My Last Month Home....for 2 years!

So, a lot of things have happened since my last post.  I've been keeping in contact with Maite de la Higuera Calvo, my host mother (with a very long name) via email and she seems very sweet and I'm very much looking forward to meeting her.  I just recently spoke with a girl who went to the same town that I'll be going to, San Fernando.  (Which is not a small town like I thought it would be, it's more like a city with twice the inhabitants of Annapolis.)  She said that she absolutely loves San Fernando and every day she dreams of going back, so I took that as a good sign.  She gave me advice on where to shop, where to eat, what beaches to go to (it is an island!) and whatnot.  I gave her the address of where I'll be staying, and she said that it was an apartment right in the middle of all the action - pretty close to Bahia Sur, the big shopping area, and right next to a train/bus station.  So after talking to her I'm even more excited to go!

Spain aside- you might be asking why my title says I won't be home for 2 years, I mean the program I signed up for only lasts 9 months!  Well, like I said, a lot of things have happened over the summer, and plans have changed.  The family will be moving to Botswana, a country located in southern Africa (right above South Africa) in late September or early October of this year.  We first heard of the opportunity while Gabe, mom and I were in Honduras, and since then we've been busy trying to pull together this big move.  And now it's official - Mom and Dad will work in the newly built Bokomoso hospital, along with a staff of foreign doctors.  The hospital is scheduled to open in November (hence the quick move) and they wanted to start off with a staff from countries with a strong knowledge of medicine (international, 

emergency, etc.)  Dad was on the email list, and if you know my parents, you won't be surprised that they hopped on the opportunity.  We have renters for our house, so that's taken care of, and the plan now is that we'll return in 2 years.  Adam will move with Mom in late September/early October and Dad will follow in mid-October.  As for me, we're not really sure when I'll head down - either in January (only doing a semester in Spain) or in June (and complete the whole year in Spain.)  The only reason I would go in January would be because the school year in Botswana starts in January and since I'll be entering into my last 2 years of high school, I'll be starting the IB program or the A levels program depending on what school I'll go to, and it would be harder to start in the middle of a school year.  So we'll see what happens!

As for schools, there are 2 to decide between.  Westwood International School is more like an American school, and it's supposedly very good.  About half of its students are Batswana (what they call people from Boswana) and the remaining half are from Europe, Asia, the Americas, pretty much all around the world.  There are about 40 kids per grade at Westwood.  The other school is called Maru a Pula School, "MaP" for short.  This school is more British, offering the A levels instead of the IB that is offered at Westwood.  MaP is a bigger school, with much more students than Westwood, and apparently its academics are better too.  I've been talking to students from both schools, and it seems that both schools are well-liked.  So I have some pretty big decisions to make!  Whether to stay in Spain for 9 months (rather than 3 if I were to go to Botswana in January) and become more fluent and immerse myself more into the Spanish culture or go down to Botswana in January and half 2 full years of high school there and be with my family more during this new adventure...and on top of that I have to pick which school to go...we'll see!

The house in Gaborone, Botswana:

Lemon trees are everywhere!

A classroom at Maru a Pula:

Some lockers at Westwood: