Final nxblog post!

Hello everyone! Goodness, the months just seem to be slipping by recently. I cannot believe that it is late April already; it still feels like March to me!

(On that note, briefly, it is interesting how we perceive time in relation to the changing of seasons. Because Botswana is south of the equator, we are now heading into winter. Part of the reason my sense of time is so screwed up here is that I have spent my entire life in places where the seasons are wildly different (Minnesota and Maine), so living through a year where there are only two seasons is just odd. Perhaps it also has something to do with my exit from school and living by a school calendar, which I have lived with just as long as I have the seasons...something to ponder. You see, these are the important things that engage me these days.)

It is a rainy Sunday morning as I sit here writing this. The church that is a few hundred yards away just started up, with their speakers and piano and poor singing. My religious beliefs aside, I had never heard poor singing at a church before. Perhaps it is God’s divine will, but every church service I have ever been to (which, limited though they may be in number, are actually rather diverse in denomination) has had good singing. Some months ago I was asked to attend this nearby church, and boy oh boy was it an interesting crowd. My voice was just about on par with everyone else’s, which should be a strong indicator to the ability of the congregation. Anyway. I get to listen to the one church that escaped God’s divine blessing of singing ability every Sunday morning now. Gets me up and at ‘em, I’ll tell you that!

Let’s start with my usual work updates:

Work at the clinic is going pretty well these days. Due to the fact that I only work there two mornings per week now, there is actually a decent amount of work. I’ve given two health talks recently, one trying to motivate the 10th graders into trying hard on their exams, and another on scaring all the young girls into not getting pregnant. Sometimes I can’t believe this is what I’m doing, standing in front of 400 13y/o girls and telling them about the horrible complications that come with pregnancy, yet here I am! Working in the pharmacy is still enjoyable, partly because my best friend here is the one who dispenses all the pills. We’ve completely reorganized and cleaned everything having to do with medicine at this point; even helping relabel shelves is a win with how slow things are. But I have helped make the clinic a cleaner, safer place now, which is something I am proud of.

I do have days like this past Thursday, when I managed to read an entire New Yorker, pick up packages at the post office and look through more New Yorkers that were inside, AND chill with my coworkers all before 11am. I’ve finally come to peace with the fact that I won’t be working hard here. As I’ve said in previous posts, I was really bothered by the fact that there was so little work to be found. One thing that finally made me feel better was the news that Peace Corps is going to replace me with another volunteer when I leave in September. I have come to see these two years as laying the foundation for future volunteers that come to work here. There is work, it just takes a lot of effort to get others involved and make it happen. Therefore if I make all the connections and get to know people, a volunteer who follows me will have a better time collaborating with the community.

The craft shop is doing incredibly well these days. In March, Tsalano won a sponsorship to go to a prestigious female entrepreneur conference in the capital; we just recently were granted funding to expand our woodworking club, and build a showroom and workshop space at the craft shop itself; we are working with Ecoexist to host a craft exhibition in August before I leave; WWF put in a new order for 400 elephant baskets; we’re making new products, posting more on Facebook, and recently created a Tiktok. It is really fun to be part of the team while all these things are happening.

My precious woodworking club is going well. We met almost weekly for the entire first term, which ended at the beginning of April. We have some opportunities for selling crafts from the club coming up, so we are going to shift the students into making finished crafts that we will sell to benefit the club. The funding we just received is going towards new tools, custom t shirts, and more safety equipment. It is very exciting to have all this stuff come together, albeit slowly.

Other interesting news from here:

I went to a community soccer tournament a few weeks ago with some coworkers. We sat in the back of their Honda Fit and watched game after game for two days. I got major street cred for being there, and even more when people saw that I was having a few drinks. I even tried some local beer, called Chibuku, that supposedly continues to ferment in your stomach. It had the consistency of runny oatmeal and tasted like milk that was a few seconds from going bad, on top of being hot from sitting in someone’s trunk for a full day. So I ticked that one off the list, with no need to revisit.

I’ve recently started learning some of the tribal languages that spoken here. There are three tribal languages here in my village: Sumbukushu, Siyei, and Sasarwa. I have close friends and family members that speak Siyei and Sumbukushu, so I’ve learned the greetings and some basic phrases in those languages. I made a fun sheet that translates from Sumbukushu to Siyei to Setswana to English.

