Dumela from Gaborone City

Dumela!
If you are wondering that is a word that roughly translates to Hello, is a greeting a probably use one hundred times a day. Motswana are friendly and polite people and it is rude to not greet someone even if they are a stranger. So where to begin with my travels? It is hard to say. The plane ride was long and grueling as I maybe got 4 hours of sleep over 2 days. I also managed to get throughly lost (over 1 hour communting time) in the London airport and almost missed my planes in Seattle and Johannesburg due to delays and queues. However I arrived in one piece excited to begin my journey, except my luggage decided to follow its own path arriving several days later. Almost immediately we began our orientation. We stayed in a place called Kagisang Center one the outskirts of Gaborone. The reason you have not heard from me is because while at the center we had no internet so to help us focus on becoming comfortable in Gaborone rather than relaying on home for support.

Day 1:
I arrived in Gaborone and met my advisor, a Zimbabwean named Basti, and another Zim named Sharon who is helping with the program. The group consists of seven students and two helpers. Of the students six are women and one is a man. Of the group only one other person is from the west coast with the others arriving from Massachuesetts, Georgia, North Dakota, North Carolina, New York, and Seattle. It is interesting to compare backgrounds as we are all diverse and unique individuals and it became quickly apparent that many of the others were not used to a life outside of the city and while Gaborone may be a city it has dirt sidewalks, sandy streets, pot hole and various livestock lining the roads. As a group Sharon led us on a walk around the gated center. Childern were scared of us and Sharon said it is because they do not see very many white people. Also many referred to us as "White" or "English" in Setswana. It almost seems like every fifty feet lies a "Tuck Shop" a small stand generally mad of old signs, sheet metal, and tarps constructed into a booth which sells airtime for cell phones and candy. After the walk we had dinner and then bed. I fell asleep quickly and do not believe I have ever slept so well.

Days 2 and 3:
The sky is the largest I have ever seen it here. I think that is because the landscape is so flat. We registered for class, I was disappointed because I class I believed to be available was not so I will have to stay at Oregon State an additional year in order to finish my major. However the classes I am taking are:

Environmental Geology
Introduction to Hydrogeology
Setswana Language 1
The rise of Christianity and New Religions in Southern Africa
Social Problems in Southern Africa
HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control

As well as an additional Setswana language course through CIEE (my study abroad program). It took two days to register which I found to be miserable. The University of Botswana does all onsite registration so there are long queues which everyone must wait in and a series of signatures that need to be gathered so to sign up for each class. Also for registration you have to look in the Course Calendar to see what classes are offered and then compare that to the timetable to see if the courses you want to take are offered at a time where you can take them and then after that the couse may be full or not exist even though it is listed in both the time table and the course catelog. The continued on and on cumulating into a two day even that felt like etc, etc, etc. In the end I found the method highly inefficient and frustrating. I think some of that may be the American culture and its ability to instantly gratify every need. We also began our Setswana lessons, the language is beautiful but it is challenging to roll the r's and make tl sount like a k with a click.

Day 4:
More Setswana lessons. The more I learn the more I want to be able to speak the language fluently. I will however have an opportunity to do so because in approximately one months time I will be spending nine days living with a host family in the village Mochudi communiting an hour and a half to school everyday, speaking Setswana constantly. I am most nervous for that right now. We visited San/Bushmen rock art painted approximately two thousand years ago on a beautiful red sandstone outcrop. Also near by is a giant fig tree called Livingstone's tree because he supposedly taught there and lived in the area. Long day, we visted the local Kgotla, a sort of court that focuses on domestic disbutes from cheating spouses to neighborly disagreements. The minimum punishment is a fine while the maximum is lashes on the bare buttocks. With that I decided not a break any laws in the country. Inbetween all of the trips to UB we have had several guest speakers on Bawtswana culture and lifestyles. I have enjoyed them throughouly. We also visted a Secondary school and had the opportunity to speak to students which I found to be interesting as they gave us their view of American culture. We let them take pictures with out cameras and they loved how incredible digital cameras worked instantly showing the photos.

Day 5:
We climbed Kgale Hill today and were blessed with beautiful views of Gaborones City. Kghale Hill is a moderate climb through tall grass, prickly trees, and pink granite outcrops. While I found the hike fairly easy many people in my group would beg to differ. Climbing the hill reminded me of Namibia. In fact I think I may return to Namibia during my week long midsemester break, either that or Mozambique, or South Africa, or Lesothe, or anywhere other than Zim, because I think that would be a poor choice. If anyone has any ideas please let me know, I have enough malaria medication to go anywhere so that should not limit my adventures. We had dinner after a photo safari at a game preserve. We didn't see anything too interesting some Kudu, waterbuck, antelope, elephants and hyenas. Dinner was excellent with Kudu steaks and maize.

Day 6:
School started with a tramatic bang. No one told me but they changed the time table so that I did not know when my classes were or where they were making my life somewhat confusing. And to make everything easier I managed to get lost for over an hour on a campus smaller than OSU. Uggg.... However eventually after tears and pain I managed to figure out when my classes were, where they were, and most importantly I met a few nice people. I also managed to go grocery shopping and have a nice young Motswana carry my shopping bags home for me because he thought I looked pathetic with four heavy grocery bags and my backpack. It is interesting how many people stare. I think coming from the northwest and not experiencing too much racial diversity has left me oblivious to the fact that people stare when someone looks different. I also got my student ID and it looks like a mug shot.

So this has been my life thus far in Botswana, the weather is beautiful with sun everyday. I am not looking forward to when it gets hot. I send my love from Botswana and hope everyone at home is happy and healthy.

Celene

P.S. my cell phone number here is 267-7509-5538 (yes there are 11 digits in the phone number) Also it is free for me to recieve calls for feel free to call anytime, just remember I am 9 hours ahead of you!