Breaking the Ice

The second day of Orientation moved pretty slowly. Again, the program started about a half hour late, but we are used to it by now. One of the directors even acknowledged this phenomenon of ‘Africa time’, as she said “you know what, next year I’m just not going to put any times on the schedule; things will happen as they.”

My dorm building; its called A-block

After Orientation, the gang and I were moved into our permanent housing for the semester, which is still in the graduate village, but we’re now spread out across different buildings. The Ethernet jack in my new room was broken, but somehow with a pencil and some elbow grease I got everything connected.

We had a nice evening planned, as we were supposed to get a tour of the city and then have a nice outdoor traditional dinner with local music and dance. The tour ended up just being a trip to the mall and then the dinner was cancelled due to the weather, so people scrambled to make new plans. The other Mac student, Derek, and I ended up grabbing fast food at the mall and a lot of others followed suit.

View from the courtyard of the graduate village.
Robin and Derek on the bench.

A sign on the outside wall of a dorm building; part of
health and wellness campaign on campus

Back at school, one of the girls had a great idea of playing some pickup soccer at the university’s sports complex. We heard that there we lights, so we headed over around 8pm to beat the heat. When we got to the complex, there was a group of guys playing basketball, and I thought it could be a unique opportunity to meet local people while easing culture shock by playing a sport that I know and love. I was hesitant to ditch the soccer game, but I couldn’t resist. So another American student, Dexter, and I got in on a game of 4-on-4 while the rest of the group set up soccer. Basketball was a blast; it was exactly what I needed. It felt so good to break a sweat and the guys we were playing with were quite skilled and so we played some great games. One of the guys played for the university and he told Dexter and I about a casual league we could join at the school, or that we could even try out for the varsity team if we wanted. The lights went out on the basketball courts eventually, but not before I met some cool people and had a great time. I jumped into the soccer game late and tried my best, but I have a major deficiency in foot-eye coordination and so I struggled to say the least.

After we got back and showered, Derek and a German student and I decided to check out the campus bar. It was around the corner from the graduate block and seemed to be a popular spot, so we gave it a try. It turned out to be a great time. Everyone was incredibly friendly and you couldn’t take two steps without a local student introducing himself and asking all about America and what we think about Africa. (And beers were only $1.50)

There were some big shots at the bar as well. I got introduced to a guy named Percy who apparently is the best basketball player in the entire country (I can already see T. Joe leaving a comment asking if it was Percy Harvin). He played in the states for 10 years and now he dominates at the college level in Botswana. He invited me to play some pickup ball with him the next day and I might take him up on it. The director of sports (equivalent of an athletic director?) was at the bar as well and the three of us were introduced to him. He said he could get us into club soccer or basketball or things like that, and so he may prove to be a valuable contact.

Safe sex is such a pervasive message that this piece of
art was on display at the local museum.
(A condom is being passed)

The next morning (which is this morning for me) a smaller group of us got a true tour of the city, as we went to the local museum, bus station and got real Botswana food for lunch. Then, for about $1.50 each our van got to drive all around the local game reserve. I could try to explain it here, but I think the pictures will do it better justice. Animals were everywhere and they were all species that I had never seen in person before.

We then came back to campus and got time to rest before we go out for the night. Our program director, Phoebe, is throwing a party at her apartment, which should be a blast, and then a group of us are heading to the campus nightclub to hopefully break the ice with a few more local students.

Heading the cafeteria for dinner (which means chicken and rice)...