It hit me yesterday how much my life has changed in the past
couple of months. I thought you guys might get a kick out of some of the
comparisons:
-Saturday night 6 months ago: go out to the bar/ a party with
some friends, maybe find a place to sing a little karaoke, have a few drinks,
come home around 2am, and go to bed.
-Saturday night Bots: go to the local bar, have one beer (two
if I am feelin fancy), walk over to Nate’s house to watch him kill a chicken,
get home before dark (around 6:30pm), watch a Disney movie in bed, and go to
sleep
-Taking a walk 6 months ago: head out with my dog and go
where ever I want, generally get ignored by anyone I didn’t know, maybe wave to
the neighbors.
-Taking a walk in Bots: walk somewhere along the main road,
get constantly pointed at by small children and cat called by drunken men;
attempt Setswana but then switch to English when people only laugh in reply.
-Food 6 months ago: I could eat anything under the sun
depending on what I was craving. Thai, Chinese, Greek, Italian, seafood, sushi,
burger, anything I wanted and get it within an hour of wanting it.
-Bots food: I can have anything I want as long as I want some
combination of chicken or beef, rice or noodles or sorgum, carrots, potatoes,
onions and tomatoes. Now that I am a vegetarian you can exclude the beef and
chicken.
-Tactics to get people to show up to your party 6 months ago:
tell them there will be a dj and a keg
-Tactics to get people to show up to your party in Bots: tell
them you have a toilet and some floor space to crash on
-Things that excited me 6 months ago: leaving for Botswana, a
night on the town, dressing up for a date, family game night, a trip to the
cottage, a new movie coming out
-Things that excite me in Bots: cheese, toilets, hot water,
internet access.
-Concerns 6 months ago: what am I going to do after college,
how am I going to maintain my relationship, how am I going to get enough money
for graduate school, how am I going to find a good job.
-Concerns in Bots: how am I going to get to my shopping
village to get food, if the water goes out do I have enough stored up, how many
kettles of hot water do I want to heat in order to take a warm bath, how long
can I go without a bath before the locals start noticing.
-Ways to blow off steam 6 months ago: put on my favorite
tunes, dance around the kitchen while cooking up something tasty
-Ways to blow off steam in Bots: put on my favorite tunes,
dance around the kitchen while cooking up something tasty.
The reason I threw in the last one was because at the end of
the day, I may be changing but I am also still very much the same person I was
when I left the states. My physical expectations may have changed, and my day
to day needs have certain changed, but the things that make me happy, and the
moments that bring joy to my life and a smile to my face, are still very much
the same. In fact many things that wouldn’t have brought a giant smile to my
face (toilets) now do, because my expectations for how I function are
different.
My life is both significantly more simple and significantly more
complicated all in one go. I think something important to remember while
serving in Peace Corps, not everything has to change, and not everything will.
Much love,
Tlotlo
Hi Claire! Another great post. Looking forward to The Skype chat tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteLove you,
M/D
Somehow I just KNEW the blowing off steam one would be the same before i even read the Bots one! I can't imagine it any different for you! <3 you girly.
ReplyDeleteGood morning how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because trough them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately it’s impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Botswana? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Botswana in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Calle Valencia,39
28903 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez
Hey Emilio,
DeleteMake take me a few days, but I will try and get a letter out to you within the next week or so! Hope this message finds you well.
~Claire