Top 11 Moments of 2011: Number 11

When I look back on 2011 I will only have to think of one thing: Africa! Years and years will pass but I will always remember that I spent the ENTIRE year of 2011 in Africa. That is pretty amazing to think about and not many people can say that.

So as a tribute to 2011 I wanted to bring you the top 11 moments I had in 2011. Starting with Number 11: 

Undreading My Hair!

Before Peace Corps there had been a time where I had thought about dreading my hair. I thought it looked cool and I wanted to be one of those girls who could rock dreads and look fabulous! I don't know call it the hippie in me, but I wanted dreads! Getting dreads it not something to take lightly. It's a process and once you have them they take a lot of upkeep. There is also the social aspect to having dreads. Some work places or future employers want their employees to have a nice clean crisp look to them. So having dreads is out of the question if you want to work in some of the professional environments. There are plenty of places that will hire you but it does make getting a job more difficult. Plus you have to deal with  lots of questions about why you did this to your hair and how long did it take etc. 

My inspirations for wanting dreads

So when I joined the Peace Corps this longing to have dreads went from just an idea to a viable option. In Botswana most women have wigs, braids, or dreads. So dreading my hair wouldn't be a problem in the professional sense. So I decided to do it! When else in my life would I have this opportunity?


During my In-Service Training another volunteer spent three days in-between sessions, dreading my hair. I was so excited to finally have dreads! And I thought they looked pretty good. As the weeks went on I soon found out how much work it was to upkeep my dreads. After awhile I got tired of waxing and rolling them and just kind of let them do whatever they wanted. They still didn't look too bad but were pretty messy.

starting the process

Finished product

Styled

After having dreads for over a year I started to thinking about home. I decided I probably wouldn't want my dreads when I got back to the states, especially since they weren't very nice looking. Now there are two ways to get rid of dreads. There's the easy way where you can just chop them off and rock the shaved/short hair look OR there's the second option of deep conditioning and slowly combing them out.

Some Progress of the Dreads Pictures (1 month)

3 months

9 months

 Around August, I decided that if I was going to get rid of my dreads I would need to do it sooner rather than later. Combing them out was going to be a long process and if that didn't work I would have to cut them off which meant having really short hair. I personally don't like having short hair so I was hoping I would be able to brush them out. Either way I was still going to lose a lot of hair or have a lot of damaged hair, so I needed to do it soon so I would have time to grow back my healthy curls.

So the process began. I usually worked on combing out my dreads during the weekends. I would do about 3 a night while I was watching a movie. It took about an hour for each dread with a lot of leave-in conditioner and detangler. I also went through a lot of combs! Luckily Mom had sent me a wide variety to choose from. But after a few months I no longer had any dreads! My friend Marina then took me to get my hair cut, which was super nice of her. The guy who cut my hair was surprised that I had even had dreads. He said my hair really wasn't all that damaged, guess the not rolling and waxing (maintenance) was good and made my hair less damaged and probably easier to comb out. It felt great to have my hair back. It is nice be able to run my fingers through my hair again. 

Tools used to comb my dreads out

One down..only 39 more to go...

6 out..starting to get my hair back

Half out...almost looks like I have none

Only 4 more to go! Soo frizzy! haha

Some of the hair I lost :( kinda gross

All gone! Now it's time for some deep conditioning and a hair cut!

New hair cut! Feels good to have my normal hair back :)

And there you have it no more dreads! Check in tomorrow for moment number 10!

Surprise

Earlier this week I went and checked my mail box to find this:

Christmas Cards from my Aunt Vickie's 2nd Grade Class

I have been corresponding with my Aunt Vickie's 2nd grade class this past school year, so these were a nice surprise! Guess I will have to leave my Christmas Decorations up a little longer so I can enjoy them :) Thanks for the Cards!

Holidays

Sorry for being a little MIA it's been a crazy past few weeks. I spent the holidays traveling with other volunteers and even got to experience a new holiday, Hanukkah!

