Just heard Joost & Christina will be arriving in Gabs 26th of December!!!
They'll leave the Netherlands the day before. We can ask them to deliver snail-mail to us - if you want to send us an X-mas card, e-mail Bram or Maud and we'll mail you their address.
Monday, November 27, 2006
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Free Voice
We spend a lekker evening with the Dutch Free voice-delegation (www.freevoice.nl). They were in town for a series of meetings with Samdef, and grabbed the opportunity to see their PAC-member in exile Maud.
How could we sit outside and relax when we should be in front of a satellite tele, waiting for the Dutch election results? Thanks to the sms-service of our FV-chairman of the board.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Mabutsane
The wheel is still spinning but the hamster has left.
That about sums up our abfab outing to Mabutsane.
Thursday afternoon Lans phoned and asked if we felt like joining him to Mabutsane – a combination of visiting his girlfriend and seeing a potential client. After record packing and quick last minute shopping we were on our way into the Kalahari. Why so hasty? You don’t want to drive that road in the dark, because it will be quite impossible to miss all the cows, goats and donkeys; they also like to travel via tar.
Mabutsane is a small Kalahari-village with a huge government building because it has a district-function. Melissa works as a Peace Corps volunteer in a hiv/aids-project.
The first evening we decided to keep it mellow – just get beers, an ice-block to keep them cool and firewood to keep us warm. To get Melissa accustomed to the Dutchies the men made kroketten. It’s so fokken marvellous, these Kalahari-nights: the air gets cold but the sand is still hot, and in the total darkness you look right into the Milky Way.
Getting awake was a bit of a struggle, but we managed to drag ourselves into some clothes and over to the Cool Joint to sit under a tree. The trick is not to move except for sipping your drink. The wheels were spinning nicely, but our hamsters took the morning off. Around lunchtime they came back so we could whip up an omelette and start working on the biltong-project. That evening we were supposed to have a braai with the Afrikaner boer who wants to sell big quantities of biltong (dried beef). Lans is doing the marketing and we pitch for designing the packaging that must be a hit in the tourist-industry.
The evening started a bit confused. Our boer got stuck in Zeerust and we decided to create a salad and have another bonfire evening. The boys went out to get beers and firewood – and didn’t come back. We figured they got stuck in a bar too. Antoinet phoned to tell she refused to sell them firewood because she wanted to braai anyway. And yes, our men got stuck in a bar too; she could see the car in front of the Cool Joint. Which isn’t as far as Zeerust, so accompanied by Antoinet's dog, which joined them in the bar, they managed to fetch us girls. By the way, who’s that white man that bought all the Amstels in Mabutsane?
It’s exactly like Holland: say ‘let’s bbq’ and men who refuse to enter a kitchen ever suddenly are zillion-star cooks. After an excellent braai and party night we ended up in our hot home sand again for one last cigarette and iced klippies & coke. And another. And another. These stars do that to you, you simple can’t go to sleep when there’s something so wondrous to see.
Due to his head start in the bar Bram went to bed after the first last. A brilliant idea, we discovered the next morning, when he was the only one whose hamster wasn’t on strike. He managed to get us safely back to Gabs, and is now sound asleep with a cat on his legs and a dog at his side.
That about sums up our abfab outing to Mabutsane.
Thursday afternoon Lans phoned and asked if we felt like joining him to Mabutsane – a combination of visiting his girlfriend and seeing a potential client. After record packing and quick last minute shopping we were on our way into the Kalahari. Why so hasty? You don’t want to drive that road in the dark, because it will be quite impossible to miss all the cows, goats and donkeys; they also like to travel via tar.
Mabutsane is a small Kalahari-village with a huge government building because it has a district-function. Melissa works as a Peace Corps volunteer in a hiv/aids-project.
The first evening we decided to keep it mellow – just get beers, an ice-block to keep them cool and firewood to keep us warm. To get Melissa accustomed to the Dutchies the men made kroketten. It’s so fokken marvellous, these Kalahari-nights: the air gets cold but the sand is still hot, and in the total darkness you look right into the Milky Way.
