Orientation Day

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Today was our first day of real orientation to the University and Gaborone (pronounced Ha-ba-ron-eh in Setswana.) We began the day with some exercises to explain our expectations from the program and had a few Setswana lessons. We also got a tour of the University from Karabo and Tato and an welcome session from UB’s international office.

This is my first time in a foreign country at a University. I know many international students at Ohio University, but now I’m getting to experience what it’s like to be an international student myself. Along with that, I'm also getting the experience of being noticeably foreign--or "exotic" as Dr. Pillay says. In my travels to Europe, I've certainly stuck out because of my way of dressing, mannerisms, lack of fluency in the language, and my touristy activities. However, the way that I looked was never the thing that defined me as foreign. Now, the color of my skin makes me stand out as obviously "other." People definitely want to know who we are and where we came from. Only 3% of the population in Botswana is white; so even if we lived here, we would be oddities. While it's a little strange to be so obviously out-of-place, it is fun to greet people on the street with "Dumela!" They look so surprised to see white people speaking Setswana.

For breakfast this morning, we also had boiled and fried eggs and a little fruit. Also, today we had tea time, which was very well received. We’re wondering why we don’t have tea time in the States! I haven't been a big tea drinker for most of my life, but it's chilly in the mornings here and tea is a nice way to relax and recharge mid-morning.

We (and our digestive systems) are slowly adjusting to the food, but generally it has been very good. I’ve tried almost everything (there are too many options to try every dish at every meal,) and I haven’t yet found anything totally revolting. I have heard that there is a kind of worm that is a delicacy here in Botswana that we might be trying. I’m starting to psych myself up for that experience!

After our lessons today, we went back to the mall. I didn't need anything, but I went along just for fun and another chance to walk around the city. The weather is just about perfect here. Just a little chilly in the mornings and evenings and warm and sunny in the days; there is no humidity. So, I like to take any chance I can get to be outside. The designers of the University obviously understood the neccesity of taking advantage of the weather, because the campus is very open and airy with a lot of courtyards.

After we returned from the mall, we had some dinner and then changed to play some sports at the University sports areas. People played volleyball for a while and then I think they played some football (soccer.) However, I left with some of the other girls to get the internet working in my room.

That being said, the internet is working! Thanks to Clare Mulach's magical notepad with connection instructions that apparently work by simply being placed next to one's laptop, I was able to get the ethernet to connect. Hopefully this will mean much more regular posts (and no backdating--like I did on the last one!)

First Day in Botswana

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The flight from Columbus to Atlanta was awfully bumpy and made me a little nauseated. The flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg was not as bumpy, but obviously considerably longer. I didn’t sleep very well on the plane and it has affected my ability to adjust to the time zone—so pardon me if this blog jumps around a little.

Our overnight stay in Johannesburg was at the Garden Court Hotel, just by the airport. I roomed with Mandy Heck, another student on the trip. We had a very nice room. We changed and went down with the rest of the group to the restaurant downstairs. Everyone tried at least a sip of Savannah lite, a South African malt cider that is also popular in Botswana. We’d heard about it from one of our program directors, Dr. Pillay, who is from South Africa; we knew we had to try it. The restaurant itself was actually American themed, so most of us had burgers or TexMex food for a late dinner.

Our hotel room in JoBurg

I didn’t sleep well in the hotel, despite being so tired from the plane—but it was nice to finally have someplace flat to sleep!

In the morning, we loaded our baggage onto a shuttle and made our way back to the airport for our South African Airways flight from Johannesburg to Gaborone. The flight wasn’t bad. It was a little bumpy but short. The pilot came on the speakers about halfway through to say, “We have now reached our cruising altitude and are ready to begin our descent into Gaborone.” It’s never easy on the stomach and ears to head back down as soon as you’ve finished take-off!

The airport in Gaborone was a stark contrast to the shiny, new, metropolitan airport in Johannesburg. The airport was clearly an older building and very small. It seems that it services only two airlines: Botswana Air and South African Airways. There is no real separation of the terminal/gates from check-in areas, although customs has a separate section. At the airport, we got some Botswana Pula (about 6-something to the dollar) and met the Batswana professors in charge of our program as well as Dr. Pillay, who had gone ahead of us to assure our arrangements.

The Gaborone Airport

Driving through Gaborone was a unique opportunity to see the city. Some areas are clearly very poor—but there are also giant buildings with bank and corporation names on them. The roads were paved and people drove Mercedes and BMWs, but people who walk use dusty dirt paths. It is clearly a city of contrasts, including the contrast between huge economic growth and a deadly pandemic; it’s hard to believe that around one out of every three people here is HIV positive.

When we finally reached the University of Botswana (UB,) we had a big lunch (ALL of the meals are big here) and were assigned our rooms. I am in an apartment of 6—all five of the girls I live with are a part of my program. Others are in apartments with other international students and Batswana grad students.

The living conditions are similar to dorms in the United States, although some of our things are in disrepair. My apartment doesn’t have a light in the kitchen or the bathroom and another group of girls is missing a toilet seat! We’ve had a little trouble with the internet—but that was just an IT issue. The conditions aren’t bad by any stretch of the imagination, but they have made us grateful for the conveniences of home.

