More like bureaucrazy.

(flowers at Planet Baobab)

I don't want to get into all the bureaucratic trouble I'm having staying in the country on the hilariously unlikely chance that someone who would care is reading this. Actually, that is such a ridiculous notion that maybe I'll just tell you but first, a quick story.

I met a Motswana woman in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today (where I was sent after the Immigration, Labour, and Passport divisions managed to get rid of me) who told me she had gone to university in the United States. (By the way, my first impression of her was that her English was perfect and she reminded me a lot of my friend Deb, who also speaks perfect English.)

I asked her where she had studied, and she said, "Connecticut."

Me: "Where in Connecticut?"

Her: "New Haven."

Me: "Um...so...Yale?"

Her: "Yeah, Yale."

I was so confused about why she wouldn't just say "Yale." I know there is this phenomenon of people saying oh I went to school "outside Boston" when they went to Harvard, so they don't have to "drop the H-bomb." But why on earth did this woman find it necessary to be coy when we were standing in her office in Gaborone, Botswana? I'm so tickled by it. Of course, I forgot to ask her what year she graduated so we could play "Do you know...?" Do any of my friends who went to Yale know a Motswana lady?