I made American food...yay!

April 21, 2011

Made dun dan again for me…and my sister. She said she liked it. I don’t know if she actually ate it…but she did say she liked it. People are really polite here. In class, they really like to emphasize this trait about the Batswana, and I’m beginning to catch on. Anyways, took the rest of my group through the shortcut…and we made in no time…15 minutes again, and that includes us walking with an 84 year-old trainee, a 60+ year old sick trainee, and 2 other trainees. Got there right on time. School felt longer than usual today. Until the end. We jump roped, and played Botswana’s version of Chinese jump rope. We got a bit of a work out from all this. It was a cross-cultural experience where they were trying to teach us the games that they played while growing up. It was fun. We played a human version of tug-o-war…in other words…there is no rope…it’s you pulling on people. Lol. You form 2 teams. You hold onto the waist of the person in front of you. One team is pulling one way. Another team is pull another way. We collectively use all our strength to break the other team, and we get the player who gets pulled off the other team. Haha. it was funny. Many of us were getting pulled so hard, our feet were no longer on the ground. Lol. It gets to be vicious and dangerous because people are falling and stumbling all over each other. It’s pretty funny. We were hot and exhausted by the end of training today.

I walk home. I run into a group of girls a little younger than me. We strike up a conversation about where I’m staying, why I’m here, and for how long. Turns out one of them is a cousin to my host sisters. Cool. I get hollered at by a drunk man. How drunk men, that I don’t remember meeting, know my name is beyond me. The drunk guy is yelling “Gorata! Come here!” in Setswana. The girls tell me to say “I refuse!” in Setswana. Lol. Awesome…thanks, ladies! J I walk home, and there’s another girl in the living room. Ah! It’s the oldest host sister, the one that lives in Gabs! She’s come home for the weekend, her name is Ame. I think she’s a year or 2 younger than me. She’s working in IT as a programmer in Gabs. Lol. Omg, just brought back memories. Lol.

Anyways, Kese tells me I’m was gonna cook today, cuz I went shopping yesterday to cook for them. I decided, out of what I could find in the market yesterday, to make my casserole. Haha. but unfortunately, there weren’t enough potatoes and we were out of bread crumbs. IMPROVISE. Mashed up potatoes, cauliflower, and broccoli. Added butter, milk, black pepper, salt, and some dried Italian herbs. Then had my sister help me debone my chicken and just leave me the meat. We shred the nama ya koko (chicken meat) into the mixture. I create cream of chicken soup from a dried packet. Then instead of chicken stove top stuffing…and lack thereof bread, I get some chicken stock cubes with water to make chicken stock. Then add corn flakes. Then add pepper and the herbs. That is my makeshift stuffing. Somehow find a casserole dish. Put my mixture at the bottom. Add the soup on top of it. Then add the corn flakes. Bake it for 20 minutes. And I devoured it. As for everyone else…haha, well not so much. They took a bite and realized they didn’t like it. Haha. WELCOME TO MY WORLD…for the past 2 weeks (wow…it’s now at 2 weeks…crazy)!!! Yay! More for me. I have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. I am happy. And I got greens. Though I did get one fan…I guess the dad really liked it! Haha. I’m full. I feel healthier. I tried. Can’t do much better than that at this moment. Lol. This was probably one of the most improvised meals I have ever made. And to be honest, it wasn’t half bad (by my standards)! J Ah just another day of cultural exchanges here in Botswana!