Last Days in Botswana

7/13/09 I was really hoping to go to Victoria Falls while in Kasane but the plans and cost just didn't seem to work out right. It seems like the people who did go had a really great time so that's awesome! The other memebers of the group went around Kasane and to the markets and came back with lots of great souveniers. I didn't go because I was trying to avoid spending any more money and I refuse to withdrawal any more pula from the ATM. Instead me and Meg stayed at the hotel and relaxed in the sun. We also got massages which were very cheap (abt 27 USD). I needed it after being crammed on that bus and sleeping awkwardly. Tonight we had a bonfire for everyone. We al went around and shared our favorite memories which was a lot of fun. I thought it was a great way to end our experience in Kasane.

7/14/09 Longest bus ride ever!! My butt is numb. My neck hurts. And I am exhausted! Good Night!!

7/15/09 Last night in Botswana.

Talk about bittersweet. That seems to be the phrase for many things lately. It's hard to believe that our time here is already over but I am really excited to explore Cape Town and then head home. Dr. Lucky (in the picture with me to the right) had a dinner for us. Clare invited Esale, our roomate to come along so she drove us (SCORE!) when we arrived, I was stunned at how beautifully decorated it was. I didn't expect her to go all out for us but it was very nice of her. The food was wonderful and it seemed like everyone had a really great time. A lot of other people were there that had been with us throughout our trip. It was great to reunite with everyone one last time before we headed home to finish some last minute packing. I have to say that I learned so much on this trip and was truly touched by each and every individual I met here. I had a wonderful experience at Baylor and really enjoyed the people that I worked with both because they were very professional and had much knowledge to share with me and because they were incredibly compassionate and caring people who truly believe in the work they are doing. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to travel to place that I honestly would have never thought I'd travel to. I have learned so much not just about Botswana culture but about myself and I cannot wait to share what I have learned with the people closest to me.

Pictures: Me & Zach (roomies) on our last night. Mandy, Titus, Me & Chris by the fire.

Kasane Game Drives at Chobe National Park

7/11/09 After the long torturous 12 hour drive to Kasane in Northern Botswana, we arrived in the beautiful (and WARM) Mowana Safari Lodge. To the left is the Mowana tree the lodge is named after. This particular one is over 800 years old and they are known for how thick their trunks are and that they live for a very long time. Apparently when the lodge was being built it caught on fire during an electrical storm and the original Mowana tree that was 1500 years old was destroyed. We started our drive at 4am and it was freezing cold! I was bundled up in my blankets, cacoon style and thought my ankles/feet were going to go numb. Thanksfully it warmed up about 2 hours into the trip. We stop several times for breakfast, lunch and to use the bathroom. The only thing that could have made a drive like that better was a little Shayne Ward so we could put on a kareoke performance. Our lodge was absolutely gorgeous! We were told we would be staying at the Chobe Marina Lodge but had our hotel changed last minute. After having seen Chobe's pictures I was sure there was no way it could be topped but I was quite mistaken. Mowana is a 5 star lodge that even Bill Clinton, Oprah and other Botswana governmental officials have stayed in so I mean I guess it was good enough for me! ;) Mandy and I decided to room together and we took full advantage of the anemities provided! We lounged around in our robes and watched animal planet to prepare us for the wildlife we would see the next day.

7/12/09 Another early morning, but well worth it. We woke up at around 5:30 to get ready for the open air Jeep game drive through Chobe National Park. There were 3 Jeeps that took our group around and we saw giraffes, buffalo, baboons, impala, antelope, hippos, bald eagles and lions! I was most excited for the lions because I am a Leo! We heard them roar which was pretty awesome also. I wish my pictures had come out better but I know that other people got better ones so I'm not as worried about it. They stopped the jeeps along the Chobe River in an open area. Across the river was Namibia. They provided us with coffee and tea which I think we all really love how tea time is incorporated into everything we do here! As we were roaming the land one of the lions began to roar and they called us tocome closer to the Jeeps...just in case they ventured closer to where we were. Here are some pictures from the game drive:

