Week 9: Understanding Just Enough Setswana

It’s the final week of Pre-Service Training and I have been reflecting on what I have learned and the little moments, which used to be cultural exchanges and I now accept as the norm. A prime example is the fact that I used to underestimate the places that my mom could take her pick-up truck. I would be a little nervous every time I thought we were off roading, however, I have come to realize that is the road and its fine that’s why she drives a pick-up. Don’t get me wrong driving with my host mom is always an adventure and one never knows where we will end up. Just the other day we left to pick up milk and ended up at a relatives, where I was warmly greeted with a pat on the rump and based on my Setswana understanding something along the lines of, “Ah you are Motswana.” The women of Serowe are known for having large behinds and consequently there is a song about the women of Serowe pulling tractors behind them, I can only surmise that this relative was referring to such. I will take this as a compliment on my cultural integration skills, look I blend in!

I am grateful for my ability to pick up on context clues as I was in my language Proficiency test and told to describe what had been stolen from me in the fictitious scenario I was given. Naturally I promplty respond with hair, because I get hair and dress confused luckily due to my testers face I quickly realized my error and remedied the situation.

Other highlights include cracking a bottle of wine with my host mom on Thursday night and then both of us knocking out around 8:30, she never ceases to surprise me. Other things I have learned are to never underestimate the comforts of cookie backing on a Friday night with friends. Or in this case cookie frying/not cooking in a pan on a gas stove top, I will not be deterred by a lack of oven or the heat, cookie making will prevail!

In three days I will move to a new village and I am incredibly excited and a bit anxious. I have grown comfortable in my home and neighborhood here, however more exciting adventures await. My posts may become less frequent due to limited internet access but I will continue to write.