Identity (crisis?): So, this pic really pissed me off; the "masculine" advertisement showed the picture of a male being "masculine", apparently. The "feminine" advertisement showed a female being stereotypically "feminine". this came from a store called "identity", so i just wanted to relate this to myself and some personal reflecting that i have been doing while here. I have been politically, racially, and socially aware of most things around me and most disparities apparent in the U.S., but never have i been more aware of disparities than when coming here and witnessing the extremes of the classist societies in which we live, which in turn will continue to influence people's lives abroad. I will talk more about that in the following post. Right now, i wanted to speak briefly to my identity and how people relate to the world around them. Before i came here, i hated children, i did not want to conform to society's monogamous "i have to marry and settle down with kids" mold, and i wanted nothing to do with maternal care (yeah yeah, hate me all you want). This picture relates very well to my thoughts here, and how progressive evolution from one thing to another can change through feelings of personal inflection and through the changing societies that surround us. I am "finding" myself more and more here, enjoying my experiences with children here, finding myself being ok with certain lifestyles to which i am unaccustomed, and being ok with the more "masculine" side of derek. Yes, i think we can all agree i have definitely found and am OK with my feminine side, and, while i am still OK being "myself" here and being nelly and queeny whenever i want to with my roommates, it's also nice to find a new and different derek that hasn't yet been given the proper chance to emerge and blossom. I am focused on my time here, the children whose hearts i am touching (and who are, in turn touching mine!), the people i am befriending, and the experiences i am living. I am reading books (which i don't do), i am learning more and more about life and the world around me, and i am absolutely, 110% content with my life here in Botswana......
Trotting!: So, while 4 students (Michelle, yana, jenny, and caitlin) went to camp at the Khalahari Desert this weekend, Jody, Komal, Ginna, Andrea and I went to (and got lost on our way driving) Arne's Horse Ranch out in BFE (email me if you don't know that acronym). We took jody's little rental car (her land rover is kaput for a while), on some dirt road and finally found it. We were instantly welcomed by two native Zimbabweans, one of whom used to be a Jockey in South Africa and was our tour guide, named Ron. His face was covered with fresh, sun-induced freckles, and had the smile of a cheshire cat. His accent was mesmerizing, and, me being the beginner horse-rider, gave me Classic, the painted horse who is good with all the novices. Classic and I took an instant liking to each other, after i learned to gently squeeze my calves to get him going, and gently pull the reins left or right for direction of forward travel. We jaunted on our horses through the desert of Kopong, running in to random wild goats, mules, cattle, and saw some "authentic" african hut villages (not to be understood as the white man going in to an african village to see africans in their "natural" setting. i just didn't kn
ow how else to put it....lol). Ron wanted us to trot after a long time of walking, so we got the horses going fast, and Komal's camera flew out of her pants and she was HELLA scared (i believe the quote was, Oh My God, can we stop! I'm not comfortable with this!"). I LOVED trotting, but it HELLA hurt my hip adductor muscles holding on to my horse's side. I was bouncing up and down on the horse, and today my leg muscles (mostly groin area) hurt hella bad, but it was SO worth it. After we were done with 1.5 hours of riding, Ron took us back and we departed after bonding with the horses (we were told to wipe a smear of our sweat on the horse's nose, so next time we come to Arne's horse ranch, Classic will recognize my smell and bond with my instantly!)....Bull and the Bush: So, there is this English pub, down some DIRT road we had to taxi to, in the middle of nowhere, and it's huge and it turns into a club after 10pm or so. the four of us go there to eat a late dinner. this was a nice epilogue to our long day on horses and some naptime back home. i got some hella good pizza, fed some HELLA cute stray cats, met up with our german friend Nicola (with whom i speak HELLA german!), and had a blast. Meine Familie soll wissen, dass Nicola ist viel spass, und spreche ich viel von meine Omi wen kommt aus Bremen! Ich Liebe die Deutschen! After kicking it there, we went back home and crashed....
Baboons!: OMG....so on our way running errands today, Jody was driving our car and just as we turned down a road, she was like "Look! A monkey! Do you want me to turn around (following by a prompt U-turn)...ok, here we go!". It was amazing. i got video a tons of pics of these random baboons, about 5 of them, roaming the highway of gaborone near Game City, scouring for any trace of food or water. we drove around in circles, following them for a while and loved it. Wow, the clash between urban sprawl and desert wilderness is more-than-apparent here on the paved Gaborone roadways.....
1 comment:
Thank you for posting.
it is really helpful to all.
such a nice topics.
Bathmate
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