For Christmas I went down to Lobatse, which used to be the capital of Botswana. It's a small town, set in the hills and reminded me a lot of home. The most Christmasy things we did was listen to Christmas music and sip hot chocolate, complete with marshmallows. I also got to skype with my family on Christmas Day. Since I was in a bigger village I was actually able to get some clear video for once. It was nice to see all their faces. I am happy that next year I will get to spend Christmas with them!

After Christmas I headed over to Kumakwane to celebrate Hanukkah. It was neat to learn about the Jewish traditions and eat some of the food that goes along with the celebration. 

lighting the menorah

yummy food!

 I then headed down to Cape Town with a large group of volunteers. It was great to get out of Botswana and be back in a metropolis. Cape Town is know as the "New York of South Africa" and it definitely deserves that name. It was nice to be back in a big city, complete with great food, buildings taller than a few levels, lots of things to do, and a huge night life. I spent the week eating everything from McDonalds to Sushi to Mexican to Ethiopian food, and it was glorious! I have not regrets in how much I indulged my palate in the wondrous variety of flavors these foods brought. I also got to go on a wine tour through the Stellenbosch Vineyards and enjoy some fine wine and cheese. OHHH the CHEESE!!! I spent a day relaxing on  a beach and even got into the frigid water in Camps Bay, just to say I did swim in the ocean. I went out and stayed out past my normal bed time (10pm). This was a nice relief. I rarely get to go out to the bars like I used to pre-Peace Corps Service, because a young single woman at a bar in Machaneng (or most of Botswana besides GABS) just spells all kinds of chastising and trouble. I got to see some African penguins which were soo cute!  I also got my thrill junkie fix by going shark cage diving!  Although there was no ball drop on New Years Eve, we were able to bring in 2012 at a ministry of sound electronic music festival and danced in the New Year until the sun came up! I am also pleased to say that my first meal of 2012 was in fact McDonalds! I'm Lovin It! I had a wonderful time on this trip and would love to go back to do some of the things I didn't get to. That will probably have to wait until I am a real person, with a real job, and a real salary, and making real money. Haha!

mmm Sushi! Don't worry I didn't eat all of this myself, I split it with another volunteer.

apple pies!!

getting ready to jump in the cage!

dahda, dahda, dahda, dahdadahdadahdadahda (jaws song)

yep I was in that cage!

wine country!

one of the many tasty wines I got to try

Ethiopian food! One of my new favs

all ready for NYE!

Dance Party Time!

Camps Bay = Really crowded + freezing cold water. But I still got in!

On the water front

View from the Cape Town Castle

It's always hard to come back to the village after a trip. Coming back means going back to work and dealing with the frustrations of daily village life. It's been super hot these past few days and I have found myself longing for the nice air conditioned rooms and stores, and the ocean breeze Cape Town provided.  Coming back also means I am that much closer to being done! Not that this experience hasn't been great, it's just nice to have the end so near in sight. It's crazy to think just 2 years ago I was still waiting on an invite from Peace Corps and now I am almost done! But it is good to be back "home". As great as Cape Town was it was also very tiring! I was exhausted by the time I got back and felt like I was hit by a train or something. Don't know how I am going to survive the go, go, go of the American lifestyle when I am back in the States.

In this 2012 year I didn't really set any resolutions, just some goals for the rest of my service. I hope to finish up my service strong feeling fulfilled and with a job well done. I want keep focused on the here and now and keep in mind what my original goals were when I first joined Peace Corps, and hope to stay true to those over the next 5 months. 

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas...

Actually it's not really…mostly because there isn't snow on the ground and it's about 78 degrees outside with no chance of it getting any colder.  So no White Christmas again for me. It also doesn't really feel like Christmas because Batswana just don't celebrate it like we Americans do. Their traditions for Christmas mostly revolve around going to Church or getting together with the family to eat a lot of food and drink. They don't give gifts to each other and they don't decorate. It was actually really funny when I tried to explain to some of the nurses who Santa Claus was. They had never heard of him before and were looking at me like I was crazy when I told them that in America most kids believe Santa Claus brings them gifts for Christmas if they have been good throughout the year. I stopped there because I figured telling them about Rudolph, the elves who make the toys, and the North Pole was too much craziness for them to handle. Although when I told them that the belief in Santa Claus stems from St. Nicolas they were a little more understanding.