Getting awake was a bit of a struggle, but we managed to drag ourselves into some clothes and over to the Cool Joint to sit under a tree. The trick is not to move except for sipping your drink. The wheels were spinning nicely, but our hamsters took the morning off. Around lunchtime they came back so we could whip up an omelette and start working on the biltong-project. That evening we were supposed to have a braai with the Afrikaner boer who wants to sell big quantities of biltong (dried beef). Lans is doing the marketing and we pitch for designing the packaging that must be a hit in the tourist-industry.
The evening started a bit confused. Our boer got stuck in Zeerust and we decided to create a salad and have another bonfire evening. The boys went out to get beers and firewood – and didn’t come back. We figured they got stuck in a bar too. Antoinet phoned to tell she refused to sell them firewood because she wanted to braai anyway. And yes, our men got stuck in a bar too; she could see the car in front of the Cool Joint. Which isn’t as far as Zeerust, so accompanied by Antoinet's dog, which joined them in the bar, they managed to fetch us girls. By the way, who’s that white man that bought all the Amstels in Mabutsane?
It’s exactly like Holland: say ‘let’s bbq’ and men who refuse to enter a kitchen ever suddenly are zillion-star cooks. After an excellent braai and party night we ended up in our hot home sand again for one last cigarette and iced klippies & coke. And another. And another. These stars do that to you, you simple can’t go to sleep when there’s something so wondrous to see.
Due to his head start in the bar Bram went to bed after the first last. A brilliant idea, we discovered the next morning, when he was the only one whose hamster wasn’t on strike. He managed to get us safely back to Gabs, and is now sound asleep with a cat on his legs and a dog at his side.
WWS 4
Where We Sleep: fourth stop, Peter’s Place in Gaborone.
One of the things to do when back in Gabs is to visit the Dutch consulate and greet Mien, who runs the place. She tipped us about Peter’s Place, which we loved at first site. It’s run by Peter and Jetske. For the Dutchies: yes, Jetske’s parents emigrated from Groningen to South Africa in the 50's. Maud’s happy to be able to practice her Afrikaans and borrow books!
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Dovepost
Beware!!! Our doves will be flying in soon!!!
Mossie & Bram are all set to start their wedrenduiwe-postcompany.
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Red Tape
The first Big Difference between holiday and work overseas is the huge amount of red tape. Right now we’re very proud we got our ‘idiot-forms’. We’re officially mentally sound (as Hamish would say: Bram’s (m)oral aptitude has been approved of). But that’s just one of many forms, and each form has to be copied and certified three times. Our stamp collection is multiplying like mice!
This whole process is frustrating, amusing, a catch 22 (for instance: you can’t get a local bank account without a residence permit, you can’t get the permit without the account), and flabbergasting all at once. Than again we’re the lucky ones, with okay-looking native documents in five languages, and we’re in Botswana, where the Dutch consulate is fabulous. Imagine being Chinese, or an African in the Netherlands...
This whole process is frustrating, amusing, a catch 22 (for instance: you can’t get a local bank account without a residence permit, you can’t get the permit without the account), and flabbergasting all at once. Than again we’re the lucky ones, with okay-looking native documents in five languages, and we’re in Botswana, where the Dutch consulate is fabulous. Imagine being Chinese, or an African in the Netherlands...
House-Hunting
Again the hunt for a ‘our house’ didn’t take long. There’s just one tiny obstacle: it isn’t finished - yet. There’re loads of other houses for rent, partly because people save money by building and letting instead of putting it in a savings account, but ... we want this place in Morwa!
We’re just spoilt by our Mochudi-house earlier this year. We can’t look at a residence as such anymore; the view, the atmosphere, the people living around it - vague stuff like that has to feel ‘okay’, otherwise we won’t take it.
