Just a little taste:

Last night the choir went to a multicultural event hosted by a group called Reteng ("we are here") which promoted multiculturalism in Botswana and further recognition and representation of the 28 or so languages that they have here. They seemed like a nice group, except for an odd comment from the man giving introductions to all the board members (who were spread out in the crowd) that went something like, "It is disturbing that our board members are so far from us; but I suppose that what is not disturbing is that they are all men." Say what!?

The night got started pretty late (as was expected), but the show was interesting and included a poet, a musical/street theatre performance on embracing ones ethnicity within Botswana, and of course: the UB Choir. :) We actually sang the national anthem, which was terribly embarrassing because I had never sung it before, didn't know the words, and had only heard it maybe once or twice. And I was in the front. I was definitely mimicking Rati's lips as much as I possibly could and praying that no one would notice. Eek! But the rest of the evening I was conveniently located in the second row so that no one could see how I was struggling to get the dances right during our songs and whatnot - I actually got pretty good by the end of the night, I think. And after we performed, we got to eat a free meal. It was the same old: samp, sorghum mash, morogo, chicken, and soup, with the added bonus of smashed beef, which was SUPER DELICIOUS. To drink we got little plastic juice containers of "Ginger Juice". That stuff has a KICK! I couldn't get halfway through mine, it was just too much, so I said "ke shapo" and handed it off to Thuna.

I didn't get any video or pictures from the performance on Sunday, but I did take a few videos in the combi on the way over and back from the performance. You can't see anything because it was dark, but this gives you a pretty good idea of how we roll in UBC. Of course, you probably won't understand half of what we're saying... To see(/hear) the video, click here!

Hot chocolate

Today my adventures led me to get caught in the rain. Twice. :)

This morning we decided to explore a bit outside of Gabs. We got on the combi to the town of Oodi, in search of the Oodi Weavers. I'd been to the town before - it's where I went on the fateful choir camp extravaganza - but I hadn't been to see the weavers. It was a pretty neat, out-there shop. Just chillin' in the middle of a field. Several ladies were hard at work weaving beautiful tapestries of various shapes and sizes. They spin the wool themselves, and dye it themselves, and weave it themselves. Unfortunately, they don't sell the yarn, only the finished products. ;) But I was able to buy a nice little knapsack that looks like the Botswana flag. It started raining while we were in the shop, and we had to cross the street and wait under an awning for the next combi back to Gabs. But we didn't get as wet as we would get later on in the day.

In the evening we met up again to go to a "pitch party" - that is, all the parents come out to watch little kids try to play soccer and everyone buys concessions to help support the school. While we were waiting for the combi to come it started to rain again. But this time it was merciless. The ground quickly became a slippery obstacle course, the umbrella itself betraying its handler with streams of collected water that bent in the wind to soak those beneath. Strangers found themselves clinging together under umbrellas. The pull-out for the buses became a 6"-deep pool, and naturally the Broadhurst 5 decided to wait a good 20 minutes before showing up. But are spirits certainly weren't dampened a bit! We went to the school, enjoyed a mouth-watering burger, and came back to campus to enjoy something rather rare: being cold. I got to take a long, hot shower for the first time, put on my full pjs for the first time in a long time, wear my slippers, and even drink a tin mug of hot cocoa (thanks, Mom!).

Overall, I would call that a successful day. Tomorrow I'll be working on homework and research, then in the evening the choir is singing at some cultural event.

See pictures of the weavers here!

A dream fulfilled...

It's been a recurring dream that I've been having since I got here: I'm walking around campus, searching through all these passages and hallways - buildings that I haven't even seen before. It's much more complex than in real life. And suddenly, I find it. What I've been looking for all this time. I walk through a door and I find myself in a very large room, filled with pianos.

Today, in my waking hours, I found the piano room.

~Botshelo

Matsalo a me!

I had my first birthday out-of-country/continent yesterday (and as usual, it carried into my favorite holiday today!) and I have to say that it was a great time.

I learned something important about throwing parties here: if you want people to come, provide the food, and they will provide the fun and company. If you ask people to go out - no one will join you because they're all broke. If you bring cake to them, they'll throw you a party like you couldn't imagine.

Yesterday Chimo, Kourtney, Kelsey, and Sarahi joined me for supper at Spur, an international steakhouse chain. I got ribs - delicious! - and a double-thick chocolate malt. I was supposed to order my first drink, but I got so full, and then I just didn't feel like it. I'm such a creature of habit. :) The guy waiters all came out and gave me a small dish of ice cream with a sparkler in it and sang/chanted this crazy birthday song for me. It was hilarious, and lots of fun. When we got back, Caitlin and Abra were waiting for me with a cup of ice and a bottle of Wild Africa cream liquor. I took my first taste of spirits. I lasted four small sips and then decided that I couldn't handle the taste anymore. Classic. :) They felt bad for not making it to supper, so they offered to help me out with a cake problem that I had looming on the horizon for today...

