I failed to follow up on this blog for the last month or so of my stay in Bots, so here's all some of what went on in that time, followed by my conclusions about the experience. I'll post pictures once I'm state-side again, as I forgot to bring my camera. I'll probably continue to update the blog with other stuff from my life after this now that I have a new computer and a solid internet connection. So without further adieu...
On Halloween, we had a toga party to show American culture. This built on our beer pong lessons that we gave. John Belushi would be proud.
UB is so disorganized that they actually needed two weeks to take finals. IUP does the same in three days. Finals also seemed to be the only thing that students and the administration take seriously, and they were surrounded by much cramming and formality. I got the grade for my take home final, and I actually failed it. This probably has something to do with the fact that the professor did not communicate what she expected; a problem that I faced throughout my studies there. I passed the class, and I'm sure I've passed the others as well, so whatever.
During the two weeks, I had a break for a few days between finals, so rather than diligently studying, I went with Nicole to Pretoria in South Africa. We stayed at a hostel in the Hatfield area of the city, where the university is. The first night, we went out and met some international students from the university at a restaurant called Tings and Times, which had a Rasta theme to it. They had good veggie food. The next day, we went to a market and hung out at a botanical garden. The day after, we went to a cultural museum downtown, and the oldest Hindu temple in Africa. It was in a very poor part of town, and really drove home the shocking disparity of places like South Africa and Botswana. These countries really present an image of prosperity, but there is a large segment of the population that never sees it. The difference between the lavish mall that I saw the first afternoon after we got there, and that area was too stark to believe.
The last thing we did before we returned to Botswana was go to the Voortrekker monument outside of town. It looks like a citadel on a giant hill, and it's kind of strange to visit in post-Apartheid South Africa, since there are parts that celebrate the victories over native peoples by the pioneering Dutch voortrekkers. It was kind of weird.
Final Thoughts: Here's a lot of what I've learned about Botswana, Africa, myself, and pretty much anything else from my 4 1/2 months.
Africa is super interesting!: I'd certainly hope so, since it is the focus of my studies. The experience there has certainly been positive in the sense that it has only whetted my appetite for knowledge about Africa, its culture, politics, and people.
Botswana is not cheap: The cost of living is made high by a lack of farming, among other things.
Botswana and Africa in general are challenging: On a personal level, this came with frustration with classes, the school, and the general bureaucracy and inefficiency of Botswana. There were more than a couple days where I went to my room in the evening thoroughly sick of the place. On a grander level, this refers the fact that I don't really know what I want to do with my Pan-African studies education. I'm overwhelmed with what I've learned, as well as the overall experience, and I'm not sure of what I want next. I do know that I don't want to work for some organizations like the IMF and World Bank (Yay, structural adjustment!), so I guess that's a start. Right?
Rastas are cool: I learned traditional drumming from a Zimbabwean Rastafarian in Botswana. Yeah, be jealous.
Africa is scary: HIV/AIDS is big in Southern Africa, which is scary. People try to cure it by raping virgins and babies, which is scary. Violence is prevalent in many cultures, which is scary. Even Batswana, who pride themselves on a peaceful culture, do get a huge kick out of bar fights, and are extremely casual in their views on rape. Some countries have had continual violence for so long, that people just forget about them, which is sad and scary. Some of those countries have little to no functioning government to speak of, scary. Hippos are dangerous, which is scary.
Africa is fun: If I sound like I'm badmouthing, I'm not. Those are real issues, and I do want to emphasize that my time there was overall positive and fun. I traveled quite a bit on a fairly limited budget, got to taste new foods and beer, see lots of animals, meet fantastic people, and generally have a good time. Seeing Mosi-oa-Tunya and Johannesburg in person was unreal. Trying Chibuku and mopane worms were unreal. And I've made friends that I will keep in touch with for ages.
Stoplights are "robots": Hookah is "hubbly bubbly", "that side" is always the way to indicate direciton, blah blah blah is "whatwhatwhat", and "eish!" is an appropriate and expressive interjection.
