Aloe and Sunscreen

Sunday, 2/10
I woke up tentatively today, in the hopes that my illness had past, and indeed I am feeling worlds better, and have been able to eat two small meals so far. Most of the day has been spent in my room writing my paper for Globalization that is a critical analysis of the UN organization UNAIDS. It is basically an umbrella organization for the comprehensive UN and national response to the HIV/AIDS crisis. I also have a fantastic sunburn as souvenir from yesterday, which I am hoping will soon turn into a nice tan!
So good news on the picture front! One of the girls in our group has created a joint account for us on Snapfish.com where we can upload albums of our pictures, so not only will I be able to share with you the pictures from my camera, I can give you access to their pictures as well! Hooray! I will add more details as they become available.
I went to the UB stadium to watch the girls' varsity soccer team play a game (the one I've been practicing with but due to transcontinental registration issues am unable to play in games with), and unfortunately they lost 8-2. The lack of commitment is very evident in their play, in that the biggest issues I saw with the team were lack of fitness, and an inability to play with each other. There are very talented individual players, but no real playmakers who can visualize the field and string a few passes together. The fitness element was very obvious on defense when time after time the other team would literally get behind the entire defense on the dribble! As a defender, I think this was the most painful aspect of the game! I suppose as a practice player there's not much influence that I can have, but I will tell anyone on the team who asks what I think is missing. Maybe there will be a positive change, who knows?!

Monday 2/11
I turned in my paper today, and then the first round of class presentations started (Globalization class). The people that presented today did a different project in which they interviewed UB students about globalization and what in their opinion, it was doing for/to the people of Botswana. There were some very interesting responses in that among the people that had a firm grasp of the concept, there was a lot of concern for the cultural and environmental impact that globalization was having on Botswana. Culturally, many students felt that globalization was causing "Americanization" of society, and people were losing sight of Lebotu (sp?) which is a Tswana word for pride, honor, moral values, respect - all the things that Botswana traditional culture defines as acceptable and expected. For example, respect for women is ingrained in Botswana culture, but American music videos and television have "inspired" many Botswana men to start using derogatory terms towards women. It makes me wonder if the way in which some men treat American women here is connected with that erosion of culture. Perhaps historically, men would not have been so bold as to express their undying love for us upon first meeting. In fact, in my limited experience in more rural areas, we experienced a great deal more respect from men and women alike than in the city of Gaberone.
The rest of the day was uneventful, although Alyssa and I snuck out under the cover of darkness to chop a leaf off of one of the many aloe trees on campus in order to treat her poor blistering sunburns on her chest. I definitely have a pretty good sunburn going, but hers is ten times worse in perspective. If anyone remembers the blisters on my mom's foot after the Bahamas, think that all over her chest! I don't think it was exactly illegal to cut off the branches because we were actually encouraged to do so by the international students' advisor, Charity, but Alyssa and I still felt delinquent in our activities and it made for a laugh as we stole back across campus trying to hide the big spiky leaf in our hands and the oozing pocketknife we used to sever the limb with! I really hope it brings her some relief because at this point she can't even wear a shirt over the burns, and therefore has to go around in shirts that are in the same shape as the burn, leaving it completely exposed. At least we both will learn to be more vigilant about reapplying our sunscreen in the future!

Tuesday 2/12
Today was a pretty busy day, although I don't feel like a really accomplished much! After class in the morning, I went with a few others from my group to find out about getting anti-malarial pills for our trip to the Okavango Deltas in a week and half! The deltas are supposedly chock full of wild-ranging animals (lions, giraffes, hippos, crocodiles, monkeys!) so I'm pretty excited about that, but obviously mosquitoes and malaria are a concern. We were told before we came to Botswana that the UB clinic would provide us with free meds, but unfortunately, that's not the case, and after a lot of walking around and debating with a pharmacist we concluded that there would be no free access and that we would have to fork out the $150 USD to pay for Malerone which is a highly recommended drug for its lack of side-effects and reliability. I could go for a much cheaper antibiotic drug called dioxacyclin, but you have to be on it for a month after returning and I don't really want to deal with side effects of that for so long.
After two hours of Setswana, I returned to my apartment to find that the water had gone out again, and I left for soccer practice chagrined at the fact that I would not be able to shower later. Alas, the water was back when I returned so I can take a shower! Hooray! TTFN!!