A Quick One - The Two BEST Weekends!

I can't write very much today as it's getting late and we're going to a braai tonight with some friends, but I just wanted to do a quick update so you all know I'm still alive! I won't have time to do any pics today either, though I have the BEST ones from the last couple of weeks, I'll try to get them on tomorrow, or if not as soon as I can.

Before anything else I just want to tell you about a funny conversation. There's a crazy lady who helped set up the Fancy Stitch business, she's a bit of a hippy, as we met her in town for the first time the other day. This is how to conversation went:

M - Hello! Are you the gap year students?
US - Yes, are you the Fancy Stitch lady?
M - Yes well I guess we all have our reputations! I like your dolls. (Points at our Fancy Stitch doll keyrings)
US - Thanks...
M - I have a chameleon in my hair. (She pulls about at her hair...naturally at this point we assume she means a chameleon doll from FS, like ours) Come here baby! (she pulls some hair over to reveal a real baby chameleon crawling around on her head) I'm taking him home to show my children. Bye then! (She cycles away)

Talk about a first impression!

Not much different has happened at school these couple of weeks really, we've been doing a lot of Grade one, and covering a few classes. Drama is going very well and the number of kids coming has doubled, they seem to be really enjoying it so I can't wait to do my showcase auditions after Easter. Brownies has taken off quite well too, we've just been doing games and things and I made a songsheet which they liked and all wanted copies of, and next week we are writing our penpal letters back to the girls in England! We've also started hockey club, and as much as I hate hockey I'm actually really enjoying playing with the grade seven boys (about eight of them) every monday afternoon, they're a lot of fun OUT of the classroom!

The other day after school as I was walking home there was a big market. It happens once a month the day that the pensioners get paid their money...about a million market stalls with clothes and food and pots and all sorts set up right outside our house coz we're near the post office! It's funny, they're just trying to get as much from the newly rish pensioners as they can. Sadly I was late home so they were all packing up when I walked home, but there was a truck full of old ladies (you have to call them 'ma' here, and they're SO cute) and one dropped a small pot of seeds from the back of the truck onto my feet. I bent down to give it back to her and I've never seen somone so thankful! Her and all her friends were like "siyabonga siyabonga sisi" and trying to hug me, they're so sweet!

Right anyway I have to be quick, so I will tell you about the first "best weekend ever" (it was the only one, until the following weekend equalled it :P). We were originally going to go to Richards Bay but the night before we left we looked it up and it actually looks like a bit of a hole, just a big city. So we decided to go to a place near there called St Lucia, which has beaches and all sorts, and where apparently hippos and crocs roam the streets at night haha! It took SEVEN HOURS to get there on the taxis coz we had to keep waiting for them to fill up (it takes just over three in a car) but it was sooo worth it. We stayed at a backpackers called Bibs which was heaven, they had showers and toilets that flush haha! And a bar with table tenis and pool and table football :D. We went out for dinner in the evening and then had a few drinks at the bar. When it closed everyone said they were going to a club place next door called 'The Monkey Lounge' so we went, and it was a bit of a dive and most of the people were creepy Afrikaans, but we did meet some wicked other travellers! Three surfer boys, one from NZ, one from Oz and one from SA, and they were travelling the whole of Southern Africa coast to coast. They were hilarious - there's a type of Afrikaans dance where it's a bit like ballroom dancing but rougher, so we attempted it and tried to see how many people we could bash into :D. And when the club closed their American friend asked us if we wanted a lift to the beach and back (she was also staying at Bibs) so of couse we said yes! (By this point it was 3am). There were about ten of us in the car so two of us had to get in the boot which was funny, and I saw my first kudu on the side of the road! It was massive - literally the same size as the 4x4, and it was so close I probably couldve touched it if I'd stuck my hand out of the window. We were only actually on the beach for about twenty minutes, and in that time managed to get the car stuck in the sand and had to push it out, but it was so funny. On the way back even more people had joined us so there were four of us in the boot - luckily the roads were clear so it didnt matter! We went back to the hostel and played pool and table tennis using flipflops, and I can't explain why but it was just such a fun night, the company was fantastic and it's made us really look forward to meeting other backpackers on our travels at Easter.
The next day we got up at seven (after one hours sleep haha) and went to a lovely little market in the town. They sold some beautiful things and I got a cool elephant necklace, but I didnt like how some of the women were trying to make me feel guilty. A woman with hardly anything on her stall was practically begging me to buy something, and when I said no she said "but I have no money for food or the bus fare" and she actually looked angry with me! It's hard but you just cant give in because if you do then they will all pester you, and often they will be lying to get your money. We had breakfast in town and then went on a HIPPO AND CROC BOAT TOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh it was so exciting, we got so close to families of hippos and they were snarling and all sorts :D. Did you know hippos can't actually swim, they just walk accross the bottom of the water and come up when they need air? I love hippos, I'd been really disappointed there hadnt been one walking down the street so it was great to see them :P and (until the most recent weekend) were my new favourite animal!
So yeah, a really awesome weekend :D.

