The Blog.: My recent dates....

Yes I have been on quite a few dates recently but I only plan on telling you about one. I figure I’ll leave you in suspense about the others. :D This past week I took Emily and Esther out on a date to the mall. :) The plan had been to go to Mugg&Bean (which is an absolutely DELECTABLE restaurant) but they were closed for reservations so we went to Ziggys :D It’s crazy to see how much they’ve grown up already! Emily and I discussed earlier how her and I are closer in age than Alicia and her. I find that odd….

We first went and got some coke floats for the girls and a milkshake for me. We ended up having some pretty interesting conversations about all sorts of things (obviously boys was mixed in there…we’re women…it’s what we do!) I loved just spending time with them since I’ve been rather busy lately and haven’t had time for school, friends, and family. After our milkshake I watched the girls run down the up escalator and up the down escalator. However, heading up the second time Emily tripped and gashed her leg open. It was quite a bloody mess and we had to go ask a shop keeper for some napkins to try and clean it up. I told Emily it was her war wound :) The most Ironic part was that she had managed to gash it going the proper way up the escalator. Finally after wandering around (and visiting “Hang out” for auntie Deanna) we headed home so the girl could go to bed. Sometimes I stay and cuddle with them but it doesn’t really work all that well because I’m a softy (yes…I am…I can’t say no) so when they say “please stay a little longer” with their pleading little voices I just can’t resist. Which usually means they end up going to bed far later than was originally intended…woops.

The plan is to take Bethany and Alicia next week so if you have any suggestions (that are affordable for a broke university student) feel free to tell me!

Lets see..what else…

On Saturday I went to Holandse Molen (which is a about a 45min drive from where I live) with the Luijks. This meant meeting the entire Luijk clan who were very hospitable. I soon got over my nerves…sorta. Holandse Molen is a park with camping but it is a river that has been diverted to fill a pool. It was a very relaxing day and I enjoyed myself immensely. It’s difficult to describe what I did because…well you know what it’s like when you go to the beach…you don’t do anything hahaha. Therefore I’ll just post some pictures of my day.

This is Henri's younger sister Carla (she's 11) and she's awesome :D

This is me :) Having a grand time relaxing and getting a tan.

On Tuesday I went to visit my friends classes in Stellenbosh. It would be so interesting to go to school here because the entire town is FULL of young peoples. My friends tell me that more than half of the population is students. The campus is HUGE and is a network of interlacing buildings. It really is the typical “university experience.” Something I’m lacking at my university mostly because I go to evening classes and don’t usually attend any student organized activities. Sniffle. I ended up going to Applied Maths with Henri and Pieter. The course was taught in Afrikaans but I recognized a lot of the formulas! For example…the quadratic formula (yes I did just say that so that I could sound smart…don’t judge). I felt ingenious for about 20 seconds until I realized the difficulty level of what Henri and Pieter are studying. It’s not wonder they have to spend days getting ready for tests. I consoled myself by saying that I was still 18 compared to their ANCIENT age of 20 and I still had 2 years to catch up to their smartness level :D. They strange part for me is that they teach the course in Afrikaans (therefore using the Afrikaans terms for things such as mean, median, and mode) but all the textbooks are in English. So the students have to know both the English mathematical term AND the Afrikaans term. That’s what you call seriously bilingual.

After attending class we headed to the apartment at stellenbosh shared by Pieter, Albert, and Hanco. Then we all went out for lunch and watched the cricket game. Yes…I watched cricket. HAHA actually “watched” because I promptly fell asleep after the first 10 min. I’ve become a soccer fan but I don’t think anything in this life could make me watch a game of cricket that takes an entire day. Some of them even take 5 days! The guys here are so in love with sports (Pieter and Henri…cough cough) that they’ll sit and watch cricket for 5 days straight. Wow. If you’ve seen cricket…that takes a lot of love…it’s so….BOOORRRIIINNNGGG. heehee. To all my south African readers…terribly sorry to put down a sport you love. If it makes you feel better I’ve been watching a phenomenal amount of soccer!

A picture I very sneakily took...Henri didn't tell me until after we got in the class that sometimes the prof asks people questions..in afrikaans. So if he asked me I had to reply Ek weet nie ("I don't know"). That's not a nice thing to tell something after they're already stuck in a classroom..and my accent would be a dead giveaway.