Day 23

July 17
One more full day in Mogobane. After tomorrow, we'll be on our way to Gaborone and our safari! I'm very excited, but I'm not ready to say good-bye to family. Tomorrow will be a very sad day.
Today was fun, and slightly crazy. Today, I went on a special project trip with Louie, Sarah, and Ian. For the first half of the day, we worked not at the secondary school, but at a workshop, painting a sign for the primary school with Mogobane's painter. The sign was to be cut from metal, and attached to two huge metal poles. The sign and the poles were both to be painted white before adding the lettering. It took the entire morning, but we painted both the sign and the poles white before lunch. They weren't ready for the words to be added yet, so I believe that they will be adding the words on themselves.
However, before we could paint anything, we had to find the site. And that was not too easy. Now, with only a minimal knowledge of Setswana, getting directions was not too easy. We found someone who volunteered to drive us to the primary school, because it was too far away to walk to. Glad for the ride, we hopped in to his car. Unfortunately, we found out after he drove away that we didn't have to go to the primary school, but to the painter's workshop. So now, we had to find a way to get to the painter's workshop, which was not easy, seeing as the primary school was beyond out of the way. It was on its own individual hill on the outskirts of the village, so the only passers-by were cattle.
While waiting for someone to come and pick us up, we came across the playground at the primary school. Well, we hope it isn't the playground they use. We are kind of hoping that these were just pieces of their old playground. The metal of everything is rusted, the paint is almost entirely gone, all of the apparatuses were about three sizes too small (if that's even possible), and the playground roundabout was uprooted and laying on the ground. Uprooted. As in the concrete anchor was pulled out of the ground. How does that even happen?? We tried occupying ourselves by playing on the monkey bars and tiny swings, but we stopped quickly for fear of tetanus. Luckily, within 15 minutes, we had a ride to the proper location: the painter's workshop.

Monkey bars (I think) and the uprooted roundabout

 Me in the teeny tiny swing

Ian trying his luck in the swing/cage

We thought that the secondary school was out of the way, but the painter's workshop was even further. It was on the other side of the village, and literally 20 feet from the end of the village. The workshop was basically a shed with a big yard and a fence surrounding it. There were a lot of power tools, but I would not want to use any of them. They would definitely not be approved for usage anywhere in the United States. The amount of exposed wire and makeshift parts was kind of frightening. When the painter pulled out the power saw and wrapped the two exposed wire ends to an open battery, I made sure I was as far away as possible. Slightly petrifying.

The embodiment of my fears

I think that the best story of the day, possibly the trip, comes from while we were painting the poles for the sign. I was holding the bucket of white, oil-based paint while Sarah and Ian painted the poles (we alternated jobs as there were only two brushes, so it was my turn to not paint). The pole that we were painting began to slip towards me. My first thought was that it would fall on me, and that can't happen, because I'll get paint on myself. So, I reflexively jumped backwards, and I spilled the paint all over myself. I luckily missed my hair, but everything else? Coated. Yes, I know you're thinking to yourself, "Brittany. Why didn't you just take one hand away from the can of paint and stop the pole?" Well, I apparently don't think very well when I have to make split second decisions. Oh, and the pole didn't even fall. It just shifted. So all for naught. Oh, and the best part? I spilled the paint on myself in front of an audience of about 20 guys, who just sat there and laughed as I had to use paint thinner to get it off of my skin. My neck is raw and red and has a rash now. The paint thinner was just about as bad as the paint. I still smell like it, even after scrubbing myself in my inch of water. Yuck. Looking back, it was very funny. At the time, not as much. Hahaha!!

Sarah painting one of the poles

Me, getting painted. My poor shirt.

