As I write this it is nearly 3am, and I'm sitting in my room with a fan directly on me and still feel like I'm roasting. I woke up because I needed water and then noticed a cockroach way too close to my bed for comfort and killed it. Now I'm having trouble getting back to sleep. It is very hot here now, and I'm still adjusting to that. I also am adjusting from being back from vacation in Cape Town where it was much cooler. My body isn't used to this. I said goodbye to my friends I traveled with and stood on a crowded bus for about 4.5 hours, and I was stared at and called "lekoga". I'm realizing it is going to take time to readjust to being back in Botswana and standing out so much again after blending in so much in Cape Town, which is a city that has a population greater than the entire country of Botswana. I know I will readjust. I'm not sure if I will ever fully adjust to the heat, but I hopefully will get more used to it.
I have now been in Botswana for 9 months, which feels shocking and wonderful all at the same time. In some ways it feels hard to believe that it has been so long, and in other ways it definitely feels like 9 months. Adjusting to life here and developing the connections I've made with members of my community has taken a lot of hard work and patience and has definitely involved some frustration and disappointment. However, I can honestly say that Werda feels like home to me now. It is so very different from my U.S. home and there are things that I love about that and things that I dislike about that all at the same time, but nonetheless it is home. I actually feel like I have a life here now. I have friends and a pet. My house feels comfortable to me, and I really love it. School starts back up again soon, and I already have projects planned from the end of last school year that I'm really looking forward to working on. I'm excited to be present in the schools from the start of the school year now and to see some of the students and teachers I had developed connections with at the end of the school year . Some PCV friends and I are already talking about planning some kind of trip for April or May to celebrate one year in country. It feels so crazy that one year in country is only 3 months away.
I had a great vacation and could write a lot about Cape Town, but I will try to focus in on a few of my favorite experiences from the trip. First of all, this was my first time out of Botswana in 9 months so I was really enthusiastic to be traveling at all. We all ate so much wonderful food throughout the week. I'd have to say that my favorite dining experiences of the week each included Mexican food. I also enjoyed some McDonalds, sushi, and amazing coffee beverages of all varieties. There were three main day time activities that were my favorite. We spent one day at the beach, and it was so great to see the ocean again. I'm a New Englander and have never lived anywhere away from the ocean so I definitely missed that. It was wonderful. We also went on a wine tour and tasted many types of wines and so much cheese, which was a lot of fun. I also enjoyed seeing the scenery at the various wineries they brought us to on our tour. Cape Town and its surrounding areas are very beautiful. I also went to Robben-Island on my own one day because I had booked my ticket very early on and nobody else had been able to book tickets for that same day and time. It was kind of nice to break off and explore on my own for a bit though, and I ended up meeting some PCVs from Lesotho who were in Cape Town for vacation as well, which was pretty cool. My favorite evening activities were going to an Irish pub with live music because it felt like I was back in Boston and going to a gay bar/ drag show for a bit because it was nice being somewhere where people are freer to be open about their sexuality again. Sometimes it is hard living in Botswana where that isn't talked about or accepted as openly or easily when you come from a place where it is. For most of the trip I felt like I was in America because Cape Town is a very developed city and that was strange, overwhelming, and wonderful all at once. I will say that the fast pace was exhausting and that I'm definitely not used to that anymore. It has made me see how going home at the end of my service will definitely come with some challenges and require a lot of readjustment to American life as well. Good thing I've got 17 more months left ; ).
Peace out for now!
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