June-July 2008

Thursday, June 5, 2008 – let the adventure begin
Hi All,
Just a quick note to let you all know I've made it to Maun. But not without a travel "adventure" (of course). This time I hadn't even left Greenville when the inevitability of my departure was brought into question. Between the pinched nerve in my back occurring in an untimely way (Wednesday night causing me to miss the protest against W. at Furman's graduation on Saturday night) and the lack of a "ticket number" on my confirmation slip, I wasn't sure I was going to make it out of the country.

FYI - a confirmation number is not enough to actually "confirm" a ticket. You also need a "ticket number" (who knew???). When I tried to check in at GSP they informed me that, while I had a confirmation number and they could find my record on the computer I did not have a "ticket number" which meant they could not put me on the plane. What the? Fortunately, after jumping over the luggage weighing area and going into the secure area behind the ticket counter I was able to get onto a computer to pull up the e-mail confirming my ticket which allowed them to check me in just in time to make it up to security where the man informed me that "I didn't look as old as my passport said I was"... there you go! What a way to start my summer adventure!

Besides that, the flight was good. Even ended up with the seat next to me open so I could stretch out a little bit on the 16 hour flight (good for my sore back which has improved much). Since then Paul and I have been working our way back to Maun. We spent one night in Johannesburg, then it was off to Gabarone (capital of Botswana), then a night in Kang (a road stop in the mild of bloody no where) and the final leg of the trip today. All told the drive is about 12-13 hours from Joburg to Maun but we stopped along the way to get some work done for Paul's business (e.g. had to stop at the department of wildlife to get some "fire" data).

So it's back to attempting to orient to "upside down world"... June is winter, distance is in kilometers not miles, time is on a 24-hour clock, temperature is in Celsius not Fahrenheit and donkeys linger on the side of the road like squirrels. When we sat at a table for dinner in Joburg the waiter said "you're welcome" and my instinct was to questioningly say "thank you?" (I think he was saying "you are welcome to our restaurant"). It will take a couple of days to readjust.

Just wanted to let you know that I've arrived safely and to welcome you back to my pen pal log. "You're welcome".
More to come soon.
Kristy

Sunday, June 08, 2008 – stuffed crocs and the rings of Saturn
Hi All,
Just a quick update on my first weekend in Maun. We started the weekend off with a Friday night star show for two. Driving home from work early Friday evening Paul said..."how about a star show tonight?" To which I responded, "will it be clear enough?" And Paul almost drove out of the spoor (dirt track) laughing. I'm still in Botswana summer mode (Dec/Jan where we had to worry that the weather might not be good enough to see the stars) forgetting that every night is good enough to see the stars in Botswana winter (dry season and therefore not a cloud in the sky). You may recall that, when Paul visited in October, he purchased a super-duper telescope that he uses for star shows for safari groups (and for his own entertainment, of course). So we spent Friday night looking at the rings of Saturn (which are VERY cool! You MUST see them if you ever get an opportunity) and the bands of Jupiter and 4 of its moons. Paul is an astronomy buff so I learned all about the constellations and the bushman stories of their origin/meaning. Not your typical Friday night but fascinating!

Today we had the opportunity to visit a taxidermy studio where a friend of Paul's had just finished stuffing a 15 foot crocodile (see "big croc" photo attached). The thing was HUGE and that's the closest I ever want to get to one again! He was captured in the Zambezi (the river that we camped about 100 yards from last year when we were in Zimbabwe) and was being stuffed for a trophy hunter who planned to display him in the corner of a room in his house. Yikes! Wouldn't want to wake up and see that off in the corner of the room. I've also attached a picture of a leopard that was in the process of being stuffed (in fact, as we talked the taxidermist fiddled with a piece of puddy that ended up being his tongue! see "leopard head" photo). Big game hunting is big business in Botswana and the taxidermy places are so busy they were even working on a Sunday. Lots of things to be stuffed I guess (yuck!).

The weather is beautiful...70s/80s during the day but quite chilly at night (got down to 2 degrees Celsius last night -- close to freezing!). Botswana blue skies everyday. Got to love it!
More soon,
Kristy


Thursday, June 12, 2008 – the challenges of upside down world
I am gradually adjusting to upside down world...although you would think it would get easier with repeat trips but it doesn't really feel that way. I've been trying to understand why it is so challenging...perhaps it is because for 9 months out of the year I'm a fairly competent human being. I know how most things work and if I can't do it myself, I know where to go to pay someone to do it for me. I'm also relatively good at my job...the one very specialized thing I do in life but here I'm a complete nincompoop. Even daily tasks are challenging.

Grocery shopping is like hunting and gathering where you go from one store to the next hoping they might have something that looks halfway fresh to eat. It is not that there aren't stores to shop in but rather that the quality of the items there leaves much to be desired. I've decided that even the "best" grocery store (the one where most of the ex-pats shop) has produce that looks like the items we would discard in our stores...broccoli that looks like it has aged to the point of complete absence of nutritional value, bananas that are marginally yellow between the bruised spots, and a complete absence of a tomato anywhere to be found for the last week. If I were a serious carnivore I would be fine but given that I am mostly vegetarian in my day to day eating it is a real challenge. On the bright side I did find what looks to resemble a tofu paddy (it was called a "vegetable schnitzel") in the frozen food section yesterday. We'll see how that works out.

Driving is also a nightmare. In general I don't think of myself as a timid person. I've driven the eastern states of the US for years. Big highways. Navigating to new places. I'm really not daunted by it. And I promised myself I would be more brave this time. I would just drive and get over it...but I find myself making excuses as to why today is not a good day to drive. I'm still jet lagged and can't focus. There's an excess of donkeys out today. The traffic is heavier than normal. The other day I even said I couldn't drive because I had a headache...what the? In defense of my terror, it really is challenging to drive here. Not only am I on the wrong side of the road in a vehicle that is probably 3x bigger than what I normally drive but there are only a limited number of paved roads; donkeys, goats and cows roam freely, including in the road; cars go every which way; scraping noises of thorny bushes is the norm and the Batswana might be the worse drivers I've ever seen! Add to this lots of walkers, dust devils that spin up like small tornados and the fact that I keep turning on the windshield wipers when I mean to be turning on the turn signal and it's a frustrating mess!