The breakfast buffet at Mowana is heavenly. They make us omelettes with whatever we want in them! I'm seriously hardly ever hungry for lunch which is probably good since we have to get lunch/dinner on our own. Mandy and I were so lazy, we just kind of lounged around until it was time for the boat tour on the Chobe River. It was low 80s so I opted for a tank top (yesss) and enjoyed the nice breeze as I rode top deck. We saw elephants, hippos, crocodiles, water buffalo, bald eagles and the SUN! lol I don't think anyone realizes how much I have missed being warm. I didn't really expect it to be as cold as it has been but it is winter, I suppose. I think I enjoyed the water tour the most because of the how close we were to the elephants. They were playing in the water with one another and it was the cutest thing! They kept dunking each other and going under and then popping back out. Apparently hippos sleep on land during the day as a way to warm up when the water is very cold. What a life: basking in the sun all day! One hippo got up and was walking away from us...he was pretty much waddling and wagging his nub of a tail. Probably the funniest thing we did was creep our boat up on a crocodile who was hanging out close to shore and then he freaked out and snapped before heading back into the water. A couple of people got really great videos, I wish I had one also! Here are some pictures from the boat tour:

Bye Bye Baylor

7/9/09 Today was the multicultural counseling conference at UB. I bought the shirt I have on in the picture at a store here and had specifically set it aside for the conference however, I didn't try it on because it looked like it should fit. When I started change, I realized I couldn't get it over my head! Now I have a fairly small head and the fact that it wouldn't fit through their really concerns me but we took out some of the stitching and i was able to shimmy it down. What an ordeal though! Our presentation was at 3:15 but of course they found a way to incorporate tea time in so we didn't really start until 3:30ish. Dr. Pillay set up the presentation by filling in the listeners on what our program is about, the preparation, and history of it and then posed several questions to us about our experience on this trip so far. It was a bit difficult answering the question about our initial impressions honestly without sounding ignorant or closeminded but I think we were able to articulate our perceptions and how they may have been misled. I will honetly admit, I know so little about this country and Africa in general before coming here so this has been such an eye opening experience. I think too, it will open the eyes of other people around me who may have false perceptions of what African countries are like as they can see through my pictures and my words that they maybe its not so different from home. If there's one thing I've learned on this trip it's that people are people everywhere you go. Kindness translates across all cultures...thankfully. Of course there will be differences, and there ARE difference but I think I've been truly amazed by the similarities. Tonight we went out to dinner to Primi, an amazing Italian restaurant at Riverwalk. Mandy and I split the primo pasta (fettuccine in a light cream sauce with mushrooms and ham aka delicious in a bowl) and some wine. It was probably the second best meal I’ve had on the trip (behind the Grand Palm buffet!) The picture above is Mandy, Me & Meg at dinner. We had such a fabulous night! Afterward we went to a local dive bar that Dr. Pillay and Dr. Bates often go to. It was nice to go somewhere a little smaller and more laid back.

7/10/09 Today is my last day at Baylor Children’s Clinical Centre of Excellence. Is was somewhat disheartening to hear people at breakfast saying “thank God its my last day working” as if it was the worst thing they have ever had to do. I understand that some people didn’t get placed where they wanted and that others who did may not have been able to do all the things they had hoped but I certainly thought everyone would make the most of it, but unfortunately it seems like a few people did not. I could be disappointed that I wasn’t able to actually work with clients and let that ruin my experience, but I see the importance of the work we were able to do and I feel grateful for the knowledge I gained throughout my entire time at Baylor. I guess I’m just a firm believer that life is what YOU make of it. I’m not trying to minimize the influence of other people choices on our lives or even the things that occur that our beyond our control, but we always have a choice on how we decide to view all of those things. Sometimes I think the easiest route is to focus on the negative but I think its ultimately less fulfilling. I have chosen to reframe my time at my placement in order to ensure that I have had a memorable and rewarding experience.

At Baylor, we had our final play group which was fun as usual. I’m really going to miss those sweet little smiling faces! Clare had told me how at SOS the kids always call her teacher (pronounced tee-cha) which I thought was really cute and today one of the little boys kept calling me it. His voice was so cute and he was practically chasing me around the table trying to hand me various things he would find on the ground. Kate and I had a farewell lunch with some of the other visiting scholars at the hotel restaurant in Main Mall. Kate splurged and got their buffet which looked amazing but I was trying to save some money. I only have a couple hundred pula left and I’m trying really hard not to withdraw anymore until we get to Cape Town because their currency is obviously different. After lunch we had a quick meeting with Dr. Ryan about our assignments and to discuss how our experience was at Baylor. He thanked us for our hard work and even offered to write us letters of recommendation in the future if we wanted. I will probably be taking him up on that offer very soon.

