I do see animals from time to time!

We went on our first game drive for independence weekend. Mokolodi is really neat becuase it is not only a game reserve but it's also a conservation center. That means that they really work hard at providing animals for tourists to see, and they also have all sorts of classes seminars that teach people about the animals. It was really nice to get away and see some animals. The nice part is that the game reserve is only about 40 minutes from my house.

Emily, Jessica, Dereje and I had a pretty comfortable ride

We saw this giraffe at the end of our game drive. I am pretty sure that the driver of our game drive realized that I was not going to get out of any vehicle until I saw a giraffe. I think he even started to panic a little bit thinking that we may not see one - especially because I was so adamant about seeing one! I like to think that he got serious and radioed back to the home base to "Que the giraffe".....because his timing couldn't have been more perfect!
It's not like I have elephants in my back yard...but at least I get to see them every now and then! Here they are taking at bath at Mokolodi.
It's pretty cool because you get to get really close to the elephants. They're kind of tame, but still beautiful and massive!
We also had a very nice dinner at the end of our game drive. We got to eat a lot of the animals that we saw on our game drive...and, of course, there was plenty of maize meal at dinner.

Yes...I live in Botswana

I am titling this “yes, I live in Botswana” because sometimes I have to remind myself! Seeing Elephants and Giraffe always help to remind me, but sometimes life here is so nice and easy that I forget that I am living in Africa. One example of this is that I found recently at the grocery store that I can buy boneless, skinless chicken…my life here is forever changed. In addition, I bought a fan to put on me at night so now the life isn’t sucked out of me every time I go to bed. I do find myself, nowadays, sweating much more than one would really care to mention…but I figure that I have 6 more months of this, so I probably had better get used to it!
This past weekend I was traveling on a bus from Palapye (a village up north) to Mochudi (my home village). I was traveling with a Motswana friend of mine…who, of course, was not dying of the heat like I was. It seems as though people here are taught at an early age that it is bad to have wind blowing in your face. For me, it is anything but bad…but when in Rome...
I love the fact that these days, at least in my home village, I am not treated like an outsider. Many people either know me or they have heard of me so there is not quite so much staring. I did have a lovely experience on a combi (public transport) ride this afternoon. I could tell that the men driving the combi were saying something about me (very likely it was sexually explicit)…the woman behind me started to yell and tell them off…she told them that I speak Setswana and that I understood everything they were saying. I, of course, am far from fluent…but I think that this woman really did think that I could understand everything that they were saying! Hope everyone is doing well!