Butternut Squash

    Well this week was a bit pressed for time to make something very fancy for my ‘cooking’ challenge, but I did get to experiment with a butternut squash on Thursday evening! Also known as ‘pumpkin’, it’s a gourd (reminds me of a sweet potato) with pumpkin-looking seeds inside.  I cut it in half, stuck it in the microwave for about ten minutes (?) until it was soft, then I stirred up the squash part and added some veggies, topped it with cheese, then stuck it in the oven for another ten-ish minutes to melt the cheese. I also found some leftover meat from my party last weekend, so I heated that up and put it on top like ground beef. No recipe for this one, but I got the idea from Elise after she brought one to a braai and stuck it on the fire to cook. Turned out great, although it doesn't look very appetizing, but very yummy and filling; would definitely make it again!

Date Night

     Last Sunday, Chip and I had a ‘date night.’ I thought I would share a bit because I’m sure everyone is curious how a halfway-around-the-world distance relationship is working out. Well, it’s certainly not easy, but it is working out pretty well so far. We were able to talk before I left about how we would keep our relationship afloat while living so far away from each other. We agreed that it would be best if we could talk as often as possible, but accepted that this might be less than we wanted due to lack of internet on my end and busy schedules. So far, the majority of our talking has been through typing on Skype around my lunch time (bad internet connection at work prevents quality calls most of the time) and afternoon phone calls. 

     We also came up with the idea of reading a book and talking about it. Last semester we read Boys are Waffles, Girls are Spaghetti and the Five Love Languages together and found that it was really helpful to spark conversation and get a better understanding of each other. Right now we are working on Girl Meets God in our spare time, and talking about it when possible.

     Last Sunday we tried something new: a date night where we designate a night/afternoon to watch the same movie at the same time. Okay, I realize this may sound pretty cheesy, but it was great! He called me at 7pm my time and we started the movie while eating (theoretically) the same food – I ended up eating some leftovers. He called every thirty minutes or so and we would catch up on what was happening and how we liked it so far. It was great to feel like we could almost be together even if not physically in the same room. Unfortunately, this meant that I couldn’t fall asleep halfway through and wake up ten minutes from the end…. My usual movie-watching method. Oh well, worth it, I suppose!

      We are also learning new things every day about ourselves… such as: 

1) Chip should not talk on the phone when sitting down, distracted by something, or attempting to multi-task

2)   Ellen should not talk on the phone after 10pm or while lying in bed or else the conversation may turn to snoring very quickly

3)  We are both much better at expressing feelings by writing it down via e-mails rather than over the phone. 

All-in-all, things are going very well! Thank goodness for technology that allows us to stay in touch so easily. 

Brrrthday

      Well I must say that this has probably been my coldest birthday yet! Although it did warm up quite a bit during the day, this morning was probably at most 40 degrees F…. brrrrr it is winter! But anyways, I had a good day, Megan made a zucchini bread cake that was delicious and I turned zero according to the candle. Went to lunch at Chobe Safari Lodge, a beautiful and reasonably priced lodge right down the street from the center, with Carrie and Bronwen. I had a good old cheeseburger (I watched Supersize Me the other night and it seemed to have the opposite effect of really making me want a burger!) and it was ginormous. I have eaten sooo much over the past weekend!

      The highlight of my day so far has definitely been the package I received from mom and dad! I hadn’t gotten a slip in the mail telling me the package was there, so I decided to go check and make sure and sure enough, it was there! My mother seemed to know everything I wanted: a new sweatshirt (add a little variety to the two I brought), sunglasses (yayyyyyyyyyyy I’ve been complaining quite a bit about the poor selection here after I lost my other pair), a watch (fancier than any other watches I’ve had, still have to figure out how to work it), sticky notes, gum (I’ve been going through withdrawal), and of course sanitizing wipes….. not sure where that came from, but I can definitely use them. Complete with little Styrofoam squares with messages from the fam. Great job mom!

