I had some really great blog titles in my head...

none of which will be summoned forth now, under pressure.

HELLO EVERY BODY!!!
Yes this is me on the world wide interweb!
update
I hacked off my hair with a dull scissors and a pocketknife. It has become a bit of a ragged source of pride for me, so I won't even let the gal who cuts hair for a living even it out. I think it looks rugged hot. goes with the whole dirty sweaty look I'm rocking. To which i remedy by bathing in a bucket, in my concrete house with rafters electricity and no indoor plumbing. I have perfected a method of using very little water and rarely feel clean, but then no one else is that clean either so I am ok. the toilet is in the neighbor's yard. which is my host mom's brother. My host family is amazing and cook for me and put up with my incredible lack of words that I fluently speak in their language. The mom has named me Lorato which is Setswana for love and also charity. I'm not quite sure if it is my charity work or the fact that I am a charity case that she was thinking of when she named me but whatever. I have gone from 1981's most common name to the most common name in Botswana. I think it suits me.
Usher's song "love in the club" brings tears to my eyes. I have no idea why. American music is very popular here, and you hear it in the supermarkets, which are crazy in terms of their content, busyness and the nearness to which people stand to you. I often have what I would normally consider inappropriate affect and reactions to things here, but have grown to accept as life in Africa, or at least life in the beginning of the Peace Corps.
I have lots of friends, that I have grown ridiculously close to very, very fast. This is good as I need them every day. most don't even look up anymore when I yell at nothing. I have had 8 medical shots as of today. i laugh when they tell me I need another, and offer up an arm while tapping it as an addict and a smile. I eat peanut butter sandwiches every day for lunch and chicken for dinner every night. I have lost between 6 and 8 pounds, depending on how much water I have gotten my friend to have her maid boil for me before I step on the scale which my host family has so generously provided me in my room when I arrived. It is a fun activity for me to do in the am as I am trying to remember how to greet my family in Setswana in the morning before I leave the safety of my room. greetings are really important.


the sky is the biggest I have ever seen and the stars shine like it is their job. I constantly smell fire, (as people are constantly burning their garbage plastic, ect) which reminds me of growing up at the cabin, but then I look at the clouds lined up against that big old sky and am reminded of the number of miles between me and that time and place.
The Setswana word for yes or I hear you or I agree is a sort of grunt and the sound "eh-ma" sound that my grandma makes when she is trying to catch her breath, which coming from my host mom and sisters has also brought much comfort. It is amazing the little things that do that here.
the sunset is gorgeous.
I am reading "three cups of tea" which is amazing and inspiring and gets me through many days here. thanks for recommending, Kassapa (and everyone else. I would highly recommend it)
ok enough stream of consciousness blogging for me.
I thank all of you for the beautiful emails of love and support, for as manically happy as this blog has been, there have definitely been rough points.
I am learning where my edges are, and where my spine, heart and guts are.
Literally sometimes
please send mail!
Love you
Jen