Welcome to Botswana

Fifteen hours is a LONG time. I hadn’t fully appreciated the fact until today. First, I had a two-hour flight to JFK, then a fifteen-hour flight to Johannesburg, and finally a one-hour flight to Gaborone.

Thankfully, I met tons of cool people to help assuage the boredom! Especially on my flight to Johannesburg, there was plenty of time for chatting. On my left, I sat next to a well-traveled British manager for a software company currently living in the States. On my right, I sat next to a South African model who came to the US for go-sees. The conversation was lively, until the model fell asleep on my shoulder and I learned that the manager snores. :/ But I passed the time by watching Cinderella and Avengers II.

My adventures started once we arrived in Jo-burg. After fifteen hours of flying, I really wanted to get changed and freshen up. Surprisingly, I discovered that the toilet was a squat toilet. The problem was, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to flush it. I felt around the stall for any sign of a button or handle, and I sighed out loud with relief when I found one. Eagerly, I pressed it…and poured a shower of water onto my head. Who would’ve thought that the airport bathrooms would have shower spouts?

After arriving in Botswana, I moved into my homestay, a beautiful house just outside of the main city. There were goats outside one of the other houses in the neighborhood, which surprised me a little, but apparently people frequently let their animals roam the area.

I crashed and slept away the afternoon, and then we went to the mall. In the US, I dislike shopping, and I tend to avoid malls. But this felt like a splash of home; some of the stores were the same, the same movies were playing at the movie theater, and there was food from all over the world.

Dinner was delicious, and I can’t wait to begin exploring the city tomorrow! I’ll begin posting pictures soon!