We leave for Kasane at 4:30 am tomorrow morning!! We’re all excited but not so much for the bus ride. I can’t imagine being trapped on a charter bus for 12 or so hours. I thought it was bad when we road the one from Athens to Pittsburgh when our flight to Cancun was moved from Columbus to there and that was only a third of the time. They changed our hotel from the Chobe Marina Lodge to the Mowana Safari Lodge. I can’t tell based of their websites which one is better though we’ve been told that the Mowana is the more expensive choice so we’ll see! I’m really excited for the safaris.. I hope that we see elephants, rhinos, giraffes, hippos, cheetahs, lions, all the big animals!!! I’m a little bit nervous for the boat tour just because of my motion sickness..the last time I was on a small boat was in Cancun going out to Isle Murjeres and I was soo sea sick. Andrew had to hold me the entire way there and back because I was so miserable. This time I came prepared with some Dramamine so hopefully it does the trick! We’re not really sure if we’ll be able to go to Victoria Falls on Tuesday because of the transportation issues and cost.

I decided to pack not only for Kasane but the rest of my stuff so that I won’t have to do it when we get back. I just know that I’m going to want to relax and catch up on my blog so it made more sense to me. Plus, I needed to see if it was possible for me to fit all my pottery in my carry on bag and it is! It’s quite heavy so I’m going to see if I can buy a small bag with wheels on Wednesday when we get back but if not, I’ll just have to suck it up. I also highlighted my hair because my awful roots were about to drive me crazy. I was a little nervous to use hair dye from another country but I took a chance and it turned out really well. We talked about staying up all night until the bus left but everyone decided they wanted to sleep some. For whatever reason though I was not tired at all until around 2am so I was up in my room packing and cleaning up and talking to Andrew until about 3 in the morning. I guess I will be sleeping on the bus in about 2 hours!

Week 4, already?!

7/5/09 I was so tired when I woke up today. I don't know what my problem was but I had no energy. Esale asked me, Clare and Kate to go with her a pottery place outside of town which I couldn't pass up. I'm not exactly sure where it was located but it was about a 40 minute drive. This was my first real experience outside of the city (the drive to Rustenberg doesn't count for me!) and it was interesting to see. There were farm animal roaming all around and many of them were not fenced in. Esale said it's like that most places and in fact a lot of time people will take their goats out to graze in the morning and they just find their way back home. I thought that was pretty interesting. I bought entirely way too much stuff at the pottery place but I couldn't resist. I got an entire coffee set (Coffee pot, sugar container, creamer container, 4 cups, 4 saucers) for less than 45 dollars. That is a steal by comparison to what I would pay for the same quality in the U.S. I also got a casserole dish for about 15 dollars but now all these goods pose a problem...how do I get them home? If I wasn't going to Cape Town I wouldn't worry about it nearly as much. Or even if we were just staying in one hotel the entire time but we plan on bouncing around a bit and these items are going to make my luggage very heavy. Dr. Bates said I could ship it back, which obviously I knew but I worry about them being transported safely in terms of breaking and being stolen. I may just pack them in my big suitcase while I head to Cape Town and then put them in my carry on bags for the long haul home. I'm starting to feel like I'm ready to head back. It's not that I'm not having a good time but there are a number of things I miss..like my own big bed, plastic shower curtains to keep the water from leaking out, my own car, not having to translate the cost of something in my head, cold milk for cereal, the sun and of course my family, friends and boyfriend. Maybe if I could bring all those things here then I'd be content? At least what we have coming up is exciting so I can't help but look forward to it! Next week is my last week at Baylor. On Thursday some of us are presenting at a conference being held at UB and Kate and I have decided to attend the morning lectures. Our presentation is on multicultural counseling and specifically our part is to discuss how our experiences here have shaped up and how we will carry it with as when we go back to the U.S. Saturday we leave for Kasane at 5am or so. It's a 10-12 hour bus ride to the safari we're going to. Apparently we're staying in a very nice lodge so that's good. We get back on Tuesday afternoon after doing an open air jeep tour and a river boat tour. We should have the opportunity to see a lot of animals, including the big 5. I will of course take tons of pictures! Then on Thursday morning we leave Gaborone and had to Joburg. from there the 6 of us (me, Clare, Mandy, Zach, Kate K, and Meg) will head to Cape Town while the other's head back home. It's gonna be quite an adventure!