        Then we had a call to help capture a croc out of the sewage ponds at the wastewater treatment plant. Turns out we were just putting the cage out today and they will probably catch it tomorrow, but it was still interesting to see the wastewater treatment plant…. Quite the stench! Pretty reflection of the sunset off the water though…. Just ate a yummy dinner at Maria’s house with Claire and her friend Benjamin that is here visiting/working.  I came down to reception to get the internet to post this and treated myself to buying a new wallet that will actually fit poula and my passport in it (your passport is basically your ID for any foreigner here, must carry it at all times). It’s been a wonderful day, many thanks to all!

Housewarming

Last night I had a housewarming/birthday party to break in the new living establishment! I invited several of the wonderful people I have met here so far and we had a bring-and-braai. This basically means that I’ll provide the fire and everyone will bring their own food to cook and drinks. I made brownies (for some reason they flopped this time, I think too much cocoa powder – really need to get those measuring cups!!), oatmeal chocolate chip raisin cookies, crackers and cheese, and a pasta salad and several other people also brought food to share. It turned out great! The best part was that I figured out that I can make a fire right in my own front yard – about fifteen feet from the house. And you know what that means…. S’mores anytime I want!! I made this American delicacy for a few last night but on the whole everyone seemed too stuffed from the food to try one. Unfortunately graham crackers don’t really exist here but there is a very plain cookie called a Digestive (sounds appetizing, huh?) that is pretty similar and definitely a good substitute. I got a couple lovely housewarming/birthday gifts – people obviously know me well already because I got cupcakes, cookies, and chocolates!! In addition to some awesome lotion, a shoulder bag with a giraffe on it, a basket thing, a couple plates, and some spices to start me off.  It was a wonderful party and I truly enjoyed the company, food, and playing Catch Phrase with all of the friends I have met here so far!

Christmas in July!

Yesterday was my Christmas in July! The Honey’s had taken a trip down to Gaborone, the capital about ten hours south of here. They also happen to have a much better shopping selection, so they kindly asked if I needed anything. Yes!! There is a refurbished bike shop that they had gotten bikes from before, so I called the owner up and asked if he could send a bike home with the Honeys for me. On Friday I got a call that they were there picking it out and he seemed to have a good idea of one that would work for me – I didn’t turn it down! It ended up costing about 200 dollars (1,630 pula). I would say that is worth it for a year of transportation and exercise!

Also brought back for me was a small oven with three burner plates on top – will be perfect for my new cooking endeavors! They also got me a water filter which will be a lovely alternative to boiling all of my water. Yay! Thank you Santa Keith!

Cooking

    One of my new goals while I am here is to cook something new each week. I’ve always been a ‘simple’ cook and actually followed in the footsteps of my mom in being more inclined towards baking. But, with a bit more time on my hands and luckily a pretty well-stocked grocery store, I’m hoping to experiment with my culinary side a bit more and start a collection of some good recipes. On that note, if you have any suggestions, shoot me an e-mail with your favorite meals!

    First up: apple turnovers! Okay, I know this may be considered a dessert, but I made them for the special occasion of breakfast in the park on yet another Monday holiday off from work. This time I went in with Rob, Elise, and Maria bright and early this morning around 6am before the sun was even up. Unfortunately we didn’t see many animals, but the apple things were great!

Fishing!

     On Sunday I got to go fishing on the river with Rodney, Carrie, Elise, and Rob. Rodney is starting a fishing safari business in Kasane and offered to take us out on his boat Sunday afternoon. We had a great time just relaxing, cruising on the river, and fishing. Amazingly enough, this is the first time I have ever fished! It’s not quite as complicated as I thought it would be but unfortunately I didn’t catch anything. Carrie, however, caught a 15 lbs-ish catfish as the sun was setting! Apparently the catfish is not very tasty here (maybe they just don’t know how to prepare it correctly….), but it reminded me of the awesome catfish Uncle Tommy used to make. Luckily I’m not a huge seafood person, because that is one thing you don’t find a lot of here. The fish from the river are generally not the safest fish to eat because of the poor water quality. Not too huge of a loss for me as I’ve never been a huge seafood person except crabs. Anyways, I’ve always said I could never fish because I don’t have enough patience, and I think that’s pretty true. I went at it for probably 20-30 minutes, but after not catching anything, it gets pretty discouraging. Maybe I’ll give it another go eventually, but I’m content for now! 

