Weekend Events

This week has been a week of sitting in a class room and listening to lectures. We have learned some really interesting things, but if I were to blog about them it would be some really dry reading. I will just write about this past weekend and other random observations and stories.

On Friday night all of the students decided to check out the night life. We went out, and were fortunate enough to locate an empty combi, that all of us could fit it. At first the driver took us to this really sketchy bar, but we quickly decided to go somewhere else. We were looking for dancing more than drinking. We ended up at a nightclub called Ozone, and it was really cool. The music was good, even though we were the only people there for the first two hours. Apparently people usually go out quite late in Gabs. After we had been at Ozone for awhile our combi driver come back to join us. It was really uncomfortable, he was a creepy individual. I guess you get that in every large city. Eventually we ended up getting rid of him, but next time we go out we are going to look for other modes of transportation!

Saturday we went to the Game Park at Mokalodi (spelling?). It was a good time, we were able to see many different kinds of animals, but it wasn’t exactly a safari. Some of the animals we saw were free to roam around for the most part, but many of the animals were still maintained for safety reasons. We were able to see elephants, zebras, kudos, impalas, cheetahs, warthogs, ostriches, rhinos, hippos and a few other smaller animals. I took some really awesome photos of the elephants, but most everything was too far away to get a good picture. At the end of the drive we ate an amazing bush lunch, it was the best food we have had here so far.

The rest of Saturday and most of Sunday passed pretty uneventfully. However, on Sunday night most of the group went to go eat at a local Asian restaurant which was good time. The service was terrible, but the at least the food was good. The conversation was good too, even though the end of the dinner ended on a bit of a lively note. We had invited a few of our new friends to join us for dinner, and you could say we had a bit of a cultural exchange. Some how the topic of women’s rights and equality came up, and a heated debate ensued. We had two males’ students from Botswana on one end of the debate, and then four of us (who happened to be females) on the other end of the debate. It was enlightening; Botswana is definitely a patriarchal society. At one point one of the guys even said, “Women belong in the kitchen!” We ended the conversation peacefully, but unfortunately we were unable to convert Kevin and Justice.

Since we haven’t done anything exciting since Sunday, I will write about a fun story from last week. Early in the week, when we finally were able to get on the computers at the library, I was walking up the stairs when I tripped . I luckily was able to catch myself, and Mary (the women I was with) and I just laughed at my klutziness. Embarrassingly enough however, the next day while walking up the stairs I tripped again. These stairs are quite tricky, or at least that’s my excuse. The second time I tripped, I wasn’t lucky enough to catch myself. I ended up flat on my back, laughing so hard I couldn’t stand up. I think I laid on the groud laughing for a full minute or so before I was able to pick myself up. I didn’t seriously hurt myself (just a scratch on my wrist), but I have since earned the nickname “klutzy”. I actually trip over things all the time here; I have become a source of entertainment. At least I make myself laugh!

That is all I have to report at this moment. It’s time to go home and relax for the evening. Tomorrow is another full day!