Yesterday (Saturday) was our first full day in Botswana.  They say it takes you one day for every hour of time difference to overcome the jet lag.  Living in St Louis, our time difference is seven hours, so God willing, in a week we should be used to sleep habits here.  However, the first night definitely did not get it done.  On Friday we were in our apartment before noon local time and by 2:00 everyone was out like a light.  Which of course means that nobody went to sleep easily on Friday night (except Maya that is).  Our apartment is very small so we also rented a bunkhouse on this compound and that is where Rich and the three youngest kids have set up 'Botswana Missionary Kids Camp'.  Anyways, the kids were up past midnight and then after that Matt was the only one who could not sleep AND he also felt obligated to wake me (Rich) up every 45 minutes to let me know he still could not sleep. 

On Saturday, we went back to the airport where we successfully recovered our one missing bag.  It had been there the whole time we just didn't see it.  So everything seems to have made it safely - just we were zombies with crazy kids at the airport.  Anyways, later Saturday I got my first 'opportunity' to drive around here.  I absolutely hated it - it was so much to remember side of the road, speed limits, shifting gears and for some reason I don't drive far enough right in the lane so I kept hitting the edge of the road which is not good.  So, not a fan of driving in Botswana at the moment.  Maya on the other hand did very well and is designated as the family driver exclusively for now.

Speaking of driving, our van had arrived successfully at the Auto dealership in Gaborone in time to pick us up from the airport.  It is very nice with a good mix of personal space and cargo room for our traveling needs.  We very much thank all of you who gave (and continue to give) toward the funding of that auto, especially the national LWML for the grant that helped fund it.

There is a huge difference between visitng here and living here.  I shopped for groceries yesterday and did tons of stuff wrong.  Like in the produce section, you have to get your produce and then take it to a counter there and have it weighed and then they close the bag and stick a tag on it like when you get meat or deli stuff at an American store.  So everyone had to wait in a huge line while the bagger had to run back and 'get all my produce weighed'.  There is also adjusting to using the local currency and trying to figure out what stuff is costing in dollars.  There is all the metric stuff.  My mind is exhausted.

Lastly - a few British English terms we have encountered in our interactions:

robot - traffic light

still water - bottled water that is not sparkling water (plain bottled water)

finished - gone,, as in Q:'do you have any garlic'  A:  'No, the garlic is finished'

flyover - bridge over another road

windscreen - windshield

biscuit - cookie

coffee with cream - coffee with a big honk of whipped cream on top

coffee with milk - coffee with cream (not whipped cream)

Well, I guess that's enough for now.  You get the picture:  we are being completely nailed with learning new stuff about everything.  We appreciate your prayers for patience, wisdom, and safety.

Blessings