Wow! The last time I posted was OCTOBER!! That is just so sad. In my defense, I have been travelling for the past month and a bit so I didn't get a chance to post anything. But still, it is sad!
Where to even begin?! I left Mzomtsha on December 3rd (I think..so long ago!) and went to hang out in the lovely metropolis of Umtata for a couple days where I lived in Brian and Lynell's house. It was nice to have some down time to relax and just chill, though a large house all to myself got a little quiet. I had two cats and a dog to keep me company though. Crazy animals followed me everywhere for the first couple of days. I also worked at a nearby orphanage a couple hours a day playing with toddlers and babies. So cute, but so heartbreaking too. Some of the babies are really sick and it is just so sad.
Then, on December 15th I left for Botswana! My bus trip was very very long - 12 hours to Pretoria and then another 8 to Gaberone. But I made it without too much trouble, though the bus did stall going up a hill between Joburg and the Botswana border. It went back down the hill a little way before the driver got it started again. That was a little iffy, but it turned out.
Botswana was a lot of fun. I was there for Christmas and stayed with Susan and Glyn Alison-Jones and their two kids Maeyken (pronounced Megan but with a K) and Adrieana. They were a lot of fun. It was really nice to have an adopted family for the holidays! Adrieana even started calling me her stepsister, and I was only evil once or twice :)
On December 29th we left Botswana and drove to Swaziland. I promise to put pictures on here evenutally. Swaziland was GORGEOUS. I loved it. We stayed at a backpackers in the middle of a nature reserve. They didn't have the Big Five so we could just walk around anywhere. We went hiking with zebra and impala and wildabeast (these can get a little nerve wracking but we were assured that they would not charge us, no matter how much it seemed like they were going to...) I saw hippos and even babies! We climbed a mountain - well almost. We lost the trail near the top and by the time we found it again it was getting too late to get all the way up and then down before dark. But we were pretty close! I also went on a game drive at another nature reserve and saw 9 elephant really up close - on of them brushed up against our Land Rover! Also I saw lions and rhino and a giraffe. and more hippos and impala. So much fun!!
From Swaziland I went to Durban by myself. It is a fun city but kind of hard to do on your own. I couldn't figure out how I was supposed to go swimming without getting all my stuff stolen while I was in the water! But the rain came and solved the problem. So no beach, but I did explore downtown with two German girls. We had a lot of fun checking out different markets and stuff. Now, I am back at work. I have three months left here in South Africa and most of the time I am really excited about it. The rest of the time I feel tired of this particular place and wonder if I am really up for three more months with no one to talk to, but there are things to look forward to. There is another volunteer coming in February from Cape Town so then I will have someone else to chat with (yahoo!) and the kids are really excited about getting back to class and that is contagious.
On a funny note, I was at the post office yesterday and the woman asked me if Canada was part of Southern Africa or "the rest of the world." It was funny!
That is all for now. Pictures to come!
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