We slept at a cultural village later that day, after going to see Khoisan rock painting. They were magnificent and I marveled at the detail this pictures had.
The tour guard told us that in each clan there was a leader and this was the person who did the painting on the rocks. He said that before going out to hunt, the clan would gather and pray for a good hunting experience. The leader would go into a trance and fore-see the animals they would hunt that day. These would be the animals he would paint on the rocks. It was all fascinating!
The experience at the cultural village was my favorite! We were met by women who were ululating and they danced to welcome us. The bus dropped us about 7 minutes from the houses so we had to walk behind them, clapping our hands while they sang. We were separated according to gender, we went to freshen-up and then we came back to meet the chief, his sister and his wives. They were all dressed in traditional regalia.
We all sat around a fire, the chief began to dance with his sister and then there were stories. There were stories of how life used to be like when they were growing up; they told us it was unheard of back-then to date, how they are shocked at the young generation that has children outside wedlock, how they used to think HIV/AIDS was a result of a neighbor bewitching someone’s children out of jealousy at their prosperity, and they told us that culture was more sacred back then and would have prevented most problems young people have today.
We slept in tents- it was my first time sleeping in a tent- and we had showers outside in the open. It was quite an experience. We also had cultural food and it was AMAZING! It was by far the tastiest food I had had since I got to Botswana!
The following day we went on a Safari before driving back to school.
We were welcomed with champagne (you could also have juice if you wanted to), we drove around the game reserve and saw a number of animals including: tigers, ostriches, impalas, warthogs, springboks, zebras and a troop of monkeys.
Last week was the second week of school but I still did not know what was going on with some of my classes. For instance, the professor that was to teach my virology class was double-booked; she was registered to teach virology and immunology on Tuesdays at 8 am. I never understood how this clash escaped being noticed and the professor had to change my class to a different time. The new class slot worked for me but I cannot say the same for some friends who had to de-register because of clashes with other important things. The class issue has now been resolved and classes are now in session. I am taking four classes: virology (my elective for my biology major), the biology of public health, Setswana and an independent study project with my program advisor. The virology class has 50 people and that is twice the size of my Colorado College lab classes and I would be lying if I said it is not overwhelming to have so many people in a lab. I like the Setswana class.
Last weekend was so much fun! We were celebrating two birthdays; one on Friday and the other on Saturday. On Friday we celebrated a friend we have made here in Botswana, a Motswana that was turning 23 but looked 16! We (University of Botswana (UB) students that were celebrating the friend) went to Lizard Lounge, a club that is within walking distance from our campus. They played lots of house music and the locals were showing off magnificently shocking dance moves! These people danced for the whole time that we were there and they showed no sign of getting tired. They were not just a marvel to watch, they were also great partners to dance with. We would form a circle and someone would get into the center of the circle, do a dance move and beckon for someone else to come in. I was literally laughing the whole time, both from shock at the creativity portrayed by the local Batswana and the magnificence of the general camaraderie.
On Saturday it was the birthday of a friend on my program. We organized a surprise birthday party for her. We had a surprise dinner at the Embassy Indian restaurant and then headed to one of Botswana’s posh clubs, Fashion Lounge. It was so much better than Lizard Lounge and it was absolutely beautiful. It was safe and there were no dodgy people lingering around and trying to dance with us so I liked it more because we didn’t have to think about safety. I had a great time; the music was great, it was clean and the dancing was also clean. I spent most of the time chatting with a UB Swazi friend I met last week. It was nice talking to her and finding out what her Botswana experience has been like so far.
On Sunday I went to church. I liked it but I think I will go to this other church and see how it is. The church I went to sang Tswana songs but I knew none, and the service was in Setswana and there was an interpreter. Right now I am hoping to find a church that has a service in English so that I do not have to deal with the interpretation because that can be a bit confusing.
Wow! This is really long. I wanted to post videos of the dances but I could not figure out how. Until next time….Go siame!! (bye in Setswana!)
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