I find it incredibly interesting to find the commonalities between the languages, and link them back to my knowledge of Swahili. Some of the words are so similar, even though they are completely separate languages. How cool is that! I also have a lot of fun speaking these languages to locals. When an older person hears me (remember, blond, blue eyes, un-melannated skin) speaking Siyei or Sumbukushu they are absolutely blown away. I even know how to say “Yes, I know Siyei,” (ii, ndi iziré Shiyei) which absolutely brings the house down when I say it. Siyei is a pretty difficult language, with a lot of clicks (including clicks in different tones and pitches), so I’m even learning how to make words like “naxha”,

 “xa,” and “nqguma.”

I spent the last six months struggling to improve my Setswana, when something suddenly clicked recently and I started learning again. Long story short, I’m back on the warpath of learning languages again, and thus remembering how much I love to learn and memorize new things.

The Minnesota Twinnies got off to a hot start! I’ve really gotten back into following baseball due to a friendly bet with my best friend Jacob. The way our bet works, I unfortunately am forced to root for the Los Angeles Dodgers this year. Not only is this detrimental to my mental and physical health, but it opens the door for devastating trash talk. Jacob recently told me “You must’ve hated when Frodo threw the ring into the fire,” and “You probably think Kashoggi had it coming for him,” due to my supporting the Evil, Despicable, possibly-money-laundering Dodgers. For those of you non-baseball folks, the L.A. Dodgers have a yearly payroll near $400 million and are clearly the best team in baseball. I absolutely hate that a rich big city can pay to win like this, and I tend to make my feelings very clear on the matter to anyone who will listen (how on Earth are the Twins supposed to compete against teams who just buy all the best players?).

Absolutely out of left field, but still in the topic ballpark, I am simply ashamed to see that a Harry Potter TV series is coming out. I have never seen a clearer cash grab in my entire life. I am just sickened by the way that we are controlled by our media these days. I understand that some people may watch the Harry Potter movies and desire a longer format, more in-depth telling of the story. The good news for the literate, who are seemingly few these days, is that there is, in fact, a long format version of Harry Potter—THE BOOKS! The fact that people cannot read an easy book—and they are incredibly easy books to read—and imagine the story for themselves is a massive detriment to our society. Instead of reading and picturing it themselves the WALL-E masses sit in front of their TV with the Snuggie and their Mega Gulp and have it all shone directly into their eyeballs. No room for individual thought, no room for imagining characters how you want them. The worst part is that while lulling the droolers to sleep with hours upon hours of shows, the bigwigs that finance the entire thing are getting filthy rich. You see how I might get upset by the Dodgers now, don’t you?

I’ve done some fun travel recently and had some friends and family visit me here. In February I went to Victoria Falls for a few days and got to see Sophie, Nora’s boyfriend’s younger sister who is a Peace Corp volunteer in Zambia. We saw the falls, had some great meals, and went for a rafting day trip. It was a super fun trip, and very interesting to see how different Zambia is from Botswana. A massive difference, which is apparent as soon as you cross the border, is the population: Botswana only has 2.5 million people, while Zambia is somewhere around 20 million. From what I saw, many differences between the two countries can be explained by way of analyzing the population difference.

My cousin Emmet made the long trek to come and see me in March. He shattered all records for longest day trip to get here from the nearest town, Maun: 19 hours door to door. It’s only 300 miles, but the roads and busses are so slow that it takes hours longer than expected. We had a wonderful few days here, meeting all my friends, watching every sunset we could, going to the cattle post, and even swimming in the delta (again...I know, believe me it was rather stupid. But don’t worry, all limbs are accounted for! No crocs sighted). My friends and family here loved Emmet so much that they gave him a Setswana name, “Mothusi,” which translates to “one who helps.” Pretty fitting for Em!

Finally, over Easter one of my volunteer friends here, Jasmine, made the trip up to see me. She didn’t have quite as bad a time as Emmet, but it was still quite the shlep. I crushed her in Gin Rummy, we had a nice day with the Craft Shop folks, and cooked an amazing apple cake for everyone in the evening.

