Full Flavour Behaviour!

settling into life in mbabane
tuesday 9th July

Well, for the first time today I actually didn't want to go into work. Pimane came up with a dream plan for the day (hot springs, lunch with friends, beers in the park) and it occurred to me that I haven't really taken any time off since I arrived here; it would be great to have the day off.. but then again, I only have to wait until Friday. Of course, once I got to work, I had loads to do and friendly people with whom to do it. I felt a bit like my brother, who, at the age of about six, used to become almost hysterical the night before term began and then would, without fail, come home after the first day declaring that he loved school and couldn't wait for the second day.

As luck would have it, I was also invited out to join the gang for lunch - it was fantastic to see Andy and Des again; I haven't seen them in over a year. It was nice to have a civilised chat in the sunshine rather than a charred braai by candle light - last time I was on the farm, Pimane and I ran out of petrol fetching beers and had to hitch from Pine Valley to the garage and back again, meaning an hour's trip took four and there was nothing warm left when we finally got back!

Another shock, too, as the phone I bought yesterday ran out of its E100 credit - turns out Pimane had made a quiet call to his girlfriend in South Africa and they'd taken the liberty of charging him a similar rate to the pre-pay companies in the UK. Bastards! Still, I found it most cathartic burning down the MTN Swaziland building and encouraging Bob the dog to urinate on the ashes.

My eagle-eyed, copy-editing mother has kindly pointed out that the word 'thief' is mis-spelled in the previous entry, and for this I apologise. She also included an entry from Kennedy's English Primer (complete with rhyme) which I remembered, and seemed to fit what I thought I had written. Closer inspection revealed that (as always) she was right, but I am putting in an extra session on my typing tutor tonight in an effort to clear the lines of communication between Wernicke's area and my motor cortex; it appears that the former knows how to spell but my fingers don't.

I've just been handed a list of stories, so I must go, but if anybody's got any tips about cellphone economy, digital cameras or how to survive a trip to the farm on the 21st for Pimane's birthday without dying of alcohol poisoning.. please let me know!

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