I am well settled in to my new apartment, and had three PCV visitors over the weekend.

The first was for a home-cooked, going-away dinner extravaganza for Aaron. He’s allowed me to crash at his conveniently-located extension home and feasts are a common theme. We cooked up mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli and cauliflower, T-bone steaks, and a lemon cake.

There were magenta potatoes for sale at the grocery store!

A fuse blew twice this week and it took a long time for it to be fixed, so I had all of my kitchen appliances hooked up to two extension cords to reach the bedroom, where there was electricity, which I worried about overloading. It made for an extra exciting, but very Swazi evening.

So many things that would bother me in America don’t any more. My tolerance for adverse events is nearly sky high. I don’t even concern myself with why things go wrong anymore and just say, “Oh, Swaziland.”

Two other extenders from my group toured my new home as well. Patrick mentioned he was in town and happened to be five minutes away, so he dropped by. Then Deacon brought me some curtains because I don’t have enough and he does. He bought nice ones for his hut and does not need them for his apartment, and they will be washed tomorrow and ready to hang as soon as I figure out how.

My apartment is also clean enough that if you wanted to come back to Eswatini, Mom, the invitation is open. My apartment was dirty when I moved in and there was dust in lots of hard-to-reach areas. Now that I have sturdy chairs, I could reach those spots better.

The invitation to visit is open to all of you. ESwatini is not without its challenges, but I really do love this place. There’s lions, rhinos, and elephants you can get quite close to, and maybe too close for comfort if you ask my mother. We could get matching outfits made, watch some song and dance performances, take a walk with zebras, and fall asleep to the growls of the lions. I would love to show you around if you have the time and money [eSwatini is pretty cheap, though!].

Baking for the week

• Lemon cake for a going-away dinner

Media for the week

• Remember the Titans
• Train to Busan, a Korean zombie movie
• Sherlock, Season 4 episodes
• Orange is the New Black, began Season 4 episodes
• A Photographic Guide to Birds of Southern Africa by Ian Sinclair