Happy Belated Singles Awareness Day! I know some of you enjoy the luxury of having a significant other and to that I say "Poo on you." Did you know that Valentine's Day is celebrated here in Botswana in the larger cities? And when I say celebrated, I mean the stores are making a killing selling all things heart-shaped and red. Not much different than America!
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| The garden is finished! |
You might be wondering how I know what happened this week in the big city. Well, the answer to that is I know because I spent the last three days in Gaborone. But didn't I just come home from there? Yes!
Let me back up...Sunday evening Florence graciously helped me plant seeds in my garden. The idea of having a seedling nursery didn't really occur to me so I am thankful that Florence showed me the light. We blocked off a section of the garden and planted coriander, basil, tomatoes, swiss chard, spinach, cabbage, onions, lettuce and chives. We also planted beets and carrots in their respective sections of the garden. Because their "fruit" grows underground you have to plant them in their permanent spot. As of this evening, I have a garden full of tiny little baby plants!!! They germinated a week ahead of schedule I suspect because of the heat and the good cow poo I mixed into the sand.
Monday I worked hard in my school's "library" trying to make it into a place where I'd want to be if I were a kid. I made snowflakes for the windows. I decorated one of the many blank information boards with information about using the library. I made a schedule for the 8 classes to come and use the library in 30 minute blocks. After I finished I decided to walk to the small butchery in my village to buy some meat. While I was walking I received a text message from my program manager at Peace Corps saying that I would have to go to Gaborone the following day to sign a paper for the Ministry of Education. My reaction: ARE YOU SERIOUS?!? I HAVE TO MAKE A TWO DAY TRIP TO SIGN A *&%()%*$) PIECE OF PAPER?!?! The answer: Yes.
I figured that if I was going to have to go back to Gaborone, I might as well make the most of the trip. The Ministry of Education owes me a nice little chunk of change so why not fill out reimbursement forms and submit my receipts while I'm there?!? To do that I had to figure out how to stay an extra day. My program manager refused to let me stay just to turn in my receipts so I did what every other PCV does when they need a little break from their village: I made a medical appointment.
It is not uncommon for Peace Corps Volunteers to receive mental health counseling while they are in-country. In light of all the nonsense that I've had to deal with lately, I had been considering seeing a therapist for several weeks.
On Tuesday morning at 5 a.m. I set off walking. At 5:50 a Water Company vehicle stopped, picked me up, and took me to the bus stop. I got on the bus at 6 a.m. and arrived in Gaborone at noon. I met up with my friend Diane, who was also in Gaborone to sign the paper and go to a medical appointment. We signed our papers and checked in at Kgale View Lodge. AIR CONDITIONING!!!! We had a nice dinner at an Indian restaurant and relaxed. Funny story: After dinner, I went into the bathroom in our room and saw one of the huge roaches that are so common here. I called Diane into the bathroom because she is an expert at killing roaches, usually. When she went to kill it, we were attacked by a swarm of roaches crawling out of their hiding spots. We started screaming and jumping up and down. There was a knock at the door and it was Corey, another PCV who was in town for a medical appointment and also a former marine, responding to the screams he heard coming from our room. Corey squished a roach with his flop but the others managed to escape. We spent the next two hours sneaking into the bathroom to see if another roach had come back out. Corey would smoosh it while me and Diane freaked out. Business as usual!
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| This is what me and Diane do when we get together. Act a fool. FYI: she really does have all her teeth. We still haven't figured out why the camera removed one of her molars! |
The purpose of these emails is not to sugar coat what the Peace Corps experience is like. I am not going to pretend like Botswana is the best place in the whole world and my life is unicorns and rainbows. In an effort to stay real, I am going to admit that I am receiving therapy. Leaving your family and your life to come to a place where people don't appreciate you and don't really know what to do with you is HARD. Ever since the event with my housing I've been feeling a little depressed and homesick. The psychologist I saw is a nice lady who has lived all over Africa. [Sorry to interrupt but I thought you'd like to know that Millie has just flown into my lap. She is sitting here like a kitty cat. Aww Millie!] After talking to her for an hour, she suggested that I a)do the bare minimum I have to do to satisfy my official duty here and then focus on backyard gardening as my real primary project, and b) find some way to get out of my village for 3-4 days every month. Peace Corps will pay for at least 4 sessions with her so she wants me to come see her once a month. She says that my appointments with her can be my "ticket to Gaborone." I love that lady already. She also suggested traveling and visiting other volunteers around the country.
