Wow, time really has been flying by and I can't believe that I only have six more weeks left in Botswana before I head back to the USA. There is definitely a part of me that is looking forward to getting back home and living my 'normal' life again, but obviously there is going to be something I miss about this place which I have come to call home for the past three months. Naturally, now that I have begun thinking about returning home I have started to think about when I am going to see all my friends. I really hope I get a chance to see some of the seniors who graduate before I get back. And my friends who are going abroad in the fall I hope I get a chance to see them in the summer since it may end up being a year from the time I left until they get back for next spring.
One thing, however, has stood out when thinking about all of this. That is the end of senior year in high school and the summer that followed. The seven or eight of use who hung out almost every day for eight months were so inseparable and it really was one of the greatest times of my life. It was the first time that I had ever really become close with a certain group of people and I really felt like I had found my niche. I really cannot remember a single time between January of senior year and the night before I left for Villanova that I was not with one of my best friends. But last summer it seemed like everyone was always too busy to do something; whether they had work, classes, or other plans there is only one person I can remember seeing multiple times. It's something that has made me think what happened and why we did not see each other last summer as much as we had the previous two summers. I just think back to all the good times we had for a solid two years and wonder how that suddenly stopped last summer and I've realized that I really missed seeing these people and I hope that this coming summer we will be able to see one another more often and maybe get some of that vibe that we all had the few previous summers.
Anyway, for Botswana and Southern Africa. Our exam schedule recently came out and I only have 3 exams in a span of 5 days and I have 15 days between my last day of classes and my first exam which is really awesome. I am definitely trying to do as much traveling in that time span as possible. Michele and I are already planning on going Mozambique for about 5 days to check out the Indian Ocean and maybe speak as much Portuguese as possible. But given my extra week off I would really like to go somewhere a little further away and my two big ideas right now are Tanzania or Dubai. In Tanzania I would like to see Mount Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar and in Dubai....well, its FREAKING DUBAI. But it would definitely be easier to get back to Dubai at some point in the future, so I think I am leaning towards Tanzania right now. I think it will be totally awesome because it is part of the East Africa region along with Rwanda and I am very curious to see how closely related it is to Rwanda (culturally, socially, etc.).
But of course, this makes me think about so many other things. Primarily, when people, including myself, are in foreign countries there is always such a huge desire to travel so much and see as many things as possible. It could be partly because you're on vacation and you don't mind splurging, or just because you're thinking to yourself, 'when will I ever be here again?' (kind of like me with Tanzania). But when we are at home in the US we never say to our friends, 'hey, why don't we go to Arcadia NP, or maybe we can go to Niagara Falls one weekend.' We just sit at home and complain about how bored we are and that there is never anything to do. We say we would much rather be in another country, but we are stuck at home. But if we ever spent as much time seeing everything in OUR OWN country, we would see that it has just as much to offer as the rest of the world. We never see the things which are close to us as cool because they 'are in our own backyard' but if we took the time to see our country we would realize that we don't have to go to foreign countries to see some of the coolest stuff in the world. Luckily, I have been fortunate enough to see a good amount of the USA and appreciate all of the cool things I have seen. I can say that the mud volcanoes at Yellowstone smell like absolute garbage, and the Grand Canyon really is as huge as you might think, and New York City really is the greatest place on Earth. But I feel like I hear so many people talk about how they have never seen any part of the United States other than their own town or state, yet they talk about going to Europe and Asia and Africa. I don't know if it is just a case of trying to go somewhere exotic or the belief that foreign countries have so much more to offer that the US, but there are so many cool things in the US that we should all see at one point because they are so representative of the US all over the world.
