In about ten minutes Linda and I are heading off to Jeanette and Manie's farm in Matopos for a few days, but I thought I'd write you a line or two before we head off.
It's amazing how suddenly when Linda comes I am eating such lovely lunches out in Bulawayo. Not to mention the milkshakes... We have spent considerable hours at coffeshops/lunchplaces the last week. We have also gone to a curioshop kind of thing and bought some actually quite nice stuff. The real deal. I bought a speghetti spoon made out of aluminium from an engine block! Then John left yesterday for South Africa, which meant Heather left the house as well, so we are at the moment downsizing the household.
It is now time for Linda to drive on the wrong side of the road, change gears with the wrong hand and all this with only one sideview mirror. Yey! I am looking forward to this. A lot. Hihi.
Right. Bye!
Wednesday 29 August 2012
Monday 27 August 2012
Antelope park
I thought I'd give you a few more words about our trip up to Antelope Park. It's just outside Gweru, and took us probably two hours to get there. Heather drove all thw way of course, in her sweet Cherrybomb (Honda Fit). So we got there at around three and Linda and I set up camp, while Heather and John had a River Tent. At four we headed out on a short gamedrive with some other people as well. We saw impala, a tawny eagle, wildebeest, zebras, giraffes, lions, some type of antilope, hartebeest and weaverbirds nests. We even got chased for a tiny bit by a lion that was being walked by some staff, because we came close to where it was hunting some zebras. The rest of the evening was spent eating and drinking and having fun until quite late.
Next morning (actually it was still night) at half past five Linda and I woke up (barely) and soon headed out on a walk with two lions and maybe ten other people. But first a long safety talk. It was quite surreal walking with them and stopping to sit next to and pat them. The sunrise as we started the walk was just so beautiful and all the photos got a lovely glow about them. Our guide took lots of photos with my camera and said he had by now probably handled around 4000 cameras on all his guided tours... Back at camp Linda collapsed in the tent again and I made myself pancakes before we then packed up everything, put it in Heather's car and checked out.
At ten we rode the elephants for an hour, which was cool. I rode Thombi, 23 years together with an elephant trainer who taught me a lot about elephants. Interesting stuff, which I of course will have forgotten in a week. Then Linda and I soaked some sun while the other two went fishing. I actually got a tan and didn't get burnt!! Can you believe it?! At three we jumped in the car and went home again after 24 hours of holiday. Sweet.
So that was our first real touristy thing. Then we had a goodbye braai on Saturday for John, who is leaving for Sweden tomorrow. And a sushi evening tonight. Good times!
Linda and I are now completely locked on an app called Wordfeud, which is like Scrabble but on the phone. So a few more words now, then we'll make some Zs. Nighty!
Next morning (actually it was still night) at half past five Linda and I woke up (barely) and soon headed out on a walk with two lions and maybe ten other people. But first a long safety talk. It was quite surreal walking with them and stopping to sit next to and pat them. The sunrise as we started the walk was just so beautiful and all the photos got a lovely glow about them. Our guide took lots of photos with my camera and said he had by now probably handled around 4000 cameras on all his guided tours... Back at camp Linda collapsed in the tent again and I made myself pancakes before we then packed up everything, put it in Heather's car and checked out.
At ten we rode the elephants for an hour, which was cool. I rode Thombi, 23 years together with an elephant trainer who taught me a lot about elephants. Interesting stuff, which I of course will have forgotten in a week. Then Linda and I soaked some sun while the other two went fishing. I actually got a tan and didn't get burnt!! Can you believe it?! At three we jumped in the car and went home again after 24 hours of holiday. Sweet.
So that was our first real touristy thing. Then we had a goodbye braai on Saturday for John, who is leaving for Sweden tomorrow. And a sushi evening tonight. Good times!
Linda and I are now completely locked on an app called Wordfeud, which is like Scrabble but on the phone. So a few more words now, then we'll make some Zs. Nighty!
Sunday 26 August 2012
A fast week
Oh boy. I haven't written for a week! Anyway, we're all alive.
The week has just wizzed past. There has been a lot of card games, chatting, shopping, walking with lions, riding elephants, being slightly chased by a lion, phone-nerding, picnincs, poetry, Swedish and laughter. Life has been good one could say. I could write about so much, but don't know really where to start and we're leaving soon to give back a borrowed violin, so I think the best thing is if you check out the photos on nellieinafrica.tumblr.com. Photos should be coming up there.
