Putzi Fly

    First off, sincere apologies for not writing a blog in ages.... I'm afraid I've gotten out of the habit and found other things to do with my spare time than write.... However, I am currently house sitting for two and half weeks, where I have 24/7 internet and no excuse not to blog! And today I had quite a momentous 'African' experience.....

     So over the past couple days I've noticed a small red bump on my bum along my pantyline (okay, I know this may seem a bit personal, but trust me, it is part of the story). It started off really itchy (yes, that was embarrassing), then started to be quite painful. I didn't think too much of it at first, but today upon getting out of the shower and inspecting my red bump quite awkwardly in the mirror, I realized that I may have become the victim of the infamous putzi fly....

    What is a putzi fly you ask? Well it is a fly that lays their eggs in damp clothes and laundry hanging out to dry during wet season. When you wear these clothes with eggs in them, the eggs get under your skin and hatch into putzi larvae, or maggots, creating red bumps on the skin. I've been warned about them, and was told to just be sure to iron all of your clothes because that kills the eggs. However, I don't own an iron..... I figured I would be safe if I hung my clothes out during the day because while in Ghana we just made sure not to have the clothes hanging out at dusk or dark, when the flies came out. Well, my mistake! Apparently the flies here are different.... and one must have found a lovely home in one of my pairs of underwear last time I did laundry and hung it out to dry!

     Next question..... what do you do about a maggot that is living under your skin?? (Warning: putzi flies are not for the faint of heart, this may get graphic...) The best way to get it out is to put a bit of vaseline over the 'breathing hole' at the center of the red pimple-looking spot, wait a minute until the maggot starts to suffocate and pops his head out out of the hole, then squeeze it out. So, that is what I attempted to do with my putzi friend in my bum. After you get over the initial 'I have a maggot living in me!' thoughts, you really just do what you have to do.... I think I have been positively influenced by one of my wildlife professors that had a slight obsession with these flies - she loved getting them out of people! So I was pretty okay with the idea, it was just quite an unfortunate location when you live by yourself because you can imagine trying to twist around to see your bum in the mirror! Nevertheless, I proceeded with the vaseline, wait, squeeze process..... but unfortunately I think my removal process may have gone a bit awry when I had the brilliant idea of using tweezers. I grabbed it with the tweezers and started to pull it out and this is what I got: 

It was eensy weensy! But I was still proud of myself for being able to remove a putzi fly when I could barely see what I was doing! The only problem was that it still felt like there was something under my skin in the red dot...... SO. I'm pretty sure I just pulled the 'head' off and that the the other half is still in my bum.

   Well, quite honestly, this is where you hop on the computer and google 'putzi fly stuck inside!!!!' Not many results, really.... but I did read on a blog that if they die inside of you they will just get absorbed into your body. Now that's a pleasant thought......

    I think I will just wait it out from here, maybe check with some knowledgeable friends about what to do, but either way, I learned two and a half things today:

1) Its time to invest in an iron

and

2) Squeeze don't tweeze! (and find a friend to help with hard-to-reach spots)

    

Hope I didn't gross anyone out too much, but folks, that's life in Africa. I now feel properly initiated to life in Botswana!

Retirement

One of my ‘Christmas’ gifts from the fam was a new pair of tennis shoes…. So now I get to retire my old ones, which I had started to call my ‘Africa’ shoes… just a bit worn down!
   Trying to get back into the swing of exercising every morning now that I am all alone again. Sad goodbyes to Chip and now I am readjusting to lonely life. Before the holiday I never really felt that lonely but its hard when you have someone there for so long then they leave so suddenly! I'm sure I will get used to it again..... More blog posts to come!

