First Excursion

Okay!  More about the adventures of Kaylee… I feel there is so much here to explain and comment on and I never feel as if I’m saying enough.  But I also want my blogs to be semi short (something I haven’t been achieving) so that it isn’t such a burden to read them.  I’m probably going to fail a bit on this one since I want to tell you all about my excursion. 

Saturday morning I rolled out of bed at 7am, grabbed what clothes were dry, my toothbrush and some deodorant and called myself packed.  Sixty(ish) students loaded onto a large charter bus and headed for the Bahurutshe Cultural Village.  It only took 30 or 40 minutes to get there.  We were greeted by bagolo (grandmothers) with the usual greeting call.  It is hard to describe but you wiggle your tongue back and forth in your mouth and let out a high pitched noise.  

  

We were served breakfast consisting of tea, juice, eggs, minced meat, fat cakes, and flat bread.  It was good and the first time I’ve had eggs in a while. Many people drink soured milk here.  I accidentally put soured milk instead of regular milk into my tea and it was quite an interesting taste.  And by interesting I mean rancid.  Ick.  (I’m not sure which was worse,  trying the milk or the bug!) I bet I'll be more careful next time!

 The day consisted of riding in the bus from one tourist destination to another. We could not have screamed tourist any louder if we tried.

We visited a large rock outcropping and saw several rock paintings. You can see giraffes in this picture.

Then we went to a very large fig tree named the David Livingston tree.  David Livingston was a missionary who first brought Christianity to Botswana.  Apparently he used to teach under the tree.  The tree itself was very peaceful and you could almost feel it had an old soul.  (yes, yes you may roll your eyes at this but I'm serious.  You could see and feel it's age.)

Next we went to the location of the first church and David Livingston's house (also the first hospital.)  The buildings themselves were torn down a long time ago so there wasn’t much to look at.  A guide took us to a field and told us some history.  The history was important and fun to learn but the lack of something to look at and the very thick accent of our guide made the experience seem long. 

After lunch at the cultural village we headed to a cave.  It is known locally as a cave that if entered you never return.  Needless to say, they would not let us go into it.  I guess that back in the day they had put David Livingston there and he had lived, thus helping prove Christianity was a legit thing.  The picture is the view from the top.  It was very pretty! Several of us were climbing well more like bouldering or scrambling or really just clinging to rock and talking about how much we want to climb it.  I really miss rock climbing.  I'm telling you the sport is addicting.

 I enjoyed learning about some of the history of Botswana and seeing sights outside of Gaborone (Haboron-A) but there was a lot of getting on the bus, getting off the bus, collecting people, waiting on people, etc.  Traveling with a large group has it's downfalls and benefits.   I did escape the bus a few times in order to ride in the back of the pickup truck that was leading the bus around.  It was exhilarating flying down African roads, with your hair beating around, and being able to see all kinds of things.   Donkeys, goats, and cows just roam around.  There are many just grazing by the side of the road.  Drivers have to be really careful not to him them.  It was odd to see because a lot of the land near the road was fenced in by the animals were not in the fence.  They stayed on the strip of grass between the fence and the road. 

The night at the cultural village was awesome!!  It was a small little touristy place.  The village the people actually belonged to was down the road.  The cultural village had a a place to eat, bathrooms, several huts, and then tents set up.  The elders (the small chief and  several older ladies) told us about their culture.  They split the boys and girls.  The girls learned about chores while the boys drank beer and played the drums. We learned how to mash mealie (corn), spread cow dung on the hut floors to clean them, and how sickness or child birth is usually dealt with.   Their culture was very much about taking care of the men, protecting the men, and respecting the men.  Men were to eat first.  Women were to stand at the back of the line (or really any line at that)  because  “if a lion came, it would get to the women first and the men would be safe."  Coming from a culture where men are to hold a door for ladies, my first instinct was "WHAT"?  He he interesting right.  But I really enjoyed learning about everything.  They ladies were so nice and irresistible.  Later that night a group of traditional dancers ranging from age 17 to 27 came and preformed for us.  It was so neat to watch as they danced around the fire.   What rhythm!  That night we slept in huts or tents and got up early the next day for breakfast. 

 

Sunday we headed for Mokolodi nature reserve.  (The place I will be volunteering at.)  When we arrived they served us mamosas.  We were all a bit shocked, but it was a fun addition!  The group loaded on three different vehicles and we had an hour game drive.  I was lucky enough to get on the smaller vehicle.  Our guide was able to get out and tell us fun facts about the animals.  I saw lots of impala, warthogs, a wildebeest, ostriches, kudu (the biggest antelope in Africa),  and a giraffe!  (WOO HOO  First game drive, but surely not the last!) We had a bush brai where we ate lunch at a small picnic table out in the reserve.  The food was delicious! There were many veggies, a wonderful piece of bread, and dessert!

 After lunch, we walked through the reptile park and a guy told us facts about the animals and passed around a snake to hold.  It was great to see all the animals I would be working with again.  I think this place is going to be a great eye opener for me.  It is definitely different than anything I've done. 

We got back to the dorms around 4 on Sunday. The Internet was not working so I just put away my laundry which was kind of hard. I'm not sure if I used too much soap or if that's just how they will usually come out......???   I organized my room and made space for our new refrigerator!  Yes that's right ladies and gentleman we now have a brand new, black, working refrigerator! It cost 150 pula a month to rent it but we are splitting it between four girls so it is pretty cheap!  I studied French, Setswana, read, and then went to bed. 

 This morning, after French class, I headed with Nora to the vets office  I will now be volunteering Monday mornings and Friday afternoons!  Woo Hoo!  We met one of the two vets at the practice and he was extremely nice.  He went to vet school in Australia!  I can't wait to get hands on experience.  The few dogs I ran into this weekend made me even more excited for the vets office. Here are a few pictures... aren't they cute!!!??

The vet's clinic is only a block from main mall, so we stocked up on groceries and I bought an adapter for the fridge.  I bought MILK AND YOGURT!  (I made sure to buy regular milk (only full cream offered) and not soured milk!!! Woo Hoo!  For lunch I had a bowl of cereal!  SO GOOD! After Setswana I had milk and cookies!Yum!

The most fun part of the day was checking the mail box at the international office!  I had two letters, one from my mom (mma) and one from my aunt (mmangwane)!  What a lucky girl I am to have such an amazing family!

On a side note,  Friday night someone broke into one of my friends rooms and stole their two laptops and cell phones.  They had a padlock on the door but someone cut it.  It has scared and infuriated all the international kids.  Theft here is a very big problem. (Which is why we must check our bags when we enter the library and grocery stores.)  We have been warned of it quite a lot.  Paige and I have a lock on our outer door but we also lock our stuff in our closet when we leave.  (Although realistically, if they can cut the outside lock then they can probably cut the closet lock….)   I believe someone specifically targeted the international kids because they knew they would have laptops.  Many people believe that being white means being wealthy.  I feel very sorry for these two girls and I’m fearful that it could easily happen again to any of us.  I will not live in paranoia but I will take extra precautions to be safe.  I was afraid to write this because I can see my mom having a small heart attack, but I think it’s important to understand the full experience.   There are up’s and down’s to each foreign place but you must roll with the punches or you won’t find happiness traveling!

Well folks, I'd say that's good for now.  

Onward and Upward!