September 12, 2014

We spent a large part of the morning debriefing our shadowing experience and explaining the site development process. It was reassuring to learn about the criteria Peace Corps considers “safe housing” and that safety is a high priority.

After lunch we presented on our practicum from Manonnye Primary School before being free for healthy outlets. Not knowing what to do, I figured I would at least sneak some time on the internet. Before I knew it, Mme was calling me saying she was outside. She opened the car door and started driving off with hardly a word of where we were going or what we were doing. If anyone saw the interaction they probably would have assumed I was being kidnapped. During our short drive she let me in on the purpose for our meeting which was to go to a tailor to have a skirt made for her nephew’s wedding at the end of the month. We would all be in matching fabric, so she was having a skirt made just for me. The fabric was absolutely beautiful and exactly something I would have chosen. It was blue with a green and purplish pattern. I felt like a princess and couldn’t wait to see how it turns out.

I opted to return home instead of going back to school and finding something to do for the next hour and a half. I immediately regretted that decision as we pulled up to the house and Mme asked me to make dinner for the family. I went inside and tried to come up with a million excuses as to why I couldn’t cook, but nothing came to mind. I started washing dishes and figured this would last until someone came home to help. People came home, but no one stopped to help. Mme gave me a few pointers here and there and Onica came to save my chicken from burning, but other than that I was on my own.

I don’t think my mom would ever believe that I made cooked spinach on my own free will, but there I was standing in the kitchen stirring a pot of green mush. I’m a decent cook in the United States, but I’m working with an entirely new set of ingredients in Botswana that I’m not familiar with. You would think I learned my lesson after almost burning the chicken, but it seems as though I didn’t because I almost burned the phaleshe as well. I saved it at the very end and dinner didn’t turn out half bad, if there was anyone around to enjoy it. My host parents were gone and my host sisters were hiding in their rooms. Onica said she would help me cook after she bathed, but she idled on the porch listening to music, went to bathe, and then went straight to her room. I was confused and didn’t know what was expected of me, so I just left food out for everyone and walked out of the house. During training we aren’t supposed to go out after dark, but I felt defeated and frustrated, so I walked just down the street to Sara’s house. 

Because I left the house without eating dinner, Sara fed me ice cream which was way better than anything I could have cooked. We talked in the kitchen and listened to music, venting about my cooking fiasco. By the time I returned home an hour later, Onica was dishing out everyone’s dinner which was an altered version of what I made, including pasta. Onica asked what I was eating for dinner, knowing I couldn’t eat pasta. I held up an apple and spoonful of peanut butter and walked defeated to my room to top off my ice cream dinner.