7/6/09 Fairly certain nothing too exciting happened today. Beside the fact that my A key fell off which is in fact not exciting but irritating. Do you know how many words have A in them?

Tonight Mandy and I decided to watch a movie. I streamed The Proposal on to my little computer. It was funny to see both of us in a twin bed with this little bitty computer on our laps watching a movie. I liked the movie even if it was a fairly typical chick flick...what can I say, I'm a sucker for a happy ending and love stories :)

7/7/09 Breakfast hit the spot this morning. And so did lunch. And then so did dinner. How did I get so lucky in one day?! Breakfast was an egg scrambler, toast and this meat stuff that's surprisingly good, corn flakes and coffee. Lunch I had a half of a cheese omelette (can you tell breakfast is my favorite meal yet?) a biscuit, cole slaw, french fries and coke. Interesting combo but it was yummy. For dinner I had bread, mixed veggies, french fries, a chicken leg and the most delicious beef. Ok enough about the food..
At work today Kate and I continued to design the brochure. She had went ahead and put it in Microsoft publisher and we were on the hunt for free clip art and things to jazz the pages up a bit. It looks decent so far. After lunch we went to some of the Paediatric KITSO trainings on disclosure and counseling children and adolescents with HIV/AIDS. They were both really interesting and I took some notes. I don't know why I didn't think to bring a notebook with me.. but I've just been using the backs of sheets from other talks we've sat in on to jot down the important stuff. Once we got home from Baylor I decided I was going to finish Nineteen Minutes. Considering I'm not much of a fan of books anymore, I can say this one was definitely worth reading. I like books that keep my attention the way this one did but I'm glad to be done with it. I can't decide if I want to start another one or just call it quits. That's part of the other reason I don't read like I use to...I let the book consume me. I have the most difficult time putting it down. People were making funny of me because I brought it over when were playing catch prase the other night but that's how I am when I'm intrigued, I become engulfed.

I was just in the grumpiest mood a few minutes ago. Like I mentioned earlier my A key fell off so I was thinking about how annoying its been and decided that maybe I could fix it. Turns out one of the clip parts on the actual key is broken so I took my Q off and moved it to my A spot which has been extremely helpful. Then my E key started sticking so I popped it off, thinking there was dirt or something under it and one of the piece underneath that broke. So now that's barely hanging on but thanksfully because of the way I type the E hasn't been to troublesome, I can still hit it because it actually leans forward now. Anyway, the whole or deal last an hour and a half and was very close to ending with me throwing my computer across the room. (one of the downfalls of it being so light weight..) but I think I can make this work until I get home.. I already sent in request asking Dell to get me new keys. ughhh and now I just took a cold shower...awesome!

Happy Birthday Andrew & America :)

7/3/09 Today is Andrew's birthday! I really wish I could be there to celebrate with him but I already told him I'll make it up to him when I get home. He received his birthday package yesterday, thanks to my mom who wrapped and sent it to him. Of course he didn't wait until today to open it but I guess that's understandable. I don't know that I would have been able to either lol I got him a webcam so we can use skype when we're away from each other. Even though calling his phone from my skype is relatively inexpensive, this way will make it free and sometimes we can video chat and see each other. I didn't just get it because of this trip. As many people know he is planning on joining the Marine next year and may be away for extend periods of time. (Hopefully not too often). I also made him a picture album with a lot of our pictures over the last year and half. Next to each picture I found a quote that related to what we were doing. It wasn't completely finished when I had to leave for this trip but I promised him that I will finish it when I get back. I also got him a new St. Florian pendant (patron Saint of firefighters) because his last one fell off his chain somewhere. He seemed to really like his gifts! I'm lucky that I will be back just before my birthday and that we will be able to spend it togetherbut I told him I'd share the spot light :) He is going to try and come down when the day I get home and stay through Monday since my birthday is that day. I'm really excited and I think he is too!

