I have reached the time of "lasts": my last marimba lesson, my last bag of peanuts and raisins, my last trip to the forex - foreign currency exchange. I still have a few more days, but this is my last Friday. Although in the classic Botswana style, my plans didn't work out, so I've wound up here at school.
5 days left here... and I've missed out on so much. Time to repeat my mantra in an attempt to make myself feel better: "No regrets, no regrets, no regrets...."
Time to make some last lasting memories...
11 July 2008
09 July 2008
The Shower
Or, more aptly, "the Bathhouse" would be a better name for the movie that I saw last night. The Gaborone Film Society partnered with the Chinese embassy to show a foreign film in the AV centre here on campus. A selection of Chinese desserts greeted us movie-goers as we entered the auditorium, along with varied piles of books regarding different "China" topics: food, music, politics, economics... A smörgåsbord of literature and cuisine. The wife of a Chinese embassy official greeted me; we had met at a former foreign film, one without all the bells and whistles of this event. The reason for such an exciting evening? The Chinese ambassador would be coming, and the Beijing Olympics would be the focus of the celebration.
The movie, which started after a brief power-cut ended (and the number of people who carry flashlights, or "torches" in the local lingo, was revealed to be surprisingly high), told the story of an old man, Mr. Liu, who owns a bathhouse in modern Beijing. Essentially a story of tradition versus modernization, one of Liu's sons, Erming, is mentally challenged, and helps his father in the bathhouse. The other son has moved to a big city, to work in a big company, and make "big money". He returns home when his father begins ailing, and must try to explain to Erming that the bathhouse is going to be torn down to build new skyscraper offices. The moving portrayal of the family makes "The Shower" a very touching movie.
In the first few minutes of the movie, someone very important-looking came and sat next to me. I like to think that he was the ambassador... And that leads me to thinking about Botswana. Only in this country would one be able to walk into an event hosted by the Chinese embassy, where the ambassador was going to be, and not have to have your bag checked or pass through security. No gun-toting guard.
And yet, if someone drunk wanders in front of your car at night and you hit them, you shouldn't stop. You must drive to the nearest police station, especially if you are in South Africa. Even if there are people dying on the side of the road, if you are in South Africa, you never stop. Or you will be the next dying person that the next car stops for.
But half an hour away from the border, on this little school campus, I can sit next to practically the entire Chinese embassy and they feel perfectly safe. Which they are.
The movie, which started after a brief power-cut ended (and the number of people who carry flashlights, or "torches" in the local lingo, was revealed to be surprisingly high), told the story of an old man, Mr. Liu, who owns a bathhouse in modern Beijing. Essentially a story of tradition versus modernization, one of Liu's sons, Erming, is mentally challenged, and helps his father in the bathhouse. The other son has moved to a big city, to work in a big company, and make "big money". He returns home when his father begins ailing, and must try to explain to Erming that the bathhouse is going to be torn down to build new skyscraper offices. The moving portrayal of the family makes "The Shower" a very touching movie.
In the first few minutes of the movie, someone very important-looking came and sat next to me. I like to think that he was the ambassador... And that leads me to thinking about Botswana. Only in this country would one be able to walk into an event hosted by the Chinese embassy, where the ambassador was going to be, and not have to have your bag checked or pass through security. No gun-toting guard.
And yet, if someone drunk wanders in front of your car at night and you hit them, you shouldn't stop. You must drive to the nearest police station, especially if you are in South Africa. Even if there are people dying on the side of the road, if you are in South Africa, you never stop. Or you will be the next dying person that the next car stops for.
But half an hour away from the border, on this little school campus, I can sit next to practically the entire Chinese embassy and they feel perfectly safe. Which they are.
06 July 2008
A Peek of Grahamstown
Above: Muriel, the pianist for the jazz group "Tucan-Tucan", solos on a really cool piano-guitar thing-a-ma-bob. Sweet!
Above: Andrew Verster, artist, hangs some of his works for his exhibit. These mixed-media paintings were created with a layers of tissue paper ironed together with wax.
Above: Another of Verster's works; for inspiration, he visited a tattoo-artist friend.
Above: A still from the play "Jutro", which takes place in World War II era Poland. The man is sheltering the woman, a Jewish performer, in his bomb-shelled bar.
Above: A still from "Spun: The Legend of DJ Tommy Guns". Tommy is holding a DJ-ing record, which also doubled as an alien disguise in his one-man show.
