26 March 2011

And the rain goes on...

This morning is a very rainy Sunday morning, and I'm debating whether or not I will go to church. While I'll feel somewhat guilty, I think I'm going to end up staying in my room and listening to one of those CRC podcasts that I have: I just don't feel like walking to church in the rain, nor do I feel like paying a taxi to take me there. If it stops raining right at 9:30... ah, we'll see, but since I wasn't terribly productive yesterday I kind of want to make up for it today. I'm feeling like I could get a lot more work done this morning, and I've got a couple things due on Monday that I haven't gotten around to yet. Plus there's plenty of research that I need to read up on for my English course as well as my Children's Traditions and Dramatics course.

Setswana mass is nice, don't get me wrong. I really enjoy going there. But I can't say that I get a whole lot out of it spiritually, considering that I can only skim the surface of the meaning of the sermons and the songs. I think that a week off to listen to a sermon I can understand, and do some of my own Bible reading and praying, would probably be a good thing for me. So I think church is on my own today. Perhaps I'll make it out to the refectory and get some phaphata and grape juice to give myself communion, since I haven't been able to take it the whole time I've been here. (I don't really like communion rules, but they have to be respected when you're visiting churches, that's just how things are in our broken world.)

So, I'm going to get ready for my day now, because I think that wearing clothes you would wear outside the house is helpful in making you more productive. And this can't be a repeat of yesterday where I don't brush my teeth until after 11....

24 March 2011

Poetry

Lately I've been writing a lot of poems when I'm in between classes and whatnot, so I thought I'd be nice and share. :)

Post-rain UB (14-3-11)
Pula ya na - or it was
The calm before the storm
We saw, we watched it coming through
Lightning, thunder, flashes of light
From horizon to horizon
Rain in torrents, sheets, like movies
I remember: The Two Towers
Mulan
The Perfect Storm
And here we see, we ran inside,
The aftermath of that which lasted
All through the night -
Every time I awoke
- and into the early morning.
And now we see the sun is out
laundry done at cloudy dawn
Will dry now in the sun
And people out and about and
laughter, voices, calling, shouts
And all the life of normal days
Revived and fresh, washed new.
We talk of change and better days
and better attitudes
and better ways
And pass the time, don't think it strange,
In the life we live, we see our change.


The Debate between Staying and Going (13-3-11)
Damp is a cold that you have to introduce to yourself
It's heavy, yet soft
cold, but warm
uncomfortable and something you get used to.
Damp is in how we see, search, sing, sigh
Seem to look
yet stay behind
Move beyond
but hold some back
Stay on the ground
and soar through clear or cloudy skies.
Damp is on my mind, originally such a shock
When I put it on with excitement,
yet slowly;
When I let it fall a bit,
but pulled it tighter 'round me
When I got used to the feel and now -
and now prepare to fling it off again.
I know full well it will never be the same
yet I wonder if I could stretch it out somehow.
I know the things I have waiting for me
but I'm scared to lose what I'm holding now
I know my time is running out
and I know I must let go.
But that doesn't mean that I want to...


9-0-8 on a Thursday Morning (17-3-11)
A night spent out
Some spirits downed
First time at the spout
Some dancing around
Few, but good friends
Somewhat smaller than thought
The night, late, ends
Some sleep at last got.
Wake up in the morning
Some peel-back of skin
Go slow due to back pain
Some minutes late, walk in
And now sit here thinking:
"Some more sleep I need"
Hopefully we'll get out of here
Some more sleep I need.


Old Student Center (pt.1)
Echoes bounce of dance and song,
Sports and rhythm of life
In and acrosst and about a courtyard
Where trees break through paving stones
And green arches hover over
Slippery surfaces of red tile.

That last one is still in the works. Part 2 is actually written, but can't stand on its own without part 3, which I still need to pen down. It's weird to be writing poetry again after writing mostly songs for the last couple years. Poems that can stand alone are very different from songs, which can convey both through the medium of words and music (as well as the tone and energy of performance), whereas this poetry is something that I'm writing down for myself and isn't performative. Granted, if I came up with something good I could always perform at the Wednesday night poetry reading again, but I'm not sure if any of these would be workable for that.

So, what do you think?

