Packed like Sardines...or Batswana soccer players

Two weeks of school down!! …feels like it's been eight, though! Classes are picking up more now, and physical chemistry and physics will be my toughest. I had my first p. chem lab today, too. At 7am this morning! It went alright…my partner was a Motswana and he spoke so quietly. It’s hard to understand the accent in the first place, and then he would speak so soft, I had him repeat everything he said like four times! Luckily, he won’t be my partner for the rest of the semester…another student asked to be my partner during lab…and she speaks in a nice audible tone :)


Lab ended at 10, and my next class wasn’t until 4, so I went and hung out in my friend, Sophie's, dorm room for a little while.  Then myself, Sophie, and her roommate, Make (Ma-kee), and several other international students went to the Oriental Market for lunch. We ate at a cheap, and really good, Chinese place. I had some delicious wonton soup, a springroll, and some fried noodles! There were a lot of shops in the area with garage-like front openings…and a lot of imported merchandise. Clothes, purses, shoes, electronics, and DVDs were widely available, and it seemed as if each shop sold the same stuff. I bought two DVDs for $3 each…”Up” and “Inglourious Basterds,” one which I’m about to watch tonight as my friends are on their way to Lizard Lounge to party. (supposedly a pretty sketchy place, with a high probability of being a victim of pickpocketing.) I was planning on going, but I'm too tired and sore!!! Soccer practice has my calves, hamstrings, and knees killin!!! But I’m really loving it! The quality of play isn’t the best, but the coaching (from one coach) is actually quite good. One of my favorite parts is the ride home. Bali, one of the coaches (the good one), makes about 5 stops in his small pickup for around 25 of the players to be taken home. Two players can fit in the cab with him, leaving 23 of us to pack in the truckbed. I just sit in the back with them all, listening to them talk so loudly, all in Setswana of course, and try to pick up any words I can…I’ll catch one every once-in-a-while, but I really have NO idea what any of them are saying. It doesn’t bother me, though, and I find the experience quite enjoyable, actually. Once the number of people decreases, so does the commotion, and then start the conversations in English, with some Setswana practice, too. I’m learning it…slowly…and I always share all the Setswana I know, which isn’t much, but it makes them happy to know that I’m trying to learn. It’s funny…some Batswana I talk to say it is such an easy language and I will be fine, especially since I already know some, and others (who were born and raised here) say they still don’t even know it and tell me how hard it is! I’ve really noticed how the people here are so much more comfortable with each other…there is no such thing as a “personal bubble,” and no one has a problem leaning on one another and snuggling up in the truck to make sure everyone gets a ride home. Even when waiting in lines or riding in the combies, people don’t mind getting close to others. I am so grateful for the truck ride home…it saves me some money!  Although I’m the second-to-last person to be dropped off, it takes less time than a combie trip…and it is much safer than doing the combies in the dark.

Plan for tomorrow: Get up at 8, do some laundry, homework and then get to UB around noon to get some lunch with my friends. Watch the men’s soccer game tomorrow afternoon…eat dinner and then spend the night on campus, since I have to arrive at 7:30am for my soccer game Sunday.  (However...since I am in Botswana, "Botswana time" will most likely mean all the other players arrive around 8:30)