My African Diet

Walking through grocery store earlier this week, I was about to grab a bunch of green grapes, when I saw the price 40 botswana pula - which is roughly $6 for one bunch of grapes.  Yes, $6 for one bunch of grapes. It made me realize how drastically my diet has changed since arriving in Botswana a year ago.  Things that were my standard purchase in the US because they were relatively inexpensive like; grapes, strawberries, and whole chicken are prohibitively expensive here.  On the other hand things that are quite expensive in the states like; avocado, pineapple, steak and ribs are very affordable here. I have quite a bit of difficulty making an inexpensive meal; because the foods that are inexpensive I'm much less familiar with using as ingredients like cans of corned beef - I don't know how to work with that.

Then there are other things, like fresh pumpkin and green tomatoes, which are available year round.  I'd never actually cooked with fresh pumpkin before moving to Botswana. Canned pumpkin was always my method, but now it's pretty common for me to make pumpkin bread and occassionaly even a pumpkin pie with fresh pumpkin.  Fresh pumpkin makes pumpkin bread amazing, by the way.  And green tomatoes are available even in the spring and summer here.

This week has been ridicuolously hectic, so I've eaten out quite a bit, but I actually cook for myself a lot more here then I did in Seattle. Unfortunately, I haven't actually learned how to make any Southern African dishes, maybe I'll make a New Year's Resolution on that one and learn how to make seswaa- the national dish of boiled pounded beef cooked with salt for flavoring.  You'd think overcooked beef flavored only with salt wouldn't be appetizing, but it's actually delicious.

Debt, Loans and Conspicuous Education Consumption.

Hello People of the World!  It's official, eight years after finishing my undergraduate degree I am finally debt free.  Please applaud as I curtsy for you.  I can still remember the horrible feeling of panic I had as I went through the mandatory loan tutorials and signed the paperwork to finalize my school loans.  I was petrified that I'd end up taking a job I didn't want to pay back my loans.  I actually had less than $15,000 in debt when I graduated, far less then the average student. If only I had been a Motswana - I would have been debt free. Botswana has for decades supported university education both in country and at international schools for it's citizens.  In fact the government even provides living allowances for students.  Can you imagine?  This government actually values education.  But here's a question if you don't pay for your education do you actually value your education. 

I saw Malcolm Gladwell on CNN questioning the value of school rankings this weekend - and although I genuinely believe not all schools are equal; I do wonder if the value of the education you get varies as greatly as the price.  For example,  I went to a private liberal arts jesuit university in the middle of Seattle - which charged roughly $20,000 a year in tuition when I attending almost a decade ago - they are $32,000 a year now. It was a good school but I wouldn't say it was worth that amount.  Thankfully I didn't have to pay the full tuition; I was awarded several scholarships and given work-study jobs.

Now I'm ready to look at Business school and I have to say the price tag on these schools is frightening.  The Berkeley's and Harvard's of the world charge, what seems to me to be, ridiculous amunts.  But they also ensure the best jobs and contacts.  However, as I'm now celebrating being debt free I'm not ready to go back from whence I came.  Luckily, I've found a well respected school with a distance program and a reasonable price tag that I'm hoping to attend.  I'll let you know how the application process goes.

American Style Holiday

Being away from home helps one appreciate their own country and culture. I have met many people here that are under the impression that either American culture is an oxymoron or that American culture has infiltrated every nook and cranny of the world through movies and television; well I disagree with both points of view. One of the mainstays of American culture that I don't believe exists anywhere else in the world is the Holiday.


It's interesting because holidays are celebrated everywhere, and here in Botswana they have more public holidays then I've ever seen in my life - my four day Easter holiday was followed by a 3 day Labor day weekend and if I was in South Africa I would have gotten an addition Wednesday off for some other holiday. In the midst of all of these holidays with plenty of days free from work I found myself bored and homesick because holiday means something completely different in America than in does here it Botswana. Easter is the perfect example. I love Easter, Easter is probably the defining cultural holiday in the Black church. In the Black church Easter Sunday is full of colorful outfits and beautiful hats. Children typically get a new outfit, if you're a girl it's bound to be an extremely fluffy dress and every child old enough to speak does an Easter speech or plays a part in the Easter play. At 2 the speech usually looks like a little kid being prompted by their mom to say "Jesus Wept" at 10 it's probably a page long poem about crucifixtion and sacrifice but everyone participates.

White House Easter Egg Hunt

The Black Church does Easter a bit differently but across America communities of all colors and relgions greet Easter by organizing Easter Egg hungs, which creates days of fun you boil the eggs, you dye the eggs, you hide the eggs, you dress the kids up and you let them loose to hunt colorful eggs and choclates in a local park. I tried to talk about an Easter Egg hunt with one of my co-workers and they looked at me like I had three heads. "You hide eggs outside, what for?" Okay, part of it is probably the seasonal differnce while Easter marks the start of Spring in the states here Easter is at the beginning of winter - no one wants to send their 3 year old out to hunt dyed egges in the rain, but given that you get good Friday and Easter monday off here you think some sort of tradition would spring up. NADA! I actually had people over for an Easter dinner. I really didn't think it would work, don't you want to spend time with your family on Easter was greeted with the same blank stare as my description of an Easter egg hunt. It's just how culture works - America likes to celebrate holidays other cultures just don't quite get it. So as my American friends ramp up to celebrate Cinco de Mayo the holiday where Americans fill up on Margarita's and guacamole to celebrate the victory of Mexico over France in a small and insignificant battle - people in Mexico will go about their Thursday. And as Hallmark stores across the US switch from Easter Cards and decorations to Mother's day cards and decorations to Father's day and Graduation cards and decorations - I'll just continue scheduling dinner parties.