Look at me, I'm driving!

I finally drove our car this weekend. I didn't have too many problems, except for almost getting into an accident on the third block. No, it wasn't my fault. I was going straight and some idiot was in too much of a hurry to wait for the turn arrow and decided to turn in front of me at the light. I slammed on my brakes and missed her by about a foot. If she had been going a little faster, I probably couldn't have avoided her.

The first time I drove (Mike was in the car) I went a little too fast around the corners. I'm not used to driving a big 4x4. I screeched the tires a little. The second time (without Mike) I stayed in my lane around the traffic circles and didn't screech the tires at all. I got my confidence back the second time, although I'm still getting used to how big it is. I still need some practice to judge how wide this car is. It doesn't help that a lot of the streets are narrow. A further problem is that there are no sidewalks on most streets and people walk everywhere. And did I mention the drivers who ignore the lane markings and move into your lane periodically for no good reason? That's the people beside you and coming towards you. And the pedestrians usually don't even try to get out of the way of cars. Is everybody here suicidal?!

Spa weekend

So I went to a spa in South Africa with 4 other women over the weekend. It was pretty good. Maybe I'm not a good judge, though. I've only been to a day spa before. I spent more for my part of the cottage than I did on food and the treatments. The massage and facial were great! The food was wonderful, too. You paid a set price for a three course dinner (less than US $30) and breakfast was included with the room. I had duck the first night (it was perfect, not greasy or dry, and the sauce was wonderful) and for dessert I had Kahlua crème brulè. I've had crème brulè before, but this was incredible! The second night I had rack of lamb (they had real mint apple jelly!), seafood (prawn, mussel, and kingklip) and cream sauce filled puff pastry as an appetizer, and Tiramisu for dessert.
The long ride back up to Gabs negated the good the massage did. My neck and shoulders are as tight as they were before I left. I guess I need to find a good masseuse in Gabs! It would be faster and cheaper than going away for the weekend.

Got it!

It's time to celebrate! We finally have our car. Mike was able to take possession of it yesterday. It needs a little cosmetic work, and to have the engine checked, but at least we have it. It makes a weird noise when you rev the engine. The interior is spotless and the exterior has a little rust. We need to get a bull guard for the front, a luggage rack for the top, to get the windows tinted, and get a new stereo. The stereo only goes up to 90.0 FM. Of course, the station we usually listen to is 106.6. A couple of extras I either didn't know or forgot about: it has a sunroof and seat warmers. We don't need the seat warmers at this time of year, but I'm sure we'll use them in the winter.

Mike will be taking it camping for "Man weekend" on Friday, while I'm going on a women only spa weekend (ours was planned first). We're leaving right after work Friday to go down to South Africa and coming back on Sunday. It's a good thing, too. Monday is a holiday, but I have an all-day meeting (overtime, baby!) that day. We have someone TDY from the states all next week, and we're going to need the entire week to accomplish everything we need to.

But our car is here, so now I can drive!!! I couldn't last night because we didn't have enough gas. :(

Still another car update

We still don't have our car. Mike was told before he left work Friday that he could get our car if he ran around on Friday afternoon getting license plates, insurance, and whatever else was needed. In other words, doing someone else's job for them. Mike said that we'd wait until Monday. Friday afternoons are the only time we can go grocery shopping without the rest of Gabs doing the same. I think the latest any grocery store is open during the week is 6 p.m. They don't open in the morning until after we're at work. They're open all day Saturday, but they're too crowded then. And they're only open until 2 on Sunday. For that reason alone, I like our weird work schedule.

It's here....sort of

Our car is in the same city we are, but that's all I can say about it. Mike actually touched it yesterday. He went to wherever it's being held to inspect it with the guy who drove it up here. It's in very good shape for being over ten years old. It still has to be inspected by the government, insured, checked with Interpol to make sure it isn't stolen, get license plates, and a couple other things before we can take possession of it. There's a person at the embassy who does everything for us except get the comprehensive and collision insurance. We get that insurance from the states. Third-party liability we get here, though. Maybe we'll take possession next Wednesday. I'm not holding my breath!

Another car update

OK, we STILL don't have our car. Last Thursday we received an e-mail saying it would be in Gaborone on Monday. Tuesday we received e-mail saying it would be here yesterday around lunch. Then today we received an e-mail (in broken English) stating the car would be here around lunch time today.

I don't know when the driver eats lunch, but lunch is over for us, and still no car. Maybe tomorrow. I know, I sound like a broken record. Everything is "maybe tomorrow". I've gotten pretty used to it.

Alphabet Soup

I'm drowning in alphabet soup! My head is swimming from all the acronyms I'm trying to learn and remember. I thought it was bad when I was in the Marines. It wasn't even close to the number of acronyms I'm learning now. NACA, BHRIMS, UNAIDS, PMTCT, OGAC, MSM, IDU, PLWHA, MOH, WHO, HPR, CRIS, PEPFAR, COP, CAP, TB, NGO, CBO, FBO, ETR, YOHO, BCC....and those are just the ones from work I can think of off the top of my head! Some of those are names of other organizations, some others my Mom will recognize because they're related to HIV. Then there's the ones from the embassy: GSO, FSO, FMO, IMO, IPC, DCM, IMS, RSO....to name just a few.