I can't believe how fast it's gone.

Our last day of school with the teachers and a few of the older students.

Some of my Standard 6 class that I enjoyed teaching in when I got the chance.

This is just one picture of Naledi, the village we spent every day teaching in. This is only a very small idea of what the whole place looks like.



Nicole and I with our babies.

My favorite picture of all time.

Where did all the time go? It feels like we have only been here a month and yet Friday was already our last day at school. It's bittersweet ya know. On one hand I miss home terribly and I am ready to come back and eat cheeseburgers and chipotle. On the other hand it's hard to tell people you have built these relationships with that you are going home and the reality is that you are probably never coming back. We have continuously been asked when we are coming back. The hardest part is with the younger ones because they don't understand. I told one of my favorite kids at the feeding project that it was my last day and I was going home. He just smiled and shock his head yes when I asked him if he understood. He didn't. I think all of us have just tried to brush off our goodbyes and the fact that we are leaving. I just acted like it was another day and tried to enjoy it. It's much easier to just not say goodbye.

Saturday Nicole and I spent the day out at Gamadubu with Teacher Shirley. She is one of the best people I have ever met. The lady works out at Naledi during the week with 40 some preschoolers in her class that she teachers by herself. Then Saturday she goes out to Gamadubu and takes all the food that she has collected from donations and counsels and cooks for these kids. All she ever does is spend her time helping people. I've honestly never met someone with such a big heart. She just takes these kids under her wing and cares for them as if they were her own. She is wonderful and it will be hard to say goodbye to her. Anyway, we went out there and helped cook all this food peeling carrots and potatoes and what not. It was a good time. We are going back out there Wednesday for a big party that is going down so I think we are all really excited for that.

Today we went to church for the last time. We went to the Naledi Baptist Church. It was nice to be able to say goodbye but I am also VERY glad to be done with 3 hour church services for a while. Haha. The kids at school are on holiday so we are doing random things this week. Visiting some organizations about guest speakers and stuff at the school, doing final paperwork at the school, going to Gamadubu for a big party, and then PACKING. It's surreal we are leaving Botswana on Friday. But you ask "Elizabeth, you aren't coming home until August 1st, where are you going to be if you are leaving Botswana on Friday?" We will be heading for a short adventure in MOZAMBIQUE. Originally we were going to spend the last little bit of time in Cape Town. Well after talking to some locals from down there and being reminded of the cold weather...we decided why not try something different and head to the glorious beaches of Mozambique. After freezing all winter here warm weather just sounded so much nicer.

So Saturday Nicole and I were standing outside of the fence at the project at Gamadubu and this car stops and turns around to talk to us. They said they saw "lighter people" and wondered what we were doing clear out there in the bush. We just told them we were out there helping out and told them what we had done all summer. Then then asked us what we learned while in Botswana. I laughed. There is so much I could not even pick out one thing. Pick a broader question would ya. I don't think I will really understand the impact of everything on me until I get back and readjust to life and process everything.

Random:

I never realized how big of a luxury running water is. Many people in Gabs don't have running water in their house and use outhouses. Also, I am so blessed that I have never had to know what it feels like to be hungry. I thought things were dismal at Tlamelo, but then we went to Gamadubu. I left about 1/3 of my food and the kids took it, ran, and it was licked clean in 3 seconds. I kid you not. I felt guilty for eating any of it. Most people here live in a house the size of my family room, and 5 people live in that little space. Having a car means you have done well and are mature and responsible. Life is much simpler and you do not need a lot to be happy.

I am going to miss:

-The little kids shouting my name from the fence when we get to school. It turned into a chant. E-Liz-A-Beth. No, I did not tell them to do that

-Being pulled on from every angle, people jumping onto me, being tackled to the ground, and people constantly crawling through my legs.

-Tabo pelvic thrusting through every class I ever taught in Standard 6 while he was supposed to be writing notes.

-All of our wonderful friends we have made.

-Combi rides. You never know what interesting thing is going to happen.

-Bogamoso.

-Life in Botswana.

-How having food is reason enough to be happy.

-I can't begin to explain everything else.

So I wrote this post on Sunday night....today is Tuesday. There is so much I could say and I wanted to say so I just kept waiting to post it. I finally decided I'm just leaving it at this for now :)

It just keeps getting better

Me and the twinies.

I was trying to take a picture of Mpho and his little sister, but everyone jumped in.

