good times in gaborone....

hi friends! since my last few posts have been on the heavy side, i decided to go with something light this week :) below is a slideshow of my birthday festivities, along with a couple of random outings and happenings. speaking of, big THANKS to my new friends here for an awesome birthday! i thought i'd also include a list of some firsts i've experienced so far....i'm sure there are many more to come....

1. first time to drive on the left side of the road (see previous blog, more than a little traumatic)

2. first time to realize that i even walk on the wrong side, never dawned on me we walk on the right cause we drive on the right! duh.

3. first botswana power outage - darker than dark!

4. first time to truly tap into my martha stewart roots - many made up recipes including homemade salsa, guacamole, hummus, and brown sugar (not all together, don't worry). yes that's right, they don't sell brown sugar here, but turns out you can make it with plain sugar + molasses, who knew?! gotta love google :)

5. first time to accept a gecko as a roommate....i mean, he'd already lost his tail in some other skirmish, i didn't have the heart to throw him out.

6. first time to wear 3 layers in the middle of august - i like this first!

7. first running route to include a game reserve (ok so it runs behind the reserve, but it sounds more exotic to say it that way)

8. first time to go more than 30sec without adding parmesan to something...in fact i went TWO WHOLE WEEKS before finding a $15 block, which i definitely bought.

9. first african barbie phone, oh yeah.

10. first african hamburger, oh no.

11. first african dance lesson - turned out to be 1 session of latin dancing with an african twist, and 1 session of hip-hop....you can guess who the least coordinated in the room was!

12. first african aerobics class - again, looking totally natural and coordinated.

13. first month on wards as an attending - i survived!