By the way, I just got back my violin. Hurrah!! And mum, I met an older man yesterday who remembers you. His name was Bruce. Now time to head off. We woke up at one this afternoon and had cooked brunch in bed, so we really need to do something today before the day is over.
Toodles!
The week has just wizzed past. There has been a lot of card games, chatting, shopping, walking with lions, riding elephants, being slightly chased by a lion, phone-nerding, picnincs, poetry, Swedish and laughter. Life has been good one could say. I could write about so much, but don't know really where to start and we're leaving soon to give back a borrowed violin, so I think the best thing is if you check out the photos on nellieinafrica.tumblr.com. Photos should be coming up there.
By the way, I just got back my violin. Hurrah!! And mum, I met an older man yesterday who remembers you. His name was Bruce. Now time to head off. We woke up at one this afternoon and had cooked brunch in bed, so we really need to do something today before the day is over.
Toodles!
Sunday 19 August 2012
My very own Linda visit
So, Linda has now been here for more than two days, but it feels so much longer. Weird how with good friends you just take off from were you left last time. She arrived safely on Friday at lunch time with Maria, Heather and I as her welcoming commitee. I am so so happy to see her again and be able to show her my life here. So far we have done a lot of visiting grocery shops, we've had a picninc at Hillside Dams with Sam, been total nerds when it comes to my new phone and her ipod and also spent a whole night up LAN-ing (Playing networked based computer games) with Heather, John and Ian. That's where we are now. Tired as anything.
The week before Linda came was suprisingly busy, with holiday, work, walks, cardgames, playing at a wedding, visiting the National Arts Gallery and skypeing. The arts gallery was really interesting; we went around to all the studios that artists rent there and met them and saw their work. Some of it very modern actually. Also, if you think you have heard creaking floorboards before, you should have heard the ones in there!! You couldn't even talk normally, because nobody would hear it.
So, now we are trying to plan out a bit of an adventure for Linda and I while she's here. Looks like we will be walking with lions on Tuesday anyway, and maybe riding elephants on Wednesday.
Maria is sick with the flu now, which sucks and I hope we don't get it. It's going to be interesting and nice to have a true vegetarian in the house for a month. Lovely. Now I think a nap is in order. nellieinafrica.tumblr.com is pouring out pictures at the moment, so you can check in there if you want to. Toodles!
The week before Linda came was suprisingly busy, with holiday, work, walks, cardgames, playing at a wedding, visiting the National Arts Gallery and skypeing. The arts gallery was really interesting; we went around to all the studios that artists rent there and met them and saw their work. Some of it very modern actually. Also, if you think you have heard creaking floorboards before, you should have heard the ones in there!! You couldn't even talk normally, because nobody would hear it.
So, now we are trying to plan out a bit of an adventure for Linda and I while she's here. Looks like we will be walking with lions on Tuesday anyway, and maybe riding elephants on Wednesday.
Maria is sick with the flu now, which sucks and I hope we don't get it. It's going to be interesting and nice to have a true vegetarian in the house for a month. Lovely. Now I think a nap is in order. nellieinafrica.tumblr.com is pouring out pictures at the moment, so you can check in there if you want to. Toodles!
Saturday 11 August 2012
Shopping in Bulawayo
Bulawayo is an expensive place to live. People don't earn a lot, but everything costs a lot, especially imported food, which is most of it. Also it is hard to find things that you would very easily get hold of in for example South Africa.
Today Maria and I went grocery shopping, as we alwasy do on Saturdays. We have gone around town now the last two times to see which shops are the cheapest ones and you would be surprised by the difference in price on normal things like coffe, cooking oil and butter. In one shop butter cost nearly eight dollars and at another it cost five and a half. For the exact same butter! So to maximise your wallet you have to run around town to find the cheapest of everything. But we have now found that we can manage going to just three shops, buying different things at each place.
Because here you know there are still the specialized shops like the many butcherys, dairy shop, vegetable shop, lots of bakeries, hardware shop, chocolate shop and so on. Of course we have the bigger super markets that have basically everything, but it isn't at all the same as in Sweden, where there hardly are any specialized shops left. I love it like this, except when you're trying to find one special thing and you have absolutely no idea where to start looking. Thank goodness I know people here.