Such a pretty girl. (I'm talking about Bogamoso)

:)

Some of our Face the Nation friends. LOVE them and will miss them terribly.

So you know how we made those zillions of copies of tests? Well then we graded (by hand) those zillions of bubble sheets. What would you do after you have 180 tests in 7 subjects graded and separated? By golly you would put them into a spreadsheet so every student has all of their grades together. Who is putting this spreadsheet together you ask? Me. And I am ALMOST done with it! It was a little difficult putting the names in at first, seeing as it was difficult to read some handwriting and it’s not like I know how to spell these names anyway. We have been keeping very busy this week. End of term tests are also beginning for every class so we have been typing those up for the teachers as well. They have also been coming into the computer room to receive lessons on working the computers, so that has been exciting. In between plugging in my numbers I have been going in to see my babies in the preschool. I have also been in some of the classes teaching, and writing notes on the board. Let me tell you, my penmanship looks fabulous across all those boards.

Thursday we got to go to the SOS Children’s Village with our flying mission friends. I believe it is the only actual orphanage in Gaborone. It is a nice place with good people working there. There are different houses all throughout. Each house has a “mother” and holds 12 kids and there are about 15 houses. We got there and wandered around and found kids to play with. Naturally I was attracted to the little ones and picked up this little boy. He was such a sweetheart and just clung to me. I never put him down. We all played for a while and then sang songs and did bible study which was led by the flying mission guys. I still was holding my little boy and he fell asleep midway through the singing. By the end of everything it was time to go and he was still sleeping. I couldn’t get him to wake up until some kid finally shook him and then pulled him out of my arms. It broke my heart and I can’t tell you how easy it would have been to just leave and never let go of him. This place was a little different than anything we had seen yet. There were kids that were handicapped and had all sorts of disabilities. The kids also noticed the “things” that we had. Some were trying to get into my bag, pull of my bracelets, or run off with my headband. I don’t think any of them own anything that’s actually “theirs”. I am so glad that we were able to get out there. It’s one place I have wanted to go to all summer and I could see myself working there if we had any more time.

Speaking of time, we are down to our last week at Naledi. I cannot believe it and I have no idea how I’m going to say goodbye. We technically have 2 weeks left of service but the school goes on holiday the last week we are planning on working so we are going to have to find something else to do that week. Oh, Paul has also recently joined the school soccer team. They played 2 games last week one at Naledi, and the other at the rich private school. Paul and I bought them a new ball to play with, but I wish there was more we could do. The balls they did have were so used and worn that the only had about ½ the air in them that they should have. The kids are actually all really good individually they just don’t have any guidance or knowledge to play as a team. Oh and Paul has never played soccer before in his life, so I think everyone enjoys watching him. Haha.

Our Face the Nation friends from Zambia and Zimbabwe are back. We were really excited to see them. They taught classes at schools all over Botswana about HIV/AIDS and Christ and were also around for counseling. Itai said at his school there were about 2,200 students. In the first semester of school 800 of them had been treated at the clinic for STD’s. How outrageous. It sounds like they all did a tremendous amount of counseling as well. From what I have gathered there isn’t really a lot of counseling around here and it is very needed. I mean all sorts of students talking about their dad beating their mom, or their friend having sex with the teachers, and just their lives in general. If I had another summer to give, it’s something I would love to be a part of. But don’t worry mom and dad, I’ll be around next summer. Anyway, I love these guys and it will be hard to say our farewells on Tuesday. Such wonderful people.

-Itai and I were talking and he said this “I don’t mean to be racist but white guys just can’t handle anything. I mean have you ever heard a black guy say that he had indigestion or that he was constipated? No. We have bigger things to worry about like cholera, AIDS, and yellow fever.” It was pretty funny and we all got a good laugh, but unfortunately it’s the truth.
-Oh also, I don’t think I’ve pointed out just how gosh darn cold it is here. I only brought a sweatshirt and a fleece jacket. Aaaand I usually wear about 3 shirts including one of those, every day. Somebody said they thought the weather said it had been getting down to freezing at night time. Yeah I would definitely believe that one. I will be GLAD to get home to the warm weather. I love summertime and I miss it. I DID make socks and flip flops a cool thing on our trip up north though.
-I think I sprained 2 of my fingers washing my clothes yesterday. Seriously…they hurt.
-Say “kung fu karate dancing” to me and I will grin from ear to ear. I have the best story.
- I’ve eaten mopami worms. Gross. Never again.
-Paul’s 50 year old roommate Mr. T or Godfrey told Paul I reminded him of Hilary Clinton. If only I had a dollar for every time somebody said that. This is the same man who up until last year hated whales because he was always told they were just people killers.
-My farmers tan is sick.

