Excitement

In a little-mentioned perk, I discovered that I have 3 vials of nerve agent antidote and some sort of training gas mask packaged in the corner of my office! This is left over from the last (more important) guy to have my desk, but still. When that nerve gas attack hits Gaborone, I (and 2 of my friends) will be sure to carry on in the name of public health.

In perhaps the most exciting development of the week, a New Yorker arrived! To be precise, the Aug. 21 issue arrived on Aug. 23, all packaged in a cute little DHL wrapper. I was SHOCKED!!! Rachel called up the NY subscription people and apparently it somehow didn't cost anything to forward it to Botswana until renewal (?!) so she tried it. Even though every single line of the address had a mistake (Garbone, anyone?) it still made it. Given the in-country mail process, not to mention the international transfers, I would have bet a lot of money against that outcome. So there is hope for all of those lovely things I am sure you have all sent me.

Mass Entertainment

There is one Botswanan TV station (BTV), with daily news and programs in Setswana, a few South African programs, lots of BBC reports on Africa, American sitcoms and dramas (all about a year old), plus music videos, Sesame Street, WWE, and huge doses of Dr. Phil, who is on EVERY NIGHT without commercials. I also get 1-3 South African stations (variable depending on the day; my stations switch by the hour with no rhyme or reason, sometimes in the middle of programs). I occasionally get a movie channel or CNN, but I can turn on the TV at any time, day or night, secure in the knowledge that 2-3 of my 5-6 stations will be showing a soccer game. I mean, who could wish for Gilmore Girls when I have the chance to watch Arsenal play for the third time this week?
Movie theaters (2 in Gabs) are filled with American films, just weeks to a few months behind U.S. release dates. There’s assigned seating for popular shows. Popcorn comes completely unbuttered and unsalted. There’s no butter option at all, but there is a whole range of flavored salt and seasonings to add yourself, including a “vinegar salt” that is perhaps my favorite thing I’ve eaten in Botswana. I seriously considered absconding (a very common word here) with the shaker, but have decided to experiment and try to make my own instead! (Even making tapioca pudding here is a process that begins with overnight soaking of the tapioca and includes much experimentation, so another kitchen experiment will be good fore me.)

Setswana

I figured out why I’m called “madame” so often. In Setswana, to be polite when addressing someone, you throw in “mma” for a woman and “rra” for a man ALL the time. It’s more polite, for example, to say “Dumela, mma” and not just “Dumela” to greet a woman. (I even heard someone say “Dumela Mma Reception” to greet a receptionist this morning!) I really only speak English, but I always say things like “Nice to meet you, rra.” Rra and mma are translated to English as “sir” and “madame,” which explains why I am called madame so often.

Pula! Pula!

The currency here is the Pula, which means rain in Setswana. Cents are called thebe, or raindrops. Pula! Pula! (rain! rain!) is also an all-purpose victory cry, kind of a “Let’s Go, Botswana” (similar to the chanted “U.S.A”) used during football games or around Independence Day. Water is a previous resource here, with desert covering most of the country in the west and south. Even in the east though, visiting rural clinics in the dry season, nearly every river bed we crossed was dry, with miles and miles (OK, kilometers and kilometers) of low scrub and patchy trees, with scattered cows, goats and donkeys. You almost never see a real spring green color here, though I’m assuming more will appear as we move into the rainy season. Right now, though, only the fancy hotels in Gabs have green gardens.
There are no lawns to mow and not much vegetation to tend (especially after a big drought last year during which it was apparently illegal to water plants). So everywhere, in cities and rural areas alike, people sweep the dirt in front of their homes and workplaces, sweeping away sticks, stones, and footprints, smoothing the red dirt.

Getting Things Done

I haven’t worked at the big Gabs hospital (yet), but as a visiting med student told me, “I can get a CT scan, but there’s no paper to print the results on.” That’s not a bad analogy for the way a lot of things seem to work here.

School

Astute CNN watcher Abbey noticed the earlier reports of snow in Johannesburg. Though I am only 4-5 hours from Joburg, we have not had snow (it never snows here), though there was a bit of frost on a couple of early mornings. I am wearing my typical cold-weather outfits, including the fleece I bought in Australia and have worn on every trip since. Also, I sent out my laundry on Saturday morning, and now on Wednesday it is still not back, so I am actually wearing a skirt, as I have no other options. It had better come back, that's all I have to say!

Every day as I walk to and from work and/or the shopping center, I have to pass through two driving "schools." And yes, I do mean "through." Driving schools just set up shop on the side of the road, in one of the more cleared dirt areas, and as best I can tell, consist of one beat-up car and a lot of move-able used-to-be-orange cones. I do occasionally see students trying to back around cones or drive in ridiculously sharp S-curves through the little obstacle courses, but a lot of the time, it's just the guy sitting there with his car or rearranging his cones. One of the schools has a sign advertising "Defensive Driving," but I'm not sure the students ever leave the side of the road and the cones are not exactly aggressive, so the jury is out on whether that's an appropriate moniker. As a pedestrian, I have to walk right through the middle of the learning course (or walk in the road, which would not be a good idea). Of course, if I do get hit by a new Botswanan driver, he will only
be going 3-4 miles per hour, so I think I should be OK. I'm assuming those cars have to be stick shift, so I was actually thinking this morning that maybe I'll take a lesson myself some day.

Speaking of lessons, I am trying to infiltrate the University of Botswana, as I'm sure it would be very interesting, and probably a good way to meet more people. UB is Botswana's first and only college/university (it opened in the mid-1980s), though it does have three branches around the country. My original goal was to meet Botswanan med students, since this worked great when I was in South Africa, but I quickly discovered that UB does not have a med school, and that in fact there is not a single med school in the entire country. There is a relatively small 2-year program at UB for pre-med, from which a few top students every year can go on to schools in South Africa and Australia and Ireland, etc., , but I'll let you speculate about brain drain. It puts a little bit of a different spin on the whole TB/AIDS epidemic here to realize this.

I am, therefore, attempting to audit a graduate-level history course at UB. The graduate-level seminars are in the evenings, which fits with my work schedule. I tried to apply through appropriate channels via email, but nobody responded
(big surprise), so I am showing up tonight at what I hope is the first meeting of "Introduction to Economic History of Africa" (yeah, small topic, I know) and we will see what transpires! "Political and Economic Aspects of
Imperialism" and "A History of Religion in Africa" are my backup courses, offered over the next two nights, but they don't fit as well with my schedule. I am really not sure what is going to happen, given the necessity of doing everything through proper government channels (not to mention I'm supposed to have a bachelor's degree in AFRICAN history!) but I figure it's worth a shot. If they let me register and I can pay at the regular tuition rate, it'll cost me only a few hundred dollars for the semester. I was going to take a Setswana (the local language) course at UB, but it's apparently only offered twice a year,
and not again until December. Anyway, it is sure to be an adventure. I'll let you know what happens.