I cannot believe I have less than a week left here.
Disclaimer- this post is quite long and unfortunately has no pictures. Sorry folks.
Cultural Lodge
So last Thursday, we went to Mgankodi and the Baharutsa Cultural Village. We took a bus there but the driver let us off one stop too far, so we started walking up a dirt trail. We walked for probably 20 minutes through the trail as it turned into a riverbed, passing a group of kids who were gathering wood. A couple of them followed us a little ways and then stopped, dancing and trying to catch our attention when we looked back. We finally stopped and Acacia called the ladies who run the village and realized we had walked way too far. Of course, we turned to the kids for help. They graciously walked us all the way back to the entrance of the village. The BCV was started by a group of Motswana basadi who decided that since the younger generations were moving away from the traditional villages towards the cities, someone needed to teach them about their culture. So we got there and were promptly greeted by 2 grannies (as they call themselves) ululating. It was pretty nervewracking, actually, because I wasn’t sure what they wanted or what my reaction should have been. So they welcome us in and we dumedisa (greet) the grandfathers and sit down. They start with a welcome dance and then throw bones to decide whether or not to invite us into their tribe. Luckily, we were accepted and then we each had to dance with them. Larry danced first with the two men and then Claire, Perri, and I danced with the grannies. They told us to imitate them, so I started imitating the oldest one, but I think she might have been doing a separate dance although she seemed happy to let me mimic her. Except for one, they only speak Setswana, and ours at that point was limited to a few different verbs and the greetings. So after the dance, they showed us what the traditional women of the village would do. We got to pound sorghum with them and then one of the grannies showed us how they would spread cow manure on the floor of the huts in order to clean them and keep away snakes. We ended with more dancing, and I got to dance with the best one there again.
Jazz festival
The next night, Friday, we went to Botswanacraft for a jazz concert. Botswanacraft is an organization that sponsors basket weavers and gives them an income in order to sell. They also sell a lot of other things- that’s probably where all of your presents are going to come from- and have a café and outdoor eating area. In this outdoor area, there’s a stage where they often hold cultural events/ concerts like the one we went to. We stayed for 3 of the artists, who got progressively better. The last one we stayed for, Acacia and I got up to start dancing. People were starting the electric slide and just dancing for fun. I started doing some Charleston and salsa and the photographers went nutso. I really wish I could stick around to see the pictures, but oh well. I can say that I introduced traditional American dance to people in Africa ;)
Wedding
When we were in Baharutsa, the Kgosi (chief) of Manyana, a village that Acacia stayed in, called to tell us there was a wedding the next day. So, of course we went, although none of us knew who was getting married. Acacia assured us it would be no problem, although it still made me a little anxious. We had an interesting time getting there- we took a bus to a stop closeby and then hitched the rest of the way. A lot of people did this, and luckily a couple with a huge truck drove by and stopped. So we all ran to cram into the bed of this truck and drove the next 10 minutes with the wind whipping our hair. It was pretty great. So we get to Manyana and can spot the wedding from the middle of town. As we head over there, I’m getting more and more nervous about this. It’s pretty normal for lots of uninvited guests to make their way to these weddings, but we would be the ones that stood out the most, by a long shot. When we get to the house, there’s a long line of the male elders from the village. So of course, we greet them all, stumbling over their questions in Setswana but they were happy to meet us and I think glad that we tried to speak their language. The bride and groom arrive from their church ceremony and everyone forms an aisle for them to walk through into the yard where the reception is. It’s traditional for the wedding party to do a choreographed dance into the yard and since the groom was in the armed forces, there was a guard. As the couple walked past each pair, their swords went down and the couple kissed, to much ululating from the matrons of the village. It was a great way to start the reception and celebration. As we made our way into the yard, we met two girls who were friends of one of the groomsmen. We were extremely lucky because they took us under their wing and got us into the tent. Supposedly, weddings are pretty casual affairs with people coming from all over and dropping by, but this was the most organized wedding Botswana has ever seen. There were invitations (which we obviously did not have), tables and settings, place cards- I felt like a wedding crasher. We learned later that some of the tables, including ours, were actually meant for uninvited guests so it all worked out. It was just awkward because we looked the most out of place. When we went through the buffet, we had to go past the head table, and the whole time I kept thinking that this couple has no idea who were are or where we come from. Everything turned out alright, and we got to eat delicious food and watch a group of traditional dancers perform. Unfortunately we had to leave to catch the bus before the reception really started- the bride had gone to change into her second dress- but c’est la vie. On the bus back, Perri and I attracted some little kids, who we taught to play slide and snag campfire songs- unfortunately I only got to the nest in Rattlin’ Bog before they had to go :(
Zebras
On Sunday we were going to watch the band from the wedding play at O’Hagans (where we saw the futbol game) but on the combi to Game City, we found out that the national Botswana football team, the Zebras, was playing that day. It definitely explained why we saw so many people in baby blue, black, and white. We went to Game City and shopped around for a bit- I got a new pair of shoes- had lunch and then headed back. It took us a while to get to the game because while the stadium is right next to UB, it was under construction. We walked all the way down the road to the UB field, just to find out that the ticket vendor was halfway back the way we came. So we turned around and by the time we finally got to the field, the guards weren’t letting anyone in, saying they had to wait until half-time. It was pretty frustrating, but we finally got in, standing room only, and watched the rest of the game. There were some pretty good moves but the final score was 0-0. It was worth it just to see the fans- they went all out. The Zebras just qualified for the African Cup for the first time so team spirit is pretty high. We ended the day by going out to dinner with Larry and Claire since it was both of their last nights. We definitely ended on a high note with them, which was nice.
During this week, we haven’t done all that much, although labwork is starting to pick up which is nice. We did some transformations, plating, PCR and gel electrophoresis. I’m really excited to do Western blotting and ELISAs next week because I haven’t gotten to do either of those techniques before. We’ve also cooked a lot of good meals- roast chicken and veg with the leftovers for soup, lots of yummy homemade bread, and this morning we made cinnamon rolls. There was also a really cool thunder/lightning storm one day and we had a perfect view from the guest room. It was absolutely spectacular. Last night (Friday) we went out for Portuguese, which was absolutely delicious. I’m not sure what the plans are for this weekend, but I’m sure we’ll think of something.
UW
One quick note about what’s going on with my next adventure- I found out what exactly I’m going to be doing in Dr. Maly’s lab and I still have articles to read about it… I also found out that I’m going to have a roommate, which I was not at all prepared for. She’s bred and raised in the Midwest, which will be interesting. I’m somewhat nervous and worried about it, but as Acacia and Perri assure me, I can get along with just about anybody and what’s the worst that could happen? I’m praying that it will be a learning experience, since I haven’t lived with anyone since freshman year….
So that’s all for now, folks. Sorry again about the really wordy and picture-less blog… Acacia was taking a lot of pictures for us at the Lodge and unfortunately my battery was dead when we went to the concert and the game and none of us wanted to draw any more attention to ourselves at the wedding. I’ll get them from Acacia at some point, I promise. Bug me about it when I get back to the States (and let’s hope I have a better time getting through customs than when I came back from Scotland).
LeeAnn x
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