Getting the lay of the land

We took our first walk-about this morning. Before Mike Megahan dropped us off at home from our day at the Bible Society, he drove us past the post office, Village Mall and other key spots downtown. He drove the walking route so we could get a better sense of how to get there. Much to my surprise, the walk to the Village Mall this morning was only 5 minutes! It felt so much farther driving!

Rob and I talked a bit about that over lattes at the Blue Crush, in the Village Mall. I noted that when I go someplace new, everything seems expanded for a while after I first get there. Days creep by, food tastes extra tasty, distances seem farther – you get the idea. Now, after less than a week in Francistown and exactly a week in Botswana, things are shrinking back to normal. I'm glad that we can do downtown on foot. I'm still not feeling up to confidence level with the switcheroo of the side of the street on which people drive. Once I start looking the right way before I cross the street, perhaps then I'll feel more like I could get out there and drive. Also, the car we'll be driving is a stick-shift.

The weather today is exquisite: sunny with a brisk breeze. When we went out, my hair was all wet and it's pretty bouffant right now.

This afternoon, I'll be working on Mike's Kalanga wordlist that he gave me. I'm making iFlash cards for easier studying. I'm going to check out his grammar notes too. I think I'm going to pick up some Setswana as well, just so I can greet people and say “please” and “thank you”. I've been saying it in English, though. For the rest of this morning, I'm hand-washing some laundry. Rob's jeans are pretty grungy and he's running out of black socks. There is a washing machine here in the flat but I'm not sure how to use so I'm going to play it safe until I get further instruction on it's use. I keep forgetting to buy clothes pins when we go to stores so I'm hanging things on hangers in the bathroom. It works well enough and should keep things from getting sun-faded.