A water main burst....no water for 2-3 weeks

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First off, Happy Anniversary to my wonderful mom and Jay 😊

Secondly, I so did not want to get out of bed this morning because my ankle hurt so bad but there was no way I was going to lay around all day in the cabin again, so I trekked on up to the cabin. I was on hyenas but I clearly was not going to walk them so I left that to other people in my group. They hid from us when we got in the enclosure but we knew where to look this time. They'll have to find a new spot! While they were walking, I had to change out their water and once they got back they had to be fed their chicken. When you are taking care of the hyenas, you are also in charge of the servals, so I went in to take out their food bowls while someone else picked up poop. Once that was all finished it was breakfast time!

For project time today we had to go dig holes and put up signs so we all jumped in to the back of the pick up and drove down to the Boma to grab the signs, then we drove up to the entrance to the park where he dropped like 5 of us off including me. We had to take down a sign and dig holes in order to put up new signs. Since digging involves using your foot/ankle and there were only 2 shovels, I just kinda stood around. I offered to swap with someone but everyone said they were fine. The guy working the gate actually came over to help us, he spoke english pretty well and he was really funny. Once we were finished we called Josh on his walkie and waited for him to come get us so I just chilled and chatted with Alex and Pascal. When Josh arrived, he drove us over to other holes that we dug the other day but we hadn't had the signs with us so the holes were in the wrong places so we just fixed that. Sadly, he left us at the cabins and we had to walk back to the restaurant. My ankle got awfully mad at me.

We arrived at the restaurant just in time for a hyena and lion handling but it was nearing noon time so there was no way the hyenas would behave unless they got their bottle. So while others went to work on the handling I went to go make the bottles. Man was that a disaster! The bottles consist of porridge and hot water, so its really not that difficult but I had never done it before and it needed to get done fast, luckily I got it done and Alex helped me to put the nipples on. They are new though so they really didn't want to go on. We had to push them so hard I got porridge in my hair! and that just doesn't look pleasant. But I did get to bottle feed my little baby Edison 😊 He's just so stinkin adorable! The hyenas get so possessive about their bottles though that once it's gone, you have to throw it over the fence and distract them with something else. I stayed in for the handling and they did really well. The got a little rowdy near the end but if you give them your finger to suck on, they calm right down. The only bad part is your finger is in a bunch of photos!

Once that was over, we all ate lunch and got straight to play time. The one interesting thing that happened at lunch though was a new volunteer came and Delano got everyones attention and said, everyone this is Jake. On the side of me, Ashley gasped and went Oh my god and ran up and gave him a hug. Apparently they go to college together, pshh like I would ever see anyone I know here.

I spent a little time with a bunch of animals today. Sometimes when I have to rest my ankle from all the stairs/walking, I just sit and watch the tigers because they are so beautiful and when there is no one around, they are nice and calm. One of the things I hate about play time is the fact that everyone always has their camera out and is telling you to get out of their shots. If you want the shot so badly wait til it's perfect don't try to make it perfect. As you can tell I steal some shots here and there but with my ipod, so I take a shot and put it away, others have big bulky cameras. I know that I'm going to want to remember this when I'm older but for right now, I just want to spend time with the animals and relax, not shove a camera down their throat.

I think Jason is becoming my new favorite lion, he's just so chill and relax. He's also a big fat baby. He's usually the one who's laying down when all the others have perked up to look at the monkey or peacock. I also really like Ruby and Judah, the tigers, because they're so small, you don't have to worry about whether they are coming at you. You can so easily knock them away, whereas Amber and Or are not too easy. It can be done, especially for me because I'm a big person, but Or can almost knock down the other smaller people. One thing I dislike about the tigers is Or's temperment, whenever you are in there you always have to be on the lookout for her because she always wants to play which just makes it really difficult. 😞 On the plus side though, Amber is doing much better, she got up and about, not playing too much but more active than yesterday! Ashley checked on her and said that her gums are still white, so we're keeping an eye on her, but things are looking up 😊

All's well at feeding time, no special food today, just legs, really small ones at that, but they'll be okay. Well, all was well until Tamz decided to tell us that the water main broke in Port Elizabeth and we will be out of water for at least 7 days while they fix it and normal water supply won't be back for 2-3 weeks. Apparently we will run out of water by tomorrow midday. No shower, no toilet, no washing, no nothing. This is gunna stink. Especially since I have meat prep tomorrow. blechhh....

We aren't mixing the lions and tigers together for feeding yet because Amber's not 100% better yet, but hopefully soon. When Amber is with the lions, they know something is wrong, but they don't leave her alone, they actually cling to her more than usual, which can just be annoying, whereas, Ruby and Judah will just chuff at her and keep their distance. Or not so much because she still wants to play, but alas, it's Or, what can you do? Amber did actually steal a steak for herself and the bone we threw in which is always a good sign, she just had to make up for the 2 days she didn't eat!

Hyena feeding went fine, they just get ribs at night time. Servals and owls got their food, and it was time for me to have some of my own! Katrina made sour cream enchiladas, I think, I don't know exactly what they were called, but I know they were delicious! She served them with rice too, and for anyone that knows me, I hate rice, but this was really yummy! Thank god I came with someone who knows how to cook! For dessert, Stephanie made brigaderros again, but I left the kitchen early because I just wanted to lay down and rest my ankle, everyone was going to a bar in PE tonight, which I probably would have gone to had I not sprained my ankle. I figure rest my ankle and I can do whatever next week, when I'm less stupid. So instead I took a spoonful of what normally would be rolled into balls and went down to my cabin with Emily. Unfortunately, I burnt my tongue on it....lame. I layed in bed for a while until everyone had gone, my cabin is usually the place to be on these nights because of Katrina, so I just laid there. Once everyone had gone, Emily came into the cabin and said some others were going to watch a movie in the wilderness cabin, so I decided to go down. Emily mixed me a drink, it should have had sprite in it, but we ran out so she put coke instead...not the best idea, it came out pretty gross. We all sat and watched the Bounty Hunter for a while, but I got too tired and had to call it a night. phew!

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Photos

my giant ankle
not a very good picture, but you legit can't tell there is a bone there

babies!
ruby is the small one not spooning then from left to right is Or, Judah, and Amber