Leina lame ke Nlulamisi.

This morning was bitterly cold. (Actually, the whole day has been unusually cold!)  I met up with a few girls and walked to first class at 8am, Dynamics of the Savannah Ecosystem.  It seemed pretty straight forward.  He lectured about the basics like the definition of a savanna. After class, I met up with another girl and we ventured to find our next class, Intro to Mammalian physiology. .  It had switched to a bigger room.  We found the classroom and went to the cafeteria to kill time.  I had a warm tea (5 pula). Yum!  I love that tea is a big thing here!  At ten, we went back to our classroom and realized it had been double booked.  Our professor told our class to go back to the old room.  Everyone jumped up and started rush to across campus in order to get a seat in the old classroom which only had seats for about half of the class. The rest of the class had to stand against the back walls, in the aisle, and near the front.  Even though people were stuffed in the room, the professor still proceeded to lecture. She has a very strong Indian accent and talks quietly so she was difficult to hear.  The professor told us that last year 46% of the class failed and she also told us we were not allowed to laugh in her class because it was disruptive.  I'm a little leery of this woman now but hopefully all will go well.   After class, I had to sign up for a lab time.  Lines here aren't really lines.  People just jumble around and push each other.  You have to be determined. 

I ate a peanut butter and apple sandwich (not bad) and went to my next class, Introduction to Setswana.  There are about 20 international students in it.  We went over basics like my name is, I am from, I am staying at, and I am a student.  It was fun but I can see it will be very challenging!  Leina lame ke Kaylee literally translates to "name mine is Kaylee."  I would really like to be able to understand some Setswana.  Although everyone here speaks English, they speak in Setswana constantly.  Only if someone is talking to me do they switch to English.  It creates a slight language barrier, but it also acts as motivation to learn another language.  Any language, for that matter.

After class I headed to the international office and after a little over an hour I finally had my class schedule finalized! CHECK!!  I came back to the dorm and got to skype my mom for the first time.  The connection was horrible but it's pretty awesome that you can talk to someone so far away. (Why back in the old days... I had to walk a mile to school uphill both ways....)

I was starving so I went with my roommate and neighbor to dinner at the dinging hall.  It was actually the best meal I've had there.  They had regular pap made from maize but they also had pap made from sorghum.  The sorghum pap was pretty good.  It had more of a consistency of beans while the regular pap doesn't have much flavor.  Both have a very thick consistency.  Along with the pap, I had a regular salad and potatoes.  I'm not sure if the meal was really that good or if I was really hungry or maybe I'm adjusting but I'm quite satisfied.   Below is a picture of my meal.

 I stayed in the dining hall for three hours and just socialized with the international people as they came to eat.  It was fun. As four of us were leaving the dining hall we met two guys who are leaving Friday to study abroad in Missouri.  We ended up talking to their group for a good thirty minutes.  They were very nice and we covered topics from music, to Obama, to hair, to American cities, to the Botswana president and so on. It amazes me how the students here know so much about politics, especially American politics.  They were also very interested in Paige's (my roommate) hair which is straight and very blond.  The girls I was with each got a setswana name but I didn't ask for one.  I figured they didn't know me well enough to grant me a name. But then the guy said no, your name is Nlulamisi.  It is Kalanga (another bantu language) meaning one who brings positive change to an area or makes something better.  He may use this name on all international girls, and maybe this isn't even the right definition for Nlulamisis but I'm going to choose to ignore these things and say that name is something special to me and I want to keep it!  As a good friend of mine would say "HAVE FAITH!" Each Batswana person's name means something.  People are not just named "Tom" here, they are named after something that usually relates to their birth or parents at the time.  For example people may have names that mean rain, sunshine, chief,  etc.  My roommate got a Kalanga name meaning a cool, calm, humble person who is easy to be around. The other two girls got Setswana names meaning diamond and my lady.

Back to the food.....
With the exception of the sorghum pap tonight, they serve the same meal every day for lunch and dinner everyday.  The meal is 15 pula and fills up the whole plate.   It is either pap, rice, or noodles plus a the same sauce to put over it.  The sauce is pretty good.  No complaints. They have two meat options consisting of chicken, beef, meatballs, liver, some kind of intentions, and other things I'm not aware of.   I don't eat the meat. I barely eat meat at home, so I've been trying to keep my distance here. ( I did have some kind of chicken thing while at a mall and it was pretty good).  They offer two veggies. You can only pick one unless you say vegetarian option and don't get meat. The veggies are usually some kind of radish salad, pumpkin, potatoes or squash.  If you don't want the whole meal, or maybe want something in addition, you can buy a "salad" for 5.50.  The salad can be one of several things.  They usually offer beans, a potato salad, a green regular salad, or a radish type salad.  You can also purchase french fries (called chips here), fat cakes ( a sweet bread), and papata (spelling?) at the dining hall.   The vegetarian options here are very limited.  Actually, veggies in general seem limited here.  I've been eating in my room mostly and try to visit the dining hall once every other day.  In my room I have peanut butter,bananas, apples, oranges, a few avocados, cereal, granola, and granola bars I brought from home. 

While we are on the subject of food... I tried a traditional worm last night. I heard about it before I came plus people have been talking about them.  I was hanging in a dorm room when someone produced a package and before I could really think about it I tried one.  It had a horrible, unusual taste.  I can now say I've eaten a worm.  When if Botswana, do as the Batswana do. 

Oh and for exciting news.... I have a meeting tomorrow at the Mokolodi Nature Reserve in order to talk about volunteering!  Woo Hoo! Fingers crossed. 

I'm still really liking it here.  It's amazing how much of an eye opener this experience is.  I hope that I am able to travel to many more places in my lifetime!   I'm now cuddled up in bed and about to start reading a new book someone lent me.  I finished Life of Pi last night.  I could get use to this "free time" thing!

Hope all is well!
Peace and love