So yesterday we started classes, or at least I thought we were supposed to start classes. I have had 5 scheduled classes so far and only one of the teachers has shown up. All of the other classes I have waited outside of the classroom for 15-20 minutes to find no professor and leave feeling like I wasted an hour. I thought this would be exactly what I would like about class in Botswana, but now I am realizing that when I make an effort to go to class it would be really nice if the teacher also made an effort to come to class and teach. Even if just for a small instant, I gained a greater respect for teachers just for the fact that they show up to every class whether they think the students are going to show up or not. We, as students, really owe it not only to ourselves to go to class, but we also owe it to our teachers for they are the ones who want to educate us and share their knowledge with their students.
We still haven't received our student ID's and some of the international students have not received their registration status yet. Things really do move a little slower around here. If we were in the United States people would be up in arms about the fact that registration has not yet been finalized, but here people just go with the flow; the students go to the classes they think they will be registered for and do their best to attend class. Nobody really makes a huge deal out of the fact that registration has to be done by hand and you have to wait in line to get into the classes you want to take. It is refreshing in a way to know that people aren't always in a rush to do as many things as possible. If something takes a long time to do, then that is what they do for the day.
My friend Ronnie made a really good point to me that everything is so close to being so nice. The new buildings here in Gaborone have beautiful but there are things with every building that take away from it. The hotel we stayed in had incredible rooms, but there were cracks in the ceiling, bugs running around the floor, and lights that didn't work. There was a pool with a bar, but the pool was green and the bar was never open. The apartments on campus that we moved into are 6 single rooms which share a common kitchen and bathroom. However, my room and a friend's room have no internet or lights. The city has a lot of nice architecture and is way more developed than anywhere we went in Rwanda, but it has its places where you can see that it really is still a developing country.
This evening we played soccer with a bunch of locals on the campus tennis courts. It was 4 white kids from our CIEE program and our friend Farai from Zimbabwe. We didn't think we had much of a chance since they play almost every night and we were a bunch of white boys from the United States and we lost the first game we played, but we then won the next 3 games we played and felt pretty good about ourselves. One thing I learned is that I am way more out of shape than I need to be, but hopefully playing soccer and basketball will get me outside and working out.
I am really hoping I am able to do some volunteer work either with the UN or with a micro-finance women's group here in Gaborone. I don't want to just go to class and be in lectures just the same that I would be at Villanova. I want it to be something above and beyond what I could achieve at Nova. Whether or not I realized it before I got here, I think the most important thing about studying abroad is not necessarily to go to school with a bunch of different people and travel around a part of the world of which most people only see pictures, but is to get to know the people of the country you are in. One of our groups goals is to get to know the people of Botswana on a deep enough level as to understand why they dress the way they dress, why they eat what they eat, where their customs come from...basically not only to see the culture from afar, but also to understand the meaning of the culture and where the culture comes from.
One of the most striking things I have been right at the center of is who I am most comfortable with. Back at Villanova part of me always wonders why the black kids are always hanging out with other black kids, Asians are with other Asians, and the puertorriquenos are always with the other puertoricans. But now that I am at a school where there are less than 100 white kids and 15,000 black students I, along with the other Americans, have found is very easy to see another white person and instantly feel like we have a bond or connection even though we know absolutely nothing about the other. It really makes you think twice about criticizing other people for doing the same thing because until you are in that position it is impossible to know how it feels to be less than 1 percent of a minority.
In just over one week in Botswana where I am with Batswana every day, it is becoming much clearer that Botswana truly is a foreign land no matter what we see from the outside. It has also made me much more aware of how the United States can create a culture shock to people who practice different customs. We think that we just do everything a certain way because that is the way we have been raised, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, to try and figure out why my parents raised me in a certain way or why my teachers at EHT, St. Augustine, or Villanova have taught me certain values is a really difficult thing to do. I am starting to realize that every story I have heard from everyone who has had any kind of effect on my life is part of my own culture and has shaped the way I have matured and become the person I am today. Without those people I would be a completely different person and I am not sure I would want to be anyone other than the person I am. Culture goes much deeper than what we wear, eat, and do. Culture is the things deep within us that drive us to eat, dress, and do the things we enjoy. It is what creates groups and demographics. Without culture everyone would be the same and what fun would the world be if everyone were exactly the same as you? That has been the best part of my experience so far, is trying to learn about the customs and history of people in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Namibia, and Botswana, and what makes them so different from people in the United States.
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