New our four-legged friend (J1)

We have a new family member, he has been with us for about 2 weeks now. His name is Jock, he is between 2 and 3 years old, and Boerbull breed. He is a very sweet dog (and very big...) I will try to take some nicer pictures this weekend.

J1

Visitors (J1)

We have been in house new house for nearly 6 weeks now, and it has been hectic since the start. Of course we were very busy with all the moving stuff during the first week. And we wanted to get the place pretty organized, as our friend B. from DC came to visit after the first week. She helped us getting some of the finishing touches in place, and was very patient and helpful with shopping for some accessories.


After spending a long weekend at our place, she had the chance to relax and visit some of our countries most beautiful places, this made us feel a little less guilty.

We kept ourselves busy with a dog show at the shelter, a work trip away, and a bunch of other stuff I can not even remember anymore. Next 'big' happening was the visit of my parents, their first visit to Botswana.
They stayed with us for a weekend at first, we had a chance to catch up with them and celebrate my mums birthday (picture above). After this weekend they went on a 5 day trip to Kasane, where they did boat safaris, visits to Vic Falls and a Namibian village, and of course a lot of eating and drinking in the trusted lodge.

They came back on a Friday, and on Saturday morning we left to spend 2 nights in luxury at Rhulani Safari Lodge in Madikwe game reserve, just over the border in South Africa. The place was stunning, the guides and host fantastic, and we were the only visitors that weekend, we were truly spoiled. Some great game viewing during our drives.
The 'break-away' pack of wild dogs. These guys are a very rare sighting and we were excited to have seen them.
White Rhino, after just having bathed in a mud pool. At night time during dinner we also saw a male black rhino, just outside our camp.
We saw large herd of elephant, on two occasions. I think the elephant were probably my mums favorite...

We saw this female lion trying to catch an impala. She was very close but got confused in which impala to chose, and ended up with nothing. It was a very cool thing to witness.

The food at the lodge was fantastic, breakfast, lunch and dinner.
And of course there was the bar for the necessary refreshments after our game drives.

After the trip we had to go back to work unfortunately, but my parents had another few days to relax, explore our village, shop, and meet us for lunch. I think they really enjoyed their first 'taste' of Africa, which makes us very happy of course.

J1

New car for the office (J1)

We have bought a new car for the office, an Opel Corsa Utility 1.4. The boys here are both very proud of 'their' new car.

J1

Valentines trip (J1)

I have been meaning to put something on the blog for a long time. I am working on a much longer update, but still wanted to put these pictures from our valentines trip to Tuningi, J2 already posted the story, but the pictures are quite amazing.

And after all this, we came back to our chalet, decorated for the Valentines occasion.

J1

blogging mobile

Just trying out my new toy... The iphone that J1 got me for my birthday last weekend. It's pretty fantastic, although I cant type fast enough for my own liking, especially long paragraphs of text. Nor can i put photos up on blogger like this. But at least we know it's working. Ive been having lots of fun with it, so much so that there's a certain husband around here wishing he never got the bright idea to give this to me!

Mobile Blogging from here.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

some photos of the new digs

We are very pleased to FINALLY be in the new house, and have ALMOST settled in. The first week was a bit chaotic, as there was a birthday (me) and an overseas visitor (Beth) and as we had only been in the new place a day or two, things were a bit all over the place.
However, Beth left on Monday, and although we've been away for work on tues, weds, and thurs, we will finally have our first weekend to "settle", upon us.
Just in time to prepare for the next visitors... next week... the in-laws!
So excuse our tardiness in writing a whole lot here, now, but please enjoy the following photographic tour of our new abode!!

(Included: "Before" and "Afters"):

Living Room/Stairs, Before:

And After:

Living room Before:

And After (taken from loft/master bedroom):

Master bedroom (sitting area) before:

and after:

Master bedroom sleeping area before:

and After (the door goes out onto our balcony):

kitchen:

the stoep outside, before:

and after:

And most importantly of all: our new view (from the stoep) and new pool!

puppies having a sniff around, front door:

NB: the puppies finally got their first introduction to monkeys, this week. Reilly is very protective, and keeps them on the outside of the fence, as best she can (we've only seen her in action when there were 3 of them). Mainly by climbing up on top of the biggest rock outcropping/boulder pile we have, and staring them down, on point, without moving a muscle. Billy, on the other hand, didn't seem to be very adventurous, and preferred the security of the house.

Last days in Notwane

I'm writing this from our empty house on Plot 32A! Empty except for a bed and a couch and a tv, some necessary dishes and a pantry of food.

Friday the movers are coming to load up our stuff, and will unload it for us early in the A.M. on Saturday, at the new house.

We are really excited about moving, and hope that all our overseas friends will come and see us in the new place. It's a bit smaller than where we are now, but still with room for visitors.