Race, as we know it, is not real: I was made acutely aware of my different-ness every day. It was pretty much impossible to avoid reminders of it. However, skin color and nose shape only served as a brief and superficial reminder. The real differences were in cultural practices and knowledge. And this is why racism is so stupid. Hating a race is hating nothing more than appearance, which is sad and pointless.
Not everything in academia needs an African version: I learned about African Philosophy and African Feminism in my time in Botswana, and frankly I didn't like either. They missed the point of these subjects, and tried to make consolations for Africa in their application. In the case of philosophy, this came out as condescending and pointless. My professors seemed aware of this, and were more in favor of modifying existing subjects and systems, rather than trying to reinvent everything. Africa is different, but it is still people, and with tweaking, these subjects work just fine for African academics.
I'm self-centered: Living in Botswana made me realize that I'm not as chill as I thought, and I do look out for number one. It's not entirely a bad thing, but I'm definitely not as humble and giving as I would like to think.
I am naturally likable: Whether it was getting free whiskey from the bartender at hostel in Joburg, or getting the most tough-guy posturing gangsta I met (who had two tear drop tattoos below his left eye, but also happened to be a nursing major and was in the school chorus) to like me. I'm not as much of an awkward homeschooler as a I used to be.
I'm very definitely Western: I have always liked to think of myself as a "citizen of the world" or a "third culture kid", but that was because I'd never actually lived in a place like Botswana. I actually caught myself talking kind of down-homey as an unconscious defense mechanism. Seriously, though. I caught myself not liking things because the were too different and didn't make sense to me. I didn't know I could be so ethnocentric! Fun!
Chuck Palahniuk rules your face: I read several of his books while at UB, and it's true.
This cover the basic, at least. Post questions if you want, and I can add to this. I'll have pictures up in January.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
It's Been a While
Sorry it took me so long to write a new post, but the internet was acting goofy last week, and I haven't had that much to write about lately.
Botswana's national elections were held on Friday, and the results were announced last night. Unsurprisingly, the BDP won by a lot, but some interesting things still happened. The BCP, formerly the third largest party in Botswana, became the official opposition in Parliament, with 5 seats out of (unless this changed with the election cycle) 57. This is pretty big considering the party was founded in 1998, only had one MP in Parliament going into the election, and the BNF has been the main opposition for a while. The change is definitely due in part to the internal conflicts in the BNF, which weakened the party a lot in the leadup to the election. Also noteworthy is the fact that the Minister of Education didn't keep his job. It made a lot of people here excited, and many flooded out of the dorms in Vegas to cheer this result.
I've been vegetarian for about two solid weeks now, and I'm glad to be doing it. It's not too hard now that the refectory regularly carries "vegetarian sausage", which is not very good, but will have to do. Seriously, enough's enough. I think it may have been good to eat the stuff again to test my convictions, but I'm now sure that I don't want to eat meat any time soon.
I just finished a book about Fish Keitseng, a Motswana who worked in South Africa, and became involved in the African National Congress's (ANC) fight agains the Apartheid government. This guy never got any formal education, but managed to teach himself English, and figured out how to write enough to work in stores and keep records. The book is mostly recordings of an extended set of interviews with Keitseng, and covers his major accomplishments with the ANC and workers' unions. He also worked for the BNF for a while. I've also picked up a copy of Diamonds, Disposession, and Democracy in Botswana because a classmate insisted that I do so. It's by Kenneth Good, an Australian who used to be a Professor at UB before he was deported for writing the book. I'm looking forward to reading it, and it's nice an short, so I shouldn't have trouble sneaking it in between assignments.
Botswana's national elections were held on Friday, and the results were announced last night. Unsurprisingly, the BDP won by a lot, but some interesting things still happened. The BCP, formerly the third largest party in Botswana, became the official opposition in Parliament, with 5 seats out of (unless this changed with the election cycle) 57. This is pretty big considering the party was founded in 1998, only had one MP in Parliament going into the election, and the BNF has been the main opposition for a while. The change is definitely due in part to the internal conflicts in the BNF, which weakened the party a lot in the leadup to the election. Also noteworthy is the fact that the Minister of Education didn't keep his job. It made a lot of people here excited, and many flooded out of the dorms in Vegas to cheer this result.