Finally (although there are many other things to upside down world that challenge me, I'll keep it to the top 3 for this email), I don't know the language and I stick out like a soar thumb. I can say hello and thank you and ask how much something costs but often the response is something that sounds vaguely familiar but is otherwise incomprehensible. Hence my feelings of incompetence in the upside down world. It's quite challenging to one's sense of self.
Kristy

PS: OK, just one more thing...while the bugs are much improved this time of year than in the summer (when we can't even leave a window open at night for fear of a flying ant invasion or a bite by a malaria infested mosquito), we have some uninvited visitors of the 8 legged varied (and you may recall my "2 to 4 leg rule"...creatures with between 2 and four legs are acceptable). One of these critters that resides in our bathroom (behind the mirror during the day) is a rather large fuzzy legged "wolf" spider (not a particularly reassuring name...he's a carnivore, that's why). He looks much like an anorexic tarantula. I have named him Amadeus and have tried to see him as "sweet" (which is what Paul says he is) but he still worries me when I have to pee at night. It might, however, be true that he is more afraid of me than I am of him, since when I flicked on the light last night he scampered behind the mirror leaving 2 of his hairy little legs exposed. Perhaps he is aware of the "2 to 4 leg rule" and is trying to accommodate me.

PPS: the good news is that we head off to the bush tomorrow for the weekend. We'll be going up to Savute and I'm very excited about seeing animals (of the 2 to 4 leg range). I'll be packing my thermal underwear given how cold it has been at night! Can't wait!

PPPS: I have a new friend. I've attached a picture of him for you. He doesn't have an official name yet, I simply call him "Buddy."

PPPS: I've also included a picture of our neighbors. They're a little nosey.

Monday, June 16, 2008 – charging ellie and camp raiding hyena
Had a wonderful weekend in the bush! We went up to Savuti about 4-5 hours north of Maun in Chobe National Park. There used to be a river but it has since dried up. Much of the area is vast fields of dry “marsh” areas and a few rocky hills here and there (leopard hill and “rock painting hill” where you can see 5,000 year old paintings done by the San bushmen).

I had visited this area before with the Furman group but it was during the wet season so it seemed like a very different area (Cat and Erik – this was the site with the ablution block up on the hill and the elephants walking through camp). During the dry season the mud of the wet season is replaced with deep sand. Paul decided this would be a good time for me to learn to drive in the bush. At least there isn’t as much traffic as in Maun!

So I’m truddling along, thinking…I’m driving and there are giraffes outside the window! This is pretty cool. Even the deep sand isn’t throwing me off too much. Shift into 4-wheel drive and I’m motoring through it. Up over hills, through some deep sandy turns, watching for “sharp” holes that will send Paul flying as he stands up in the back with half his body out the sunroof taking pictures (almost lost him once!). OK…so I’m not a crappy driver. It’s just Maun that is overwhelming for me.

On Saturday morning we head up to Zwezwe Pan to find some elephants. We’ve seen impala, giraffe, wart hogs, wildebeest, an amazing array of birds (lilac breasted rollers, horn bills, bee eaters, tawny eagles, franklins, starlings, cape turtle doves, etc.) but no ellies, so we go looking. We come across a herd and my excitement turns to panic within seconds as the large matriarch of the breeding herd takes one look at us, shakes her head in a pissed off way sending her large ears flapping, trumpets to signal her attack and starts running full out right for us. Paul says, “Put it in reverse and go, go, go”. After one false shift into low gear, I quickly correct and put it into reverse and I am driving as fast as I can backwards down a two tracked dirt spoor. All I can hear is the trumpeting and Paul’s continuing “go, go, go, go” so I punch it and keep navigating backwards through the bush hoping not to run into a tree or stump or get stuck in the sand. The incident seemed to last a long time until Paul final signals it is OK to stop at which point I realize my heart is racing and I feel like I’m going to puke.

Fortunately for me, I didn’t even get to see her charging us since I was looking in the other direction, attempting to see where I was going behind us. Paul reports that she came to within about 5 feet of the front left bumper…trunk tucked, ears back, head down with full intention of ramming us. Later that night, when I asked him how scary the incident was on the scary meter (scale of 1-10 with 10 being terrifying!) he said it was hard to say as he was already making a plan of what to do when she hit us as he was sure she was going to hit us. He claims that’s about as close as you can get to actually being hit without being hit! He put it at about an 8 ½ (recall that last summer’s ellie incident when the clutch went out on the vehicle in the dark when we were surrounded by ellies it was only a 5!). OK, that’s pretty scary!! The good news is I didn’t panic and I’m apparently a pretty good driver when going backwards in the bush being chased by an elephant.

The rest of our weekend was less eventful although we were visited by a hyena in camp on Saturday night. Shortly after we got in the tent and were reading with our head lamps we hear this snorting and gulping of what sounds like a hungry dog woofing its dinner. We then hear a loud plastic crunch and fearing he might be trying to get into our plastic storage box of pots and pans, Paul leaps out of the bedroll, grabs the torch (flash light), makes his “scaring off a baboon grunt” and dashes out of the tent to scare him away. Come to find out he’s actually taken a big bite out of our washing basin (not sure why as it was empty and couldn’t have smelled very tasty). Later that night, just before dawn, we hear the hyena in camp again, walking around our tent and sniffing. Then we hear the grunt/moan of a lion nearby by and the frightened hyena buggers off out of camp.

Lastly, we had the most amazing leopard citing at Marabou Pan. Out for a late afternoon game drive we came across another vehicle off the spoor parked in the bush. This usually means they’ve found something interesting to look at as you’re not supposed to drive outside the spoor. Off in the distance about a football field’s length away we see a large male leopard sitting under a tree. Spotted by a group of impala they start to harass him with snorts and grunts causing him to leave his look out and walk the plains. The impala actually stalk him a bit, following him huffing and puffing to make him aware that he has been spotted. We watched him for quite some time. Sleek, elegant, walking with his tail curled up at the end…an amazing creature (I’ll send pictures soon). I couldn’t help but think of his skinned kin we saw at the taxidermy place a few days earlier. I’m not sure how someone could shoot such a beautiful animal just for sport. Seems so unjustified, I really don’t get it.

