return to Gabane and a day at the pool

Not much going on today, the kids had no afterschool activities so we took a dip in the pool after they returned home. We got the twins and Maura in as well, which is a small miracle.. Maura has refused to get in the pool since we've arrived.. there's a brush that constantly cleans the pool and I think she thinks its going to suck her up and eat her, so that was a big hurdle to climb.

The twins love the water and it was good to get them out of the house. Here's a photo of them poolside eating some popcorn.

This morning I visited my friends in Gabane. It had been a while since I"ve been there, so I had a lot of photos to drop off and it took me most of the morning to do so. I managed a few nice photos while I was there, and I am still planning on going out at least once a week to the village. I am known there as the Gabane "lokgowa", which means, the Gabane white man. As I walk through the dusty paths people ask me... "where is your camera?"

It is sad though to walk through there, because I know I will always find the same people at the same place..... no one has a job, everyone is looking for a job, and is asking for help in finding a job. Yet, they are friendly welcoming and always inviting.

I ran into one of the older women who was at the wedding I took photos for back in December and she hugged me and told me she loved her snape' (photo).

Here are a few photos from the morning. Tonight is quiz nite at the bull n' bush bar, so Michelle and I are hoping for a night out. We'll see.

All for now.

between 6 and 7:30 pm

I haven't been able to write the past few days, I was sick as a dog and am finally recovering from a illness that I've never experienced back home.. I'll spare you the details...

I was planning on writing about our favorite time of the day here.. Most of the day, it is hot. So hot and the sun so blinding its not worth going outside, unless you plan on stepping into a pool.

Usually around 6 or so, Michelle , myself or both of us (if we're lucky) , will take the twins out for a walk. the temperature has cooled off, the sun is below the tree line and so it makes for a very nice walk..
But what is most amazing about the walk is the sky... Every night, without a hitch , comes the most amazing sunsets. Of course, we live in the city, so our view is not that great, but the sky surrounding us in so pretty that you have to stop and stare. If your were to see it a few nights, you might not be that impressed, but the consistency with which they occur is impressive.
We usually walk the same route around the block, passing Northside school and heading back home, and usually encounter the same characters every night. Security guards hanging out outside the homes, some of the maids who work in the neighborhood heading home. They know us and our kids and always say hello with a huge, bright smile.

Michelle headed out to Hikunsti today, a very remote village out in the middle of nowhere. She got there by a small propeller plane, hopefully she'll return in one as well. The doctor she
is going with told her the pilot had a hard time starting the plane the last time he went on this trip.. so that made me feel confident.

she'll be writing the next post to give you some info. on her trip and what she's been up to at the clinic.

Pictures are pretty self explanatory. One is of our laundry hanging in the noon day sun... which really does a good job of drying our clothes, feels like cardboard when they are done. The

other is of the clouds at sunset.. I may have already posted this image.

Lazy day

Not much going on in Gaborone today.... Our night guard James came back from a long stint off work, that's about as exciting as its gotten.. That was a big deal though, we were really happy to see him, and I think he was just as happy to see us, but I don't know, I get lost after I say "dumela rra".

jacob had basketball camp at northside this morning, while the girls painted a large box in the front of the house. We have friends coming over this evening so cleaning the home will be my top priority once the babies go to sleep.

Michelle received word yesterday that she will be going to an extremely remote section of Botswana on tuesday to administer care to patients... she gets to take a small prop. plane from Gabs to the village of Hukuntsi, right smack dab in the middle of the Kalahari. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hukuntsi . i know she's psyched for the experience, and apparently the clinic will be doing this for a while.... she will write the blog post for that day.....

nothing else to report... a couple photographs are attached.. Jude and Franny in the side yard, and a cemetery in Serowe. This photo doesn't do the size of the place justice, it covered the whole hillside. The tarps stretched across the plots are to keep the rain off of the buried.

rainy days are here

as hot, dry and arid as this place is, apparently we've hit the rainy season... it's been overcast and wet for the past week and a half.. celeste tells us this happens every year for about 2 weeks and then Botswana gets another heat wave.. It's a little frustrating because the kids can't go outside plus there's no Children's museum or anything to go to for entertainment.. so we camp out inside our townhome and are making the best of it.. The kids are enjoying their first full week of school and we are still shopping around for Maura.. Here's a few pics from today after school.. In the picture are Celeste, the kids and her friend(our friend and Kate's piano teacher) named Kabo. They are great to have around and keep the kids happy all day...

