Time Flies....

     After a little prompting from an e-mail from mom, I am finally getting around to write another post so that everyone knows I’m still alive! All I can say is my how time flies! I can’t believe it has already been two weeks. Last week flew by and after an awesome weekend, I have a lot to update on but don’t want to be too boring with just the blow by blow (Lipa, one of my co-volunteers, is critique-ing my blog now so apparently I have to make it funny!). But I’m not really a funny person… so I’ll just hit the highlights of the last week for now!

     On Wednesday we got to go out on the river to do water sampling. We took the Vandewalle’s boat out and collected water and took measurements at certain points on the river. It is a very nice river, not huge, but definitely a good size. Water looks pretty nasty, though, can't see more than a foot below the surface. It is the border between Botswana and Namibia so we stayed on the Botswana side and went up to about where town was then went back – it was great to be on a boat! I don’t think there will be any water skiing…. But good enough just to be out there! We saw some crocs and there were hippos in the distance but I didn’t see them. I learned that you have to be careful of the crocs and hippos because they will go under the water to sneak up on you, but you can usually see the ripples of water where they are moving so you can tell whether they’re coming towards you! 

      Thursday I had my first attempt at making cookies – it went pretty well but needed to use more baking soda cause they flattened out too much. Also got a phone call from Chip in the afternoon and it was a wonderful surprise!  I discovered that it doesn’t cost me anything if people call my phone, but the person calling has to pay whatever the international fees are….

       On Friday evening we went to Senyati, a bar about 20 minutes out of town near a watering hole where elephants gather every evening. They are super close so you can really get a feel for how big they are – HUGE. There were some young ones as well, so they were very adorable. After that I headed home and read my book (on to the third Hunger Games book!)

     Saturday morning I went for a walk with Kristen and Megan to explore the neighborhood. Found that it will be a good place to run – should be safe from wildlife and people during the day. Then we went through town and I explored a bit on my own to get a feeling for where everything is. That night we went to a big house party (it was a braai = bbq or cookout) had fun eating and sitting by the fire! 

     Sunday I got up early and walked over to the Honey’s house (they are a missionary family that lives just down the street) to get a ride to church at 8:30. We went to a small Baptist church where Mr. Honey preached and we had communion. It was very cute, pretty traditional songs, I knew a few of the hymns, but will have to learn a few! After church we went to tea at one of the women’s houses, then we went back to their house for lunch (yumm a home-cooked meal), croquet, and playing Dutch Blitz, a card game that I am amazed they actually knew of! I hung around and watched How to Lose a Guy in 10 days that evening as well. It was a wonderful, relaxing day with some wonderful new friends! I commented in the evening how I suddenly just got the feeling that I had homework I should be doing – I guess I’m still getting used to being out of school!

    Okay, to shorten up, I made brownies last night that were a success – yay!! Finally I’ve found a way to satiate my chocolate sweet tooth. I finally found a store that sold baking pans so I got a 9x13ish pan and cookie sheet for future use. Will have to update more later on work and living! I will try to start to make these less journal-y and more interesting!