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Thoughts on white text versus grey text for the posts? Have been getting some complaints about visibility. Also, please check out www.3rdgoal.blogspot.com and let me know what you think! Its a website I'm trying to get off the ground that will let volunteers write mini lesson plans to kids back home in the US. Not much there right now but its going to get going!

Rata Thata,
Claire 

A Thank You To Tech

Dear Technology,

I think it is high time I tip my hat to you and my only regret is that it took me so long to do so. You see, I was one of "those people"; those people who thought that maybe the world was getting ahead of itself, that we needed to spend less time in front of screens and more time running out of screen doors and into the wild blue yonder, that we needed to slow down and stop focusing so much of our energy into technological advance, and maybe I was right in thinking all of those things... but then I left America.

You see not everyone in the world has gotten to the point that we, as Americans, have reached. Not everyone knows how to use a computer, or turn one on, or even what one looks like. Not everyone has a television, or spends all their time attached to a game console or a black berry, or an iPad. Sometimes the true beauty of technology can only come out when you live in a place where it is not an overwhelming presence. Kind of like how you don't know how wonderful a lake is until you are in a place that doesn't have any water.

At this point in the letter I would like to introduce you to some people: these are the kids at the village preschool and twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I go in and teach their class for about an hour. To give you an idea of how that works, let me fill you in on what we learned today.

Today I went in and we reviewed parts of the body by singing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" a few times in English and then singing the Setswana equivalent called "Tlohko." We played a game that went over body parts not mentioned in either song and then danced around the classroom for a bit.  After that, I brought out my laptop, and used a wonderful little piece of software that allows me to download youtube videos, to show them an educational clip that has pictures of different animals and their young, with a lady that has a British accent, stating out loud each one. I played the video through once and then on the second go around had them act out each animal around the room and make the noise that, that animal makes. In order to really push the point home I plugged in my hard drive, and showed them the beginning scene of "The Lion King", pausing occasionally to ask them which animals were on the screen and what noises they made.

This is what makes technology beautiful, this is what makes technology wonderful, this is what technology should be used for. Sure, I could have taught the entire class without the use of my laptop, and in previous years, and in different sites currently, that is what any PCV would have had to do. The kids still would have learned and they still would have had a good time, but they wouldn't have seen an animated version of their country (I'm pretty sure the setting of The Lion King is a mix between Botswana and Tanzania.) And when I teach them about fish on Thursday, if I didn't have access to technology I wouldn't be able to show them a clip from "Finding Nemo" or even a picture of what a clown fish looks like.

If I didn't have technology I wouldn't be able to skype with my friends and family at home, but more importantly I wouldn't be able to set up a skype conversations between 4th graders here and 4th graders in the US. I wouldn't be able to check my facebook, but I also wouldn't be able to help a co-worker at the clinic sign up for online classes. I wouldn't be able to write this blog, and I also wouldn't be able to write www.3rdgoal.blogspot.com which is the other blog I run for classrooms of kids in the US to learn about Botswana.

So thank you technology, thank you for helping me educate, communicate, and postulate these types of thoughts. I haven't even touched all the many wonders you accomplish when it comes to health care or science or travel, but we will save that for another time. 

Love, Claire

P.S. Thank you also for creating things like spaghetti seasoning in a pouch that can be sent to me along with ipod speakers, cumin, crystal light, a day planner and a wonderful card from fabulous people like my cousin Alex. He is the shiz nit and I wish him many many fat cakes. :)

Hot Showers and Sunglasses

So I was thinking, and I came up with a really good idea (which happens more often than you would think.) Anyways, my idea was that every time someone sends me a care package, I am going to post a picture of me posing with some of its contents. This way I can give an awesome shout out to all you fabulous people who send me care packages, and I can also entice everyone else to send me stuff too! But really, I want this to be more of a thank you to those that take the time to send me packages, I know it isn’t cheap, and yall are awesome.

The first shout out goes to my good friend Rune! Thank you so much for the candy, magazines, arts and crafts and bad ass sunglasses! Your wedding was dope, your service to our country is honorable and you are the bomb diggity. May your life be full of many fat cakes.

I know there have been a ton of packages prior to this one so I also want to thank Mom and Dad, Aunt Martha, Grandy and Grandpa, Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Beth and Uncle Bill, Mom and Dad again, and Mom, Dad, Zoe and Adam. If I have forgotten someone, please message me and let me know, it was not intentional, and I am thankful to all of you.

Moving on, I know everyone is wondering how IST went, so here is the scoop home skillets. I was in Gaborone for close to two weeks in order to attend In-Service Training. What IST entails is a lot of recap of what we went over in PST as well as additional language lessons, information on filling out paper work for Peace Corps, and a few insightful lectures on grant applications, and possible programs we can run in our communities. The more important thing though was that I got to see all my wonderful Bots 12  group members, and see how their lives were going. It seems that for the most part everyone is doing alright. There have been issues with housing, and some problems with organizations or counterparts, but to some extent that can be expected from our first few months in country. 

Can we take a moment to be shocked that in about a month I will have been here for half a year...?

So we partied like rock stars, ate food we didn't have to prepare ourselves, used toilets, and sat in the glorious hot showers for hours on end. I also had a chance to jump in the pool a few times which was fan-fricken-tastic since I miss large bodies of water. My only sadness was that the pool was not big enough to accommodate an 8+ and that Botswana doesn't have a rowing team anyways. I joined my first fantasy football tournament, which I am super pumped about. I think the majority of us aren't exactly what you would call "football fanatics" but the trash talking alone should be worth it.

After all was said and done we bid farewell to everyone until MST (next June) and promised we would do our best to get out to each other's sites. I'm going to miss the piss out of every single member of Bots 12, but I am really happy to be home in my own space. I didn't quite realize how much I love my house until I had been away from it for an extended period of time. There is a ton of stuff to tell you about the three visitors I had last weekend, as well as all the new projects and planing that is going to happen over the next four months, so I promise to post again soon and keep everyone in the loop. :)

Rata Thata, 

Claire