Last week there was a Human Rights Film Festival in Gaborone which touched on many different human rights issues. "My Neighbor, My Killer" was one of the feature films they showed which was about the gacaca court system in Rwanda which was set up in order to try suspected genocidaires in 2002. I felt like if you have not been to Rwanda or already learned about the genocide then it probably was a pretty boring film, but it brought back so many memories from Rwanda. Just seeing the countryside in the background of all of the scenes made me want to go back so badly (which don't think I have not completely ruled out going to Rwanda rather than Tanzania quite yet). It was also a really good film for me to see because I never actually saw what a gacaca court looked like or how the judgments were made. I had only heard from Rwandese what they were like, but until you see something like that it is hard to imagine exactly what it looks like. It gave me a much greater appreciation for what the accuser's had to go through when talking about how a certain person slaughtered their entire family in front of their eyes. It was also nice because after the film a bunch of my new friends began asking me what exactly Rwanda was like and how we learned about the genocide, etc. Not only was I able to answer a lot of the questions they had, but it was awesome just to think and talk about Rwanda because I had such an amazing experience there.
Another film they showed at the festival was called "The Yes Men Fix the World." I had never heard of the Yes Men but they have played some of the biggest pranks on world media. It would take forever to try and spell out exactly what they did, how they did it, and why they did it, but it is definitely something that every person should see. The overall basis of their actions is to bring to light the fact that so many people in the world are completely driven by money and never stop to think about who the might be hurting in the process. The overall message I got from the film is that it is impossible to completely progress in society if the people at the top completely ignore the interests of the people at the bottom. After the film so many people made comments about how one person really can make a difference in the world and if everyone tried to come together for a common goal so much could get done in the world which I definitely agree with. But I have been to too many films of this nature where I feel so motivated to do good in the world and I want to make a difference because I have that 'one person can make a difference' mentality. But I don't think the important thing is getting everyone to make that commitment, but rather for people to make a sustained commitment because once you fall even slightly away from your feeling after seeing an inspiring film, then you are no longer inspired to do something which requires such great commitment and endurance. All in all, I think that there are strides that can be made through small individual actions, but there needs to be constant pressure put on the 'people at the top' in order for real change to happen.
it is not 6.30 AM (because obviously I had to watch the Final Four games and Tiger Woods' Sunday Conversation from 2008 before I started this). I am so happy that there are only 2.5 weeks of class left and that I should be traveling for 3 of the next 6 weeks, but I am also starting to think about what it will be like to leave this place behind. Trying to make the most of my last few weeks here.
One thing, however, has stood out when thinking about all of this. That is the end of senior year in high school and the summer that followed. The seven or eight of use who hung out almost every day for eight months were so inseparable and it really was one of the greatest times of my life. It was the first time that I had ever really become close with a certain group of people and I really felt like I had found my niche. I really cannot remember a single time between January of senior year and the night before I left for Villanova that I was not with one of my best friends. But last summer it seemed like everyone was always too busy to do something; whether they had work, classes, or other plans there is only one person I can remember seeing multiple times. It's something that has made me think what happened and why we did not see each other last summer as much as we had the previous two summers. I just think back to all the good times we had for a solid two years and wonder how that suddenly stopped last summer and I've realized that I really missed seeing these people and I hope that this coming summer we will be able to see one another more often and maybe get some of that vibe that we all had the few previous summers.
Anyway, for Botswana and Southern Africa. Our exam schedule recently came out and I only have 3 exams in a span of 5 days and I have 15 days between my last day of classes and my first exam which is really awesome. I am definitely trying to do as much traveling in that time span as possible. Michele and I are already planning on going Mozambique for about 5 days to check out the Indian Ocean and maybe speak as much Portuguese as possible. But given my extra week off I would really like to go somewhere a little further away and my two big ideas right now are Tanzania or Dubai. In Tanzania I would like to see Mount Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar and in Dubai....well, its FREAKING DUBAI. But it would definitely be easier to get back to Dubai at some point in the future, so I think I am leaning towards Tanzania right now. I think it will be totally awesome because it is part of the East Africa region along with Rwanda and I am very curious to see how closely related it is to Rwanda (culturally, socially, etc.).
