GOOOD afternoon from a beautiful, sunny Pakalani!

So 5 weeks in and it’s time for the third update!

Last I wrote, I said I would be climbing Khale Hill in Gabs. Well those plans changed (as most do here) and I ended up doing a charity walk with some Stepping Stones members as well as other members from the community. There were about 60 of us in total and we were to walk from Mogonia to Manyana, two villages on the outside of Gaborone. The walk was supposed to be 20km and we would be walking through the hills and fields through the rural areas. It was a really good time and I got to see some very rural areas of the country. As we were walking, though, I was starting to panic that I was in worse shape than I even thought... I mean, 20km isn’t that long to walk and I was getting tired! It turned out that in fact, we had taken a wrong turn and it turned into a 35km hike. Once we got to the finish line, we then decided to hike up a beautiful gorge high in one of the hills. This sounded like an exciting idea, as it is one of the few places near the capital city with natural running water, as well as the hills are full of leopards, baboons, monkeys and poisonous snakes and trees. The walk up the gorge was a lot tougher than expected – it was full of rock climbing and awkward wall climbing with ropes. Needless to say, the gorge added another tough 15km and before we knew it, the anticipated 20km stroll in the countryside turned into a hard 50km hike! At the end of it all, though, it was a really nice way to spend my day off and a chance for me to get to know some of my co-workers even better!

I was talking to my parents and Grandpa last weekend and was explaining to them how I’m missing home less, yet every now and then have these pictures in my head of driving down University Ave or having pints and appetizers at Boston Pizza with my friends; I think my Dad described it really well as ‘little cravings’. I’m loving it here and am happy at work, but no matter how content I am, I think I will inevitably have these cravings for home every now and then... just something I thought was kind of interesting! Although I already knew it, it’s really opening my eyes to how much I need you guys!

The food is still really good here, but I’m starting to get tired of all the oil, salt and MSG used in EVERYTHING. Oh – and the other night I had chicken gizzards. As I was asking them what it was, Mmane brought them out and I thought I probably shouldn’t know... and I’m glad I never found out – they tasted just as disgusting as they sound.

The harassment still continues, but earlier this week it was of a different kind; two young women stopped me and I thought they were just being friendly so I stopped at chatted with them for a while. Then one told me “she wanted to date me tonight” to which I laughed and said “no I think it will be alright”. She didn’t want to take ‘no’ for an answer though, and started getting pretty close to me, throwing money my way and making a scene. It was pretty bizarre and looking back, it seems funny, sad and even a little flattering all at the same time!

Anyways, I'm attaching another post this afternoon, so I should keep this one short!

Cheers,

Matt