Dear Kumakwane, here I come. Love, Dintle.

Hellooooooooo all!

So I got my site announcement on Saturday! Kumakwane it is! That is about 25K from Gaborone which is the capital of Botswana. I think I lucked out big time because it is a remote village of about 3,400 people (which is small) and I am also close to the bumpin' city if I get too crazy out there on my own. (p.s., sorry for using the term 'bumpin').

I will also be living about a 5 minute walk to another volunteer named Richard who is part of the Bots 8 group who have been here for just over a year now. I have met him and he is very nice and I think he is a couple years younger than me. I am sure we will have a lot of fun!

Ok, this Wed-Sun I actually get to go to my site and see my school and my house and meet the Kgosi (Chief) and other important people I will be working with over the next 2 years. My house is a one bedroom rectangular shaped hut with running water and electricity (Can I get a Hallelujah!??!?!?!!?) I also heard a rumor that it has a shower head that only squirts out a stream but hey, after standing in a bucket and washing myself for the last 6 weeks I will glady take a light stream of water!!!!:) There is a kitchen and a living room and I am hoping a nice yard to attempt a garden...haha I know, me gardening? Should be interesting!

I will surely have more to say about it the next time I blog because I will have actually seen it then so I won't waste space with the "could be's".

On to the highlights of the past few weeks:

~I am pretty sure I will be content if I NEVER eat peanut butter again. That is all I can say about that.

~For all my English friends...you'd be happy to know I drink tea sometimes twice a day, to my utter dismay. They LOAD it will powdered milk and about 3 TB of sugar so I have come accustom to drinking it black, gross.

~A bit of sad news. One of my greatest friends here has decided to leave. Though it was ultimately the best decision for her I miss her already! We got each other's humor and I miss shooting the shit (sorry, Mom) with her daily! Love you A.G.!

~Although I am in a fantastic new place I am so sad I missed Lost and Survivor! I know I am a dork for even caring about 2 t.v. shows but not seeing Sawyer's bare chest every Tuesday night and watching Survivor with Emma has been hard! Can't wait to watch the bootlegs here:)

~My ipod is slowly dying on me so I have had to ration songs every night. The battery lasts about an hour so there is only so much Taylor Swift or Lil' Wayne for me!

~I plan on riding a donkey all the way to Kenya and then riding a Camel all the way to Cairo at the end of my service. Ok, that's a little ridiculous but I do plan on going to Egypt with 'Team Cairo" Ashliegh and Camilo are the definite brave souls to sign on to this adventure so far!

~Another sad note. Some Motswana here tie donkey's feet together so they don't roam too far at night and it is so sad looking. My mission is to free them (ok, kidding but it is sad) The donkey's don't seem to mind too much they just sort of hop instead of walk.

~Hand-washing clothes just plain sucks. Enough said.

~I got 3 amazing packages!!!! 2 from Mama Duggs and one from Emily and the c4k team! It absolutely made my day!!!! I will be writing letters back ASAP!!!! Thanks so much everyone!

~Batswana men...not a huge fan. So much for finding a husband, right? They are beautiful but a lot of them (not all) have the belief that women are good for three things: Cooking, Silence, and Sex. Hmmmmm

~Since I have no electricity at the moment I have slowly started to become an old woman who goes to bed at 8pm....life is good.

~Sometimes I don't get dinner here and I find myself eating a can of peas in my room like a homeless person. I always laugh. Thanks to My family sending me tuna fish I munched on a can of that two nights ago when I didn't get dinner.

~If you do send a packeage write "religious material" on it. Just an fyi because people will be less likely to open it!

~There are no trash barrels here so I throw all my garbage in the pit latrine...hopefully my Mom doesn't start to notice...whoops.

~I am reading the TrueBlood books and sometimes I often think that dogs are shapeshifters and people are going to seduce me and bite my neck, no joke. I might be going insane...

~Here they like to put tangy mayonaise and ketchup on everything. I am beginning to actually like putting ketchup on my rice and potatoes...however the tangy mayonaise makes me want to vomit.

~If you thought me liking PBR was trashy, you should see me drinking Black Label....gross.

Ok, those are some highlights from my time here so far...I hope you enjoy laughing at the funny and ridiculous things that occur daily and constantly in my life now. I have been trying desperately today to upload pictures on facebook but I am having a little trouble...soon I hope!

Peace and Love! I miss you all!

Mary/Dintle