How Stella Brought the Groove Back

I can't even explain how incredibly different my life in Gabs is. Everything is so laid-back and pretty much just like home in America. Anyway, my mom was at the cattle post for half of last week (she took over after her husband died a year ago) and then left on Sunday afternoon to stay with her granddaughter in Jo'burg while the parents are away, so for a while, it was just me and Mpelo at home.

Then Stella came.

Stella's the maid from Zimbabwe, who lives with the family but had been in Zim for the past month for a funeral. She appeared early on Monday morning totally unannounced and when I came home from school Monday night--wow.

I thought the house was clean before, but then I opened the cabinets in the kitchen. Stella had organized everything. Boxes were arranged neatly in height order, things were stacked, everything was impeccable!! I wanted a glass of juice but it took me three minutes to find because I didn't recognize where anything was! Also, Stella is a great cook. When it was just Mpelo and I, we tended to eat cereal, leftovers, or buy takeout from a restaurant. Not anymore, not with Stella home.

The other thing is that since Stella's from Zim, she speaks English and not Setswana. Apparently that's a huge social issue in Botswana because so much of the labor force is Zimbabwean immigrants that Setswana is rapidly dwindling, particularly when the Zimbabwean maids are the ones raising the kids. (Like my cousins maybe? They seem to spend a great deal of time at our house, but I don't know how much of that is with their grandmother and how much with Stella.)

So anyway, here's Mpelo with my 8-year-old cousin Kgosi:

And here's the photo of me at the Botswana Defense Force zoo that sent Mpelo into shock (she HATES frogs, snakes, any reptile/amphibian really):

Anyway, on Sunday night our academic director took us hiking up Kgale Hill, the largest hill in Gabs. Our siblings were invited, but Mpelo had a school project she had to work on so she didn't come. The whole trip was great fun, but because we stayed to watch sunset on the summit (with a thunderstorm approaching--not smart!), we ended up hiking down in the dark. If this weren't enough of a death wish, look at the jump two of our guys decided to attempt:

They both made it. And then they promptly did it again.