Actually, we were able to find fuel on Wednesday evening shortly after the truck had delivered it. We've heard stories that the crisis may not be resolved until February, but it does seem to be confined mostly to Botswana.
We are enjoying the festive season (how Batswana say happy holidays, although most will say Merry Christmas). It does not seem like Christmas though as we are sweating our way through each day and our flat is practically empty. There is no tree (but we do have a Yankee Candle Balsam Fir candle) and no presents (but we have each other). We are reading, watching movies, and visiting friends (Helen, Zane, Bill are all still here - most of the rest of the complex have left).
The chaos that greeted out return back to Gab on Monday has slowed into a certain emptiness. Most people have left to return to the villages by now. We went shopping this morning and it was quite a pleasant experience. We enjoyed an eclair (like the ones we used to have at the German bakkerei in Okahandja during Peace Corps training) and even got a shady parking space. Oh, the simple pleasures of life. We have been out shopping most days this week for something to do, mostly buying only food items.
Every grocery store in town is selling miniature mincemeat pies and Spar also has pecan tarts. I think they are delicious. There are a lot of specialty food items, partly because it's Christmas, partly because it is month-end pay time.
We went to see the third Narnia movie "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" the other day. It was as much for the air-conditioning as it was for the movie. I enjoyed it but not as much as the other two. Russ was a sport to come with me.
And it is finally quiet in the neighborhood too. For the past three days, there has been a house alarm sounding non-stop, making sure that everyone in the neighborhood knows that these people are not home and the security people don't care. It just stopped for some reason an hour ago, so we should also be sleeping better tonight(we had to close the windows because it was so loud but that also made the room hotter).
I miss not playing Christmas music every hour of day on the days preceding Christmas. We sold our stereo unit to the new neighbor. But it is in my head.
I was reading an Oprah mag over at Rosemary's, and then I realized it is South African Oprah. It was pretty cool how a very American mag smoothly transitioned to another country with specific ads and stories.
We will have a quiet evening at home and then go to the Anglican cathedral for a service tomorrow, followed by what Helen promises is a proper English Christmas lunch. She warned us to stop eating today in preparation for it. I'm ready!
No comments:
Post a Comment