Tuesday was my early day at school and Russ’ late day (because of softball practice which fortunately ends next week). It is also usually a pretty good day to go grocery shopping. There are six chain stores here in Gab, and four of them are extremely close to the flat and school, which is a good thing because if one store is out of something (as it often is), you can quickly run into another.
Here’s a rundown. Woolworth’s is not your grandmother’s five and dime store and is in a class of its own. I heart Woolie’s for its organic, free range, comforts-of -home food options. This is where I get our red leaf lettuce every week and other treats like hummus, pita bread, and pineapple. Spar is the southern Africa answer to Stop n Shop as it has has most everything and the selection is good. Payless and Shoprite are my go-to stores when I don’t find what I need at Spar. The two other stores which are slightly out of the way are OK which is great for vegetarian and Indian food options, while also cheaper on staples; Pick n Pay has fantastic meat and bread departments and is second to Woolie’s for produce and hard to find items. Liquorama is the package store in the area, and World Foods is an outfit that caters to the restaurants but sell retail foods from overseas (we have been able to get German mustard, smoked beef bacon, polenta, pickles, cranberry sauce - for Thanksgiving next week and other delightful delicacies).
Here are some of the things on my list on any given week: Freshpak (rooibos) or Five Roses (black) tea; Black Cat peanut butter (not as frosting-like as Jif but still more than we are used to); Fig or berry jam; Ouma rusks (like a biscotti or hard biscuit); Whole wheat seeded rolls or bread (baked on premises); Bulgarian plain yogurt (fruit on bottom for Russ); Some kind of meat (chicken or lamb most often; but beef and wors also common choices, fish in this landlocked country is a poor option); Corn flakes (bought in one kilo boxes), weetbix or granola; Provita whole wheat crackers; Kalamata olives (taken out of brine and put in olive oil); Avocados, green beans, lettuce, bananas, pineapples, lettuce, other fruits (basically whatever looks good); Juice (guava, mango, pineapple – orange does not at all taste like Florida orange); some kind of vegetarian option (there are some so-so frozen soy products); Cheese (options are few, but occasionally we can find brie, camerbert, mozzarella. Woolie’s has stilton. We mostly get cheddar or gouda. Processed cheese abounds); English-style meat or veggie pies; Staples like rice, potatoes, lentils, peanuts, raisins, oats; Eggs (a teacher at school has chickens, so sometimes we get them from her); Crisps (potato chips) like Simba chutney or standard salt and vinegar; always a few cans of Coke and Coke Light; Handy Andy is a cleanser for around the house; Chocolate (usually some kind of a Cadbury bar).
So no, we are not starving. In fact, I have probably gained five (no wait, 8)pounds on the tea and rusks alone which I love.
It is a misty, cloudy day and the coldest one I have experienced in my time here. Kgale Hill is enshrouded in fog and it feels like we are more in East Africa than the desert. Great sleeping weather.
My queue for today was at the pharmacy where I logged about fifty minutes. We have good medical insurance, and it was no problem to fill prescriptions written in the U.S. The irony: while Botswana has the best HIV anti-viral treatment program just about anywhere in the world (free to everyone), our health insurance does not cover birth control, which while at a nominal cost still misses the point.
The rest of my day besides seeing a couple of children was to try and recover Russ' documents. We opened the computer and all of his documents were missing. He did a backup last week so all is not lost but it does mean some extra work. Sigh.
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