Severe Culture Hangover

It’s been a while since I wrote – my life’s been pretty hectic with work and play and hosting people. I spent Thanksgiving devouring American food with friends in Selebi-Phikwe, went camping in the rain with other friends at Letsibogo Dam (near Phikwe), and coordinated with the DAC office 5 World AIDS Day Celebrations in [...]

In-Service Training

Just a quick note to mention I haven’t abandoned this blog – haha, that would be ridiculous.  At times this blog is the most accessible concrete expression of my growth and experiences during my service, and the support I’m getting from readers is always heartwarming. For the past 3 weeks I’ve been in the capital [...]

On My Way

I’m officially a Peace Corps Volunteer and headed to Francistown for good! We are traveling by little white covered truck. Another volunteer is riding up front with my office’s driver, and rather than squishing in between them with no seatbelt, I happily opted for the back of the covered truck. So here I am, protected [...]

Site Announcement!!!

“To affect the quality of each day is no small improvement in”….. Francistown! On Saturday we finally had our Site Announcement Ceremony. The quote above was what I read just before discovering my name on a large map of Botswana. The announcement was especially exciting for me because, at the request of Peace Corps staff, [...]

Shadowing Fin – Maun

Saturday morning we hitched a ride in the back of a truck to the bus junction. It saved us about an hour’s walk, and I greatly enjoyed experiencing the business-like practice of hitching in Botswana. Hitching is how some locals make their car payments; others give them out in exchange for the company. Unless the [...]

Shadowing Cont’d: The Tour

First of all – Etsha 6, our shadowing destination, was not hit by the severe flood that others villages surrounding the Okavango Delta had to unfortunately evacuate from. The flood is, however, the main reason why the rest of my bus ride consisted of repetitive cattle and grassland and no sight of crazy wild game [...]

The Plan

Here is the plan as I know it so far: Saturday, March 27th – Leave for Austin and party with my kickass friends from the Kinky Friedman Campaign (who are, without knowing them from the campaign, individually kickass). May go dancing later? Sunday, March 28th – Breakfast tacos in the morning and then later on [...]