On the Radio

Guys!

Omg so it's Sunday and that means that very soon I'll be heading to the airport to pick up my family!!! They are flying standby, so who knows when they will get here exactly, but it will be tomorrow or the next day!

Isn't that just the craziest thing?! I AM SO EXCITED! Right now they're jetting across the sky to come all the way to Africa to see me! Talk about lucky! And we have such incredible adventures planned! 

I will of course take lots of pictures and post some when we get back. Next Monday and Tuesday are public holidays, so I'll be off the grid for the next little while since I'll be busy looking at super cool African animals!

I feel like an antsy five year old waiting for the three of them to arrive. I don't even know what to do with myself!

This past week was really really great! So many things on the go lately, and all of it is rocking. 

- So first of all, I couldn't really say anything until this week, but FINALLLLLY our extension was approved and we are no longer illegal immigrants!!! For the past couple weeks we've spent HOURS upon HOURS in the immigration office trying to get our paperwork sorted, and because of a whole slew of unfortunate events (networks being down for days, employees getting sick, losing paperwork, mixups with the process) we've technically been illegal immigrants for over two weeks. It was a little stressful because of the slight possibility of getting the boot out of here. So yippee! We're legal! 

- Tuesday was potentially one of my happiest moments yet since getting here. I was doing my usual reading sessions in the afternoon, and as we were wrapping up I heard tons of clapping and cheering in the hall so I went to check it out. The Rotary Club was in the process of giving awards to students who have shown the most academic improvement, and to my surprise, THREE of my five readers got awards!!! I can't even tell you how happy I was to see my kids going up. My heart exploded with happiness! I see the progress everyday, but it was so powerful to have an outside source come in and validate the work we've been doing. I couldnt have been more proud!

- I know I keep saying it's hot, but OH MY GOD it's hot, and it keeps getting hotter. The level of sweat in my daily life is just out of control. When I walk/combi home from work, almost every surface of my body is drenched. Kate and I discuss "pitters" (armpit sweat stains) on the daily. Our chats are usually like "wow, 9am and I already have some rank pitters", or "I just walked back from the gym and it's really windy so my pitters dried." Like…. SO sweaty. And yoga after work is a whole other level. I sweat in places that I didn't even know was a thing. My SHOULDERS sweat when I do yoga. My FOREARMS are sweaty. I stick to my mat. It's just the most sweaty. And wow, this heat really kills productivity. The office gets so so so warm some days, it reminds me of being in a car in the summer with the windows up. All I want to do is nap. SO HOT. Magnum bars continue to be a huge thing for us, and I've never been more in love with ice in drinks. 

- Milena and I are excellent yoga buddies. This week I managed to sit in a pose I've been working on for over a month. And Kate is our new trainer, teaching us all her kinetics ways. Our new thing is weeknight headstand parties (I know right?! We're so wild). Kate is a head/handstand pro, so she has been teaching us all her skills. Milena and I conquered the teddybear stand this week. I'm now determined to get into a headstand.

- Wednesday was another suuuuuper interesting day! I met Des (one of my phenomenal co-workers who does all the MenCare stuff) in Gabs, and him and I did a 15 minute segment on the radio! Des does weekly segments on all kinds of things relating to men and gender, so he invited me to come talk about trust in relationships. We were on RB2, a pretty legit station here in Bots. I don't mind public speaking at all, but it was a little intense because the listeners who called in spoke only Setswana so I had no idea what was going on. I think it went really well though! Some of the things we touched on were:

Does trust exist until it's broken? Or do people go into relationships with a pre-existing lack of trust because of past experiences?

When trust is broken, can you get it back?

Why is it common to investigate partners (for example, checking their phones)? What is the difference between checking in and snooping?

The 15 minutes FLEWWW by. We chatted with the host for a bit and then people called in with their stories. Des told me later that the callers had interesting things to say. People spoke about suspecting affairs, about relationship drama, and one man even called to say that trust doesn't exist period. How sad! My wise friend Maura once said that trust is like a piece of paper- once it's crumpled, the paper can never return to how it was. Such a true analogy. But I'd like to think trust can be rebuilt, because the alternative is too depressing.
Kate recorded most of it (thanks Kate!), so I uploaded some of the introduction in case you were curious. 

