Happy Birthday To Me!

So today's my birthday. I am 23 years old. Typically I would be spending time with friends and family and eating some delicious cheesecake and opening presents. This year that is not the case. I actually had to go to see the Peace Corps Medical Officer yesterday so most of my birthday is being spent traveling back to my village. I can't say it has been a bad birthday though. People here in Botswana have shown me a decent birthday.

On Saturday I got to meet up with a couple of the volunteers in Mahalaype and hang out a little bit. We went to the Mahalaype Trade Fair which is kind of like a County Fair, only on a lot smaller of a scale. We walked around the grounds and looked at some of the tents. We also watched some of the youth do some traditional dancing in the traditional clothes. For the most part there wasn't much to do so we only stayed for an hour or so. My village is having on this weekend and apparently there is a beauty pageant on Friday, and my good friend Sliza is going to be there. I hope my villages Trade Fair will be more interesting. After we left the fair we went back to one of the volunteers houses and we made pizza and this brownie-cake-pudding thing which was pretty tasty.

On Sunday the owners of the one general dealer shop near my house took me to their property out on the Tuli Block. I got to meet their son and daughter-in-law (who are similar age to me). They are very nice people. They made me a brunch and took me out on a drive all around their property. They have around 8,000 acres of land so there was a lot to see. We saw all sorts of birds, warthogs, impala, and waterbucks. They also showed me the camp site where the hunters usually stay. That got me to thinking about maybe later one I could get a group together to go camping out there. After we got back from the drive they had some deserts for me for my bday (they said they were going to make me a cake but didn't have time, the deserts were just find though). While I was hanging out with them, they were asking me all about my house and how I live. They are a little well off so they have a washing machine, dryer, microwave, and a shower with hot water, so when they found out I don't have any of those things they offered me to come stay over if I ever wanted a hot shower. They also said if I ever wanted to drop off my laundry at the shop they would do it for me for free! They also said they had an extra microwave at the shop they barely ever use so if I wanted to borrow it I could! I might take them up on their offers but I think I will still hand wash my clothes for the most part, because I mean I am the Peace Corps so I shouldn't have all the modern convinces right?

Yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to find out one of my good friends from training was in GABS for medical stuff too :) We went and saw Toy Story 3 (which is very good so I highly recommend it) last night and then we met up for lunch before I headed back to Machaneng. It was great to catch up with her, since I haven't seen her since PST and she lives in a very remote village with no internet access or cell phone service.

When I got home the girls on my compound decided to make me some traditional Botswana food for my bday. They made Morogo and Mebele. The Mebele they made with this watermelon type stuff so it was sweet tasting and was pretty good, but morogo is this green stuff that I have tried before. It's not really my favorite. It has kind of a weird taste to it, but I ate it anyways to be nice and polite. While they were cooking the food I got a call from my counterpart. My counterpart and some of the other nurses had bought a cake for me so they dropped it off. It was really nice of them to do that for me.

I also apparently have at least one package waiting for me at the Post Office in Machaneng so I am excited to see what it is and hopefully there will be more by the time I check it tomorrow. Thank you everyone for all of the birthday wishes and birthday packages (hopefully I will get them soon). This years birthday hasn't been a normal one but I can't say it has been a bad one at all.