Questions and Answers

Most of the people here are wonderful, it is simply that the differences in culture, education systems, etc. can be challenging and frustrating. It makes me appriciate all of the work people in the US have done to make things easier, faster and more efficient. Even speaking English here is completely different, today I found myself lost in translation while trying to drop the conflicting class that has been giving me hell this last week. Somehow due to one misunderstanding after another I ended up in the wrong office and had an elderly african man yelling at me as to whether or not I knew where I registered, what I was registered as, etc. I had no idea as to the answers of any of these questions and subsequently burst into tears in his office, with a long queue waiting at the door. He yelled at me more inquiring as to why I was crying and telling me to stop crying right then and there. That was when I discovered how to get help at the University of Botswana. First look lost, confused, hopeless, and foreign. Second start bawling and blubbering in some high up University Professors office. At this point the Professor will want to get rid of you so he passes you off to someone who can drop your class even if they are not supposed to. So after two and a half hours of waiting, walking, and inquiring, I was finally able to drop one class in the office of a man who was not supposed to do it, without all of the proper stamps and signatures, and without having to drop off the form in another office as the kind gentleman said he would forward it in the internal mail system, allowing for me to not tromp across campus yet again to only end up in the wrong office. I am hoping after this week life will be less stressful. I think because I like to consider myself an efficient person the total lack of efficiency on the UB campus makes me feel more stress than I should. This week has been rough, but I would like to think the first few weeks in any new place should be confusing and challenging, otherwise you are probably doing something wrong.

In addition today we went to immigration so that we could extend our visas and legally stay in the country for longer than 90 days. It is also now the weekend, so no classes, no worries, and a wine and cheese shindig tonight. Ga Gona Matatha. :)