I've been vegetarian for about two solid weeks now, and I'm glad to be doing it. It's not too hard now that the refectory regularly carries "vegetarian sausage", which is not very good, but will have to do. Seriously, enough's enough. I think it may have been good to eat the stuff again to test my convictions, but I'm now sure that I don't want to eat meat any time soon.
I just finished a book about Fish Keitseng, a Motswana who worked in South Africa, and became involved in the African National Congress's (ANC) fight agains the Apartheid government. This guy never got any formal education, but managed to teach himself English, and figured out how to write enough to work in stores and keep records. The book is mostly recordings of an extended set of interviews with Keitseng, and covers his major accomplishments with the ANC and workers' unions. He also worked for the BNF for a while. I've also picked up a copy of Diamonds, Disposession, and Democracy in Botswana because a classmate insisted that I do so. It's by Kenneth Good, an Australian who used to be a Professor at UB before he was deported for writing the book. I'm looking forward to reading it, and it's nice an short, so I shouldn't have trouble sneaking it in between assignments.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
My first post as a 21 year-old, how exciting! As per usual, I planned on writing this post the day after the previous one, but that turned into 5 or so. There really was no excuse because I had someone's computer for the whole break, and I wasn't busy.
There are two things about my trip at the beginning of break that I neglected to mention in my previous posts. The first is that on the way back to our tents at about 1 am in Kasane, a security guard rushed over to us and stopped us. It turns out that there were two hippos grazing on the lawn near some of the rooms in the lodge. We got to see two hippos, the most dangerous animal to humans in Africa, from about 20 feet away on land! I wasn't kidding about the dangerous thing, either. In addition to being fearsome and quick in the water, hippos can run up to 35 miles per hour, and have been known to kill people for "fun".
The other thing I didn't really talk much about is how poor Zimbabwe and its inhabitants truly are. People would try to sell us figurines and such on the street, and if it failed, they would switch to begging. They were willing to trade what they had for clothes, pens, dead batteries, and who knows what else. They also tried to sell us 5 and 10 trillion bills of the now devalued Zimbabwean dollar, which I was opposed to buying. They tried to sell them by arguing that they were "proof of inflation". You don't need a silly bill with a big number to see proof of inflation, and the general abuse of power that has occurred under Mugabi. Here I was in Victoria Falls, a town that should have been huge, packed with tourists, and virtually free of poverty. It is none of those things, and it frightens me to think what the rest of the country is like considering this really is probably the most tourist-oriented place in the country.
The anniversary of Botswana's independence from Great Britain was on the 30th of September, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. The day after, I went to Mochudi with Kat, but the museum there was closed. It turns out that most of this last week was national holidays of some sort, not just Wednesday. Oh, well. We wandered and admired the view from the hill overlooking the town, and played with some local kids, so it was still a good time.
In my quest to avoid doing homework over break, I watched a lot of movies. These included Dirty Dancing, District 9, The Hangover, Amélie, and the first half of The Gods Must Be Crazy. District 9 is worth mentioning because it's new and takes place in South Africa. For the first 20 minutes or so, it takes on a mockumentary style of explaining how aliens came to live in Johannesburg. During this time, the movie makers created a perfect imitation of apartheid South Africa. Everything, from the derogatory name for the aliens (prawns) to the armored vehicles, unlawful evictions, and violent, racist police and military employees all show how apartheid played out. Eventually it kind of regresses into fun and gory action movie (Peter Jackson loves him some guts!), but it still has a powerful message. It does precisely what sci-fi should do in my opinion; critique the past and present, and/or show concern for the future.
Edit: I've decided to just remove the last part of the post because it was sloppy and offended, something that I really am not trying to do with this blog. Sorry everyone; I'll do better in the future.
