*please note that the views expressed here are our own and do not reflect the view of the U.S. government, U.S. Peace Corps, or even other PC volunteers living in Botswana. This list was composed based on our own experiences and was not collaborated upon by other volunteers*

Today Peace Corps volunteers in our class celebrate our 1 year anniversary of living in Botswana. (already?!)

As a salute to the awkwardness of wading through a new culture in the effort to coexist with its people, we want to share with you our list; the Top 10 Awkward Cultural Norms of Botswana.

This chapter is a nod to the awkward, funny, amusing and odd parts of this culture we have witnessed since arriving on April 10^th last year. Enjoy!

[In no particular order...]

1. Men holding hands with men (MHM):….and hug and caress and walk with arms around each other and sometimes cuddle. And so do the women. And NONE of them are in a dating, sexual or otherwise intimate relationship beyond friendship! In fact if you are in a romantic relationship- even marriage- it is considered inappropriate to be affectionate in public! Friendship appears to be the most important relationship in this culture, so affection follows. We are most often pulled into this element when in a conversation with a friend. In Botswana you always greet a friend with a handshake. And usually…. they just don’t let go. I (Amanda) have been involved in many long hand holding sessions with other women and men, and on several occasions it has lead to walking hand-in-hand until the conversation is over. This happens around the village, at school, and even at the government offices. There is no place where it is inappropriate to touch someone you know, anywhere, for any amount of time (except kissing- this only pertains to hand and body touching). You will even see women nonchalantly brushing their hand down another woman's chest, like you would do to someones arm at the start of a conversation.


2.Defecation Destination: You know the saying “When you gotta go, You gotta go!”? The saying is quite literal in our area of Botswana. On any given path, on any given day, in any given place in our village (and others) you are quite likely to stumble upon a man, woman or child doing their dirty business in pubic. Yes, you read that correctly. Pooping. And peeing. Or a combination. On the path, off the path, in the bus renk, in the market, outside their house. The opportunities are LIMITLESS! There are NO boundaries to what is considered a toilet and what is considered public property. You (as the innocent walker or by-stander) are safe nowhere! The first time Todd subjected to priceless cultural norm, he came upon two women next to the path he was taking (just feet away). One was standing talking to the other who was crouched. About the same time he smelled her Colonary Assterpiece, he realized that this adult woman was pooping in the same area he was about to walk into, while holding a conversation with the other. There is absolutely NO shame in performing this public display of alleviation and some are even inclined to make long awkward eye contact! In addition to stumbling upon these public scenes on a regular basis, there are certain areas in Gumare we stay away from because of their popularity for being a urinal. And be informed that these acts are not due to a lack of latrines or toilet facilities.


3. Boobies, boobies, boobies everywhere: Breasts are another thing that have no limits of exposure here. Sure, as to be expected, breastfeeding is no big deal and you whip it out whenever it is needed. But it goes a little further here. Many womens' tops are very revealing, bras are few, and boobs often flop out unbeknownst to the owner. We frequently see button-up shirts on women that are too small in the chest, thus opening 2 or 3 buttons for an all-day exposure. Our neighbor has no problem displaying her waist- length mammaries when she comes out of her house completely topless, as did our 75 year old host mom when she walked around the house at night. Breast-feeding is not done discreetly and can acceptably be done anywhere, anytime. Children can also pull their mothers breasts out of her shirt in public settings or during conversation without issue. Our friends Heidi and Ross once went to a performing art festival and watched as a girl in traditional attire (i.e. very minimal) danced her top right off. The large crowd of 500 were unfazed; it was no big deal to them. They did however go ballistic when another girl danced her skirt wrap right off!


4.Volume Control: this begins with an amusing pretext- that most Batswana families own a Television and a TV satellite and/or a stereo. They may not own a stove to cook on, or hook up running water in their home, or have enough mattresses for everyone to sleep on, but by the hammer of Thore they will own a TV! It is quite a sight to walk through a neighborhood of traditional grass huts and see satellite dishes attached to the outside of the mud wall. The interesting, and very annoying part of this activity is that the TV or stereo will be on ALL the time. Remember, most people in our area don’t have jobs, so all the time really is-all the time. Not only is it on all day, but at decibels of volume that hurt your ears when you walk into a house with a TV or stereo on. So at any point when outside, you can hear competing sounds from all directions. Also, they don’t bother to turn down the volume when a guest comes into the house. They just yell over the sounds bouncing around the small living you are sharing.

