Saturday...

This morning I went to see a rugby match. I'd never seen one before, and although I don't really like watching sports usually, it was okay. Pretty violent...I don't know if I'd go see another, maybe if I went with friends, but I'm glad I got to see one game.
"What did you think of the rugby game?" one girl asked.
"Uh, it was okay. Really violent," I replied.
"Haha," she laughed, "that seems to be characteristic of African sports!"
The weather here is very nice. The mornings and evenings have a bit of a chill, but the late mornings and afternoons are sunny and warm. I'm in shorts and a short-sleeved shirt right now, sitting in the shade, and I'm perfectly comfortable. Rain is very rare in the winters, and the air isn't humid at all - it's kind of in the middle, maybe a little more towards the dry side. The weather will get colder in June and July, but at least right now the days are very pleasant, weather-wise.
Campus is very empty. I'd say maybe 50 students board, and 550 are day students. I've been in my room reading most of the day, and I did a load of laundry because this kid spilled blue soda on me at the rugby game. Hopefully I'll work up the courage to leave my room and knock on someone's door soon.
Well, tomorrow marks one week since I've left home. Which means I have...8 or 9 weeks left to go. I'm very excited for SPEs to start - they will make the time past much faster. I talked to the librarian and hope to be helping out there a little next week, so hopefully I can pass the time until everything starts. I didn't make it over to the marimba room to practice today, but I hope to tomorrow. I could also go for a jog around the dirt track here, but I just haven't been motivated.
By the way, if I reject a comment (which just means that it doesn't get published - I still read it), it's because it has a name or other identifying piece of information in it. Obviously people can tell who I am by what I write, but just to make it a little more difficult... ;-)
I miss and love you all. I haven't had a chance to talk to anyone about Botswana culture/events so you'll have to wait for some interesting stuff about the place, rather than about me...

First Day of Classes!

The class schedule here works on a 6-day rotation. Today was a Day 3. I had physics, art, English, economics, geography, and math. On Monday I'll have history and marimbas instead of two of those.
My classes have about 15 or 20 people. My physics teacher was very good, so I'll look forward to that class. The art rooms are still undergoing renovations so we didn't really have class today. My English teacher is very nice, and was interested in the difference between her class and my class at Deerfield. My economics class was very loud - apparently a lot of the "slackers" take that class or something - but the teacher tried her best to keep control. She is from Ghana, and whenever she said anything about the culture of Botswana the class would erupt in contradictions. My geography teacher is okay, and I really like my math class.
Today, I went to the library and found some Tswana (Setswana) books. Even though they were reference, I got to check them out because the library closed early due to lost electricity. The guy who checked me out was very skeptical about learning - he and pretty much everyone else have said that it is very difficult. We'll see...
Not much goes on here during the weekends. Pretty much everyone goes home except my roommate (of course!) and a few other girls. So I'm planning on working on my Tswana and reading - hopefully I'll finish the autobiography of Malcolm X. I checked out a few summer reading books from the library today, so I only have them for two weeks - and I want to get them read! I'll try to be social, but not many people are around...
The dorm rooms are about the same size, maybe a little larger, than the rooms at Deerfield...except the ones here are for two people! I have a bed, a desk, shelves, and a closet - same for my roommate. The day students are not allowed in the dorm!! It is two stories and has four corridors. Rather plain. It's rather dark when the electricity goes out...
The stores are nice. I've been to both major malls, GameCity and Riverwalk. They are both about the size of the Hampshire mall in Hadley. Once inside you wouldn't know you were in Gaborone...you could just as easily be in Holyoke or any other city.
All the academic buildings (each contains about 3 classrooms) look very much the same, so I have trouble finding classes...luckily a network of students took me to each one today, and hopefully I'll find people on other days too.
Hopefully I'll be able to talk to some people about current events and Botswana culture and then be able to write a more professional blog entry...

Sweet!

Finally, I'm on the internet and able to post something the day that I wrote it...

16:14, Thursday 15 May 2008

After a couple shaky days, my schedule has finally gotten sorted out! I'm taking physics, English, math, economics (but I might switch to music composition if I can), history, geography (which is learning about the weather now), and marimba. I'm in Form 5 (11th grade), but I'm joining two Form 3 (9th grade) marimba classes as well as a Form 5 class that meets in the afternoon one day per week. The teacher is also going to give me a one-on-one lesson once a week. I had my first marimba class today and it was a lot of fun.

