2 days later...

Dumela! (setswana greeting)

Hello everyone,

So I finally made it to Gaborone and I have to say its surreal. After two days of relatively smooth traveling, despite having to take 4 flghts, there were no serious delays and all my luggage made it to Gabs even though I came a few hours late.

I arrived early morning on Wednesday and it hadnt really hit me until I saw the trees from the airplane and all the memories came back of first landing into Tanzania a few years ago. The airport in Gab was the smallest thing ever, but they were building a new terminal, which looked like it was a chinese company that had the contract, because all the construction workers were Chinese.

The weather here is hot, as expected but its a nice and dry heat, not crazy humid like Dar. Me and another intern who arrived at the same time were taken to our house, which is SO NICE. Its a 3 bedroom house, Air conditioned, full kitchen, two bathrooms (HOT WATER!!!), living room/dining room, front and back yard. Right now there are 10 of us in the house, but next week there will only be three as the others will be heading out to their placements throughout the country. It is a little weird living in a house with an electronic gate and brick wall, alarm system and electric fencing along the tops of the walls. All the houses in my neighbourhood have it, despite the fact that its a really safe neighbourhood, but its just standard with nicer housing in the city. Met with the other interns, began training and went to an awesome Indian restaurant buffet for lunch, which I am sure I will be visiting often.

So basically, as I am writing this I am struggling with how different it is here than Dar. Every car on the road is a luxury sedan or suv. Range rovers, BMW's, Mercedes its crazy! Your allowed to drink the tap water and it tastes well. I live walking distance to work, which I will start next week. The WUSC head office is also just around the corner, where there is internet access.

That being said there are definite similarities. The Cobi's (mini buses) are just like TZ Daladala's, except they only allow one person per seat and no one is allowed to stand (kind of nice). The bus routes are kind of confusing right now, but I am sure I will pick it up in a few weeks. There are also tons of fruit stands, pop stands and things being sold along the road, but Botswana love their malls or shopping centres.

I just quickly stopped by my work yesterday and the centre looks amazing. Really new since it just opened in 2002. So I am excited to start. I am going to get a cell phone today and will be sharing the number for whoever wants it. TEXT ME!!! Also, I get free incoming, so grab a calling card once and a while!

I have already found an expat bar in the guide book that had satellite TV that plays sports, so I will be there for two weeks straight during the Olympics Im sure. Go Canada Go!!!

Anyways, thats all I can think of right now, I am sure I am missing some things, but I will try to update this as much as possible, as long as I have something interesting to say. A few more days of training until Wednesday then I wiill be on a regular schedule. So hope everyone is doing well, enjoy the cold! hahah

talk to you soon.

Pavlo