Fourth of July in Botswana

My school. The building on the left are some bathrooms (latrines) and the two story building has classrooms in it. There is one other two story building on campus and 6 other one story classroom buildings. There are about 500 students at the school.

Some Form 1 and 2 girls at a chess tournament on July 4th.

More students at the chess tournament.

Trying to chew through some cow intestines. Not the way I expected to spend my holiday.

Four male teachers enjoying their freshly cooked intestines.

Housewarming party and moving into my new house

Some female teachers at my housewarming party.

Reheating a bunch of pizza that I made for the teachers. There were hardly any leftovers so I think my food was a hit.

Unpacking in my new kitchen.

My new living room- after hours of cleaning. I've since hung up some posters and pictures on the walls.

Me cleaning and unpacking in my new house.

My site!

My house from the outside. Granted, I am now living in a different house, but it looks exactly the same. This entry way is into the kitchen and there is front door leading to the living room.

My sunny kitchen.

The road in the teachers compound. All the teachers' houses are on either side of this street. And although it looks like grass, it's mostly just weeds growing and everyone's front yard is red dirt.

Me pointing to Maun, a supposedly beautiful, huge tourist hotspot, and making a face to show how much it would stink to get placed there. Some of my lucky friends are living there now.

And me pointing to Molepolole on the map.

Volunteer Swearing In

Me with two of our drivers for training: Sally and Lucky.

Some male voluteers with one of our Setswana teachers, Phenyo. The men are modeling some traditional clothes: two with traditional shirts on and two wearing the fashionable short ties. Definitely don't understand the appeal of the short tie.

Julia, my Setswana teacher, and I before the swearing in ceremony.

My host mother and I after the ceremony.

Christine, her host-nephew (known simply as The Baby) and I.

My birthday and site announcement day

Celebrating my birthday! My friend Christine baked brownies and bought boxed wine. I'll need to think of something good for her birthday!

Amy, Christine and I taking a day off from exercising at the stadium to celebrate my birthday.

Mark, Lauren and I at the Peace Corps bbq after the site announcements. This is the day I felt like I wanted to die- but I'm putting on a smiling face for the camera.

Finding out that I was assigned to Molepolole.

Waiting nervously for our site announcements!

A pretty typical looking dinner: rice, boiled beef, canned beans in tomato sauce and some cabbage/vegetable mix cooked in oil. Yum.

One of our Peace Corps training vans. We had to push it to pop the clutch on a regular basis. This picture might have been taken just before it broke down completely.

We visited a cultural village during training and were shown how woman pounded corn into fine a finer grain.

Traditional children's dance.

Note the women wearing the blanket shawl things- very common. I think this is the chief reading bones to predict the future of our pretend marriage of a peace corps volunteer.

Random pictures in Molepolole

Donkey carts. Very common site.

Some fellow volunteers and I lounging at the lodge on a Saturday afternoon.

Trying to find thousand year old rock paintings isn't easy.

One of our Setswana teachers.

My friend Christine and I.

Host family house

Picture 1: Outdoor cooking area
Picture 2: Living room
Picture 3: Area to wash dishes
Picture 4: Kitchen
Picture 5: House

Picture 1: Donkeys on the side of the road- very common site. They are used to pull carts.

Picture 2: Darn American fast food. My friend Christine and I decided to treat ourselves to soft serve during training. It made my stomach hurt but it was worth it.

Picture 3: An example of some roadside businesses. Haven't gotten my hair cut yet.

Picture 4: The main road the runs through Moleps. The large building in the background is Choppies, a grocery store.

Picture 5: Volunteers during lunch at our training site.