(I can’t be in a house for more than 15 minutes listening to this before I get a headache and have to leave. This is a very confusing norm and to an American, seems downright rude!)

5.The Greeting Game: It is considered proper to greet everyone you pass, whenever, wherever. So when walking around the village, sitting on our porch or in our yard, and when at work, the air is full of “Dumela”s and other greetings. The general rule of thumb is that the person entering the area where other people are is the one that greets first. So, if you are walking and pass people who are standing by, you greet them first. If someone passes by us in our yard, they greet us first. And when entering a room/building of any kind (yes, even doctor’s waiting lounges!) you greet the people therein. The awkward part of this (besides greeting 60+ strangers, acquaintances and friends a day) is that if you walk into an office where there is a meeting or one-on-one discussion going on, it is rude NOT to interrupt the meeting to say 'Dumela'. And on the other side, when we are in discussion with someone in the office and a random person (say, selling snacks or just passing through) enters the office, it is rude NOT to stop our important discussion and respond to their greeting! For Batswana, acknowledging the existence of another is more important than whatever thing they are ‘doing’ at that moment. The greeting usually consists of the greet plus a name or title for you and often the greeter will use several greetings in one encounter.

Here are the typical greetings:

Dumela Mma/Rra= Greetings madame/sir

Warang, Mosadi?= What are you saying, woman?

Le Kae Rra?= Where are you (guys), sir?

Hey Mista!= Hey Mister

Ok kae, Mma= Where are you, ma’am?

O teng?= Are you around/here?

Eeh/Yes wanyana= yes Chica! (an acknowledgement)

Yebo!= Yes/Hey/Whats up (an acknowledgement)

Eita!= Hey/Whats up/Yes/ (Its kind of not translatable)

O tsogile jang?= How are you (literally: how did you rise [this morning])

O tlhotse jang?= How are you (literally: how did you spend the day)

Uh *grunt*= hey (literally: Yes)

6.Animal Appreciation: Firstly you have to understand there isn’t really such a thing as a ‘pet’ in this country (the expats and some more educated people living in cities have them). Dogs are….how do I say this without making you want to start a “Save the dogs” foundation in Botswana?...dogs are treated as the lowest form of a living being possible. Cows, goats and donkeys are more important than dogs. They are seen mostly as a pesky annoyance that one has to “deal with” in order to have a form of security at their house. Though they are used as guard dogs (not trained…they just bark at people) they are often abused. We constantly see Batswana throw rocks, kick and hit them with sticks and do what they can to scare them out of their way. Dogs are often a scapegoat for people in a bad mood or with an anger problem. Then they don’t understand why dogs act the way they do after abusing them, so they abuse them more. Dogs are allowed to be the wild animals that they are by letting them roam free like the other stock animals, finding their own food and water and fending for themselves (they are very hardy and self reliant!). They can often be seen in packs because of this. When they come home they are fed scraps of leftover food if any.

People find it very amusing that we pet our dogs and are nice to them. But many people still throw stones when our dogs bark at them. They think barking is an unacceptable behavior for a dog when directed at them, even though that’s exactly what they want their dog to do at passersby! And worst of all, most people think it is their right to hurt any dog, without regard to who owns it or if the owner is around.

However, you wouldn’t get away with abusing a cow…

Cows are regarded with the utmost importance in this culture, as in many African cultures. One must own cows in order to have importance and value and to embrace his own culture themselves. However, they don’t own cattle as a form of income- they are not for slaughter or for milk (at least in our area- other areas supply Europe with most of their beef). They own cattle for personal prestige and self-worth as well as to be able to supply meat for a large party (wedding, funeral, etc), should the need arise. It is also seen as insurance for some people- if they desperately need money, like to build something or to buy a bride, they could sell a cow for some cash or give it as the bride price. Almost everyone owns at least 2 cows including those without a job (that’s the part that doesn’t make sense). They will spend many difficult hours walking out to their cattle post (5-20k away from Gumare in the heat) or try to hitch out there in order to tend to them for a few days or weeks. They spend their long days herding the cattle to and from water, greener land, out of danger, etc. and camp out during the night. When the owners walk back, their hired cattle boys take care of the cattle. You can see they put a LOT into the care of their cattle- long, hard work, money, time, the expense of their lives, etc, without getting much back from it. But it’s not about the money you can make from having cattle, it’s about the feeling of pride you have from owning them.