Today, I randomly met a few girls (all day students) who were very friendly. They offered to take me out into the city sometime – two of them are of Indian descent and want to take me to an Indian dance performance. Hopefully, they are serious and will follow through, and hopefully the friendship will stick. We have a few classes together, and I'm really hoping that I've finally found a few friends!

Yesterday, before shopping, the lady who took me had to go to this function, the opening of a church/community center at this school for disabled children. The whole ceremony was in Setswana, so I didn't understand much, but it is a beautiful language to listen to, so I wasn't bored. I got to meet quite a few influential figures – I shook hands with the former president's brother; as the staff person told me, in the U.S., it's 6 degrees of separation, and in Botswana, it's 2 – at most. A couple of women who are really involved with charity work and belong to the FNB (First National Bank of Botswana) foundation – the foundation that built the church – offered to take me with them on a trip to distribute food in rural Botswana. I'd have to miss a class or two, but I think I can get permission since it's such an incredible opportunity.

I also signed up for SPEs – Service, Physical, Enrichment – activities. I'm going to go to a primary school and help kids read, the same place where the church was built (it was the only thing on the weekends and I didn't want to be bored!) to hang out with the disabled kids, visit at a hospital, I might do yoga and aerobics once a week, and I might play in the orchestra (the girls I met today all play). The only bad thing is that the SPEs don't start until May 28th…two weeks of afternoons with nothing to do! Hopefully I'll be able to work on friendships, and read some, although the library closes at 4:30 (I was just kicked out ;-).

Well, classes tomorrow (finally, I'll be independent and feel comfortable speaking up!) and friends too…I miss you all!

<3

"Different" - Wednesday 14 May

13:22, 14 May 08

It was bound to happen.

"You're so…different!" the girls at my lunch table exclaimed. "Not that it's a bad thing…," they quickly recovered.

Everyone was speaking in Setswana, and I had asked whether people learn English or Setswana first. I learned that pretty much everyone's parents are bilingual, and so everyone grows up speaking both. Some students, however, speak only English, even though they are Batswana. I said that I wished my parents knew two languages, so that I could've learned them both.

"So you only know English?"

"Yes," I answered.

"Well, that's because you're American."

I quickly mentioned my pretty good Spanish, and said, "That's why I sometimes really don't like America."

I'm going out shopping with a staff member (I'm trying not to use names to protect myself and others) who I met at Deerfield when the marimba band came, to buy some things I forgot or couldn't pack…soap, a blanket, a sim card for the cell phone the school is letting me borrow. I have to exchange my US dollars into pula – the rate is roughly 6 pula to $1.

The electricity keeps blacking out. Botswana gets all of their electricity from South Africa, and the company that supplies them doesn't have enough power to supply all of Botswana and South Africa. So they do "rotating blackouts" where different communities get blackouts on unpredictable times but on certain days. Last night, Tuesday, the lights suddenly went off before dinner. I was a bit disconcerted but after all the melodramatic screaming died down, I was able to sleep for a few hours before my roommate got back. It was so hard to be social when I was so exhausted! Then the electricity went out again this morning – while I was in the shower, of course – and still hasn't come back, at least in my room.

I'm hoping that the girls can tolerate me despite my being "different" (all the girls can't believe that I don't have my ears pierced) and hopefully some will even become my friends. It was a bit of a tough first day but at least socially, lunch was awesome (there was even a nice vegetarian option!), and I'm excited to see a bit of Gaborone with this staff member.

