Two Jews Walked into a Bar Outside of Gweta...

This is the second of two blog posts today. The other one comes first chronologically. This one is the first time in a while that I have exciting events to describe, as opposed to distracting you all with poetry and stuff.

The last week of ISP is typically the most stressful. Not only did we have to finish our paper and prepare an oral presentation, but we had to be done three days early so we could take a mini-excursion to Makgadikgadi Pans National Park and see the seasonal migration across the salt pans. And we had to organize the whole trip ourselves.

The excursion kept us working hard. First, we had to pack our stuff and say good-bye to Al, Bear, and Charlie. Then we took a two-hour bus ride from Maun to Gweta. When we got there, some guy offered to drive us to the campsite, Planet Baobab. Rough, I know.















Planet Baobab was...eccentric. And awesome. The manager of the campsite is a crazy South African who, if you made eye contact with him, would coerce you into joining the next round of Sambuca. We also had to gather our own firewood.

We were forced to pitch our tents underneath the most enormous baobab I've ever seen.














Eccentric would definitely be an appropriate term for the campsite/bar/restaurant.

Beer-bottle chandelier #1:














Baobab branch baseball:















The campsite also goes by the name Kalahari Surf Club, an indication of the flooded nature of the region during this time of year.














(Quick educational public service announcement: Makgadikgadi is flat. Salt pans are created when a really, really flat area has a slight depression, where all the water accumulates. The water then evaporates, leaving a salty layer of sand. As the pans flood, zebras and blue wildebeest migrate from the Okavango Delta region to more eastern locations.)

There was a giant cement aardvark marking the entrance to the campsite.


































Studying for finals:














Fitting Ultimate Frisbee practice into our rigorous schedule:














So stressful...














Is this semester almost over?














That's me, workin' hard:














Study break?














Relentless Frisbee practice:















Then, finally, we were able to take a break from our work and hang out at the bar. At this bar, I met the other Jew in Bots. He's from Detroit, goes to UPenn Med School, has a Masters in anthropology, and his mom works for Hadassah. Hahahahahaha. I wish I were making this up. We spent much of an evening trying uncomfortably to convince the crazy South African (see above paragraph) that Jews are not genetically superior and that we don't want any more Sambuca. (I think we failed on both counts.)

Beer-bottle chandelier #2:














We played Kings.














Asian Invasion














You'd think this place would run out of awesome sunsets, but no...














Then we celebrated Katherine's twenty-first.














The crazy South African also bought us a bottle of champagne.














To twenty-one!














The next morning, we waited by the aardvark for a bus to pick us up. Or a car. Or truck. Really, we'd take anything.














That's us, waiting for the bus. I'm trying not to look too hungover.














There also was a migration.