There are two things about my trip at the beginning of break that I neglected to mention in my previous posts. The first is that on the way back to our tents at about 1 am in Kasane, a security guard rushed over to us and stopped us. It turns out that there were two hippos grazing on the lawn near some of the rooms in the lodge. We got to see two hippos, the most dangerous animal to humans in Africa, from about 20 feet away on land! I wasn't kidding about the dangerous thing, either. In addition to being fearsome and quick in the water, hippos can run up to 35 miles per hour, and have been known to kill people for "fun".
The other thing I didn't really talk much about is how poor Zimbabwe and its inhabitants truly are. People would try to sell us figurines and such on the street, and if it failed, they would switch to begging. They were willing to trade what they had for clothes, pens, dead batteries, and who knows what else. They also tried to sell us 5 and 10 trillion bills of the now devalued Zimbabwean dollar, which I was opposed to buying. They tried to sell them by arguing that they were "proof of inflation". You don't need a silly bill with a big number to see proof of inflation, and the general abuse of power that has occurred under Mugabi. Here I was in Victoria Falls, a town that should have been huge, packed with tourists, and virtually free of poverty. It is none of those things, and it frightens me to think what the rest of the country is like considering this really is probably the most tourist-oriented place in the country.
The anniversary of Botswana's independence from Great Britain was on the 30th of September, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. The day after, I went to Mochudi with Kat, but the museum there was closed. It turns out that most of this last week was national holidays of some sort, not just Wednesday. Oh, well. We wandered and admired the view from the hill overlooking the town, and played with some local kids, so it was still a good time.
In my quest to avoid doing homework over break, I watched a lot of movies. These included Dirty Dancing, District 9, The Hangover, Amélie, and the first half of The Gods Must Be Crazy. District 9 is worth mentioning because it's new and takes place in South Africa. For the first 20 minutes or so, it takes on a mockumentary style of explaining how aliens came to live in Johannesburg. During this time, the movie makers created a perfect imitation of apartheid South Africa. Everything, from the derogatory name for the aliens (prawns) to the armored vehicles, unlawful evictions, and violent, racist police and military employees all show how apartheid played out. Eventually it kind of regresses into fun and gory action movie (Peter Jackson loves him some guts!), but it still has a powerful message. It does precisely what sci-fi should do in my opinion; critique the past and present, and/or show concern for the future.
Edit: I've decided to just remove the last part of the post because it was sloppy and offended, something that I really am not trying to do with this blog. Sorry everyone; I'll do better in the future.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Mesi-oa-Tunya and Kasane Trip Pt. 2
After a stop at the bar in Shoestrings that evening to talk to some people about activities for the next day, we hit the sack. The next morning we woke up early to get Christian and Carmen to one of the tour offices so that they could start their rafting trip. Nicole and I, prohibited from the trip by back injury and finances respectively, decided to cross the border into Zambia to view the falls from that side and get an extra stamp in our passports. The Zambian side of the gorge was really nice because it is the side that houses the river that flows into the falls. The dry season meant that we could walk further along the edge of this side and get some phenomenal views of the heaviest portion of the waterfall. It also meant that there were several natural pools that one could swim in. Too bad we didn't bring swimsuits.
Nicole and I stopped off at some market stands on the Zambian side and haggled for a few gifts before heading back to meet Christian and Carmen. They made the rafting trip sound pretty awesome, but I had rafted a couple of times before, and my eyes were on the prize: bungee jumping. We had lunch and left for the bridge between borders where we were to jump. Nicole and I had already crossed it going to Zam, and I had managed to do a good job of psyching myself out. Still, I didn't have too much trouble getting to the edge and jumping into the abyss above the Zambezi river. The jump was exhilirating, and quite a bit higher than my puenting (static rope swing, jump, thing) experience in Ecuador. The experience was enhanced by the post-jump bounces, which initially brought me almost all the way back up to where I had jumped from.
That night we went back to Shoestrings and had dinner. We also met a Zimbabwean drummer who regularly performs at the hostel. He let us play around on his drums for a while, which was awfully nice of him. We also met some Peace Corps volunteers who were there on a break. They were both a lot of fun and cool to talk to.
