Living the Local Life in Botswana

Meet Karla Lainez our first guest blogger!

Below you will find her reflection of her weekend spent with her host family. A big part of the Botswana study abroad trip is seeing what it's like to be a local teen in Gaborone. All the students spent this past weekend with their family on all kinds of adventures. Karla loves to write, is constantly making all of us laugh, and has never faltering positive energy! I am excited for you all to read about her weekend adventures!

​A Weekend Full of Food, Family, and Farming!

On Saturday, Lerato (My host sibliing, 14) and I woke up later than usual since we didn't have to go to school. We were supposed to wake up at 8:00am but we decided to ignore the alarm and slept in for another hour. Because of that, when we finally got up we had to rush to get ready. Lerato, her cousin, Haley, their friend, and me, were going to game city to see a movie. Since we woke up so late we had to catch the 2:30pm movie instead of the 11:00. That worked out better though because our late selves wouldn't have made it.

Finally, about an hour later Lerato and I took a combi to a bus waiting station, where we met her cousin, Haley, and their friend. The combi was very packed and I was a little scared but I liked how the seats retracted! There we waited for another combi to come and take us all to game city. Little did we know that it wouldn't show up. We were tired of waiting so Lerato called her Dad. He came and picked us up and s took us to game city. When we got there we ate pizza and ran into two other members of our CIEE group. After eating, we finally went and saw the movie (Skyscraper). The popcorn was sooo good!!! We put salt and vinegar seasoning on the popcorn, which we do not have in Connecticut.

When we got home there was a get together at my host house. My host dad slaughtered 2 goats for a big party they have about once a month. Honestly, it was hard to see a goat being slaughter and it was defiantly a new cultural experience. He does this every month with his friends as a way to see his friends because they don't get to see each other very often. It's one of their traditions. Once everything was cooked we ate and helped Servel clean up the dishes. I ended up eating chicken because I felt too guilty to eat the goat.

Sunday was so much fun! We had to wake up early because my host family and Haley's were going to, Kweneng, a cattle ranch, about 2 hours away from Gaborone. On the car ride there we saw sheep, cows, donkeys, horses, and even a pack of baboons. The car ride there was so much fun, because it was so bumpy, that it felt like we were on a roller coaster. When we got there we took a family picture, then continued to follow the herd of cattle. It was awesome, because Haley and I even were able to milk a cow! It was so surreal and not what I expected a cow udder to feel like at all! It was soft and slimy, but so cool at the same time.

After that, we went to see the sheep and they were so cute! Once we were done looking at the sheep, we took a break and had lunch. As the children of the family, our jobs were to make the adults their coffee and sandwiches. When we were done eating, the local man who tends the animals, went and got a baby goat. He brought the baby goat over to us and we were able to hold it! When I was holding it, all I could thing was 'aw this is so precious!' I loved every second of it! On the way back we road in the back of the pickup and it was even bumpier than the first time around. It was an amazing bonding experience for all of us!

When we got back to the main road we headed to our cars and made our way back to Gaborone!As soon as we got in the car we immediately fell asleep; it had been a long and amazing day. Once we were home Lorato and I cleaned up and ate a chicken sandwich. We finished the day by watching the World Cup..yay FRANCE!!! I called my Mom after the game so I could tell her all about my fun weekend!