The last few weeks have flown by- I’m still reeling at the shock of it being nearly halfway through November. What happened? Fortunately the increased speed of things has been for a good reason- I’m enjoying work (and feeling inspired), and having a great deal of fun with my friends. For Halloween, which nobody celebrates here except us crazy Peace Corps Volunteers, I ventured to a village called Bobonong to meet up with a bunch of my friends. We had a braai (the Setswana word for barbeque), dressed up in some hilarious costumes- the Hamburglar, Bam Bam, a sumo wrestler… and many more- and I’m sure the neighbors thought we were genuinely insane. But it was a great time. On the way back to Mochudi, our bus was stopped at a checkpoint- apparently the area around Bobonong has been known for hoof and mouth disease, thus people’s shoes are checked in hopes of not spreading contamination to other parts of the country- and as I stepped off of the bus I noticed a moth larger than my hand. It was beautiful- grayish in color with large eye-like circles on the wings, covered in a delicate layer of fur- but it still caught me off guard as I had never imagined a moth so huge. As I looked around I saw another one… and another one… and suddenly realized they were EVERYWHERE, nearly covering the ground. Most of them were dead, but some were still stirring. I looked out over the main road and saw another collection of them, most of them crushed by the passing cars. The whole scene seemed like an eerie experience out of a horror movie- I tried to imagine all of them in flight, but the thought was a little to creepy to entertain for long.
This last weekend my good friend Chandni’s parents came to town and invited me to meet up with them in Gabs to celebrate Diwali, an Indian festival of lights. We ate at one of the few Indian restaurants in the country, and I can’t even begin to describe the meal- we had several courses (too many to count) that had so many different and unique flavors and textures- it was some of the best food I’ve ever had. Compared to my usual attempts at cooking for one, eating an amazing meal with great company was a dream come true.
On the work end of things, I’ve been having a great time. I’m becoming more comfortable working with the kids, and I can tell they’re getting more comfortable with me as well. In the beginning none of them would talk to me (most of them are very shy, and especially so around foreign strangers), but now I feel like I’m really getting to know them better. I’m working with the younger kids daily to help them learn to read stories in English (most of them can read a little bit, but not well). I’ve also been doing more on the administrative side of things- learning to write proposals, helping with accounting, writing some of the content for our upcoming website- so I’ve been busy and learning a lot. All is well.