Above: The poster for "Spitfire", the best show I saw at the festival. Grahamstown was covered with posters; no building or fence could escape. This show was incredible, and Ewok certainly has talent and deserves the awards mentioned on the poster!
Above: Another incredible show's poster. "Mouche" moved one of our party to tears, and we were all on the brink. Even the puppet-petrified student with a phobia of masks and dolls ended up enjoying it!
Above: The poster for "Out of Time", another incredible show. This moving monologue portrays a comatose father's last words to his son.
Such Drama, abbreviated
Realizing that many, if not all, of you would not like to read through three pages of a boring account of plays you didn't see and probably never will, here is the abbreviated version of "My Trip to Grahamstown!"
Sun: Left Gaborone with the director of Maitisong (driver), the teacher's aide from the UK, a sixth-form artsy MaP student, and me. Stayed overnight in Bloemfontein, South Africa, at the director's daughter's home.
Mon: Arrived in Grahamstown about 4 o' clock. Saw two plays (one good, one not) and a jazz concert (good). Discovered that our "en suite" room in a high school dormitory was actually an ironing room with two cots (I shared with the sixth-form young woman) and a shared, un-locking bathroom down the hall.
Tues: Art exhibits in the morning (very impressive) and four more shows, as well as an outdoor theatre performance, in the afternoon; all were pretty good.
Wed: The day of wonderful shows and exceptional art, as well as a delicious lunch at a cafe and dinner at the Long Table, a community-run "restaurant", in which the menu is home-cooked meals, warmed in the microwave just for you! Saw MaP's art teachers' exhibit; incredible. And then came the best comedy and the best...I don't really know how to categorize it. "Spun - the Legend of DJ Tommy Guns" was a great comedy about a teenage amateur DJ who finds himself saving the world from aliens in a DJ spin-off. "Spitfire" consisted of a very talented actor using lyrical poetry, words and sentences strung together, to create a powerful comment on society and on Africa. His talent was astonishing.
Thurs: More shows, including the best drama: "Mouche", in which a puppet troupe saves a girl from committing suicide. She joins the troupe and all the puppets fall in love with her - and eventually the bitter, hateful puppeteer as well. Saw some nice jazz in the evening, which was a good way to unwind from all the plays.
Fri: Three good shows, two not-so-good shows, but all-in-all a fine last day. We ended with a comedy, "Butlers and Brandy". Very entertaining!
Sat: We climbed back into the car, loaded our hastily-packed things, and left Grahamstown at 8 o'clock in the morning. After thirteen hours of chocolate covered peanuts, Alvin and the Chipmunk and other music, and a dinner stop at Spurs, we pulled into MaP at about 9 pm. I had to force myself to exit the car; we had all become such good friends, and I truly didn't want to leave the people with whom I had spent my best week so far.
Sun: Left Gaborone with the director of Maitisong (driver), the teacher's aide from the UK, a sixth-form artsy MaP student, and me. Stayed overnight in Bloemfontein, South Africa, at the director's daughter's home.
Mon: Arrived in Grahamstown about 4 o' clock. Saw two plays (one good, one not) and a jazz concert (good). Discovered that our "en suite" room in a high school dormitory was actually an ironing room with two cots (I shared with the sixth-form young woman) and a shared, un-locking bathroom down the hall.
Tues: Art exhibits in the morning (very impressive) and four more shows, as well as an outdoor theatre performance, in the afternoon; all were pretty good.
Wed: The day of wonderful shows and exceptional art, as well as a delicious lunch at a cafe and dinner at the Long Table, a community-run "restaurant", in which the menu is home-cooked meals, warmed in the microwave just for you! Saw MaP's art teachers' exhibit; incredible. And then came the best comedy and the best...I don't really know how to categorize it. "Spun - the Legend of DJ Tommy Guns" was a great comedy about a teenage amateur DJ who finds himself saving the world from aliens in a DJ spin-off. "Spitfire" consisted of a very talented actor using lyrical poetry, words and sentences strung together, to create a powerful comment on society and on Africa. His talent was astonishing.
Thurs: More shows, including the best drama: "Mouche", in which a puppet troupe saves a girl from committing suicide. She joins the troupe and all the puppets fall in love with her - and eventually the bitter, hateful puppeteer as well. Saw some nice jazz in the evening, which was a good way to unwind from all the plays.
Fri: Three good shows, two not-so-good shows, but all-in-all a fine last day. We ended with a comedy, "Butlers and Brandy". Very entertaining!