21 March 2011

Productivity on a Monday morning

Sitting in the relative cool of the room, pant legs rolled up, feet up on the desk. One hand holds the last few bits of the last chocolate bar for the month, the other runs through the thin cap of stringy white girl hair that remains after two days of un-braiding. A new stock of groceries is on the shelves, and newly-washed clothes are hanging on the line. A dozen windows are open on the computer, homework coming along slowly and without direction as a scattered mind works on punk, reggae, Jamaica, Chicago, Peace Corps, Mmegi, ISEP, UB, BNF, BCP, BDP, BMD, SMD, LLC... the acronyms could go on forever. The new sounds of Rilo Kiley are playing clear and soft, the songs bouncing across the tensionless air of a Monday morning. Skype and semester plans, courses and costs, applications and answer-hunts for questions that can't quite be put into words, all splayed across a surface non-existant: a non-space that can hold so many thoughts, dreams, and ideas.

What a weekend it was: chilling all day, becoming famous at night, turning one down, sleeping late, waking up early, sitting on concrete, pulling hairs, tugging rope for second-silver, walking with a little girl, walking with young ladies, playing cards past curfew, waking early, walking to mass late, figuring figures that can't be figured, singing solfage with friends, washing a 3-week-dirty scalp, scraping up hairballs, sleeping late.

And now here. The moments of indecision. The options all open. Pen and paper aside, synthesizers whirring their encouragement of motion, and one question whose answer will bolt the door or blow it up. One question that has to wait at least 2 hours to be asked.

Welcome to Monday morning. Do try to be productive.

15 March 2011

Pula ya na.

That's right: it's raining. This morning I took my time walking to class, holding my umbrella, sliding my flip-flops through puddles and dirt. I was late for class, but I really didn't care - I was too delighted by the rain to want to hurry away.

I updated my skype this morning. Apparently the new version is 5.0 something something something. I'd been using 2.8 something something something. Things look VERY different. I don't think I've updated since I downloaded it my freshman year, I suppose. Whoops! :) But now I should be able to do conference calls, which is pretty cool. If it would be possible to get multiple people to have the same free time to talk all at once, that is. Can't say I'm too sure about the plausibility of that....

Tomorrow is my birthday and I'm pretty excited. I'm going out to Spur with some friends to get my fix of pork ribs and a milkshake. I'm going to invite anyone who's interested from the choir to come, but I'm not sure how many actually will. I don't think people go out to eat much here as restaurants can be a bit pricy, but we'll see. Hopefully I get a good turn-out. :) I've got half a mind to go shopping Wednesday morning and by myself a new shirt or a dress or something special like that, but I'm not sure if I will or not. We'll see how my Wednesday morning looks when I get there.

Choir is back in full swing today. Yesterday was the evaluation, where people discussed the shortcomings of our choir management and the Intervarsity competition and aired their views on what what what. It was a bit of a long two hours, as the entire thing was about 95% Setswana and I did not always understand (or could often only guess at) what was being said. It really makes me feel the limits of my small vocabulary, but at the same time I got excited by the thoughts and ideas I was able to pull out - especially when they were full sentences that I could understand. I didn't contribute any of my own thoughts to the discussion, largely because I was pretty sure that they might have been covered, and I didn't want to show that I had missed something. ;)

My time is really winding down here. I've got less than 60 days before I come back to the U.S. I won't lie: I've tossed around the idea of paying the $100 extension fee and staying on another semester. I could probably do it - come home and work a summer, save as much as possible, by another ticket to Botswana for the Fall... but I don't think it'll happen. I'll be coming back at the beginning of May, working a hard summer and saving as much as possible, then playing out my last semester at North Park and getting out before I get too much more in debt. I like what I've got going here, and I would love to stretch it out, but I think that I'd be better off leaving before I get in too deep - it'll hurt less that way. Two months aren't much, and they're going to fly by, but it is still a pretty decent chunk of time. I guess we'll see how things unfold.

12 March 2011

Water free.

Las Vegas has this habit of losing its water sometimes. It happened yesterday evening, but the cold water at least was back by the time I took my shower. I should have known better from last time, but I failed to take that opportunity to fill up all my water containers just in case. Well, I should have. This morning the water is gone again, 100% dry in the taps. And I've just got a pint of water in the fridge, and a few swallows in my nalgene bottle.

Okay, make that zero in my nalgene bottle.

I guess that when you don't have water available, and you know that you don't have water available, you start wanting water more. Of course, it doesn't help that the past couple days have been wicked hot (we're talking 90* at least), and today is no exception. I can only hope that the water comes back before the day is out. Else I'll be searching for alternatives all around campus to try and fill my water bottles up.

Thursday was the rally for BNF/BCP. Today is the rally for BDP. I've got to get to the atm 'cause I'm out of cash again, and this afternoon I'll be making invitations for my birthday party.

By the way, if you haven't seen my travel blog post on Spring Break adventures, you should check it out. There's a link to my pictures from the break there too.

Stay hydrated!

~Botshelo