Saturday, March 12, 2016

Two countries


Here we are on our next-to-last night in this amazing place. We have heard about national branding and the promotion of tourism from the Botswana Investment and Trade Center, and we have heard from the US Embassy Economics Officer about the challenges of doing business in Botswana as a foreigner. We have interacted with tutors and school children in an after-school program for vulnerable youth and also heard about the national education system and English language learning and the gaps therein. Today, during an outing to Mokolodi Nature Reserve, we learned about efforts to stem poaching in Botswana. The government has a very hard stance on this issue, but in a country of just over  2 million people (and slightly smaller than the state of Texas), enforcement is an issue. Punishment may be little more than a modest fine. At the level of tribal government, however, this may be much more severe.

Botswana is full of dichotomies. There are extraordinarily rich citizens, thanks to diamond mining, and there are extremely poor Batswana as well. Yet, according to The World Bank, Botswana is classified as a "upper middle income country." HIV-AIDS is still a huge problem here. The government pays for treatment (including antiviral drugs) for HIV+ citizens. What happens when the diamond money runs out? 

Yes, Botswana is full of contradictions. At some point this week, though, our shared human values began to emerge. Despite many divisions, the "Botswana way," as we have learned, has everything to do with human connection. Shake every hand. Smile. Acknowledge. Listen. Communicate. Listen. Listen. Listen. 

If there is one thing I wish we could learn from our friends here, or one thing the importance of which  we might be inspired to revisit, it is the power of face-to-face, human-to-human, spirit-to-spirit communication. It takes time. It takes patience. It takes an openness of mind and heart that, in our  world of easy one-way communication, we often ignore. As we spend one last day here, I hope to think about the way my own patterns of interaction might be affected by my many encounters here in Botswana.  

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Two steps forward, and one drive backwards: Dominican life in reverse.

The past two days have been extremely busy ones, so it's time for a recap! Monday we started the day by going to visit a small children's school and a water filtering place. We learned how they were able to filter water and provide it to the community at a low cost. We even got to see them sealing the water bottles. 
After that, we headed to a local hospital. This hospital, however, was nothing like what we would find in the states. 

While we were there, we learned that the center is very popular for doing eye surgeries, and their optometry department was one of the biggest parts of the hospital. We were able to go into most of the different rooms and areas; we even got to see their operating room, and we were able to see some of the people both pre and post-op surgery.  One of the people coming out of surgery had been sedated, but there were no machines hooked up to her. It was pretty weird because they almost have no way of monitoring a person; we didn't even see an IV. They also had big centers for hearing, children, and general doctoral needs.
After the hospital tour, we got to visit a Dominican university. It was the first university to be built in the New World, and it was beautiful! The campus was huge, and the views as we were walking were perfect. There was a slight breeze blowing the palm trees, and everything was just very calming. There was artwork spread thoughout the entire campus on the walls, ceilings, everywhere. On our way back to the house, we passed a special restaurant, and we had gone to far... Our bus driver then proceeded to back up on a BUSY Dominican road for a seemingly long amount of time. We were all dying of laughter by the time Rafael, our driver, had finished backing up. 

On Tuesday, we ventured out to a super cool cave, toured la casa de campo, and visited a batey. The cave was cool and dark, and we made a friend with the little boy who was also in our group.  



At la casa de campo, we found a super cool amphitheater. It was beautiful, and it had an abundance of stairs. 

To end the day, we visited a batey, which is a Haitian neighborhood in the Dominican Republic. We got to talk with some of the people who lived there, and we also got to play with all of the kids there. 

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Hope and Peace

Two words that describe our day: hope and peace.

Here is another: lekgoa--a complicated word in Satswana, the language spoken in Botswana. Uttered by a child when seeing a white adult make for example, it may seem innocent enough. "Lekgoa!" or "White man!" (I remember similar comments from smiling, inquisitive children in China when I was there a year ago on a teaching exchange.) Spoken by an adult, it may not be welcome.

The term literally means "vomit from the sea," and comes from a time when differently colored strangers (European) arrived in Africa in ships in the 18th century. What did the native people know of "other?"

Today, as we interacted with Peace Corps volunteers and the staff and children at the Hope Worldwide Botswana after-school program, I watched the faces of the children as they played. What did they know of the import of skin color? The were running, playing games, laughing, reveling in the moment. Their faces were warm and bright and our hearts were full!



Here we are in a country where white-skinned people are in the minority. My thoughts turn to our community at home and recent events. I am also reading a great book  (thanks to a recommendation from a dear friend): Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nahesi Coates. You can see where my head is currently.

We have learned so much about Botswana in just a few days, and we're not done learning and experiencing. But WE are not done at home either, with the work of living together in a diverse community where mutual respect, integrity of word and action, and an overriding humanity inform our work and interaction. We've scratched the surface, but there is so much more to work through.


Kaadinchey!

One thing to know about a country with a lot of stray dogs: bring earplugs because there will be a lot of barking and you will without a doubt be woken up before you want to be. 

We started our second day with a talk by Dr. Saamdu, a Lama who gave us a presentation about how Bhutan measures their growth and success. Rather than measuring by gross domestic product, they measure in gross domestic happiness. They believe that if you have a country that has a lot of economic success, but unhappy people, they can not be considered a successful country. After the presentation we went outside to share tea and have Q&A session about how this measurement has been successful for the country. 

During tea, Dash lost a tooth! We learned that the local custom is to find a rat and give the tooth to him to take away. So here is Dash giving his tooth to Ryan's stuffed rat. 
We visited the Bhutan Textile Museum where we watched a short documentary on how traditional Bhutanese textiles are made by hand and viewed some of the textiles that were worn by the Royal Family of the 4th Dragon King. Later on in the day we were able to visit a shop where they make traditional dress, accessories like scarves and purses, and wall hangings out of silk and cotton. 
Our lunch was at a local restaurant and was served family style. Here in Bhutan, chilies and cheese are their signature foods, so most things are very spicy. A lot of us treasure the times plain rice (and dessert!) are served. Despite the heat, all the local food has been incredible, and we're often taking seconds. 

We had a chance to visit the Royal Thimpu College. We started with a presentation by the President of the College and then had a tour of the campus. I'll tell you what, never again will I complain about the hills at Shenandoah because waking up hills at such high altitudes is quite the feat. It was well worth it though, the campus has the most gorgeous views of the mountain range, where you can see the giant statue of Buddha in the distance. They host international students from neighboring countries and fingers crossed they start an exchange program with America soon. 

Side note, every single time we pass a dog Taylor gets distracted and points it out. All the stray dogs on campus have been given shots so he FINALLY got to pet one. You don't know happy until you see Taylor Bloom petting a dog for the first time in days. We also learned that in the cycle of reincarnation, dogs are believed to be the step before becoming a human, so in Bhutan the stray dogs are well fed and respected by the local people. 

Dinner was at another local restaurant and was just as delicious as lunch. There was chicken, fried greens, cauliflower, white rice, a cheese and chili sauce to go with it, and momos- which is a dumpling filled with cheese and cabbage. I am obsessed with these things; I'm pretty sure I've eaten over 40 in the last 12 hours.  After dinner we headed back to the hotel and we all went down to the bar to share some local drinks and good stories. Kaadinchhey! (which means thank you, but is currently the only word we know, so it's being used for cheers!)

Monday, March 7, 2016

Oslo, Norway



27,183 steps per day later in this beautiful city has been the experience of a lifetime. Everyone is more friendly than we expected them to be. We love everyone in this group and we have all connected with each other more than we all thought possible. The architecture of the city blends traditional with modern and constantly captivates the eye.  The smells of the city tantalize the nose from the reindeer burger to the smultring (donut). It's colder than we expected but we've all adapted better day to day. As the biathlon has gone on we've seen free artists performing such as Eva and the Heartmaker, Gavin James and many more. This has shown us the culture of many others besides ours and some of us have actually downloaded this music already. Though the weather is cold, spirits are warm. The Norwegian people contrary to stereotypes has been incredibly open and willing to help us all out. The Oslo Opera House is deceptively small and due to government funding tickets are easily affordable making the Norwegian people more cultured than many Americans. We have also seen this evidenced by the beautiful sculpture park we visited earlier this week by sculptor Gustav Vigeland. We look forward to the next few days and can't wait to experience more of Norway. 

Team Botswana, GCP 2016

It took a while; but we made it safely and on time in Gaborone on Saturday afternoon.  This whimsical elephant statue (life-sized) met us at the airport! 
Wasting no time, we had a good dinner at our hotel, enjoyed a lovely evening settling in and planning details for our first day at Thamaga Pottery (with our guide in this photo),
Next, we were on to lunch and finally, to enjoy a short city tour and shop for beautiful fabrics.  Above, we are at the end of our visit to the pottery place.

Today, we had an interesting lecture on the diamond industry in Botswana, a tour of a diamond processing factory followed by lunch and then on to a government-sponsored health facility.

Tomorrow, we will put in a good day visiting Peace Corps Botswana HQ, where we'll offer help on projects there and shadow Peace Corps volunteers and projects at Hope Worldwide following a delicious lunch including seswaa (pounded meat), pap/phaleche and porridge.  Yum?  We'll see! 

Bhutan group finally takes Bhutan

After 36 hours of travel we finally landed in Bhutan! If you have a couple of minutes, do yourself a favor and look up videos of the fly in to Bhutan. It was absolutely breathtaking and I wish that the pictures on my phone could have done it justice. The descent starts with being able to see the peak of Mt. Everest peeking through the clouds and we continue down through the Himalaya Mountains, close enough where if you were standing on the wing you would think you could touch the sides of the mountain.  we land in a small valley and we get off the plane to be greeted by lush mountains and a small, picture perfect airport
Well, it wouldn't be the Bhutan Group if there wasn't a small snag to delay us from our adventure. While checking our passports, Tracy (yes, President Fitzsimmons, Tracy) has a passport that does not match the number we registered with. In between the time we applied for visas in Bhutan and actually arriving here she had to get a new passport and the number was changed on all the forms but this one. Or so she says, really I think she is in cahoots with doubt agent Ryan. After some time she was able to cross over and enter the country, on the condition that they hold her passport.  
The city of Thimpu is about an hour from the airport and we make our way on the only highway in the country. Although I use that term loosely, because it was a simple two lane road carved out along the mountainside. It's such a stark contrast from America, where we cut through nature to save a couple minutes off of our commute.
We checked in to the hotel and had some time to relax before we began our activities. First, we went to a stupor in the middle of the city where the people of the city go to pray every day. We walk around three times to make good wishes for the day. Next we headed to the 50 meter statue of Buddha that is just out of the city. On the inside there is a beautiful temple. The walls are covered in religious hand paintings, the ceilings in hand painted mandalas, and the pillars in hand carved statues. 
We then made our way to their weekend market where on the bottom floor they have all imported goods and on the top they have all local products. 

After a long day we headed back to the hotel for dinner where most of us called it an early night. 

Sunday, March 6, 2016

Put the lime in the coconut, and shake it all up!

¡Day 2 in la República Domincana fue muy increíble! We started out the morning by attending a church service with our Nazarene host family. We got to meet all of the kids during their class time, and they were all SUPER adorable. Most of the(3 hour long) service was in Spanish; we got to see a baby dedicated to the church, we got to partake in Holy Communion, and our group made our debut with the hit song "Lean On Me"(watch out for our upcoming tour dates). After the service, the people greeted us with such loving arms, offering abrazos y besos. 
After leaving the church service, we headed to eat lunch with the people from the church who were around our ages. Notice from the picture above, we ate lunch underground in a CAVE. How cool is that?! The buffet and deserts were quite tasty. After lunch, we all went to the park to learn some Dominican games. 
They taught us a game called batilla. It's basically baseball, but they use a broomstick as a bat and a bottle cap as the ball. It was great fun, and it was amazing to get to know these wonderful people. Some of them even came to our house to eat dinner with us!
At the end of the afternoon, as we were leaving, we had the chance to experience coconuts. We first got to drink the water, and then they cut it open so we could eat the coconut, too!
Next up: searching for the lime...

Saturday, March 5, 2016

Blancos Blancos! That's as blancos as they come...


Official day one has come to an end here in la República Dominicana! We're having great fun, and only half of us are sunburnt. We went out to spend some time walking around this evening to explore the community. We caught some gorgeous views and priceless moments. As we were walking, some boys were going by us, and seeing as there aren't a lot of white people around on a daily basis, we hear "Blancos, Blancos! That's as blancos as they come." We, of course, found some humor in the way they reacted to us, however, there was also a little weirdness in that moment because it isn't everyday that we're the ones sticking out like sore thumbs. 