The next morning we left Zimbabwe and headed back to home sweet Botswana. On the way between border checkpoints, some workers stopped us and told us we had to walk through a bin with a muddy rag. At first I thought they were joking, but they got mad when we laughed, so I guess not. It turns out that the rag was soaked with disinfectant (not to mention inordinate amounts of mud), and it was to prevent hoof and mouth disease. Now I'm no expert by any stretch, but does making people wipe their feet in disinfectant really prevent the spread of hoof and mouth accross borders?
We got to Kasane in the early afternoon and prepared some lunch on the deck of the ridiculously nice lodge we were camping at. We then proceeded to pass out on the wooden benches there for about an hour and a half, but not before admiring the herd of hundreds of water buffalo visible accross the lake. We went into town that evening to get food, but a thunderstorm had caused a power outage, so we couldn't get anything but canned food. We mixed canned peas, tuna in tomato sauce, unidentified fish in chili sauce, and chakalaka, which is basically finely chopped veggies in chili sauce into a pot. We did not heat said pot, and just ate it cold like the bums that we are. Yummy, indeed.
I caught a tiny cramped bus to Francistown at 6am the next morning, while everyone else slept to prepare for their game drives that day. From Francistown I got back to Gabs and ate my prepaid meal at the refectory. Hooray!
Happy Botswana day everyone! I'm going to Machudi tomorrow to go to a museum there. I'll post about that and some of my learnings and observations regarding Swana politics when I get back.
Nicole and I stopped off at some market stands on the Zambian side and haggled for a few gifts before heading back to meet Christian and Carmen. They made the rafting trip sound pretty awesome, but I had rafted a couple of times before, and my eyes were on the prize: bungee jumping. We had lunch and left for the bridge between borders where we were to jump. Nicole and I had already crossed it going to Zam, and I had managed to do a good job of psyching myself out. Still, I didn't have too much trouble getting to the edge and jumping into the abyss above the Zambezi river. The jump was exhilirating, and quite a bit higher than my puenting (static rope swing, jump, thing) experience in Ecuador. The experience was enhanced by the post-jump bounces, which initially brought me almost all the way back up to where I had jumped from.
That night we went back to Shoestrings and had dinner. We also met a Zimbabwean drummer who regularly performs at the hostel. He let us play around on his drums for a while, which was awfully nice of him. We also met some Peace Corps volunteers who were there on a break. They were both a lot of fun and cool to talk to.
The next morning we left Zimbabwe and headed back to home sweet Botswana. On the way between border checkpoints, some workers stopped us and told us we had to walk through a bin with a muddy rag. At first I thought they were joking, but they got mad when we laughed, so I guess not. It turns out that the rag was soaked with disinfectant (not to mention inordinate amounts of mud), and it was to prevent hoof and mouth disease. Now I'm no expert by any stretch, but does making people wipe their feet in disinfectant really prevent the spread of hoof and mouth accross borders?
We got to Kasane in the early afternoon and prepared some lunch on the deck of the ridiculously nice lodge we were camping at. We then proceeded to pass out on the wooden benches there for about an hour and a half, but not before admiring the herd of hundreds of water buffalo visible accross the lake. We went into town that evening to get food, but a thunderstorm had caused a power outage, so we couldn't get anything but canned food. We mixed canned peas, tuna in tomato sauce, unidentified fish in chili sauce, and chakalaka, which is basically finely chopped veggies in chili sauce into a pot. We did not heat said pot, and just ate it cold like the bums that we are. Yummy, indeed.
I caught a tiny cramped bus to Francistown at 6am the next morning, while everyone else slept to prepare for their game drives that day. From Francistown I got back to Gabs and ate my prepaid meal at the refectory. Hooray!