Sat: We climbed back into the car, loaded our hastily-packed things, and left Grahamstown at 8 o'clock in the morning. After thirteen hours of chocolate covered peanuts, Alvin and the Chipmunk and other music, and a dinner stop at Spurs, we pulled into MaP at about 9 pm. I had to force myself to exit the car; we had all become such good friends, and I truly didn't want to leave the people with whom I had spent my best week so far.
Such Drama!
We were quite a motley crew: the meat-loving director of Maitisong drove; the extremely kind teacher's aide from the UK; a sixth-form artsy MaP student who was allergic to wheat and dairy; and me, the vegetarian from the US. But we put our differences aside and climbed into the large vehicle, loaded up with our luggage. We drove for 6 hours to get to Bloemfontein, South Africa. After staying over at our driver's daugher's house in Bloemfontein, we embarked on another 6-hour stretch to Grahamstown, and pulled in at about 4 o'clock on Monday afternoon. We gazed around the small town plastered with show posters and walking "festinos". We finally found where we were staying; I stayed with the other MaP student at Victoria Girls' High School. We were led up to our "en suite" room, and stood outside a room labelled "Ironing Room" a bit confused. The irons had been replaced with two cot-like beds, and the bathroom was shared, outside of the room, and didn't lock. After registering a complaint, we decided to make the best of our cupboard, seeing as we'd be out most of the day anyhow.
The first show we went to see was called "Best Man's Speech". A very talented actor performed a monologue of a best man ripping apart the groom during a wedding speech, and moving through the stages of drunkenness at the same time - very entertaining. We followed this show with "Madman Standing", which involved two actors portraying homeless philosophizing men. A good idea, but the script seemed to be a rough draft; it was raw ideas, rather than a smooth plot. After this rather un-stimulating show, we went to a very exciting dinner at the Long Table, a "restaurant" of sorts which only opens during the festival. Church-goers of a certain church set up four loooong tables in their church hall, and cook a variety of meals. This night, for example, I ordered a vegetable enchilada (R45). I paid, and then waited for the staff to dish out a huge enchilada onto a plate, microwave it, and add a big helping of salad. I cut a very thick slice of bread off of a loaf set out for that purpose, and searched for a seat among the crowded hall. We finished up with some late-night jazz, a jam session by some incredibly talented young people (although not everyone in our group shared this opinion!)
On Tuesday, we explored a few art exhibits in the morning, and were very impressed. One of the exhibits, artist Andrew Verster, was having a walkabout, in which the artist gave a talking/tour through his work. Learning about the work from the man himself was very enriching. After the walkabout, I saw an outdoor theater show at noon, which was good but aimed at young children. Ariadne's Labyrinth followed a girl on her journey through a challenge-ridden labyrinth in which she learned lessons from the various animals she encountered. We followed this show with "Puck's Story", an adaption of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream". This show was very well done, and also outside, moving around the extensive lawn/garden of a school. The outdoor shows were nice, because at the middle of the day the temperatures were "sweat-shirt weather", about 65 or 70 degrees F and sunny. The nights however descended into frigid cold; well, not frigid in comparison with Massachusetts' winters, about -1 degree Celcius, which is a lot warmer than -1 F!
After Puck's Story, we went to "My Father's Hat, My Mother's Shoes", a one-man show by the drama teacher from MaP. An entertaining mix of magic tricks and narrative acting, the semi-autobiography was amusing and enjoyable. We went to a coffee shop, Dulce, for dinner. The director of Maitisong became rather obsessed with Dulce, where if you spent 80 rand (7 rand = 1 US dollar), you got a free Dulce beanie. By the end of the trip all four of us had hats!
Our next show was a bit more disturbing. "The Hamlet Machine" involved white-dusted scantily clad people writhing on the floor and falling off tables, with intermittent moments of macabre insight, such as "Long live death!" Although it wasn't up the alleys of my companions, I didn't mind it. I don't think I'd miss another show to see it again, but I am very glad that I got to see it. To pick us up, we went to a comedy afterwards. "Chatter" was a bit of a satire about modern communication, and how Internet and cell phone communication can go terrible wrong. It wasn't brilliant per say, but I found it very entertaining and enjoyed it a lot.
