PICTURES

I forgot to mention that in Frankfurt airport as I was busy going through security I by accident dropped my backpack on the counter. Now...I was already totally over the carry on limit with a backpack, sleeping bag bag, camera bag, and a pursed so full it was overflowing. As I dropped my bag it made an audible THUD noise and the security guy stopped me to say, "that thing seems to be quite packed..oh well..not my department." This made me giggle but I was careful from then on to not show how heavy my bag really was. It was CRAMMED with textbooks and must have weighed a TON.

The last saturday before I left we also went to the beach! Last time! I burned pretty bad (no matter what jerome says :) ) trying to get rid of some tan lines and now am experience some side effects of burning. I am NEVER going to take being naturally dark for granted again.

I also had the amazing experience of hiking up AND down table mountain. It was a great hike...after a certain point where I thought that I was going to collapse and die. After sitting halfway up a mountain and feeling like I was going to puke there wasn't a whole lot of options other than to keep trekking it. The amusing part is that the actual distance to hike is probably only about 2.5 km but it takes about 2.5 hours mainly because the entire climb is a 45degree angle. Imagine..2 and a half hours of just steps. Step. Step. Step. Step. I began to feel my legs go numb. It was an AMAZING view and we had some great company (more Canadians from Alberta!!) and lots of good chats (we mostly had the chats on the downhill stretch since the uphill was pure silence with the sound of 5 people attempting to drag in another breath). At the top we treated ourselves to some icecream and coke (beers for jerome and Michelle :D) and relaxed. Sadly at the top you can see a whole lot of tourists who opted to take the cable car up the mountain and are taking pictures in their mini skirts and high heels. It is quite a depressing thing to see...me and jerome decided that people should only get to see such amazing sights when they earn it. Jerome also said you can find the ones that have hiked it since normally their faces are covered in dirt with two clean tracts running down the cheeks where the tears were flowing haha. Here are a couple pictures of the last week in South Africa (and the WARM!)

We're still smiling at this point...

The view was amazing! This was nearing the top..

Our Canadian Friends :)

These girls are ADORABLE. We went and collected shells (that's what's in the bucket :) )

The view from the beach...wow.

These girls gave me letters EVERY sunday. It was such a treat getting to know them :)

Henri's brother Albrecht (He's 18). Usually we bug each other but we decided (actually..I forced) him to take a nice picture :)

The last koffee drink...not sure what was going on here.

PENGUINS!

I love these girls! 

yes. I did ride a camel.

Just in case you were wondering..I'm not falling...I was actually betting mr. camel. I did this until he swiveled his neck and tried to bite me. Apparently he doesn't actually enjoy giving people rides :)

View from Chapmans Peak...amazing.

Well we documented the first legal drink...so I guess I should document the last. HOWEVER, I did have a couple of Baileys on the plane so this doesn't technically count as the last. But who can say no to baileys?

The Lengkeeks. THANK YOU so much for letting me stay. You guys were wonderful!

p.s as a side note...check out jerome's blog (walkingonmountains.blogspot.com) for some awesome Cango Cave pictures!!

Safely Home

I debated whether or not I wanted to continue blogging after I left south africa but for the interest of friends and families in Cape Town I'll try update it every so often with what I've been up to. This blog post however, is a rundown of my last week in foreign country. It was action packed and I had a wonderful time. (Thanks so much Andria and Jerome for the last day out!) Actually Thank you so much Jerome and Andria for EVERYTHING. I had a great time and you were amazing hosts. I think I'm going to owe you for the rest of my life...for multiple reasons :) But I'm sure Jerome had already thought of that and probably won't let me live it down anyways. The Lengkeeks were wonderful and I had so much fun spending time with the girls and with both of them. I also enjoyed Jerome Bootcamp...for the first couple weeks I did it! :P I'm proud of you Jerome for keeping it up though! I'm terribly sorry for often being out...seems 2.5 months is never enough time to do EVERYTHING. I'm so glad you're coming back in a month (although I sympathize and hope the goodbyes aren't too difficult).

So the last week was a combination of sadness at the idea of leaving and adventures that needed to be packed into the last couple days. I had a final koffee drink with the young peoples who planned a little get together evening for me. It was sad to say goodbye but hopefully I have the opportunity to come and visit again so we ended with "see you soon...hopefully :D" I decided to upload a bunch of pictures after so that I don't have to try put it between paragraphs

The last day jerome and andria took me on a drive to see many of the main points of Cape Town. The first stop was Simons town where I saw the African PENGUINS!!! They are so cute...really. It's odd to see them in South Africa and took a bit to get used to since I always had the preconceived notion that penguins only exist in cold areas :) After this we went on the Chapmans peak drive which was GORGEOUS. Jerome was telling me it's the most common stretch in the world to film car commercials..and for good reasons. Finally we went to a Camel Farm? I'm not sure exactly but I RODE A CAMEL. T'was pretty fantastic and I really enjoyed it. THANKS JEROME AND ANDRIA.

