Its always an adventure....

Sarah and I have the joy of heading to the settlements in the Kgalagadi North district to workshop all of the primary school teachers on the Living Curriculum (aka why Life Skills PCVs are in Botswana)

So we took up that challenge! 1 school down...many more to go.

Transportation is always an interesting experience in Botswana, the settlements are 40 plus kilometers off in the bush from our villages...which is great....until you realize they are not paved roads. Its deep sand baby. 

Not so bad? 

The MoE had us ride in the back of a pickup truck. Its okay, PC--it was covered...kind of. So we were within travel protocol. Right? 

Doesn't Sarah look happy? We were given a foam pad to cushion our bums...thank god for that. As we were going about 100km/hour our asses made lift off on several bumps....then crashed back down (painful!)

 Oh hey! Look at what fun we are having! 

Oh right....the glass was busted in one of the windows....does it still count as covered? And of course, we were covered in a fine layer of dust by the end of our journey...so much for being business professional.  

Lets get real. There were times we could have perished.  Thankfully, we didn't. But, off in the bush....how long would it take until we were missed? 

Oh hey, we clean up well! Please note: we are actually wearing our heels we brought to Botswana! And this is also how you travel around for official government travel! Its almost like a chaise lounge....

I think if the zombies apocalypse happens...we would be safe. But just in case...this is our apocalypse face

Well dang it...we were trying to take a picture, but we hit a bump and this is what happened....

Here is to 27!

A lot has happened in a year! One year ago on Sept 12th, we boarded an airplane from NYC to Botswana. The year has been full of highs and lows, adventures and memories.

Truthfully, I have to say that I didn't enjoy most of Sept 12, 2013...I spent the morning in bed feeling sorry for myself. Drank wine in the afternoon, cried (more times that I have in the past year) and painted my nails. Its hard living in a culture that doesn't value your chosen path in life.

A few years ago, my dear friend Amanda on my birthday asked me what the highlights of the previous year were and what goals I had for the upcoming year.

In honor of that:

Goals:
Do a daily gratitude journal.
Figure out what you are going to do when you grow up.
Start referring to yourself as a grown up, since after all...you are.
Embrace the fact that you are living the path less traveled.

On the up side: I still only have 1 grey hair and look like I am about 21! Lets home some things don't change!