Arriving in Botswana!!

I had a relaxing morning...ate some Jungle Oats (like Quaker Oats) and just talked a bit with Lenie and then was driven back to the airport by Mike. 

[time elapsed for the plane ride on South African Airways]

*I am in Botswana!! When the plane touched down, “Home!” resonated in my mind. I was ushered in with a huge thunderstorm that soaked me as we carted my stuff to the car from the airport. It has been raining, sometimes downpouring, all night. My six housemates in Mochudi are very kind and friendly – Corine (early 30s) and Simone (21 years) from Holland; Sara (20), Kyra (19), and Patricia (20) from Germany; and Clive (18) from England. Well, Clive, the only man amongst us, actually has his own personal little house on the same property with a bedroom and a bathroom. So he hangs out in the house with us during the evenings and retreats there to sleep. All but Corine and me are short-termers, meaning less than a year. We spent an interesting time together trying to string up my mosquito net over my bed. I have my own huge room that used to be the dining room. It has two beds in it, so I surmise that when the other American, Katie, arrives in a month she will chill in here with me until one of the Germans leaves in May and we can all have our own rooms again. It is tile/linoleum floors with only the two beds in it at all. So pretty bare as yet.


So what is our house like? I know not everyone understands what Africa is like so I’ll do my best to describe it (and it obviously varies from place to place, even here in Mochudi). Well, it’s not a hut. It is a brick/stone/mortar house with probably 12 foot ceilings. It has a kitchen with the normal amenities (running water, stove, 2 fridges, microwave, toaster, etc). There’s even a washer for clothes in there too (we hang dry them in the sun).

The living room and one bedroom are the only rooms with carpet. Unlike most living rooms in America, it lacks a TV (which is fine by me!). It has two bathrooms with flushing toilets and full tubs (with a detachable thing to “shower,” though nowhere to hook it up high, no shower curtain…so I’m not sure how that will work. I’ll find out in the morning). We have to turn on a heater to heat the water if we don’t want a cold shower. It takes 30 minutes in the summer and up to 1.5 hours in the winter to heat the water to have a warm shower. We can drink the water from the tap here. (Botswana water is safe everywhere…we filled our water bottles from the village spigots in the rural villages on my last trip).

We each take turns cooking the meal for everyone. God help us when it reaches my turn!! Tonight I ate macaroni and cheese with bacon and eggs. Not as weird as feared! Really good in fact, prepared by one of the German girls. Let’s see…we have no internet at the house. We have a huge yard of red dirt enclosed in by a wall about 4-5 feet high with artistic carving of the brick along the top. No A/C or heat so now it’s toasty and in the winter when it gets near freezing at night, twill be chilled indeed.  Getting used to the heat here!  Quite a difference from the snowy winter I left behind in Michigan/Minnesota! 

blessings from Botswana!
~Em