Lunar Eclipse and Countdown to Deltas!!!

Thursday 2/21
Today began at the moderately unfortunate hour of 4:30am , but being awake at this hour proved to be a fruitful enterprise. The reason for rising so early was that the last lunar eclipse until 2010 occurred at around 5am my time, and I decided that it was worth the loss of sleep in order to see a lunar eclipse in a Sub-Saharan African sky. The stars are very differently oriented here, and we were even able to see parts of the milky way when we traveled to the darkened national stadium for viewing. The eclipse itself was definitely cool to watch and the temperature was a balmy 70-ish degrees even in the darkness so I thoroughly enjoyed beginning my morning with one of nature's (and I use the term nature to encompass the solar system as well) great moments. By the time the eclipse was complete, the sun was beginning to rise, and we stayed to watch the outline of the moon disappear in the daylight. Afterwards, I went down to the track to do my morning workout, and successfully ran five miles! I was moving at a snail's pace, but I was triumphant in that today is the first time since I developed problems with my shins in soccer (roughly two years ago) that I have run more than three miles without having to ignore excruciating pain in my shins! Hooray! Stretching has been the key, as well as slowing my pace to match my muscular fitness level.
Classes today have been a little blurry due to my lack of sleep, but I am going to take tomorrow off from exercising in order to be able to sleep until 7am (which is sleeping in here - everything starts earlier because it gets so hot in the afternoon). My classmates and I are pulling our hair out in Setswana because our professor is consistently giving us contradictory information in class, and at the end of the lesson, we are never sure which version of the structure of a sentence she wants us to use. I am definitely of the opinion that teaching a foreign language to complete beginners should be done by someone who has had to learn the language in the same way because there is a severe communication barrier between us students, and our Botswana professor. Unfortunately for now we are stuck, and we will have to settle for a basic understanding of the language that can be clarified as issues come up in our attempts to use the language in "real life". It is a very interesting language, and I look forward to impressing my friends with my ability to speak a language that is completely foreign to us Westerners! ;)
The rest of the day holds little to entertain, just some reading for tomorrow, exercise and a little chicken stir fry for dinner!! Mmmm! TTFN!

Friday 2/22
Today began very strangely! Alyssa and I met up with another girl from our program, Whitney, as well as our director/professor, Dr. Lanegran, on our way to Globalization class. The four of us entered a classroom and sat down. No one else was present, and at around 8:05am, when there were still no other students in the classroom, Dr. Lanegran, irritated and a bit flustered, began to hold class with just us three students. We discussed the assigned reading from the night before on the feminization of the textile industry in Lesotho until around 8:30am when Dr. Lanegran answered her cell phone which had rang several times, to discover one of the other students on the line asking her why she had not shown up to class. In the end, we realized that Dr. Lanegran had walked into the wrong classroom, and because the rooms all look the same on the floor where the class is, we didn't realize it. So all 20 of the other students had been sitting in the right classroom next door wondering what was happening, and fearing the worst. We all got together after class in the courtyard of our dorms and had a good laugh about the whole situation. It's amazing what people will conclude when the unexpected happens. Alyssa, Whitney and I thought it was a joke; Dr. Lanegran thought people had overslept(?) or were just on a trip somewhere; and the other students figured that one of the three of us students was in the hospital or something since we all weren't there.
After class, I went over to the clinic which was eerily quiet when I walked in, and all the doctors expressed their surprise and delight at how little was going on that day since Fridays are normally slammed with patients. Instead I spent most of the morning talking with Dr. Tumbare about her children and other non-medicine subjects. There was one dramatic unfolding while I was there in that a woman who was very pregnant and very anemic was locked in her home refusing to go to the hospital for a much needed blood transfusion. The anti-retroviral drugs that are given during this study can cause low hemoglobin levels (the molecule that transports oxygen in the blood), and in severe cases can require a blood transfusion. The woman had spent February 2-18 in the hospital and received absolutely no medical care other than to be stuck in every possible vein in her body as they attempted to establish IV access. One of the clinic doctors who had seen her the day before said she looked like a pincushion. In response, the woman said that she would go to the hospital on Monday because she was too tired to go for the whole weekend. As frustrating and worrisome as her noncompliance was, one can hardly blame her for being wary of returning to the overcrowded wards where all she would do is lie around and sleep anyway. I participated with my limited knowledge of medical ethics vs. duty to act in the discussion on whether or not the clinic was legally obligated. The biggest question is obviously whether or not the mother is of sound mind to make rational decision. In the U.S. if a person is deemed mentally competent at the time of refusal, the healthcare provider has no right to force that person to receive medical attention. If, however, the person is determined not to be of sound mind, then a court order can be issued that gives the healthcare provider the authority to temporarily commit the patient to the hospital. In Botswana, these standards do not exist, so all the clinic can ethically do is hope that nothing happens over the weekend to the mother or the baby. Dr. Thumbare was fairly confident that barring any unusual circumstances, the mother should be fine to rest over the weekend and receive the transfusion on Monday. So if you're looking for someone to pray for, this woman and her baby could definitely use some prayers.

Saturday 2/23
Alyssa and I participated in the aerobics club "marathon" today which included four hours of aerobic dancing led by different instructors from around the Sub-Saharan Africa region! There is a special event going on this week called the Intervarsity Games, and basically there are students from universities in the region that have come here to compete/observe in the realm of athletics and other competitive arenas. Tonight there is an opening night bash that includes all kinds of musical performers starting at 6pm and going until 6am. After the four hours of dancing during aerobics, I don't know if I'll be up for that kind of party!
The aerobics instructors were all very different from each other, and each routine was a lot of fun. My favorite was a guy who clearly had martial arts training and was wearing a white sweat outfit with a blue tank-top underneath. He had us shadow-boxing and kickboxing, and doing a routine that was far more like Taebo than aerobics. As a Taebo buff, I was much more at home with this guy than the more dance-oriented routines, although I surprised myself with my ability to pick up the routines after several thousand mistakes! Reminded me of learning dance numbers during musical rehearsal in high school! Oh Stage Flight Theater!
After showering and enjoying a lunch of mango, chicken sandwich, and pickles, Alyssa and I walked over to Riverwalk where I purchased a mosquito net at the behest of concerned loved ones ;) and we sat and enjoyed a cool drink at Wimpy's, which is like a classy McDonalds. They still have take-out, but most people come in, sit down, and order their fried chicken patties and ice cream/shakes with fries from the waiters/waitresses. Tipping is an unclear thing here, as many places the servers are paid above the minimum wage and often don't even receive tips, and yet there are places like Spur, where I'm pretty sure tipping is customary. It's one of those things that you just have to use your best judgment and hope you don't make anyone too angry. There are stalls outside the restaurant sector on the weekends and Riverwalk that sell beautiful handcrafted earrings, necklaces, bracelets, bags, shirts, etc., and Alyssa and I have been contributing significantly to the income of these stall owners the last few weekends! The earrings are only about P10, which is under $2 USD, so it's not like we're getting ripped off, but it definitely adds up! Oh well, lots of lovely little African jewelry to give away!
The rest of the afternoon was spent packing for the safari. Did I mention how excited I am?!! I will definitely have to find a way to post some pics after that because I expect there to be some really cool ones! Obviously, I won't be writing in my blog until probably Sunday or Monday of next week, so don't be worried I haven't posted. Also be prepared for a very long entry when I get back though! I plan to keep careful record in my journal of all the things we do so that I can report the details back to you! Thanks again for reading! It's really fun to be able to share my experiences with the people I love! Have a wonderful, safe week! TTFN!