But of course, this makes me think about so many other things. Primarily, when people, including myself, are in foreign countries there is always such a huge desire to travel so much and see as many things as possible. It could be partly because you're on vacation and you don't mind splurging, or just because you're thinking to yourself, 'when will I ever be here again?' (kind of like me with Tanzania). But when we are at home in the US we never say to our friends, 'hey, why don't we go to Arcadia NP, or maybe we can go to Niagara Falls one weekend.' We just sit at home and complain about how bored we are and that there is never anything to do. We say we would much rather be in another country, but we are stuck at home. But if we ever spent as much time seeing everything in OUR OWN country, we would see that it has just as much to offer as the rest of the world. We never see the things which are close to us as cool because they 'are in our own backyard' but if we took the time to see our country we would realize that we don't have to go to foreign countries to see some of the coolest stuff in the world. Luckily, I have been fortunate enough to see a good amount of the USA and appreciate all of the cool things I have seen. I can say that the mud volcanoes at Yellowstone smell like absolute garbage, and the Grand Canyon really is as huge as you might think, and New York City really is the greatest place on Earth. But I feel like I hear so many people talk about how they have never seen any part of the United States other than their own town or state, yet they talk about going to Europe and Asia and Africa. I don't know if it is just a case of trying to go somewhere exotic or the belief that foreign countries have so much more to offer that the US, but there are so many cool things in the US that we should all see at one point because they are so representative of the US all over the world.
Last week there was a Human Rights Film Festival in Gaborone which touched on many different human rights issues. "My Neighbor, My Killer" was one of the feature films they showed which was about the gacaca court system in Rwanda which was set up in order to try suspected genocidaires in 2002. I felt like if you have not been to Rwanda or already learned about the genocide then it probably was a pretty boring film, but it brought back so many memories from Rwanda. Just seeing the countryside in the background of all of the scenes made me want to go back so badly (which don't think I have not completely ruled out going to Rwanda rather than Tanzania quite yet). It was also a really good film for me to see because I never actually saw what a gacaca court looked like or how the judgments were made. I had only heard from Rwandese what they were like, but until you see something like that it is hard to imagine exactly what it looks like. It gave me a much greater appreciation for what the accuser's had to go through when talking about how a certain person slaughtered their entire family in front of their eyes. It was also nice because after the film a bunch of my new friends began asking me what exactly Rwanda was like and how we learned about the genocide, etc. Not only was I able to answer a lot of the questions they had, but it was awesome just to think and talk about Rwanda because I had such an amazing experience there.
Another film they showed at the festival was called "The Yes Men Fix the World." I had never heard of the Yes Men but they have played some of the biggest pranks on world media. It would take forever to try and spell out exactly what they did, how they did it, and why they did it, but it is definitely something that every person should see. The overall basis of their actions is to bring to light the fact that so many people in the world are completely driven by money and never stop to think about who the might be hurting in the process. The overall message I got from the film is that it is impossible to completely progress in society if the people at the top completely ignore the interests of the people at the bottom. After the film so many people made comments about how one person really can make a difference in the world and if everyone tried to come together for a common goal so much could get done in the world which I definitely agree with. But I have been to too many films of this nature where I feel so motivated to do good in the world and I want to make a difference because I have that 'one person can make a difference' mentality. But I don't think the important thing is getting everyone to make that commitment, but rather for people to make a sustained commitment because once you fall even slightly away from your feeling after seeing an inspiring film, then you are no longer inspired to do something which requires such great commitment and endurance. All in all, I think that there are strides that can be made through small individual actions, but there needs to be constant pressure put on the 'people at the top' in order for real change to happen.
it is not 6.30 AM (because obviously I had to watch the Final Four games and Tiger Woods' Sunday Conversation from 2008 before I started this). I am so happy that there are only 2.5 weeks of class left and that I should be traveling for 3 of the next 6 weeks, but I am also starting to think about what it will be like to leave this place behind. Trying to make the most of my last few weeks here.
