Our Neighborhood

I am very pleased with our flat. Now that I have cleaned, bought new sheets and covers for the beds, put some things on the walls, and set to work on new curtains the place feels like ours and much more homey. There is a pretty tiny front yard taken up by the car park and the clothes line and a much larger backyard. The backyard has the biggest jade plant/tree I have ever seen as well as a lemon tree that produces very lumpy lemons. It is all a bit overgrown and I am not sure how much we will work on it; there is a little patio with the white plastic table and chairs. It is a perfect place for Kuno to play with his sling shot. After trying unsuccessfully to down some lemons he took Moses’ advice and hauled out some appletiser cans for target practice. Hopefully that will keep him busy….among other activities. Yesterday there was a herd of goats in the area behind our backyard. Moses remarked that that would not happen in Windhoek and then observed, but we are in Africa here.

I am also very pleased with our neighborhood, known as Village. It is a bit rundown and while most of our neighbors are expatriates of one type or another associated with UB, they are not diplomats and aid workers who have a much higher standard of living. We are in the heart of Gaborone and definitely not in one of those neighborhoods with big houses and high walls and guards. So we are part and parcel of the city. Indeed, while more than 200,000 people live here, Gaborone is quickly coming to have a smaller feel to it as we figure our way around. I like that we have the small shopping area nearby with the Choppies for milk or whatever else we might run out of and the lady with her shop to sew our curtains, as well as a bakery, a restaurant, the Belgrade takeaway, our internet café and various people sitting under trees selling their wares. There is a petrol station about a block away and then the Riverwalk Mall about a mile away for our larger shopping needs. The best part is the Thapong Art Center - the only art center in Botswana! - on our corner. The Ethiopians to the right of us are usually outside talking and smoking into the night and the delicious smell of their food usually wafts our way. The Nigerians have four kids, one a boy who is a little older than Kuno. Yesterday Kuno had the time of his life as he and Moses went out onto the street to play with his new soccer ball. (He always corrects me that he is playing 'football.') First the younger son joined them, then the older one, then the Dad. Street soccer in Africa.