September 6th, 2015

The weeks are starting to blend together as we trudge through training day in and day out. Each day is simplistic and joyful in it’s own way. We are so close to finding out our site placements and everyone is eagerly waiting for Wednesday when we finally know where we will be living for two years! This weekend was very eventful! Ditubaruba is a major cultural festival that happens in our training village once a year. There is tons of food, craft booths, and a lot of traditional dancing and celebrations. We went as a group and I was ecstatic to have my brand new setswana dress to wear for the occasion! Pictures hopefully coming soon. We were unbearably early and it happened to RAIN this weekend, so it was actually very cold. To try to get through the boredom of waiting for the event and the cold as we shivered in our dresses, we started a bit of a dance party. Our teachers were leading us in dancing and soon 30 or so Americans and Batswana were dancing in a big circle to traditional music. It was definitely the highlight of the day! After was a long ceremony. Most of the festival was like watching a show as the Kgosi (chief) came in, the women of the Bakwena tribe (Crocodiles) proceeded in with offerings of harvest and traditional beer, there was a choir that sang, and fabulous dances were presented. There was the occasional long speech in setswana, which I’ve gotten used to sitting through, and most of the morning was enjoying the culture and forgetting about the cold. We were all served traditional food for lunch, which I’ve grown accustomed too. I love most types of food, and the food here is basically comfort food, so it’s always welcomed. After Ditubaruba I came home to the wedding happening at my neighbors. All week my host-family had been helping prepare for the wedding. The night before I went over and helped peel and cut dozens of acorn squash. I was excited to go to another wedding and experience another big event (after a nap). There was a lot of dancing at this wedding as well and I was happy to see my host-family enjoying themselves so much! Since I was at this wedding as the only American I definitely felt the celeb status, and it started to feel very strange. I introduced myself more than once by essentially saying “My name isn’t white person. My name is Mpho.” Which I think will start to become habit. Thankfully as I get to know people and they talk among themselves, people see that I’m just a person like anyone else. Sunday meant more Zumba, another large load of laundry (by hand of course) and a bbq with a group of trainees. It was a long and packed weekend, which means there wasn’t much time for resting before the next week. It’s strange to think that tomorrow is Labor Day, and it’s a holiday weekend back in America. I guess our BBQ today was a bit like a Labor Day cook out! And we have a short day on Monday filled with Setswana Games and language. I am realizing that being offline and away from contact with people is easier the more days I’ve gone without talking to anyone. But a week or so away from it and it starts to become strange to think that life is going on without me. Time and distance are two things I’ll keep learning about while I’m here I think. If you have something you want to send, wait to send it until I have my new address at my site. If you send it now I probably won’t get it until January. S/O to Jesse and Whitney:: Last week I got mail from both of you! Getting mail at PST is a big deal, everyone gets a bit jealous. It was an awesome treat! Thank you! I’ll post to facebook once I know where my placement is so that everyone can google away. Best, Bethany