Holidays

I’m back! It’s been an amazingly long and enjoyable holiday, full of adventures and fun-filled family time! Check facebook for a few other pictures, otherwise, here are a few highlights from our trip:

The girls with our tour van: Lords Travel

  Johannesburg: Met up with the family in the airport. As I was waiting in line at the passport check-point I hear ‘There she is… Ellen!!’ and look over and see mom and Laura smiling at me from the other side. What a warm welcome! I was thankful we didn’t have too much trouble finding each other in the airport. After that we took a taxi to our hotel, which we discovered is next to a big shopping mall – score! Found Woolworths and bought food and water for our few days there. Went to the Apartheid museum (very interesting and informational, but we all got a bit overloaded by the end and stuck to looking at pictures), drove through Soweto and Johannesburg, and got a tour of Pretoria over the next couple days, then we were ready to head on to our next leg of the trip!

Cape Town: Arrived in the afternoon ready to go! Got our rental car (only a few kinks with me driving the manual... I got used to it eventually!) and headed to our apartment where we would be staying. Dinner at Cape Town Fish Market – delicious meal with great view of the sunset! Checked out all the kite surfers on the beach – pretty amazing to watch! Hiked Table Mountain (perhaps I will post that saga separately), great hike and view from up there. Toured Robben Island, very neat after having gone to the Apartheid museum and learning about Nelson Mandela. Went to Cape Point with a picnic lunch, saw the light houses there, penguins on the way. Experienced the harbor and market downtown (with the huge Lego-Man). Picnic lunch at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, church bazaar right across the street,  fun, windy roads around the cape to see all the suburbs (very pretty – would stay there next time!). McDonalds internet runs at night and laundry at the local Laundromat. Cheetah Outreach where we got to have an ‘encounter’ with two cheetah cubs (Thanks Yogi!!). Maria, who I work with at CARACAL, worked there for a couple years before coming to Kasane. Definitely a highlight for me, as you do not see them in the wild much anymore, and barely any in Chobe. Then to a nearby beach for ocean time (should be considered the Indian Ocean!), dinner and, of course, ice cream. What trip to the beach isn’t complete without an ice cream cone?

Laura and I in our mokoro (I barely made it into this pic!)

Maun: Air Botswana flight on a slightly classier plane than usual, still had enough room for everyone to have their own row of seats…  picked up at airport and taken to Audi Camp, where we checked in to our ‘bedded tents’ They were quite nice little ‘hotel rooms’ just with a campground bathroom (which was totally awesome with outdoor showers and tons of dung beetles and termites at night). Next morning we headed out early on a game drive truck two hours to the point where we went into the Okavango Delta on mokoros (small dug-out canoes traditionally used by the local people). Very cool experience! Set up camp then went swimming at a spot where the water is clear enough so it is fairly safe from crocs and hippos. Bush walk started but turned back because of thunderstorm and walking through wide open fields. Dinner cooked for us over the fire, then early to bed! Up early to go on another bush walk where we saw lots of animals! Giraffes, warthogs, buffalo (a little too close for comfort for me), tsessebee, hippos, I’m sure there’s more I’m forgetting. Lunch then back in the mokoros and safari truck to camp. One more night then headed out early the next morning from the airport in a rental car to get us from Maun up to Kasane.

Yay, got mom to hold the python!! 

Kasane: Drove on tar road from Maun to Gweta, stopped to see Planet Baobab and eat some lunch, then on through Nata (fairly non-existent from what we could see…) and on up North! Minor delays with rain and road work, but fam was happy to see elephants along the way. Arrived in Kazungula with enough time to unload the car before heading to town for Carols by Candlelight. Dinner at Hot Bread Shop (meat pies) then the Christmas Eve-type service in Kasane. Got to see and hear some of the children I’ve worked with at the Catholic mission playing marimbas, then all the townies sing carols and read scripture. Saturday took the rental car back and switched over to the Surf, which Kathy and Mark let us borrow from work. Showed them around the center and everyone got to hold the python! Church and tea, cookie-baking (salty sugar n’ spice!), drinks at Senyati bar and getting the car stuck in Lesuma Valley! Luckily a friend was able to come rescue us. Christmas Eve dinner at the William’s, Christmas in the park, saw a lion among the other ‘usuals’. Picked up Chip! Back into the park for our fun elephant encounter and sunset, dinner at Old House.