-Thank you for continuing to think about me and pray for me. It means the world.

Traffic lights are called robots

-We all have colds. All the little kids were sick and then so was Teacher Shirley. She keeps going on and on about the swine flu. Prettttty sure we're okay.
-It's a big deal to find ketchup anywhere. Man do I miss it.
-We just discovered watching movies online. Okay so we're a little behind the times but we are definitely enjoying it.
-Tshube is running at a track meet in Serbia. We miss him.
-We did nothing on the 4th of July. It was depressing. But on the 1st of July we shot of fireworks after bible study for Canada's Independence Day.
-We went to a soccer game with the Naledi kids to watch them play. We played the rich private school. We played with zero shin guards, one kid only wore one shoe, and another one had some sweet converse shoes on for the game. We lost terribly but it was fun to go hang out with them outside of school.
-We have pretty much completed all of our crossword and sudoku books.
-Sometimes the beef we have at the project has to be beat with a 3 foot long wooden spoon along with many knives to break it up. It has to be a neck piece or something gross that they always end up with. I still eat it though.
-I've been teaching BK some words...banana, no no no, teacher, apple. She's caught on so quickly, it's amazing. When I first met her she didn't make a peep and I think the only word she would say was mama. Now she laughs all the time and we have to tell her to be quiet during class.
-I can't believe we really only have a short time left here, it's wild.
-The little kids found a lizard last week. They beat it to death til all of its legs, tail, and head came off. I was disgusted but I think they found it pretty exciting.
-Nicole told me I put too much frosting on our cake. FALSE. There is never enough frosting
-We have successfully caught both of our dishrags on fire and they are now covered in holes.
-I miss my parents...and Kevin

I got poop in my shoe

We had an absolutely incredible week and I really have no idea where to even start.

Most important information of the whole week: If an animal charges, don't run until I say so....as said by our guide Mr. Company

-If a hippo charges-run zigzag and run up a termite hill

-If a buffalo charges-run and climb up a tree

-If an elephant charges-run, run zigzag, and don't run up a tree because they will just knock the tree down with you in it

-If a lion charges-don't run at first....then at some point you are out of luck

We had an absolutely wonderful time in the Delta and were incredibly lucky to get one of the best guides around. We spent the night in tents...I did not sleep. It's kind of hard to when I hear heavy breathing, sticks breaking, and pots at our campsite being knocked over due to animals. I didn't even roll over the whole night for fear of the animals ripping my tent to shreds. Yeah, go ahead and laugh but I was scared. Actually I think I did so much praying for those 2 days I should be good for about a month. We did game hikes. This involves following our guide Company around out in the wilderness on foot for hours on end. No jeep, guns, spear, slingshot...nothing. I asked him why he didn't carry a gun and he thought I was talking about for people. No for animals. He seemed totally clueless as to why you would do that. You think he would though. I asked him to tell us some wild stories around the fire at dinner that night. He proceeded to tell me about how his brother was killed by a lion, his grandma's sister was killed by a lion, and his aunt was killed by a hippo. You would think the man would carry SOMETHING! Anyway, we followed tracks, poop, and their calls and saw many many animals. Elephants, zebras, warthogs, impala, wildebeests, baboons, giraffes, and water antelope. I also managed to get poop into my mesh sandal/shoe. Let me tell you...there really is poop EVERYWHERE so it's not like I was just a moron and wandered into it. I never was able to stop and get it out so I just walked for four hours with it in there. Fabulous. We rode in mokoros through the delta to get to our campsite. They are little canoes that sit just a few inches above the water and you have a poler who stands in the back and pushes you along. Oh and let me tell you, the sky is absolutely beautiful at night. Back at the backpackers the showers were little stick huts with no roof and you could look at the stars then. Actually everything at the backpackers was a stick hut. Ha.


