Greetings from Kanye, Botswana!

This is our first blog post from Botswana. We are staying in Kanye (south of Gabarone). Our only internet access is through a cyber café which has a fairly slow network and costs up based on time, so I will apologize up front about the lack of pictures.

John and I are enjoying our family and have been given local names, Wame (me) and Kabo (John). We are also slowly progressing with Setswana, but luckily our family here speaks English as well. Everyone is wonderful although the house is almost always full of kids and activity. Unlike in the US, people walk in and out of people they know’s houses pretty freely and families live right next to each other or on the same compound, a kgotla. On the first weekend we were here family came from Gaborone to visit and meet us. One of the pictures I will post is of us while we were waiting with Thato, who goes to University in Gabs, to hitch a ride back. Hitch hiking is one of the predominant ways to travel here. People tend to reimburse the drivers who pick them up with whatever the going rate is for travel.

John and I are staying in the main house on the Kgotla and seem to have a relatively large amount of space compared to other volunteers. We have electric, running water cold water, and have a bathroom that is mainly ours (we share it with the guest room when people are visiting). I think this has helped us with integration because we have an intermediate amount of privacy and do not have to just hide in our room when trying to do homework which needs concentration. We are having occasional times of being overwhelmed, but they seem to pass fairly quickly.

We also arrived at a great time of year. There has been several events at the main kgotla (where the chief is) and the Peace Corps are brought in as honored guests. We were able to see traditional dancing and get a good taste of culture. There are also a lot of weddings and funerals. We have only been to 2 weddings yet, but a cousin is getting married soon and family is coming in town for events this weekend. I think I will be going to my first bridal shower Saturday.

Well time is running short here, so over and out for now. One last note, our cell phones have a problem receiving calls from AT&T phones, so if our folks passed on our number be aware of this. Also, the families should have our address if anyone wants to write. We will try to post again soon! Love to everyone!

On we go

It's 2:30 in the morning and I am not asleep again. In a couple hours John and I will be catching our plane to Philadelphia, on the 14th catching a bus to NY (JFK), then heading off to Botswana. I am a mixture of excited, sad to leave family and friends, and a bit nervous. I am also wondering how long it will be before I can sleep through the night again. John was blessed with the gift of sleeping anywhere and at anytime while I was given the ability to feel completely awake in the middle of the night for absolutely no reason. Hopefully I will put this extra time to work in Botswana with reading, writing and drawing. I imagine this will be the perfect time to catch up on letters to friends as well.

The last 10 days have been amazing with going away parties for friends and family and spending as much time with people as possible. Thank you everyone for reminding me what amazing people I am surrounded by. I will miss you all!

The next few months are going to be a whirlwind of meeting people and cramming as much information into my brain as possible. I can't wait to get started!

Our Thoughts on Louisville

As time is getting closer to departure, John and I started talking about Louisville and came up with things we will and won't miss. Here it is.

Things I WON'T miss:
1. Spaghetti Junction and how I64 west backs up at Cannons Ln for no reason then dissipates after it
2. The question "Where did you go to high school?"
3. The inability of people to drive in the rain
4. The city shutting down at the first sign of a snowflake
5. Our minimalistic public transportation system
6. Indiana and Lexington jokes
7. Not being able to get on 71 north from 64 west or 64 east from 71 south.
8. Roads changing names 3 times in 3 blocks
9. Bike lanes that disappear into thin air at the most inopportune times

Things I WILL miss:
1. Family and friends
2. The variety of local restaurants and coffee shops
3. Waterfront Wednesday, Forecastle and other live music
4. Seasons, especially actual snow (not just forecasts that don't come true)
5. The parks, especially Big Rock
6. The Derby Marathon/Minimarathon
7. Bardstown Rd farmer's market omelets
8. Turkey Bowling
9. Brew at the Zoo
10. Ideafest
11. Midcity Mall quarter machines
12. Biking the riverwalk
13. Free blizzards at DQ when it snows
14. Falls of the Ohio

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14 days & Berea

Two weeks from now at this time John and I should have landed in Philadelphia for staging. It is hard to imagine that we are so close to leaving.

We are making progress on some of the business end to getting ready such as getting a new driver's license so it doesn't expire while we are over seas, extending our debit card expiration dates, filling out some Peace Corps paperwork, getting a power of attorney, and the list goes on and on... We are also making a list of places we want to eat at before leaving, such as our favorite sushi places.

Some of the reality is beginning to hit home as we are having to say our last goodbye's to some people we know we won't be able to see again.

Yesterday I drove down to Berea to meet Kate since we won't be able to make it down to Knoxville again. Although I was sad not to see Michael and Sam again, some "girl time" was long overdue. It has been a while since Kate and I hung out just the two of us and I would love to make it happen more often (once we are in the US again). The day was encompassed with walking around and taking in multiple different venues. First we walked through an arts center, then hiking, then lunch and just walking around town. The hike was my favorite part. Although we were supposed to see a waterfall at the end it was dry but the area was astonishingly beautiful. The walk was typical of Kentucky scenery, with dense trees and rocks and hills.