Just like last year, it's hard to be away from the family during the holidays. I miss all of my family traditions and I get a little homesick. I am planning on getting together with some other volunteers for Christmas so hopefully that will keep me from getting too sad that I am not with my family.

I have done a few things to try to get myself into the Christmas spirit though. A few weeks ago I put up some decorations around my house and have been watching different Christmas movies.

Stocking that was sent to me last year by my friend Lindsay. 

Left over by the previous Volunteer

During the Christmas Season my Mom bakes a huge assortment of delicious cookies. I was missing that a little bit so earlier this week I made some brownies and put Christmas M&Ms in them that my Aunt Jana had sent me. Although it's not the same as making cookies with my Mom, they definitely turned out tasting pretty good!

mmmmm nom nom nom

To spread some Christmas Cheer I gave some candy canes to the family on my compound and to all the clinic staff members. They all really enjoyed this. 

Every year us "kids" and the pets take a picture in front of the tree. Last year my family improvised so that they could include me.

This year I decided I would take my own picture in front of my little tree with Dijo.

He wouldn't look and the camera :(

Kisses for Dijo :)

A few weeks ago I was talking to my counterpart, Interview (that's his name hehe), and he was talking about this candy he had tried from America that was really good. He couldn't remember the name and from his description I really couldn't understand what he was talking about. Later that day he remembered that it was a "Butterfinger"! In the Christmas package I had received from my family my Mom had put some fun size candy bars in it. When I saw there were some butterfingers, I immediately decided I had to wrap one up and give it to Interview for Christmas! Since Batswana don't really give gifts Interview was very thankful and excited to get something, even if it was something small. That is one thing that is nice about how Batswana celebrate Christmas. Because there isn't as much of a focus on the gift giving and trees and decorations, it reminds me to focus more on what Christmas is really about. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays for those who don't celebrate Christmas) and maybe we can all learn a little bit from the citizens of Botswana and step back from all the craziness of the presents and decorations and remember what Christmas is truly all about!

"An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them. "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord…."

Luke 2:9-11 NIV

Homestretch

Today marks the start of the final 6 months of my service. The last stretch before I pack up and start heading back to the states. It's weird. I remember when I was excited to have been here for only 6 months. It felt like a huge accomplishment to have been gone from all my friends and family for that long, and now I have been gone for 20 months. It seems like that wasn't that long ago, but that also seems like ages away from now. I had a site visit a few weeks ago, where a Peace Corps Staff member came to talk with me and my counterpart at the clinic. This is a routine thing Peace Corps does. It was to see how I am doing here at site and how they can be of assistance if I need anything. The staff member started talking about how I am leaving soon and the next few months I should be wrapping up projects and saying goodbyes and writing my Close of Service Site Report. He was also talking about if there was interest in replacement, should another volunteer be placed here when I leave. That was the first time it hit me. I am going home soon…Of course I knew this, I've been counting months and days and have known my Close of Service Date since day 1, but I guess it was sort of a surreal feeling. It was the first time someone had said you are leaving very soon. I am super excited to go home but I am also a little sad to be leaving. This journey has been just that a journey. There has been ups and downs and I am sure there will be more of that over the next six months. I look back on the past 20 months and see so much growth in myself. I have had many many failures and I have had some little successes. I have learned to cope in healthy ways when things get hard. I have also learned what not to do when things go wrong. There have been days where I have wondered what I was doing here and there have been days where everything felt good and right with what I was doing here. I have experienced things I would have never imagined I would have ever experienced and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I have three months left of being able to travel and then 3 months where I have to go on "lock down" where I have to stay in my village just to give the community a proper goodbye. I know that time is going to go by quicker than I think. I have worries I won't finish what I came here to do. There are times I think that I haven't really done anything, when in actuality I have it just might be things I will never see. That's what makes this experience hard, but it's also what makes it such a unique and rewarding experience. 

