First Full Week

Hey Friends,

So it was my first official FULL week of work including a Teen Club event on Saturday here in Gaborone. Overall, I have to say I am really enjoying myself here in Bots. I am up early every morning for work and that has transfered over to my days off where I cannot sleep past 9 am. Its actually not that bad, in fact it is quite amazing to see how long the day feels when you are up that early. haha. Also, this week I started running and workingout (told you I would Heather!). The plan for now is running 3 times a week at a track that is walking distance to my house and then situps, pushups and all that fun stuff in between. I am also going to check out the gym thats not that far from my place, because apparently they have a full sized outdoor pool, which in this heat would be awesome.

As for the weather it has been hot, but that has also meant some intense, INTENSE! thunderstorms. While I have seen some crazy storms before the sound of the thunder was as if the sky was ripping open. It was crazy, yet awesome. Maggali one of my roommates who also works across the street from me have been going out for lunch occassionally trying some of the different places to eat around here. So far we are impressed with the local food at the Main Mall, which is dirt cheap and you can fill your container quite full. The food mainly consists of rice, pap, stewed chicken or beef, fried chicken of beef, coleslaw, beets and cabbage and this thing called chakalaka...which I cant really explain but it tastes great mix of a bunch of stuff (beans, cabbage, carrots). Anyway its good. Still on the topic of food, me and the roomies have been cooking almost everynight barring we have power (it has been cutting out a lot the last week). We cook up pretty decent meals and its great.

Moving on...Some of you have asked me to put some pictures up of my house so here are some of them....I really havent taken enough pictures here yet, but its hard to remember when its just everyday life. However, I promise to post somepictures on Facebook, once I have enough pictures worthy of an album








Moving on...so besides working this week I also was at work on Saturday for my first Teen Club event...(if you dont remember what that is check out the links ------>)

The teens were split by age and I was with the younger group at the sports field. While waiting for the balls to show up the volunteers decided to play Red Rover with about 80 teens. It turned out really well and there were luckily no accidents. As I remember from when I was younger Red Rover had a tendency to turn ugly. After that it was free sports play. Tennis, Badminton, Volleyball and Football (soccer). I am still awful at volleyball but really enjoy it hahah. Luckily for us it was overcast which kept the weather cool and it didnt rain. Yet, somehow I still got a little bit of a sunburn. Nonetheless, the day was a success and you can read more about it on the Teen Club blog again over there ----->

After that we went to a BBQ (Brai) at our new friends from the German development agencies. Grilled some steaks, hamburgers...(I still cant get over how good the beef is and how cheap) Anyway, we had some great food (notice a theme) and swam in the pool.

On Sunday, I was up at 9am and some volunteers from Mochudi and Jwaneng came back for the weekend to be back in the city. After some French Toast and a trip to the grocery store we were off to the Botswana Premier League. Mochudi vs Gaborone. Sarah's friends from Mochudi got us tickets so we sat on the Mochudi side, which worked out best since they won 3-2 after being down 0-2. It was fun, not the greatest level of soccer, but everyone seemed really into it and it was 25 pula so you cant go wrong.

So that basically sums up the week and a bit since I last wrote. As of now some volunteers are heading to Chobe and Vic Falls next week, I have decided to pass, because thats where I hope to go when Johnny comes and visits!!! So he BETTER COME!! I am also looking forward to visiting some of the other Teen Club Satellite Locations and see some other parts of the country, because you can get far too comfortable in the luxuries of Gaborone.

So thats about it for now, I am sure I am forgetting something but....hope everyone is doing well.