Gotta keep my shoe hand strong...
The spiders are stepping up their game. I have been killing at least two per night in my room and sometimes a cockroach. The mosquitos are also stepping up there game. Not sure how they are getting in my bug net but they are.
Yesterday Kukus took me out for a driving test. They do this with all foreign workers so they can see if they are capable of driving from the other side of the vehicle. Its especially important that I can drive so that I can pick up my own supplies and so forth. I drove a Toyota Venture. We dont even have these in Canada but they are pretty sweet. Today we push started the Kia station wagon and I drove it to Gaborone to get the starter fixed. It was a good time. I followed Kukus through rush hour traffic, driving on the right side with a standard that the starter was gone and we went through a lot of round abouts that were packed. You just find a spot to slip in a giv'er and hope for the best.
I rode in a Combie (public transit van) the other day. The thing was so old that it has 3 on the Tree. For those of you who dont know what that means... At one point it was popular to make manual shifting vehicles with the gear shift on the column. It is similar to an automatic in looks but it has a clutch and you shift it on the column instead of the floor. Not only are these not made in Canada anymore but they are so old I have only seen a couple of farm trucks in my entire life that have had this type of transmission.
I have been meeting a few people at aerobics class. Some cool guys go there. Its awesome because we are all pretty much dying during the sessions so its easy to start conversation and have shared experience. The instructor is awesome. He is a Botswanan national. He is jacked but always smiling and positively motivating people. He always yells, "Never Give Up, Never Stop", with a Setswanan accent. Oddly his name is Ben.
I have started working. I have my tires all dug in for the parking spots; pulled up some sidewalk stones, reset them and cemented them in; now I am mending the fence at the Day Care so that the neighbour kids and animals cannot crawl under it. The good part about working at the Day Care is that they feed me. So far I have eaten Maze with Spinach sauce and probably goat (it might have been beef), as well as this other white corn stuff that kind of resembled chick peas or potato salad with a potato stew sauce to go with it.
In March we have some time off because of school break so I might go up North and check out Chobe National Park and one of the Seven Wonders of the World... Victoria Falls.
I tried uploading some pictures the other day but it took almost 5 minutes for one so not sure that is going to happen any time soon.
We thought about getting a Goat to take care of our lawn and weed problem. I doubt it will happen but it would be a cool idea.
Last night after doing aerobics, I was cooling down outside and watching the sky. Almost everywhere was clear with stars except for a mile to the south. There was a very tall cloud formation that looked kind of like the Star Treck Voyager. Inside the cloud was a lightning storm that lit up the whole cloud. The clouds are so localized here. Yesterday it poured a mile down the road but was sun shine where I was. I literally watched it storm while I worked in the sun.
We now have 2 Dutch, 2 German, 2 American and 2 Canadians living at the staff house. I never feel overwhelmed by the male-female ratio unless we are all in the same room at the same time. But they are all very nice and try to be inclusive with everything so thats a blessing.
Yesterday Kukus took me out for a driving test. They do this with all foreign workers so they can see if they are capable of driving from the other side of the vehicle. Its especially important that I can drive so that I can pick up my own supplies and so forth. I drove a Toyota Venture. We dont even have these in Canada but they are pretty sweet. Today we push started the Kia station wagon and I drove it to Gaborone to get the starter fixed. It was a good time. I followed Kukus through rush hour traffic, driving on the right side with a standard that the starter was gone and we went through a lot of round abouts that were packed. You just find a spot to slip in a giv'er and hope for the best.
I rode in a Combie (public transit van) the other day. The thing was so old that it has 3 on the Tree. For those of you who dont know what that means... At one point it was popular to make manual shifting vehicles with the gear shift on the column. It is similar to an automatic in looks but it has a clutch and you shift it on the column instead of the floor. Not only are these not made in Canada anymore but they are so old I have only seen a couple of farm trucks in my entire life that have had this type of transmission.
I have been meeting a few people at aerobics class. Some cool guys go there. Its awesome because we are all pretty much dying during the sessions so its easy to start conversation and have shared experience. The instructor is awesome. He is a Botswanan national. He is jacked but always smiling and positively motivating people. He always yells, "Never Give Up, Never Stop", with a Setswanan accent. Oddly his name is Ben.
I have started working. I have my tires all dug in for the parking spots; pulled up some sidewalk stones, reset them and cemented them in; now I am mending the fence at the Day Care so that the neighbour kids and animals cannot crawl under it. The good part about working at the Day Care is that they feed me. So far I have eaten Maze with Spinach sauce and probably goat (it might have been beef), as well as this other white corn stuff that kind of resembled chick peas or potato salad with a potato stew sauce to go with it.
In March we have some time off because of school break so I might go up North and check out Chobe National Park and one of the Seven Wonders of the World... Victoria Falls.
I tried uploading some pictures the other day but it took almost 5 minutes for one so not sure that is going to happen any time soon.
We thought about getting a Goat to take care of our lawn and weed problem. I doubt it will happen but it would be a cool idea.
Last night after doing aerobics, I was cooling down outside and watching the sky. Almost everywhere was clear with stars except for a mile to the south. There was a very tall cloud formation that looked kind of like the Star Treck Voyager. Inside the cloud was a lightning storm that lit up the whole cloud. The clouds are so localized here. Yesterday it poured a mile down the road but was sun shine where I was. I literally watched it storm while I worked in the sun.
We now have 2 Dutch, 2 German, 2 American and 2 Canadians living at the staff house. I never feel overwhelmed by the male-female ratio unless we are all in the same room at the same time. But they are all very nice and try to be inclusive with everything so thats a blessing.
