Joburg, Moyo

We had an expat trip planned to go to Jo'burg and visist the dimond mine. I arrived early friday morning so I could do interviews in the lab there. The rest of the group arrived after work on Friday night. Dave, Ewetse and Israel came to the airport with me to get the rental car and pick up everyone. There was some kind of fire at the airport and the parking structure with the rental cars was all black, the power was out. Same as in the airport. All the rental company outlets were out of power also. I still was able to get the car and we went to park it by DAve's car while the others were waiting for them to arrive. The finally arrived and it was to the Razzel to pick the others up before we went to eat at Moyo in Melrose Arch. I went there last year with Liliana and Maryellen and wanted to go back. We all had a great time. We got our faces painted and had springbok shots(Amarula and creme de mint). For dinner I had impala wrapped chicken. It was delicious. We had dessert so I wasn't able to go get my yogurt. The desert was good but not as good as the malva pudding at Radizio.

K'gale Hill

The next morning after the party we got up early and climed K'gale hill. Claudia was cursing me the whole way. She said I lied to her about it being a hike, she said it was mountain climbing. I heard about it for a week after too. She was so funny. We were almost to the top and we were resting when one of the guys training the hill went by and told us to not stop, we were almost there. Karen made the mistake of asking him to carry her the rest of the way. He took here hand and started runningher up the hill! it was funny. We finally made it to the top, rested for a bit before heading back down. When we got back to the truck, most of the cars were gone and the lot was full of baboons. We got past them without harm and went for lunch at the portuguese place at game city.

Going away party for Linda and Jean

After the Zebra's game we went back to the apartment to pick up all the beer. Then we were off to Bushe's house for the going away party for Jean and Linda. Bushe's cousin was the DJ and we had grilled sausage and chicken. There was dancing and a lot of drinkng. At the end the guys poured a bunch of beer in a gourd cup and did a dance and drank from the cup. It was a lot of fun. There was an indian temple behind the house. Suwanne went to go look at it. She came back and said they were so nice and invited her in. So Claudia and I went over there and of course the security guard gave us all kinds of trouble and wanted to have us arrested. Luckily the manager of the temple came and saved us and let us in to take some pictures.

Zebras 4 Life!

The Zebra's are the National football team of Botswana. We got tickets thru the coach of the team. The game was on a Saturday, one of the few Saturdays I didn't work! Amos took Jean and I to the BBS mall to get the team jerseys. Linda ended up getting on too and Claudia, Suwanne and Karen got blue shirts with zebras on them. We did shopping for the party in the morning and then went to the Gaborone Sun to have a beer before the game. We left the car at the Sun and then met the graders in the dirt lot by the stadium where I thought they were playing. Come to find out the stadium isn't finished yet and they were playing at the U of Botswana stadium. We got to the stadium and they didn't have assigned seats so we were kind of down at the end and a bit in the sun. It didn't matter we had a great time. The Zebra's won 2 to 1. At half-time traditional dancers came out on the field and danced. The it was a long hike back to the car and then to the apartment to pick up all the beer for the party.

Dinner at Radizio, 4:30p Friday tradition

It was another Friday night in Gabs, we got off at 4:30pm (no OT!!) did a little shopping at Botswana Craft then back to the apartment to freshen up. We had reservations at Radizio. We are all hooked on the Malva pudding! We had dinner and drinks and relaxed knowing we weren't working on Sat. It was a great night, I am so glad we started that tradition. Unfortuately we won't be able to go next Friday but we will have another adventure to share.

Gaborone Game Reserve

I took Suwanne, Karen and Jean to the Gaborone Game REserve early on Sunday morning. It was the 1st time there for all of them. They now have a condom machine at the entrance of the reserve. They have free condom machines pretty much everywhere in the city, even at the border crossings. Hopefully it is helping with the spread of HIV which is a serious problem in Botswana. The water level was pretty high still, I couldnt pass thru the one road that goes by the water edge. I think I could have but they didn't want me too. I saw 2 new birds that day a African Black Duck and a Hottentot Teal.