7.Phone-foolery: This is another aspect that is humorous when observed in context. Just as with TV’s, a person will live in a hut, cook outside on a fire, be unemployed and own little else but will certainly get money to buy a cell phone! And cell phones are not cheap either! In fact many unemployed people have MUCH nicer phones than we do, as volunteers who get a living allowance. The awkward part about cell phone use here is that there are no rules or standards of its use. It can be used anytime, anywhere. Whenever it rings it will be answered- it doesn’t matter if the person is in the middle of a conversation with you, if they are on the toilet (or path), in a meeting/workshop (see below) or even the keynote speaker in front of an audience! The same goes for texting. Cell phones get precedence over any in-person conversation. Another volunteer observed that answering cell phones anytime/anyplace might be because it is free to receive calls, whereas you pay to make calls.

8.Nasal Nonsense: The nose: another body part that is free to have its waste expelled at anytime. This is how it typically happens: You are in a one-on-one conversation with someone…say, they are telling you something serious that you really have to listen intently to- and they proceed to go knuckle deep mid-sentence. Then you, the American, attempt to keep a straight face and hold in the laughter until that person leaves, when you can bust-a-gut and pretend that you are laughing at something else. This norm applies to everyone; key-note speakers and meeting chairpersons included! If you’ve got some nose gold, Its fair game to dig it out anywhere you are.

9.Acceptable Appearance: The rules on appropriate dress that Batswana lives by can be humorous and at times quite odd to the average westerner. For starters, though the weather is extreme in both seasons (mind numbingly hot and skin numbingly cold) and in many places they walk everywhere, they do not dress for their own comfort. They dress firstly for their society, for other people. Appearance is everything in this culture, so it’s really important to them that they look their best. That means 1. Every article of clothing is well washed 2. Every article of clothing is well-ironed 3. Your shoes are always shined (throughout the day) 4. You dress ‘up’ when you go out into public 5. You wear professional, suite-type outfits to work (except for cleaners and grounds keepers). These rules go across the different socio-economic and (generally) tribal groups of Botswana. Even the most poor among them can take pride in their appearance. We see people wearing very old, torn and holey, mismatched clothes because they can’t afford new clothes, by gosh darn it they are superbly clean and perfectly pressed! Because of the nature of business clothes, and other reasons I will never understand, people torture themselves with layers of heavy clothing even during the summer. It is amazing the intensity of heat they put themselves through just to look good! So it is common to see sweating people in long sleeve, collared shirts, slacks, jackets (plus ties for men), sweater vests, sweatshirts and jeans, with full closed toed shoes (high healed for the women!) in 100 degree weather! And babies get the worst of it. They are bundled up in winter wear all year round. Imagine wearing this attire in extreme heat at your rural village, full of deep sand, where you walk everywhere you go! A-mazing.

10.“Workshoping”: verb; pronounced /wrk-shoap-een/[rolled ‘r’]; origination, Botswana; root word: workshop; meaning: to attend multiple meetings of any kind over the period of a work week or more.

I don’t know who introduced the idea of a “workshop” to this Botswana, but it quickly became the popular fad word and concept all over country. Collectively they decided that the best way to give information to any number of people, on any topic, for any reasons, was to do this: invite them to sit in a room at tables (classroom style) for 8 hours a day and listen to people give (usually awful) presentations; breaking for tea at 10:30am, lunch at 12:30pm and afternoon tea at 3pm while placating them with Endearmints (mint candies) and glasses of water. It can last for one day or 2 weeks.

In our experience, most of these workshops rarely perform as actual workshops- an interactive meeting using intense discussion or practical work, or a place where you learn and practice knowledge and skills to take back to your home base. It is really just an all day meeting where people listen to someone talk (or “disseminate information” as they would say) for 8 hours breaking only to eat ungodly amounts of food. We have actually been told multiple times that the most important part of a workshop is the food. Organizations spend a LOT of money on what could be an affordable meeting, to turn it into an all day sitting meeting with tons of food and drinks.

Since the idea became popular it has turned into the only way and only term for a meeting of any kind (this is how many parts of this society work-'If you find a system that 'works', use it! For everything!'). I have heard teachers refer to kids camps as “workshops” and other people refer to simple staff meetings as “workshops” too!

