This is life: October 2006

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

My very social life

About this being the most social week ever…after our housemate picked us up on Tuesday we were driving home and she began explaining that every single afternoon/evening this week there was some kind of social gathering. You know how sometimes you get that feeling like you’re drowning and you just want to get your head above water? I felt like that because we were a day late back from Durban and I had to have someone substitute my class and I wasn’t fully prepared for the week because I still hadn’t met with the girl who used to teach my class and talk about what I needed to cover. We were supposed to meet before I left but have yet to meet. Anyway it was just one of those things when you suddenly realize you are going to have no ME time or ALONE time or planning time. Well you may have a little, but not a lot. But it was actually pretty fun and everything worked out alright. Tuesday night we had a surprise “kitchen tea party” (bridal shower) for this SA girl Jacqui who is getting married in December. It was really nice. Wednesday night we had this surprise going away dinner for Julie because she’s leaving for 6 weeks, but it was a flop. I don’t know why were doing it anyway since she’s coming back. It wasn’t really goodbye. Thursday afternoon there was a baby shower for a Swazi lady, but I skipped that because I don’t really know her yet. Friday there was supposed to be a dinner but we ended up not having it and had a LOST marathon instead. We only watched 5 episodes this time. And then Saturday I had the girls from my class over to watch a movie. They chose Pride and Prejudice, which was kinda funny because I’m sure they couldn’t understand half of what the actors were saying. Then we had this major volleyball tournament in the afternoon. It was like the Olympics because we had people representing America, SA, Canada, England, Swaziland. It was awesome. SA rolled in on the tipper truck (flat bed pickup sort of) wearing these SA flag banner things on their heads and SA flag t shirts they had just made. They were yelling and cheering. Then 3 of our Americans rolled in with their USA t shirts and red, white, and blue bandanas and wigs and such. After we kicked SA’s bums we had a cheer competition (just the 4 of us American girls and the 4 SA girls). It was hilarious. This is another reason why I love the Bu. Word spread about the tourney and pretty soon we had tons of kids up watching and some of the missionaries coming with their fold up chairs to watch. It was an event. Afterward we had a big braai at the other girls house. Then when the peeps left, we girls watched another 2 episodes of LOST. It was scary stuff. So yeah we had a pretty great Saturday. And tonight (Sunday) after church there’s a surprise birthday thing-a bring and share dessert get together. So the week of social events continues!! But I thing next week will be more mellow. And Monday the inspectors are coming to the school, so we had a big huge clean-up afternoon on Friday. Hopefully everything will go well and we’ll pass inspection. Saturday our team from England arrives, so that’s really exciting…see some familiar faces. Have a great week and be blessed!

Durbs

Sorry I haven’t written in so long!! First I went out of town for a week when we had a school break. Then this week was the most social week of my life, so I never was able to email or blog. It’s been madness!! I’m more social now than I was in college I think. In the Bu. Weird. Anyway I went to Durban, SA to visit my friend Sarah that I met in on a cruise in Greece in July. She’s super sweet and so are her parents. We really had a blast. We did some shopping (especially for good groceries since our grocery store in Piggs Peak has about 4 aisles and no choices), went to movies, went out for meals with her friends, went to the biggest aquarium in the Southern Hemisiphere (Ushaka), went for a bunny chow, went to a huge outdoor market, and hung out. Durban is really beautiful. There are loads of trees and flowers and it’s very hilly so you get some fantastic views. My favorite tree ever is called the Jacaranda tree which is covered with beautiful lavender colored flowers. They are all over South Africa and Swaziland.
Ushaka was super awesome and a bit like Sea World in that they have a dolphin show and a seal show. Sea World is WAY better though. But it was fun to see the little shows. The aquarium part was really cool. It is absolutely amazing to see all the different types of fish God made. He’s so creative! The whole aquarium is meant to be like you’re at the bottom of the ocean in a wrecked ship, so the way it’s set up and decorated is pretty neat.
The bus we took from Durban on Monday was 4 hours late which was really frustrating. So then we didn’t get back to Mbabane, Swaziland until too late for my housemate to come get us. Mbabane is still about 2 hours from Bulembu so we were stuck there and had to stay at a hostel. But interestingly enough, there were some girls from Plano there and one of them had gone to UNT!! Crazy. Then the next morning we got a kombi from Mbabane to Piggs Peak and our housemate picked us up in Piggs Peak. A kombi is like a taxi/bus thing. They CRAM the people in like none other. I’m not gonna lie, it was pretty uncomfortable. But we got it done.
A couple other things about my Durban trip. So one night we’re sitting there watching a movie in Sarah’s living room when I notice movement out of the corner of my eye. I look up on the wall and there’s a gecko crawling around. I was like, “um, there’s a lizard on your wall” and they said “yeah there are 2 and they live there and eat the moths.” Also, they are very territorial so they hiss at each other. Pretty funny. They are actually kinda cute. Better than lizards for sure. And I ate pumpkin ravioli with a creamy walnut sauce at a restaurant. It was really good. And Sarah and her mom kept saying that I have “movie star” hair. What’s up with that? I found that hilarious. My hair is anything but “movie star” hair. But I’ll take the compliment. Okay I think that’s about it for Durbs.