

We then visited what is known as the David Livingstone Tree, which is MASSIVE. For those who were wondering, this is what Wikipedia says on old David:

"Perhaps one of the most popular national heroes of the late 19th century in Victorian Britain, Livingstone had a mythic status, which operated on a number of interconnected levels: that of Protestant missionary martyr, that of working-class "rags to riches" inspirational story, that of scientific investigator and explorer, that of imperial reformer, anti-slavery crusader, and advocate of commercial empire.

His fame as an explorer helped drive forward the obsession with discovering the sources of the River Nile that formed the culmination of the classic period of European geographical discovery and colonial penetration of the African continent. At the same time his missionary travels, "disappearance" and death in Africa, and subsequent glorification as posthumous national hero in 1874 led to the founding of several major central African Christian missionary initiatives carried forward in the era of the European "Scramble for Africa.""

So some good and some bad there, but he used to come and sit under this tree and this is where he did a number of baptisms, as well as medicinal work. The tree itself was large enough to provide a significant amount of shade when he was there, so our guide estimates it is about 300 years old.

My pictures don’t really do the tree justice

We walked in underneath it to this sort of secret, canopied clearing made by the branches.

Finally, you can’t say you’ve done the Africa tourism thing if you don’t do the safari and safari we did (there will probably be some more of these, Botswana’s really pushing the eco-tourism so there are reserves around the country, not without some controversy for the people who have lost land as a result of this). We got to ride in these surprisingly speedy and tough cars, whizzing around the reserve looking for animals. I was sure that we’d only see a few, but there were more than I expected!

Our mode of transport

Ani, Batsi, and his son preparing to ride through the reserve and spot fabulous animals!

We saw a ton of giraffes (which is apparently called a tower of giraffes-who’d have thunk)

African Elephants! (they’re the biggest type of elephant)

Giraffe crossing!

Giraffes apparently get darker as they get older

Wildebeest

Impala!

And an ostrich!

Thus ended an exciting weekend and a rather long and sticky bus ride. At some point we may be charged with finding our own weekend entertainment, but right now the weekends have been the time when I feel like we learn the most!

Kgale Hill and UB Classes

Sunday marked the beginning of a new type of hiking for me. As listed on our schedule, we went to Kgale Hill – the tallest point in Gaborone (only because the real hills are about twenty minutes away in South Africa) – prepared for sunburn and sweat. This hike was unlike those I’ve gone on before because our program director Batsi likes to hike this hill without using the trail. This is apparently acceptable in Botswana, where I think the forest service can be a little lax. J First, however, we had to make a very important stop to get…fat cakes. Actually called that, fat cakes are like a combination of excellent donuts and lembas bread in that one can fill the stomach of a grown man.

Preparing to eat my heart attack

We then arrived in our combi (as I mentioned, this is the white van in which most people get around – as a group we generally put fourteen people plus the driver in there, although after the hike we added Batsi’s two kids to make a cozy 16).

Shot from the back of the combi – hard to really give a sense for it.

Intrepid Adventurers

As promised, no path. In the foreground, a disgustingly relaxed Batsi.

The hike was pretty tough. Forget us not using the path, the thing was steep as you can probably see in the photo. I drew heavily on my memories of other climbers such as Frodo and Sam to inspire my trek. You’d be amazed by how much cooler you feel stumbling through bush when you tell yourself you’re like Aragorn. That and the fact that there were bugs like this one:

This fellow starred as one of the extras in the Hakuna Matata scene of the Lion King.

Took us probably two hours to get to the top. However, upon gaining the summit (it was an epic climb) it was worth it. From Kgale Hill you can see over into South Africa as well as overlook the entirety of Gabs. Also, it helped that there was a brisk breeze there to cool off the sweaty, out of shape Americans.

Part of the successful climbers and a helpful sign for those wondering where Beijing was from here

“Meditating” over the city – although my shoulders are blinding white in this photo by the end of the afternoon they had turned about the color of my shirt, despite the SPF 50 I put on them. The rest of me, however, remained pale as ever. Thus fail my hopes for a tan.

We then hiked down (using the trail, thankfully) and were picked up by our combi with Batsi’s kids and made our way to Lion’s Park—Gaborone’s water park. On the way we saw some baboons, but they were too fast for a good photo so you’ll just have to imagine them. Once at the water park we finally cooled off by hitting the wave pool and the rides, which were very much like old carnival rides from maybe the late eighties/early nineties. This day was further perfected by the fact that we had pizza. Delicious pizza.