So with the rampant use of workshops for gathering people together (especially in the government, social and civic sectors-where Todd and I both work) came the necessary auxiliary verb: workshoping. Our friends and acquaintances are invited to so many workshops from the many different departments that sometimes they are gone for weeks at a time, traveling all over the country or region attending workshops of different sizes and topics.

I personally avoid them like the plague. I can't sit that long!

I hope you enjoyed getting a glimpse at some of the most awkward cultural norms and customs we live amongst! Come to Botswana to experience them yourself! :)

Leave your feedback below....

One of the fun colorful ones

I knew I should expect a lot of bugs when we moved to Botswana but what caught me off guard was the sheer amount and variety of bugs in this country. It’s truly remarkable.
big dragonfly
First, the bug that kills more humans than any other: the mosquito. The northern parts of Botswana are endemic mosquito regions. During the rainy season (~December - April), the mosquitoes are everywhere. Sitting on our couch in the evening I hear a constant buzzing sound from the dozen or so mosquitoes circling above my head. We light citronella candles, we light the mosquito coils, and we spray ourselves with spray. We take a medication to combat the malaria parasite some of them carry. A bed net protects us and allows us to get some sleep at night, but there always seems to be at least one that gets through and can’t get out. During the day when it’s too hot for most types of mosquitoes you can find them hiding in the closet, the drapes or a dark corner of the house with fifty of their friends.
in the face of a large grasshopper
Centipedes and millipedes, I don’t know if we have both kinds here (there are two types, one small and one very large.) I use the name centipede to describe the smaller type and millipede to distinguish the larger type. The two types seem to be somewhat seasonal. First came the small ones. They are about 3” long and about as thick as a pencil. Then, after it had rained for a while the big ones came. I have seen these get huge! They can grow to almost a foot long and are as round as a quarter. Both of these love to crawl around in our garden. The big ones leave big parallel streaks in the sand everywhere they go from their hundred little feet.
another type of giant grasshoppers
I find dung beetles fascinating for the most part, but I have to admit they are kind of scary when they fly. They can be bigger than golf balls and fly with reckless abandon. They seem to lack the ability to steer in flight and have all but given up on landing without first running into something. I have only actually seen them rolling dung balls a few times.
dung beetle
Mantises, stick bugs and the like are fun to look at but can also be kinds of scary when they take flight because they take no care to what they cling on to when they land. They run quite fast for short distances before they feel the urge to do a small dance before they can run any further, seriously. I always feel accomplished when I find a stick bug (or a chameleon for that matter) because I feel like I have bested them at their ultimate goal in life, to be unseen.
mantis
Ants are everywhere! There are all different kinds of ants from tiny tiny ants you have to get really close to just to realize they are actually ants, to giant flying ants that are about an inch long. They can travel in swarms that appear to have no organization or they can form two lane highways that are so well established they have created deep grooves in the sand. These highways can go for yards and yards with no apparent purpose. I would like to group termites with ants even though I have no idea if they are related at all. Termites are an interesting critter because they are rarely seen but their presence is always known because of their giant homes. We do see termites once in a while when the winged variety swarm and cling to our house but the underground members of the clan seem to stay just that. They love to engulf certain types of dead or dying wood with a sand shell (they must combine the sand with some type of binding agent to make it hard?) then devour the wood until all that is left is the sandy coating. They make their homes in giant mounds which can be huge! I have seen some that are well over 15’ tall. An interesting indigenous knowledge that we have observed is that the mounds seem to hold a high level of nutrients beneficial to people, especially pregnant women. It is amusing to see women chopping at the mounds with rocks to break off a piece of dirt for a snack.
Amanda next to a small termite mound (notice the missing dirt)

We seem to have two main types of spiders that come into our house. One is what people call the “wall spider.” This kind is incredibly common and can be found in just about every room of every home. They are scary at first because they are relatively large. They are wicked fast, seriously the fastest spiders I have ever encountered. The second main type we have in our area are the much more menacing hairy variety. These ones are longer with half of their legs stretched out in front and the other half reaching to the back. They have large fangs and did I mention they are hairy? We have been told that both of these are harmless to people so that helps a little bit.
the big hairy kind

Bugs are everywhere and can easily push you over the edge at the end of a long, hot, stressful day. I may do a part II to this post another time to cover some other bugs that were left out.

