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