Chip and I rockin out in our extremely attractive traditional garb....

Victoria Falls: Got the public transportation experience – waited on the curb for a kombi that took us to the border, then hitched a ride with a company from the border to Vic Falls. Went to the park where you can walk along the opposite side of the falls through the misty forest with tons of photo ops. Amazing waterfall!! Similar and different to Niagra in that its longer and skinnier, but I think taller. High tea at Victoria Falls Hotel with a beautiful view of the bridge/falls. Dinner at the Boma, a cultural experience with traditional food and drumming. Stayed at the hostel-like Tokkie Lodge, decent accommodation for an amazing price. In the morning, Chip, Laura and I did the gorge swing! It s a 160 meter swing with an 80m free fall if I remember correctly. Very very cool!!! Didn’t give me nearly the adrenaline rush I was expecting, but was breathtaking all the same. After that taxi back to the border and realizing I left my camera in the tour company vehicle…. Luckily they have it and I should be able to get it back!

Savanna Lodge (no pix yet): Packed up everything and made our way to immigration where we were picked up by boat to go to Savanna Lodge, the place where I participated in the advertisement. The only way to access it is by boat because it is across the river in Namibia. Checked out of Bots and into Namibia (more passport stamps!) then on to the lodge. Greeted with hot towels and the staff singing us a welcome song (made mom cry…). Settled in, went for a swim, ate lunch, had a ‘siesta’, then afternoon tea and boat cruise safari. Don’t get to see too much from the river, but still saw a decent amount of animals and tons of birds. Dinner was amazing (and fancy – we all had to brush up on our etiquette), then early to bed and early to rise for a birding cruise. Same routine…. Relax, eat, boat cruise, eat…. Pretty much the life! It was a great way to end our somewhat rustic trip! Sunday morning we headed back across the river, did a little shopping then ate lunch at Pizza Plus so the fam could meet A.K. the owner. After a short stop at the center to grab the last of their bags, we headed to the airport to see my family off. The most people I’ve ever seen in Kasane airport…  Said goodbye and they disappeared through security, leaving Chip and I to go home to my now sadly empty house : (

Well, that is just a rough sketch of the trip, sorry I couldn’t be more detailed, but I know mom and laura kept great journals about every day of our trip! Such fun and wonderful memories, thanks for coming family!!

Trip Planning

     One week and counting!! I am getting so excited for my family to come. I was working more on planning today and realized, wow, this is actually happening!! We are still making last minute changes to the itinerary, and keeping things flexible, but I figured I would share some of the plans that we have made so far. We will be rendez-vousing in Johannesburg, South Africa where I’ll let them recover from jet lag a bit, relax and visit Pretoria and the Apartheid Museum. From there, we will head to Capetown to enjoy everything they have to offer there, including Table Mountain, Cape Point, the Wine Valley, and of course the coast, boat ride and shark/penguin viewing. This will probably be the more luxurious part of our trip before we head up to Maun, Botswana, where we will explore the Okavango Delta on a mokoro (traditional canoe boat) trip and camping in the bush. I’m the most worried about this part of the trip cause of the mosquitos and other bugs that come out during rainy season.

     After this we are renting a car and driving up to Kasane! This is where I get to share a little of my life with my fam! We will have a few days prior to Christmas where we will hopefully catch the ‘Christmas by Candlelight’ where we sing carols and read scriptures with the community, Christmas eve dinner with some friends, church, visiting the center, going into the park, and just a bit of relaxing. We don’t really have any plans for Christmas day, but I will be getting a huge Christmas gift when Chip arrives! We’ll let him recover a bit, but head to Victoria Falls the next day, where we will spend one night so we can fit in everything there is to do there! For the last three days of the trip we will hopefully be going out to Savanna Lodge (where I helped with the ad) and Chobe Game Lodge. That will be a bit more of a luxury experience but a great time to explore the park and see a couple beautiful lodges! Well that’s a bit of what we have planned, if you have any suggestions feel free to share! Can’t wait for this awesome adventure with the fam!!