PCV's all over are pushing to recruit new participants to take the challenge during the month of MARCH, and as the devoted followers to our Peace Corps journey that you are, we Challenge YOU, dear friend, family member and curious person who stumbled upon our humble website, to TAKE THE CHALLENGE.

Geographically, the two things we miss most about Washington State are the mountains and the ocean. Unfortunately, Botswana is landlocked and has very little in terms of elevation change. That's why we decided to go on a vacation to South Africa, with three other volunteers.

For the first leg of our journey we headed to the opposite end of Botswana. Once out in the "nose" of Botswana in a town called Selibi Phikwe, we met up with the three other volunteers we were about to go on an adventure with. The five of us rented a truck from a man living in Phikwe who another volunteer often rents from. We stayed the night with some of the most hospitable Peace Corps Volunteers in the world, Chuck and Marry. The following morning we woke with the sun and threw our bags in the back of the green 89' Hilux that we (I) mistakenly "the Hulk" (there was nothing ferocious about him.) The drive to the border was very typical Botswana, consisting of big open "sandveld" with the occasional small village and family farm. At the border, we made our first wrong turn. Who doesn't sign mark a border? Botswana. Once through the border and over the bridge into South Africa our scenery changed immediately. First world infrastructure was evident even in the details. The small villages were now proper towns with robots (stoplights) and the small family farms of Botswana were replaced by sprawling commercial farms. Also, the roads were real roads with proper signs and lines and free of potholes and farm animals.

We knew our first day of driving was going to be a long one but due to construction and the fact that the hulk couldn't go faster than 100K/hr it took much longer than we had planned. The drive was beautiful and took us along the southern border of Swaziland. After 16 hours on the road, we made it to St. Lucia just in time for bed. St. Lucia is a beautiful little tourist town on the east coast of South Africa not far south of Swaziland and Mozambique on the Elephant Coast. The town was quiet and charming since it is the offseason. We were told that the town has about 500 people in the off-season and balloons to about 2500 in the busy season. St. Lucia has many amenities a tourist town should, a couple of grocery stores, restaurants, hotels and trinket shops. We found a lovely little coffee shop so Amanda could get her fix. The coffee shop had wonderful coffee and croissant with beautiful artwork all over the walls.

We decided to go 30K north of St. Lucia into the iSimangaliso Wetland national park for our day at the beach. Cape Vidal is a picturesque beach with warm turquoise water and endless untouched pristine sand in both directions. Only about 20 people, and an equal portion of monkeys at the tree line, populated the beach. The Cape Vidal area is well known for sea turtle nesting during this time of year, but we didn't see any. In the afternoon, four of us went for a walk down the beach and Amanda stayed behind to relax and guard our things. When we returned from our walk Amanda told us a story of how she was mugged! Apparently when she was resting a group of American girls near her started yelling "watch out, watch out, he is going to steal your things!" looking she saw a monkey on the edge of her towl. She tried to shoo the monkey away but he immediately lunged at her and she jumped back. This happened two more times before she relented and let the monkey grab our "cheetos" and run away to feed his family. Crazy monkeys.

On our drive back to St. Lucia through the park we decided to take some detour loops for some game viewing. The great thing about this particular park is that it has such a wide variety of wildlife, especially for being right next to the ocean. We saw all of the usual deer/antelope type animals, buffalo and hippos which are all fun but we wanted to see some things we had not seen yet, and we did. We saw a family of rhinos (which were briefly mistaken for hippo) that included two big adults and a baby. A little farther down the road we came across a group of zebra in the road. We stopped the car and stared at them as they stared at us. The patriarch of the harem was in the middle of the road stomping his hoof. Then instantaneously they all turned and ran! I popped the hulk into gear and we gave chase. The frantic scurry that followed was a dozen zebra and Kudu running away as we chased them, hanging out the windows of our truck and yelling, "This is just like Lion King!" Never thought I would do that in my life. This was my favorite day of the trip.

The following day, 240K and a handful of change in tolls south we made it to Durban. Durban is South Africa's third most populous city. It is home to a beautiful beach skyline, an architectural wonder of a World Cup stadium and the largest population of Indian people outside of India. Our hostel sat just 30m from the beach and had an amazing view. We went to a movie our first evening in Durban. It was half price Wednesday so how could we not? We saw the movie Due Date (sounds like chic flick but it's not). The following day we spent the morning swimming (or getting pummeled by waves) on the world famous (to surfers) Durban beach called The Bluff. Then we headed down to the Victoria Street Market or Indian Market as it use to be called. Driving a big truck (on the left side of the road) with a big roof rack through Indiatown with thousands of people walking all around was hectic to say the least but once we squeezed into the off ramp of a parking garage and started walking around it was a lot of fun. The "market" was not what I would classify as a real market because it was filled with identical shops with one of two things inside: African souvenirs or Indian spices. After Victoria Street market we headed down to the south beach waterfront. We had a great sushi and seafood dinner at uShaka marine park.

