Goodbye Porridge, Hello Pizza and Ice Cream

Whoa... today has been such a rush. At 9 this morning we caught the public bus from Manyana, the village that had become my home for the past month, to Gaborone, the capital city, which has malls, pizza, real bathrooms, and other white people. I never would have thought I would gawk at every "lekgoa" (as they're known in Setswana) passing by, but I am. We counted, and outside our group we'd seen 5 white people during the last month.

Despite how utterly euporic it was for us to order three pizzas, garlic bread, and chocolate ice cream here at Gaborone's Riverwalk mall, it was pretty sad to pack up and say goodbye to all my friends and family from Manyana. Last Friday we had our going away party at the school, and all our parents and some siblings came, and it was so great to see everyone together! We also got in touch with a traditional dance group from the village, and they performed in full costume at our party. We also did a group skit (which involved me playing a drunk donkey cart driver and running over a bunch of kids) and read thank-you speeches in Setswana to our parents, which was really nice even though I still couldn't understand too much of the others' speeches.

This weekend was a rush to finish all the various assignments we had for school, but that all got done yesterday - a nice relief. I spent my last night at the Mangope house talking with Labo and playing a couple games of chess together (both of which were stalemates, neither of us are very good). I'm hoping to be able to visit my family there again in April, when we spend two weeks in Gabs; there's a bus that goes straight to the Manyana bus stop down the road from house, and there's really no question I need to see Mme and Rre and Labo again before I leave for good.

We've got the day today to shop and eat in Gabs, and tomorrow we have a 3am wake-up call for the 12+ hour bus ride to Kasane, where we'll see elephants and lions and who knows what else on our 5 days of safari. And we're going to Zimbabwe to see Victoria Falls!!! Unbelievably excited for the next week, dreams comin' true right here and now. And Manyana, with its chickens and maize meal and delicious fried dough balls and all its wonderful people, will always have a special place.