It is special to have family and friends come visit me here. I am really out in the middle of nowhere, so on top of coming to Botswana, to have people want to come and see the village I stay in means a lot to me. My families here welcome and celebrate all of my visitors with open arms; I tend to sit quietly and bask in the friendship and quality time that occurs when two halves of my life meet. I feel so incredibly far from home that these visits mean the world to me, especially Emmet’s week here. I am a rich, rich man to have such a close family, many good friends, and so many new families here in Botswana. I struggle to put the feeling into words on how these visits make me feel; I spend weeks afterward on a sort of ‘high’. The single most meaningful experience I have had here is all about family: being welcomed into new ones, getting visits from my MN family, and talking with my network of close friends. 

Speaking of friends and family I would be remiss if I did not talk about Minnesota. It has been a long year for everyone, and rather strange to experience everything from so far away. I have mostly been able to let everything roll off of me, or distract myself. The Alex Pretti murder was different, and I spent days checking the news over and over again. I don’t have anything new to say, but I want all of my Minnesotans to known how incredibly proud I am of them. My friends and family are marching in the streets, blowing whistles to let neighbors know that ICE is in the area, organizing grocery deliveries, giving immigrants rides, getting themselves arrested for protesting, donating time, donating money, and even running for office. One of the few things that has kept me feeling OK over here is the knowledge that there are people out there fighting the occupation of our Minnesota. I am proud simply to be friends and family with you all. Pride is an odd emotion to come from these last few months, but I am damn proud of all the people that make Minnesota the place it is.

Back to our regularly scheduled light content:

I’ve been reading like crazy recently! Highlights of 2026 so far: The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Leguin, several Agath Christie mysteries, and A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. I just finished Frankenstein by Mary Shelley as well, which I thought was just the coolest book (it’s over 200 years old now!). As I edit this, I have to add Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. A satire of the US’s prison-industrial complex, it is full of rage, devastating statistics, and a fun story to boot.

 I go through ups and downs of reading, especially when I am not really into the book. Overall though, I’ve been reading a lot this year, and absolutely loving it. Fewer movies, more books.

Finally, my favorite part of writing these posts, funny little anecdotes!

-I’ve had several wildlife encounters at the boat station recently: a hippo that got way too close for comfort, a snake looking object that was probably an otter but had me literally running away in terror, and more crocodile sightings.

-the bat chronicles continue, although not in my house. The social worker’s office is so infested by bats that I get a headache within 15 minutes of getting to work. We just sit outside these days because the smell is so bad. The police office recently had their entire ceiling fall down due to the weight of the bat droppings. It must be something with the Delta and abundance of water around here that draws so many bats. I haven’t heard of bat problems from any other parts of the country.

-I’ve hosted a couple of birthday parties for my host-siblings here in the house recently. I spend the day making a big cake, and then everyone comes in the evening and we sing, have cake and snacks, and the kids play. It is really nice to see the kids get the spotlight for a little bit, especially as kids are raised with less focus on the individual here. The best part is they all leave and then I don’t have to deal with the sugar high all the kids get. Score!

-A long time ago I put a US map up on my wall, and recently it has been getting a lot of action helping me explain more about the US. Everyone here calls it “America,” so having the map helps to explain the difference between the USA and the Americas. This map even has Red Wing on it!

-I got so burnt while rafting with Sophie at Victoria Falls that I was still peeling when I got back home five days later. Between that and my daily life here, I have the most epic farmers tan I have ever rocked. It looks like I’m wearing a white T-shirt. I think the tan may be permanent, as I’m not sure how my skin will recover from two straight years of sun.

-Goodness me! I almost forgot to talk about Intergalactic Nacho Day! My college roommates and I have a tradition on February 2nd where we all eat Nachos in remembrance of some terrific nachos we ate together in 2024. International Nacho day is taken already (sometime in October), so we had to go intergalactic. This year, due to a lack of resources, I was forced to make my own tortilla chips, and my own cheese. Well, I’m kidding about the cheese. But I did make my own tortilla chips. I was kinda sick the day of sadly, but I did manage to have some decent nachos and watch an Indiana Jones movie. I am really looking forward to Intergalactic Nacho Day 2027 back in the US, where I can find some real ingredients, maybe order them at a restaurant, and hopefully celebrate with others!

This will be the last blog post on this website. It expires in a few months, before I will have anything new to share with you all. Now that I have all of your emails, if and when I have time in the months before I get home I will send a final post / note.

Sending my love to you all. Remember to laugh and have fun even while we struggle through these tough times.

Nick