Irked
I AM alive -- not that it seems to matter to anybody...>( But i AM still no this earth, and i am still moderately alive...I was surprised on Thursday night with a debriefing in Flagstaff the next morning. I HATE five AM. We took the five hour drive into what was formerly a homelands (under the apartied) -- the Northern Cape. It was a very...third world place. but i couldn't get over how happy everybody was...
but that's for later.
So, we arrived at the venue at about 10AM, and the people were singing. And we're talking earthy, beginning of "circle of life" singing. Anyhow, i was completely enchanted when they all started moving to the door and out it, still singing, to greet us. They literally sang us all the way into the hall, and up into our seats. I was completely blown away. As i was listening to them sing in Xhosa, I was struck by how lucky i am. I bet that very few people i meet will ever have that opportunity -- this is something that i will never forget as long as i live...
Anyhow, the whole thing was fun, though the language barrier was a bit of a problem. Half of the ceremony was done in Xhosa, where i would sit and try not to look completely stumped. They were very impressed that i was from Canada, and thought that Gavin and Val were also Canadian. They Also thought i was responsible for the No Apologies program, and so i am hereby supposed to thank my father...but it was too much work to try to change their minds. So it won't kill them to think that. :P
Rev. Mdleleni says hello to "Canada" by the way. So on her behalf -- "hi!"
On the way home i had my first experience of this type -- we hit a dog. Now strangely this i remember more accurately than the singing. [shudder] poor fido. Maybe i'm more sadistic than i thought, because it doesn't really bother me all that much.
ANyhow.
I got home at around five, and the internet was down (hence the lack of emailage), and i had to pack and shower so that i would be ready to go to Gateway and Umlalazi this weekend. Sooo at around 6 we set out to Gateway, where i had my first Sashimi. Tuna. It's actually surprisingly yummy. I also had my first Calamari, which is like chewing salty rubber. Yum yum...
We arrived at Umlalazi at around ten thirty...and then promptly went to bed. At 4:45 AM (yes, that hour actually DOES exist) we got up and went to a game reserve. I saw zebras, impalas, rhinos, warthogs, giraffes, elephants....um. There were more, but i seem to have forgotten them. Ooh. A turtle, bats, a wildebeast, buffalo....and i THINK that's it. It was super neat. I have a TON of pictures. We killed any number of swallows as we drove along.
Soo we spent the last half of that day doing very little...then slept until today, when we went to see the raffia pine trees, home of then Pine-nut vulture. And yes. That was ecologically very interesting, and I'm sure that I'll have more little details for y'all later...but now i'm just trying to explain what is goin' down...
Um. Oh yeah, on Friday i went to buy a couple of CDs, and my card was declined. I was SO scared, until i got here and learned that the bank shut down my card because i went to a place that was known for stealing numbers...etc. but i DID buy my CDs, and think that EVERYBODY should download the Josh Groban song "Oceano" which is amazing.
Anyhow. We ALSO ran overl ike, five million Crabs. SOOO sarah has been on a killing spree this weekend. Sort of.
That's it for now. Much to do, little time to do it!
Ta
I AM alive -- not that it seems to matter to anybody...>( But i AM still no this earth, and i am still moderately alive...I was surprised on Thursday night with a debriefing in Flagstaff the next morning. I HATE five AM. We took the five hour drive into what was formerly a homelands (under the apartied) -- the Northern Cape. It was a very...third world place. but i couldn't get over how happy everybody was...
but that's for later.
So, we arrived at the venue at about 10AM, and the people were singing. And we're talking earthy, beginning of "circle of life" singing. Anyhow, i was completely enchanted when they all started moving to the door and out it, still singing, to greet us. They literally sang us all the way into the hall, and up into our seats. I was completely blown away. As i was listening to them sing in Xhosa, I was struck by how lucky i am. I bet that very few people i meet will ever have that opportunity -- this is something that i will never forget as long as i live...
Anyhow, the whole thing was fun, though the language barrier was a bit of a problem. Half of the ceremony was done in Xhosa, where i would sit and try not to look completely stumped. They were very impressed that i was from Canada, and thought that Gavin and Val were also Canadian. They Also thought i was responsible for the No Apologies program, and so i am hereby supposed to thank my father...but it was too much work to try to change their minds. So it won't kill them to think that. :P
Rev. Mdleleni says hello to "Canada" by the way. So on her behalf -- "hi!"
On the way home i had my first experience of this type -- we hit a dog. Now strangely this i remember more accurately than the singing. [shudder] poor fido. Maybe i'm more sadistic than i thought, because it doesn't really bother me all that much.
ANyhow.
I got home at around five, and the internet was down (hence the lack of emailage), and i had to pack and shower so that i would be ready to go to Gateway and Umlalazi this weekend. Sooo at around 6 we set out to Gateway, where i had my first Sashimi. Tuna. It's actually surprisingly yummy. I also had my first Calamari, which is like chewing salty rubber. Yum yum...
We arrived at Umlalazi at around ten thirty...and then promptly went to bed. At 4:45 AM (yes, that hour actually DOES exist) we got up and went to a game reserve. I saw zebras, impalas, rhinos, warthogs, giraffes, elephants....um. There were more, but i seem to have forgotten them. Ooh. A turtle, bats, a wildebeast, buffalo....and i THINK that's it. It was super neat. I have a TON of pictures. We killed any number of swallows as we drove along.
Soo we spent the last half of that day doing very little...then slept until today, when we went to see the raffia pine trees, home of then Pine-nut vulture. And yes. That was ecologically very interesting, and I'm sure that I'll have more little details for y'all later...but now i'm just trying to explain what is goin' down...
Um. Oh yeah, on Friday i went to buy a couple of CDs, and my card was declined. I was SO scared, until i got here and learned that the bank shut down my card because i went to a place that was known for stealing numbers...etc. but i DID buy my CDs, and think that EVERYBODY should download the Josh Groban song "Oceano" which is amazing.
Anyhow. We ALSO ran overl ike, five million Crabs. SOOO sarah has been on a killing spree this weekend. Sort of.
That's it for now. Much to do, little time to do it!
Ta
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