Michaela in Botswana

After an extended absence, Michaela is back with a story of intermittent internet and Slovakian herbal vodka. Ironically, I think Marian brought some of that to India for us to sample...or was that 170 proof apricot schnapps?

I know it’s been a long while but I am still alive, the internet connections really do nothing but aggravate me, so I have been doing my best to stay away. Really the only time I am able to use it is during my lunch breaks and lately we have been to busy to take lunch and therefore no internet. On the days I do get away I walk for 15 minutes to the café, spend usually about 10-15 minuets waiting for a computer then spend my 15 minutes checking an average of 2 emails- im talking about 3 minutes to load a page- my frustration levels start to rise the minute I walk in there. Welcome to Africa!!!!!!!

I went to joburg two weekends ago, I was lucky enough to be invited by friends from my dads past, I was very welcomed and after a night of Slovakian herbal vodka I heard some most interesting stories about my dad!!! The thing that struck me the most about the city was how much it was exactly like a western city, take away the walls around the houses and the tropical looking trees and you could be in Canada. I was a bit disappointed, but Liz (my dads friends daughter) took me to some really great places on Saturday and I was able to see more cultural aspects of the city. She also took me to the apartheid museum, which is an worth going to joburg for alone. I don’t really know how to describe the experience in an email but I am so glad I was able to go and see it, it is very well done.

This past weekend we went up to Mantshwabisi for the desert race- a 1000 km race around and though the Kalahari desert, undertaken by trucks, dune buggies and other adventurous vehicles. The best way to describe it is to think of the whole of Gaborone taking a camping trip, the drive up there is just a progression of cars filled with tents, camping gear and lots of coolers full of refreshing drinks. The other important thing to note its that its winter here, so the majority of the population who have never experience weather colder than -5 believe its quite an undertaking. And I have to admit, it does get really cold here at night and in the morning (a lot colder than I would have thought) but as soon as the sun rises its nice and hot, it makes it hard to dress for the day!