Pretty cool hey?

- The rest of the week was pretty good. I FINALLY finished all my interviews, and I only have one transcription left! Next up: coding and analyzing the data (woooooo partayyyyy!). Friday I spent the afternoon making necklaces with the kids. There was a learning curve even for me since it involved sewing, but it was a lot of fun to spend time with them.

- This weekend was excellent. Friday we stayed in and tried to do crafts but our instructions sucked so we watched Arrested Development instead. Saturday we went to Gabs for a beautiful potluck hosted by our lovely yoga instructor. It's an understatement to say that every hitch to Gabs is an adventure. This time, we crammed into the back of a van and realized that in the front were two loose chickens, just hanging out around the feet of the lady riding shotgun. It was such a hilarious surprise. What calm chickens they were! Anyway, the potluck was so lovely! THERE WERE PUPPIES THERE! And a whole bunch of expats, which is a scene we aren't exposed to very often, so it was neat to meet people from all over the place. Milena even braved the chilly waters of the pool. Then, we had a nice dinner. Then, dancing! It was lots of fun all around. The dance floor was continually entertaining. Craaaazy dance moves, really interesting personalities, just all around entertainment. 

- This afternoon I saw the biggest spider of my life

So today I plan on doing a ton of cleaning. I just want it to be tomorrow already! It's so funny, when I was younger I used to be SO frustrated when company came over. Mom would go on a nutso cleaning rampage, and I never understood why she put so much effort into getting the house ready. Now, here I am, 23 years old and completely preoccupied with getting our house ready before the fam shows up. If this isn't a sign of emerging (impending?) adulthood, I don't know what is. 

My next post will be late, but will be filled with our adventures!

I AM SO EXCITEDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Much love to everyone! XO

shilaleblanc@gmail.com

Shila 

I was SOOOOOO proud!

The recipients :)

Seriously just so proud

Bontle, who works in our psychosocial support department, plays a big role with my readers and deserves a lot of credit as well

Dinner!

On the radio!

Trust!

One of my readers :)

We just finished painting her nails 

Beautiful sunset!

Balancing pro over here!

Making necklaces

Sewing challenges

Our pal riding shotty

A PUPPY!!!! <3

Delicious food, lovely company! Such a great afternoon.

She's a fish!

Dinner!

Basketball & More

Hey lovelies!

So first of all, I want to send out a HUGE thank you to everyone for the birthday lovin! It was the biggest treat ever to get so many thoughtful and kind messages. You all certainly know how to make a gal feel loved :) Thank you thank you thank you! I'm the most appreciative!

Another week has passed. It's reeeeally strange that at home summer is ending and everyone is getting back into the swing of things. Here, summer is just beginning, and it's getting hotter and hotter every single day. In the span of literally two weeks, it went from chilly and cool to full on ROASTING! It's a liiiiiittle intimidating because apparently it's going to get even hotter. At the moment it's mostly doable if you're stationary and inside, but doing things outside in the afternoon? I MELT! I'm gross and sweaty 95% of the time now. Even the evenings are warm! My bed is a sauna.

This new temperature makes me miss the ocean even more than ever. The other day I laid there for ages listening to a track of wave sounds. All I want is to jump in the glorious salty ocean and cool off! Polar dip when I'm back? Absolutely. We've tossed around the idea of getting a kiddy pool so we can laugh at ourselves and get some relief from this heat. I kind of hope that ends up happening.

Some things this week:

- Milena has finally arrived! It's lovely to have some new company, and Kate and I have been showing her all the Mochudi ropes. It was Kate and I as the Bots Babes Duo, so maybe we're now the Three Botswana Musketeers? It's super interesting that Kate and I went from being total noobs to knowing the ins and outs of this place. We aren't experts by any stretch, but we certainly know a fair amount about Mochudi life.

The new roomie

- At work reading is still going really well. The interview transcriptions are on track and the work is 

KILLING me, but luckily we're almost finished. As I transcribe I have more time to reflect on the interviews, and man, it has been SO interesting! I have one interview left, so I'm majorly hoping that it happens ASAP.

