Celeste

Here's a picture of our friend Celeste, who is a huge help with the kids during the week. She comes every day during the school week to lend her hand in keeping the twins safe and happy. The kids love her , expecially Jude. Franny walks around the house saying, "bye-bye Leste". She is orinally from Zimbabwe and lives here now. She's been a blessing to have around and is extremely kind, patient and loving to our children.

This weekend, not much going on. We are headed out to the village of Oodi to visit the home of a friend of Michelle's from the hospital. Tomorrow we are having a U.S. family over for dinner. Michelle and the kids met them on the night of the U.S. Embassy Halloween party. They have a son Jacob's age and a daughter Kate's age. That's about it.... I have been teaching at Jake and Kate's school this past week, filling in for the headmaster. I'll be doing it next week as well. It's been nice to be back in the classroom.

We are waiting to see if Michelle will be teaching at a conference over the Thanksgiving week. (No Thanksgiving here). It would be in Kasane, which is on the outskirts of Chobe National Park. If she gets to go, we''ll all tag along and check out Chobe, where many National Geographic films are filmed. It's supposed to one of the top destinations in Africa, so we'll see.

http://www.botswana-places.co.za/chobe.html

Photo Slideshow

Attached is a photo slideshow from our weekend trip to Pilanesberg. The imagery is much clearer than the home movies posted in the last entry. Enjoy and yes, the McDonald's here tastes exactly the same as home...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIeQWfWtpLg

On a side note... Our Batswana neighbors that live next door, listen to the song Carrie by Europe, all day long... I heard it 6 times this afternoon.. It's amazing what our culture has given to the rest of the world. Every time I hear the song playing, I stop and salute.

Our weekend trip to Pilanesberg

Well, we have returned safely from our first weekend excursion and it was a major success. The landscape was beautiful, the animals were a-plenty. Zebras, elephants, giraffes, lions, springbok, many birds, hippos, impala, blah, blah, blah, blahh... The highlight of the trip for the kids though, was hitting the McDonald's in Rustenberg. Ronald has his claws in this place as well. Gross.... but oh so good.

The drive was about 4- 4.5 hours and was a beautiful drive through Botswana and some of the North- west Province of South Africa. Alot like Virginia, but with black mambas, volcanoes and all kinds of other cool things. No major headaches during the drive except for the border posts. We all had to get out and register our car, check our passports, etc.in Botswana and then the same on the South Africa side.(about 300 ft.) . Not a big hassle, but with 5 screaming kids asking if we're there yet, it wasn't fun.

Pilanesberg was very nice though. The weather was great and the game viewing was awesome, as was the night sky. On Sunday morning Jacob and I got up at 5 to take an early morning game drive. We saw lions relaxing in the bush and a huge pack of elephants climbing the hills of the park. The videos highlight both of these parts. Upon our return, Jacob ventured back out with Michelle and the girls to check out the game while the twins took a nap. The great thing about most of these places is that you don't have to pay a guide for the game drive, you can simply drive around on you own.

During the afternoon, we hit the pool(salt water pool) talked with some older folks and enjoyed watching the kids splash in the pool. That evening, we took a great drive around, going on the tops of the mountains and viewing a bunch of animals, including many elephants, some a few arm lengths away... The kids loved it, especially Maura. You were literally in the middle of nowhere, hoping to God your car would make it over the rocks and dirt paths. It was a true Africa experience... I think....

At night, we all fell asleep early only to wake up at 5 a.m. again, due to the fact that birds are really freakin' loud here at that time of the day. Our chalet was attacked by a group of monkeys who stole a sippy cup and some garbage off of our front porch. No harm done. It was kind of scary though, when I was packing the car up to leave, they were waiting there hissing at me, hoping I would drop the box full of food.

When we went down to eat at the restaurant, we passed the pool... I wish I would have gotten video of the site before us, because it was nothing I had ever seen before. Lined up in the pool were hundreds and hundreds of frogs, having a good ole' time. Jacob and Kate were under the impression that they were all giving each other piggy back rides, but we know better, don't we? Jacob kept trying to coerce them into jumping, but I tried to tell him to keep his distance and let them enjoy themselves.
After breakfast we headed back through the park and took in the sites one last time..

