So… classes. They are so far pretty interesting, ESPECIALLY Setswana class (I love languages!), the only problem is that the professors keep CANCELING THEM. Seriously, except for the Setswana class, I have only had one of each other class. And one keeps cutting them short and the professors are ALWAYS a few minutes late to class… oh Africa time! And hey, usually a canceled class wouldn’t bother me much except that this is RECURRING and I really want something to learn or DO here on campus! I think it’s just how years start out here, but hey, hopefully it’ll pick up soon. Oh! But here are some phrases that I can say in Setswana now!
Dumela mma/rra- hello madam/sir
Bomma/Borra- plural sirs/madames
Leina la gago ke mang?- what is your name ?
Leina lame ke Heather- my name is heather
O tswa kae?- Where are you from?
Ke tswa kwa Oregon- I am from Oregon
Ke itumela la gogo itse- it was nice to meet you
Go siame- goodbye
This is a VERY difficult language to pronounce! The “G”s are like “H” in the back of the throat, and the “K”s are VERY hard. Also, I am having SO MUCH trouble with the sound that “tlh” and some “th”s make. However, there is no verb conjugation and no masculine/feminine articles! YAY! There goes my least favorite parts of learning languages! SO happy! The problem with learning the language is that EVERYONE here speaks English along with Setswana! Thus, it’s hard to practice. However, my roommate seems to really like that I’m trying to learn, so she has helped me with pronunciation and asked her friends to speak simple Setswana to me whenever possible! She’s REALLY nice. And she has good taste in music.
Another interesting thing that I have learned since being here is that the campus is pretty quiet at night (my roomie goes to bed around 10pm normally) and everyone wakes up REALLY early. There is music blasting on my floor at 7am or earlier and sometimes my roommate’s friends even come over at 7:30 AM. I don’t have class until 11am each day SO I AM STILL SLEEPING. It is very annoying and anyone who has tried to wake me up will tell you that I HATE being woken up! (Unless you are holding a cup of coffee and it’s like non-instant coffee doesn’t EXIST on this campus!) SO I usually just grumble and turn over and try to ignore the early morning ruckus. Jeez! But at least it’s relatively quiet at night.
On a happy note, my favorite kind of cheese— Gouda— and my favorite tea— rooibos— are really common and cheap here! It’s so exciting! XD
That’s all for now folks! PS- If you wanna skype I would love to! The time difference is 6 hours for the East Coast and 9 hours for the West Coast! Set up a time with me on Facebook and I’ll be there!
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