Other than moving, big things going on here is that I'm back in the thick of things with my 2nd year of the new Degree, and as if that weren't difficult enough, the business is booming at present too. Most people say we are very lucky in that respect, but it's hard to remember that it's lucky, when it's keeping you up to your eyeballs in work.

However, we have had a chance to go away for a weekend over Valentine's Day, which was really nice, since we will be moving into the new place on our Anniversary, and having visitors on my birthday. We went to Madikwe (the game park just over the border in SA), to a really fantastic lodge called Tuningi, which was one of the nicest getaways we've ever had. They really pulled all the stops out for us on the 14th... we came home from a day in the bush and found the whole place covered in rose petals, and a bottle of red sparkling wine chilling by the (massive) bathtub. They really spoiled us, and we loved every minute of it.

It's going to be very busy couple of months ahead - our friend Beth is arriving just a few short days after we move into the new place, staying for about 5 days. Then a week after she leaves us to go on her own safari up in the Delta, The In-Laws arrive from NL for 2 weeks. Part of that time they will also be off in the north in Chobe and Victoria Falls, but we will enjoy having them on their first trip to Africa. When they leave at the end of March, we will have about a week and a half before leaving for our own trip into the Kgalagadi Desert for a week (with some friends) over Easter. We're really looking forward to that.

We'll keep this more up-to-date now, once we get into the new place, because we'll be able to have high-speed internet there (finally!) as well as a landline... so everybody wins! It's been a great 2009 so far and proves to only be getting better!

j2

back in Gabs (J1)

We are back into the swing of things in Gaborone, we have recovered from the worse jet lag ever. It took me over a week to be able to sleep through the night again. We were up at 3 in the morning eating sandwiches together! On the upside, I did a lot of reading.

It was nice to arrive back in Joburg and have our friend A waiting for us. We had a nice night in Joburg before heading back to Gabs. Also met up with pa and ma P., and saw their very nice new house. We are very excited to them to move to this nice place.

Once back we had visitors straight away, after just being back for one week. Our friends from Uruguay were back visiting family in South Africa, and came to see us for the weekend. They told us the very good new that they are moving back to SA, we are so excited to have them close by again. Just too bad it will take a while before they get moved and settled.

During the weekend our friends were over, we popped by our neighbour to say happy new year. Billy must have heard us next door, and decided to also come over with his new years wishes. The neighbours have 3 lovely dogs, but while Billy was there he decided it was a good idea to attack them, even though he was on their property, he was outnumbered, and they were much bigger then him.

Somehow I managed to pull the fighting dogs apart without getting hurt myself. Billy was in pretty bad condition, it was very bloody. We took him to the vet (after hours), and he ended up staying at the clinic for 2 nights. Once he came back he had 12 stitches, in 4 different places! The stitches have just come out, and he has made a full recovery.

Before we left on holidays we had an office Christmas dinner, we went to the local Italian restaurant and had a very nice night. Here a picture of us all during this dinner.

We are very excited to have signed the lease on a new house. We are moving during the last weekend of February. The house is a 3 bedroom thatched cottage in Gabane. It is about the same distance out of town as where we are now, but in a slightly different direction. The house is on a 'farm' with 12 other houses. Our house is on the mountain side, with great views all around. Unfortunately we did not bring a camera when we viewed it, so no pictures just yet.

Also, we have bought a new car. Both of our cars were giving some trouble, and we decided to bite the bullet and just buy a new one. I have never owned a new car (this one is almost new, it was a demo from the dealership, and is only a few months old) before, it is very exciting. It is one of the most environmentally friendly cars available at the moment, which is a nice bonus.

Business is busy as ever. But it was nice to be able to leave it during the holidays. The guys in the office had done a fantastic job keeping everything up and running. It is great to have such serious and reliable guys working here, we are certainly very lucky with that.

J1

Trip part 2 (J1)

Ok, this update was of course long overdue by now, the story and pictures from our second part of the USA trip. We left of in Memphis last time, and enjoyed another great night there. The music was fantastic, we saw these guys called 'Grant Garland Trio', they were just playing in some small bar, but absolutely amazing.
On our way out of town we stopped by Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley. I have to admit I was not that excited about doing the tour, it seemed very pricey, but J2 insisted I would go do the tour, as we were right there. She had done it before, and she was right. It was an amazing tour, I would even consider myself nearly more of an Elvis fan since. The house was left completely as he had left if when he died.
After Memphis we drove down to New Orleans. This is an amazing city, and the ideal place for a new years party. Bourbon street was packed with bars, strip clubs, music and loads of people wanting to party. Also, on the 2nd of January there was the Sugar Bowl, a big college football game, so the place was packed. We met up with a bunch of great friends and had a blast.
The swamps around New Orleans were something I had never seen before, very strange. The road is constructed on concrete piles for many kilometers on the way into town. The strangest things is, that in the middle of these swamps you see small houses, people actually live there. I am nearly embarrassed to admit, but we also did a little drive around the areas that were badly affected by the Katrina floods. It is still a mess, and very surreal.

