Monthly Archives: February 2016

Home Sweet Home 2.0

This post is mostly to share photos of my new home. I love it here. My house already feels like home. My village is easy to walk in and my area is safe. I love my neighbors and my school. My placement is such a good fit for me. I’m so excited to start fresh here in Kanye/Kim.

I even have a real mattress coming as soon as we find transport for it from the school to my house. The current mattress is just like the one in the kghetto, just 3 inches of foam. Hopefully I get a new fridge soon. This one won’t freeze anything, so I actually use the freezer as a fridge and the fridge as slightly cooler than room temp storage. It’s a really old fridge that has definitely seen better days. I just hope my request for a new one doesn’t take too long. But, hey, I have a fridge for the first time in 3 months!

I’ve decided there’s no way I can handle a pet, so I named the lizard that keeps running around my house North. I really don’t mind him, except for the lizard poop he leaves under my dining room table.

I’m hoping to have a post for you next weekend about my school! Love you all!

Drum Roll, Please

I want to start this off by telling you all how sorry I am that I’ve been so bad about blogging. I am recommitting to blogging and am planning on a post a week from here on out! So here goes this week! The next one will be out sometime between the 13th and 18th, I promise!

It’s official! I have a new site. I’m moving to a place called Kanye. That’s right, like Kanye West. Just the name gives it an air of classy sophistication, am I right? As should be expected, I’ve already nicknamed it Kim and am considering getting a kitten and naming it Saint North. If you know what I’m referencing, I’m sorry, no one should have to waste precious brain space with this information. Kanye is the antithesis of Ralekgetho. So I’m anticipating a little culture shock when I move there. Although, it will be after 6 weeks of staying in the capital, so it may not be that crazy.

I’ve been to Kanye a few times. It’s very near Ralekgetho and I occasionally did grocery shopping there. But I really haven’t explored it. Ralekgetho is barely classified as a village with its population of only 400; Kanye is barely considered a village because of its population of 55,000. It’s the second largest village in Botswana. So naturally, it has many different resources and will come with many different challenges.

Instead of working in a primary school as I was in Ralekgetho, I’ll be working in a senior secondary school. SSS’s only have form 4 and form 5 students, so 11th and 12th grades. Due to the education system here, my students will range in age from 16-24 years old. I’m definitely going to have to hide my age here. Instead of working with 160 students like my primary school in Ralekgetho, I’ll be working with 1,600 students. My job description and projects have also changed quite a bit. I will be teaching guidance classes and holding office hours for counseling students. I’ll also be running most of the clubs that the guidance office is in charge of. As I haven’t started yet, I’m not completely sure of my full job description, but I officially move on the 13th and start work on the 15th. So I’ll know more about the school then.

In Ralekgetho, I was able to work at the clinic and basically see everyone in the village on a weekly basis. In Kanye, I doubt I will ever meet everyone in the village. Instead of an hour hitch hike to my grocery store, I have a thirty minute walk and the grocery store is actually way nicer and has more food options for all my crazy dietary restrictions. There are also many places to explore and hills! So I won’t just be in a hot dry desert anymore. There are actually green things in Kanye!

My house is also going to be an amazing change! Instead of a two and a half where everyone knows when I’ve left my bedroom because the only door goes to the outside, I’m going to have a two bedroom house with only a normal front and back door! No having to go outside to enter my kitchen, living room, or go to the bathroom! That’s right, I have indoor plumbing and running water!!! And from what I heard, it goes out far less than in neighboring villages! So that’s exciting. I also have a geyser, so I can have hot water and, wait for it, ELECTRICITY! That’s right, I went from what people call real Peace Corps to what people call Posh Corps. Not that I really believe there is such a thing as Posh Corps. Just because you don’t have the challenge of no fridge, electricity, or running water, doesn’t mean you don’t have other challenges. So yeah, I’m going to have a really great house and I’m super excited! I’m most excited to have privacy. In my old house, my landlords were constantly watching me, going through my garbage, waking me up (purposefully), complaining about my Setswana, and overall being extremely nosy in my American perspective. So I’m glad to have more privacy and not feel constantly judged!

That’s pretty much all I know about Kanye so far. I’m going to visit tomorrow, Sunday the 7th, to move in more of my stuff. I probably won’t write another post until after the 15th. That way I’ll have more info about the school to talk about. Ooh, I forgot what will be the most impactful part of the move for all of you, I’M GOING TO HAVE WIFI!! I have to learn some self control with that, so my plan is to limit how much messaging and Facebook that I do and then video chat with people more. So on the weekends, I’ll reserve some time to video chat. If you would like to Skype, FaceTime, or Facebook video chat one day, let me know. I probably won’t have it set up until some time in March though.

Lots of love from Bots! 💜