Happy Botswana day everyone! I'm going to Machudi tomorrow to go to a museum there. I'll post about that and some of my learnings and observations regarding Swana politics when I get back.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Mesi-oa-Tunya and Kasane Trip Pt. 1
Based on the title, some might assume that I didn’t make it to Victoria Falls. Au contraire, mes amis, I did go to Vic Falls, but I do not understand why people throughout Africa continue to call things by their colonial names. You’d think they’d insist on calling it anything else, but apparently not. Mesi-oa-Tunya means “smoke that thunders”, which seems pretty fitting with the overwhelming grandiosity of the falls.
But I digest… I left for the falls on Thursday evening, which had not been my plan at all, but Carmen, Christian, and Nicole all invited me to go with them. It worked out well because the Zimbabwe was the first part of their tour, so I could just go for the beginning and come back to Gabs on my own. We caught a bus that left at about 7pm from the bus rank in the city, and arrived at the border at 6am or so.
Throughout the trip, starting that night, I was treated to some German lessons and generally amusing dialogue, as all three of my companions are German. Christian has enjoyed giving me a few words here and there throughout our time as roommates. On the bus trip to Zim I learned the words flitzerkacke and dunschis, both of which are slang for “diarrhea”. This came up after we discussed food-poisoning in Egypt, an experience that a couple of us had shared. Yum. I spent the rest of the trip learning other amusing phrases and words, giving the trip a nice European flair. Or something like that.
We arrived at the Zambian border at 6 and took a cab to the Zimbabwean border, which we crossed without difficulty. Once in Zimbabwe, we took a cab for about 70 kilometers to the town of Victoria Falls, where we checked into Shoestrings hostel. We decided to camp in Christian’s tent for $5 a night, half of the price of a room. It was certainly an experience stuffing four people into a three person tent, but we managed to make it happen. Also, to save money on the trip I bought and prepared my own food. This meant that for the rest of the trip, it was Peanut Butter Jelly Time all the time. Mmm, roughing it.
After settling in and getting lunch, the four of us went to visit the falls and walk along the edge of the canyon they fall into. They are absolutely gorgeous, but almost get swallowed by how awesome they are. The incredible amount of mist that they generate partly blocks the view, especially on a cloudy day like this first one. We learned that this not even the time of year when the falls are at their heaviest, that comes between February and April. Still they were stunning, and we had no trouble spending the entire afternoon looking on in awe. The few times that we were distracted were primarily by the incredible foliage and the antics of some ridiculous baboons prowling around the grounds.
Fortunately, the clouds cleared up a bit for our evening tour of the Zambezi River. The tour was stocked with a bar that included Lion beer, water, and soda. The guide suggested that the more we drank, the more animals we would see. I don’t know about the other animals, but I did see several Lions! …I think even the crickets are too embarrassed to make a noise at that one. Seriously though, the cruise was really cool, and we did get to see several hippos, crocodiles, and elephants. The last of these were playing in the water, and we got to drive up to within 20 feet of them. There were also a lot of beautiful birds, including some ibises and egrets. Overall, it was an amazing start to a trip that would turn out to be filled with encounters with animals.
What's worse than lobsters on your piano? Crabs on your organ! Okay, I’ll have another post up either late tonight or early tomorrow.
But I digest… I left for the falls on Thursday evening, which had not been my plan at all, but Carmen, Christian, and Nicole all invited me to go with them. It worked out well because the Zimbabwe was the first part of their tour, so I could just go for the beginning and come back to Gabs on my own. We caught a bus that left at about 7pm from the bus rank in the city, and arrived at the border at 6am or so.
Throughout the trip, starting that night, I was treated to some German lessons and generally amusing dialogue, as all three of my companions are German. Christian has enjoyed giving me a few words here and there throughout our time as roommates. On the bus trip to Zim I learned the words flitzerkacke and dunschis, both of which are slang for “diarrhea”. This came up after we discussed food-poisoning in Egypt, an experience that a couple of us had shared. Yum. I spent the rest of the trip learning other amusing phrases and words, giving the trip a nice European flair. Or something like that.
