Last Friday, we also had a class on traditional Setswana music. A popular tradiitonal musician played a couple of songs for us on his guitar-minus-two-strings. It was incredible. He used three strings to play the melody and one to strum the bass line. He also played upside-down. (Overhanded? See picture:)
The following bit is inspired by the woman to whom I owe my life and my grammar skills...Hi Mom!
There are many things that make me aware of the passage of time, the changing of seasons.
Let me tell you, it is so weird not having a lot of those things here! Though the violent rains remind me of Autumn in Providence, there are more things here signaling the start of Spring. (I need to see which way the toilet flushes...yay Southern Hemisphere.) The leaves are not changing colors; instead, the trees are turning green and flowers are blooming. The nights are cold, because this is a desert(-like climate), but daytime temperatures are creeping upwards. When we go up north, (here, north means closer to the equator) the temperature will hover in the high thirties, even reaching forty or higher. (times 9 divided by 5 plus 32 equals...) I'm missing the entire baseball post-season here (Go D-backs) and I have no idea what's going on in the NFL (Go Jets?).
Botswana has hidden from me all Autumn things and replaced them with Spring things. This sounds good, perhaps idyllic, but it feels so strange. The seasons seem to be moving backwards, but I'm also aware of the forward movement of time. I'm still "back to school", grasping memories of the summer while trying to learn in classes. The calendar still says October (!). My summertime bruises and scrapes have all healed, but my skin is still darkening from the sun. I'm confused! The external clues contradict my internal ones. I keep expecting it to get colder. It's like someone turned the clock backwards, but I still know what time it is. It's like jetlag, but seasonally.
And you know what else reminds me of the passage of time? Yesterday I was walking to class at UB (I can finally get to class without walking in circles) and I noticed a familiar smell. Whatever was being used to clean the floors is the same thing used to clean the bathrooms in my elementary school. I realized it had been a long time since I'd been to school at Harbor Hill, when we had a bathroom in the classroom, and when I was still shocked by all the bad words carved into the tiles next to the toilet.
I've found Degrassi on TV. All is well.
Last night I had a discussion with my host-sister about Panda Express. We talked about the merits of really cheap Chinese food as well as really good Chinese food. It's amazing the things that connect people from all over the world.
I also decided to raid the spice rack and make myself some pasta with tomato sauce, (not ketchup, which everyone here puts on their pasta. with mayonnaise.) oregano, garlic, and salt. My tastebuds were spronking.
On Saturday we'll be off to Kasane, and I'm SO EXCITED!
I may get to the internet to post on Saturday morning (before the Olympic qualifying soccer/football match). I may get to the internet in Kasane. I'll probably have internet access in Maun the following week. Fear not, I've plenty more to say, but today's been a long day and I must get home and have a cup of tea.
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