WAR donations, wet riverbed and our daily routine

I spent the last week washing up all of the clothes my study away students left behind from our spring trip for donations to a local women’s shelter sponsored by WAR – Women Against Rape. http://www.womenagainstrape.co.bw/ I hadn’t realized how much there was until it took me a week to wash and hang out to dry all the clothes (we have a washing machine but no dryer). The organization was very happy to receive all the donations (which also included plenty of sun screen and bug spray!).

The biggest news last week was that a river, the Boranyani, that has been dry for at least the last 20 years was filling with water. That’s right, big news in Maun, a river bed…has water in it! People lined the streets looking at the flood water coming in. Each day when we drive by there are cars pulled off the side of the road to see and people peering over the guard rails.

Our daily lives have fallen into a nice routine. Our morning begins with about 45 minutes of weight lifting. We have three different workouts that we rotate through in our desperate attempt to get in shape. Study away didn’t do much for my fitness level. While we did hike a few times (See the picture of me hiking at Giant’s Castle in South Africa), there were too many ice cream options for dessert and not enough aerobic activity. I’m struggling to get back into shape. I added in jump robbing last week, which I suffer through (not silently). So far the cheese and wine at sundowners are winning!

I’m reading about four books currently, two for school and two for fun. For fun, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is keeping me agitated with American politics and Blinding Light by Paul Theroux is expanding my mind (thanks for the loan Mike!). For school, Intern: A Doctor’s Initiation is for my medical sociology course in the fall and Who Cares about AIDS in Africa for next year’s study away in the Spring.

Compared to my past visits I’m being relatively “super brave” when it comes to making my way around town. With our little Subaru Forrester (her name is “Zwu Zwu”) I zip around to the grocery store, to get phone time, etc. Groceries are surprisingly expensive here (comparable to Greenville) and you have to be particularly careful not to accidently buy your favorite product from home, without checking the price. Today when I was in Spar I saw Campbell’s soup and thought yum Campbell’s Tomato Soup, until I did the pula to dollar conversion and realized it was over $4 for the can! Crazy! Also, you may not know that all cell phones here are “pay as you go.” So we are constantly shooting out to buy time on “Orange” (the cell network) so we have cell minutes. Also, noteworthy is that if someone calls your cell it does not eat up your minutes. Only the caller uses minutes. Interesting, huh?

I know many of you will be surprised to learn that I am trying to build my repertoire of edible meals that I can cook. As many of you know, somehow I have managed to make it to this ripe old age without cooking much. That is possible when you live with people that cook (thanks Karen!) or have friends that feed you occasionally (thanks Kathy and Martha!) or live near easily accessible yummy takeout food (I miss Thai Coon lots!). But here in Botswana, as Paul says I have to become a “generalist” not just a “specialist” (Paul has a theory that Americans are specialists, while Africans are generalists. I think he might be right). One of my best efforts so far has been chicken Florentine (we were given fresh spinach from a friend’s garden) and last night was chicken Masala with spices we got from our trip to Zanzibar. Yummy! Here’s a picture of me shopping for spices in Zanzibar. Today for lunch I've made a rice salad with chicken, pineapple, peaches, mayo, chutney and curry powder. It's pretty good. I’m still slightly shocked when I make something that is edible.

Monday nights are my favorite nights for TV as I do a multi-hour marathon beginning with “Lost” (although we’re pretty lost because we missed a few episodes), “House” (surly sleuthing doctor, who could resist), and “Sopranos” (Kelley - all I can think of is our multi-day Christmas marathon several years back!). It’s pretty decadent as I sit there curled up on our couch, wrapped in a fuzzy blanket, neighbor’s dog (Taffy) at my side…for hours! Given I watch almost no TV in the States, I guess being a Monday night couch potato won’t kill me.

Paul is doing well but is crazy busy at work. Perhaps juggling three companies is a bit too much (safari, mapping, and internet companies)?! He is desperately trying to find a book keeper. Started someone a couple of weeks ago that lasted one week, then a new one last week, who hasn’t been back since Thursday (claims to be in tomorrow). If I was a better person I would just learn Quickbooks and do it for him but since I’m only here 3-4 months of the year, he would be stuck doing it most of the time anyway. For those of you who have asked, his jaw, which was strained from his root canal in April, is finally back to normal and he has moved beyond his “flat food” diet to normal size food.

Friday we head off to Nxai Pan for a Star Show. Saturday is our anniversary! Can’t believe a year has gone by since our kgotla experience. Time flies when you’re having fun!