South African Sunrise

As I woke up this morning, uncomfortably scrunched into an airplane seat, after a scant few hours of restless sleep, my exhaustion from the 36 hours of travelling disappeared, absorbed by a beautiful African sunrise. Pink faded into red faded into blue, and I couldn't wait to land in Gaborone, Botswana.
No, I have not seen a lion. No, I have not seen a giraffe. In fact, the only fauna I have seen are two gecko-like lizards. Bushy plants, hunched trees, and ornamental cacti abound, however, and some are even in bloom, despite the fact it is winter here.
Maru-a-Pula's campus is about the size of Deerfield's, but the buildings are smaller. The ground is pretty arid, with a few hardy copses of grass. The dorms do not have Internet, but the rest of campus is wireless.
Wednesday, May 14 is the first day of second term classes here at Maru-a-Pula. I am in Form 5, the equivalent of 11th grade. The uniform: black pants and a white shirt – a far cry from Deerfield's second-layer policy!
Breakfast is served at 6:10, and classes start at 7:00. The six-period school day is over at 12:45, and then students have a service co-curricular followed by athletics or another extra-curricular. The emphasis here, as far as I can tell, is not nearly as sport-centric as at Deerfield.
Study hall is two hours long, beginning at 7:00 (or 19:00) and ending at 9:00.
I am living in the one girls' boarding house, with a roommate. Everyone I've met so far has been congenial, although I'm too tired to try and remember names! I haven't met my roommate yet, as she wasn't there when I left to come here, to the library, which is supposed to close at 4:30 each day (how will I live?!?!) but is open late today.
The classes at MaP are very test-focused. The school takes these Cambridge IGSCE standardized tests in the third term (some classes take them in the second, which is the term in session now) and they are a very big deal. The classes teach for the tests, and no classes are offered that do not have a corresponding test. Even music is geared towards them. I am really disappointed about this - I'm just hoping really hard that the classes are exciting and interesting and not just test prep! I really feel badly for the students. They feel like they have to do well on these standardized tests in order to succeed in life. They spend so much time preparing for SATs - to get into a good college.
All students are required to take two English classes (language and literature) and math. Setswana, the local language, is only taught as an advanced level class, for fluent speakers - which almost all the students are. I really want to learn, but I doubt any students will teach me. Perhaps I can get lessons with the teacher.
I miss all of you! I don't think I'll have trouble making friends, but I'm feeling very antisocial and tired right now so I haven't really made any yet. I just want to nap, but that's unlikely with all the noise in the boarding house. I am in a Form 3 and 4 hall (so 9th and 10th graders) but may be moved to a Form 5 and 6 hall soon. I wish I could just settle in and stay put!

Time for dinner. Sorry about the length of this post!

I Talk Ugly: Heathrow, Monday, 17:10 local time

(written at the wireless-less Heathrow airport...

I am surrounded by English accents.

They are beautiful.

I am sitting at "itsu", an Asian-esque eatery with a quaint, line-drawn butterfly logo, at Heathrow. I have spent exactly $20 here today. It is the only place that, I feel, has nice, fresh food. Vegetarian sushi and edamame with pickled ginger, topped off with a cup of vanilla frozen "yoghurt", which actually retains the tartness of Greek-style yogurt, with dark chocolate chips. Add to this the chocolate samples – dark Toblerones, Hotel Chocolat, and Lindt truffles – being served up at the Duty Free shop hourly, and I've had quite an enjoyable layover.

Although I must admit…I am desperate for something to happen. Not something horrible, like my things getting stolen (typing this is accompanied by a frenzied glance towards my two carry-ons), but something like…finding a hundred pound note, or, although if this actually happened I'd probably regret it, but my plane getting delayed. Perhaps I'd even be satisfied if someone asked me where I was going, or running into that flight attendant from the plane from JFK to London who recognized the "Deerfield Academy" on my drawstring carry-on. She glanced it as I walked off the plane, called out, "I know Deerfield! Congratulations!" and then disappeared as a rush of passengers, eager to stretch their legs and find their connections, flooded out of the aisles.

A few minutes after we boarded – well, a few minutes after we took off about a half-hour after we took our seats – the flight attendant announced, "If you'd like to adjust your watches, the local time in London is 3:21." I contemplated my hour hand as it moved five rotations around the face of my watch; I pondered time, such a human construct. And then I wondered about whether I should try to sleep, seeing as I only had three hours until sunrise…in London. But I wouldn't be there in three hours. I decided I'd try to sleep, a little. In the end, I got in an hour. Now, at Heathrow, there are some nice modern-style couches…perfect for napping. But travelling alone, I fear that I'd fall asleep and miss my flight. Hopefully staying away all this time will help me fall and stay asleep on my 12-hour flight to Johannesburg.

Right now I'm enjoying listening to the two ladies chatting at a table beside mine, despite the fact that hearing their lyrical gossiping reminds me how ugly my "American" accent is. I am kind of ashamed to talk here, although after only speaking a few words for so long, I am desperate for any conversation. Instead I've had to occupy myself with browsing in bookstores and the Duty Free, and eating far too vast quantities of edamame.

Heathrow

In Heathrow...no free internet...had to buy something to get some pounds as change...I have 45 seconds left...never realized how fast time went by when you are on the internet...25 seconds...post!