I got out of class at 3pm today and went to join Caitlin, Abra, and Grady on the already-in-progress cake baking operation. The plan: bake and frost two single-layer cakes and bring them in at the last 10 minutes of choir to surprise everyone. The idea was inspired by Wazha, who told me that it's normal to bring a cake or something similar to share on your birthday so that everyone can celebrate with you. I went to choir with Sarahi at 6pm. We had a small turnout - maybe 12 people or so, but we practiced nonetheless and had a lot of fun singing songs. It was Sarahi's first time, and I think she had a lot of fun. And then during closing announcements, who should appear but Grady and Caitlin with two chocolate-frosted cakes!! Everyone got so excited, and they sang me a bunch of songs, waited for me to finish my piece of cake before anyone else could take there's, and then continued to sing songs and dance and take pictures, until finally we were all just goofing off entirely. They had me make a speech at one point - I said something about having a good semester, learning to speak Setswana with their help, and that "ke a go rata you all." :) It went over well. The party was fun, lasting a good hour after usual knock-off time, and involving quite a bit of goofiness. I wouldn't have had it any other way.

So now my birthday (which always ends up being a two-day celebration) is coming to a close. I have forgone the opportunity to legally ingest Irish car bombs this evening in the hopes of getting to bed at a reasonable hour and maybe even sleeping in tomorrow if I can. I haven't made a single plan for the weekend, so I don't know what'll go down at all, but we'll see. I'm sure I can come up with something fun to do.

Until next time!

~Botshelo

Topics Course #2: Intro to Morula

Allow me to introduce to you the morula fruit.

You don't buy morula. You pick it up off the ground.

Morula trees are all over the place. I can pick up a ripe, juicy morula on campus, on the way to Choppies, or even in the yard of the Catholic Church when I get out from Setswana mass.

The skin of the morula is thick and leathery. To break it you have to bite through, or pierce it with your fingernail. When you break through it is sudden and the tangy juice jumping into your mouth can cause a sharp reaction.

The texture inside a morula is rather like a mango. You suck the tangy, fibrous fruit off the central pit.

You peel the skin back bit by bit until nothing is left to protect you from the sticky insides and you plop the whole fruit into your mouth.

With tongue and teeth, you strip the pit of as much pulp as possible before popping it out onto the ground.

And that is the morula fruit. Delicious.

For the complete set of pictures from our Morula Fruit Photo Shoot, click here.

Spring Break Photos are in!

So in case you were still wondering, I not only survived my mid-semester break, but I also had fantastic adventures! It would take a good hour or more to tell all the stories of what happened, so I'll spare the details here and just say a few highlights.

I will never forget seeing my first elephant. Sarahi and I were hitching a ride in the back of a little red pickup truck from Nata to Kasane. I was lying down in the bed, trying to get out of the wind for a bit, when Sarahi started slapping my leg. "What?" I asked, getting up. Her response was an awestruck face, a pointing finger, and the wind-strangled cry, "ELEPHANT!!!" I turned and saw: a massive gray creature the size of a tree, flapping its ears at us and pulling up grasses from beside the highway. It was the biggest elephant I would see, but it was certainly not the last. Dozens more would be spotted along the road on our way to, and later from, Kasane. They weren't kidding when they said it was elephant central up there.

Victoria Falls really took my breath away. It was quite impressive, and definitely lived up to its name: Mosi-oa-Tunya. The smoke that thunders. That was my first impression of it, and those three words were all that I could say for a moment or two. The mists surrounding the Falls are hard to describe - they're like the mists you get from misters, except that the droplets are much thicker and actually will rain up and down and all around you. It's bizarre, and such a cool feeling. There's a bridge you can cross that takes you right through it, and it's like getting super-soaked and then lying out in the sun to dry on the other side. Very cool.

The Okavango Delta is probably the most chill, serene, zen place I have ever experienced. Everything is so calm and slow. You're sitting in a dugout canoe, a man poling it along with a big stick, and just gliding over crystalline water and through tall reeds whose gaps form a veritable causeway of paths and junctions and ways from A to B. It's very neat, and very beautiful. The experience of hiking around on the Delta islands, the earth under your feet, taking things at your own pace, seeing animals and reacting to them and they to you... it's much more real and much more natural than the safari truck rides. You have much more of a sense of caution and uncertainty that keeps you on your toes and really on the lookout for animals.

Alright, well if you have any questions, feel free to ask. If you'd like to see pictures, click here! :)