Finally...time to go. We quickly ran in the house and grabbed my bags (I figured out a week later that I had forgot a couple of things, but this is to be expected because..well..it's me!) and headed out the door. Henri and I drove to the airport behind Jerome and Andria and the girls. We waited for quite a while in the wrong line (woopsie :P) and finally figured out which one to get into. Happily all my suitcases were under (woot woot) and we managed to avoid getting my carry on checked by having andria and the girls watch it while I checked in. I've already learned all the tricks of flying. After a somewhat tearful goodbye (crying in public doesn't appeal to me in most circumstances) I headed off to my flight.
Flights:
Cape Town to Frankfurt: Flight gets delays by an hour, sit beside totally drunk men on the bus who hit on me for 15 min (they were probably like 45..), fly for 11 hours without a TV (which is HORRIBLE) and land 2.5 hours late in Frankfurt.
Frankfurt to Seattle: SO MUCH BETTER. Switch to seat in middle where I have 4 seats to myself, have my own TV and tons of leg room, Free Alcohol...lots of baileys...num..., watch movies for 9 hours straight.
Arrived in Seattle at 2:00pm (2 hours late...passable) and get off plane. SAY HI TO MOM AND DAD!!!

Course I saw all my amazing friends when I got home and some more the following days. It was great to see everyone and I am glad to bad back..somewhat :P 2.5 months didn't seem like that long especially since I was the one having all the fun. So the next couple weeks are packed with finding a new job, getting a LOT of schoolwork done, and basically catching up after 2.5 months of fun.

The Elusive Blog Post

Yes it has been an INCREDIBLY long time since I deemed this site worthy of being updated. I can honestly say that the past few weeks have been busy but with nothing extraordinarily interesting worth blog posting. I`m finishing volunteering this week and yes the date is finalized. I`m coming back March 15 2011.
Sniffle

I had an interesting indecent about a week ago with a rat. Anyone who knows me also knows that I actually have no problems with bugs or rats or mice or snakes or anything of the sort. I think this is mainly because of Daniel who owed 1 rat and two mice. All who suffered horrible deaths..but that`s another story. Anyways, one day I was suffering in 38degree weather and was in dire need of some sort of refreshment. Considering I was working on the computer at the same time (and keeping in my my past history of laptops and beverages) I chose the smartest option and opted to take a bottle with a lid that shuts! Ingenious. Sadly, as I reached into the cupboard unawares I grab a bottle and proceed to pick it up. It was surprisingly heavy. Then...it started to move. Then I screamed (yes..I screamed...a very girlish sort of scream. I`m not proud.) Emily came running. The hilarious part was that she didn`t come very close because she was afraid of whatever it was. Later when I asked her why she said she thought maybe it was a cape cobra (a HIGHLY toxic snakes..kills in 15 min) and opted to keep her distance. I laughed and said, 'so if it was a cape cobra would you just have left me?' She responded by saying that it was better for one of us to die then both...good answer...I guess. Anyways, I was busy calmly reassuring emily that it was just a mouse (because it was quite small) and that I`m sure it was harmless but just in case it carried diseases we shouldn`t touch it. What a wise auntie I am. The girls of course were completely grossed out. You can totally tell this is a family that grew up with all girls...they don`t tolerate bugs. They don`t play with bugs, they don`t touch bugs, and they REALLY DON`T LIKE BUGS. I`ve been trying to explain that a spider has done nothing wrong in life other that born ugly..which really isn`t it`s fault if you think about it. However, the girls are having non of it and I`m not allowed to release the spider outside (in case it comes crawling back) but HAVE to kill it. This is sad for me..I don`t like killing anything. Especially innocent spiders.

This is the baby rat that I mistook for a mouse :P


Just this past saturday (March 5) was the Swim Gala nearby our house. It`s a competition between the two schools Huron and GLB. It was really great to go and watch because the girls were having TONS of fun and Esther won one of her races. This is really exciting mainly because everyone here has swimming lessons in school so at the beginning of this year Emily and Esther were a little behind. Now they`re catching up because they`re such quick learners (they get it from their tannie lollos :D) and are doing well for themselves! I had fun ``watching.`` Albert came because he was bored so we actually spent most of that time socializing instead of watching. But it was all in good fun and we really enjoyed ourselves. The rest of the day was spent in a complicated clash of events. At 8:30 I could either attend a Chrismar Bazaar or the Swim Gala. We had to watch the arsenal game (soccer) at 5:00 of COURSE. Later on that evening we had the option of a Braai at the Luijks with Lengkeeks, hanging out with one of my friend Janika, or heading to my friend Roberts for a braai as well. In an attempt to cover most areas we ended up going to the swim gala, watching soccer at my friend pieters, heading to Henri`s (Luijks) for a quick braai dinner, and finally heading to Roberts. Twas a very busy evening but very enjoyable as well :) 

 The first picture is dinner with the Luijks and Lengkeeks. The second is at the swim gala, Esther and Tineke and the last is a south african style braai! Put some olive oil on the fire and watch it burn. The steak filets tasted EXCELLENT.
Finally I thought I would post a couple random pictures. 

 The Luijks dog Zhara is REALLY cute. I realize she looks like she's trying to bite me here but she actually does really love me :) 

Crafts! This is the volunteering that I do at Chrismar. The old ladies are really sweet! :D

This was at the Luijks family get together which was pretty busy :) Made me think of my huge family back home!