At work today I continued to work on the caregiver support group information. Lately, I have come across a number of resources from Africa which has been a big help. Previously I could only locate American studies and some of their information is not culturally applicable to the people here. Kate and I sent out adherence brochure to Mmapula, Lindsay & Bakani to get feedback so that we can focus on making the template in Microsoft publisher next week. I hope that we're able to complete this project before we leave. Today was also Stu's last day at Baylor so everyone took him out to lunch. We went to a place at Main Mall, I'm not sure of the name but it was in the upstairs part of a building and we set on a balcony that overlooked the street vendors. The food was pretty good but I couldn't eat everything they gave me! We decided to have a night in and play catch phrase & jenga. It was nice to relax a little bit and not have to worry about getting ready. I was feel very unmotivated! Almost everyone was crammed into one of our apartments and having a pretty good time!

7/4/09 Happy 4th of July! It's a real bummer to not be at home for this holiday as it is one of my favs! I love to watch fireworks and see everyone dressed in red, white & blue. Someone called the U.S. Embassy hear to see if they were doing anything to celebrate but they weren't which was a little disappointing. It's probably because Botswana is a relatively small country and there aren't enough American vistors to warrant a grandiose celebration. Hopefully they at least gave all their workers the day off! I decided to hand wash more of my clothes early in the afternoon and set out side while they dried for a while but it was pretty chilly so I had to go in. I've been reading "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Picoult so I was able to make quite a bit of progress while I waited on my clothes. The book is incredibly interesting. I typically hate reading which is kind of weird since I was obsessed when I was little. I nearly always had a book in my hand but then I lost interest. This is the first book since The da Vinci Code that I'll complete. I probably have 100 pages left out 455. It's about a high school shooting and I really think that every high school freshman should have to read it to get a better look at how their actions can affect people. The other girls went to Main Mall and Riverwalk but I just didn't feel like walking their or spending money. We decided to go to Bull & Bush again and it would have been better for me had my stomach not hurt most of the time. I probably should have just stayed in with Kate! She hasn't been feeling well and thinks she might have the flu. I hope that she gets to feeling better soon!

Happy Holidays Botswana

6/30/09 Play group was interesting today. At first I was sitting at the table with the kids who were coloring, reading, drawing and playing with legos while Kate played some sports out in the more open area. We try to split up between the kids so that we can keep an eye on them. Eventually we switch places once I was given the checkin sheet and was roaming around trying to get the kids to sign in. It's pretty difficult to communicate with some of the younger one but thankfully the older kids who would understand me helped me ask them to fill it out and gave them instructions in Setswana about what the paper said, since it was also in English. The interesting part of today was this little girl, she was probably 4 years old and had been out earlier but she obviously had a problem with the toddler boy sitting on Kate's lap. She pretty much kept attacking him and trying to grab him, cover his face, pull his arms, take off his shoes, etc. She was the first real problem child we have had, which I find amazing because as Clare mentioned in our meeting yesterday from her experience at a daycare at home that most of the time large groups of young kids are difficult to manage, but not these kids. I've only had to ask one boy to share as he seemed to monopolize the badmitton birdie but after I asked him to please share he did. And then like I mentioned the little girl was a bit of a handful but one of the local woman talked to her and sent her inside. I fele like that would happen every day in the States. When I say it's time to clean up I hear no cries or whines but begging to help me pack things up and carry things in...I wonder what they do that these kids that causes this level of obedience?

We don't have work tomorrow so I decided to update my facebook and load as many of my pictures from the trip as possible. I'm almost done. I just have to put up the ones from the soccer game and then of course I'll have whatever else I take tomorrow. I'm excited to sleep in..we'll see if it actually happens though. I have a difficult time sleeping in at home and this isn't my bed so I can see myself having trouble here as well. I can tell I'm getting use to it here because I wake up 2 minutes before my alarm almost every day. I hate that though.. I like getting my maximum amount of sleep!