We had many other lovely experiences (breakfast with birds, mouse visitors at dinner, and a large herd of giraffe –upwards of 50-60, at a watering hole) but I know I’ve kept you long enough on this Monday morning. Hope your weekend was as exciting as mine.
Kristy

Wednesday, June 18, 2008 – birthday ruminations
Well another year has passed and I find myself celebrating my birthday in Botswana. Last year was hard to top as we were camping in the rhino reserve under a sky full of stars (my first viewing of the Milky Way from the Southern hemisphere). Given that Paul treats me so well on a daily basis it is hard for him to top that for my birthday. With coffee and breakfast in bed as a daily thing, where do you go from there? Given the lack of wrapping paper in town he decided to hide my birthday presents and give me clues as to where I might find them. For example, one clue was it can make you hot or cold. My guess was the outdoor shower but I actually found my new Kalahari Canvas purse under the cover of his motorcycle (perfect khaki color for the Botswana dirt). I figured it out because his second clue was, “it puts the wind in your hair” (didn’t seem likely that you could hide something under a hair dryer).

He also got me a weekend bag for short trips since my giant suitcase, which I travel in for two months, is really too large for the small trips. Additionally, he’s booked us a night in a luxury tent at Meno A Kwena (teeth of the crocodile). Here’s a link to their website if you’re interested: http://www.kalaharikavango.com/

We’ll head out Saturday morning and spend a couple of days down there. Zebra and wildebeest herds are suppose to be impressive and I’m looking forward to seeing that.

Tonight we’ll indulge with an extra special bottle of red wine and the black forest cake we managed to find in the local grocery store yesterday. We’ll see how it is (looked a bit sketchy).
Kristy

PS: wanted to let you know that “Buddy’s” training is coming along. Once I feed his little belly he settles right down and is jumping up far less than he used to. He’ll even wait outside the open door to the house for me to come out (most of the time). His “owners” have tied an old zipper around his neck for a collar. I’m considering buying him a proper collar but Paul says they may just take it off and sell it. He still persists on chewing the heck out of my feet when it is time for me to leave (I think he wants me to stay). Paul just found him a tennis ball so maybe that will give him something else to chew on (that doesn’t have nerve endings).

Tuesday, June 24, 2008 – zillions of zebras, moon craters and lions roaring at night
Our weekend in Meno A Kwena was amazing! It is truly a unique location and a fabulous place to visit if you ever get the chance. Located on the dried up Boteti River (South East of Maun by a couple hour drive) the tented camp sits up on the side of the river bed (a unique “elevated” view uncommon in most of Botswana due to its abundant flatness). The camp has 8 “luxury tents” (see photo of same name), an open eating area (very “out of Africa” in its look) and several comfortable tented areas for guests to lounge around and rest on pillowed beds while viewing wildlife. There are also several pools, mostly serving as bird baths but one designed for humans. One of our favorite spots for viewing was the “hide.” After winding down the sand trail from the upper bank of the river about 2/3rds of the way down, built into the side of the river bed is a well concealed hide for viewing the two main watering holes that the camp maintains. By pumping water into the holes on a regular basis the animal populations stay high throughout the dry season.

On Sunday afternoon we spent about 2 hours in the hide watching thousands of zebra make their way down the opposite side of the riverbed to the watering holes (see “zillions of zebras”). They jockeyed for space with the elephants, sometimes peacefully coexisting but other times trumpeting and swinging their trunks sending the herds of zebra running in all directions away from the agro ellie (i.e. aggravated elephant, see photo of the same name). At times, smelling the water, the animals start a full out trot down to the holes appearing quite exited to quench their thirst. The elephants can drink and drink using their trunks like straws to slurp up gallons and gallons of water at a time. They use this technique to go straight for the freshly pumped water at the center of the pool.

The zebra herds are often less content to just drink and you can regularly hear the thud of a zebra reeling up its back legs to kick the crap about of another donkey that apparently has gotten too close to them while drinking. This sets off a chain reaction where one rears and kicks (sometimes spinning while doing it so that they are like a pin wheel of kicks) which causes the one who just got wacked in the ribs or the butt to start kick spinning, etc. etc. It’s like violent dominoes until the entire watering hole disrupts into a kicking mess within minutes. Taking a little snooze in the hammock in the hide all you could hear was kick, thud, splash, bray, kick… an odd noise to nap to.

We were the only “official” guests at the camp that weekend but were joined by the owner of the camp (who Paul has known for years), an ex-girlfriend of the owner (OK…that was interesting) who was visiting with her 3 year old son and his Romanian nanny (they left the 18 month home with yet another nanny), a young zebra researcher just starting his data collection for his dissertation, his girlfriend, and a summer intern there working for 3 months. Saturday night Paul entertains them with his telescope for several hours. We see the rings of Saturn again (stunning!), the bands on Jupiter and her 4 moons, and most amazing, with almost a full moon, are the craters of the moon (including the exact location where the first moon landing was). Between viewings we hovered near the fire pit because it got quite cold (I slept in long johns, gloves and my fleece pants and jacket for most the night). It was also important to stay close to the fire because a pride of about 14 lions lives relatively close to the camp and they were out in full force on Saturday night. At one point we heard the strangest sound that was getting closer and closer to us, growing louder and louder as it came. I was informed that it was a stampeding herd of zebra likely being chased by the lion pride. The lions use the electrified fence (which separates the wild animals from the cattle and goats) as a way to “trap” their prey (they run them into the fence hoping they’ll freeze in their confusion). This particular group decided to stampede at full speed along the fence right up to where the camp is and then take a sharp turn off. It is hard to describe the pounding of feet that approached and then diverted off away from us… almost like a train passing by.

In any case, I know you are all busy. Hope you enjoy the attached pictures (I’ve included one of the toilet as well).
Cheers,
Kristy

PS: Over the last two days we’ve been actively planning for the Senior Director of HIV/AIDS projects at USAID visit on Wednesday. She’ll have several meetings with NGOs and district level coordinators. I’ll tag along for all of them. Perhaps this will turn into some funding for the pilot project we’ve been envisioning (GIS, sociological surveying, data management, program evaluation). It should be interesting! I’m looking forward to it.

Friday, June 27, 2008 – small houses lead to the spread of AIDS
The title of this e-mail, “small houses lead to the spread of AIDS” was written on several billboards in Gabarone, the capital of Botswana, which we saw when we driving up to Maun in early June. For three weeks it has stumped me. What the heck does that mean? Is it some sort of real estate push for larger housing? It’s been total confusion with no resolution in sight.

But finally, at lunch with the USAID Director of AIDS Projects on Wednesday, the mystery was finally solved. Serving as her personal assistant, planning her visit (not sure how I got that job), we spent Wednesday visiting non-profit organizations (NGOs) and other district level health workers discussing the state of HIV/AIDS in the Ngamiland District (where Maun is located, the North West region of Botswana).

