First Response Funny: Welcome to Mafikeng, South Africa

Dumelang!

I thought it would be fun to post a video of the shopping complex closest to me. It's about a 10-minute drive or 40 minutes walking. There's a grocery store, Wimpy restaurant, Clicks (like CVS), FNB (my bank), a Fruit & Veg shop, Internet cafe and an eating cafe. It's pretty nice.

I feel pretty lucky b/c in the village we stayed in, Seabe, there were like three identical shops that sold basics like rice, drinks, canned food, bread and such. And, seriously, that's it. No banks, no fresh fruit/vegetables, no restaurants, etc.

Video of a Mafikeng Shopping Complex

During training, Peace Corps just gave us food boxes w/ staple items. Luckily, I got to take some of those items with me to Mafikeng. (Mostly so I could save money and not buy new stuff for awhile!) So I've been trying to come up with new food dishes, especially things I can put curry into : )

I've come to the realization I can't make restaurant-quality Indian food, so I've given up on that and pretty much just try to put curry into other stuff!

So ....... I made curry mac-n-cheese! I have to say I felt like a Zingerman doing crazy new things with mac-n-chz! (Although this mac-n-chz was quite a bit cheaper than the stuff in Ann Arbor!) Sometimes I even put diced tomatoes into it - yum! : )

Yum - curry mac-n-chz!
(sorry it's blurry!)

When I was walking around town this weekend, I thought I'd take a picture of the SAMAG office. It's a relatively small office, 7 staff plus me. And, oh yeah, everything has barbed wire on it, so you can see that on the door.