Thanksgiving

    Well I guess I’m making up for lost time by writing three posts in three days (maybe I’ll do a marathon and also write one for Black Friday tomorrow!) Thinking of everyone back home today and dreaming of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and family gatherings around ginormous meals full of fried turkey, green bean casserole, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, pumpkin pie, oh and don’t forget Granny’s Jell-o mold! My stomach is expanding at the thought of it…

   Well, us Americans in Kasane wouldn’t let such an important holiday slip by! Last weekend the Honeys hosted our own version of Thanksgiving, including a special-ordered turkey (crock-pot cooked – yum!), cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, homemade rolls, sweet potatoes, veggies, deviled eggs, and pecan and pumpkin pie for dessert. It was excellent! We were quite thankful to be able to have such a huge and similar meal to what we would find at home. Other than the Kasane-style heat (probably at least 90 degrees in the kitchen) and Kazungula power outage (candlelight anyone?) you could almost forget that we were halfway around the world from where we would usually be celebrating this holiday!

    After the delicious meal that ‘tryptophan’ turkey hit me and I zonked out completely! While others watched a recorded football game (not really one of our family’s thanksgiving traditions) I had a lovely nap on the couch. Although it was a bit different from the way my family will be celebrating this year, it was still such a wonderful way to thank God for the amazing experiences and people I have encountered so far this year! Happy Thanksgiving all!

The Thanksgiving spread! Keith carving the turkey by candlelight... luckily the power came back on just before we sat down to eat. 

Dreaming of Autumn

Last night, in honor of fall weather back home, I broke out my frozen pumpkin and whipped up some pumpkin soup! Although not the best I’ve ever tasted, it’s not too bad – and very easy! You really don’t need much more in there because the pumpkin is so tasty, but I added onions and carrots to mine, then some nutmeg and a bit of salt and pepper. Yummm! Gotta admit, not quite the same when its 90 degrees out, but I used my imagination. Mom sent me some fall leaves – looks like it was a beautiful autumn! Only the past few days have I really been thinking of fall weather and missing it a bit. Three summers in a row may very well be too much heat for me….

My nice big pot of soup - I'll be eating this for weeks!

Africa Time

Shame on me!! I have been slacking big time at blog posts and there is no excuse! (Other than a lack of things to write about and perhaps the lack of motivation to write at all). But, in light of my recent reception of my Botswana Residence Permit, I figured I would talk about ‘Africa Time’ a little bit (also to justify the delayedness of this post…). I know I have mentioned that things are just slower, more relaxed here, but the other day I was trying to pinpoint the difference and realized something interesting. In the States, you can plan things by the hour, and here you plan things by the day.  For example, on Africa time, one might think, okay today I will get this done, then I will do that tomorrow. Whereas in the states, you would say, today I will do this, this, this, and that in the morning…..

    And as hard as you try, you can’t try to make an American schedule/mindset fit into the ‘African time’ zone. It’s kind of hard to explain how or why, but it just does NOT work. It becomes extremely frustrating at times, but it is something you just have to accept and get used to (obviously hasn’t been that easy for me!) Although I still find it annoying, it is definitely something I have started to get used to. I'm a little worried about going back to the states and having to get back into frenzy mode! 

    On a happy note, I received my residence permit! It is amazing how long it takes to get a sticker in your passport…. After several visits to immigration to make sure I had everything that I needed (picture, copy of passport, letter from employer, letter from father, etc.) I finally turned the application in. They say they will message you when it is ready, but I decided to go check back after about a month. Still no news. After checking back in about every two weeks, it got down to the wire of when my temporary permit would expire. Finally they told me that it had been approved! But…. The machine to make the permit stickers was broken. They were sending the machine to Gabs to get fixed, so she extended my temporary permit a couple months. I went back in the beginning of November and the machine was back! But I went too late in the afternoon and the lady obviously just didn’t feel like helping me. SO, at long last, I went back the following week and they printed my sticker for me and stuck it in my passport. WOOHOO! Basically, it says I am allowed to volunteer in Botswana until July 2017.