I can't decide whether this weekend was even better or if it just equals it. We had to get up at 4am on Saturday morning (and you all know what I'm like in the mornings!!!!!), it wouldve been horrific if we hadnt found a weird mouse thing in our bin (we named him 'party possum') which for some reason cheered us up no end! The doctors had invited us to go white water rafting with them in Swaziland, so they drove us through the border (I now have heaps of stamps in my passport...WOOHOO :D) and to the lake. I was expecting white water rafting to be lots of us and a guide person on one big raft...but was a bit alarmed to find out they were 2-person rafts, and more like dinghies than rafts! Me and Samy went on one and although we had helmets and life-jackets it was very scary. We went through a few tiny rapids to get the hang of it, and then did a small drop which was so exhilarating :D I loved it! We were doing really well and had paddled about two and half hours without falling out, but then we had to do a big one before lunch. We were told just to aim for the middle and paddle hard, but that was easier said than done when you were sailing down a mini-waterfall! We got about halfway but then somehow we managed to tip our boat sideways, throwing us both out! Samy landed on the calmer side and said she just floated down holding onto the boat, but because I was sitting at the back in the 'captain's' seat, when she falls out the boat tips on top of me and throws me into the rapid! I was underwater for quite a long time and it sucks you under so you can't get any air, so it was a bit of a scary experience but I was laughing at the same time, it must've looked so funny! The guide was in his kayak at the other end and fished me out and me and Samy justg couldnt stop laughing :D. After lunch we got back into the boats and it was a lot of easy paddling before the last HUGE rapid. It was a very long one, and we were insructed to "bear right, avoid the tree, hit the first part of the rapid in the middle with your boat straight, and whatever you do don't fall out as the water is shallow and rocky and you WILL GET HURT"...haha. Well we did bear right, but a bit too much as we got stuck in some reeds. Because we were then concentrating on battling our way out of the reeds so we could get up enough speed we of course didn't see the tree and crashed directly into it. Samy could duck under the branches because she could lay down in the boat, but I unfortunately I was sitting at the back so that was impossible! I then got my oar stuck in the tree, which turned our boat on it's side just in time for the first part of the rapid (and there were three parts, it was like six minutes long!). Naturally we tipped over immediately and thrashed around in the water, and somehow between the 1st and 2nd parts we both found the boat again and tipped it up the right way. As Samy was climbing in though I got sucked under, and throughout the entire second and third rapids I was underwater, smashing against the rocks! It was SO scary, not as funny as last time (until afterwards) coz at one point I actually thought I was gonna die. It was impossible to get to the surface for any air, and every time I tried my arms smashed against rocks. All I could do was make sure I kept my feet up so I didnt get stuck there, and I tried to raise my arm above my head so the guide could see me but Samy said qall you could see from the surface was a red blur from my helmet underwater and the very tips of my fingers. When it was finally finished and I got my breath back the guide dragged me over to a rock...and once the panic was over I thought it was absoluely hilarious :D what a good story to tell! It definitely hasn't put me off extreme sports, they're so fun, and I can't wait to learn to surf at easter!
We stayed at a hostel that was IN a game park which led to some fantastic oppurtunities. In the evening we got to watch some traditional Swazi dancers and singers, and then in the morning we got to eat a breakfast of traditional Swaziland porridge with a mountain view, and with a random ostrich just wandering around! The game park was a special one that had hardly any dangerous animals, which was great coz it meant you didnt have to use a 4x4, and you could just walk or cycle the route. Our arm muscles were killing us so we thought we'd even out the pain and hire bikes for two hours, but it was the most amazing experience. We cycled right by impala, nyala, wildebeest, brassbucks, warthogs (DEFINITELY my new fave animals!!!), and got within about 3m of some zebra :D. We even cycled by a crocodile and a hippo in the lake which was very scary! The only thing in the park we couldnt find was a giraffe, but it was so surreal being surrounded in the animals like that, and they didnt even run away so it really felt like we were a part of it. I will definitely never forget that morning!
So yes, after that for some reason we decided to swim too, so I was bruised, sore, cut and achey after that weekend but it was SO awesome :D.

This weekend we are just having a lazy one as we need to save our money for easter, so we've just been doing our washing and weeding our veggie patch, and we went down to the Ndumo River Lodge to visit some friends and have some lunch and a swim.

Sorry it's such a quick one this week but Ruth and Simon need their house back to put Zoe to bed, and I need to go do some quick shopping for the braai!

Ooooh last thing, I got the BEST post this week so thank you to everyone :D. Got an AWESOME update from Han (23 pages!!!) on monday, and on Friday it was like Christmas :D. Samy got a parcel from her mum with some easter chocs for the both of us and some stationary, and one from her best friend with lots of chocolate and things like face masks, lip gloss and hand cream and other luxuries :D. And I got two more birthday present installments from mum (which I am storing in my cupboard, very exciting :D), and a parcel from Na and his parents containing all sorts of choccie easter treats and POT NOODLES and a new book and all sorts :D it was SOOOOOO awesome thank you thank you thank you!

Love and miss you all, will update better soon I promise.

Lindyyy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

---

---