A few observations about our trip into South Africa.... The poverty is just as bad there as in Botswana... Many creatively built homes using car hoods, metal sheathing(sp?), and rocks to keep the panels from blowing away scatter the landscape. There are villages setup in the middle of nowhere, with people walking the streets looking to catch a ride.These villages were completely populated by black South Africans, not many Afrikaaners or white South Africans living in those homes. Also, the level of racism that we noticed here was unnerving. To say that South Africa is a country in turmoil is an understatement. The staff at the complex was great... respectful and deserving of our respect.... Unfortunately, most people don't give it... From my experience, a little respect and acknowledgement, whether it being saying hello or tipping someone for their services, seems to go a long way.
Here are 2 videos from our trip. Sorry for the lengths of these, I just didn't know what to eliminate, so i didn't eliminate anything. The third video will be added in an hour or so, so check back. I'll put a slide show of the photos up shortly... Those will give you clearer images..
All for now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwiyr5QvZCs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Lw0RUcSJ1k
Here's the third video. it 's number 2 in the series of 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYThQCebiak

time out in production

Just got back from Pilanesberg last night and boy are our arms tired!!!! God I'm good. Had a great time and am in the midst of putting some video and photos together for your viewing pleasure....
It will be ready tomorrow... Our computer moves really slow with large downloads. I apologize to our millions of fans out there, but I have no choice. Check back early afternoon and on.

In the meantime.. check out a few of my favorite skits from one of the all time, all time greatest shows. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQlVbWXr2E4

Truitt Grau and The Kelvinators to host a benefit in Gaborone!!!!

It's true!!! Truitt will be here doing what he does best.... and the Kelvinators will be barnstorming the country to raise money for the Truitt Grau Foundation(inside joke for all the Nolans reading the blog)

I have been getting some requests for our address , in case anyone wants to send something here. We've had success through DHL receiving packages. It's expensive, but we're worth it. It's posted at the end of this post.

It takes about 10 days, I think. Michelle's dad sent a package to us, it arrived in Botswana in 7 days but sat in customs for 16 days after that. Here's where you should send it...

Attached is a video of Jacob and his classmates after a softball match receiving awards. It's a bit boring, but it was an enjoyable evening. As stated before, the sporting events are sooo much more relaxed and non competitive here. Puts things in perspective. No crazy parents screaming at umpires and yelling at their kids to get their heads out of their a**. I figured I'd pick up the slack, so I start yelling at everyone..... Jacob, his coach, the ump, the concession stand lady, no one was spared. I'll have photo stills of Jake in his throwback Chicago white Sox uniform in a day or 2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBhzlJ0VVEg

Getting ready for our first excursion into the wild.. Tomorrow will be the last post for the weekend... We head to Pilanesburg National Park, South Africa on Saturday.. One of the biggest gatherings of animals in the country including all the major animals.... Lion, giraffes, rhino, water buffalo, antelopes, wild dogs, hyenas, etc. Should be fun.

Sorry.. here's the address to send anything. ... for some reason it was pasted here, and I can't move it... I'm too lazy to retype it.

The Botswana - Baylor Children's Clinical Center of Excellence- Princess Marina Hospital
1823 Hospital way, Private Bag BR 129
Gaborone, Botswana
Attention--- Michelle Eckerle

Happy Birthday Maura/ Jude showing off his badonkadonk and...In Memory of......

Maura turns three today. Our forgotten child.. She is without a doubt, the most independent one out of the lot.. Because of the twins, her life was turned upside down, and she has learned to do things by herself. Yesterday, she got up before us all, made pancakes and eggs and changed the oil in the truck for us. She's awesome. How did she do it without any tools? she's at school right now celebrating and probably catching another virus that we are not used to. Hopefully it will knock our family out of commission for another 3 weeks. Kate is missing her 3rd day of school and the twins are sick in bed as we speak. I realize it's Halloween at home, but it feels nothing like that here. they don't celebrate it here. Attached is a b-day celebration for jacob and maura that took place on sunday. Jude tries to get naked in it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShAlbJulq60

If you didn't catch her singing, go to the last blog post to see.

On to more important things.... John Black dead!?!?!?! Hit by a car? What has our country turned into? How are you all coping? How could you let this happen? Is Marlena alright? Are flags flying at half mast? Days of our Lives will never be the same... Someone inform me of the current happenings in Salem. Did Sammy have her baby/twins/sextuplets yet? Yes, I know way too much about Days, but can you blame me? The show is unbelievable. I'm a mom. They show Days here, but it's 1-2 years behind... I think. Marlena is dead, Jack is dead and Abe was dead, but he's not anymore. When I started watching the program again last summer, all those people alive and kicking. Where am I in the show? Someone help me out? John is in the hospital, on the verge of death(not in a coma, but just had some tests done.)

Ok, keep reading the blog.. I've exposed myself...I like cool things too.... Like baseball and Nascar.

video for the day!!!

Here's one of the greatest renditions of the hit song from "High School Musical II". Notice the emotion in her face as she hits the key notes and phrases of the song.What those phrases are, I don't really know.. Happy 3rd B-day Maura!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVKgz20ynOs