The last few days have been nice, I've jammed with Vuzi and Sam, had dinner and late chat at Sam's and slept eleven hours. Yesterday Jeanette, Michelle and I went to a dancing performance with lots of lovely kids and teenagers who did things with their bodies that I will never in my life even come close to doing. One of the dancing studios here is an acrobatic dancing studio so you can just imagine... and then of course there was ballet. The whole last half was only classical ballet, which has beautiful costumes, but it did get a bit boring after a while. Everybody in the audience was freezing of course. We are probably having our last cold spell before summer now and this one has been awful, really really cold nights. Six degrees in the morning, and the house has no insulation at all...
Anyway, now skype time! See you there!
Today Maria and I went grocery shopping, as we alwasy do on Saturdays. We have gone around town now the last two times to see which shops are the cheapest ones and you would be surprised by the difference in price on normal things like coffe, cooking oil and butter. In one shop butter cost nearly eight dollars and at another it cost five and a half. For the exact same butter! So to maximise your wallet you have to run around town to find the cheapest of everything. But we have now found that we can manage going to just three shops, buying different things at each place.
Because here you know there are still the specialized shops like the many butcherys, dairy shop, vegetable shop, lots of bakeries, hardware shop, chocolate shop and so on. Of course we have the bigger super markets that have basically everything, but it isn't at all the same as in Sweden, where there hardly are any specialized shops left. I love it like this, except when you're trying to find one special thing and you have absolutely no idea where to start looking. Thank goodness I know people here.
The last few days have been nice, I've jammed with Vuzi and Sam, had dinner and late chat at Sam's and slept eleven hours. Yesterday Jeanette, Michelle and I went to a dancing performance with lots of lovely kids and teenagers who did things with their bodies that I will never in my life even come close to doing. One of the dancing studios here is an acrobatic dancing studio so you can just imagine... and then of course there was ballet. The whole last half was only classical ballet, which has beautiful costumes, but it did get a bit boring after a while. Everybody in the audience was freezing of course. We are probably having our last cold spell before summer now and this one has been awful, really really cold nights. Six degrees in the morning, and the house has no insulation at all...
Anyway, now skype time! See you there!
Wednesday 8 August 2012
You wouldn't have known
There are always things that you sort of take for granted work the same everywhere, even on the other side of the world. Like how to put airtime (money to phone for) in you cell phone. When I got mine and was going to fill it up I asked where I could go and buy more airtime and people said "ah, just on the street corner.". This really confused me in a way. Not until I learnt that nearly every traffic light (and there are a lot of them) has a guy in a reflective vest standing there selling airtime and text cards. But bear in mind that the guys selling newspapers also have reflective vests...
And public transport... Oosh. There are lots of small taxis and then there are the ETs; Emergency Taxis. They are minibuses stuffed with people. I could never take an ET, not allowed to. So everybody here who can afford it have their own car. Otherwise you are pretty much stuck. There are no passenger trains here that I have heard of either. Between the big cities (Harare, Bulawayo, Vic Falls, Joburg) though there are bus companies who drive sometimes twice a day. 30 dollars from here to Harare.
I can just mention the power which goes on and off like a yo-yo and the water cuts (which thankfully we aren't affected by since we have a borehole). And that everything is paid in cash here.
But now I have to run. Well, actually drive. So long!
And public transport... Oosh. There are lots of small taxis and then there are the ETs; Emergency Taxis. They are minibuses stuffed with people. I could never take an ET, not allowed to. So everybody here who can afford it have their own car. Otherwise you are pretty much stuck. There are no passenger trains here that I have heard of either. Between the big cities (Harare, Bulawayo, Vic Falls, Joburg) though there are bus companies who drive sometimes twice a day. 30 dollars from here to Harare.
I can just mention the power which goes on and off like a yo-yo and the water cuts (which thankfully we aren't affected by since we have a borehole). And that everything is paid in cash here.
But now I have to run. Well, actually drive. So long!
Tuesday 7 August 2012
Running off!
Having holiday, sort of, is quite nice. I do so little. I spend the whole morning up until lunch time doing my morning routine, just slightly slower than normal. I go for my walk, do my fifteen minutes of strengthening exercises, have my breakfast usually while watching a movie, then a shower or bath, get dressed and it's nearly time to go to work!
