Questions

Hello! Let me start off this post by answering some of your questions. As far as baking is concerned, I baked 3 cakes- two chocolate cakes and one vanilla. I actually didn't make the cakes from scratch, my family didn't have many baking ingredients available. Big grocery stores in Gaborone actually have a pretty good selection, including cake mixes, so all I had to add was eggs, water, and sometimes milk. Stores in Gaborone definitely don't have the variety that stores in America do, but they still have an impressive amount. One thing that they oddly don't have is chocolate chips- that's something you just have to make yourself. As far as baking the cake, it wasn't easy because a) the pans that I had to cook with were limited and b)they had a gas oven and no degrees settings- just numbers 1-8. I winged the cooking each time but they all turned out quite delicious. I didn't bake any cakes on my birthday, but they bought me a store make one that was pretty good. My 21st birthday was very relaxed; the only special thing I did was go out to lunch with my friends and have a few drinks. My birthday fell on the first night of my homestay so I decided not to go out right away. Birthdays in Botswana are much less of a big deal here. I imagine buying a cake and singing happy birthday is about the extent to which they celebrate, based on my experience. I'm getting along with the people on my program very well. Everyone is very fun and relatively drama free. We have many hilarious people on the trip and we laugh a lot which is especially nice in stressful situations. I could go through and describe each of my 13 classmates but that would take quite a while. An interesting development, however, is that we will be getting new students. Apparently there is an ecology SIT program in Madagascar and many students are being asked to leave due to recent political issues. There will be at least 2 new students- one girl and one boy, but up to 5. I hope that they get along with the group well and they don't throw off our comfortable dynamics. I hope that answers some questions. Unfortuneately my time is up yet again. My current situation: I've started my last homestay yesterday in a rural village called Sexaxa (pronounced very different than you would think). I am living in a thatched-roofed hut with no electricity or running water and I'm 15 minutes away from Maun (where I am currently taking classes). I hope to update you more soon. Lots of Love!!!