After the delta we managed to get ourselves farther up north... We had incredible luck on getting to Livingston in Zambia because public transportation or transportation of any kind is extremely unreliable and inconsistent. We made it in incredible time though. In Zambia we went to Victoria Falls, did some hiking, bungee jumped (which was awesome and I would love to do it again), and we bartered our socks and other items to trade for crafts with the locals. We also went white water rafting down the Zambezi River. One side was Zimbabwe and the other side Zambia. I thought my rafting was over when we were "practicing" pulling each other in for if we fell out when he had us jump out and I jumped knees first onto a boulder. No worries though everything is A OKAY just some bruises and scrapes :) As we went down the river we saw a ginormous python and some crocs along the edge of the water. We also went on a day trip to Chobe where we took our "real" safari in our jeep. Much more comforting until the jeep got stuck next to a buffalo. ha. We added hippos to our list and also found ourselves in the midst of huge herds of giraffes and elephants which was amazing. It was wonderful.

Our trip of course had many other activities and stories which I could go on and on about but they will be told once I am home. haha. Our trip home was interesting. We honestly had no idea how we were getting home. Some people told us there were no buses...others told us to wait at the post office and a bus would come by sometime between 4 and 8 in the morning. ha. We ended up getting up at 4 and going to the boarder. We had to wait there in the cold for 45 minutes until they felt like opening the boarder. We then had to wait another hour for the ferry's to start so we could get across the boarder. We got to a bus station and got on a bus. It then headed a little out of the way down this terrible highway covered in potholes. You literally couldn't drive down the thing at all. So then we got to this town and everyone got off. Nicole and I were walking to the bathroom and I said gosh I hope the bus doesn't leave us. We came out and the bus was gone. Everyone else from the bus was at the gas station so we were all stranded together. After an hour we were told we had to walk down to the police station because our driver was arrested. HA! Apparently he didn't have a license or something. He seemed to be doing just fine to me. After a while another bus came and picked us up and took us the rest of the way like we were supposed to. It was an interesting day. We traveled and rode on buses, ferry's, and taxis from 4:30 a.m. til 10:30 p.m. We were so glad to be home. It was honestly one of the most incredible weeks ever.

Let's see....

-Paul bungee jumped in the fetal position because he was scared and everyone watching made fun of him

-We never saw lions. Boo. But I didn't really like the idea of seeing them while I was on foot either.

-Our tent in the delta was right next to a big pile of elephant poop

-I am extremely angry at my camera because I took many videos of animals for my momma (because I wished that she was there the whole time) and then when I downloaded them on my computer they only saved as pictures. Yeah and everything is deleted from my camera. I'm an idiot.

-I was peed on at school today. BK came sat on my lap and got up 30 seconds later and my pants were soaked. I am not a toilet. She laughed when I told her she was in trouble.

-We missed the kids SO incredibly much I hate to think what it will be like when we actually leave....

-I am getting really good at frying chicken at the feeding project

-Hippos kill humans purely for fun. They don't eat meat. I made sure Alex our poler was constantly on the lookout while in the mokoro

-I successfully lived out of a book bag for an entire week. I know I know, no one thought I could do it. I actually think I had the least stuff out of everyone.

-No one in Africa has heaters. I think I slept with literally all my clothes on every night and still managed to get a cold.

-Warthogs were so cute to see. Haha they are one of my new favorite animals.

-The buses like to play rap/club music and blare it at 6:30 in the morning for a few hours. It's not like I wanted to sleep then or anything.

-The whole trip we talked about home in Gaborone. Crazy to refer to it as home. We missed it and its "structure" so much

-We stopped at a gas station in Zambia in our taxi...it was the side of the road, had a tree, and a few cans of gas. They kept referring to us being in the "real" Africa now.

-I took out a million quatchas at the bank. Ha. Dinner cost me 25,000. That is 5 dollars.

-My body felt like it had been hit by a bus for a few days due to our "extreme" activities

I suppose I can stop here. I have many many stories for when I get back. It was beautiful and incredible and I am so thankful we had the opportunity to take some time off to go see it all.

I am an expert at stapling...