I've started to think more and more about what it's going to be like when I get back to the states. I have a plan which is good, because without a plan I do get a little stressed. I am excited for my next stage in life and for new adventures. I worry a little bit about being able to adjust back to the quick-paced life of the US. I will probably break down when I walk into the grocery store and there is sooo many options of wonderful food. I might just stand there cause I won't know what to do. I also am concerned about how I will react when people ask about my experience here and I won't be able to truly convey what it was like over here. They probably won't understand or even really care all that much about what I experienced over here. But I guess that's life right? I wonder if friends I hung around with have changed much or if things will be the same. I will probably miss the village life and the day-to-day aspects of being in Africa, even the ones I find annoying sometimes right now. I will have to get used to the sounds of traffic and sirens outside my house instead of donkeys and goats. No one will call my name when I walk around my town. Kids won't come chasing after me when I walk down the road. I won't be a "celebrity" anymore. I will have to get used to driving on the right side of the road again and looking to the left and then the right before crossing the road instead of the opposite. I wonder if I will be overwhelmed by all the noise around me, when I am able to clearly understand the conversations happening around me everyday. It will be an adjustment.

In these last 6 months I hope I just relish in the rest of my time here. I hope I cherish and soak in every experience I have left, because in 6 months it will be over. It is quite a bitter-sweet feeling.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

This past weekend I got to get together with a few other volunteers to celebrate Thanksgiving. A guy who works for Voice Of America here in Botswana, was very kind and opened up his swank house to us. It was a nice time to relax, eat some good food, and remember what we are thankful for. Of course I was sad to not be celebrating Thanksgiving with my own family, but this was a pretty nice replacement, and next year I will get to be with them on the holidays again, which makes me super excited!! Here are some of the highlights from the day that I am thankful for:

-Deep frying 9 turkeys and eating massive amounts of good American food

-Having soo much food left over that I got to take some back to Machaneng

-Waking up to the smell of pancakes Sunday morning

-Swimming in the Pool

-Drinking Mimosas and Bloody Marys

-Good Coffee :)

-Watching American Football games, and getting to see one of the Dallas Cowboy Football Players Tackle one of the Cheerleaders!

-Having amazing internet access which allowed me to Skype and say Hi to my Mom's side of the family who were having their Thanksgiving Lunch, some of whom I haven't seen since before I left

-Watching funny youtube videos

-Air conditioning

-Amazing showers

-And spending time with my Peace Corps Family

marinating the turkeys 

Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins Game

the pool

my plate of yummy food :)

pancakes and eggs for breakfast

Before we ate all of us went around and said what we are thankful for. This past year has brought me so many experiences and I have much to be thankful for. Just to name a few:

-All of the new people I have meet and become friends with

-All of the experiences and times of growth I have had here

-Getting to see one of the natural wonders of the world (Victoria Falls)

-Getting to do crazy fun things (swimming in devil's pool, bungee jumping, quad biking across sand dunes, petting cheetahs, lions, and meercats).

-My cat "Dijo" who is very entertaining on those boring days

-All of the people who have reached out to me in my village, to make me feel a little more at home

-The kids who come by my house to hangout

-All of the successes be it big or small

-All of the failures, which have taught me to pick myself up and keep trying or try something new

-My family coming to visit for a few weeks, showing them a little bit of what it's like over here

-Having the opportunity to live and serve with the Peace Corps in Botswana

-All the support my friends and family have shown me through this experience. I could not have made it this long with out YOU!

And I could go on forever. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and I hope we don't ever stop thinking about what we are thankful for and all the blessings we have in our lives! Thank you to all who are following my journey by reading this blog. I am sorry I haven't been as good about updating, but thanks for reading anyways!

"We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures."  ~Thornton Wilder 

Some Good and Some Bad

So let's start off with the bad. I was cleaning up my computer and accidentally deleted my "My Documents" folder. Since I am lazy or a complete idiot I haven't backed any of my files up since January when I first got my new computer. This means all of my documents that I have had since January for various projects and such are gone. :( I am not exactly sure how this happened but it did and it's very upsetting. I have heard that Windows never actually deletes anything so there might be a way to get my stuff back with some special program, but I am in a remote village in Africa so I doubt I will get that anytime soon. From now on I plan up backing up my stuff weekly or even daily.

