Gaborone... a wonderful city

Catch up time. I'm sorry this is so sporadic- it's just that I don't really have much down time. We are really busy here. The time I do have in the evenings is limited, and I fight with the internet a lot instead of relaxing. Tonight, I decided to give up and write a little. I hope you are all doing well! I am enjoying my time here and every day, there seems to be something new.

I am trying to remember what I have told you already, so if I repeat myself, I apologize. Before I came here, I had never been to Africa. I had gone to several places in Asia, but none here. I really didn't know what to expect other than the pictures and things you see on TV. I obviously have not seen all of Botswana (not even close), but I can tell you about the city of Gaborone (oh, and they say it like it's an Italian word "HabaRONay" like Mascarpone cheese) which I think sounds way more romantic. *smiles* The people here are warm and friendly. They are extremely appreciative of the help we are offering, and they work hard in their positions. They value family, and they seem to just generally appreciate life. Gaborone as a whole is a nice little town- plenty of shopping centers, good restaurants, and many random highway animals as I like to think of them. Goats... horses...donkeys...cats... you never know what you will see while driving. It's unique to say the least. If I were to be asked if I would come back, I would say definitely. It's a very interesting country. Believe it or not, they are a democracy here, and from talking with some of the people, they seem to love their current president. The presidents here serve 5 year terms, and they can be re-elected once. The conversation I had today with one of my nursing friends gave me insight into why they like him so much. He said that the president is a forward thinker, and he is African but makes decisions like an American. He said that they feel the country will prosper under his direction. It's pretty cool to see democracy alive and well somewhere other than America!! More proof that the system works, so we shouldn’t mess with it. I did hear something today about the taxes being like 26%, so I will have to find out more about that.

Traveling to another country always leads to interesting food. Breakfast here is included at the hotel, and it's basically yogurt (which may have been sitting out for a few hours), granola of some sort, fresh fruit (it is SO good!), and toast. There are different juices like guava and mango and passion fruit- it's always fun to see what will be out. We did go grocery shopping the other day, and I got some of my own yogurt to keep in the fridge in my room to take along and some extra crunchy PB to put on my toast. (Aww…Stephanie, it’s just like being at work with you!) We eat every morning at 7am outside on the veranda, and it's lovely. It's usually about 70 degrees and peaceful that time of the morning.
Lunches have been a little more of an adventure. At the hospital, they generally have rice, some type of vegetable soup/gravy for the rice, two kinds of salad or vegetable, and two kinds of mystery meat. Today, for example, they had rice and the gravy, some type of beef and chicken, and cole slaw and squash as sides. I have discovered that if I tell them I want rice and vegetables, they will ask me 3 times if I am sure I don't want meat, but then they give in and fill my plate up with veggies and rice. That’s great news for me. I don't really want to do the mystery meat- I have been warned against it from those who have gone before me ; )
Dinner every night has been great- we eat out, of course. Every night we have eaten outside, and it's glorious at the end of a long day. Last night, we went to a Brazilian steakhouse which was very cool. They bring big skewers with hunks of meat (that's the highly technical term) to your table and ask if you want some. Then, they slice it off for you. We had lamb, beef, chicken, and pork ribs each in different varieties with sides, and it was quite good. The chicken wings were excellent. Tonight, we went to a pizza place, but their oven was belly up, so we all ordered pasta instead. Mine was a spinach, tomato, basil, and garlic dish with a light white wine sauce. Very tasty indeed. I have enjoyed the meals we have eaten so far.
Oh, and tonight while we ate outside, we watched a very cool lightning storm off in the distance. I am assuming it was heat lightning because it was very warm today- in the 90's. I'm sorry for those of you who are shoveling snow... I will be a mess when I get back.

I forgot to mention this before, but Gaborone has not discovered the irritating world of water saver shower heads yet. For those of you who travel a great deal, you can appreciate this. The shower in my room is pretty much like a torrential downpour. It's wonderful! You have to appreciate the small things in life- if you don't, you miss out on simple pleasures.

As far as how things are going, I think they are going as well as they can for what we are up against. I did a lot of teaching over the last 2 days, and I would have done more today, but they had other things they had to do to prepare. I have also spent a lot of time planning other things to teach if the opportunity does arise, although next week will be very busy and they will be rotating staff on 12 hour shifts. Most of my work next week will be observing on the unit and working on a huge project of a week’s worth of peds specific orientation presentations for the new nurses. They have not developed that yet at all. The author will be none other than… Aylea P. There is much to do, as I have probably said before, and next week will be a lot of long hours. It's good work, though, because I feel like when I leave I will have done something to better these nurses’ lives in a small way. That always makes it feel worthwhile. The experience itself is a blessing, and I know that it will give me a wealth of things to take home with me. God has truly given me a gift by allowing me this chance of a lifetime.

Tomorrow morning, we are going to Mokolodi game park right outside of Gaborone, and we will be doing a game drive at 7:30am. For those of you who don't know, game drive is like a mini safari where you go out in a 4x4 vehicle with a guide and try to track down animals so you can see them in their natural element. Basically, it's going to be great! From there, we will drop Michele and Marcee at the airport, and Rich and I will continue on to a much larger game reserve in South Africa, and the name is escaping me at the moment. It begins with M too, and I can't keep the two straight. We will do that Sat, spend the night, and come back on Sunday. I am so excited because I am a nerd who loves to watch the animals on Nat Geo, and now I get to see them for REAL! I can't wait to tell you stories about this adventure.

Ok- off to bed. The power has gone off several times as I have been typing, and I would rather just drift off to sleep and not have to worry about turning my flashlight off and on. Just one of the many "quirks" of the Falcon Crest Suites. Lovely place, though. For now, I will say goodnight even though it's 3:30 in the afternoon for you as I write this. I love you all, and thank you once again for the emails. pictures, and messages on Skype. Those of you who take time out of your busy lives to make me feel more “at home”, you keep me smiling. You have no idea how much those things mean to me! I can’t always reply, but just know you have warmed my heart and made my day better.
~A