We arrived at the Zambian border at 6 and took a cab to the Zimbabwean border, which we crossed without difficulty. Once in Zimbabwe, we took a cab for about 70 kilometers to the town of Victoria Falls, where we checked into Shoestrings hostel. We decided to camp in Christian’s tent for $5 a night, half of the price of a room. It was certainly an experience stuffing four people into a three person tent, but we managed to make it happen. Also, to save money on the trip I bought and prepared my own food. This meant that for the rest of the trip, it was Peanut Butter Jelly Time all the time. Mmm, roughing it.
After settling in and getting lunch, the four of us went to visit the falls and walk along the edge of the canyon they fall into. They are absolutely gorgeous, but almost get swallowed by how awesome they are. The incredible amount of mist that they generate partly blocks the view, especially on a cloudy day like this first one. We learned that this not even the time of year when the falls are at their heaviest, that comes between February and April. Still they were stunning, and we had no trouble spending the entire afternoon looking on in awe. The few times that we were distracted were primarily by the incredible foliage and the antics of some ridiculous baboons prowling around the grounds.
Fortunately, the clouds cleared up a bit for our evening tour of the Zambezi River. The tour was stocked with a bar that included Lion beer, water, and soda. The guide suggested that the more we drank, the more animals we would see. I don’t know about the other animals, but I did see several Lions! …I think even the crickets are too embarrassed to make a noise at that one. Seriously though, the cruise was really cool, and we did get to see several hippos, crocodiles, and elephants. The last of these were playing in the water, and we got to drive up to within 20 feet of them. There were also a lot of beautiful birds, including some ibises and egrets. Overall, it was an amazing start to a trip that would turn out to be filled with encounters with animals.
What's worse than lobsters on your piano? Crabs on your organ! Okay, I’ll have another post up either late tonight or early tomorrow.
Shake Shake and Some Educational Videos
Alright, this is just a quick post before the details of my trip, which I'll provide in two more posts over the next few hours. I wanted to start, however, by mentioning one fantastic event that occurred just before I left for break. Anyone that knows me knows that I nerd out to beer like it's my job, and frankly I wish it was. On Wednesday afternoon I tried Shake Shake aka Chibuku. What the hell is he rambling about, you might be (indeed, probably are) asking? Shake Shake is a locally brewed beer done in a traditional homebrew style. It's made from sorghum and maize and God knows what else, and comes in one liter milk cartons. It is called Shake Shake because the traditional brewing style leaves chunks of what is essentially fermented porridge in your beverage, so in order to fully enjoy your experience, you are supposed to close the top of the carton from time to time and give it a bit of a shake so that you get chunks with every sip.
So how does it taste? Pretty sour, yeasty, and just odd. There's very little in the way of carbonation, and it is expected that you will drink it warm. The carton was a bit leaky, which added to the challenge, as well. Overall, I didn't enjoy it after a while and had a hard time finishing my carton, but I really don't care that it wasn't that good because I tried homebrew sorghum beer with a sweet name!
So here's a little video with some quality information about the continent of Africa.
This second one is actually about Kenya, but if there's one thing I've learned about Africa, it's that the whole continent is exactly the same accross the board.
Now that you all hate me for my completely uninformative post, I'm going to ask you to wait a bit while I compose my account of the trip.
So how does it taste? Pretty sour, yeasty, and just odd. There's very little in the way of carbonation, and it is expected that you will drink it warm. The carton was a bit leaky, which added to the challenge, as well. Overall, I didn't enjoy it after a while and had a hard time finishing my carton, but I really don't care that it wasn't that good because I tried homebrew sorghum beer with a sweet name!
So here's a little video with some quality information about the continent of Africa.
This second one is actually about Kenya, but if there's one thing I've learned about Africa, it's that the whole continent is exactly the same accross the board.
Now that you all hate me for my completely uninformative post, I'm going to ask you to wait a bit while I compose my account of the trip.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Bears, Beets, Battlestar Galactica, Drum Lessons
I am going to apologize in advance for this first paragraph, as it describes a bowel movement of mine. Frankly, you all should be overjoyed that it's taken almost two months for me to describe my poo to you. If this sort of thing grosses you out, just stop reading this paragraph now. This last week, I woke in the morning not feeling very well and went to the bathroom. After I had finished with my deposit, I checked out my accomplishment (I do this often). I was shocked and kind of annoyed because I had what appeared to be bloody stool. Sighing to myself, I grabbed the toilet paper and moved on, but took one last peek down below. The water was turning purple! I know that this is entirely because of the ridiculously high amount of beets in my diet curtousy of my Dad's stories from college. Thanks Pops, you saved me from some unnecessary panic!
I had my first test last week in a class that did not say anything on the syllabus about tests. It was kind of a pain because the prof refused to properly divulge what was going to be on it. This was not deliberate, rather, I think she just didn't know how to answer my questions about it. I also turned in my first paper in Africa in World Politics. I'm really interested to see the grade I get on that one.
My drum lesson with Ras Diva on Friday afternoon was thoroughly awesome. He and Meysa (I screwed that spelling up, for sure) taught us in a really relaxed, but still intense, manner. Meysa especially was crazy to listen to because he just oozes rhythm in whatever he does, and makes you want to do the same. Meysa also crafts drums that are in a style unique to Botswana, so I will probably pick one up for P200, a price that I think is more than fair. I'm also abosolutely certain I'm going to continue with the lessons because this is the only opportunity I'll have in the forseeable future to learn the drums from Rastafarians in Africa. Think about the awesomeness of that last phrase for a minute.
I finished In No Uncertain Terms, the autobiography of Helen Suzman, the South African MP that I described in an earlier post. It was extremely good, and really gives a pretty clear picture of the political scene in South Africa during apartheid. Also, I think it's impossible to read it without her becoming your new hero, unless you find her self-described unyielding support of "liberal values" offensive. Somehow, moral outrage, cranky old lady-ness, and kind heart tie together seemlessly in Suzman's truly appealing character.
I think for break I'm going to stay based at school, but take a couple of bus trips on my own. I will also check out prices for going to Victoria Falls on my own for a day or so, but I'm not sure that I'll do that. I may also meet a group of people in Zimbabwe. I'll let you know what my plans are as soon as they're more solid. Unlike the aforementioned poo. Sorry. But not really.
Johnny Appleseed was really just a lunatic introducing an invasive species with a pan on his head.
I had my first test last week in a class that did not say anything on the syllabus about tests. It was kind of a pain because the prof refused to properly divulge what was going to be on it. This was not deliberate, rather, I think she just didn't know how to answer my questions about it. I also turned in my first paper in Africa in World Politics. I'm really interested to see the grade I get on that one.
My drum lesson with Ras Diva on Friday afternoon was thoroughly awesome. He and Meysa (I screwed that spelling up, for sure) taught us in a really relaxed, but still intense, manner. Meysa especially was crazy to listen to because he just oozes rhythm in whatever he does, and makes you want to do the same. Meysa also crafts drums that are in a style unique to Botswana, so I will probably pick one up for P200, a price that I think is more than fair. I'm also abosolutely certain I'm going to continue with the lessons because this is the only opportunity I'll have in the forseeable future to learn the drums from Rastafarians in Africa. Think about the awesomeness of that last phrase for a minute.
I finished In No Uncertain Terms, the autobiography of Helen Suzman, the South African MP that I described in an earlier post. It was extremely good, and really gives a pretty clear picture of the political scene in South Africa during apartheid. Also, I think it's impossible to read it without her becoming your new hero, unless you find her self-described unyielding support of "liberal values" offensive. Somehow, moral outrage, cranky old lady-ness, and kind heart tie together seemlessly in Suzman's truly appealing character.
I think for break I'm going to stay based at school, but take a couple of bus trips on my own. I will also check out prices for going to Victoria Falls on my own for a day or so, but I'm not sure that I'll do that. I may also meet a group of people in Zimbabwe. I'll let you know what my plans are as soon as they're more solid. Unlike the aforementioned poo. Sorry. But not really.
Johnny Appleseed was really just a lunatic introducing an invasive species with a pan on his head.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
