The Lightning Storm

A big lightning strike!

Our House

When we got to Botswana we moved into a big apartment. It is in an apartment complex that has about 15 houses and is surounded by a 6-ft wall with a big electric fence on top of it, which nobody in Seattle has except maybe Bill Gates. Other houses in Gabs have walls too. There are walls because some people in Gaborone are poor and will steal because they don't have anything or any money.

Our apartment

Our apartment complex

The Japanese family's house where we will practice our Japanese

The plants are mean. A lot of them are pokey. Some are cactuses. If you trip, they will poke your eye out and then you scream and run away into more pokey plants.

At the back of all the buildings is a private swimming pool.  I go to the pool every day and swallow about 1/2 a gallon of water every time I jump in!

Almost every day it is 90 degrees out. But then sometimes a wicked thunder storm will come up. Last night, I heard some crackling and screaming from my mom. All of a sudden there was a big boom and then it was like heaven exploded. There were like a hundred lightning bolts all one after the other and then there was a big boom which set off a few car alarms downtown.

The Trip

The three plane rides were really long. The first ride was 8 1/2 hours long. The second plane ride was 10 1/2 hours long and the third plane ride was 138462121.345129 hours ... 1 hour long, which seems kinda puny next to the others. I'd like to shake the hand of whoever inventd air sickness bags. I watched about 5 1/2 different movies on the rides.

On the plane

Downtown Gabs

View of Gabs and our apartment

Arriving at the Gaborone airport

CONTEST

This flag is somewhere near you.  Whoever finds it and posts it as a comment will be rewarded with 1 PULA (Botswana money)!!!

one pula = 15 cents

find the flag!

All systems go!

At the airport, about to board.

Sayonara, boku wa genki desu!

In Botswana the time zones are messed up. At 9:00 PM in Seattle it is 6:00 AM in Botswana. Botswana is in the southern hemisphere. When you flush the toilet in the northern hemisphere, the water swirls counter-clockwise. When you flush the toilet in the southern hemisphere, the water swirls clockwise. Therefore, if you flush the toilet in Botswana, the water swirls clockwise. The seasons are different too. They are opposite; it is fall in seattle but right now it is spring in Botswana.

I am going to Botswana on September ninteenth, 2009. I am going to fly to Johannesburg on a one day plane-ride. Then, I will fly to Gaborone in Botswana.  Botswana is in soutern Africa. It is surounded on all sides by land. Gaborone (HA-ba-row-nee) has a population of 400,000 people. Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and South Africa are all countries around Botswana. Gaborone is 10553 miles away from Wallingford.