In the morning we visited WAR – Women Against Rape and Bana ba Letsatsi (or Children of the Sunshine) a day program for OVCs- orphans and vulnerable children. In the late afternoon we went to two VCTs – voluntary counseling and testing centers where people can go for free HIV tests. The acting DAC – district AIDS coordinator also pulled together a large group of stakeholders for a mid-afternoon 2-hour meeting. Some interesting tidbits of information I picked up include that there are only 3 people assigned to M&E – monitoring and evaluating all of the HIV/AIDS data in the district (which is about 73,000 people). All involved acknowledge that the data is “not good” and that there is a real need for assistance in better evaluating and coordinating a database (which does not exist at this point in time). They have only recently (in May) started DQA – data quality assessments which are verifying their concerns regarding poor quality data.

As you may know, this is particularly relevant to us (Paul, myself, his partner Thoralf and his girlfriend Kelley) as the 4 of us have been trying to find funding to do a pilot project using GIS – geographic information services to map disease patterns, etc. We would also like to incorporate a systematic study of social behaviors (e.g. what is called “concurrent monogamy” or the very common pattern of having a wife and then one or more mistresses that one is expected to “be faithful” to thus reducing the likelihood of condom use, since it would acknowledge the underlying infidelity, but also contributing to the spread of HIV, since most people have multiple partners). This is different from “grazing” outside of marriage (can see the cattle culture influencing that one, huh?).

Our overall goal is better recording and use of data to assess the effectiveness of existing programs. The social data, my focus, will be used to tailor programs to the actual cultural factors in the area that are often ignored (e.g. belief in witch craft and high use of homeopathy in conjunction with ARVs – anti-retrovirals).

Other interesting things I learned include that this region has a hard time getting people to come/stay here. Government sponsored positions (e.g. doctors) are assigned to a place to work (often away from their families). This area is considered undesirable because it is so remote and not near any big cities (like Gabarone…which is an 8 hour drive away). So when people are transferred to the North West district, they simply don’t come. A suggestion was made that workers should be provided with free housing or have some sort of “North West allowance” to entice them to actually come here.

Additionally there are typically shortages of supplies and one doctor commented that, “he doesn’t remember when the last time they had anti-hypertensive in the area” (very basic meds to treat high blood pressure). ARVs – anti-retroviral drugs to treat HIV are more prevalent because of the large influx of money from funders like the Gates Foundations (who has poured in more than $56 million in aid to Botswana).

In any case, it was an informative day and perhaps it will result in some funding for the pilot project we’ve been envisioning. We’ll see. And in terms of the “small houses”, the reference is to extramarital relationships where in the 2nd sexual partner is provided with a smaller house or lesser prestigious car than the primary wife/partner. So the billboards are to discourage extramarital affairs. Mystery solved. Phew…
Kristy

Friday, July 4 – Happy 4th of July
Hope you have fun plans in store for the 4th of July. We in Botswana also celebrated a national holiday this week. July 1 is Sir Seretse Khama Day – the first president of the country after independence (1966). He actually has quite an interesting story. While he was off studying law in London, he fell in love with a white woman, Ruth Williams, whom he eventually married (despite being denied permission by his uncle to marry a white woman). The interracial couple caused quite a stir when he returned to Botswana. After returning to Botswana with his bride, he was tricked into going to London for talks and was then refused permission to return. They lived in exile for 5 years. He was only permitted to return after renouncing his chieftainship and that of his children.

The eldest son of Seretse, Ian Khama has recently assumed power and is really shaking things up here. The Batswana (plural for people of Botswana) are notoriously lazy. I know that sounds awful but they really do lack motivation (not simply in comparison to driven Americans but regionally as well). As an illustration, frequently conversations degrade to mere grunts. The other day I was waiting at a government office to get some paper work filled out. Paul and I had gone several times to try to achieve this since my arrival but had failed. On a couple of occasions the lines were simply too long to wait, as Paul had other more pressing things to do at work. Then, an unannounced campaign got under way to “Bring the Services to the People” and which point all of the government officials were out in the kgotlas (these are open air areas in each of the villages where the local chief distributes justice).

Kgotlas deal mostly with informal or petty matters and the punishment is usually a verbal rebuke or a lashing. That’s right…they actually lash people as a punishment. Anyway, the campaign to bring the services to the people prompted us to spend a couple of days going out into the villages to try to find the government officials with no success. On our last attempt we decided I would just wait in the very long line and then call Paul when I was close to being seen. So there I was the only white person in sight inching my way down the bench toward the official’s office. I was there for over 2 hours (fortunately I had a book) crammed between two “women of abundance” (rather large women revered in Batswana culture) with their hip fat crushing me on both sides.

Anyway…back to the grunting… at one point the government official pops his head out of the office and announces something in Setswana (no need to speak English as I’m sure I was the only one in the place who doesn’t speak Setswana). When he’s finished I lean over to the woman next to me and say, “excuse me, what did he just say?” to which she replies “eeeehhhh.” Supposedly the grunts mean different things but I’ve not been here long enough to know the difference between “eeeeehhh” and “eehhhhhh.” So who knows what he said, we continue to inch our way down the bench.

Back to Ian…there are rumors flying around town about how he is trying to change the attitudes and behaviors of the workers. One story we’ve heard several times has him showing up at a hospital intensive care in the evening one night. Finding the nurse asleep he calls her several times progressively raising his voice, “Dumela Mma” (the greeting one gives to a woman). On the third attempt the nurse wakes up, sees that it is the acting President, and passes out. When she wakes up…he fires her on the spot! All the expats seem quite excited that he might actually whip some people in to shape. The only fear is that he might piss off so many people that he actually won’t get elected (the elections are in January – I’m not sure exactly how this works. He is “acting” as president but the official election doesn’t happen until next year – I don’t get it.).

Well, that’s enough about the Botswana political situation. Enjoy the 4th. Eat some watermelon, potato salad, corn on the cob, etc. for me.
Kristy

PS: I've included a couple of photos from the trip we took to Savute a couple of weeks back. One is of me next to a painting on the side of a rock wall by San Bush men (approximately 5,000 years old) and the other is one of a variety of horn bills who came to join us for breakfast one morning at the campsite (the big guy in the middle is a Bradfield's hornbill and the other smaller ones are red billed hornbills).

