the great things about the U.S.A., Happy birthday Kev!!!

Yesterday I realized my battery for my camera was not charging after a day of attempting to recharge... I was very concerned, but was confident that the photo shop i go to had a replacement battery... I went there yesterday morning, they were very helpful, but didn't have what I needed.. He told me to go to another place and try them, they had a "direct line to Johannesburg." I asked them, they told me the battery would cost about 100 USD, plus 20$ for shipping... for a battery! Plus they didn't know how long it would take to get here..

I got online, checked out the prices, saw that this was twice as much as home.. called a photo shop in Cincy, they had it in stock , I bought it in 3 minutes over the phone, and saved 60 $.Thank God my sister and brother are coming in 4 days!!! Cathy , you are the coolest!!!!

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We are totally used to the way things happen here, but every once in a while, it's nice to work something out the old fashioned way.....

Things here are outrageously expensive.. Botswana is really unable to produce anything for itself, and relies mainly on South Africa for all its goods.. That's why toilet paper costs 6 bucks, 9 slices of lunnchmeat $4 and poultry, pork, diapers and milk prices are all escalated.

/div>

they do make great bread here which is very cheap and "fatcakes" which are self explanatory, which are cheap..Oh yeah. .. and beer and wine are cheap...

I went to Gabane yesterday to visit with the potters and an artist friend named Grand, but took my camera(even though the battery was almost dead) just in case... Little did I know that it was a school holiday, so the place was flooded with kids... The kids were playing soccer in the dusty streets, eating lunch , etc. as I drove through the village..

The children in Gabane are much better at staring at a foreigner than the adults.. They will stare at you as you drive by, as you pass, and then continue to stare as you're 8 miles down the road.. but always with a smile and a wave. They are all sweet as can be.... and appreciate a photo opportunity...

there were 2 older boys, Kabo and Motibi(sp?) who greeted me when i got out of the truck, held my hands and walked with me as I tried to speak to them in broken Setswana.... they wanted their photos taken with my truck, but I told them that I had to drop off some photos to a home nearby.. They wanted to see them, turns out the photos were of their aunts and uncles.We went to their home, they picked up their soccer ball( a rolled up sock), and we went to their home.... Of course I had to take their photos, and we had a great time...The mother had her daughter dress up in her school uniform for me and they loved how they looked in the photos..>
it was a nice and unexpected morning...
Not much else going on today.. Michelle is going out to see "sex and the city" with friends while I am planning on a night of cornhole after the babies go down... It is getting very cold here at night, so a fire is a must...

One last note... Happy Birthday to my older brother Kevin..... He is 23 today!!!!

here's his Birthday card from the kids... I don't know if you can view it.. but we'll see. i think you'll need to copy and paste it into your browser.
http://www.jibjab.com/sendables/share_view/GqDsUyqYoGlbdGJLTtjrEbrx

All for now.