A Series of Random Events

There is no coherent theme to this post, just a bunch of random things.

Random Topic One: The Weaver Bird.

We have all been fascinated by the range of bird life here. Ted has been doing his best to turn the backyard into a bird sanctuary, and high on his list of things he hoped to attract was a weaver bird. They are very fascinating creatures. We first saw them when we were staying at the Sun Hotel when we first arrived in Gaborone, before we were able to move into our flat. We saw dozens of nests there, which peaked Ted's interest.


Pictured above and below is the Masked Weaver (there are several kinds throughout Africa). They craft these intricate hanging nests, with the opening in the bottom. We still aren't sure how the eggs manage to not fall out. Sometimes they build a new nest hanging from the bottom of the nest from the previous year.

And finally, we succeeded. Below is a weaver bird nest from our own back yard.

Random Topic Two: Thanksgiving.

We have seen virtually no turkey of any kind the entire time we have been here. There is no turkey in any deli section of any grocery, and no turkey on the menu at restaurants. So, we assumed we were not going to be able to have a turkey on Thanksgiving. Then, the Sunday before Thanksgiving we went to the grocery store, and much to our surprise there were two freezers full of whole turkeys. Apparently there are enough American ex-pats here to justify the importing of a truckload of turkeys each November. We bought one, and planned an impromptu Thanksgiving celebration with our familyand my mother; Charles, my Fulbright colleague from California; Julia, another professor from the U.S. who happened to be here for a week doing some research, and Keb, a Motswana professor of political science who is a friend of Charles. We ate at Charles' place because he is here by himself and thus has much more space in his flat. On the menu:

*Turkey (see the photo below)

*Dressing (made by Mom - almost like home except the only sage she could find also had rosemary in it - not too bad)

*Scalloped Potatoes (not mashed because we had nothing to mash with)
*Sweet Potatoes (which are white here, not orange)

*Green Bean Casserole

*Cranberry Relish

*Apple Pie (made by Julia)

**Corn on the cob - This was Ted's contribution. He decided he wanted to buy some corn from the street vendors and grill it and serve for Thanksgiving dinner. He worked on this project most of the afternoon. Depending on who you asked, this was either a huge success (Ted) or an unfortunate failure (everyone else). Something was off. We are not sure what, but it didn't taste like corn on the cob in the traditional sense. Charles suspected maybe the corn the vendor was selling was meant for cattle feed not for human consumption.

**Watermelon (also Ted's contribution - from the same street vendor. Ted wants to say that he redeemed himself with the watermelon. It did not get eaten on Thanksgiving because we were too full, but when we did eat it, it tasted just fine.)

Random Topic Three: Belated Halloween and other Care Packages

They do not celebrate Halloween in Botswana, so that evening we went to see High School Musical 3 at the theater instead. We just didn't mention it much, and the kids didn't seem too disappointed. However, when Ted returned from his trip back to the States in November, thanks to the thoughtfulness of his colleague Gina, he came bearing three pumpkins FULL of halloween candy. The kids were thrilled (Thanks, Gina). It actually worked out well. All of the sugar rush, none of the hassle of costumes and the whole trick-or-treating thing.

Thanks also to everyone else who sent gifts and treats for the kids back with Ted, and/or have sent care packages. They have all been a welcome touch of home: Alice, Abbey (and the entire PDS department), Debbie and the Kennedys, the 2402 Nitzas, Aunt Heidi and the Cripe family, and Grandma Kathy.

Random Topic Four: Caterpillar in Botswana (Will, this is for you).

The city spent the past couple of months re-paving the road next to our house (the one between our house and Choppies and the old prison). Ted and the kids had fun watching all the big machinery - although much of the work was also done by hand with pick and shovel - I have no idea how they managed to do that in the intense heat and sun on the blacktop. The pictures below are of the big machines. My brother Will is a long-time Caterpillar employee who was - well - let's just say less than thrilled with the idea of me taking his nieces and nephew to live in Africa. See Will, this place can't be that bad...