Monday, July 07, 2008 – Moremi, mud and more
We had a lovely trip to Moremi this past weekend. This national park encompasses much of the Okavango Delta and this year, Paul said that the flood waters were higher than he’s seen them since the 1980s. This made for some interesting water crossings. One of which Paul stripped to his skivvies to wade through the water to see which route would be the best one to cross (well… he wouldn’t want to get his pants wet would he?). I’ve enclosed a picture of one of the muddier crossings so you can get a sense of what we were facing (see ‘water crossing’). There were many instances where we would drive up to some water and decide it was too “dicey” to continue and we’d have to find another route.

I had my share of driving adventures this trip as well. Attached is a photo of me driving across one of the “bridges.” The term “bridge” seems like a stretch as it is quite literally a bunch of logs put side-by-side to form a bridge (I honestly don’t know how they are attached together but they kind of roll and jiggle when you're on them). As you drive across it makes the strangest sound as water sloshes up under the logs and there is a bit of a “clap, clap, clap,” as the logs clank together as your tires go over them. Bucking and bumping the whole time trying not to think about the sign warning “DANGER: No swimming, crocodiles” near the start of the bridge (I find myself holding my breath thinking, “please don’t let me fall in!”…see ‘scary bridge’).

But most of my driving involved truddling along on dirt tracks fearing an elephant encounter (I think I’m suffering from a bit of “post traumatic elephant charge syndrome”…I worry that my successful backwards escape a few weeks ago was just a fluke!). Fortunately, no ellie charges this time but I did have to slam on the breaks once as a puff adder entered the spoor (dirt track). To which Paul quickly popped out of the car (despite my pleas to the contrary) to take a picture of him (see ‘Paul’s puff adder’ photo). You’ll notice the shadow in the lower right hand corner of the photo…that’s from Paul’s head!!! FYI – puff adders are one of the deadliest snakes in Africa. Typically they leave a fat ‘s’-shaped pattern in the sand but this one was going straight forward in all his muscular girth (he’s pretty fat, isn’t he?).

We also saw wonderful bird life. A huge flock of yellow billed pelicans was especially stunning (I’ll send a photo in a second email so as not to get his one caught in your spam filter). The abundant water brought in lots of crocodiles and hippos as well (see ‘grass munching hippo’ too – he was HUGE and just munching away like an Okavango lawn mower. Notice the ox peckers on him – the little birds on his back who clean out his wounds…he must have been in a good fight recently because he had lots of cuts on his butt).

It was a lovely weekend and it’s amazing how being away for only a couple of days can feel like a very long time when you’re out in the bush. Hope you all had a nice long 4th of July weekend as well.
Kristy

PS: Spent one very long Saturday night having to pee but too afraid to go outside. That night, we heard many lions roaring and hyena laughing and I swear I heard “sniffing” by the side of the tent about the time I really needed a toilet break. Paul, as usual, slept through the whole thing (he sleeps like a baby in the bush)… but when we woke up in the morning there was proof positive that we did have a pack of hyena visitors that night…there were hyena spoor everywhere! Glad I held it until the sun came up!

July 7, 2008 – pink pelicans and a hungry hungry hippo
As promised here are a couple more photos from Moremi. The pelicans are a bit "pink" because it is breeding season. The "grass munching hippo" is a photo of the big guy when he actually figured out we had stopped the car about 15 feet away from him to watch him eat. I don't think he even knew we were there with all his sloppy sloshing and chewing. Munch, munch, munch...guess he was a "hungry, hungry, hippo" (remember that game??).
Kristy

July 14, 2008 – star show at Nxai Pan
Just returned from a nice weekend in Nxai Pan (don’t forget to click your tongue at the X). Paul had a star show on Friday night so we headed out in the afternoon and arrived in time for a beautiful sunset (see ‘Nxai Pan sunset’). The show was for two clients who were staying at Audi Camp (the camp/lodge that Paul used to co-own) and had come out for a couple days. Amazingly the guy had actually been out to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve with Paul in 1997 when he was a student with SIT (School for International Training). Paul used to coordinate many of the travel experiences for SIT back when he owned Audi. The guy was back in the country to attend a wedding and wanted to show his wife the areas he had traveled in when he was studying abroad. He even had his journal from 1997 with him and read to us some of his observations from that trip. Small world, huh?

The wild life in this area is limited this time of the year because it is the dry season and most of the game has moved out into other areas closer to the delta where there is more water. The park does pump water into some watering holes and we saw springbok, gemsbok and a nice flock of ostrich (see ‘ostrich and springbok’ photo). Most watering holes, however, are completely dried up. The clay gets so dry it actually cracks into blocks as hard as cement (see ‘Kristy on crusty land’ photo). Watering holes are dry, grasses are brown and there is a tremendous solitude to the entire area.

Fortunately, the weather was MUCH warmer than what we had a couple of weeks ago for the last star show when it was below freezing at night and I froze!! This, unfortunately, meant that the star viewing was less clear this time as the cold air keeps the dust down and makes for clear skies at night. We did see Jupiter and her moons (what the bushmen refer to as “the mother and the 4 babies” as they can see the moons with their naked eye), Saturn, and Mars.

Hope you all had an enjoyable weekend. The summer is going much too fast and I only have two weeks left in Botswana before I depart. Sob! We’ve decided given the cost of fuel it makes more sense for me to fly to Johannesburg instead of drive. So I purchased my Air Botswana ticket today. Let’s hope all goes as planned on the 29th as I fly from Maun to Gabarone to Johannesburg to DC to Hartford. Don’t any of you mention my travel luck!!!!
More soon.
Kristy

PS: I’ve included a picture of Paul and his telescope. He traveled with that thing on a plane from the states. As a minimalist traveler I think that’s… Crazy!

Friday, July 18 – monna wa me
Well, I’ve got some exciting news to share with you. Today, Paul and I got married. I’ll recount the complexity of achieving this task in Botswana below but for those of you who don’t have time to read it all, I just wanted to tell you the good news.

Getting married in Botswana is not particularly easy. We’ve been investigating this for months to try to make the appropriate arrangements. The preparations began by securing copies of each of our divorce decrees. Not a problem for me, but an interesting dilemma for Paul as he was married (and divorced) in Denmark. While contacting his ex-wife was not a problem (they are on good terms) translating the document from Danish into English required a little extra effort.

