out of my shell

Last night I got invited to another braai. It was for the birthday of the cousin of a friend of my friend, which may seem obscure but I’ve found those kinds of connections to be common here. And as I said before, when people throw feasts here more or less everyone is invited. The house was on the outskirts of town and so the girls were free to play music and do everything as loud as they wanted. I helped the guys grill up the meat while the girls danced in the front yard, the birthday girl the center of attention.

I went to the braai with Hanna and Robin (pictured a couple posts back) and Derek came later. It was my first time going out without a huge group of international students and it was refreshing. It is so much easier to mingle with local kids when you’re not just a face in a sea of white people. I ended up talking with the birthday girl for a while and she couldn’t have been nicer. She invited a couple other international students and I to her home village and we started planning a trip to a water park just outside of Gabs.

After the braai, Hanna and I went with some local students to another house party and that was a blast as well. It was the nicest house I had seen in Bots so far. There was a pool out back, a patio with picnic tables and an even an area with outdoor couches and coffee tables. There was a DJ in the middle of it all and the place was nearly shoulder-to-shoulder with people. I learned once again that people here really know how to celebrate.

I met a guy who had studied in New York and we talked about basketball for a while. He was a Heat fan, and I told him it was only because of Lebron, but he claimed he had family from Miami. I met another guy who was an American football fan and we had a lighthearted debate about our Super Bowl picks (Jets are taking it home, by the way). Who knew my American sports fanaticism would get me in with locals in Botswana.

I met more local people at that party than I had throughout my entire trip. I’m finally putting into action the advice from orientation of getting outside the international student shell, and it’s paid off. I met people who study in Jo-burg, and our program is taking a trip there next weekend, so they said they’d take me out. I met a guy who studied in Malaysia and now works in graphic design in Gabs. Another guy heard I play American football and wants me to come out for his club rugby team. Two ladies helped me practice my Setswana, but judging by their giggles I have a long way to go.

As the night went on it hit me that even though I was half a world from home and had been warned at length about culture shock, when you get down to it, people are the same everywhere. I had been at least somewhat guilty of thinking that since I was in such a new place, that people’s personalities and interests would be different, but I’m meeting people and finding things in common with people just as I would back home.

Some of the guys I met called me up to hang out again today and so I must have made a half-decent first impression. My dependence on the American crowd is dwindling and it feels good. Now I need to make that kind of progress on my homework for the weekend…

Grilled beef, chicken and sausage with salad and a spicy bean-pepper dish, washed down with a coke at the braai…

p.s. If anyone wants to start a save-the-Wrangler fund, it would be appreciated because a friend of mine borrowed my car back home and apparently she wasn’t quite ready to handle the mighty Jeep.