After lunch, I said good-bye to Bobo, Orobah, and Carol. I'm going to miss them. I had a lot of fun with them. After my good-byes, the group finished rehearsing our skits. So far, the skits are looking good! We are definitely ready for tomorrow's performance. :)

Day 22

July 16
Can somebody say three weeks??? That's right, it's been three entire weeks that I've been in Botswana!! Wow. Let me just say, three weeks can fly by. I can't believe that I only have two weeks left in Botswana. It still feels like I just got here! I don't even want to think about leaving my family, but I have only two more whole days with them. I'm excited to start my safari and to stay in Gaborone, but I really will miss my Botswana family.
In addition to the fact that today marked three weeks, today brought a great change. We continued to work on our tables in the morning, and when we arrived at the secondary school, we were met with a pleasant surprise. We were sent a new crew from Gaborone, and these guys really know what they're doing. They went to school for architecture at the University of Botswana, located in Gaborone, and they're saving our project. See, we had forgotten that the tables and benches needed to be plastered as well as built, and if the Architect and Corona couldn't even build the tables and benches, we had no idea how they would plaster them, so, we were very lucky to get these new recruits.

The University of Botswana: the haven of good architects

With the arrival of the new guys, things are going quite smoothly. We were shown and taught how to plaster, and I even got to try some plastering myself! I don't think that I should plaster any more, however, as I am not very adept at the art of plastering. With the help of the new guys, we were able to finish plastering one set of benches and tables today. That set looks absolutely amazing. If the rest of the benches and tables come out looking like this first set, I think we'll be in very good shape and we'll leave a very nice legacy. We're going to finish strong tomorrow, I'm sure of it.

Just look at that perfectly plastered beauty!!!

After lunch, we did some more work on our final performance with Banki and we learned some songs to sing at the performance. We already knew the national anthem of Botswana (Fatshe Leno La Rona), so Banki taught us two new songs: Silang Mosoko and Tsatsi Ke Lele. I kinda love these songs. The first is a children's song that is usually sung with either a hand game or with a dance. We learned the dance. I think I've sung that song maybe 50,000,000,000 times. The fact that the dance is so much fun doesn't hurt, either. I'm really excited for this farewell performance. We're going to rock it!!

This is Tsatsi Ke Lele, sung by me! If you're interested in saving your eardrums for later on in life, please skip this song. Tomorrow, I'll post a video of the song and dance to Silang Mosoko!

Tonight's dinner was the best dinner I've had so far in Botswana. Oh my goodness gracious. I'm still salivating just thinking about it. We had a brie tonight, which is basically a Botswana barbeque. Boy, do they know how to brie in Botswana!! The meat was cooked to perfection, with a nice hint of smokiness. The sausage? Oh, don't get me started on the sausage. Absolutely amazing. Tonight was the first night that I actually wanted seconds!! It was a great way to end the day.

I was too busy eating to take a picture of my food, but here is a general picture of what I probably looked like after every bite

Day 21

July 15
Wow, I am so tired today. I didn't get much sleep last night, because I kept waking up in the middle of the night. I'm pretty sure that Same, my niece, has asthma. The only reason I think this is because I have asthma myself, and asthma has a distinct sound. Every time that she breathes, it sounds like a labored breath. It pains me to hear it. She wheezes throughout the day, and I was kept up tonight listening to her struggle. I wish that I could help her. I'd give her some of the asthma medication I brought with me, but I think it would do more harm than good, seeing as she's only 8, and I'm 16, so the dosage would not even be close to what she needed. I went to the local clinic today to ask if they could diagnose and help asthma. While they have the means to diagnose and treat HIV/AIDS, asthma is not an epidemic of the same size, so they didn't have the means to diagnose it themselves. They said that she would have to go into Gaborone, into one of the large hospitals, and even then, they weren't sure if she would get the treatment she needed. I know that my family will never be able to afford to get her diagnosed at the hospital, and then maintain the costs of the asthma medication. I just hope that her asthma doesn't get out of hand. I tried teaching her breathing exercises today. Hopefully, that will help. If it doesn't, well, it's a good thing that they drink a lot of tea and coffee here. Nothing better than an old, herbal remedy.
Another sad point of my day was that I did not go to the cattle post today. So sad. So so so sad. Instead of going to the cattle post, I was told that I had to go to church. So church it was. I have to find time soon to get to the cattle post, or I'll never get there!