My room at UB!

Helping us adjust have been Karabo and Thato. They are students here at UB and have been assigned to us as guides. I don’t know if they were ready for 20 OU students, but they have been incredibly flexible, helpful, and understanding with us. Like all other Batswana we’ve met, they are very hospitable. We’re starting to get to know them very well.

After getting somewhat settled into rooms, we went to the Riverwalk mall. The mall here is different from American malls; it has clothing stores, a movie theatre, and some restaurants—but it also has a grocery and and all-purpose store. The grocery, Pick N Pay, has all of the grocery items you would expect in the United States, including toiletries, detergent, fresh fruit and vegetables, etc. They even have some things that I liked a lot in Europe that I can’t easily find in the US, like Kinder Schokolade, orange Fanta, and TLC face cleansers.

After our visit to the mall, we had dinner (again, a LOT of food!) All of our meals have been chicken and beef with a lot of starches. Things I’ve read about a lot, like mealy-meal and sorghum are staples in the diet here. Mealy-meal was actually introduced as a way to keep people full, despite its total lack of nutrition. I didn’t realize it had been so accepted into the diet.

A typical Botswana lunch--with smaller portions

After dinner, we went to the boys’ apartment to play some Euchre and some people had a few of the African beers and ciders they purchased at the mall. A few people bought a bottle of famous South African wine—which was apparently very good. Then we went over to the international student lounge to watch USA v. Italy in football (soccer). USA lost, but it was nice to see the Batswana cheering for our team! (Or maybe just against Italia…)

I tried to stay awake for as long as I could, but around 9:15pm, I hit a wall that didn’t let me stay up any longer. I headed back to my room and had one of the best night’s sleep ever!

Today's the Day!

My flight leaves early this evening! It seems everything's in order for a smooth trip.

As a requirement of the program, I had to write an "Initial Impression Paper" to describe what I expected Botswana would be like. I decided to share that paper here:

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Initial Impressions Paper

When travelling, I try not to have too many preconceived notions of the places I am going. The images I create in my mind are rarely accurate and usually not as good as what I ultimately end up experiencing. That being said, however, I have of course begun to imagine what Botswana will be like. I do not know how correct these assumptions are, but they are nevertheless the basis of my initial impressions of Botswana.

One aspect of life in Botswana that I have been forced to confront is the weather. I cannot very well pack my suitcase without some prior knowledge about the climate. I will admit I have done some research. I know that Gaborone is very close to the desert, and I know that deserts have high temperature fluctuations. With that in mind, I looked up the average highs and lows for Gaborone in June and July, as well as the precipitation averages. The data confirmed my suspicion that June and July are the middle of a dry winter with very little cloud-cover, leading to big temperature differences. Unfortunately, this has made my packing more difficult rather than easier.

In previous travels, I have found that I remember certain colors. From my experience living with a host family in southern Germany, I remember Bavarian blue; reflecting on my trips to the Czech Republic makes me think of the red dye that many women there use in their hair; and, oddly enough, I will always remember the strange, pink sauce on my hamburger at a small racetrack in Estonia. I will not know the colors that remind me of Botswana until after I have returned, but I can imagine what colors might stand out to me. For some reason, I associate the African continent with the color yellow—maybe it is because yellow is a prominent color in African flags, maybe because a few of my African studies textbooks have been yellow, or maybe the Sahara and Kalahari look yellow on maps. Whatever the reason, I expect to see more yellow there than I do at home.

I also know that the colors of people’s skin will stand out to me. Obviously, the United States has a racial majority of whites/Caucasians, albeit this majority is getting smaller and smaller all the time. I think being in the racial minority for the first time will be an eye-opening experience. I am eager to reassess and reshape my expectations that most people are white; I look forward to a white person being an anomaly, rather than the norm.

Smells are some of the most difficult things to imagine prior to a trip, but smell is always the first sense to bring back memories of my time abroad. I can still imagine the smells of the Steinbergers’ old Bavarian farmhouse in Aich and the fresh air off the vineyards that poured into our hotel window in South Tirol. I can not conjure up the scents of Botswana without having experienced them, but I do expect them to be different from anything I have smelled before. I think the air there will be fresher and the scent of the dirt will remind me how far away I am from home.

Having been told that a lot of the meals in Botswana consist of meat and starches, I have been wondering what the food will be like. For a long time, I was not a meat-lover at all. I desperately tried to be a vegetarian but settled for very little red meat and more fish. After being at college, I have become a much less picky eater. However, I will still choose raw fruits and vegetables over beef or chicken if given the choice. To me, meat and starches at every meal sounds flavorless and heavy. I think the diet will be the part of the experience that will follow the culture shock phases of honeymoon, negotiation, and adjustment.

Finally, the sounds that I expect to hear in Gaborone are very much like the smells: difficult to create without actual experience. Based on the size of the city, I expect to hear cars and voices on the street. However, at night, I think the city will be quieter than most since it seems that it has relatively little public nightlife.

On the one hand, I hope that Botswana lives up to everything I have imagined. On the other hand, I also hope that Botswana is totally different from everything I have imagined. I think it will be a little bit of both: the country itself will be unlike anything I could dream up, while the experience will be above and beyond my imaginings.