I wasn't too sure about the drive to the Drakensburg mountains the following day because the hulk's power to weight ratio was lacking to say the least. It turned out to be fine because we were faster (barely) than a few semi trucks. Sticking with the theme, the drive was beautiful. We drove through Pietermaritzburg; the town Ghandi formulated many of his ideas. We also drove through Howick, which has a 100M waterfall right in middle of town. The town is also noteworthy because Nelson Mandela was arrested there on his way from Durban to Johannesburg. The hostel we stayed at in Drakensburg had a beautiful 360-degree view of the mountains including what is known as the Ampatheater. This area felt a lot like the Teton area with big open fields and towering mountains. The Apatheater is home to the world's second tallest waterfall, Tuegla Falls. On our full day in Drakensburg we headed up to Royal Natal National Park to do the gorge hike. The hike was absolutely amazing! The trail was a slow incline for miles into the ravine where we eventually had to cross the river a few times. Small waterfalls fell from the steep rock walls which surrounded us. Unfortunately it got too late for us to make it all the way to the top of the trail but it was a great 5 and a half hour day hike to say the least.
Tuegla falls is partially covered by clouds in the distance

We finished our trip with another long drive back to Botswana, bringing our total to 34 hours and 2600Km. Our trip to South Africa was a great break from village life. We would like to thank our friends Parisa, Sydney and Slo for a great vacation.

On the 17th Todd and I celebrated two gloriously fun years of marriage!
Can that be true? Two whole years already? It seems like it was just last month...I can remember every detail from that weekend and I swoon when I think about it :)

It was the happiest experience of both our lives' and we look back on our wedding weekend and honeymoon with full hearts and great gladness. We both want to again thank everyone who was involved with making this important occasion absolutely perfect! You will never know just how much your contributions mean to us and how special every little thing that you did for us was.


Moms and Dads, you were key through all of it. Thank you for everything you spent (and continue to spend) on us; your hard-earned money (yes you've done your jobs, we know the value of it), your eagerly-spent love, time, concern and thought. You were all so very generous and supportive through it all! The rehearsal dinner was a ton of fun, the pictures beautiful, the venue stunning, the subway lunch before the ceremony a relief and the honeymoon, magical! Every minute of the experience was perfect.

The Wedding party- April, Rachael, Patti, Sara, Angela, Scott, Kyle, Bill and Claire- you guys made the weekend perfect and very special. We are especially grateful that Angela and Jeff made it across the state with their first and only 8-day old baby! Thank you for all coming ALL the way to Spokane to be there with us. Thank you for verbally committing your support to us in front of an audience, for the rest of our lives. Thanks ladies for helping with last minute details, throwing me a fantastically fun "bachelorette shower", the amazing spa morning, being there through all the little moments, getting me ready, keeping me fed and watered the day of :), being excited and having fun the whole weekend, including at the party and being incredibly supportive from the moment I broke the news to you about the proposal! Bill and Claire it was very special and memorable that you agreed to read us our vows. Each of you did so many generous and kind things for us and were so excited with us- we cant thank you enough.
Thanks to the husbands who helped their wives and also gave them up so they could spend the most amount of time with me! Dustin, Frank, Daniel, and Jeff, you are all great friends and were very supportive.

Our MC's Troy and Matt- you made the party more fun and lively!!

Luke Tushar and Kenta Matter- you played beautiful music that made the ceremony much more rich and precious to us and set a fantastic mood! Thanks to Luke's wife Kelsey for running our luggage to and checking into our hotel room-big logistic piece taken off of us.

Thanks to Wendy for that amazing surprise suite-upgrade at the Davenport Hotel :)

Bryan Saftler, you took a lot of time and effort off my hands by mixing our party music, setting it up and making sure it flowed right through the night. It was perfect

Frank ensured all of the kids were dressed, being helpful and were ready to go on time while mom/wife took care of primping me. Thank you, you were all a very special addition to our day! I'll never forget the joke you boys tried to play on me before the ceremony too (sorry, I can’t be fooled).