Maybe next time, my bovine friends

Anyways, church was good today. For some reason, it was more sparsely populated today than all of the other days, but the service remained very similar to every other day. Or, at least, that's what I believe. I still don't understand a word of the service!
We met at Rheame's house at 3 PM, after church, to practice our skits and dance for the end of homestay dinner on Wednesday. It should be good! The skits are very funny, and the dance looks better each time we do it. I'm sure we have a great dinner in the making!
And an extra special surprise for me. All of my sisters came back today!! I came home, and Orobah, Carol, and Bobo were there! That made me so happy. They'll be here until Tuesday. I can't wait to spend some time with them. I've missed them!! :)

Me with my sister, Orobah

Day 20

July 14
Happy Day 20! Successfully made it through 20 days, and I finally got to sleep in. Whoo!! This was a remarkably unremarkable day. Again. The only stand out about today was that it was cold today. And when I say cold, I mean COLD!! Not just cold. FRIGID!! It has not been that cold during the middle of the day ever during this trip.

My normal bedtime outfit: long underwear, sweatpants, two pairs of socks, thermal top, flannel top, fleece jacket, hat, gloves I wore them all outside today.

How I felt today

I wasn't expecting the cold, so service today was brutal. We worked on the tables today. Much more productive than yesterday. They (sadly) took down the mess of a table they built yesterday, and we took over today to make it look pretty. I think our tables will look great! :)
Aside from community service, which wasn't until 1 PM, not much else happened. I was up by 9 AM. I know. Crazy amount of sleeping in. I left at 12:30 PM after finishing The Hulk, and I got back close to 5:30 PM. I was in bed again by 8 PM. There's no Generations on during the weekend, so there was nothing to keep me awake until 8:30 PM!
I'm not entirely tired right now, as today was not a day where a lot of energy was consumed. I guess I'll read for a bit before going to bed. I brought The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency with me. It's based in Botswana, so I figured it would be a great read for this trip. :)

Best book to read in Botswana

My sister told me that she would try to bring me to the cattle post tomorrow. I really hope I get to go. I've been dying to see the post!! My father is a farmer/ cattle rancher, so he's down at the post almost every day. I have yet to go because of community service and Setswana lessons. Hopefully, all of that will change tomorrow!

CATTLE!!!!!!

Day 19

July 13
Today was a great day! I couldn't tell you exactly why, but I just had the best time. Everything about today was perfect. We began today at normal time, but we switched up what we did from the norm. Today was a day of adventure! We took a combi out of Mogobane, but we shortly pulled over (with no explanation) at the side of the road and got out in front of an old, shut down sukiri building, or sugar building. Then, a truck pulls up, and we were told to get on board. The best part was that this was not a large truck. At all. So the majority of us had to squeeze into the bed of the truck and basically sit on top of one another as we drove down the highway. It was actually really funny, and most of us lost feeling in at least one body part.

3 of 9 people in the bed of that truck....

We found out that our first destination for the day was to be a gorge. The Mmamotshwane Gorge, to be precise. When we arrived, it was like arriving on another planet. There was flowing water, still pools, and lush foliage. It was surreal and beautiful at the same time. We climbed through the gorge, and got some very beautiful pictures.

Me at the Gorge

Louie and Amelia navigating the slippery rocks

My fellow group members sliding down the rocks (We found that butts are a great form of transport)

After the gorge, we squeezed back into the truck, and went to the Bahurutshe Cultural Lodge. It was, simply put, great. They did a traditional dance for us, and taught us how to sift through ground grains to pick out the kernels from the powder. They made us lunch, and then we returned to Mogobane. [I recorded a video of part this performance, and I am posting it on Youtube.com. The video is a minute and a half long. My favorite dance is included. Click here to be redirected to the video.]

The preparation before the performance

The first dancers

The coolest dance I've ever seen

We went straight to Olivia's house, and the entire group got together to watch The Lion King. I was so happy. I cried probably three times. Watching The Lion King in Africa was probably one of my favorite moments of this trip so far.

It's The Lion King!!!

