March 1st 2007
Snakes and things
I have been here nearly 2 weeks already. I thought I should write a few things down as much to remind myself of what is going on as to tell others.
It took George about a week to adjust to me being here. Although he was glad to see me it was clear that I upset his routines. He spent a lot of the first week biting his lip and tongue which is a damned sight more than I would have done if it was the other way round. We seem to have settled into our own wee routines now so he might save that lip and tongue from a lot of pain. He has bought me flowers twice and chocs once so I reckon I need to stay away more often cos I haven’t had them before.
On my first full day here Avia, the maid, found a snake in the garden and shouted for George. She was very anxious and didn’t want to go back outside till it was gone. He killed it and put it in the bucket. My hero! I am not sure the environmentalist would approve especially since it was a harmless one but he saved the day for Avia. The paper had just reported about a man who died after being bitten by a snake while on the toilet. It was an outside earth closet so unlikely to ever happen to me. The snake was a black mamba! Dangerous things. One of George’s colleagues recently found a cobra in his garden. These wee things remind me that I am in Africa cos it is easy to forget sometimes cos of all the mod cos we take for granted at home are here too.
Avia’s sister has come over from Zimbabwe looking for work and George got her a job with one of his colleagues but she only lasted a week so she is back with us for a while. In her first day she had to ask about how to put the teat on the baby’s bottle and I don’t think that went down well. They don’t seem to have been very tolerant that she didn’t know about such things.
When George was at one of his bird watching weekends he met a woman who volunteered to show me the ropes in Francistown. On my first Sunday she invited us over for tea at 4pm. We got tea and little tuna sandwiches with the crusts cut off and cake, Victoria sponge cake, with yellow icing. Very proper and English. She was Zambian though so it all came as a bit of a surprise for me. Her husband was English and had come over to South Africa 25 years ago on a short contract and had never gone back. It seems many of them do that. They come on short contracts and love the life style and never go back.
I am not sure what the expats like about the lifestyle cos when we were at their house, another ex-pat couple came round and the four of them spent the early evening talking about safety (personal and house). They all had gruesome stories of robberies and some with violence. The South African guy who is about 6foot six and heavy set said he would feel safer if he could carry a handgun. He felt the Botswana government was wrong not letting him protect himself. George and I nearly choked on our delicate crust free sannies. It wouldn’t have been appropriate for us to suggest that if he carried a gun then someone might get killed and that could be him.
They then went on to talk about maids and staff generally and how unreliable they are. How they will steal from you and you have to watch them every minute. This was an afternoon organised to help me settle in! What would they have said if they wanted to put me off? When I said I thought we could trust Avia and that she was a hard worker. I was told that new people are naïve and underestimate the ‘African’. Mmmm
They also move around a lot (Zambia, Namibia, South Africa, and Malawi) following the contract so never seem to have their own stuff with them. They talked about leaving their best stuff in their ‘real’ homes. I am not sure I could do that for over 25 yrs. I like having my things around me. I don’t think I would make a good nomad. Maybe it makes you rethink what really is important to you and what you really need.
On Sunday George and I were in ‘our’ pool. It was good fun and really strange to play in your own pool. Not something I thought we would ever do. The next day it rained all day. The first rain they had for while. They were all very pleased to see it. It is the rainy season and they have hardly any of it. Surprisingly I was pleased too cos it cooled things down. It is too hot to sit in the sun after 10 am in the morning. It means I am working but I have to say not as hard as I should.
I am off to the WI tonight. It meets once a fortnight and I am not sure what to expect. Let you know in next instalment
Snakes and things
I have been here nearly 2 weeks already. I thought I should write a few things down as much to remind myself of what is going on as to tell others.
It took George about a week to adjust to me being here. Although he was glad to see me it was clear that I upset his routines. He spent a lot of the first week biting his lip and tongue which is a damned sight more than I would have done if it was the other way round. We seem to have settled into our own wee routines now so he might save that lip and tongue from a lot of pain. He has bought me flowers twice and chocs once so I reckon I need to stay away more often cos I haven’t had them before.
On my first full day here Avia, the maid, found a snake in the garden and shouted for George. She was very anxious and didn’t want to go back outside till it was gone. He killed it and put it in the bucket. My hero! I am not sure the environmentalist would approve especially since it was a harmless one but he saved the day for Avia. The paper had just reported about a man who died after being bitten by a snake while on the toilet. It was an outside earth closet so unlikely to ever happen to me. The snake was a black mamba! Dangerous things. One of George’s colleagues recently found a cobra in his garden. These wee things remind me that I am in Africa cos it is easy to forget sometimes cos of all the mod cos we take for granted at home are here too.
Avia’s sister has come over from Zimbabwe looking for work and George got her a job with one of his colleagues but she only lasted a week so she is back with us for a while. In her first day she had to ask about how to put the teat on the baby’s bottle and I don’t think that went down well. They don’t seem to have been very tolerant that she didn’t know about such things.
When George was at one of his bird watching weekends he met a woman who volunteered to show me the ropes in Francistown. On my first Sunday she invited us over for tea at 4pm. We got tea and little tuna sandwiches with the crusts cut off and cake, Victoria sponge cake, with yellow icing. Very proper and English. She was Zambian though so it all came as a bit of a surprise for me. Her husband was English and had come over to South Africa 25 years ago on a short contract and had never gone back. It seems many of them do that. They come on short contracts and love the life style and never go back.
I am not sure what the expats like about the lifestyle cos when we were at their house, another ex-pat couple came round and the four of them spent the early evening talking about safety (personal and house). They all had gruesome stories of robberies and some with violence. The South African guy who is about 6foot six and heavy set said he would feel safer if he could carry a handgun. He felt the Botswana government was wrong not letting him protect himself. George and I nearly choked on our delicate crust free sannies. It wouldn’t have been appropriate for us to suggest that if he carried a gun then someone might get killed and that could be him.
They then went on to talk about maids and staff generally and how unreliable they are. How they will steal from you and you have to watch them every minute. This was an afternoon organised to help me settle in! What would they have said if they wanted to put me off? When I said I thought we could trust Avia and that she was a hard worker. I was told that new people are naïve and underestimate the ‘African’. Mmmm
They also move around a lot (Zambia, Namibia, South Africa, and Malawi) following the contract so never seem to have their own stuff with them. They talked about leaving their best stuff in their ‘real’ homes. I am not sure I could do that for over 25 yrs. I like having my things around me. I don’t think I would make a good nomad. Maybe it makes you rethink what really is important to you and what you really need.
On Sunday George and I were in ‘our’ pool. It was good fun and really strange to play in your own pool. Not something I thought we would ever do. The next day it rained all day. The first rain they had for while. They were all very pleased to see it. It is the rainy season and they have hardly any of it. Surprisingly I was pleased too cos it cooled things down. It is too hot to sit in the sun after 10 am in the morning. It means I am working but I have to say not as hard as I should.
I am off to the WI tonight. It meets once a fortnight and I am not sure what to expect. Let you know in next instalment
posted by George Herd at 5:20 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home