14 Apr 13: Sarah Has a Visitor, Teaches Prisoners to Meditate, and Vacays in the Big City!

Aaahh the feeling of fullness, something we take for granted in America! I have enjoyed this feeling more than usual these past two weeks. I just finished eating a huge salad with pears, almonds, and a homemade (of course) vinaigrette. I am proud to say that the lettuce, green onions, and basil came from my garden. Soon I will be able to add baby tomatoes from my garden as well!

If you remember in my last email I told you that I was anxiously awaiting a visit from my friend and fellow PCV, Diane. She surprised me by arriving three days early on Wednesday, April 3rd. Diane lives in what PCV's like to call "bastard child housing." It's a tiny, tiny "house" with no storage or counterspace and no electricity, where everything you own is stored in bags on the floor. I wanted her to feel extra special when she got here so I bedecked the pillows with candies, prepared dinner for her arrival, and played the theme song from Harry Potter when she arrived. I think I succeeded in making her arrival something special when I led her to my house from the bus stop by lantern and said "Welcome to Hogwarts!" a la Hagrid.

Open-face grill cheese sammiches with popcorn and pears

Diane stayed for 8 days, 8 of the funnest days of my service so far. Diane and I have a similar stupid, goofy sense of humor so we get along. We can get weird together. We made all kinds of good food including bread, tortillas and tacos, rice pudding, chicken tikka masala, and popcorn loaded with butter. We played dominoes for several hours a day. We had a slumber party with another PCV, Ashley, that involved homemade pizza and UNO! Together Diane and I taught two aerobics classes: hip hop dancing and Latin dancing. Since neither one of us really knows Latin dancing, we just kinda copied off the Zumba videos. Nobody knew any different.

Tacos Round 1: made from scratch beef tacos! The beef ended up making us sick, not unusual, which
led to Tacos Round 2. 

Tacos Round 2: made from scratch chicken tacos! Perfect this time with no diarrhea or vomiting!

Diane's visit coincided with one of my bi-monthly health talks at Tshane Prison. The scheduled topic was Stress Management and Meditation. On the day of the health talk, we walked the not short walk to prison where we were told that they didn't have a guard to escort us and we would have to reschedule. Unfortunately for the prison guards, they had no idea who they were dealing with. Diane has many remarkable qualities but her most useful quality is the ability to ask seemingly nice questions that end up 1. making the guilty party feel guilty, and 2. pressure them into doing what she wants them to do. It is really is a superpower. Through her pointed questions, she was able to guilt the officer in charge into finding an escort for us! The health talk went well, as usual. Diane has a degree in mental health counseling so I was able to refer questions to her. At the end, I had all of the prisoners lay on the floor and I guided them through a meditation. Some were skeptical at first but I was able to convince them (Diane was rubbing off on me?) to shut it and lay on the floor. I can't describe the feeling that comes with watching 23 "hardened criminals" lay on the ground, eyes closed, resting in stillness. It was unbelievable.

Something unbelievable happened before we even got to the health talk. Diane and I could feel our clothes getting tighter from all the bread we were eating so we decided to workout. During our work out a man came into my yard and approached my door. I recognized the man as the same man that I have warned on multiple occasions to leave me alone, not to come to my house EVER AGAIN, not to contact me, etc. By this time, I had lost all consideration for cultural norms and social graces. I immediately gave him a "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY YARD," a most rude thing to say here. It didn't work. Diane tried to "convince" him to leave in her own special way but to no avail. You can't reason with crazy and this dude is the mayor of crazytown. So I called the police and the guy finally left. The police, who came in their own sweet time (25 minutes), tracked him down and warned him to never come back to my house. Welcome to being the only white woman in my village! I wonder if I can report beating crazy men off with a stick as one of my activities!

Diane turned out to be quite the baker!

Having spent a glorious 8 days together, Diane and I rode the bus to Gaborone, she going home and me going to a hotel for a nice solo mini vacation. I spent last weekend in the comfort of the Metcourt Inn at the Grand Palms. You should google that place. It is NICE. As a PCV, I get a 50% discount! I spent most of the weekend sitting at Mugg and Bean, a cafe that has great food and free wifi. On Friday morning, I drank a Caribbean mocha, ate a piece of cheesecake, then drank a frozen ginger beer crush, and then ate lunch. Do you know how exciting real food is when you live off of fruit and chicken??!?? Friday afternoon, I decided to go to the cinema to see the new wizard of oz movie. Halfway through the movie, everything went dark. Oh hey rolling blackout! There is not enough electricity to go around so to shed some of the load we are experiencing rolling blackouts. I got a complimentary ticket and went back to the hotel.

I spent the remainder of the weekend eating, going to the hotel's casino (I won money!), eating, going to another movie, taking several hot showers per day, sleeping on a real mattress, and watching tv. Saturday night, I had dinner at the hotel's fancy schmancy Asian fusion restaurant. I sat outside near their garden sipping wine and listening to the soft sounds coming from the garden's fountain. I saw something darting around at my feet and it was a cat. The cat sat down right beside me, which is amazing because I've never met a tame cat in Botswana. In that moment, enjoying my dinner alone and relaxing with a kitty cat, a feeling of tranquility and peace washed over me. It was a beautiful end to my weekend in civilization.

The next morning, Sunday, I was on the bus headed for home. My bags were full of produce and I was sad to leave hot showers and air conditioning. I was lucky to get the very last seat on the bus. It was a typical bus ride: crowded full of stinky people and hot as hell (no one will open the windows because they are convinced that air flow causes flu.) To top it off, my backpack fell out of the overhead compartment and about killed me. Then the bus got a flat tire. I ended up getting home several hours later than usual but it was ok. You know why? Because I had a happy, excited little ball of feathers named Millie waiting for me at the gate.

To sum it up, the last two weeks have been wonderful. While I was eating my dinner at the Asian fusion restaurant it occurred to me that I've never been on a vacation by myself before. And why not? Traveling alone is the most awesome thing in the whole world. I got to do exactly what I wanted to do, when I wanted to do it! Does that make me antisocial? I don't think so. I think it makes me a strong and independent woman that just happens to enjoy her own company more than that of other people. I enjoyed my solo trip so much that I have booked myself another one! On May 21st I am going up north to Maun, in the Okavango Delta, to stay for 6 days at a backpackers lodge by myself. I am going to go on a boat safari, a land safari, horseback riding, and I'm going to learn how to make the traditional woven baskets that Northern Botswana is known for!

The rest of this week is business as usual: teaching aerobics classes, GrassRootSoccer Club now that school is back in session, health talk at the prison on Friday. I am going to meet with Florence, best nurse ever besides my mom, about doing a workshop for the home-based care volunteers in the care of bed-bound people. I am spending almost no time at school these days besides the afternoons when I do GrassRootSoccer. The teachers continue to treat me like a secretary when I'm there so I don't go anymore. On Tuesday I'm going to announce that I am starting bi-weekly computer classes for teachers so they can stop bitching about not knowing how to type (a lie that they tell in an effort to get me to type everything for them.) Poo on them!

I hope everyone stateside is getting a taste of springtime (finally) as it is starting to cool down here. In the words of the Starks, "winter is coming." Just want to mention that as I type this on my porch, a full size grown man is riding on a tiny little donkey past my house. And Millie is eaves dropping on this post in typical nosy Millie fashion.

Peace.