Amber Halpin took amazing photos (engagement and wedding) and was too much fun along the way!

Aunt Patti, Kris, Mom, April and Alicia all threw me beautiful, fun and memorable bridal showers!

Pastor Matt performed a lovely and happy ceremony and we were glad that we were able to have a friend and confidant do it, even out-of-town.

Travis Widman and Bill Kabasenche took care of the big logistical issue of transporting all of our gifts and other items back to our house in Pullman- thank you for taking that issue on with ease!

And to the rest of our beloved guests: your presence there was more important than you will ever know! You created the memories of the most important day of our lives and we will never forget you. We can still remember each of your faces at the ceremony as we stood on the stage, as we served you communion and as we walked down the aisle and out the church. We remember laughing and talking with you at the party, reliving stories and toasting with you, and will never forget the fun of dancing with you! You made it magical. Thank you for driving the distance, through the winter weather to be there. Thank you to everyone who joined us the next day in our suite for more conversation, we had a blast and were grateful to have the chance.


We look forward to the many more years we get to share with you all as a married couple!


hugs and kisses on our two-year anniversary
Amanda

Firstly, apologies to those of you who keep up with our blog for this extremely late entry. We have been having lots of internet issues over the last month. And before that, well, I guess we were just being lazy. :)
Also, due to the internet constraints I am not able to post any pictures- sorry! I will keep trying...



Around here everyone referrers to December as the Festive season, as most people recognize Christmas (or gather with their families during that holiday anyway) and the New Year. As Americans, our Festive Season is a little longer of course, with the addition of Thanksgiving. We were amazed and warmed at how well we could actually replicate our American traditions in Botswana this year!!

Thanksgiving

On Thanksgiving day we traveled about 40k north to Etsha 6 where the next closest volunteer, Alison White lives. She planned a traditional Thanksgiving feast at her house to include us, 2 other volunteers, 3 other American students she met who were living nearby and several local friends, as a cultural exchange. Each volunteer brought a traditional American dish and Alison (somehow!) was able to order a whole turkey in the city of Maun and transport it the 3.5 hours home! We arrived around 2pm with our sweet baked pumpkin, homemade rolls and apple crisp and helped prepare the feast. We couldn’t believe how well everyone replicated our favorite Thanksgiving foods with what is available to us here and what was sent from home! Alison managed to cook the turkey PERFECTLY in the erratic Botswana oven (there is no temperature control in ovens here).

After all was said and done in that blazing hot kitchen, the food was paraded around the living room for the Americans to gawk, squeal and clap at and take too many photos of. There was a thrilling sense of pride filling her tiny living room. A sense of camaraderie and even patriotism that only an American holiday of gluttonous feasting can do for a group of ex-patriot 20-somethings living in Africa! We set up the buffet and surrounded the bird with a green bean casserole, apple-nutty-delicious stuffing, sweet baked pumpkin, whipped potatoes, cranberry sauce, rolls and gravy- amazing! After this buffet was set out Alison gave a small speech to our new national friends about why we celebrate Thanksgiving and the traditions thereof. Then, going around the room, everyone said what they were thankful for this year. It was beautiful.

Later on, we discussed the more modern traditions of Thanksgiving, including: the Thanksgiving Day fast, methods and timing of fitting the most food in your stomach, the Thanksgiving Evening Graze, and popular Thanksgiving Leftovers dishes. We rounded out the evening with pumpkin pie and my apple crisp.

Though each our own families’ Thanksgiving meals are of course our favorites, we could all agree that Thanksgiving dinner had NEVER tasted so good! You come to understand the laws of relativity much better when you live in a developing country :).

CAMP

The following day Allison, Heidi and I (Amanda) took to the road with 27-13 to 16 year olds from 6 different schools to Tsodilo Hills (Mountain of the Gods) to lead G.L.O.W. Camp. G.L.O.W. Club is a world-wide leadership club for teenagers which stands for “Girls and Guys Leading Our World”. The camp aimed to teach Leadership and Life Skills (a teaching buzzword in this area of the world) over the course of 6 days and 7 nights. What a hard job! We worked at least 15 hours a day, with the help of 6 other teachers, rounding up kids, leading sessions, playing games, making sure the food was being prepared and forcing them to bed. But after all the hard work, it was well worth it. And it was nice to finally see a change in elevation and lots of trees. I lead a session on Assertiveness and Self Confidence and helped Alison and Heidi on a Gender Equality session.