No big plans this weekend, Kate has a birthday party to go to tomorrow, we plan on catching up with our friends the Caplans and checking out the new movie(old to you) Alvin and the Chipmunks.

twin terror and new term of school begins

While I was back in the U.S., the twins went through a great transformation.... They became absolutely fearless. Yes, they continue to stick their fingers in outlets, clmb the stairs and shove things in the toilets. But now, now they are plotting, using specific tactics, and climbing... I thought we had finished the hardest time of their lives just recently. Michelle was telling me horror stories of them on tables, chairs, moving chairs to reach higher, standing on Tv stands, reprogramming computers, climbing up and down the stairs and leaving a trail of destruction everywhere they went.. "they just need their dad home to put the old clamp down" was what I was thinking... "If I was home, that would not happen.. No way."

I was mistaken... my first day back on the job was an absolute nightmare.. It started as Jude pulled the chair over to the dining room table to get a drink of my coffee while franny pulled the clothes I had folded off the couch, and then climbed the couch, leaning over the backside trying to climb out the open window. And the look they gave me as they do this stuff is like... "Yep, you're back, but we're badder than ever... good luck handling us!" God it was horrible.. All day long.. They're like Gremlins, they just are up to no good all day long.... They'll play for a little bit, sit with a board book, but they're just plotting they're next move, tricking me into relaxing for a bit. Michelle had to have been in hell for the 10 days I was gone.. They take no mercy too. I'm sure they worked Michelle even harder, knowing she'd be weaker from a long day at the clinic.

And poor Maura, you have to constantly be fielding your position as damage controller that she gets nothing. Today, she came to me twice and said.... "Daddy, I want to do something good for me. " I'm not exactly sure what that implies, but i read it as, "daddy, I'm being neglected yet another morning while you try to control the babies, my brain is in need of something before it withers away into nothing.. "

As of last week, Maura is no longer at Tiny Bubbles Preschool. I think the overall size of the place and the fact that she was literally the only non-Botswana child out of 200 or so, was too much for her to handle as her first school experience.. So, we are trying to find a smaller school where she might feel a little less overwhelmed.

Nothing else to report, except that the kids are back in school and michelle and I are very excited for these next 2 terms, especially for Jacob. He has a wonderful teacher. This afternoon he tried out for the swim team, we'll find out where he stands in the next few days. He plans on trying out for the cricket team next week, is taking an afternoon course in Drama and Chess, and will also be learning to play the Marimbas. Later this year, he will be walking across the Salt Pans in Botswana, and camping in the wild to raise money for cancer patients here. Tomorrow, he visits a Hindu Temple and a Mosque in town, they are doing a major unit on world religions.

Kate's afternoon activities include gardening, team sports, ball skills, traditional dance, and swimming. How cool is that? Gardening... How to use elephant dung.

What a nice experience for them.... I hope.

All for now.. I hope to get video of Jacob in his cricket outfit, learning what a googly is and wearing a cricket box.... check out this website to brush up on your cricket terminology..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cricket_terms .... keep your fingers crossed he makes the team.

Back in Botswana.....good trip back to Nky.

Jacob and I headed back to Northern Kentucky to see my dad for a week and half.. It was a very good trip, which saw my dad get progressively better and better with each passing day. He is currently in a rehab hospital and seems to be doing well.

jacob and i enjoyed our visits with him, enjoyed seeing a few friends, and mostly hanging out with family. We ate at all of our favorite establishments and took in some b-ball and football while we were home... I don't think Jacob wanted to get back on the plane, he was feeling pretty comfortable in the u.s.a.

I can't say that I experienced culture shock on our return to Nky, but I did feel strange being back home. the first thing I saw upon our landing was a McDonald's... gross. Then a Cinnabon, a rally's, a starbucks, a TGI Friday's , another McDonalds, a Sbarro and a whole slew of other famous eating establishments, all lined up waiting for us as we walked around the airport.

But seeing my dad was the highlight of the trip... he was very happy to see Jacob and we spent alot of time at the hospital visiting.. We had no trouble getting back home, despite waiting 3 hours on the runway in atlanta for a de-icing procedure.. that was painful, right before a 20 hour flight.

