Potjie

My education in South African culture continues and the eagerness to visit South Africa / Namibia / Botswana grows the more I hear about places.

One bloke is going back to South Africa for good and we therefore all went to his farewell party at the club, which was fun. South Africans know this couple dance called sokkie. How thankful I am that we were taught some basic moves at our High School. That way these dancing moments turn out only half-embarassing and even somewhat enjoyable... ;)

Sunday was another day to spend some time cycling. How I love the countryside these days!  One can almost watch the grass grow!

so green!

water pump and laundry

Faleme and Senegal

guardian hut along the mine fence 

After cycling, we stopped by at the civil engineer's camp to chitchat and have lunch. They were preparing a potjie, which - in that case - was onion, lamb, potato and rice cooked in a  cast iron pot on the fire. There is one family with three kids living on site and they were invited, too. What a joy to spend time chatting to kids and a woman! :) The only South Africans I met before working in Mali were three touring cyclists in the midst of the Australian outback and they were a quite unfriendly bunch of guys (very rare for touring cyclists). As I am figuring now, South Africans are generally very easy to get along with. Afrikaans is somewhat similar to Swiss German and they appreciate the outdoors. In combination with their never-ending generosity and warm hospitality they make for great friends on site.

Potjie

Having said all that, I should point out that we are mostly working with a big deadline ahead. Core logging, core logging, data entry, core logging, core logging, interpretation for days and weeks to come...