-Peanut butter can be eaten on anything, we just started on our 6th jar.
-I was never much of a coffee drinker, but Paul and I are definitely enjoying the instant coffee.
-Avocado's are a regular purchase and we have been making lots of guacamole. They are about 7 cents apiece. It's wonderful.
-Tshube told me there are snakes on Khali Hill. I asked how big and he said they don't have anacondas. Cool. I guess it was a good thing we climbed in the dark because I would have flipped had I seen one.
-I miss home and everyone there :)
-My left bicep is much stronger due to excessive test stapling all week. They are FINALLY all done and printed.
-The copier is FIXED! Thank goodness.
-Some days we don't have water at the UB.
-Some days we don't have electricity at school.
-We saw a young boy pooping on a magazine in his front yard on the way to school one morning.
-We are enjoying Wednesday night bible study with the flying mission group.
-We have been working on our traditional dancing in between grading tests and at break time. Ha. That's a sight to see.
-Nicole has so far been celebrating her birthday for 2 straight weeks. Her birthday is not until next week...

Well it has been more of a low key week. At school we basically just finished copying, printing, and stapling the tests. Esh it's taken a long time. We have since begun grading them. I honestly don't know how they would have ever gotten that done if we weren't around to do it. It would have taken weeks. Paul and I went to the copier store to buy more ink one day. The lady working told me I looked like I was 5. I know I look young, but really? She then proceeded to tell me that I wanted to get married while I was here in Bots and pointed to my fiancee seated at his desk at the store. Then she told me he would only beat me when he's drunk and told me to go say hello. I waved and we left. It was pretty humorous, and she was quite the character.

BK and I are still tight. It's amazing to watch how lively she has become. She makes more noise and tries to talk a lot more as well. She still calls me mama. I think that's kind of stuck. The worst is when she cries, and whales mama mama and buries her head in my legs...yeah. Sooo I think I'm just going to bring her home. That's okay, right mom?

At lunch one day, I was talking with one of the girls, while my hair was being braided. ha. Through our broken conversations she was asking me about home, my family, my church and why I was here. She finally stated, so you're just here to help? I replied yes. She then said some word that I didn't understand and then she said, it means thank you. It was unexpected and I was also very touched. To most of these kids we're just here to play with them and wash their dishes when they're done. To be honest I haven't really expected to really be "thanked" for anything, so for a 12 year old to do so was kind of special.

We are leaving Monday for a week up north. I am sooo EXCITED! We tried to get bus tickets...yeah you can't buy a ticket to get on the bus. You just show up that day and get on it. We figured this out after meandering all over town one day. Luckily, Tshube is getting up with us at 4:45 Monday morning to take us so that we make sure to get on the right bus. Ha. He told us to sit by the window and we would probably see some elephants or ostriches and what not on the drive. I told him I would be taking pictures out of the bus window. He laughed at me and said that everyone else on the bus will think we are ridiculous for getting so excited. I'm not worried. On our trip we are going to the Okavanga Delta, Chobe Wildlife Park, and Victoria Falls. Our activities will include tents, lots of water, mokoros (canoe boat things), rivers, bridges, long cords, and jungle jeeps :) I'll leave it at that for now. Mother, don't you be worried. I will be just fine and safe. BUT I did tell Jonathan if something happens, he can have my CD's from 6th grade and my rollerblades. Ha KIDDING KIDDING. Don't freak out. And Dad I will be taking my malaria pills daily so don't fret about that either.

Another American group showed up this week at the UB. How disappointing. I think the total of Americans staying here now is up to something ridiculous like 60. We've definitely been enjoying meeting lots of people from many different places. Ohio and Pennsylvania don't count as new and interesting. Sorry. No, they are all really nice and fun to hang out with though.

I guess that's about it for now. I have to figure out how to pack a weeks worth of stuff into my book bag. Ha. This is going to be VERY interesting. Be sure to check out my post next week and read about how a hippo attacked our tent and other stories from our adventure :)

Happy Father's Day Daddy :)
Ha I know I know...it's this weekend...last weekend it was flag day (Thanks Grandma)

We were not prepared for rain...

The boys out at Gamadubu.

Baby BK :)

It was so cold, this is what preschool consisted of some days.

It is finally done raining! Today has been such a beautiful day, I even got to wear shorts outside for the first time yet! It rained for pretty much 3 days nonstop last week. After that it was ridiculous everywhere because all of the dirt roads were then turned into swampy mud pits. My jeans are officially permanently dirty. I washed them today and there are still dirt streaks all over them. It was also freezing all last week. We all did not bring enough warm clothes for that weather. A lot of the little ones didn't come to preschool last week and when they did they spent at least some of the time under blankets on the floor, like in the picture. I have also been trying to teach me the song Jesus Loves Me. I think I have sung it for them at least 35 times so far.