We were late into Jo'burg, so we missed our connecting flight, and had to stay the night in "Gangsta's Paradise", as it is so affectionately called by the locals. That was an experience I'll never forget.. The guest home we stayed in was great.. Home cooked meal, nice room, cable TV.. But when they picked us up from the airport, they told us we had a 8 minute drive to the home, which it was....But about halfway there, the gentleman driving pulled over on the highway, and waited. I asked what we were doing, he said.. " we are waiting for my coworker to pick you up and take you the rest of the way." I was a little scared, thinking we had been tricked, but sure enough, his friend picked us up and took us the rest of way( 4 minutes) to the home. When I got into his car, i asked him why he had to come and get us.. He told me that many, many robbers follow people from the airport to the hotel, guest house, etc. and rob them.. So this way, changing cars, was a way to shake them off of our tracks... I guess the fact that we pulled over, got out of a car, gathered all of our luggage out of a trunk and transferred to another car on a major interstate, they would have never seen that.... So, that was fun.. But when we arrived at the house, we were greeted by armed guards... Beer please!!!

On a side note....
I think the one thing that i realized time and time again while I was at home, was how lucky we are in the U.S. If my father were here, there's no question he would have never made it this far...One of Michelle's co-workers who is from Botswana commented on how fortunate we are to have Oxygen tanks to support patients, to have re-hab hospitals, to have all the comforts of modern medicine. There is none of that here...
Our security guard, who we've come to really love and admire, lost his 4 year old daughter while we were gone. Makes me realize how lucky Michelle and I are and how strange it sometimes feels to travel through this country with 5 healthy children, knowing that many of the men and women we encounter have already lost a child, a sibling or a parent. Or , in many cases, all of these mentioned.

I realize the blog hasn't been kept up with over the past few weeks, simply because I was back in the states.. But I wanted to post a video from our most recent trip to Serowe.. this in the hopes that someone (Cathy) will take her laptop up to a certain rehab hospital and show a certain someone some images of his other grandchildren that couldn't make the trip to see him....Hope you enjoy the video... Plus there's rhino too!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63tEYqiXeVA

All for now.

home now...

back home, it's nice to be here, but difficult being away from all the rest of the little ones. If you know my dad and would like to send him a word or two, you can do it at his care page......

http://www.carepages.com/ServeCarePage?cpn=PlaybyPlay&extrefid=tlcinvite

My sister and mom have been printing off any postings to the page and reading them to him. So any words of encouragement are great.

All for now

Headed home

Just wanted to post that I will be headed home(Andy) for a bit, don't know exactly when, but within the next few days. My dad is seriously ill in the hospital and Jacob and I are trying to make it home to see him. Therefore, the post will be down for a week or so, unless I get the feeling of putting something up while at home.

Hope all is well, please keep my Dad in your thoughts.

nice weekend in Serowe, Rhino Sanctuary and Happy Anniversary!!!

view of Serowe

Jude with bucket

Serowe church

Well our trip to the Rhino Sanctuary and the village of Serowe was a nice little getaway. the drive was about 3 1/2 hours to the Lentswe Lodge where we stayed.. We had a chalet with a beautiful view of the village below. Some of the highlights of the trip were seeing the cows wander below and the sky at night from our patio(which was totally unsafe for the twins). You could see every star in the sky.. The lodge was great, an adventure for the twins.. there were huge dropoffs around every turn, and a pool that kept calling jude's name. But special thanks to the people who took care of us over the weekend.... Prince, Tendai, Crispin and Jeffrey. the pizzas were great, they had cold Windhoeks, and let the kids get their own drinks from behind the bar, which was huge. The owners were very kind and friendly as well, in fact , they invited us to their pig farm for a braai today, probably was going to be way to much for our crew to handle, the twins were too tired to do anything this morning.. One side note, for my mom... the woman(Nora) was from Ireland, and her sister lived in Roscommon.. Pretty cool eh?

we checked out the rhino reserve and saw plenty of rhino, believe it or not. as well as a slew of wildebeast, giraffe, antelope, birds galore and had a wonderful lunch at the restaurant. they had no buns, no lettuce, no chicken, and were out of a couple other things as well. But jude turned on that charm of his and had the women swooning all over him. What a guy!