Then after multiple calls we discovered that, since Paul wasn’t married in the US but is a US citizen, he had to get “proof” from the US Embassy in Gabarone that he had never been married in the States. How does one prove they have never been married? Well, all it takes if $50 and a signed document that says “I’ve never been married” once it’s notarized by an Embassy official, it’s real!! We had to doctor the document a bit in that it stated, “I, Paul Sheller, residing in the state of Botswana” (not exactly part of the United States). We just crossed things out that didn’t make sense and got it notarized. We got those documents when we drove up from Joburg to Maun back in early June.

Next, one must “post” their intention to marry for three weeks in the government offices. My story about waiting on the long bench being squished by locals, the only white girl in sight was the final resolution of that step. What I failed to mention is that we had gone a half dozen times previously. Once to find a line so long we didn’t wait. Another time to arrive before the offices open at 7:30 AM to wait in a shorter line only to find that we were in the wrong place (at the wrong office). Then the services went “out to the people” and we chased officials around to a couple of different kgotla’s with no luck. And then finally, deciding to leave me there to wait.

When we finally got into the office we learned that we had to have our witnesses there with us to sign the petition for marriage. Ugh! I almost cried. I had spent the last several hours being squished and I still wasn’t going to get to sign the petition. So Paul smooth talked “Baldwin” (yes, that is the Motswana’s name) to let us come back right before lunch with our witnesses to fill out the paperwork. He agreed and Paul’s business partner, Thoralf, and his American girlfriend Kelley agreed to serve as our witnesses. The form, that had been the bane of my existence for several weeks, was a simple sheet of paper with our names, occupations, time in the country and ages (Baldwin gawked at my passport when he saw the year I was born saying he assumed that I was born in the 1980s!! Funny how, if I had been born in the 1980s, the age gap between Paul and I at that point would have been obscene but THAT didn’t make him gawk!). With the form signed, we then wait our three weeks. I have NO idea what happens to the form during those three weeks. I think it might be an opportunity for someone to object but I have no idea where it is actually posted.

In the meantime we had to try to find rings (a harder task than one might imagine in Maun). Paul had spoken to a friend of his that makes jewelry several months back but had not been able to organize the actual making of the rings. The fact that this is not Paul’s fault became abundantly clear when we met the guy at a bar a couple of weeks back. I tried to have a conversation with him about what we needed and when we needed it but he was so shnockered that I’m sure he didn’t remember a bit of the conversation even a half hour later. Supposedly he is quite talented and does nice jewelry with bushman basket weaves on them but he’s a drunk which complicates things. In the short term, we’ve had to settle for plain silver rings (and even this was a task…not too many choices of jewelers here).

Yesterday, the day before the wedding, we are instructed to show up at the same office we filled the initial petition out in at 7:30 AM (with our witnesses… you need good friends for this task) to turn in our paper work and sign the documents. We arrive early at 7:25 AM go up to the office and there are already 14 ahead of us in line (the office isn’t even open yet). But it is shorter than the last time I waited, so we wait. Several minutes later there is a flurry of activity and people start pouring in. Lots of them…many of the women are dressed with bright colored shawls – yellow, pink, orange. They all line up against the other brick wall (perpendicular to us). We’re not really sure what is happening. Paul goes to ask one of the workers and we are informed that there are, in fact, two lines – one for Omang (like Social Security) and one for marriages. Sadly, we are in the wrong line and the other one is about 30 people deep by now. Crap!

Paul goes to speak to the worker and explains we were there before all the others but didn’t realize there would be 2 lines (as there was only one line when we arrived). He say OK, calls us down to another office, takes my passport number (which was inadvertently left off the form when they filled out the paper work 3 weeks ago) and then tells us to wait there and he will call us when they get started (we are first in line). So we wait…and wait…at about 9:30 AM (2 hours later!) we still have not been called so Paul goes to investigate. He speaks to the people in the office who acknowledge that they “forgot to call us” and have processed just the first couple in the other line and we would be next.

So around 10 AM, Paul waves me, Kelley and Thoralf up from the back of the lines to the front where we are expected to go in next. As we make our way up to the front of the line, the crowd starts to get agitated. I’m not too bothered by this as I’ve gotten kind of used to people staring at me (I stick out like a sore thumb) and they are talking in Setswana so I don’t really know what they’re saying anyway. But when we get there, they start insisting (in English) that they were there before us. Three separate women actually insist that they were all sitting right at the end of the bench before 7:30 (which means they must have been sitting on each other’s lap). They laugh as we point this out to them (indicating that they know this is a lie). When we try to go into the office next they all rush in with us and take the four seats in front of the desk and fill the room (probably 15-20 people total now crammed in this tiny office). There is shouting and yelling, mostly in Setswana, I occasionally hear the word for white people “lekgoa” (pronounced lakowa) and the term “back lash” uttered in English. They are clearly pissed and insisting that they were there before us (which is not true).

Unfortunately, this degenerates into a racist incident and Paul explains, after the fact, that they are making a big stink about serving the white people before the native Batswana. In the mean time the guy with a white hat we were behind in line comes in the office to deal with his Omang card issues and I say, “He was in front of us in the Omang line. He can tell you that there was no separate marriage line when we arrived.” The workers know we are right, the guy with the white hat knows we are right, but no one will stand up to the angry crowd. This goes on for what seems like an eternity. All of our paper work could have been completed by now if they would just fill out the forms instead of debating who is next.

In utter frustration we accept being assigned #6 in the line (an arbitrary setting prompted by the fact that angry couples # 3, 4, and 5 barged into the office with us). Thoralf dials in the reinforcements (Paul’s two black Batswana office workers) who arrive to try to help us maintain our #6 position since we are not convinced that when we go back out into the hall that we won’t be pushed even farther back into the line. Now there is a real scene, all eyes are on us, the “lekgoa line jumpers.” The hostility is palpable. I burst into tears!

Four hours after we arrive we finally execute the documents we need. It takes all of 10 minutes and costs 40 Pula (about 7 dollars). We are instructed to arrive before 7 AM at the main kgotla Friday morning (see “kgotla” photo). The District Commissioner has a meeting at 8 AM and all these weddings will somehow be performed before then.

We drive to the kgotla this morning with the moon still in the sky. It is bloody cold, but thankfully I had the brilliant idea to wear my long johns under my skirt this morning (an old trick from my Vermont days). The place is packed when we arrive at 6:40 AM. We are the only white people there (5 of us including “Mr. Mike” Paul’s long time friend). On the instructions of a friend of Paul’s (a black woman who used to be a renter in his office block), two men in the front room grudgingly eke down about 6 inches to let us sit on a bench (see “squished on the bench”). Fortunately, due to my extensive hours of bench waiting I know how to use hip fat to make more room, so eventually we both are solidly seated. The District Commissioner (DC) arrives at 7 AM and is overwhelmed by the number of couples there to be married (probably a dozen).

