Holiday away from Varsity and FIFA

This is in dedication to my favorite Sweed…Boo! I am actually writing this because I told you I would, not because I like writing it…;) jk…

School starts tomorrow and I have had an amazing holiday! Honestly there have been way too many great experiences to mention them all, so if you want to know more I suggest we grab lunch when I get back to the US. There are only a few lucky loved ones who get all the juicy details regularly. Boo this means you will have to make a trip to visit all your favorite Americans!!!

The fab five, which includes Jen, Bim, Aisha, Kelleigh (K-Dowg) and myself went on an incredible adventure to Botswana and Zimbabwe. We were lucky enough to know people and know people who know other people throughout Botswana. Our first stop was in Gaborone, just past the Botswana border, where we stayed with a classmate from the varsity- Mike. He showed us his city and introduced us to his family. I tried liver for my first time, and yah…ah….I don’t think I will ever eat that again.

Our next stop was our most memorable experience - staying in Francistown with our friend KG’s family. We were greeted by his mother as she was excited to see her “children” had arrived. KG’s family became our Botswana family. We experienced more than I could have ever imagined! We lived without electricity which calls for dinner over a fire every night and bath water that needs to be heated over the fire. We were able to go to the families cattle post where I was able to help with tagging the goats (I got to use some of my cowgirl skills!), watch the men and mama brand the cattle, eat FRESH chicken (honestly we saw them get slaughtered 30 minutes before we ate them), collect herbs in the bush with mama, and learn to braai the meat with KG’s assistance using all natural utensils such as a stick instead of tongs. We were also able to go to a political rally. Let me tell you it was much different than I had pictured. I mean there were a ton of people there, but it was very relaxed and felt safe. After the rally we went with the family to a traditional wedding. Of course we stood out a lot and people starred at us when we showed up, but hey, what is new?  It was very cool to see how they celebrate a marriage!

One of our last nights with Mama was quite unforgettable! We some how started to sing and stand up and dance around the fire. It must have started with me singing the Lion King and then it turned into a dance party under the stars with Mama and her two daughters.

Two of the mornings I was able to convince KG to go jogging with me which was sooo cool! The paths the locals walk on regularly made for great jogging paths. While we were on the jog we ran into a group of fellow ‘worker-outers’ and I joined them for a stretch, because I cannot resist opportunities to work out. Not a minute after I joined the group, they made me enter the center of the circle and lead the next stretch/activity. It pretty much made my day! That is the thing about African Culture—I have come across sooo many welcoming people. People greet you with open arms here in regards to their homes, their families and even in clubs as they try to teach us how to dance.

Unfortunately we did have to leave Francistown and our new Botswana family, but just to explore more of Botswana. Our next destination was Kasane, where we went on a game drive at Chobe national park. That was my first game drive and it was soooo cool! Let me just tell you elephants and giraffes are pretty dang cool! Africa is pretty dang lucky! We actually had five giraffes walk in front of our car while we were driving on the main freeway to Kasane. After our adventures to Chobe we were ready for our adventure to Victoria Falls. We were determined to make our trek as inexpensive as possible so we decided to hire a taxi and walk across the Botswana/Zimbabwe border. To most local South Africans that was quite a crazy move on our part, but it was just fine and it added to the adventure!  Victoria Falls are breathtaking. We entered Zimbabwe by foot because we were not allowed to take our rental car into Zimbabwe…Dang Budget! It all worked out though. K-dowg arranged a taxi for us to get to the Falls at a good price. You could see the mist from the falls in the sky as we got closer. Lucky for Aisha and Bim there was a kind lady who gave the girls some ponchos, K-dowg was smart and brought her own and I had a nice waterproof jacket. Poor Jen… she got soaked without a jacket or poncho. The Falls were so huge you could never see it all from one look; you could see the falls in front of you and the rest was mist, pretty crazy! One of the seven wonders of the world- I must agree!

After we left Kasane, we happened to get a flat tire in the middle of nowhere on our way to Maun. And we changed the tire. Ha! Just Kidding, but really we could have. Aisha had experience and I had the manual with pictures. In Botswana there are random gates in the middle of nowhere, almost like a reason to give more people jobs. Jen likes to wave at these people and make friends. So anyways the flat happened just past the gate so we asked someone to help us and before we knew it, we were back on the road Maun bound.

As we rolled up to our hostel, we were stopped in their narrow driveway as they were adding dirt to it because the delta was on both sides of the driveway. A bit sketch, better known as TIA! And of course we wait ten minutes before someone tells us they will be done “now now.” Oh gosh I love the chillness of Africa!!! I am so bringing it back to the States!

Our first night in Maun K-dowg, Aisha and I all learned to basket weave! It was really cool! Very Very time consuming. We didn’t finish our baskets after two nights of working on them with the professionals, let’s just hope we finish before we return home! Now the sole purpose of going to Maun was to see the Okovango Delta. We decided to go on the day trip through the Delta on the Mokoro boats. It was really cool, but hmm….not as cool as we had imagined. I think the animals must have been hiding from us and sent the bugs and spiders to attack us. I still have bug guts on my jacket…ewww….I should wash that…lol…We met some pretty cool Canadians at our hostel. I was able to do some yoga with one of the girls. 
We decided to divide up our trip so we didn’t have to travel in the dark. After we entered SA we stayed a night in Kimberley. This town is well known for its Diamond mining once upon a time. We went to the local museum and saw the BIG HOLE! Kinda weird and random, but cool! It is the largest man made hole in the WORLD!!! Wowa-Weewa!

We got back to PE later that day and it was so nice to be back to the Bantry (the flats we stay in).

The last part of our holiday before we started back up at the Varsity was watching the Billabong surf pro in Jeffreys Bay. My friend from the Varsity showed us around and found us cheap accommodations. I really loved chillin on the beach (in the winter), hanging out with friends and watching the surfers! It was an amazing end to a wonderful and unforgettable holiday.

As my blog readers can probably tell, I leave out a lot of detail. Sorry.

We had to say goodbye to most of the other study abroad students and prepare for a new group. Quite a difficult transition, from having our boys (Boo and Henning) just a flight above us in 23. Boo was my jogging buddy and was pretty much down to explore the city anytime. And he would visit me and Kdowg all the time… and Henning was always teaching us healthy food concoctions. He would even call me out if I wasn’t eating “sport lady consciously!” My favorite food he introduced to us was banana ice cream made with 100% frozen bananas! Oh yes and Henning’s ways at the market…He’s got the best bargaining skills- it will be tough with out him!!! And then there is Bim. It sucked big time to lose part of our Cali Posse! It sucked to come home in tears after saying bye to her at the airport and see new people have arrived. Like I said…difficult transition. 

I finally accepted last semester for what it was and am ready for a whole different experience with a completely different group of internationals. Well time to study Xhosa. Hamba Kakhle (go well).