#2 Easing In
Dumelang borra le bomma! (Hello ladies and gentleman in setswana).
I’ve been here for a week! Wild. So much has happened. Starting with staging…
Staging: Left Red Wing very early and flew through Chicago to Reagan Airport in D.C. Waited an absolute eternity before my bags came out, and then just as I managed to get everthing together (massive duffel on my back as a backpack, backpack on my front like a kangaroo, and other massive duffel over my shoulder. With all this baggage there is no choice but to lumber. So for all the following times when thinking about me traveling, keep in mind I have ~100lbs of things on my person and am about three feet wide by three feet long by five and a half feet tall), I watched the complimentary hotel bus leave the terminal as I walked towards it. Sigh. 40 minutes later, with the minutes counting down to the end of sign-in at the hotel, the bus finally comes and I went (see above, re: lumbering) to the hotel. I traveled all this way already dressed up in formal clothes, so I just ran downstairs and checked in. As many of you may know, I wasn’t the most…attentive…per se, about all of documents and deadlines before leaving (filling out medical forms and onboarding things while on vacation, or printing out passport photos while on my way to the airport…thanks mama). I was the last one to check in, and as I started to leave the table, the Staging Director, Sherene, told me there are a lot of deadlines and important communications throughout service, and to please be better with my timing…embarrassing! She even gave me some helpful hints on how to be better about emails and finishing things on time. Thank you, Sherene.
Staging was really just one day of training that they give to every Peace Corps cohort nowadays before they leave the U.S. It’s a chance for them to more explicitly warn us about doing drugs (will be sent home), being suspected of doing drugs (will be sent home), or even thinking about doing drugs (…will be sent home). They also threw in some other things, like representing the U.S., and identity maps (oooh). I had a roommate, John, who is an older man with two kids my age. He is floored by how similar I look to his older son, Emmett, as a fun side note, but he is very friendly, incredibly kind, and a good friend. More John content to come. The next day, Saturday, was a full day of trainings, 8 to 5, and then we had some free time. I took the metro over to the mall with John and another volunteer, Susan. In the group chat that we have for our group, many of the other younger volunteers wanted to know what mall, and where, and after being informed that we meant the national mall, proceeded to not say anything. The kids these days, I tell ya. Anyway, the three of us walked around the monuments for a few hours, from the Washington Monument all the way down to the Lincoln Memorial and back to the Library of Congress. It was very powerful to see all of the monuments and be reminded yet again why I am serving the United States in this way. After not much sleep, we got up at 4 and went to the airport, arriving a cool 5 hours early, which I think is even a Bayley family record. Dad, I have notes on how we managed to get there so early, which I can share later.
The Flight: Really long and boring. Nothing happened. Finished a book and watched Goodfellas. Stopping in Addis Ababa and Victoria Falls. Got to Bots in the afternoon.
First Week of Training: Ok, I am realizing I went super in depth above, so this may be a bit less so. Maybe some more funny anecdotes. But this is also a great way for me to rememeber everything (I have been called Dory in the past, and my equivalent of “42 Wallaby Way, Sydney” is already taken up with remembering that Dory can only manage to remember 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney…a real mess, I know), so some random stuff may come up. In a handy little Family and Friends document that the PC sends out, they say volunteers share frustrations or bad stories because they just need to get it off their chest, but then friends/family members may worry about said stories while volunteers move on. So, dear faithful readers, please do not worry about my talking-to from Sherene mentioned above. I am not upset or offended; I mean, I even explained that I was graduating from college, and had been accepted late, etc. She understood.
Alright. Back to Botswana. I’ll cut to the chase, which will also explain the title of this blog…we are being coddled. The hotel we stayed in for the first week was very fancy, the PC office building we had our classes in was brand new, the one mall they let us go to was extremely fancy, and even our homestays are incredibly nice here in Ramotswa. It is very nice, and I like everything about everything so far, I am just preparing myself for the two year posting, especially if I get my wish to go somewhere rural…it will not be this nice. I think most of my feeling this way comes from comparing Botswana to Tanzania, where I spent my Junior Spring of college. In Tanzania I did not see a single name brand (except Pringles, actually). Gas stations were different, there were no fast food places, etc. Every single restaurant/hotel/shop/place was Tanzanian. Here, we pass KFC, Shell Oil, Hilton, can buy Mentos at the store, etc. In the fancy mall we went to they had a Woolworths, a CVS equivalent that had a better selection than a normal U.S. CVS (my jaw was on the floor the entire time), Samsung stores with apple devices for sale, etc. It is a real adjustment for me, because I had (keyword had, and also I knew it was a generalization but did not expect to be so wrong) a picture of what Africa was like in my head, and Botswana is so far very different. Ok, ok, I’ll get to it. More editorializing to come, I’m sure.
Just to loop back briefly— I understood why Sherene said what she said, and brushed it right off. Didn’t bother me at all. Why did I volunteer to be a group leader on the flights over, imbueing myself with responsibility and communication burdens? So no one else had to, that’s why. No other reason.