I had a really great time leading Assertiveness and Confidence, as I got to see the girls and boys think through the meanings and application in their lives as leaders. The real-life situations that I posed to them in activities made them think through why assertiveness is important in protecting their rights and dignity and that of others. This topic is not something that is normally taught in the home, due to the culture of subordinating youth in this part of the world. Many Americans would probably be appalled at what children are made to do- without question- by (any) adult here. However, one has to remember that it is not necessarily bad- it’s just different. And besides, they would probably be appalled at how kids are babied in America.

The gender equality session was a little rougher since this is a big issue Botswana is still grappling with. They are culturally a patriarchal society and for a long time multiple concurrent partnerships (cheating) has been condoned amongst men. The male teachers and even some of the male students held to these ideas to some degree during discussions and activities without shame, even in front of their female counterparts. There were many strong opinions that we had to respectfully listen to on the topics of cheating, transactional sex and gender roles. As independent, strong American Women, this was of course very offensive and we could only do our best to turn these into teaching and critical thinking moments.

Overall, the camp was an extremely positive experience for all and the kids had a great time. They especially enjoyed the American games! Junior school is such a critical time for kids in Botswana and the hope is that these teens can use the things they learn at camp to affect and lead their peers in their respective schools.

During this week Todd got to go to the National World AIDS day celebration in Palapye where he got to hang out in a tent with the president and hear him make a speech. Here are some photos of the event.

CHRISTMAS

When we returned to Gumare we were surprised with FOUR packages from home, and 2 more packages came the following week- Thanks family and Travis Whidman! On this VERY exciting day we also were shocked to find that we could buy a mini Christmas tree and decorations at a shop here in our own little village. So on December 3 we opened boxes of wrapped gifts and stalkings and 2 care packages (sorry Travis, we didn’t wait until Christmas :)), put up our tree, hung the decorations and placed all of our wonderful gifts under our tree. It was a very happy day and a reminder that Christmas was approaching.

A Christmas candle from April

Homemade stalkings from Isabelle and Sophia, my nieces

The tree

The finale

Wow!

It’s strange to live in a place like this in December, because everything in our environment tells us that it is summer and nothing points to Christmas. The weather is painfully hot, the smell of barbecues (known as Braii) hangs in the air and it is light out for at least 14 hours a day. In addition to not being able to bundle up in layers of clothes, there is no commercializing of the coming holiday to be seen- no Starbucks eggnog latte’s in Christmas cups, no lights being strung on houses, no village decorations and Christmas trees, no hustle and bustle at shopping centers. There was also no family to make plans with and no Advent services to attend at church. And we have grown very much accustomed to not keeping track of time… I only generally know of what month I am in at any given point :). So there was really nothing to remind us that we were in the Advent season and Christmas was coming soon- until of course, this blessed day that Christmas joy came in boxes!

We decided to spend Christmas day trying to make a nice dinner at our house and invited Alison to enjoy it with us. We were given a cut of our Kgosi’s (chief's) cow (we think as a thank you for coming to his daughter’s wedding that month?) so I thought it would be nice to try to dry-roast this 5kg hunk of meat. So Christmas morning came after the traditional opening of one gift the evening before and a sleepless night of sugar plums dancing through our heads, and we awoke to a Christmas miracle! No- not snow. But cloudy, cool skies and eventually rain! The day before it had been 104 degrees, so you can image our excitement at this wonderful break from the heat. We opened stalkings, made some good ol’ fashioned hot chocolate sent from April’s family, and tore into our gifts. We were like kids opening Christmas presents at Disney Land! It was very exciting. After hours of reveling in these blessings we had a traditional Christmas breakfast from my side of the family- homemade overnight cinnamon rolls and scrambled eggs (mmm) while listening to my new Glee! Soundtracks (Thanks Kris and Doug!).

Allison came over later with some homemade eggnog (amazing!) and one of my GLOW kids came over to give us a gift and visit. We also delivered some M&M cookies we made for friends, explaining the Christmas cookie tradition that many of us embrace. After dinner we finished off the evening with more eggnog and a Christmas movie on the laptop...which we all fell asleep to half-way through.

It was the merriest Christmas we could imagine in Botswana, thanks mostly to all the cheer friends and family sent our way!