I spent spent my first weekend in D'kar last weekend. I know I've lived here almost a month, but I hadn't yet been able to spend an entire seven days in a row here because of work and personal commitments in Maun and Gaborone.
I don't know what I expected. My initial thought was that I would be bored stiff. What was I possibly going to do in the middle of the desert for an entire weekend? But upon further reflection, I thought that I would take advantage of being alone and clean, do laundry, maybe bake, go for a long run, etc. I told myself, it won't be so bad. And you know what? It wasn't even though I didn't do anything of things I mentioned above.
Friday evening came along and wouldn't you know it, there was a house warming party at a coworkers place. I went over around 7 p.m. to see if I could help with any preparations. I was put in charge of meat marinade, which I never do in Maun because Blair, Sharon or anyone one of my friends have such excellent recipes. So I did what any good chef does: I tried to replicate their recipes. It turns out I never got to taste my meat as we ran out, but from what I've heard, it was a hit. Not sure how much it had to do with my marinade or if it had more to do with the free meat!
I met a lot of great people, danced up a storm in the rain and helped Laura chase away children who were trying to crash the party. It's a sad sight to see kids no older than 10 crashing a party in the middle of the night. We tried to chase them away but they kept coming back. Eventually, they started throwing rocks at us. The thing that bothered me was that Laura, myself and Peace Corps volunteer Molly were the only ones who seemed bothered that children were crashing our adult party. I'm sure this happens all the time, but it doesn't make it right. By the end of the night people were quite drunk, a few fights broke out and eventually people were asked to leave. This is not the type of behaviour children should be witnessing. Children replicate what they see and what they see in D'kar is adults drinking, fighting and partying, exactly the type of behaviour they tell kids not to engage in. So, kids are supposed to follow the mantra "Do as I say, not as I do?"
The following day, I had grand plans of working, cleaning and laundry. I wound up sleeping and reading all day. I woke up early, made some coffee and started reading The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo. I'm officially hooked. By noon, I was almost done the book. I passed out from noon to about 3 p.m. and continued reading, not even taking time to shower. By 7 p.m., I had made a Greek salad and was off to Laura and Anna's for a yummy dinner of spinach-stuffed pastry, gemsquash and my salad.
Another party was underway that evening at the primary school, more specifically at a teacher's residence. It was labeled a back-to-school party and people were supposed to wear their school uniforms. I went to a public school in Canada so I never had to wear a uniform, but low and behold, I showed up at that party looking like my teenage self. The temperature has been dropping steadily in D'kar the past few days. The rain has brought cold winds and for the first time since I got here, long pants and a sweater are a must. On Saturday evening, the rain came and with it more cold, damp weather. I put on my jeans, pumas and a hoodie. When I looked in the mirror, I realized that I looked a lot like my teenage self, except my jeans were a lot tighter than in grade 9.
Quick side bar: In Canada and I think in North America, if people were asked to dress up in school uniforms for a party, I am willing to wager that 95 percent of the girls would show up in a "naughty" catholic school girl outfit, complete with skirt hiked up to leave nothing to the imagination, bare midriff and intense cleavage. The sexualisation of young women in North America is overwhelming and everywhere. In D'kar, I was shocked that no one played the "half naked" card. Girls wore gym uniforms, long pants and button-down shirts (that were actually buttoned!) and ties. There wasn't much flesh and I was pleasantly surprised.
The party was a lot like the one the previous night, except this time, no one was kicking out the kids. I wonder what they thought watching their teachers get hammered? D'kar is a tiny community and many of the people holding down jobs are not from here. Take my office for example: there's one American, a Canadian, a Dutch woman and two locals. Kids see that most jobs are given to outsiders so what hope do they have for their future?
I went home after little less than an hour at the party. A terribly drunk man spilled about three drinks on me while telling me he loved me. It really was like high school!!!!
I was ready to be productive on Sunday. I really was. But mother nature had other plans. A big storm hit D'kar Saturday night cutting off the power from about 4 a.m. I could not work as all my files were on my dead laptop, I could not wash because there was no water and I could not cook because I don't have a gas stove. So I went to Anna's and read. I finished my book and started the second in the trilogy. I made some food since she thankfully has gas and read some more. It was so relaxing. The power came back around 8 p.m. But the weekend was already over. I survived. Not only did I survive but I managed to enjoy myself.
Don't know when I'll spend another weekend here. I'll be in Maun for a funeral next weekend and Gaborone for doctor's appointment the following but I now know that I am perfectly equipped to stay in little D'kar all by myself.
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