Laboraro (Wednesday)

Hello beautiful people,I guess it's about time I checked in!

I'm in a list-making kind of mood so here we go:

• I turned in all the stuff needed to apply for my resident waiver.  That way I can stay in Botswana FOREVER!  (haha just kidding mom)  The residency waiver gives my 6 months or something like that.  
• I ventured around campus until I found building 239.  I looked around 240, but it wasn't close to it.  he he.  Finally, I found a girl who was looking for the same building.  We then ran into one of her friends who knew where the building was.  She took hold of our hands and led us to the building.  They were both super nice.  The girls exact words  "don't worry, this was me a couple weeks ago!" It was awesome to be embraced by strangers!
• I visited the laundry facilities for the first time.  I had several pairs of pants and a few shirts to wash and I was just too lazy to hand wash them.  Lucky for me, I walked right in and got a machine.  I popped my token in and waited 40 minutes for the machine to work it's magic.  I will never again take a washing machine for granted!  I was to cheap to pay for the dryer, so I took my clothes back to my dorm area and hung them in the sun.  Things dry here quickly.  
• I did hand wash my rank tennis shoes yesterday.  They are taking a beating.  I made them promise to make it to the end of my trip!
• Last night I went out to eat with a large group of people to celebrate Jillian's birthday.  We ate at this yummy Italian restaurant in Riverwalk.  The service was actually very quick but then it took forever to get our check.  You defiantly can not rush through eating out!  After dinner we came back and had cake!  
• Today, I volunteered at Mokolodi.  I was dragging butt for most of the day.  I'm not sure if it's because I didn't get as much sleep as I've been getting last night or if it's because I'm exercising more than usual or if my diet is just wacky and I'm missing some important nutrient.  I stopped by the mall tonight and grabbed a multi vitamin, just in case I'm deficient in something. 
• At Mokolodi, we created these plastic tube carrying things for snakes.  I got to use a hack saw and a drill.  Woo Power tools!  We then attacked an old enclosure and removed all the rocks to make it ready for tortoises.  Let me tell you people,  there were a lot of rocks!  After lunch, we were supposed to fill the enclosure with fresh dirt but didn't quite accomplish that.  The mound of dirt was rock hard and we had to attack it with shovels for a long while to make the dirt movable.  Next time, we will actually move the dirt to the enclosure.  There is a lot of standing around, waiting on people, finding things, asking questions, and so on that comes with being new and following the pace of the batswana.  I feel like we should be getting more accomplished in a day, but I'm not going to worry about it!  We did more than if we had our butts back at the dorm!
• Tonight, I spent a good hour socializing with neighbors.  I am super lucky to have some really great girls sharing the common area.  I even got to practice my Setswana! :)