We got back to our room at midnight, since Chatter ended at 11:30. We stayed up for another hour talking before collapsing into sleep. But no rest for the weary; the following morning we got up at 9 to drive to where MaP's two art teachers had an exhibit. Their work blew me away; I was incredibly impressed. We saw another street theater production at noon again, this one called "Impisi". Two actors did astonishing imitations of African animals without any props, and delivered the message (once again aimed at a younger audience) of accepting people, even disabled people, because everyone can do something well. This is delivered by a didactic plot of a maimed lion who overcomes his pride to befriend a hyena, and together they become a great hunting team. After this we watched "Jutro", a comedic drama about a man who is sheltering a Jewish actress in his bomb-buried bar in World War II era Poland. "Between Cup and Lip", a portrayal of the relationship between a white woman and her hired help in South Africa, came next. The message was very nice, even if the acting was a bit off at times. In the end, the maid finally finds her voice as South Africa exits apartheid, and gets her own house.
After dinner came the two best shows of the entire festival that we saw. "Spun - The Legend of DJ Tommy Guns" was an original comedy which followed the story of unsuspecting Tommy Guns and his rise to heroism as he is forced to save the world from attacking aliens in a DJ spin-off. And after this great show, we hurried across town (it only took about 20 minutes to walk from one side to the other of the main festival part) to "Spitfire", an amazing production. One man, Ian "Ewok" Robinson, used rap-like lyrical poetry - essential the stringing together of words and sentences - to convey incredible insights into society. It sounds deep, and it was in a way; our mouths were hanging open the entire time at Ewok's talent. He didn't really act as much as deliver his message, but I never wanted it to end. We followed this great show with dinner at the Long Table - fettuccine with leeks, mushrooms, peppers, and cream for me - and eventual sleep in our ironing closet.
On Thursday morning, we went to see a depressing but wonderful exhibit called "Face it: the Stigma Exhibit". The artist had interviewed many varying people and photographed their daily lives, combining visual and auditory media to deliver their raw stories to us. The subjects ranged from homosexuality to child abuse to HIV/AIDS, an many other victims of societal stigmas. This show was followed by "Mouche", an extremely moving one-man play about a girl saved from suicide by a puppet troupe, who she joins, and how the puppets fall in love with her - or how, in reality, the puppeteer falls in love with her. With an incredible actor who managed to not only juggle the various characters of the puppets but also have an astonishingly real fight with another man (played by himself) about Mouche, the girl who wasn't actually played by anyone in the play, simply talked to. One of our party was moved to tears, and we were all at the brink when, at the end, the puppets almost kill themselves because Mouche was going to leave, until the formerly bitter and hateful puppeteer reveals his love for Mouche. This play joined the top three of the festival, along with "Spun" and "Spitfire".
After some shopping time at the Village Green, a large craft fair, and lunch (a massive bowl of Spicy Butternut soup, R22) at a cute little cafe called Chili's, we saw "Jakob", a didactic play about a young man's hatred of light, and his eventual redemption by his adopted parents who reveal to their town that light equals love. Tucan Tucan, a renowned jazz group, was performing after this, so we went to relax and unwind after a hectic schedule of plays. After the concert, we saw "Out of Time", a touching monologue of a man's last words to his son. Although some of his flashbacks to his own childhood were in Afrikaans, the show was emotional and insightful, and definitely worth the ticket. Tickets averaged about R40 (student price) for good shows; not bad at all when you convert it to dollars, but our regimen of five-or-six-shows per day not only took a toll on our mental functionality but on our wallets as well!
Our last day was a bit of a denouement. "Gumbo", our first show at 12 after some final purchases at the Village Green, was definitely unique, in that about four words were spoken the entire time. Made with the deaf community in mind, "Gumbo" told the story of the deaf owner and kitchen boy of a restaurant and their acquisition of a girl through a misguided game of cards. The girl falls in love with the restaurant owner's son, and eventually they escape the oppressive owner and run away together. After "Gumbo" we went to "Kissing Frogs", which was so bad that it barely warrants mention in this account. We were picked up a little bit by "Electric Juju", an original show about an old man who faces a huge force which wants the giant's heart which the man has acquired, and the little girl who gets inexplicably involved. By this time we were completely exhausted and our heads were about to burst from so much drama, but we trekked to "Halo", which had potential to be great but was muddied with some bizarre singing and movement. The message lost in the wailing/singing/dance, we were, however, extremely amused, and managed to work some misguided lyrics into about every conversation on the way home the next day. Our final show was "Butlers and Brandy", a "who-dun-it" in which the audience periodically got to vote on which character was guilty. Although a bit over-the-top with racial jokes (none really offensive, but the author could have inserted some varying humor), it was a good last shebang.