Over the past weeks we have also come into contact with a mother who is 18 and has 3 kids. All with HIV, they are homeless, and don't have much food. Teacher Shirley has been bringing the little 2 year old, Bokusimo or BK, to preschool. She doesn't talk, interact with others, and is pretty weak. We decided to bring her home one night to get her out of the cold. She now calls me Mama. haha whoops. But she is a much happier little girl now than she was 2 weeks ago. She smiles.

At school they are doing a bunch of testing this week. They are testing in 7 subjects so we have been getting the tests ready. 130 copies for each subject and each test is about 8 pages long. The copier is broken. We have been using one tiny little computer printer to do all of this. Ha I'm waiting for the printer to explode...and then we're are going to be SOL.

Saturday we went out to Gamadubu. It is a little village place about 45 minutes outside Gaborone and Teacher Shirley goes out there to cook and counsel about 120 kids every weekend. Two girls, Jess and Ana, came with K-State 2 years ago and have since come back and done a LOT of work out there for them and have set up sponsorships and what not for the kids. They have really given the kids a great place to come. It's wonderful. We went out there and helped cook and hang out and what not. It was more out in the country than we have been yet. It was so beautiful and peaceful. I think it was the first time that I REALLY felt like I was actually in Africa. I wish we could be out there every weekend to help out, but I'm hoping to go out there at least one more time.

Oh also, no one here calls me Liz or even worse Dale :) No. I am Elizabeta, Leza, or my new name Tamelo which means faith. I got it from the ladies we were cooking with when I was peeling carrots at Gamadubu. They wanted to make sure I would not forget where I was when they gave me that name haha. Also, we went out to a restaurant place last night and hung around for a while. Made a bunch of new friends. Paul of course made good friends with some guys from China who picked him up and took him to KFC for breakfast this morning and then out to this fancy golf course where they drank tea and hit some balls. Haha he is ridiculous.

That's about it for now...

Zebras for Life!

On top of Khali Hill over looking Gaborone at sunrise

At the national soccer game. GO ZEBRAS!

Me and the crazy little lady.

Well first of all I can't believe how much time has already flown by. sheesh! I have been keeping busy in the daycare making worksheets for them to write their names and help with the alphabet and what not. I have also been in standard 6 helping out with classes. It took Paul and I an hour and a half to get through 2 paragraphs for them to be able to understand what was going on in the story. So it definitely does get frustrating sometimes but we are keeping with the kids. We are still working on the computer lab hoping to get some typing programs set up so they can learn to use the computers. We also have an organization coming out starting tomorrow that are going to work with students on life type skill kind of things so we are excited about that.

Our dear many friends from Face the Nation left this weekend to go into cities, towns, and villages across Gaborone so pray for them that their preparation and hard work goes to good use to spread God's love and help with AIDS/HIV prevention. They said they learned one day that 50% of women between 30-34 have AIDS. Crazy. But we miss them, and their loud ridiculous singing that went on all day and every night. I have been making up for them though, singing the same songs so I think Nicole is really glad and really enjoying that ;)

We had a busy weekend. We spent Friday with some kids from Flying Mission. They are here from 6 months to a year and are just doing some missionary volunteer work at various places, so I think we are going to spend a week here soon going with them to different hospitals and orphanages so I am definitely looking forward to that. Saturday we went to the ZEBRAS soccer game. Definitely a good time. We even got FREE Botswana flags. We stood in the wild section that danced and sang songs. Sunday we woke up at the ripe old time of 4:30 to go climb Khali Hill. We went with the guys from flying mission. It was pitch black and I thought we would be taking a path. No no. We were going directly straight up the mountain thing. Literally rock climbing like boulders. They were also pretty much running up this thing. It was ridiculous. Someone else told us they climbed it in 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours. No, we climbed it in 45 minutes. After I was done wheezing and wasn't dizzy anymore. It really was beautiful. We set up camp at the very top and proceeded to make a fire and cook breakfast. We brought sandwiches and they brought eggs, toast, we had coffee and tea. They were prepared. It was a really great time and we plan on doing it again. We have to go back because I did not see the BABOONS that are around the mountain. That's right, real live, wild monkeys. I HAVE to see them. And I will for sure let you know when I do...

Rule #25 Never sell your sister for less than 2 cows.

