Things about living here.
2 Comments Published by Oh Wayward One on 12 January 2007 at 1/12/2007 09:12:00 am.
1. I need to learn Setswana AND FAST. I feel just like an absolutely terrible horrible human being when all I can muster is "Dumela mma" or "Dumela rra" and then they greet me back and I just can't go any further. Lize makes me so jealous, the way she can rattle on and understand everything after only a year and a half. But I know I'll get there.
2. I have a deep-seeded psychological problem whereby I forget the whole "Life's a Journey Not a Destination" theory from time to time. I want to rush-rush-rush to get to a point of comfort, however half of the reason that I do anything in my life is because I like the dynamic feeling of not knowing up from down and overcoming challenges such as getting thrown in the deep end. Whenever I move somewhere, I always say things like "I just want to get settled in, then I'll be fine" whereas the whole reason I moved in the first place is to STOP feeling too "settled in". Ugh! It's a fine line.
3. There's a very sad ox that lives about 500 metres downhill from B's place. Every morning we wake up to the sound of him lowing. Frank keeps him penned up in a pen just barely bigger than his big, massive self, and he just stands in there crying out to roam. It breaks my heart. He's so lonely. :-( (and very loud)
4. Every morning we wake up to the sound of
1) lonely Ox
2) roosters
3) birds chirping
5. As I remember from the South Africa days, mornings in africa start SO much earlier than anywhere else. Today I woke up at 6 and thought it was 8. If you take a drive any time between the hours of 5-7, you see that all the locals are up, sitting around their rondavels & morning fires, boiling coffee, walking to work, rounding up their donkeys, etc. It makes sense too, it's the most pleasant time of the day, before the sun is roasting you to death. we're becoming morning people already (BLEH!), waking without even waiting for the alarm.
6. The thing about BW is that you can't wear your shirt a 2nd day in a row. You spend all day sweating and stinking and then you just have to wash everything. It's that simple. Back in Ireland we used to wear tee shirts and whatever other tops several times before hitting the washer (is that gross or is it just me?), but here you can forget about it. Unless your job has A/C, your car has A/C, and your house has A/C. Which is like one chance in 10, for the majority of people. We'll be lucky that our new house has A/C in the living area, and hopefully when we get around to buying a car it will as well, but the office . . . uh, no chance.
7. The puppies are here! The Mr. is at the new house showing them around and trying to get them settled as i type. Boy this is going to be an adventure.
8. Clean up your language, ye wayward child. It's not tolerated here. Sgt Calbillo, do you have any tips? (as if)
No seriously, it's just not a good thing here. But then again what can one expect from a traditionally-oriented country where even homosexuality is illegal.
eesh.
9. PULA!!! 2 nights ago we had our first rain of our stay here. I am in love with BW already, but I fall even harder when I see an african rainstorm. We sat outside in G-town and watched it roll in from the city, with the most fabulous show of lightning and bone-rattling thunder that I've ever seen since the childhood back in Missouri. WOW. And boy did we need the rain. It cooled things down and everything looked awesome the next day. I asked around and apparently EVERY dose of rain we get here will come with complementary lightning and thunder displays. ACE!!!
10. My old boss has got some cheek. Emailing me on my personal email address asking work questions from "that side". Ugh. Don't get me started.
11. LA is gone on holidays now for 2 weeks so I can go back to my life of crime and relaxation. But there's still a lot to do. I mean I have SERIOUSLY got to whip this place into shape. I can not find a THING and just normal everyday stuff takes way too long because things just dont WORK. (filing system, bug in the computer that wont allow me to open up Word files, printers that have no software for reinstalling, cellphones that wont divert to voicemail, etc. General MESS).
overall things are going well. Just have to keep remembering to enjoy the ride, even if it means living in a house with no curtains and basic administrative chaos.
2. I have a deep-seeded psychological problem whereby I forget the whole "Life's a Journey Not a Destination" theory from time to time. I want to rush-rush-rush to get to a point of comfort, however half of the reason that I do anything in my life is because I like the dynamic feeling of not knowing up from down and overcoming challenges such as getting thrown in the deep end. Whenever I move somewhere, I always say things like "I just want to get settled in, then I'll be fine" whereas the whole reason I moved in the first place is to STOP feeling too "settled in". Ugh! It's a fine line.
3. There's a very sad ox that lives about 500 metres downhill from B's place. Every morning we wake up to the sound of him lowing. Frank keeps him penned up in a pen just barely bigger than his big, massive self, and he just stands in there crying out to roam. It breaks my heart. He's so lonely. :-( (and very loud)
4. Every morning we wake up to the sound of
1) lonely Ox
2) roosters
3) birds chirping
5. As I remember from the South Africa days, mornings in africa start SO much earlier than anywhere else. Today I woke up at 6 and thought it was 8. If you take a drive any time between the hours of 5-7, you see that all the locals are up, sitting around their rondavels & morning fires, boiling coffee, walking to work, rounding up their donkeys, etc. It makes sense too, it's the most pleasant time of the day, before the sun is roasting you to death. we're becoming morning people already (BLEH!), waking without even waiting for the alarm.
6. The thing about BW is that you can't wear your shirt a 2nd day in a row. You spend all day sweating and stinking and then you just have to wash everything. It's that simple. Back in Ireland we used to wear tee shirts and whatever other tops several times before hitting the washer (is that gross or is it just me?), but here you can forget about it. Unless your job has A/C, your car has A/C, and your house has A/C. Which is like one chance in 10, for the majority of people. We'll be lucky that our new house has A/C in the living area, and hopefully when we get around to buying a car it will as well, but the office . . . uh, no chance.
7. The puppies are here! The Mr. is at the new house showing them around and trying to get them settled as i type. Boy this is going to be an adventure.
8. Clean up your language, ye wayward child. It's not tolerated here. Sgt Calbillo, do you have any tips? (as if)
No seriously, it's just not a good thing here. But then again what can one expect from a traditionally-oriented country where even homosexuality is illegal.
eesh.
9. PULA!!! 2 nights ago we had our first rain of our stay here. I am in love with BW already, but I fall even harder when I see an african rainstorm. We sat outside in G-town and watched it roll in from the city, with the most fabulous show of lightning and bone-rattling thunder that I've ever seen since the childhood back in Missouri. WOW. And boy did we need the rain. It cooled things down and everything looked awesome the next day. I asked around and apparently EVERY dose of rain we get here will come with complementary lightning and thunder displays. ACE!!!
10. My old boss has got some cheek. Emailing me on my personal email address asking work questions from "that side". Ugh. Don't get me started.
11. LA is gone on holidays now for 2 weeks so I can go back to my life of crime and relaxation. But there's still a lot to do. I mean I have SERIOUSLY got to whip this place into shape. I can not find a THING and just normal everyday stuff takes way too long because things just dont WORK. (filing system, bug in the computer that wont allow me to open up Word files, printers that have no software for reinstalling, cellphones that wont divert to voicemail, etc. General MESS).
overall things are going well. Just have to keep remembering to enjoy the ride, even if it means living in a house with no curtains and basic administrative chaos.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
I wear stuff several times b4 washing too. I don't stink or get dirty so there's no reason to waste energy/water on overwashing.
Cussing? Only practice avoiding it will help. I've gotten good practice being the mom of a 4-yr old