He begins by calling out all the names of couples there to be married. We are not listed. Paul raises his hand to say we were not called and I figure I am going to be writing a pen pal journal to you all called “how I ALMOST got married in Botswana.” The DC says, “Maybe you aren’t supposed to be here today.” Fortunately, given the near riot we almost caused yesterday, people remember us and one of them next to me is kind enough to say that we were in fact waiting with everyone yesterday. I produce my receipt for the 40 pula fee and he shuffles some more paper and finds ours.

The DC explains things in Setswana to the group and finally announces to us in English that because he needs to leave soon he will not be able to do the ceremony in multiple languages or it would take until noon. He then continues in English (which would be the common language) to which the crowd objects, and hoping to avoid another riot I tell Paul to tell the DC, in Setswana that he should continue in Setswana. He does but occasionally stops to explain pertinent things to us in English.

One of my favorite pieces of information was his explanation to me that, it is tradition in Botswana for the woman to not question her husband regarding where he was if he returns home early in the morning (recall the “small houses” explanation about concurrent relationships I mentioned before). He continues by telling me I should simply ask him if “he has been out defending and providing for the family?” He asks “do I understand?” to which I reply “yes” (fortunately, he didn’t ask “do you agree?”). All the while I’m thinking this is going to be such a great story for my Sociology of Gender class this fall.

When our turn comes, we stand and profess that we have been married before but that has been dissolved and we see no legal reason why we can’t be married now “please God bless me” (for some reason that was tagged on the end). The DC makes sure to tell Paul before he says his oath that lying in a kgotla is punishable by 2 years in prison. Good to know. We both profess this, then our witnesses profess the same and we all sit back down (I’m thinking is this done? Are we married?). The ceremony concludes with the exchanging of rings (which we didn’t expect because half of the couples were dismissed about mid-way through the ceremony to free up space for the second round of us and they did no ring exchange). We are asked by the DC to go first and instructed to say sweet things to each other about why we chose to put the ring on this person’s finger. He continues by going into great detail about how we can finish the interchange but instructed us to remember that the kgotla is a sacred place and that we shouldn’t do it in such a way “like they do in France” (see photo “ring exchange”). When we kiss the entire kgotla breaks out into traditional ululation (a high pitched war cry made from flailing one’s tongue back and forth in their mouth).

After the ceremony we go next to the office block to celebrate by drinking champagne and eating the best chocolate cake at 9 AM. Now that’s a way to start a marriage…cake for breakfast. Sounds like paradise to me!!

We’re going to head off tomorrow for a quick honey moon up to Tsodilo Hills (bushman paintings…where Paul will take me to see the “Valley of the Dancing Penises”???), Seronga and Sepupa area (the Northern part of the Okavango delta). Monday and Tuesday are public holidays so we’ll go for a nice long weekend.

As to the title of the e-mail, “monna wa me,” it’s the Setswana way of saying “husband” which means literally “man of mine.”

Off to honey moon,
Kristy

PS: I’ve included one final photo called “wedding photo” it’s a bit squiff but I think captures the off kilter nature of the entire thing.

Monday, July 28, 2008 – Tsodilo Hills
Hi everyone,
Thank you all for your notes of congratulations on our marriage. I wish I had had time to write back to all of you personally, but once we returned from the honeymoon, with only a few days left and over a 125 applicants to review for the conference coming up in Boston, Paul’s end of the year accounts to resolve, and a former student visiting over the weekend…the time has flown and now it’s the day before I head back to the states…how did that happen?

Our quick honeymoon jaunt to the north western region of Botswana was fascinating. We spend the first two nights up at Tsodilo Hills. This is an area with over 4500 bushmen paintings on three rock formations (small mountains) – the male hill, female hill and the child (there is a fourth hill sometimes referred to as the grand child, sometimes as the second wife). We did the Rhino trail in the morning. Some of our favorite paintings include the 2 rhinos, small zebra and the van der Post panel made famous by the writer who describes it in his written work – “Lost World of the Kalahari” (see “van der Post panel” photo – note the hand prints at the bottom…one of the features that makes it unique). We made our way over to the Lion trail just to be sure to see the “valley of the dancing penises” (couldn’t miss that one on our honeymoon, right? See “dancing penises” photo. I was going to call this e-mail that but figured it would get blocked in your spam). I really like that one as it appears to have a female painting on the top of it running for her life!!

After hiking from about 10 AM to 3 PM, we stopped to eat some lunch and then at 3:45 my husband says, “Let’s go to the summit of the male hill” (how old is this guy anyway?? I was ready for a nap!). So we climbed up and down the highest peak in Botswana before the sunset. I’m always a bit shocked at what passes for a hiking trail here. They are often marked by only a pile of rocks and typically require that one climbs, hand over hand up sliding rock faces. It’s tricky and the way down even more so as the rocks slide around and it’s easy to twist an ankle or cause a rock slide. It was a beautiful view from the top (see the photo called “summit” and notice the road in the back ground).

More on the second leg of the trip to follow.
Kristy

July 28, 2008 – Cujo of Seronga
Honeymoon continued….
At Tsodilo Hills we stayed in a lovely secluded campsite behind the female hill for two nights and then headed further north to cross over the Okavango delta to the eastern side of it (we were minutes from the Namibian border from here). The “crossing” consists of a “ferry” which is literally a barge-like vessel with two giant out board motors that fits about 3 cars on it. It just crosses back and forth during daylight hours (see “ferry crossing” photo). Can you spot me in there? Don't I blend with the natives??

From here we went to Seronga to visit some of Paul’s friends, Willy and Anne. The drive down gives you a sense of the remoteness of the area. The road is calcrete (not tarred) and you pass many small villages along with way (see “local village” photo). Children come running out yelling “lekgoa” since white people are so rare on this side of the delta. I came to feel like they were yelling out “the queen!” as I waved out the window as we passed by.