I love this gal

The leadership kids during rehearsal

- Even though we've been here for three and a half months, we're still figuring new things out. This week we discovered a new combi route which cuts a good 20-25 minutes of walking for us in the mornings. I don't know how we didn't find this out sooner, but anyway, I appreciate the extra sleeping time

- Speaking of combis, we had a super interesting combi drive to work early this week. The combi itself was falling apart, the door could barely open, but inside there was this massive screen with a random movie on about the initiation schools of Botswana! A ghetto combi with a TV screen?!?! Soooo awesome.

A screen?!?!?!!

- This Friday we had a games day with the kids, and it was such a blast! I was running the Monopoly table, and initially I was dreading it. I'm not a huge Monopoly fan and I thought it would be too complicated/boring/time consuming. But it was a lesson for me to never underestimate these kids- I was SO impressed with them! They were so committed to playing the game and figuring out all the rules. They took it far more seriously than I anticipated! It ended up being a GREAT Friday afternoon

These kids are so great

Monopoly, using the South African rand

Getting starting

The game of life

I was seriously so impressed with the kids

- Friday night was SOOOOOOO marvellous. It was Milena's first night with us, and it was a FULL ON rain/lightning/thunder storm! We haven't heard the rain in over a month, so we poured some wine, lit some candles, shut off all the lights, opened all the blinds, and watched the storm. The rain was SOOOO soothing, we even ran outside to feel the rain drops. It smells different when it rains here, I'm guessing since there isn't any grass. It was just so relaxing, and it was a perfect time to get to know our new roomie.

- This weekend we went to Gabs for Kate's first basketball game. It was awesome! And also insanity. I can't believe the players can run up and down a hot cement court in the middle of the boiling afternoon sun. SO hot! But Kate played like a pro and Milena and I were her proud groupies cheering from the sidelines. Following that we had dinner and drinks at an Irish pub (I know, such a weird thing to have in Bots), and took it pretty easy for the rest of the night. Sunday we went to Gabs for another fantastic yoga session. We had super bad luck getting a hitch into Gabs, so it took us almost two hours to get there. Finally, we made it, and got some groceries before the class. Milena is a fellow yogini (who even packed her mat) so I'm PUMPED for us to practice together and learn from each other. The class was lovely, and we even finished with a lovely glass of wine!

My epic new leggings, perfect for yoga

Kate is a basketball star!!!

Warming up is a hilarious concept when the court is already scorching

I KNOW HER!!!!!!!!!

Skilllllzzzzz

A piece of heaven

Yoga outside in the shade with a lovely breeze? I died and went to heaven

- There are no words for the wonder that is Magnum ice cream bars. Ohhhhh myyyyy god heaven. Kate and I have been indulging pretty often because of the heat, and omg, they are the most delicious thing on the planet.

- I miss comfortable couches. We sat on one last week and almost fell asleep it was so glorious. Comfy couches are the best!

- No cockroaches this week (YAYYYYY!) but I woke up and found a scorpion in the bathtub. Gross. This one was a lot smaller, but man, heart attack city all the time!

Here is a video of the leadership kids practicing. I wish I could get more involved with the music they're doing but with research and reading I dont have a lot of time. The plus side is hearing the lovely melodies while I work :)

So all in all things are rocking! I caaaaaant even handle how soon I get to hug my family!!!

Peace and love!

Send me your thoughts, ask me questions!

shilaleblanc@gmail.com

Shila

These are in a lot of combis... creepy

We noticed a very special section just for us in a spa brochure

On Friday we distributed a bunch of stuff we had building up in the storage room

Playing a game to learn the multiples of 3

Justice's second challenge: get a plant and grow it. Good call lad, good call

This is where we wait for a hitch to Gabs. The New Good Hope grocery store has the basics if we're in a pinch

23!

Oh hey!

It's Sunday afternoon. Tomorrow marks me being a human for an entire 23 years!

I'm not a super big birthday person, but I do like getting older and smarter with every passing year. It feels good! Thanks to everyone for all the love :) <3

Another busy week has passed with all kinds of interesting things going on.

This week at work:

- Power outages are on the upswing lately and it's driving me a little bananas. It always seems to happen at the most inopportune times. Kate has been using the time to organize SO many things at the office, and I'm helping a bit (even though I HATE organizing) so it helps the time pass. I didn't make as much headway with transcriptions as I'd hoped because of the power being out so often, so next week I'll have to push to stay on track.

One of my readers

We love love love this kid

- Early in the week we had a morning training for financial literacy in relation to NGOs. It was a really informative thing overall. We got into groups and had to create a hypothetical annual budget based on restricted funding from a donor. It was TOUGH! I have so much more respect for what our director has to deal with on a continual basis.

-Milena our new roomie is arriving shortly and I'm pumped. She emailed and said she isn't phased by killing bugs- WHAT A PLUS! :D

- Speaking of bugs, there is good news this week: I haven't seen a SINGLE cockroach! Or scorpion for that matter. The best!

- Thursday afternoon marked the day of prayer for those impacted by HIV/AIDS, so a remembrance service was held with the kids. The motto is "Building Botswana through zero new infections." It was a really lovely ceremony.

Such a beautiful set up

Ribbons for the kids

A time for remembrance

Praying for those infected or impacted by HIV/AIDS

- Some of my readers have been testing my boundaries a bit now that the novelty of the new literacy program has worn off. I'm trying my best to use positive reinforcement to keep them motivated. I still adore reading though, challenges and all. It's so rewarding. One of my kids went from knowing only a few letter sounds to only missing four (and four hard ones): w, y, g (which makes a different sound in Setswana), and q. Progress!

We found some hilaaaaaarious random papers while we were sorting through shelves. We have NO idea what these are from, but some of the answers were sooooo great.

It is danger hahahahahaha

This weekend was such an adventure! 

My upcoming birthday was the perfect excuse to do some fun things.

On Saturday, we went to Gabs and had the best day. It started at this mall we've recently discovered that has GORGEOUS shops and restaurants. We ran into a co worker and had a lovely lunch. Then, shopping around. THEN, we were booked in for a one hour massage! And wow, whaaaaat an experience hahahaha. So first of all, we got there only to find out that we had signed up for the double-therapist massage, so each of us had TWO therapists working on us at the same time. Four hands = wowwwwww! There were some… let's say interesting massage techniques used at certain points, so Kate and I had to restrain ourselves from laughing sometimes. And there was certainly no concern for keeping body parts covered, which was also pretty hilarious. But overall I'd say it was worth every penny. Around $35CDN for an hour massage with TWO therapists? Yes please!

In the waiting room

Carmen, Maura, Coady kids, I can't even wait to reinstate back massages during debrief!

After the massage (and we were so oily that we could have slid to the mall), we randomly decided to take in a five minute 5D movie. It was SOOOO ghetto fab, I almost cried it was so funny. The seats moved, the screen was 3D, the video itself was the strangest thing, and at one point there was even random water sprayed on us. It was so bad that it was good!

5D! So hilarious.

Bloody Road, anyone?

Then we had dinner and drinks, met a couple people, and went to a bar that draws the expat crowd. It was a ball! It felt so interesting to not be the only white folks. I got dance lessons from a new friend and had a blast on the dance floor.

Getting dance lessons. I was like "A hand on the head? Really?!" but apparently it's what all the cool kids do.

Pondering the meaning of life. Or maybe what beer to get next :)

Kate fell in love

The life of the party, obvz

Hiiiiiii

New BFFs

The dance floooooo

Oh hey

We stopped in to another (much sketchier) bar in Mochudi for a quick jaunt in the "VIP" section (a sketchy back room), and finally tumbled into bed at 330. It was awesome! All in all, a solid weekend was had. Kate even baked me a delicious cake!!!

Nomnomnom CAKE! Thanks Kate!

Thanks to everyone for the birthday love, I am the luckiest! 

TWO WEEKS til my family is here!!!

Family! Get at me!

SO so SO so SO excited!!!

Sending peace and love vibes to errbody!

shilaleblanc@gmail.com

Shila  

We walk this road every day

Some shops

On the highway

See that pile of mud? It's an ant hill! Some of them are probably as tall as me! They're all over the place here.