The ride home in the morning flew by, since we had all become great friends during the trip. We laughed, sang, and ate our way back to Gaborone, distancing ourselves from the drama and comedies of the past week with a thirteen-hour drive. I almost cried as I was dropped back at the dormitory; this week was undoubtedly the best of my trip so far. And as we crossed the border back into Botswana, filling up my passport with even more stamps, I filled out the customs' entry form. Shocked, I had to force myself to sadly write "12 days" under "Length of Intended Stay", for although I do miss my friends and family, I'm also making new ones here. And I only have one more weekend to enjoy with them.
The first show we went to see was called "Best Man's Speech". A very talented actor performed a monologue of a best man ripping apart the groom during a wedding speech, and moving through the stages of drunkenness at the same time - very entertaining. We followed this show with "Madman Standing", which involved two actors portraying homeless philosophizing men. A good idea, but the script seemed to be a rough draft; it was raw ideas, rather than a smooth plot. After this rather un-stimulating show, we went to a very exciting dinner at the Long Table, a "restaurant" of sorts which only opens during the festival. Church-goers of a certain church set up four loooong tables in their church hall, and cook a variety of meals. This night, for example, I ordered a vegetable enchilada (R45). I paid, and then waited for the staff to dish out a huge enchilada onto a plate, microwave it, and add a big helping of salad. I cut a very thick slice of bread off of a loaf set out for that purpose, and searched for a seat among the crowded hall. We finished up with some late-night jazz, a jam session by some incredibly talented young people (although not everyone in our group shared this opinion!)
On Tuesday, we explored a few art exhibits in the morning, and were very impressed. One of the exhibits, artist Andrew Verster, was having a walkabout, in which the artist gave a talking/tour through his work. Learning about the work from the man himself was very enriching. After the walkabout, I saw an outdoor theater show at noon, which was good but aimed at young children. Ariadne's Labyrinth followed a girl on her journey through a challenge-ridden labyrinth in which she learned lessons from the various animals she encountered. We followed this show with "Puck's Story", an adaption of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream". This show was very well done, and also outside, moving around the extensive lawn/garden of a school. The outdoor shows were nice, because at the middle of the day the temperatures were "sweat-shirt weather", about 65 or 70 degrees F and sunny. The nights however descended into frigid cold; well, not frigid in comparison with Massachusetts' winters, about -1 degree Celcius, which is a lot warmer than -1 F!
After Puck's Story, we went to "My Father's Hat, My Mother's Shoes", a one-man show by the drama teacher from MaP. An entertaining mix of magic tricks and narrative acting, the semi-autobiography was amusing and enjoyable. We went to a coffee shop, Dulce, for dinner. The director of Maitisong became rather obsessed with Dulce, where if you spent 80 rand (7 rand = 1 US dollar), you got a free Dulce beanie. By the end of the trip all four of us had hats!
Our next show was a bit more disturbing. "The Hamlet Machine" involved white-dusted scantily clad people writhing on the floor and falling off tables, with intermittent moments of macabre insight, such as "Long live death!" Although it wasn't up the alleys of my companions, I didn't mind it. I don't think I'd miss another show to see it again, but I am very glad that I got to see it. To pick us up, we went to a comedy afterwards. "Chatter" was a bit of a satire about modern communication, and how Internet and cell phone communication can go terrible wrong. It wasn't brilliant per say, but I found it very entertaining and enjoyed it a lot.
We got back to our room at midnight, since Chatter ended at 11:30. We stayed up for another hour talking before collapsing into sleep. But no rest for the weary; the following morning we got up at 9 to drive to where MaP's two art teachers had an exhibit. Their work blew me away; I was incredibly impressed. We saw another street theater production at noon again, this one called "Impisi". Two actors did astonishing imitations of African animals without any props, and delivered the message (once again aimed at a younger audience) of accepting people, even disabled people, because everyone can do something well. This is delivered by a didactic plot of a maimed lion who overcomes his pride to befriend a hyena, and together they become a great hunting team. After this we watched "Jutro", a comedic drama about a man who is sheltering a Jewish actress in his bomb-buried bar in World War II era Poland. "Between Cup and Lip", a portrayal of the relationship between a white woman and her hired help in South Africa, came next. The message was very nice, even if the acting was a bit off at times. In the end, the maid finally finds her voice as South Africa exits apartheid, and gets her own house.
