Cerianne: Africans are better dancers

     I realize my title is a huge generalization, but I promise you it’s completely true.  I have been out to two clubs, taken one zumba class, and witnessed the most incredible impromptu dance session from the boarder girls and can now safely conclude that every individual in Botswana has some serious moves.  The impromptu dancing was the best.  I waited outside the boarding house with the girls for quite some two time nights ago while we impatiently watched the lunar eclipse creep across the face of the moon.  Although the moon did finally turn a beautiful hazy copper colour, the long process was clearly not gripping enough for the girls who started singing songs from Michael Jackson to High School Musical to pass the time.  Before long, they had transitioned into singing and dancing all the games they could remember from their childhood, games with Setswana phrases and specific dance combinations which they had all learned separately in villages across Botswana.  The songs often told stories about going to the supermarket or meeting people.  Obviously I had no chance of picking up many words.  The dancing was a little bit easier – it often involved one person dancing in the middle while the other girls circled around, so there was a little bit of freestyle but also certain required moves.  When I was shoved into the middle I totally fudged the steps that everyone was supposed to do, but I think I regained some dignity when I freestyled with the notorious water sprinkler!  One of the girls, Gorata, told me that they had learned the words and moves to these games by just spending hours and hours playing out on the streets with other children, but she thinks the girls her age may be the last ones to learn them because the young kids now don’t have the same street-based childhoods.  In the small, rural villages that many of the students come from, there are practically no safety concerns.  Everyone knows everyone else and looks out for one another’s kids.  A few of the girls mentioned that, after leaving their villages to attend a prestigious school in the capital city, they often return home only to find that their former playmates are distant, assuming that city-life has changed their old friends.

Time is really flying by here.  I would say we’re now fully into a daily routine for the weekdays, although we are still adding additional students to our schedules.  My favourite academic activities so far have been the writing clinic I teach with Bugsy (Sarah) and Cora and the cultural literacy sessions (of which we’ve only had one so far) that we all run for the ten MaP scholars who will be attending American high schools in September.  Off campus, though, my highlight so far was undoubtedly climbing Kgale Hill, a rocky, hour-long hike up to magnificent views of the surrounding area.  The daytime winter weather here is PERFECT – almost always sunny at around 60 to 70 degrees.  After all that packing stress, if anything I packed too many winter clothes!

Tonight we’re watching the final student performance of all the work they’ve done with the visiting Juilliard students.  And then we’re apparently schmoozing at the principal’s house…with the French ambassador and the British High Commissioner…UMMMWHAT??