I then met up with John, Jerry, Zue, Shawn, Amanda, and Rob to have dinner one last time before Rob catches his plane in the morning. We went to the casino for steaks and Shawn had the great idea that we will all meet up again in a little over 2 years to do the same thing. Sadly we forgot the camera. All in all it was a great day!

Derby festivities!

We made it to the balloon glow with Tracy's folks and really enjoyed the show!

D.C.

We got in around mid-day and Rosco seemed happy to see Tracy. I wasn't too jealous... We enjoyed Jess and Steven's awesome back yard and amazing cooking, then proceeded to spend most of the evening catching up and sharing some beers. Some friends of theirs (Chris and Beth) arrived later in the evening and we drank some Manhattans and talked about a wide variety of things then made plans for the morrow.

The morning began with bagels, thin sliced salmon, onions, and cream cheese (delicious!), all washed down with coffee. We grabbed their three bikes and grabbed a fourth from the Capital Bikeshare! This is a great idea for a city! Then rode to a large, local market and tested food samples from all the fruit stalls and ended the experience with a stop at a Mediterranean food truck.  Next we set off for the capital building and took our pictures just as the rain started.  All four of us were good and soaked by the time we made it to the Hirshhorn Museum.  I had seen pictures of the Needle Tower and did not want to miss the opportunity to check it out.  With the upcoming adventure, we are trying to save our cash so I was trying to decide if I wanted to go in or voice the dissent and move on.  We went in and next thing I knew we were walking among the works.  Jess advised most of the museums in DC are free.  I figured it would be closer to the idea of a donation or something, but absolutely free was unexpected.  Like a child with a new gift I wandered around enjoying the photography exhibits and after a time when we all needed coffee, but it wasn't hard to leave without regrets.  Funny how removing money from an equation can change things.  After caffeinating ourselves we headed to the National Gallery of Art and saw the largest mobile ever created by Alexander Calder.  We spied some good Alberto Giacometti, Dali, Picasso, and many others too.  We grabbed the bikes and headed back to rest up before going to a DC United soccer match!  They smashed the competition and we destroyed some hotdogs!  Good times!

On our last day, we had lunch gathered from the market: pate, olives, two kinds of cheeses, tomatoes, white peaches, two kinds of bread, and some meats.  We ate down near the waterfront and went to the U.S. National Arboretum afterward.  The bonsai exhibit was fascinating and I learned that if you prune back the roots then the leaves take on the small size that I think of when I think of bonsai.  I always thought they had to be specific tree breeds or something akin to that.  We walked through the garden and felt like we were transported to another place far from any city.  Then we were worn out from the weekend and escaped into a flick on the TV.

We said our goodbyes the next day and Jess and Steven headed off to work.  Our next stop was to Baltimore for a free hotel room (Thank you again Jenn!) and some exploring.  We did some shopping and enjoyed an ice-cream by the water front.  It was a day of relaxation and sea food - great clams!  A perfect end to our US traveling.  Now back to Louisville and focusing in on our Botswana planning and international travel.

NY

Sat morning before leaving the Boston area for NY/NJ Ashok, John and I drove to the mountains in NH to do some hiking. This was an amazing hike although the first part of the trail which was supposed to be 2.2 miles felt more like 4 straight uphill. After a well spent day of hiking we had dinner in Boston then hit the road again. En route to Jersey City it downpoured most of the way, at least during my shift driving. We arrived at Chez Hay around 2am and hung out for a little while before crashing.

Sunday morning Rob made an excellent breakfast of french toast.
-went to the cloisters
-el Malacon for lunch
-Cassie dropped us off at Manhattan Mall
-Took the PATH back to NJ
-Watched Louie CK and ordered Indian for dinner.

Monday
John & I slept in a bit and had a relaxing morning reading and enjoying coffee. We then grabbed a late lunch and gelato at Chelsea Market and continued the hunt for my size Chacos in a color I like. Although we were able to get John a pair I have resigned myself to ordering them online. Afterwards we met Rob at his work and the whole crew (Amy, Maggie, Rob, Cassie, John, and I) went to watch the movie Airplane in Bryant Park. I can't believe this wa s the first time John had seen it. We then headed to Times Square so Maggie could see it at night.

Tuesday:
-John, Rob, and I went to Century 21
-Had breakfast out of a cart on Wall Street
-Took the State Island Ferry
-tie shopping at a street vendor
-Toured the Intrepid and a submarine
-Back to the apt to drop Maggie off at the airport
-ordered Chinese played Monopoly, had a dance off (Kinect), and drank

Wednesday:
-Met Nat & Marina for lunch
-Jim for beers at (Old Town, McSorley's & the Birreria rooftop)
-Met Rob at his work then ate at the Hartland. Thursday
-Peace Corps conference call at 10
-Went into Manhattan to shop
-sky line to read and ran into Nat and his dad
-Chelsea garden for dragonfruit
-Gene's for dinner with Rob and Cassie
-Walked around the east Village and grabbed a couple beers
-Home to do a dance off

Friday John left his phone at Taglitalia so he ran into the city while I packed up and we are now on the road to see Jess and Steven in DC.