Day 3

June 27
Dumelang borra le bomma! Hello gentlemen and ladies! Today was a crazy day. When I woke up this morning, I almost forgot where I was. I hear my alarm clock go off, and I wake up in a bunk bed in this huge room with only a few occupied beds. It took me a second to remember that I was in Botswana. As soon as I remembered where I was, I was hit with my second realization of the day. It's cold in the morning! Last night, it was a little cold, so I was wearing my jacket, but WOW! The temperature really dropped throughout the night! It's winter right now in Botswana, which probably explains the cold, but no one in my group was expecting the temperature to drop to 0˚C at night! Showering in the morning is not fun and very cold.
After breakfast, we had out first adventure in Africa! Mokolodi is a nature reserve, so we are living with the animals. No fences. It's great. Warthogs, impala, and kudu wander the compound. A family of warthogs even live beneath the walking bridge we use to get to the lolwapa, a round building we use for group meetings and bonfires.

The Lolwapa

The family of warthogs

 We took advantage of our location today, and we went on our first game drive! It was absolutely amazing. We saw so many animals. In addition to the warthogs, impala, and kudu, there were wildebeest, giraffes, monkeys, a crocodile, and an ostrich. What an amazing first experience! The day only got better, as in the afternoon, after lunch, we had our first Setswana lesson! Banki is our Setswana teacher, and today, she taught us how to say hello (dumela) and how to ask how someone's day has been, which varies based on the time of day and how close you are with the person you're speaking to. Very interesting, and very hard to pronounce. I can't wait for tomorrow! :)

A giraffe and an ostrich!