Africa Time

Shame on me!! I have been slacking big time at blog posts and there is no excuse! (Other than a lack of things to write about and perhaps the lack of motivation to write at all). But, in light of my recent reception of my Botswana Residence Permit, I figured I would talk about ‘Africa Time’ a little bit (also to justify the delayedness of this post…). I know I have mentioned that things are just slower, more relaxed here, but the other day I was trying to pinpoint the difference and realized something interesting. In the States, you can plan things by the hour, and here you plan things by the day.  For example, on Africa time, one might think, okay today I will get this done, then I will do that tomorrow. Whereas in the states, you would say, today I will do this, this, this, and that in the morning…..

    And as hard as you try, you can’t try to make an American schedule/mindset fit into the ‘African time’ zone. It’s kind of hard to explain how or why, but it just does NOT work. It becomes extremely frustrating at times, but it is something you just have to accept and get used to (obviously hasn’t been that easy for me!) Although I still find it annoying, it is definitely something I have started to get used to. I'm a little worried about going back to the states and having to get back into frenzy mode! 

    On a happy note, I received my residence permit! It is amazing how long it takes to get a sticker in your passport…. After several visits to immigration to make sure I had everything that I needed (picture, copy of passport, letter from employer, letter from father, etc.) I finally turned the application in. They say they will message you when it is ready, but I decided to go check back after about a month. Still no news. After checking back in about every two weeks, it got down to the wire of when my temporary permit would expire. Finally they told me that it had been approved! But…. The machine to make the permit stickers was broken. They were sending the machine to Gabs to get fixed, so she extended my temporary permit a couple months. I went back in the beginning of November and the machine was back! But I went too late in the afternoon and the lady obviously just didn’t feel like helping me. SO, at long last, I went back the following week and they printed my sticker for me and stuck it in my passport. WOOHOO! Basically, it says I am allowed to volunteer in Botswana until July 2017.