Settled into life in Gabs

We are mostly settled in to our apartment, which Elliot and Mitchell describe a bit in their blogs.  It is in the Red Square apartment complex, which is about one mile from the center of Gaborone, so we can walk most places.  The complex comprises almosts 20 two story duplexes and has wifi, cable TV, air conditioning, maid service, a lush central open space, and a swimming pool complete with a kiddie pool that is perfect for Willie; much, much more than we have back in Seattle!  Of course, we are paying a hefty price for this ($2300/month, I think) and would have gladly settled for less, but our options for short-term housing were extremely limited.  Really, the most important feature for us is the apartment's central location, which should enable us to get by without a car; a saving that makes the effective rent much lower.  The only downside is that the apartment is near a busy intersection, so it can get a bit loud during rush hour.

 The apartment complex open space (perfect for throwing a baseball!)

The back of our unit

Apartment complex from beyond the busy intersection

I have also been looking into getting bikes for Elliot, Mitchell and me, and trying to get a better sense of the safety of the streets and working on a mental map of bikeable routes.  Having been laid out in the early 1960's, Gaborone has a somewhat suburban development pattern and street network characterized by widely spaced arterial streets (i.e. very big block sizes), cul-de-sacs, and few small, local through streets to help diffuse the traffic.  Thus, almost all of the through traffic in the city is confined to a handful of arterials, which get quite gummed up during rush hour and are not so bike and pedestrian friendly.  Some do have bike lanes, but most do not have sidewalks.  Pedestrians typically walk along dirt paths along the shoulders.  However, in our general area many undeveloped rights of way exist forming an open space network that is perfect for walking and biking (at least during daylight hours!).  I suspect that this network is unintentional and that the government may eventually build streets in these rights of way as traffic increases.  They are already widening the street near our apartment complex.

The big street in front of the complex (being widened to 4 lanes)

The local street in next to our apartment complex

A typical undeveloped right of way in the neighborhood

Finally, Elliot and Mitchell started school today!  They are attending the Thornhill Primary School, which is about 3/4 mile from our apartment.  Thornhill is a private school with a mix of Batswana and expat children modeled on the British educational system.  Both boys were a bit anxious for the transition this moring, but were remarkably courageous (nobody ran away!) and I think realize that attending a school will be much better than getting home-schooled (or "home-swimmed"?) by their oppressive and overbearing father!  Hopefully they can quickly make a few friends in such a setting, which was the main reason we considered this approach.  Note the uniforms!  Elliot is wearing the green and white, which are for days with PE or swimming, while Mitchell is wearing the standard white shirt with grey shorts.  Glad to bring back a hat for anyone who wants one!

The first day of school!

Marathon Journey

What a marathon journey! Seattle to Amsterdam was a short 8 1/2 hours, which flew by thanks to a good selection of movies (although I must say that the in-seat video screens do not rotate far enough upward requiring tall people to crane their necks downward and slouch way down in the seat, which is nevertheless prohibitive due ot the lack of leg room). The first thing I noticed in the Amsterdam airport was the lack of carpet, which deterred us from snoozing during the three hour layover. Amsterdam to Johannesburg was a mere 10 1/2 hour straight shot south over Africa. That uncomfortable "nodding head syndrome" finally caught up with me on this leg but fortunately Willie was comatose for most of this flight. Of course, one of our bags didn't show up at the baggage carousel, so we had to wait until this was obvious to file the missing bag report and were the last to leave the baggage claim area. Fortunately, the missing bag only contained pull-ups, a bike helmet and an old, frayed Inn at Millrace Pond towel (it looks like they found the bag and will have it flown up to the Gabs airport soon). Sunday night was spent at the comfortable Southern Sun Hotel at the Jo'burg airport where we indulged in room service and watched soccer before a well needed sleep. And then we were off to Gaborone at noon on Monday aboard an old and probably pre-owned but trustworthy Air Botswana 737.  This final leg of the marathon took 1 hour - a relative blink of the eye - for a total flight time of 20 hours!

Waiting to board in Seattle

Happy Travelers

Our final hour!

Finally to Gabs!

One Day to Lift-off!

After many late nights of packing and preparation, I think the boys and I are ready for the marathon trip to Gaborone.  The house is in order for the family that will be housesitting for us.  In fact, it hasn't looked so uncluttered since the day we moved in!  Fridge is clean and mostly empty, laundry done, dishes done, floors vacuumed (thanks to the housecleaner), cat litterbox turd-free, chickens fed and coop cleaned.  I call this "reverse nesting", getting ready for a major departure rather than a delivery (I have had enough of each).  The boys seem both apprehensive and excited.  Our cat, Cloud, just seems concerned about the reverse nesting going on.