We also had the amazing oppourtunity to help our hosts cook dinner tonight. Our meal consisted of delicious rice, chicken, fried plantains, salad, avocados, and some other delectable veggies. Even though they didn't want us to help them, they eventually caved in and we were able to learn about some authentic Dominican cooking. We're beginning to wonder how we're going to go back to eating the food back home. Maybe we'll be able to cook a full meal by the end of the week. If not, maybe we can convince the family to come back with us!

And one last highlight from today: it is now called "catchup".

Check back in to catch up on what this GCP group does next. Ha. See what I did there?

From Shendoah, to ShenDOHA, and beyond: traveling with a double agent

The Bhutan Group is currently 27+ hours in to our travel and we are still not at our final destination. Don't let that fool you though, we've already had a couple of adventures along the way. 
Hour 1 in to travel: we had just arrived to Dulles airport and were getting ready to check in for our boarding passes when one of group members, Ryan, realized his wallet had found its way out of his bag and was heading home with the shuttle. Ryan seemed unfazed and was whistling a tune to himself while he triple checked his bags and retraced his steps. We called the shuttle driver, got the wallet back, and were back on track. 
Hour 2 in to travel: the group is set on Five Guys burgers. We're all talking about how we can't wait to eat it. We walk all the way to the opposite end of the terminal to get it. Guess what? Five Guys is closed. That did not deter some members and they made their way all the way to a different terminal to get the burgers they craved. They made it back just in time to board, fueled up to watch some movies and catch some Z's on the plane
Hour 3-23 in to travel: relatively painless. After a thirteen hour flight from Washington D.C. to Doha, Qatar and a four hour flight to Kolkata, India we arrive in the airport eager to make it to our hotel for some showers after a particularly "aromatic" flight. 
Hour 24 in to travel: we wait in line to have our visas approved. There were only 16 people in line, including all 13 of us, and it still took an entire hour to do so . 
Hour 25 in to travel: "Ryan" gets stopped by the person checking him in. He's being questioned about his passport. Soon, 11 more agents come over to question him. "Ryan" tells them that it is indeed who he says he is and no, he's never owned another passport. Eventually, they let him through and we could continue on our journey. Despite the confusion and stress, "Ryan" kept a smile on his face the entire time. 


We've got our eyes on you, Ryan- if that even is your real name. 
Hour 26 in to travel: riding in shuttle to our hotel we passed over 40 stray dogs that are 100% fearless. They would lay in the middle of the road and would not move, even with a shuttle barreling towards them. One stray dog was a little different looking, it had horns, spots, and I'm pretty sure it mooed (there was literally a cow in the middle of the road at 3 in the morning)
Hour 27 in to travel: Everyone is tucked away in their beds where they can sleep without the aid of a travel neck pillow. In an hour we will be back in the airport getting ready to finally fly to Bhutan! 
More unexpected adventures definitely await the Bhutan GCP group and I know we'll take each one of them in stride! 

Travel status update

GCP groups going to the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Norway, and Botswana have all arrived. The Bhutan group is in transit at Doha and are still en route as they have the furthest distance to travel.

Friday, March 4, 2016

Did someone say cheese and bananas... Or was that empanadas?

This GCP group has officially arrived in the Dominican Republic!! After a snow-filled 4:30AM call time and a LONG day of travel, we are safe in our house for the week playing some fun games. 


On our flight from Panama to Santo Domingo today, our snack was a choice between a cheese empanada and a beef croissant. Coincidentally enough, we all thought that our flight attendant was offering us "cheese and bananas" instead of an empanada, so we were all surprised when there was, in fact, no banana in our cheese-filled snack. Once arriving in Santo Domingo, we had some "fun times" trying to get our tourist cards(in order to be let into the DR). After getting that cleared up, we got to leave with our van driver to head towards our home for the week(we only got lost like four times). Our hosts for the week had an amazing dinner prepared for us when we got here, and it's looking to be an amazing week!
#cheeseYbananas #SUgcp

GCP 2016 groups have departed campus

From 4:30 am to 4:00 pm today, the five GCP groups have departed campus and are at various stages in their journeys.  Stay tuned for updates as we receive them...