House Pets

     Moving into a new house also means acquiring some new ‘pets’. First, we have the hundreds of adorable little tiny ants that seem to be particularly interested in my toilet and bowls of water sitting on the counter….

     Next we have the salamander/gecko (I should probably know exactly what he is but I’ve never been the herpetology expert) that lives in my bathroom. I named him Johnny and decided to keep him around after he refused to go into the lovely Tupperware container I was going to use to put him outside….

These next guys almost got evicted last night because around 4am there was an extremely loud and annoying chirping noise coming from the window by my bed that they have been chilling in for the past few days. Upon opening the window to kick them out, however, I realized it was coming from outside so I left them alone, turned out the light, put my earplugs in and went back to sleep. 

     Finally, we have Arnold the wall spider that keeps me company in the kitchen/living room. He likes the corner under the window and will gladly eat any mosquitos that roam his way, so I keep him around in addition to the many other spiders that seem to enjoy the miscellaneous corners of every room. I decided that I definitely preferred spiders to mosquitos so I’m hoping they will hold up their end of the deal!

     This house came with significantly more mosquitos because it is closer to the river, so I hung my mosquito net and have found it fairly malfunctional, especially when they get trapped under the net with you at night! That little buzzing in your ear while you try to go to sleep is not pleasant. I need to work on rigging up a bit better of one before the rainy season hits. But overall, who needs a dog when you’ve got all these lovely critters to keep you company?!  :-P  Welcome to Africa, my friends. 

Wildlife Weekend

     First off, happy Independence day, Americans! Not too much going on here, but I believe there will be a celebration this weekend with some fellow local United States-ians. On the other hand, July 1^st was a public holiday here apparently the equivalent of President’s day, so we had Monday off work. We took this opportunity to spend the day in the park. Claire’s mom is visiting so she came with Claire, Kristen, Megan, and I to see what we could see! We went early in the morning and got to see two male juvenile lions within the first hour or so. Also saw tons of impala, giraffe, elephants, buffalo, hippos, crocs, and the usual variety of birds! We came out and made lunch at the guest house where Claire’s mom is staying, then went back in the afternoon to catch the sunset. It was beautiful! Unfortunately my camera died halfway through the day, so I didn’t get to take a ton of pictures, but I did get some pretty good ones!

    Rewind to Saturday. We went to a nearby farming village called Pandamatenga for an Agricultural show they were having there. There were lots of tractors, food, and a craft tent geared towards the local farmers. I bought a new ‘mobile’ with colorful beads that reflect sunlight to decorate my new home! (Okay, it might be a little eclectic, but it was one of those things I just had to buy) We stayed for a while and ended up driving home in the dark, leading us to many more animal encounters!! We saw lots of dikers (sp?), and other types of antelope I can’t remember, a hyena, side-striped jackal, cervil, and best of all, a leopard ran across our path!! It was really neat and unexpected so unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures, but it was still great! So that was my very wildlife-filled weekend! Check facebook for more pictures from the park. 

New Abode!

     It’s official! I moved in to my new ‘cottage’ today at Kubu lodge thanks to some amazing and generous people. Heather is a deacon in the church that offered me anything I needed out of a guest room that she isn’t using – including a fridge, nightstand with mirror, laundry basket, microwave, some cutlery, bowls, cooking dishes, comfy chairs that fold out into beds, and a recliner chair. Oh and this awesome electric mixer/blender/chopper thing that will be very useful for cooking! The Honeys helped me load all of this into their huge F-350 truck and take it to the new place. I was truly blessed today by people that have been more than willing to give me time and stuff even though they have only known me for a month! I was overwhelmed with their hospitality. So excited to get everything unpacked and settled in the new place, will post inside pictures soon.  : )  

An extra plus: a short, safe walk to free wireless internet!!!