The next day classes began! Here, everyone is still registering themselves for the school year, so the first day of classes consists more of students lining up in long queue. The professors don’t always come to the first day or even first week of classes and rarely will you get a syllabus on the first day. With my magical class-picking abilities I had every professor show (although no class ran its full 50 minutes), but Ani only had half of her professors come. The policy seems to be show up, wait for fifteen minutes and if the professor isn’t there you can head out. Finding classes worked better than I expected and I think I’ll enjoy what I’m taking for the most part.

Ani’s Classes

• Demographic Aspects of HIV/Aids
• Gender in African Literature
• Epidemiology (this might change because literally no one showed for that class)
• Psychopathology
• Setswana
• CIEE Setswana

My Classes

• Demographic Aspects of HIV/Aids
• Gender in African Literature
• Politics of Poverty in Southern Africa
• Literature of the African Diaspora (Afro-Caribbean Literature)
• Setswana
• CIEE Setswana

As you can see we are taking two intro to Setswana classes, which totals about nine hours of Setswana instruction every week. Hopefully this will transform us into native speakers in no time!

As predicted, refectory food is already getting old. We went out and saw Avatar last night (not in 3D, there is no 3D in Botswana) and ate at Riverwalk. That's not a permanent solution though because even though things are slightly cheaper here, Riverwalk dining will definitely start to add up. Also, I would like to announce that I have very excitingly won a bet with my father, who predicted I would not be able to conveniently find peanut butter. It is sold both at the school convenience store and Riverwalk. Therefore, I am now the proud owner of a jar of “Black Cat” peanut butter.

You can buy peanut butter in tubs!

So, Dad, that’s 120 pula you owe me! This weekend we have plans to visit a village outside of Gaborone and then possible do some “Game spotting” aka look at wild animals!

Great Beginnings in Gaborone

Dumela! Greetings from Gaborone, Botswana! Following an uneventful arrival in Johannesburg (well, apart from Ani making a new "friend"--a story she will write up for us later this week) and a smooth little 45 minute transfer to Gaborone (Gabs), Ani and I have arrived at our final destination! Luggage intact and Pula (Botswana currency) in hand, we met Batsi, our CIEE program coordinator; Sharon and Khumo, our “soulmates”—two UB students here to make sure we don’t get too confused; and the nine other program participants (of which two are guys).

CIEE Botswana, from left to right: (top) Ani, Shelley, Dalton, Isabelle, Emma, Sophie, Nancy, Allie, Jenn (bottom) Khumo, me, Sam

For the first three days we stayed just outside the city at what was called a lodge. It was a large residence, somewhat like a B&B and we eleven students filled all the rooms and completely invaded the one conference room that the lodge possessed. Here we had our CIEE orientation, wherein we discussed everything from a brief history of Botswana to the culture shock we are all guaranteed to experience. Currently, we are all in the honeymoon stage—in love with Botswana and thrilled to have arrived. Eventually we will be sad, bitter, and lonely, but we’ll come out of it just in time to fall in love with the place again before we leave. At least we are well-prepared. We also were made home cooked meals that were quite tasty! Here was probably the hardest time to be vegetarian, as a nice meal in Botswana usually has meat.

Our lodge!

We also did a small tour of Gabs during this time, which largely consisted of hitting up the various malls. The city has about four or five, but the two big ones are Riverwalk (about a 15 minute walk from campus) and Game City. Riverwalk has a number of nice restaurants and it was here we all bought cell phones – small Nokia’s with English and Arabic letters on the keys. I have been assured that I will deeply appreciate the Riverwalk restaurants once I start taking meals at UB’s refectories (cafeterias).

Riverwalk, where the cool kids shop

To get around in Gaborone, we mostly take combis. These are small white vans that seat anywhere from 12 to 16 people depending on how you squeeze and that travel all around the city. They’re numbered and have specific routes, but there’s no bus map or schedule, so the process generally involves preexisting knowledge of where each number goes and then a ten to fifteen minute wait for one to appear. Other than that, you can get around by taxi (flag one down) or cab (which you call), or just good old walking, something that can get exhausting for those of us unaccustomed to the Botswana heat. And it is HOT.