I was in kind of a grumpy mood today just because I'm getting irritated by certain things and people. I'm trying to get the most I can out of this experience and there are just some things that make it very difficult. I realize that we all have bad days and that being in a place with cultural differences, we will have experience that irritate us and we feel the need to vent but sometimes I feel like I hear the same complaints over and over. It's usually not even the complaint that really bothers me because I get it and I've complained about a few things more than once myself. It's more of the inability to move on and not let it interfere with the rest of the day or experience and how that experience will rub off on their interactions with other group members. I've literally had to remove myself from situations but I guess that's better than letting it ruin my day as well. People have probably heard me say that this trip should be Survival style (vote people off) and there are times when

I'm not kidding! I wouldn't mind sending the "Negative Nancy's" back to the States for the rest of our sakes. Maybe just the threat of that possibility would cause some attitude change in people? Maybe? But in all honesty, everyone has brought something to the table on this trip whether it be different knowledge, experience, wisdom, humor, insight, etc and I HAVE appreciated that. I've enjoyed getting to know people that I may have never had the opportunity to if it wasn't for the this trip and can say that I will walk away with some new friends. I've always enjoyed the getting closer to people that I already had established friendships. For instance, Clare and I have been friends for 5 years but saw ourselves drift apart in some respects. Although, whenever we would hang out it never felt awkward or like anything had changed it has still been nice to hang out like we use to my sophomore year! I've missed that a lot!!

We had a meeting with Eslea and Lesego last night to touch basis on some house rules. They seem quite pleased with how living with us has been so that's good news. They did say that want us to mop the bathroom better after we shower which I understand completely but it kind of grosses me out to have to wring out the mop by hand after I'm all clean in the shower. Seems counter intuitive but I'll just have to scrub my hands with soap when I'm done. They also mentioned that it is very against their cultural beliefs to wash hair or laundry in the kitchen sink so I hope they never see my blog haha I mean I understand but at the same time if we have no water then I'm gonna do what I have to do to be clean. My hair simply cannot go 3 days without being washed and the sinks in the bathroom are too tiny to fit a head so while I can respect their wishes 99% of the time there may be incidences where we have to compromise is the way I see it. Anyway, they have been great people to live with and really want to hang out with us more which I like. We are going to try to have a group dinner some time next week and they want to take us to Lesego's village which I think will be a very cool experience!

7/1/09 Today was a holiday, the birthday of Botswana's former president, so we all had the day off. YAY! I didn't go to bed last night until almost 3am I believe..whoops! I slept with my eye mask on to help block out the sun in the morning. I was a little afraid I was going to wake up in the middle of the night and think I was blind haha That could be scary.

Nonetheless I still woke up at 8:30am. Serious disappointment but I hear every little thing so as soon as I heard someone walking around it was over. I was hungry though so I didn't mind heading to breakfast. My plan was to get a full belly then head back to bed but I realized I really needed a shower and Clare had borrowed a converter so I thought I'd treat myself to blow dried hair since I've only done it once this entire trip since our's blew up haha The converter was more of a pain than anything because it would stay firmly plugged in so I had to hold it with one hand and the blow dryer in the other ugh.. I will stick to air drying. I started reading a book called "Nineteen Minutes" that Clare gave me so instead of napping I became engulfed in that. It's the kind of book that really grips your attention. It's about a school shooting in a small town. Clare was saying that it was haunting her dreams and she would think about it a lot. Now that I'm reading it I can understand. While I haven't dreamed about it, I found myself thinking about the description of the school and where the shooter was going while I was walkingthrough a UB's building alone. Everyone was waiting for the bus outside so I ran into to go to the bathroom quickly and the writer's words were trickling into my mind as I navigated the halls. Kind of creepy.

