Sept 6th

Car! 

Well I finally gave in and have decided to buy a car. I've been debating with myself as to the merits of such a purchase. 1) it would be convenient for getting around/going to buy groceries/going to clinic locations outside of the city. However I had to weight these positives against 1) I don't really like to drive/my roommate has a car and for the most part I can and probably will ride with her to work/what if I get in to an accident/it gets stolen/etc. However what clinched my decision, were a few things. First would be my first time on a combi. Combi's are little minivans that essentially work at the bus system here is Gabs. There actually quite cheap (50 cents per trip), and are relatively fast and frequent in the mornings and early afternoon. Yesterday I rode in to work with my roommate and then decided to ride a combi home for the experience. Well catching Tlokweng #4 wasn't that difficult. However I ended up sitting next to this guy who reeked of alcohol and switched from staring at my chest to intermittently looking at me while he asked me where I lived, what I did, did I want to spend time with him etc. It was very uncomfortable. I initially replied politely but then kind of turned away with the hope that I wouldn't continue to be his main focus. No such luck though. We were approaching my stop at which point he offed to pay for my combi ticket for me and again asked if we could hang out. I quickly declined and jumped off.  Though that probably was a one time experience and things like that definitely happen in the US, it was nonetheless really annoying. Plus being in Bots where I don't really know where I'm going most of the time definitely makes me feel more vulnerable. My other reason stems from a trip I took to Game city with my roommate. Game City is a pretty big mall that's essentially like most malls in the US, they even have a store called Game that reminds me a lot of Walmart, you can find everything there. However it is not at all near where we live. It was about a 30-45 min drive there, but it was well worth it. I was able to buy my down comforter (it definitely gets cold at night. My first night here I slept fully clothed under the minimal sheet and blanket my room came with)and other supplies there. There really isn't anything near where we live except the gym which is right next door. Other than that nothing is walking distance by Botswana terms= a few hundred feet. I say this because in Boston I would walk all over the place, from Coolidge Corner to Chinatown and back. Even over to Cambridge. I really didn't worry at all about being mugged. However that's definitely not the case here. One cannot traipse all over the place. Essentially this is car country and you drive or you take a combi from place to place. This idea was best illustrated by our maid (I know I have a maid..strange.... but she came with the apartment). She states that she never walks now after experiencing multiple muggings. People coming up to her and placing a knife in her side and asking for money. Also she told us of a prior student (she cleans all the BHP houses) who was walking and found herself between two motswana (singular for batswanan) who initially seemed nice and engaging, but who then politely asked her to give them her cellphone and her camera which she had slung over her shoulder or the would stab her with a knife. She handed over the items right away and quickly walked away. I heard that she was most flabbergasted by how politely they asked her for her things. Furthermore as my roommate is apt to say a car = freedom. Though I have survived quite nicely without one in Boston, I think I may find having one here as a real benefit So today my roommate had to go and get a cd player placed in her car, so I went with and took a look. I ended up finding a pretty clean looking Toyota 1997. I had my uncle (not actual uncle but family friend) take a look at it and we were able to reach a reasonable price per him. I actually thing cars are much cheaper in South Africa, however getting the car here would be a real pain! Otherwise today has been pretty uneventful I'm just arranging the logbook that I will use for my study. Tomorrow should be more fun though. I'm going with my roommate two people in her lab and another post-grad that I met on my South African airways flight to look at cheetahs and go on a day safari! Cheers B