When I got home, I watched Generations, and I was in the middle of finishing The Hulk with Refilwe and Rorisang when Masego came in to tell me that my mom called! I finally got to speak to my entire family for the first time this entire trip! My mom, my dad, and my sister. It was great, hearing their voices. I can't wait to see home again and New York City. But despite that, today was a 5-star day. :)

Day 18

July 12
Today was actually a very interesting day. We started the day with community service at the secondary school. We were working on building the tables today, but we reached a small glitch when we realized that the people we were relying on to tell us what to do actually had no idea what they were doing. Yes, even the man known as "The Architect" proposed a ridiculous method. His proposed method of table-making was not working out because he decided that it would be a great idea to create a mold for the table before filling said mold with concrete. We all agreed that this would be a good idea, so we looked to him to make the mold. He goes away briefly, and returns with a sheet metal sign. Sheet metal. He then proceeds to bend it and cut it with no difficulty. It did not occur to him that if he could bend it with such ease, clearly the concrete would have no problems doing the same thing. Not only did it bend easily, but when he put the mold together, there were gaps in the mold. When we pointed this out to the Architect, he decided to fix the problem with a piece of wire. A thin strand of wire. What??? Well, sure enough, a mold of flimsy sheet metal was not enough to hold up that amount of concrete. We watched the mold visibly expand while concrete seeped out the sides. It was a mess, but probably the funniest mess I've ever seen.

Our sheet metal mold. Yes, they put concrete in this.

We finally convinced the men we were working with that we needed to build the base out of bricks, and nothing else. They were looking longingly at the pile of cinder blocks not too far away. I really hope they don't touch those. Anyway, we didn't have enough bricks left over from the benches to use for the foundation. We have to wait for more bricks to be shipped to the school. Because we didn't have enough bricks, we got to end service early today.
After lunch, I got a great surprise. Dipapata!! That's right, I got to help cook dipapata! For those of you who don't know, dipapata are little bread rolls that are basically perfect in every which way. We had a huge tub of dough, some flour, and our hands. We used the lid of a cast iron cauldron, and set that outside on two cinder blocks. Underneath the lid, we put smouldering logs to cook the dipapata at a nice pace. Sadly, I had to leave before they were finished, but I had some when I came back. YUM!!!! I sure do love dipapata!!

The big bowl of dipapata dough

I left my cooking dipapata for a group meeting. As we are leaving the homestay in 7 days, and the farewell dinner is in 6 days, we needed to start preparing our farewell skit. So far, it seems a little iffy, but hopefully, within the next 6 days, it will all work out. We had our meeting at Olivia's house, and whaddya know, she has a flat screen TV with cable in her house. We were so excited to see cable again, so we watched music videos on Africa's version of MTV. It was great. It was a nice respite from the daily grind.

Me, Rheame, Shane, and Thomas sitting on the couch at Olivia's house

After tonight's Generations at home, I went with Refilwe and Rorisang to watch The Incredible Hulk. We stopped at 10 PM because we were all falling asleep, but it's a fun movie. I'm actually about to crash. I had a restless night last night. I woke up at 1 AM to use the bathroom, and I was too cold to fall back asleep until 4 AM. It was rough. Hopefully, tonight is better! (I made sure to use the bathroom right before bed this time!)
:)

Day 17

July 11
Very little happened today. Very little. Well, I guess that's not entirely true, because I'm in Botswana. Things are always happening. I guess what I mean is nothing very different happened today. We spent all day today at the secondary school, building our benches and tables.

Louie and Anahi working to finish the ditches

We've laid the bricks for almost every bench, and we've begun laying for the tables. We were there from 9 AM to 5 PM. It was fun, but it wasn't very exciting. I did a lot of brick laying. The benches have to be perfectly straight, so the people we are working with use a level for each and every brick. They make sure that the tops are completely even, but they neglect to check the sides of the bench, so the benches end up looking like trapezoids. Apparently, I have a good eye for judging whether the bricks are straight or not. Not sure when else this will come in handy, but it sure is helpful when there are two levels and three groups! Our group didn't need the level very often. :)

Me wheeling some rocks to the sites (it really is an upper body workout)

Amelia and Rheame, hard at work.....

We had tea and lunch at the school, and I only went home for dinner. When I got in, Masego asked me to go to the store with her. I figured why not, so I went with her to the store. Oh my goodness, am I happy I went. The stars here are absolutely incredible. I wish that I had a better camera to try and capture the beauty of the sky here. I could not have been more aptly named. My Setswana name is Naledi, which means star. Dinaledi are bontle here. The stars are beautiful here. You can see the Milky Way as clearly as the stars around it. And there is no shortage of stars either. If I could spend all night staring up at the sky here, I would.

Just look at that moon. Amazing.