Life Happens When You're Making Plans

First of all, African time is not American time. Things don't work by schedules and calendars and clocks here, and they think we are all INSANE for putting so much emphasis on productivity and efficiency. The whole philosophy behind African time is that if you use your time to foster personal relationships, then it's okay if you don't get to your appointment exactly at nine o'clock on the dot.

So when I told you guys that I planned on going to Tsodilo Hills, I didn't really *expect* it to happen. No expectations. As Simba says, they're the worst thing that can happen to you (I question his logic there but it's a good point nonetheless). I rather hoped I would get there.

Not so much.

May 1st and 2nd are holidays here and then it's the weekend, so we couldn't get in touch with the people who need to give us a ride from Shakawe, where the bus would drop us, to the Hills. Then we also have the issue of our visas expiring tomorrow and needing to be back to renew them on Monday. How long could we push it, traveling around the country past immigration checkpoints on expired visas? Sadly, in a lot of places, you could push it quite a long time if you're white and/or willing to part with some pula. THEN I also have to be back in Gabs before the 9th to exchange my airline ticket. I could do it in Maun except that my ticket is currently locked up in the SIT office in Gabs. And finally, there's the issue of my mysterious stomach disease. I'm about 500% better than I was three days ago but that's only about 92% of normal. I would probably be fine but I'm not sure I want to test out a 5 hour bus/car ride when my only available toilet is the woods.

But before you start feeling sorry for me, look at the paradise where I've been staying:

Okay, Sedia's not really that perfect, I just managed to capture it at its best. And so when it gets too hot to nap in my tent (about 7:45 am), I take my iPod and my water bottle and maybe my research if I'm feeling studious up to the pool and I drag a lounge chair into the shade and--ahhhhhh....

Alas, though, the time has come to head back down south. I'll be sticking around here to renew my visa on Monday and then I'll probably go to Gabs on Tuesday or Wednesday, depending whether these frustratingly unavailable people from RIIC in Kanye ever email me back. I talked to my Gabs family so I'll be living with them for the week until I meet up with my group on the 12th.

By then, I will have finished and printed all 3 copies of my ISP, eaten my last can of baked beans for a looooooooooooong time hopefully, and will have less than a week left of "school." Speaking of which, I now have less than one month left in Africa. I'll officially be home in a brick house with a grass lawn instead of a mud-and-beer-can hut with a thatch roof and a sand yard on June 1st, 2008-- exactly four months after having left it, buried under nine inches of snow and ice.

I guess there are daffodils now? I miss the daffodils!