I'd Definitely Say It's a Mountain...

At the start of another week, I cannot believe that we are into our FOURTH week here, it doesn't seem right at all! Please don't make me leave?!

I know I'm halfway across the world, but I cannot help but mention the crazy weather and sad news from back home and our campus from last week. Thursday morning we all got word of a crazy tornado hitting Manhattan and our K-State campus pretty hard...and it's been hard for us to hear of that and not be able to do anything to help right now. A neighborhood in Manhattan lost 30 homes that were literally leveled to the ground with only the foundations remaining, and the area around campus and several buildings on campus had severe damage ($20 million just at KSU alone!!)- it seems so surreal that it actually hit Manhattan. Sitting with Danielle on Thursday evening, we were just talking about how when it sunk in that the tornado actually hit our school, it really made us sad...that's our home and we love it so much and we can't do anything to help right now. I think we all realize though that there will still be plenty of clean-up work to do when we get back, and we are all just extremely thankful that no one was hurt in the huge storm. Our thoughts are definitely with anyone there who is cleaning up and rebuilding. (For pictures of the storm and the damage, click here.)

Other than the tornado news, last week ended really well. I spent Thursday and Friday just at Tlamelo, not at the school, and worked in the kitchen more, cutting meat and veggies, and learning the Rachael Ray way to cut onions! : ) Leslie made me start running with her last Thursday after we got back here to UB and we've been keeping it up most every day. It's nice to have that bit of routine from home, and I think it's helping me back into a normal rhythm of stress/thought release, which if you know me, I need to let a few of the five billion thoughts in my head out once in a while!! I never really run with anyone back home, just my iPod, and it's been great to have Leslie with me pushing me and not letting me stop. The weather has been incredible too, around 4pm when we run it's about 70 degrees and the sun isn't too hot, and of course the humidity here is nothing, so it's not reminding me of home at all!! We have a nice little route though and she talks of expanding it, but that's for next week maybe...

Anyway, Saturday some of us decided to try to find the village of Thalmaga which is well-known for the handcrafted pottery and markets. We set off for the bus rank, which like the Combi station, is just six or so streets full of buses that aren't in any particular order and have no real schedule for arrival or departure. We are DEFINITELY learning to be flexible through public transportation systems alone!! We got to the bus rank and waited for about an hour where we thought we should be. When our bus never showed up, we decided to head for BotswanaCraft, a local shop that sells a TON of Botswana-made arts and pottery and jewelry and about a billion other things. It was an awesome store, and I am definitely planning to return towards the end of the trip to find some great souvenirs and gifts. After that trip, we came back and napped for a while, which has gotten to be quite the trend around here. : ) Saturday night a few of us went out to dinner at an Italian (they have about every kind of food here except Mexican and local food) restaurant that was really fun and had a really cool environment.

Sunday we attempted again to get to church, but as we still don't have directions and are a little wary of getting lost for the billionth time, we vowed to try harder next week to find directions and get there! I'm really excited to go because most of the kids from Tlamelo attend this church, and I think it'll be really neat to see them in a different environment.

Sunday afternoon Luke, the guy from Canada who works at Tlamelo one day a week, and his friend Graham took our entire group on a "hike." This hike turned out to MUCH more, more like a climb for sure. It was so much fun though, and such a great experience for our group. The "hill" we climbed up was QUITE a bit taller and steeper than it looked, and I really think it was a mountain, but that's just me. ; ) Such a work out though, and so much fun with those two guys and our whole group. And the view from the top...amazing. (It's called Kgale Hill and it's pretty much in the city still, and things have just built around it. ) Half of the view was the city of Gaborone, and the other half of the view was of the game reserves and the Gaborone Dam and the lake around it, so it was incredible. I did my first "photo stitch" for an attempt at a panoramic view of the sights, and it's not great, but it was cool to be able to capture so much of the view. We were so far up and in these huge boulders that were stacked at the top of the hill...it was incredible when we made it to the top. The heights convinced Leslie further that she's definitely bungee jumping at Victoria Falls and convinced me further that I am for sure NOT going to take that plunge...

Today started another week at the school, and I am not quite loving the extremely early and chilly mornings, but starting to enjoy my students more and more and hope that I can get to know them further as the summer goes on. I am really starting to feel a routine here and enjoying that feeling. I know very soon it will be thrown off by our travelling, but as for now, it's very nice and relaxing. I'm on my fourth book of the trip now, and looking desperately for a cheap American book store to buy some more. I am SO enjoying that aspect of the evening downtime!! Things are still great here, and I am attempting to slow our time down as much as possible...can't believe we only have FIFTY days left in Africa...