One time at Choir Camp...

I have decided that the UB Choir is one of the best things that has happened to me since I came to Botswana - right up there with the discovery of phaphata.

This weekend the choir went "camping" (more like a retreat) at Oodima Junior School about a half hour or so from Gaborone. We spent our time there in a mixture of activities ranging from intense rehearsals (we got a new song that is in Italian - or will be when we add the words - and is very, VERY difficult) to eating, to goofing around. The "official" camp lasted until about 8 or 9 o'clock on Saturday night, leaving the rest of the evening and the following morning for games and fun. And there was plenty of both. We had a braai (bbq - pronounced like "rye" with a "b" in front), but we didn't eat until after midnight, so the intermittent time was spent chatting, goofing off, singing fun songs, and playing games. Not only did I get engaged, but I also learned more games than I can shake a stick at - it was an absolute blast!

I was the only international student who went out of the three of us who have been attending more-or-less regularly. At first I was a bit nervous - the language barrier can make things pretty awkward, especially when you don't know people. But by the end of the weekend, I was glad that I had been the only international because it forced me to come out of my comfort zone and really start to make friends with the locals - and gave them a chance to make friends with me, the less outgoing of the international students in choir. When Sunday rolled around I was someone people could have fun with, and no longer just the girl who comes in and tells people how to sing rhythms because they don't know how to read music, I was Botshelo (boht-SAY-loh), the international student who somewhat fits in as a very light-skinned Motswana. I also became much more comfortable with the situation of having people speak Setswana around me. And, while my Setswana still isn't good enough to be conversant, I would say that I am starting to speak it myself - little by very little - and that I can actually somewhat follow conversations (the more English helper-words thrown in the better!) and stories even though I don't have much of an idea what they're actually saying aside from a couple words and phrases here and there.

My next goal is to find someone who will be willing to help bring me up to conversational level, because the Setswana course we take is not terribly immersive or intense, and if that's all I have to go on I won't be speaking much better than I am now by the end of the semester. My professor told me that I didn't belong in the class because I was putting things together too fast and asking too many questions about manipulating the information I already knew to make out information I haven't been taught yet, which tells me that it will be entirely up to me to take my Setswana to the next level before I go.

Well, I hate to sound like a broken record, but I have to finish my light supper before I head off to choir rehearsal. Hopefully we can make a bit more headway on this terribly difficult new song of ours!

Until next time!

~Botshelo