Lunch time at the Tlamelo Project

Me and the boys.

Well it has been a good week. We are finally settled in and comfortable with the city. We had a big dinner with some girls upstairs and hung out with them for the most part on Friday. We spent Saturday at Paul's roommate Tshube's track meet. It was an international meet so many countries from the southern part of Africa were there. Let me tell you, these people can run, and many of them do it without shoes on. He got 2nd in the 4x100 relay and 3rd in the 100. It was a lot of fun watching him. It was just a nice day. The crowd was into what was going on, and we watched the sun set over the mountain/hills in the background as the day went on. It was beautiful. Sunday we made it to church in Naledi and I'm pretty sure we were at church for 3 hours. But it was still a good time.

I talked to my mom a little bit about church here so I thought I would write it here as well. The people have such passion for God. You can tell by their singing and dancing, because it would easily move you to tears. They are the kind of church services that the women wept during the prayers. I was talking to someone about people and church here and they said that sometimes when people have nothing left that's when they turn to God and the church because that is the only thing to get them through the day which is what makes them so passionate. It is definitely different because back home people obviously don't go to church just out of thanks because they physically made it through the week.

We have been keeping busy working at the school. The Canadians that have been working there for weeks left yesterday so now we are picking up and continuing with the work that they started, so that has been nice. Nicole has been working on the computers while the rest of us have been in and out of classrooms and the daycare helping out. Man I have never appreciated what copiers can do until now (They have one but it doesn't work) I have to make work sheets for the 5 year olds written by hand so they can trace their name every day. There are 39 of them so it takes quite a while. ha.

Oh I also did some laundry today...in the sink and in the shower. So I think that is just going to turn out great. Who needs washing machines, really :) I was harassed on the combi today by a drunk man with no teeth and who was carrying a purse. Everyone else on the combi was laughing hysterically at what he was saying to me. It probably would have been a lot funnier if I had any idea what he was saying. Paul is asked somewhat regularly which one of us is his girlfriend (because he is the only guy) he simply replies that 2 he are not dating are his sisters. That is kind of how the "Never sell your sister for less than 2 cows" came about. Because he jokes that if we act up he'll sell us to the next people that say something.

I suppose that is enough nonsense for now....

Beginning in Old Naledi

The past 2 days have been exhausting. We made our first trips to Old Naledi which is the poorest part of the town. 50,000 people live here and they just live in little shacks. The first thing I saw when entering was a dog whose ribs I could count. It's the kind of place we've been told to never be in after the sun goes down. Champ, a wonderful man who grew up here and is an inspiration to many of them, was our contact and showed us around the area. We saw the school, the Tlamelo project (where they feed 100+ orphans every day), and the church where we met the pastor. We were waiting for the kids to come for lunch the first day and were immediately attacked by 4 and 5 year olds whom we had never even met before. They literally climbed all over us and I think at multiple times we were each holding 3 at a time. I think my clothes were all streched out because of people pulling on them from every angle. We were so excited to finally meet these kids who just wanted to be held and played with. Paul was actually drug to the ground and tackled by all the little boys. We had quite the welcoming.

The next day we met some Canadian students who are leaving next week and have spent the past 4 weeks within the school. They have been doing a lot of work on the administrative side. For those of you that don't know, this is a private school. All children get to go to the public school and if they don't pass then they can go to the private schools to try to get up to par and get back into the public schools. So that means that the teachers in this school are very underpaid and overworked. We hope to continue what the Canadian students have been doing, which involves getting the computer lab running, and getting an after school program going to help with English. We're hoping to set up more long term things that will still be in effect after we leave, so we'll see what happens.

At the Tlamelo project, all the kids eat while we serve them and then they were all hanging around when we sat down to eat. Well today I noticed that 2 of the boys had extra hot dogs and were sharing them with their friends and just gulped them down. Well, I decided that I didn't need my other hot dog thing and asked them if they wanted it. Everyone wanted it and were trying to grab it. Paul then did the same thing and gave his away and I think Nicole and Cara did too. I then decided I did not need the rest of my rice and I think 4 boys went through my plate until it was pretty much licked clean. I could not believe how hungry these kids were. They said that a fair share of these kids were orphans and that was the only meal they get for the whole day. It really was a reality check.

Finally here!