Yesterday morning, my last morning in Gaborone, I had to attend to some business concerning my cell phone not working properly. Because of that I missed the morning bus back to my village. I was kind of flustered but then I realized that I could sit in Food Lovers, a specialty food store, and use their free WIFI and drink cappuccino. I ended up getting on the 1 p.m. bus and I was one of the few people on it. I got to stretch out and nap and read. Another funny story: Keep in mind that what I'm about to tell you is a normal occurrance for a white person on a bus. There was a man two rows in front of me across the aisle. Shortly after he got on the bus he began staring at me hardcore. When I'd make eye contact with him, he'd do this sexy nasty eyebrow wiggle thing. I moved to another row directly behind him so he couldn't look at me. Ha! He was smarter than me! I looked up from my book and he was peering at me between the seats. How creepy is that? Finally I screamed at him "WHAT?!?" When the bus stopped he turned around and said "I was just greeting you." I proceeded to tell him how rude he was being. His said that he had to stare at me because I am "soooo beauuuutiful." Then he changed his story to "I was praying and looking at the spirits." What the hell? I think it's worth mentioning that this guy was not wearing shoes. Only socks. Crazy? I think so. After the confrontation, he didn't look at me again. Besides that little bit of excitement, it was the most relaxing bus ride I've ever taken.
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| seedling nursery |
I arrived home in good spirits, having spent two days in air conditioning with my friends. Millie was happy to see me of course. I watered my garden and saw that while I was away some of the seeds had sprouted! Today, I began a "Backyard Gardening" information board in the school library. [Now Millie is sitting on my shoulder. She is a parrot?] I am excited to finish it on Monday. Now all I have to do is convince my teachers to bring their classes to the library!
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| Inside my garden |
- Some children came into the library during their free time and I read them several stories. I don't think they had ever been read a story. Although I can tell that they LOVED it, I think I got more out of the experience than they did.
-Along with my paleo diet, I started doing P90X today. I did it for about 5 weeks last year so it's not new to me. If you don't know about P90X look it up! It's a series of workout videos that kicks your butt.
-While I was digging in my garden I uncovered a baby scorpion. Apparently they live underground. He was a pale yellow color and looked like Satan.
Tomorrow I'm going to do my usual wash clothes in the bathtub, sweep the sand out of my house and back into the desert, etc. If I'm feeling really motivated, I might try to remove some of the thorny weeds that have overtaken my yard. We'll see.
Next week is going to be action packed. On Wednesday my program manager is coming to visit my site and see how I'm doing. On Friday I'm going to Jwaneng for the weekend for Peace Corp Regional Meetings. I'm excited to see my friends again and spend some more time in air conditioning. I've really been spoiled the last month or so with all the time I've gotten to spend in air conditioning. It is so hot here that I drink about 4 liters of water per day. That's hot!
I'm sad to say that another 3 volunteers were medically evacuated this week. Peace Corps service is hard physically as well as mentally. In the last month alone, at least 6 volunteers here have been medically separated. It makes me wonder if any one us will make it out alive after two years!
Good news: My Peace Corps issued phone broke so I paid a little extra for a fancier phone. For those of you with smart phones, if you download "whatsapp" for 99 cents, we can text each other! It uses internet (data) instead of airtime so it is probably free for you and really really cheap for me. All you have to do is put my phone number in the contacts on your phone (or email me your phone number and I'll put yours in), download whatsapp, and my name will show up when you open the app! My phone number is (and don't forget the + sign) +267 733 289 04. Let's chat!
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| Look how big and beautiful this lady is! |
[Millie is chewing on my hair.]
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