The fireworks on the river were absolutely stunning.

From there we went driving up towards North Carolina, we made the trip a little longer to see the coast in Florida (an extra state to cross) before heading up north. We ended up staying in a motel in a town called Opeleika, somewhere in Alabama. The amazing thing was though, there was a Mexican restaurant right outside, which probably served one of the best meals I had during the whole holiday.
From here we went to Greensboro North Carolina, to meet up with our friends M and E and there little boy. A great evening with home brewed pumpkin beer and great food, we were really glad we had the chance to stop over and catch up.

Next destination was the Virginia mountains, we drove a few hours and stopped by some really nice small towns, Lexington was particularly beautiful. The scenery was very nice. Unfortunately we did not find a little log cabin in the mountains, and ended up staying in another motel. We did stop by 'The natural bridge', in Lynchburg.We went onto the Appalachian trail the next day, followed the Skyline Drive, and did a beautiful hike in the mountains, with a waterfall along the way. I saw some deer, but no bears (unfortunately??)

From here we made it back to DC. We had one day left to show our dearest travel companion (since New Orleans) JM the museums and other attractions in town. We stopped by the American History museum, I had been there before, but it is my favourite. All though the portraits museum was very nice as well.

Preparations for the inauguration were already in full swing:

What was left was to say goodbye to all friends in DC, to our dear Chevrolet rental car, and catch the long flight back. We had promised each other not to be all sad, but to try and look forward to things to come (it does not really work). The last night with friends was especially sad, we did not even know where to eat anymore, and that does not happen often. The flight back was long, and the jet lag very bad.

Looking back, 4 weeks is really nice for holidays. We have never done that since getting married and honeymoon. It was a proper break from work, and gave us time to do loads of things, see loads of places, meet loads of friends, and eat loads and loads of food. In the end we drove 3500 miles, saw 18 States and had temperatures ranging from -18C to +24C.

J1

Halfway USA

After a hectic last 2 weeks in Botswana, including handing over all office stuff, finishing final assignments and exams for both of our courses, putting up the Christmas tree (even though we were leaving) and having the office Christmas party, we made our way to USA for a 4 week round trip.

We are exactly halfway now, and have arrived in Memphis earlier today. Our trip started with a flight from Johannesburg to Washington DC. After a few days with friends we rented a car and started our trip towards Jefferson City. We crossed though Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky (we stayed overnight in Morehead) Indiana, Illinois, and into Missouri.

Driving across West Virginia

After the last day of driving was a bit extra complicated, as there was 2 inches of snow overnight. It was really cold, ice started packing on the front of the car, wiper blades were freezing up, so loads of fun. Some pictures:

Overnight snowfall, our poor rental car covered

One of the many beautiful bridges along the way

The famous Arch in St.Louis

After a few days in Jefferson City meeting up with friends and family, we headed for Kansas City. We did some sightseeing in town, had early Christmas with grandparents and other family members, and got to see a Kansas City Chiefs football game in the Arrowhead stadium. A lifelong dream for J2. It was not part of the dream that the temperature was 6F (or -18C) with a strong wind. We did tailgating ahead of the game, and I have never been colder. Being at the game was awesome though, and inside the stadium is was less cold because we were sheltered from the wind. Bad news: the chiefs lost, as they have most of the season.

Tailgating before the game, freezing cold...

Chiefs football game, did I say it was cold?

Kansas city plaza by night

Sightseeing in at the Memorial monument

Back in Jefferson city we celebrated Christmas and a flu with the family, which resulted in my smallest Christmas dinner ever, I managed to eat one small shred of the turkey, which was deliciously prepared by my dear mother in law, a real shame. Besides the Christmas we met up with a bunch of friends and family friends, did some sightseeing and eating out, and even some relaxing, all thought the schedule was packed.

Jefferson city bridge, with the State Capitol in the background

A water tower close to JC

The local animal shelter, we visited there to share some experiences

So now we are in Memphis, we had a few drinks and soul food on Beale Street, and watched some live blues, which was pretty cool. Our trip across south Missouri and Arkansas, before coming into Tennessee was pretty cool. Nice scenery and many flea markets and antique stores. I could have bought so much stuff if there was not a maximum luggage allowance.

Another new state....

Beale Street in Memphis

A flea market / collectibles shop on our way

Anyway, that is all for now, more updates from Memphis and New Orleans soon. One small negative during this trip: our landlord in Botswana has informed us he wants the house back for his son and daughter early next year, so we will have to move unfortunately, but we will worry about that once we get back.

WE HEREBY WISH EVERYBODY A (DELAYED) HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR.

J1