TRAINING: wk 1 and wk2 - April 24 - May 6

Apparently, these next several weeks will be the “longest 8 weeks of my life!” (according to basically every PCV I’ve met at this point)
Every Monday – Friday, from 8am-ish until 5pm-ish, we meet for language and technical training. (although lately its been more technical, less language) I have to say these aren’t the most exciting hours of my life… but I think we’re all getting through it- one day at a time…
This past weekend, however, was a real treat – all the trainees went off in pairs to visit current PCV’s and their sites. I traveled about five hours west of our village, with Bo (short for Bodhisattva!!) We shadowed Nichole and then Jenn, for five days. That just flew by…
1) *note on public transport. aghhh!
This is something I will most definitely have to adapt to and I swear, “Bo and Seema’s appreciative inquiry look at bussing it in Botswana” can be a later posting, but for now, some simple lessons I’ve learned!…
- there is no such thing as an “overcrowded” bus here – we sit on anything flat and low to the ground (or find a willing lap), stand wherever we can fit our feet
- if grandma’s chomping on sweet root and spitting it every now and then all over your leg… so be it!
- If you’re the only makoa on the bus and you want the window cracked open (on an 80 degree afternoon) just open it … and reopen it … and reopen it…
- If someone insist you’re sitting in their (un-saved) seat, then your sitting in their seat.
- If the 8am bus is “full”, wait around for the 10-o’clock bys… and if that one is “full”… wait for the 1-o’clock or hitch hike
2) Nichole’s Village
Besides the fact that her house was “pimped out” (Bo’s choice of words, though we all agreed – Nichole’s village had given her nicer furniture than we’d had in our apartments in the States), she seemed to have a comfortable connection with her community…. We met some girls from GLOW (Girls Leading all over the World) – they even danced for us! – and we ate fat cakes with her neighbor-friends.
3) Jenn’s Village
Jenn’s village was relatively larger and more spread out. On Tuesday we shadowed her at the clinic 9she works in PMTCT)… in the morning, before beginning anything, the staff sits and prays and sings – maybe it gets old after a while – but to me it was just beautiful – the singing in particular.
At one point, I was able to sit-in on some testing. A mother came in with her chronically ill baby, to get tested … it was strange because the set-up was so familiar (after HIV test counseling in the States, w/ LAAN)- but then there seemed to be so much missing (1)- risk reduction education, encouragement, compassion… there seems to be so much that can be done.
4) Looking Forward…
To me, home has always been a feeling – that only family and close friends could give me – something irreplaceable.
But… I realized, staying at Nichole’s and Jenn’s that home – that feeling – is still very much in my heart (ALL THE TIME in fact!), even here in Botswana.
And I can’t wait to build from that… cant wait to settle into my own place, fill it with cards and pictures of home in the U.S, (fill it with the smell of something yummy – hot chocolate maybe? J), meet my neighbors, play with the kids, visit the primary and secondary schools, and finally start my work- whatever it turns out to be!