Livin' the Life

My last week in Mochudi passed excellently. I tried some more to teach the kids at BBM some things, such as singing "heads, shoulders, knees, and toes" (they mostly just stared at me funny). Unfortunately Mama came down with a throat infection during my last few days there, but my sister Rafilwe came to take her to the hospital and got her antibiotics. My last night at the Mantswe house was wonderful; my oldest sister Sheila came to visit with her husband and 2 kids, and then Rafilwe came with her son and brought my sister Lemo, who works in Lobatse and wasn't expecting to come home til Friday (when I left). It was like a big family reunion. My mom got out of bed and made herself up for the occasion, and we spent like an hour taking family pictures. Only McPherson, who was busy studying at UB, couldn't come home, but he and I have been talking about him coming to visit in Seattle when I go home in June! So exciting, I'd get to return the hosting favor.

On Friday I said goodbye to Mama and my favorite 1-year old Palesa (who I love regardless of whether she scribbled all over my essays) and caught the bus to Gabs. We had one lovely night in a hotel, and then the next day were rushed out to our new families in Tlokweng (a village right down the road from Riverwalk mall, kind of like a suburb). My new host parents are Mma and Rra Modumedise, and they're my youngest yet (around 40). I have an 18-year old sister Yolanda, a 14-year old brother Papi (who's a huge MJ fan and was dancing to This Is It the night I arrived), and our live-in helper girl nicknamed "Zee". It's a nice enough house but really tiny; my siblings and Zee sleep in one room, though when I cam Yolanda and Zee volunteered to sleep in the living room. I've enjoyed my time so far with the new fam, but unfortunately I only get 2 weeks with them; while the others in the group are staying in Gabs for their independent study, I'm heading on the 10th to Maun (I think). My actual internship hasn't been arranged yet, which goes to show the level of organization in the program and Bots in general, but I do know I'll be heading north, leaving my Americans behind.

In the meantime, we have an awesome schedule for these two weeks. Each morning we go on field trips to have lectures around Gabs; today we visited Parliament, and tomorrow is the meat-packing plant (a big part of Bots' economy). We have all the afternoons free, so we've been spending a lot of time eating well at the malls in Gabs, Riverwalk and Game City. Monday we went to see Alice and Wonderland, which was pretty entertaining. (Johnny Depp has an excellent moment near the end, which you'll know if you've seen it. Let's just say his head spins around.) I'm really enjoying all this delicious food that hasn't been a part of my life for 2+ months; I'm also excited to start work in Maun, as sad as it'll be to leave everyone. Until then, though, I've got the good life!