The week was actually relatively calm, in hindsight. Most days (well, the three days) that we went to the office were the same: wake up at 6, breakfast at 6:30, leave at 7, first session at 7:30, tea break in the morning, lunch around 1, sessions until 5:30, and then back to the hotel. Fun things from the sessions: not a ton. Brief language sessions, but the real ones start this coming Wednesday. Fun other things that happened: got another shot. Gr. Spent 5+ hours in the bank working to open an account, deposit money, and get a debit card so the PC can directly deposit $ into it during my service. Spending time at the bar in the hotel playing cards with all the other volunteers. Eating Batswana food for the first time. Experiencing the crazy temperature changes during the day (our first day was 28F in the morning and 70F in the evening…I say). On Thursday night we went to the ambassadors residence and ate dinner with him and his family. Ambassador Van Vranken had been there a little over a year, and, while a typical American on the outside, was a very impressive man. Easy to talk to, inquisitive, very good memory for names n such, and well spoken. He gave a very nice speech before the dinner (which was incredibly fancy. The house had a pool, amazing artwork, amazing wood furniture, the plates had the U.S. seal on them, as did the glasses, etc.). After dinner he stood up, and encouraged us to consider the foreign service after our PC service, saying that it is a fantastic way to serve the United States and an adventure of a lifetime. I’m still a long way from anything like that, but I have to say, it was very persuasive….
I’ll be honest. All I want is for Sherene to eat her words. It was a difficult circumstance! I’d love to see her juggle graduating from college, saying goodbye to everyone, driving home, AND finishing all of those silly forms and documents. I am not normally like this! I consider myself a very organized, on time, kind of person. Did I send updates as a group travel leader all the way to Bots? Yes. Was I on time and attentive to everything in person at staging and this week? Yes. If anything, I should thank her! She has given me even more motivation to be the best damn volunteer there ever was. So really, thank you Sherene. Thank you. Did I send updates as a group travel leader all the way to Bots? Yes. Humph. Major lesson here: dont cross me I take constructive criticism well.
Homestay: Holy cow. If you are still reading, I applaud you. This is so long. I’m just having fun sitting here and crafting up ways to be funny. Where am I sitting, you might ask? At my homestay! Friday we drove down here to Ramotswa, and attended a matching ceremony. We sat on one side, and the families (mostly women, as it was in the middle of the day, and, as Botswana is a pretty traditional place, the men are at work) sat on the other. The place was very nice, and had U.S/Peace Corps/Botswana swag and propoganda everywhere. Some really cool banners where the American flag faded into the Batswana flag. A lot of banners explaining the origin of Peace Corps (shout out Doris’s commencement speech!), what they do, their history in Botswana, etc. When the village chief got there, we all stood out of respect and she (I know! She! Awesome!) walked in and we all sat down. Cue a long series of speeches, and then they called out our names and the names of our homestay family, who also had no idea which one of us they were hosting. I met my Papa, Iponeng Malope, in the middle of the stage, and we went and sat down together. More speeches. Lunch. Home with Iponeng.
The house is very nice. Hot running water, wifi, etc. Iponeng worked as a supply services employee for the Batswana diamond mines for 8 years before working for Botswana Power for 25; he is now retired. My mama works for University of Botswana, and their 34 y/o son works for a tennis association in Gaborone. I have my own room, and share a bathroom with my host brother.
Saturday, I had a language lesson in the morning, and got home in time ot have lunch and learn that my parents were going to a wedding; I asked to come with, and they said that was ok, so I went with! It was very cool, full of more long speeches that I couldn’t understand, a lot of stares, some requests for pictures, and a big plate of food (mind you—just had lunch). It is customary to completely finish your plate here, so leaving anything on it is kinda rude. Makes for eating a lot of food, because we don’t often get to control how much food we are served. So stuffed myself with as much as I could have and them ultimately gave up. Had to awkardly leave some on the plate. We went to Sefelana, a local grocery store that is just like anything back home, and spent 1000 pula (equivalent to about $80) via voucher that the Peace Corps gives the family every two weeks. Other than this voucher, they are hosting us freely, on their own money.
Editorial notes: I can’t get over the generosity of everyone I have met so far. My family is giving me anything I want, and bought many things with the voucher just for me (peanut butter!!!!!) (!!!!). I went for a walk today and everyone wants to say hello and is very kind. I know very little Setswana, but what I know puts a smile on their face. The PC staff is incredible in all ways, and makes us feel just at home. This will be a very nice 12 weeks of homestay, and then perhaps a little bit of a dropoff when I got to site. I knew this from the beginning actually, as PC has told us that going to site is often much harder than leaving home, as you are then fully on your own. However, I am getting in the swing of reading on my kindle, figuring out how best to communicate home on my phone, and exploring other hobbies to keep me occupied.
I think that is all for now! I hope everyone is well back home. I am still figuring out how to make a comment feature, or how to update some other features, but those will come.