After dinner came the two best shows of the entire festival that we saw. "Spun - The Legend of DJ Tommy Guns" was an original comedy which followed the story of unsuspecting Tommy Guns and his rise to heroism as he is forced to save the world from attacking aliens in a DJ spin-off. And after this great show, we hurried across town (it only took about 20 minutes to walk from one side to the other of the main festival part) to "Spitfire", an amazing production. One man, Ian "Ewok" Robinson, used rap-like lyrical poetry - essential the stringing together of words and sentences - to convey incredible insights into society. It sounds deep, and it was in a way; our mouths were hanging open the entire time at Ewok's talent. He didn't really act as much as deliver his message, but I never wanted it to end. We followed this great show with dinner at the Long Table - fettuccine with leeks, mushrooms, peppers, and cream for me - and eventual sleep in our ironing closet.
On Thursday morning, we went to see a depressing but wonderful exhibit called "Face it: the Stigma Exhibit". The artist had interviewed many varying people and photographed their daily lives, combining visual and auditory media to deliver their raw stories to us. The subjects ranged from homosexuality to child abuse to HIV/AIDS, an many other victims of societal stigmas. This show was followed by "Mouche", an extremely moving one-man play about a girl saved from suicide by a puppet troupe, who she joins, and how the puppets fall in love with her - or how, in reality, the puppeteer falls in love with her. With an incredible actor who managed to not only juggle the various characters of the puppets but also have an astonishingly real fight with another man (played by himself) about Mouche, the girl who wasn't actually played by anyone in the play, simply talked to. One of our party was moved to tears, and we were all at the brink when, at the end, the puppets almost kill themselves because Mouche was going to leave, until the formerly bitter and hateful puppeteer reveals his love for Mouche. This play joined the top three of the festival, along with "Spun" and "Spitfire".
After some shopping time at the Village Green, a large craft fair, and lunch (a massive bowl of Spicy Butternut soup, R22) at a cute little cafe called Chili's, we saw "Jakob", a didactic play about a young man's hatred of light, and his eventual redemption by his adopted parents who reveal to their town that light equals love. Tucan Tucan, a renowned jazz group, was performing after this, so we went to relax and unwind after a hectic schedule of plays. After the concert, we saw "Out of Time", a touching monologue of a man's last words to his son. Although some of his flashbacks to his own childhood were in Afrikaans, the show was emotional and insightful, and definitely worth the ticket. Tickets averaged about R40 (student price) for good shows; not bad at all when you convert it to dollars, but our regimen of five-or-six-shows per day not only took a toll on our mental functionality but on our wallets as well!
Our last day was a bit of a denouement. "Gumbo", our first show at 12 after some final purchases at the Village Green, was definitely unique, in that about four words were spoken the entire time. Made with the deaf community in mind, "Gumbo" told the story of the deaf owner and kitchen boy of a restaurant and their acquisition of a girl through a misguided game of cards. The girl falls in love with the restaurant owner's son, and eventually they escape the oppressive owner and run away together. After "Gumbo" we went to "Kissing Frogs", which was so bad that it barely warrants mention in this account. We were picked up a little bit by "Electric Juju", an original show about an old man who faces a huge force which wants the giant's heart which the man has acquired, and the little girl who gets inexplicably involved. By this time we were completely exhausted and our heads were about to burst from so much drama, but we trekked to "Halo", which had potential to be great but was muddied with some bizarre singing and movement. The message lost in the wailing/singing/dance, we were, however, extremely amused, and managed to work some misguided lyrics into about every conversation on the way home the next day. Our final show was "Butlers and Brandy", a "who-dun-it" in which the audience periodically got to vote on which character was guilty. Although a bit over-the-top with racial jokes (none really offensive, but the author could have inserted some varying humor), it was a good last shebang.
The ride home in the morning flew by, since we had all become great friends during the trip. We laughed, sang, and ate our way back to Gaborone, distancing ourselves from the drama and comedies of the past week with a thirteen-hour drive. I almost cried as I was dropped back at the dormitory; this week was undoubtedly the best of my trip so far. And as we crossed the border back into Botswana, filling up my passport with even more stamps, I filled out the customs' entry form. Shocked, I had to force myself to sadly write "12 days" under "Length of Intended Stay", for although I do miss my friends and family, I'm also making new ones here. And I only have one more weekend to enjoy with them.
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