The most amazing thing with my walking though is how much stronger my legs and shins are. I have now walked every morning Monday to Friday for two months, extendig the route every second week and in the beginning my shins were so sore. But somehow they have got stronger and I have now started (*drumroll*) to run on the sandy patches!! Today I ran the most, probably about a hundred meters, but before it's been around twenty. I am so happy!! I haven't run for almost two years and now it seems like I might be able to run in a sort of near future. Eish I have missed it.
Yesterday something not so fun happened. My violin broke. Again. The neckboard, which a guy in Harare glued back on like a month ago, went off ... again. So now I have to hunt Harare-goers, so they can take it up there to be fixed. Again. But the evening weighed up with positive stuff like skypeing friends.
Anyway, time for lunch. See ya!
The most amazing thing with my walking though is how much stronger my legs and shins are. I have now walked every morning Monday to Friday for two months, extendig the route every second week and in the beginning my shins were so sore. But somehow they have got stronger and I have now started (*drumroll*) to run on the sandy patches!! Today I ran the most, probably about a hundred meters, but before it's been around twenty. I am so happy!! I haven't run for almost two years and now it seems like I might be able to run in a sort of near future. Eish I have missed it.
Yesterday something not so fun happened. My violin broke. Again. The neckboard, which a guy in Harare glued back on like a month ago, went off ... again. So now I have to hunt Harare-goers, so they can take it up there to be fixed. Again. But the evening weighed up with positive stuff like skypeing friends.
Anyway, time for lunch. See ya!
Saturday 4 August 2012
Speeded week
Correction of last blog post: at least four tv-channels of olympics.
SO much has happened this week. I have hardly had time to write here. (Well I have, but I was just too lazy to do so.)
We had the student concert on Monday which went so so so so well and I was so proud of my kids and so happy that I couldn't stop smiling and hugging them. Then another concert after that with two Russians. Nice light classical music, but way too long.
Getting the car fixed on Tuesday and having coffee with Heather before lessons.
Wednesday assembly at Girls' College where it went... not so good with the orchestra and violin group. Lessons etc. Out for cocktails and chatting with Jeanette, Mullins, Aurie (all GC teachers) and two more.
Thursday HOLIDAY!! Getting eyebrows done, chilling on the lawn, getting a Swedih For Heather book going.
Friday haircut with the most amazing blowdry (holywood locks!!) then getting dolled up by Heather. Shopping and chatting to people I met (I actually know people in Bulawayo now...), then dinner at the Montgomerys' with the two Russian musicians as well. Lovely evening.
That was the week in superspeed. I haven't actually watched that much Olympics as I would have likde. Really miss my Swedish commentators. Anyway, tomorrow going shopping then jamming with Sam.
Trivia 1: John has bought his ticket to Sweden and is leaving end of August. Sad, but I get why.
Trivia 2: Linda is arriving in less than two weeks!!
Trivia 3: I am getting a Sony Ericsson Xperia Go sent out to me with Linda jippie yo!
Trivia 4: Soooo tired. Just thought I hadn't written here in an age.
Night everyone!
SO much has happened this week. I have hardly had time to write here. (Well I have, but I was just too lazy to do so.)
We had the student concert on Monday which went so so so so well and I was so proud of my kids and so happy that I couldn't stop smiling and hugging them. Then another concert after that with two Russians. Nice light classical music, but way too long.
Getting the car fixed on Tuesday and having coffee with Heather before lessons.
Wednesday assembly at Girls' College where it went... not so good with the orchestra and violin group. Lessons etc. Out for cocktails and chatting with Jeanette, Mullins, Aurie (all GC teachers) and two more.
Thursday HOLIDAY!! Getting eyebrows done, chilling on the lawn, getting a Swedih For Heather book going.
Friday haircut with the most amazing blowdry (holywood locks!!) then getting dolled up by Heather. Shopping and chatting to people I met (I actually know people in Bulawayo now...), then dinner at the Montgomerys' with the two Russian musicians as well. Lovely evening.
That was the week in superspeed. I haven't actually watched that much Olympics as I would have likde. Really miss my Swedish commentators. Anyway, tomorrow going shopping then jamming with Sam.
Trivia 1: John has bought his ticket to Sweden and is leaving end of August. Sad, but I get why.
Trivia 2: Linda is arriving in less than two weeks!!
Trivia 3: I am getting a Sony Ericsson Xperia Go sent out to me with Linda jippie yo!
Trivia 4: Soooo tired. Just thought I hadn't written here in an age.
Night everyone!
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