Blog #23 – Weekend #2

Today started much like today, with an early flight departure. This time Sara was leaving. Sara is a totally cool, wicked, very grounded girl! She was the one person that brought a concerted ‘arts’ opinion to our group and really cared a lot for the local culture, especially that of the San people (‘San’ actually means people…so San people is quite redundant…). I had a lot of fun getting to know her on the trip and a little bit better over the extra few days we had! After Sara was gone it was back to just me and the family at the home!

We dropped off one of the girls at a friend’s house and then spent the rest of the day in town. I had forgotten to request a transcript while I was still back in Guelph, so I had to get that form printed, filled out and faxed, which definitely took ten times the amount of effort from here than it would have taken from back home – but was still wickedly cool that I can do that kind of thing from anywhere in the world!

After that we had an AMAZING lunch at the French Connection. This little restaurant only serves breakfast and lunches (for sit in or take away), but sometimes opens in the evening for special events. It is owned and run by this really sweet French couple Marie and George! The food and drinks were amazing! I know that I just said that RAW was my favourite place to eat, but this place is great too! I had a delicious drink called a Kir which was a blend of white wine and a dark berry syrop. I eat their lasagna, which was hot, cheesy and meaty – everything that you would want! Now I have to two stellar places for lunches :)

After lunch we did some grocery shopping and picked up a few other things from time and then headed home. We spent the afternoon chilling at the house. We had liver and palach…not spelling that right…but it is basically corn/maize meal, sort of cream of wheat – you can eat it with your hands which is the traditional way and also a lot more fun, haha! In the evening Phillipa and I watched Blood Diamond. While it is a Hollywood movie, it was still interesting to watch while here in Africa…especially since I am in Botswana, the world’s largest gemstone producers! It was a difficult and emotional film and I appreciate the perspective and history that it tries to paint and open up for people. Definitely makes me happy that I am trying to help people here in Africa to have a better life…it isn’t much, but it is something.

On Sunday morning we met up with Laurenne and Caitlin…the final two survivors of our field course - everyone else has bailed on me and went home ;). We went to the Maun Game Park for the morning. We had a really nice walk through the park, but really didn’t get to see too much wildlife. Some warthogs and impalas were around but quickly departed. It was a beautiful hot sunny day though so you can’t complain about getting to be outside and enjoying it!

We all returned home, Cait and Renn would be staying here until their flight out to Cape Town on Thursday. I am going to try and join them, but details are still up in the air! I spent the afternoon baking some cinnamon pinwheels. The recipe was a mix in between memory and one similar one I found in the cookbook. They turned out alright, a little dense, but people enjoyed them….really, who can resist warm baking with lots of cinnamon and sugar?!

The rest of the afternoon was so enjoyable! I spent a good portion of it writing and catching up with this blog! We also played lots of cards – some 3-person contract whist (compliments of learning from Aunt Barb and Uncle Sam [Patrick]!) and go fish! Some of the best times though were jumping on the trampoline and then playing basketball with the girls! One of my first actual workouts in weeks, haha!

After that we spent the evening getting supper ready – roast chicken, with home fried potatoes and a special casserole. We mixed broccoli, sun dried tomatoes and eggplant with cheese sauce and fresh pear…I don’t know what it is going to taste like but it is for sure going to be interesting! I am looking forward to just spending the rest of the night relaxing, chatting and playing games.

Another great weekend in Maun!