It should never be over 100F on Halloween

It has been a fun filled and busy week in Gabs.  School is not winding down as I have three tests in the last two weeks of school and then a slew of finals over two weeks.  Final exam schedules just came out but like everything in Bots are bound to change before the week is out.  I have no idea what to expect with the exams other than that they will be two hours long.  I have never been more excited to be done with a school term and can hardly wait to be able to understand my professors again and understand what they expect of me as a student.  For CIEE I have to do a final project on an aspect of Setswana culture.  I chose to learn about funerals because at the time I didn’t know anything about Tswana culture and that was a category that was recommended.  Earlier in the week I sat down and interviewed my religion professor about the subject, because who better to ask than a reverend?  It was a painful 30 minutes and I all he did was give me a brief lecture on the subject, but when I would ask a question he couldn’t understand me so he would simply ignore it, so I guess I will just do this project with what I have to work with, rather than what I want to work with. 

Outside of school recreational activities fill a small but wonderful portion of my time.  On Thursday someone organized a football (soccer) tournament between International Students, Undergraduate UB students, and Graduate students.  There was no grad student team and somehow I ended up on the international student team because we were down three players.  So the co-ed international student team with no subs played against the all male UB undergraduate team as surprisingly we didn’t do that poorly.  We ended up losing 4-5 but there were several times where we were ahead and it was so much fun playing football without shin guards and cleats against a team who had both.  For participating we all received a UB hat and water bottle, which isn’t too bad for playing 90 minutes of football when I haven’t done that since high school.

Friday was Halloween in the US but not Botswana unless you were an international student.  Someone threw a house part off campus and everyone went dressed up as one thing or another.  I was a Motswana simply because I could wrap my hair and wear my mosese without having to buy anything new.  It was so much fun to get off campus, spend time with my friends, and not time about school.  Also for the first time in my life I spent Halloween sweating.  I always think it is disgusting when you stand up from sitting in class and you have sweat soaked clothing covering your entire back.  It is impossible to feel attractive, clean and unsalted in Bots.  Even as I sit here now I have sweat pouring down my face, arms and legs.  Sleeping is nearly impossible and I spend more time trying to nap in my room than doing anything outside because I am always too hot and tired to do anything, especially exercise.

Saturday was another busy day.  First we went to a traditional healer to hear a presentation on what he does.  It would have been so much better if I twelve people were not stuffed into a tiny 3m x 3m hut that smelled strongly of incense and we can only guess what else, but based on the mummified snake, bird, and drying hedgehog and our sweltering bodies we had a few ideas to go off of.  After the traditional healer we went to the Gaborone game reserve for a braai and short game drive.  The lunch was nice but it was too hot for me to be outside.  I literally could not function and felt so miserable.  All I wanted to do was sleep and do nothing, and thankfully I had that opportunity after our drive.  Botswana while much more green than I have ever seen it before it still far too hot.  Only two weeks left of school and next week scarcely counts as we are leaving for Victoria Falls on Thursday morning.  I have less than five weeks left in Botswana, a number that is hard to believe, but I still have a lot to do before I can even think about heading back to the states, but to everyone, I am thinking about you and look forward to sharing my experiences in 5 weeks time.  Go siame le sala sentle. Ke a go rata.