Blast from the Past (and how Not to get better if you are feeling sick)

During training (this was about a month ago), our group went on a bit of a field trip to go see a few culturally significant sites nearby. We started by seeing cave and rock drawings that were around 2,000 years old. It is wild to think that around the time of Christ, people were making rock drawings in Botswana that can still be seen today. You can see pictures of them here: http://picasaweb.google.com/danielholman/Botswana#

We went on to visit the tree where David Livingstone first set up shop when he lived in Botswana. It was interesting to stand where Livingstone once stood but at the end of the day it was really just a rather large and old tree.

Our final stop was the most interesting. We got to visit a small, traditional village that shows people how Batswana (this is the name for people from Botswana) lived many years ago. Think Jamestown or one of those places in the States.

We were greeting by several women and children in traditional garb. they sang and danced for us and then we filed into a small clearing in the village. The head woman conducted a ceremony where she cast some chicken bones and these were supposed to predict whether we would be fortunate, lucky, healthy, ect. She told us that it was a good sign (which I am quite certain she does for all her paying customers) and that we should be happy.

From there we enjoyed more dancing and then they acted out a traditional wedding ceremony. they picked a woman from our group and went through the whole deal. The women prepared food and prepped the bride for the ceremony while the men got to sit around the fire and drink traditional beer from a gourd. To call this drink beer is a bit generous. It is made from some grain and is not filtered. It has a very low alcohol content and is a bit chunky. I think it would be what you get if you made beer from grits.

They saved the best ceremony for last. It is one they did traditionally for when a person fell ill. Women would come over to the sick person's house to check on them and would spread fresh cow dung in a large patch in front of the door. The sick person would be carried out to stand in the cow dung while facing the rising sun. The rising sun was supposed to cheer them up and the cow dung supposedly would draw the sickness out of a person. I didn't know quite what to think about that one, but I did not envy the woman who had to do that reenactment.

We ended the day with bush tea and a traditional Botswana meal.

USA! USA! USA!

I am tantalizingly close to South Africa and it makes me want to see a game there. Sadly, I am restricted to my post until August. I am supposed to be settling in to work, learning about my community, and meeting people. I don't disagree with the policy at all, it just sad that I am in a neighboring country in Africa while the World Cup is going on.

To make up for this, I have been watching as many games as possible at the little pub near my apartment. Its a great place. They have a projector which in effect, gives them a big screen TV. Yesterday, after asking nicely, they put the US game on the big screen instead of the England game. I sat with another volunteer and two Canadians I work with to watch the game.

It was such a good game and I was rocking nervously in my seat until the last few minutes. As soon as Donovan scored the goal, we all jumped up and yelled in excitement. The only problem was that when i jumped up with my arms raised, I accidentally punched the projector. The screen went all wobbly and for a split second, I was horrified. Projectors are expensive in the US and I definitely didn't want to replace one on my (nonexistent) salary. Luckily, no damage was done and we went on celebrating.

I am only a few hours away from South Africa, but I will continue to have to settle for watching them on TV.

Swearing In (Let's Make It Official)

Training is over and I am now a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV). The final week of training was quite hectic.

On Tuesday, I took my final language test. The language test involved me sitting down with one of the language trainers and having a conversation. It is much different from class because in class, I can always stop and ask for clarification in English. This is not allowed for the test. And to top it all off, it is being recorded and will be graded by at least two of the language trainer. I blanked when he asked a question about my host family. I thought I knew the word for family, but I wasn't sure and I didn't want to go and talk about my host family for a while if he was asking me about something else. I skipped that question, but otherwise it went pretty well.

Wednesday was a fun day for everyone because we got to go to Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana to do shopping for our our new places. Gaborone is very "westernized" and while sitting in a mall, it was easy to forget I was in Africa.

Thursday was our swearing in ceremony where I would become a Peace Corps Volunteer (and as an aside, my tie is intentionally short. It is a preference among many of the men in Botswana to wear their ties short).

We all had big smiles on our faces and there was a buzz in the air. After several speeches, the US Ambassador got up and swore us all in. I was (and still am) very excited to be sworn in, but it felt a bit anticlimactic. After all the time and effort I spent getting to this point, my dream had come true. It took a while to set it.

Now I am living at my permanent site and have started my first week with my center. Time to get to work.