A Scenic Combi Ride

Me, Sophie, and Ani at Primi Piatti!

A very nice Monday today—started things off this morning at Café Dijo, my new favorite wi-fi hotspot. I uploaded a bunch of pictures, e-mailed some family and friends, and got started on a few assignments for school. They have REAL coffee there…none of that weird dissolvable powder. I think I’m going to arrange a weekly visit to that place. I made it to campus in time for P. Chem at noon, and ten Jen, Sophie, and I stopped by Batsi’s for some Namibia travel advice/help. We will either fly round-trip or have Emma’s brother take us. I’m fine with either. The flights will save us travel time, but the drive will save us money.


So I have 3 weeks of school before the Easter weekend. My goal is to stay up-to-date on ALL class material in chem. and physics. It must start this week :)

After class today, I decided to try a new route home—so I won’t have to go through the station. It’s not that I don’t like it, but just that’s it’s not the safest place for me to be. I wasn’t quite sure where to get off the first combi—to pick up the next one (their routes overlap), so I just picked a random stop. At that point, I was unsure which direction to get on the next one…to cross the road or not. I ended up crossing the road and getting on Tlokweng Route 6-- the right combi…going the wrong way…oops. So, I had about a 30-minute (or more) ride home. I got to drive through an area called Tlokweng, and then back past the point at which I picked up the combi; I hopped up front when the seat became vacant, and just enjoyed the ride through a part of Gabs I’d never seen before. When I finally got off at my stop at Game City Mall just before dark, I gave the driver 3 pula for a fare of 2.70. When I received no change in return, he said I took a double ride, so I didn't get any. I looked confused and upset, and when he asked if I understood, I replied, "No, but keep the change anyway."  It wasn't worth the fight and 30 thebe (5 cents), so I had to let it go.

On my way home, I stopped at the store and bought some ingredients for puppy chow (which I will be making this weekend). There was no chex cereal, so I had to settle with shredded wheat…and I have yet to find some chocolate I can use. I may just have to buy milk chocolate bars, but I have a few other places to check fefore I do that. The other day I also bought some cookie mix to bake some chocolate chip cookies for my family. I need to spread the joy of baking around here!

Tomorrow I start volunteering at the Baylor Pediatric Clinic—basically just baby-sitting (playing with the kids while they wait to see the doctor), but I think it’s better than nothing…which I was about to settle with until I met some guy named Ed in my cab the other night. I’m hoping to make some connections there that can lead to more medically-related projects I could help with. I’m going around 9am and then I’ll play with the kids until about 11:30. Then I go to UB for Setswana class…chemistry tutorial after that (which I need to do homework for)…then I plan on taking the correct combi route home—well, just combis going the right direction.

Plan for the rest of the week is: Jwaneng Diamond Mine trip on Wednesday, Gab Sun Hotel to lay out this weekend, Café Dijo on Friday…and maybe a movie then, too.