Our visit with Anne and Willy is hard to describe… we were warned ahead of time to not come in the yard without calling them since they have 4 dogs that have been known to bite people who come in unannounced. OK, that doesn’t sound too out of the ordinary. But, in fact, entrance into the yard requires an armed escort by both of them with shamboks (a large whip type object made from a giraffe’s tail wrapped in leather). As we walk the dogs snip at us, barking, and gnarling of teeth (one snuck in a quick bite to my butt before Willy got behind me!)! Yikes! It was stressful. Once we’re in the kitchen things settle down a little (at least the dogs do…but there are chickens walking in and out, clucking like crazy, nesting in soda case flats with hay in them on the kitchen floor). The table is scattered with an assortment of stuff: stems from half eaten peppers, a level, a few dirty glasses, some paperwork, a cat… Every once in a while a dog gnarls his teeth at another dog and a scuffle occurs, sometimes in my lap.

We camp on their front lawn for the night. Anne and Willy guard us as we set up the tent. We are escorted to the tent for the evening and cautioned not to leave in the morning without calling them for an escort back to the house. They’ll be no midnight toilet break tonight. I’m more worried about the crazed dogs than I am usually about hyena, elephants, or lions. Before dawn cracks there are roosters crowing. The dogs come out and one growls through the side of the tent. We play dead and hope they don’t charge at us through the tent. One pees on the tent. Finally, Anne comes out to escort us to the house. Willy left at 5 AM to head to Maun for a meeting (he is the representative of the area in council – an elected public official). We make it to the house but the dogs act as is they’ve never seen us before (they had their heads in our laps the night before!). We make it safely to the kitchen but, unfortunately, the generator keeps cutting out so we have intermittent power to the house (also meaning the pump for the toilet isn’t working so there’s no water).

Unfortunately, when Paul returns from trying to work on the generator, he trips on an in the ground sprinkler and the dogs go for him. He is about 10 feet from the kitchen door and I am standing there watching him being eaten by the pack. Anne and one of her workers are beating the hell out of the dogs but by the time he makes it to the kitchen his pants are shredded and he is bleeding. Poor Paul describes my eyes as “big as saucers” and says I am “whiter than he’s ever seen me.” All I can think is…I’ve only been married for 3 days and my husband has been eaten by dogs! Fortunately the wounds aren’t too bad (don’t require stitches, which is good because there are NO doctors on this side of the delta), and after we clean up the blood and spilled milk from the cat running across the table, I realize he might actually live!

When we depart it is like a scene from the movie Cujo. You remember that Stephen King movie from the 1980s (if not see this youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyUXhUAbq3U&feature=related). Anyway…our escape was similar to this…we literally had to run from the kitchen to the car. I went in through the driver’s side and climbed over to the passenger side. NUTS!

Once we escaped the insanity we went down to visit the polers’ community trust that Paul had helped establish about ten years ago. Polers are the guys that propel mokoro boats through the delta. Mokoros are wooden dug out canoes (you can see me getting into one in the “mokoro” photo). One of the polers, G.B., is so excited to see Paul he leaps in his arms to hug him…a full fledge 4 limb embrace (no, I’m not kidding!). We go out for a little ride in one of the mokoros. It is very peaceful once you can get over the fact that you are sitting about 6 inches off the water that likely has crocodiles, hippos and other deadly creatures in it. We see a herd of elephants not too far off and I try not to imagine what a charge would look like in this vehicle. Once you release the fear it is quite enjoyable.

After meeting Anne for a picnic lunch on her boat and a ride up the delta (we were not going back into the yard with the dogs) we head back up the long road to the ferry. We saw some good size crocs making their way into the water as we pass by and a very fast monitor lizard making a run for it. Passing on the offer to have one more night in Cujo-ville (we are still nursing the dog mouth shaped wound on the back of Paul’s calf) we cross the delta and stay at Drotsky’s cabins sneaking in another half day of honeymoon on Wednesday. We have a lovely dinner overlooking the delta and stay in a nice A-framed thatch roof chalet. The only creatures outside are vervet monkeys (and they don’t seem to be on the attack).

Since then it’s been busy busy and now it is almost time to head back to reality. I take off tomorrow morning for the long trek home. Hold thumbs (that’s the African equivalent to “cross your fingers”) that I make all my connecting flights.
I’ll let you know when I make it home safely.
Kristy

PS: All of this adventure travel would be much more relaxing if I hadn’t watched so many episodes of “I Shouldn’t Be Alive” on Discovery Channel. There are times where I hear in my head the announcer describing the scenario I’m entering (“there they were, on their honeymoon, embarking on a peaceful mokoro ride in the Okavango Delta when all of a sudden…”)

July 31, 2008 – 37 hours later
Well, I wanted to let you know that after 37 hours of traveling I arrived safely at my sister's house yesterday afternoon. No major travel woo's. The Air Botswana flights were on time and I arrived early to Johannesburg (around 3 PM) for what was suppose to be a 6 PM departure. Unfortunately, the plane in from the States was delayed on its arrival so we did not depart until 8 PM, putting us 2 hours behind and not likely to make my connecting flight out of DC. In addition to that, our lay over in Dakar, Senegal (for refueling and security check) that was suppose to take one hour took two because the electrical system failed so we sat at the gate roasting while they tried to fix it.

I was lucky on the first leg of the trip with the seat next to me open, allowing me to curl up in a little ball and sleep a bit. But in Dakar we were joined by the Senegalese Professional Basketball time (under 20) headed to Portland for a world championship so I had a seven foot tall Africa with no sense of personal space for the last 9 hours. His gangly knee invaded about a third of my leg space and when he woke up and started playing video games with his elbows jabbing into my rib cage...I was ready for that leg of the trip to end.

As expected we missed our connectors arriving in DC 3 hours later than expected. Fortunately I could get on another flight from DC at 12:30 pm but this meant my sister had to miss an afternoon meeting/training session to pick me up around 2 pm. Sadly, my bag went missing but I wasn't too panicked as I had cleared customs with it in DC. For dinner I had sushi (desperately missed after 2 months) and managed to stay awake until 9 PM trying to get my time clock on the right schedule as quickly as possible. Some time in the middle of the night my bag arrived and was on the door step when we woke up this morning.

Anyway, thanks for joining in my summer African adventure. Hope you've enjoyed it even half as much as I have. I've got the sociology conference this weekend in Boston, then my parents come in from Florida and we'll be off to visit my brother on Martha's Vineyard, and down to see my niece who is spending the summer in New Port, Rhode Island. If all goes as planned I'll sneak off to Connecticut to see some friends for a few days and then on the 15th I head to Copenhagen for Paul's son's (my step son's!!!!) wedding. I'll be back to Greenville around the 24th with classes to start the 27. August will be a busy one.
Enjoy the rest of your summer.
Kristy