We have arrived! First of all forgive me for not updating sooner. We have not had the internet until now so I have been unable to get on. Thanks to our new friends from Zimbabwe we don't even have to pay for it haha. It’s been 4 days since we got here and it has been wonderful. The plane ride was long and we stayed up just about 24 hours straight before finally crashing. We arrived late in Joberg to no one to pick us up at the airport. We then met some men who tried to convince us to go with them and started taking our luggage to the car. It resulted in us pulling our luggage out of the elevator because he wouldn’t listen to us and us calling our hostel to see why they weren’t there to get us. This airport was so sketchy. Finally got to the hostel after some tiny dark alleyways and just put into some dorm. (We were supposed to have our own room because we knew we were getting in late.) This room had no lights just bunk beds and people sleeping in them. We couldn’t find a bathroom and had no idea where we were or what we were supposed to be doing, or even if we were in the right place at first. We ended up waking up most of the sleeping dorm and just falling asleep in the same clothes we had already had on for 2 days. In the morning we realized what a really nice place the hostel was and it also had a really pretty view of downtown Johannasberg.
The next morning we hung around and went to get on our bus to drive to Botswana. The country side was beautiful. It was a relaxing very bumpy ride and we all got split up and met some very friendly people. One ended up helping us get across the boarder. And Danielle you will be so very proud to know that we got a 90 day visa! Big deal. We then ended up in Gaborone where Charity from the University of Botswana (The UB) greated us and took us to the store to buy some bread and eggs. We then got to the UB and got our room and met our roommates and then took Paul to his room. We were welcomed with open arms by his roommates. They immediately referred to him as Apostle Paul and made us a traditional dinner that we ate with our hands. Leave it to Paul to get dinner made for us on our first night. We spent the entire evening with Tsube, Lenow, and Besibe. We could not have asked for a better welcoming than what these guys did for us. We have since spent the past few days eating meals, playing cards, and talking about life and things that matter. We taught them how to play the card game Bullshit which they thought was just hilarious. During the day we have also made it out to several different malls, walked a lot, tried to learn how the combis (the public transportation) work, and killed literally a few hundred bugs. Yes bugs, mainly cockroaches, because they are all over our flat. We used an entire can of Raid in probably 1 hour. The guys finally got us some special “cheese” and we have hardly seen any since. We have just been situating ourselves and getting acquainted with the city. We are also trying to stop waking up at 4:30 every morning and get adjusted to the 7 hour time difference.
We have also spent time with our roommates Ida and Ashley who are only 17. They are here for the summer in a program through the Baptist church that teaches about AIDS and abstinence. The program is called Face the Nation. These girls are from Zambia and Zimbabwe and are very in love with their Lord. Let’s see… Paul’s roommate Tsube is a track runner and one of the fastest in Botswana and has run all over the world. We plan on going to the international meet on Saturday. Paul keeps things interesting for us. The combis drive by all the time honking, partly because we are white and partly because they want us to get in and get our money. Well while walking Paul just decided to start waving at them because they were waving and honking at us. What he really ended up doing was pulling all of these combis over because they thought we wanted a ride. It was pretty hilarious because we then had to tell them all no, but Paul just thought he was being polite by waving back.
Mom and Kevin, you will be so happy to know that I am washing dishes, and cooking meals! Yes, I know it’s about time but I am going to know so much by the time I get back. If I don’t cook here, I don’t eat so I guess I have to learn sometime. The people here are so friendly and we could honestly not be more blessed by the people that we have met and that have helped us along the way. Now that we have the internet I hope to write on here more regularily. We are going to the AIDS program tomorrow with some friends and then going to Old Naledi on Tuesday so I'm sure I will have much more to say after those adventures :)

4 Weeks

First of all, I would like to say that I am very bad with technology and it is a miracle I have even gotten this thing set up. Bare with me :) I figured I should get something posted on here so I at least know how to use it before I leave the country. 4 weeks from today we will be leaving!! I cannot tell you how excited my team and I are to go and it could not come fast enough.

We recently had a potluck for family and friends that the program puts on with all the other groups- 2 teams to Mexico, a Kenya group, and my Botswana team! I must say that it was nice for my own parents to actually talk to team members from the past so that they could reassure them that I WILL BE JUST FINE. There's still plenty to do before we go (like make it through finals) but I know all the finishing details of the trip will work out just fine. I also want to thank everyone for your support whether financially or through thoughts and prayers. You are so great. :) Can't wait...