The Proposal

Saturday afternoon we walked the short way to the football stadium for the World Cup qualifying game between Botswana and Madagascar. We got there about 2:15 for a 3:00 starting time. Not many people were there early, so we sat in a fairly open area. Two guys asked if they could sit by us and sat down. We soon began chatting with them. Lucas and Hope (a nickname for a much longer name) were quite interested in coming to America and asked if we ever wanted to come back to Botswana after this summer. Jayne, Danielle, Leslie, and I all gladly said we would love to come back to Botswana someday. Then, Lucas said to me to marry him, because then I could take him to the United States and he could take me back to Botswana! Quite the proposal, but I passed! That is Hope and Lucas in the picture with me and (from left to right) Leslie, Danielle, Jayne, Matt, and Meeka at the football game.

Then, more people about our age came and sat by the four of us girls and started taking pictures with us with their phones! We really didn’t know why they wanted our pictures so badly, but we just gladly smiled along as they snapped shots with us! It was a good time to chat with them about their culture!

Being midday, it was about 75 degrees with an occasional breeze. It was a beautiful day, slightly warm, and we were all in capris or skirts and light t-shirts. However, the Batswana (the word for the people of Botswana) were all dressed in jeans, sweatshirts or jackets, and some even had stocking caps on! I asked if they were hot, but they said no and gave me a slightly funny look! It is their winter season after all!

The game finally started and it was fun to watch the game, but also to watch the spectators! They were proud to be Zebras! The Zebras were a much better team, but couldn’t get on the scoreboard, so the game ended up 0–0. Lucas and Hope said the Zebras will now go play at Madagascar for the next round. Wouldn’t it be cool if the Zebras made it a long way on the road to the 2010 World Cup?