Onto some better news. October went by really fast and I can't even believe we are into the second week of Novemeber. I had a lot going on during the month of October which is probably why it went by so fast . The first week I was in Namibia. Then I had a new trainee come and shadow me. Next the Peace Corps Botswana staff hosted a party for all the volunteers in country and some other special people. The party was to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Peace Corps and the 40th Anniversary for Peace Corps Botswana. It was a really great day. The new director, Tim, spoke along with the US Ambassador, and some Returned Peace Corps Volunteers. Their speeches were great and I am sure very much needed. I think all the volunteers left that day with lifted spirits and a sense of encouragement. There were also plenty of crafts from around the country being sold and some raffles going on. Unfortunately I wasn't able to buy any of the crafts I wanted to or try my hand at some of my prizes because the day before my ATM card had gotten stuck in a machine. Clearly I have been having a string of bad luck lately. It was really frustrating because I had asked some guy that was standing by the machine if he was in line to use it and he said no, then later after my card was stuck and I realized the machine was broken and got the help I needed, he said his was stuck to. You think he would have told me that before I went and stuck my card in the machine! So in the end I was a little low on cash that weekend until I was able to get to my bank branch. But on a happier note I did win a Peace Corps Patch for participating in one of the activities they had during the day. I was super excited for the patch which will go on my backpack with all my other patches I have collected since being here in Botswana. I am getting quite the collection.  It was also great to meet some of the new volunteers. There's one from Ohio! She's soo enthusiastic about the state of Ohio she even has it tattooed on her! It was actually really refreshing to be able to talk to her about home. I was also able to spend some time chatting up with a fellow rower! It was great to relish in all my past memories of rowing, which I miss very much. The day was great and I am really thankful the Peace Corps Botswana Staff was able to put this on for us. They did a great job! Just to go along with the 50th, there is a really great project "Live Like A PCV" that some other PCVs came up with for people back home to be able to participate in the 50th Anniversary Celebrations and raise awareness about Peace Corps. I talk about it here and here. If you are interested in trying it out checkout the links, there's only this month and next left in the 50th Anniversary year but you are more than welcome to try your hand at the challenge any time!

Next I headed up to Bobonong to help another volunteer with a project. This project was dealing with repairing a house for the chairperson of their HIV+ Support Group. The lady was in much need of help and the Home Based Care group along with the PCV in the village raised funds to repair her house. I was there solely as an extra helping hand. We didn't get as much work done as we wanted to because the temperatures rose up to 107 F and higher on most of the days, but we were able to get the roof finished and shift some sand that will be used for the outside of the house. It was great to be apart of such a great project and it reminded me of all the mission trips I went on with my church youth group.

After I spent some time in Bobonong I headed to a Halloween Party another volunteer was hosting. It was fun and nice to spend some time with some of my group that I don't see as often. They had some great costumes. Mine was a flop because no one at the party knew who I was supposed to be. Next year I plan on redeeming myself and having the most aweseomest costume ever!

the best costumes at the party...jealous I wasn't apart of this awesomeness!

Since then I have just been working on some projects in my community.  Today I was asked by the doctor and new head nurse at my clinic to load my Mavis Beacon Typing Program and Rosetta Stone Program onto their computers. They want to be able to work on their typing skills when I am not around and work on learning some other languages like French and English. I think it is really cool that they are so enthusiastic about the programs. I might even load the Rosetta Stone onto the clinic's computer so that the staff can use it to work on their English skills.I also have this really great idea for the preschool and will be meeting with the Owner on Friday. I hope after I present the idea she will be on-board and we can get things started on that. My idea is going to take a lot of work, but if we can get the support needed from the community it will be great! I just hope it happens. Have been having lots of bad luck lately so maybe this will be my turning point :)

The next big thing I am looking forward to is Thanksgiving. Once again I am sad I won't be spending Thanksgiving with my family, but I do get to spend it with my Peace Corps Family and it's going to be even bigger than it was last year and we will have access to a pool, so as a substitute I think it's a pretty good deal :)

"The difficulties in life are intended to make us better, not bitter"