We went to the Gaborone Game Reserve. It was nice to see some more animals but I'm most excited for Chobe when we'll see the big 5: Elephants, Lions, Hippos, Rhinos and Giraffes! The monkey were nuts here...especially when we stopped by the park part where people can have picnics. They were EVERYWHERE. This one would just hang out in the middle of the road sitting like a person. And then there will babies that were so tiny. I thought one was going to jump out of the tree onto my face which was a bit scary but it didn't thankfully! Here are some pictures of the various animals: (Note that many of the images are of the animal's butts, for some reason they kept turning around...maybe that means they didn't like us? lol)

After the game reserve we headed to Kgale Hill. It was getting close to sunset so we literally ran up the hill. About 3/4 of the way up Mandy and I took a break. Our hearts were pounding out of our chests! We both concluded that we are ridiculously out of shape lol I didn't expect the "trail"to be so arbitrary. It start off as a nice well beated dirt path and then as we inclinded it was pretty much just rocks. I think if had gone a little slower initially I would have been fine. It makes me want to go back to the Smokey's trek around there! It was really nice watching the sunset over the horizon. I love sunsets :)

After that we headed over to Hagan's Irish Pub for dinner. We were all really feeling the atmosphere until it took 2 hours for out table to get their food. The place was dead when we got there and yes it did fill up but you would assume being the first people there it wouldn't take that long but it did. I had to order 3 times because they were out of the first 2 things I wanted. It didn't put me in the best food because I was starving and our drivers were coming in 15 minutes by the time we ordered for the last time! I literally took all my food in a to-go box and barely ate any of it. My appetite has severly decreased the last two days. I picked at dinner the night before and breakfast and lunch today. I don't know what my problem is..I feel alright so who knows. Clare and I had both been told by coworkers to try a Flaming Lambourghini shot at this restaurant so we did. It was quite intense.

Upon returning home I was absolutely exhausted and just not in the mood to be around people any longer. Sometimes I need time to myself and that was one of those times. I read a little more of my book and crashed early.. like 10pm early. Waking up today was much easier though. I feel like a million bucks! Off to Baylor for another exciting day, I'm sure!

Coffee Count as of 7/2/09: 40

Futbol: South Africa v. Spain

6 of the 14 of us that attended the game!

(Me, J.W., Lisa, Kate, Josh & Stu)

I had a pretty late night because I ended up chatting with Andrew for quite awhile when I got home. It was a good conversation and well worth adding to my sleep deprivation :) I'm really excited to see him when I get back. We've already started making some plans for things we want to do together and he's working extra hours the next couple weeks so that he can take a day or two off and we can spend a long weekend together which is a really nice thing for him to do! I can't wait!

I haven't done the coffee count in awhile..I'm trying hard to remember and I think it's around 28 for the end of week 2 lol

We left Gaborone at 9am, stopping by Riverwalk for snacks first as we headed to Rustenberg, South Africa. It was a 3 hour drive (only about 25 minutes to the SA border though). The roads here are not very well paved so it was a bit bumpy but nothing I haven't experienced before. The coolest part of the drive was when we saw two giraffe on the side of the road! I wish I had been able to get pictures but we were on the highway so by the time I got my camera out we were too far past. I'm sure I will see more when we go on the safari but it was pretty cool seeing them just hanging out in the wild so close to the road.

Our car was pretty full but it worked! We met Dr. Ryan at the McDonalds in Rustenberg then headed toward the stadium. We actually parked at the Olympia stadium and took a Kombi to the stadium where the game was held. It was an absolutely beautiful day so I

was thankful for that! Our seats were also pretty good. We were about 4 rows from the field. We're thinking that because we were on the side where the sun shines the whole time that that was how we scored cheap awesome seats. But whatever, I'm tired of the cold so the sun on me for a few hours was worth it. I'll squint, no problem! I'm not really that into soccer but there are a lot of sports that I find to be much more interesting at the games opposed to on tv and this was one of them. Because the game was hosted in SA and they were playing, there were a ton of people there and they were so enthusiastic! The only thing I didn't like were their noise makers. I found them to be obnoxious, especially the ones that sounds like a God awful child whining! Whoever invented that is on my shit list! We left about 5 minutes before it was officially over..SA had just score the first goal of the game and we assumed it was over. Once we were in the Kombi we heard they had scored again so then we really thought it was over but boy were we wrong. Apparently Spain tied it up and it went into overtime and Spain ended up winning. Kind of a bummer! Even more so once the U.S. ended up blowing their 2-0 lead to lose to Brazil. I think I'm a bad luck charm because every time I watch a championship game, the team I'm rooting for loses. Here are some pictures from the game: