Things I fail to admit that I like to do since I arrived here in Botswana

I have gained some new and restarted some old hobbies since I have been in Botswana. I thought I share with you some of those hobbies.

Making Preparations for Having a Chicken - For some odd reason I feel I will not get as attached to a chicken as I would a dog or cat. Yet, I have made a bed for my chicken. Thought of names for the girl and guy, and even talked about getting one with close friends.

Update: I was able to successfully buy a chicken last week (March 16, 2012). Her name was Chicken Patty. Unfortunately, I am unable to find her :(





Making Yogurt - Yeah I said it! Somehow I am infatuated with trying to make yogurt with the right consistency as the ones we buy in the store. I love that I am getting closer 

Cooking - I once again do not have a microwave, but this time I am in a country where its a norm. I find myself cooking a lot. I miss fast food, but when I start craving hamburgers, french fries, or pizza, I just make them.




Working Out - Ok, maybe just dancing around my house in cute clothes is what I consider working out. I enjoy watching Zumba on my laptop, and I have even mastered jumping rope in my living room. 


Drawing - I always hated coloring, but luckily I have a sweet neighbor who color's all the pictures I draw. So I enjoy drawing for her. Sometimes I even allow her and her friends to provide me with requests. 








All and all, I have no issue living by myself. My biggest fear here is actually meeting people since I have to force myself to use Setswana. Luckily, I am an outdoor person, so it is a matter of just pushing myself to do it.

Beauty Pageants

So I have attended three beauty pageants and have been a judge for one, so I thought I would make a blog entry on this topic.  I am sure many of you have seen Beauty Pageants on TV. In my village, Beauty Pageants are a wonderful past time shared by the community. There are individual competitions and partner competitions. In both cases, participants showcase their best walk, knowledge, and sometimes even talents to the judges and community members. Kids even imitate beauty competitions by merely walking around like a model. I find this amusing and even sometimes participate in these games.

 There is a lot of excitement that goes on around beauty pageants as a DJ is invited and community members are excited about who they want to win. At the beginning of the event there is an initial walk around the stage by all the contestants. Normally they wear the same colors or the same article of clothing. Participants must try extra hard to stand out from the crowd, whether its by their walk, smile, or slight pose. 

The next round is normally the formal wear. Each contestant gets a turn on the stage to show off their outfit and model off their features.  Once this round is over, it is usually followed by a traditional attire competition. Afterwords, the judges combine their scores and determine the top five contestants.

 The top five contestants are asked questions by the judging panel to see the contestant’s knowledge on a particular topic. Once the top five contestants have answered their questions the judges deliberate and the winner is announce.

Unlike in the United States, I have yet to see a swimsuit competition, and the talent portion is not an often occurrence. Similar to United States, participants bring out their best to showcase themselves (clothes, make-up, etc.). It’s a good time, and provides the community a great time to be together.

P.S: Photo’s Featured Here are from our Cross Dress Beauty Pageant Fundraiser. Funds made for this pageant were used to build a home for a destitute person in the community. AND YES IT WAS HILARIOUS: D