At Game City, about a hundred combis wait for passengers

On Monday night we moved into our hostels (dorms) at UB. Batsi tried to get us rooms with Batswana students, but instead we ended up with some of the other international kids. We live with the upperclassmen undergraduates in a block of buildings just off of campus that is known as Las Vegas. Ani and I are sharing a room, which is nice and the rooms are pretty standard—although a giant wall runs down the middle that is sort of obnoxiously divisive and we have to put our own locks on everything to discourage petty theft. Gabs doesn’t have too much crime, but it seems as though crimes of convenience abound. So, for example, if you leave your dorm unlocked, someone might grab your backpack, or if you leave your mobile out someone might decide to pick it up, but it’s unlikely that someone would literally break into your house to steal.

Las Vegas: A different kind of party

UB itself is an active campus that is even now doing extensive construction. As Sharon (one of our soul mates said), going to school at UB—and I would imagine simply living in Gabs—you sort of grow up with the school/city. Botswana has come an incredibly long way since independence when they had only 12 kilometers of paved road in the entire country. Now we zoom around in combis and everyone has a cell phone (although we carry our own toilet paper to the bathroom for reasons unknown to me—this, by the way, has the potential to lead me into many an uncomfortable situation should I ever forget my roll!).

UB’s library—notable for its AC (this is very important) and wireless!

The school is divided up into numbered blocks that I have yet to figure out (that’s my assignment for tomorrow as classes start on Monday!). So there’s the Humanities block and the Psychology block, etc. etc. but they numbered the buildings as they were built and not necessarily with regards to where they are in relationship to one another so 139 is not always near 138.

Ani and Sharon in the Social Science block

The Olympic size pool!

(semi-enlarged for your reading pleasure) Watch that discharging of bodily matter!

As I think I’ve mentioned, HIV/Aids is a massive problem in Botswana with 1 out of 3 people likely to be infected. The school is quite serious about this and so there are free condoms everywhere, free testing (actually, for students—including us international students—all on-campus medical stuff is free from medicine to exams to vaccines), and lovely signs like this one.

Dalton, one of our two males on the program, models the sign

After moving in the next two days were spent doing UB’s orientation, which was a bit of a snooze. However, we did do another tour of Gabs where we stopped to visit some landmarks. The most notable of these is the monument to the Three Chiefs. Essentially, these three chiefs went to England back in 1895 to ask Britain to make Botswana a protectorate to ensure that Botswana didn’t fall to South Africa’s Boers and their racial oppression. England wasn’t going to, but the men managed to visit a slew of UK villages and drum up support for their cause and that’s how Botswana went to the British. However, since the British just thought Botswana was a desert they kept mostly out of the country (except for a visit from King George that resulted in 12 kilometers of paved road :D) and then Botswana peacefully gained independence. The Chiefs themselves are historically a big deal in Botswana, and this is one of the biggest tourist/national monument sites. In the background you can see cranes, which are all over the place in Gaborone.

Three Chiefs and me!

Three Chiefs and Ani!

We also visited Parliament (which we weren’t allowed to photograph) and Main Mall, which unlike Riverwalk and Game City is more of an open pedestrian area with stands where people sell music, food, shoes; you name it, in addition to clothing stores and grocery stores behind them. It’s the oldest mall in Gabs and quite fun.

Ani just outside of the Main Mall

Finally, last night we went to a Motswana woman’s home for a traditional Setswana meal. After busing out of the city, we had to get out and walk the rest of the dirt road because it was too uneven for our bus. Here we sat around a fire outside her (very nice) home and enjoyed all sorts of beans, corn, maize, and (for the meat eaters) intestines and chicken. However, the exotic highlight for all of us young US visitors was the mopane. For those not yet fluent in Setswana, that’s worms – or rather crunchy caterpillars. I would like to announce that all but one of our group at those mopane and here’s the proof:

Ani and Kaija eat bugs

They actually don’t taste bad at all, but about halfway through crunching down on mine (I made the mistake of putting the whole thing in my mouth at once) it struck me that I was eating a caterpillar and the mental reaction kicked in and that made it hard to swallow down. However, if there were no legs and just the taste, they would actually be okay! Juiced a little when I first bit down, but other than that it was crunchy.

Ani and her mopane

Kaija and her mopane

Tomorrow we rise bright and early to climb Kgale Hill, which overlooks Gabs and then Monday marks the beginning of classes! More on that later because right now I have to brave my slightly beetle-infested shower!