Imagine my life in Molepolole

I am about to depart on my first field trip! I will be spending the next 5 days shadowing a current PCV. Her village is called Takatokwane and I believe it's 2-3 hours from Molepolole, where I've been for the past 3 weeks. This volunteer is in the same program I am assigned to (Life Skills) and has been working in a Junior Secondary School. This is not necessarily the site I will ultimately work at, but the week is designed for me to get a better idea of the daily activities of a volunteer. I'm very excited!

In an interesting twist of fate, I already have a bizarre connection to this volunteer I'm going to stay with. Earlier this year I looked into subletting an apartment from a girl in New Orleans who was going to Botswana to visit her friend in the PC. I didn't get the volunteer's contact info, but I wondered if I would meet her once I arrived here. It turns out that the volunteer I'm staying with is that person.

Another fantastic connection happened yesterday afternoon. Last week I had met a couple from RI who are finishing up their two years of service. They came to see me yesterday and delivered a box of RI food products that they must have received as gifts over the past year. I am now the proud owner of coffee syrup, Del's lemonade mix, Kenyon Mills Johnnycake mix, clamcake mix (minus the clams) and cranberry sauce. Plus a quahog Christmas ornament! It was a very sweet thing to do and I am incredibly touched.

I wanted to do a better job of describing my world here for all of you. It's amazing how quickly the scenery can become normal and I forget that you can't see it too. Ok. There are some paved roads in the village- the main roads- and the majority are dirt. Most houses seem to have electricity, but not all. Some have indoor plumbing, but my family does not. The kitchen has a gas stove and a fridge (but that's in the living room). There is a cabinet of sorts in the kitchen and a table where all the cooking prep is done, but we do not eat there. The lack of water means we get buckets of water from a tap outside, about 50 ft from the house, to do all the cooking. We clean the dishes in buckets outside. Most houses are made of cement; the roods of corrugated metal (I think that's the correct term). The walls in my house are just plain, unpainted cement, with a 2008 calendar and poster of a recycling campaign for decoration.

We heat water in a pot over an open fire outside in an area that has three 5ft high cement walls and a thatched roof. I take a bucket of this water to my room to bathe. I bathe in a large plastic basin that I also bring into my room and I use a small plastic cup to pour water over myself. Most Batswana bathe twice a day, but I only do it in the evenings. I was my hair only every few days. Sunday is laundry day for me; I pick out a handful of the dirtiest things to wash by hand. It's amazing how fast the sun dries them too.

I live in a neighborhood of sorts, so i can see kids next door or hear music playing nearby. Our compound consists of that three-sided building I mentioned and two other cement rectangular buildings. Mine and two other bedrooms are in one building and the kitchen, living room and parent's room are in the other. There are chickens in the yard and they have a little coop/hut thing. There is also the cement latrine/toilet. There are appears to be a garden but i haven't figured out what is growing there. And everywhere there is the red dirt.

My walk to school is about 15 minutes on dirt roads and 25 minutes on paved ones. Batswana drive on the opposite side of the road and the steering wheel is also on the opposite side. It's still odd to look where you'd think there should be a driver and see no one. I still find myself thinking, 'there is no one driving that car.' It's also amazing to see people shifting gears with their left hand.

I hope this paints a better picture of my life here! And if I have time (and the internet isn't too slow) i'll try to upload some pictures. Oh, and thanks to my wonderful friends Camia and Dimock, I can tell you that letters from the states can arrive in Botswana in exactly 2 weeks. Thanks guys!