Our landlord-to-be (who happens to be business-editor at Mmegi, www.mmegi.bw, one of the many coincidences we encounter) says he’ll have this house fit to live in for us by December first. We’ll see.
For the time being we rent a lovely, although over budget cottage at Peter’s Place in Gaborone and enjoy the luxury of having everything taken care of and watching satellite television.
We’re just spoilt by our Mochudi-house earlier this year. We can’t look at a residence as such anymore; the view, the atmosphere, the people living around it - vague stuff like that has to feel ‘okay’, otherwise we won’t take it.
Our landlord-to-be (who happens to be business-editor at Mmegi, www.mmegi.bw, one of the many coincidences we encounter) says he’ll have this house fit to live in for us by December first. We’ll see.
For the time being we rent a lovely, although over budget cottage at Peter’s Place in Gaborone and enjoy the luxury of having everything taken care of and watching satellite television.
Monday, November 06, 2006
Babbelas
After surviving our Dutch bye bye parties we should have enough experience to survive our African welcome home celebrations… This small get together in Potch got a tiny bit out of hand – turning into a big hit.
Big it was, and hit it does, in de morning! How much coffee, Tab and water does one need the day after to overcome this serious dehydration? Luckily Louis dished out some pills before we went to sleep, so the babbelas doesn’t give us a headache.
Big it was, and hit it does, in de morning! How much coffee, Tab and water does one need the day after to overcome this serious dehydration? Luckily Louis dished out some pills before we went to sleep, so the babbelas doesn’t give us a headache.
Bakkie
We’re the proud owners of a Nissan 1400 bakkie standard – a very basic, retro car, and for both of us the first brand-new vehicle in our live.
Buying it was ever so easy. In the morning we walked to Main Street, had an hour of looking at cars, and decided it had to be this lovely bakkie instead of a second-hand Toyota Tazz. Nick helped us bargain with a couple of Nissan-garages, and in the afternoon this bakkie was ours.
Getting the export-license was a different story. After an hour or so of racing around Joburg with our driver from Nissan, and visiting police stations that couldn’t help us, we ended up at the right place. Together with a lot of other people who desperately wanted ‘clearance’ to prove they don’t drive a stolen vehicle. After hours of moving from one counter to another, waiting, and chatting someone called for ‘the people who go to Botswana’, and we got our clearance and export license.
In Potch we pimped the bakkie with a gear lock, immobilizer and radio, and makeshift Sun Design logo, so now we’re all set to go.
First Job
Our first evening in Joburg and we already have a temporary job: making fruit-packages for one of Nick’s businesses. It’s a sweatshop and the wages are zilch, but it’s lots of fun and the beers are free :-)
Joburg
I’m sitting on Nick’s porch, enjoying the sounds of the African birds – even the shouts of the hadida are lovely on our first day back.
Heathrow once again proved to be the airport from hell, but we survived and as a bonus our luggage arrived on the same plane. At Jan Smuts we had to wait for the Zurich-plane, which would bring Nick’s niece back from the youth world championship karate. That gave us time to discover Jan Smuts, soon to be OR Tambo airport, is a big building pit now because of the preparations for the 2010 soccer.
Now the sun sets and the crickets start their concert. My nose is still too blocked from flying to enjoy the smells, except for the kamfer I put in between the clothes we left here, but tomorrow I’ll also smell Africa. All in one: it’s marvelous to be back!
Friday, November 03, 2006
PHONES
We're still struggling with the connection between our usb-stick and the internet-cafe-pc's, so you'll have to wait a bit longer for our pictures and adventures.
For the moment you just get our Botswana cell-numbers:
Bram +26771219936
Maud +26771219954
You can also send sms's to Maud's Dutch cell-phone (thanks for testing, Kristien).
Hope to be able to tell you more soon!
For the moment you just get our Botswana cell-numbers:
Bram +26771219936
Maud +26771219954
You can also send sms's to Maud's Dutch cell-phone (thanks for testing, Kristien).
Hope to be able to tell you more soon!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)