atttached are a few pics... one is of the view from our chalet of Serowe, some rhino, a church in serowe, the sunset in serowe, and jude with a bucket on his head... oh yeah, a picture of a bug that hangs out by our pool. there are many of them.. they're huge, about the size of the palm of my hand. When they fly, it sounds like a 747 landing

We're taking it easy for the rest of the day. Michelle and I are celebrating our 12th anniversary today. Probably will end up falling asleep with my head on the table playing a game of scrabble with Kate. I can't believe it's been 12 years.. I just keep looking younger as the years begin to pile up...

khama rhino sanctuary

Can't write too much today, we're headed to Khama Rhino Sanctuary http://www.khamarhinosanctuary.com/ and the village of Serowe. Apparently it's about 3 hours north and we're staying there for a couple of nights. Wasn't really planned, but as dead as gaborone has been and the longevity of the kids' break from school, we gotta get out and do something. We're staying at a place called Lentswe Lodge and will do some game drives, salt pan excursion and just hang out in an apparently large village..
We'll be back on Sunday, so check back then... Hope all is well at home.. I can't reiterate how hot it is here... it's hot. I'll be more creative with blogs next week... it's been pretty dull here this past week..
All for now

for your viewing pleasure!

I went out with my friend Arthur to watch the traditional singing/dancing yesterday. We were told it started at 11, so I left here around 10:30. We drove around the area where I was told it would be, nothing was there. we asked several people drinking under a tree if they knew anything about it, but they told us it didn't start until 3. We drove to the home of a man named Isaac, who had invited me the day before, we were informed he was at work and that the choir didn't start until 2. Then another group told us it didn't start until 1. Arthur and I decided to grab something to eat at a local place called the "Mountain Rest Liqour Restaurant and Jazz Club" . We thought that we would just wait, eat,drive through town and if nothing had changed, would just head back home. The restaurant was a blast and the food was great... For 29 pula, I had 2 beers, a half chicken and rice pap(whipped rice)= 5$. You can't beat it, and the chicken was the best I've had in a long time. the thing about this place was you order you meat, they marinate it, season it, etc. and then you take it out to the braai and grill it yourself. or, if you wish , they will have someone braai it for you. I opted for the latter and Arthur and I sat in this dusty bar talking to a few of the locals.... Travelling around the village with Arthur was great.. he can speak setswana with ease and when he approaches people they are amazed that he can speak their language and can't stop laughing... But it's incredible that he's mastered this language.. They simply can't believe a white man can speak setswana. It's a rarity here.

Around 2 we headed back home and in retrospect had a true Botswana day. we began the day thinking something might happen, it was suppose to happen but no one really knew when and in the end, we came away seeing nothing. This may sound frustrating and it is, but you adjust and expect the worst/ least, and you'll never be disappointed. I'm certain they think Americans work on a completely foreign clock where one is a slave to time.... Basically, here, time is something that just exists......it will happen.... soon... eventually..... ok, it didn't happen.... maybe tomorrow..... or next week..... let's have a beer....... another..... that's how things work here.... and you're never disapointed, just three sheets to the wind by midday. And if you can appreciate that, you'd love this place.

Here's a video for your viewing pleasure. I realize the blog has been a bit lacking of videos of the kids lately, so here's a clip of the twins and Maura playing. they're getting big!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRfWjpQM8bM

happy new year from botswana!!!

Life has been slow here.... not much going on since christmas, and the place has shut down for another week due to new year's. went to the bottle shop last night to grab some beer, you would have thought the country was selling its last day of alcohol. Kate and I waited in line for a half hour.. I went to Gabane yesterday and got this great photo of one of the homes in the village. I hope it gives you a sense of how bright and hot the sun is here. if it doesn't, let me just say that its hot.
Our guard Steven informed me that my truck was "too dirty" so I put the girls to work... washing the inside and out of our Pajero.
Jacob returned last night from a successful trip to the Drakensberg mountains.. He'll have to write about his adventures in a future blog entry.. He swam in waterfalls, hiked mountains and improved on his ping pong game apparently. It's good to have him home, the girls missed him.. Today we'll take it easy, do some swimming and maybe grill out.. I'm headed out to another choir singing/dancing celebration with my friend Arthur to take in the sites.. We're going to look like idiots with our cameras and video cameras, fortunately, he speaks setswana, so it should be fun... Alright all for now.. here's wishing you a great new year, enjoy all the football, skyline dip, etc that comes your way today....