The Easter Holidays Begin...

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Hello all!

Apparently my last blog didn't email subscribers for some reason? But you should read about my near-death experiences below - they're pretty funny!

This actually is gonna be a quick one coz I'm in an internet cafe and have only paid for an hour, and still have some facebook action to catch up on :P

FUNNY/INTERESTING THINGS THAT HAVE HAPPENED THIS WEEK (IN INGWAVUMA):

There is a dog in one of the houses outside the school gate, and it's fine when we are walking home at normal school hours with all the other kids, but when we srtay late to do drama or hockey and walk home it attacks us!! We ran away the first time and it chased us for ages, and the second time we were with a friend who got down on the floor and threatened to throw stones at it, and started barking back at it! Apparently you must stand still when it comes and bend down, grab a stone and pretend to throw it - but it takes guts to stand still when a snarling dog comes bounding up to you - and Simon said it does bite! A lot of black people's dogs in rural areas were trained to bark at white people, and vice versa during the apartheid, and in some areas the tradition still exists! We're such a funny sight walking home now though, we have a special tree where we stash big stick and rocks, and we look like we're going hunting!

It was meant to be sports day at school the other day but it was disorganised as ever and they cancelled it the NIGHT before, so half the kids went to the sports field instead of school, or came in non-uniform etc :P they're hopeless! So instead we just had a cleaning day. They're still very backwards when it comes to things like that! Like I was with the grade ones, twos and threes, and the boys are all sent out to play while the girls have to stay in and clean, sweep and polish! They seem to enjoy it but it doesnt seem right...

It was our friend Sthe's birthday the other day and we went to his party which was just a few family and friends and cake, it was lovely 😊 I'm gonna mioss him so much when we go!

My flip-flops broke on monday, so I walked home from school barefoot then duck taped them up :P. THEN on Thursday at Sthe's house my OTHER sandals broke beyond repair! The strap just snapped, and typically this was the afternoon we had to walk all the way down to Phompop Dam! It was the Ingwavuma Tin Man which is like a mini triathlon they hold - where people have to run, then cycle down to the dam then swim to the wall and back. We walked the 40minute walk down to watch, and my feet were so sore! I dont mind walking barefoot normally but this was on hot rocky mountain terrain! :P I really dont have the best luck with shoes do I?!?!?

SO yes, it is officially the Easter Holidays and we travelled into Swaziland yesterday :D. We managed to get taxis all the way up to the border gate (my shoes broke AGAIN in the process but luckily I was carrying my duck tape...easily the most useful thing I rbought to Africa! :P). When we'd gotten through though we realised there was no taxi rank, just one looooooonnnnggggg road, so we just started walking! Hoping a taxi would pick us up on the way past like they usually do. It was HOT and we had our massive rucksacks (and one broken shoe!) so after walking for an hour we were very thankful when a taxi pulled up! The driver didnt speak any English - and we knew we had to go to Manzini which was just straight for about two hours, so when he started to turn off to Mozambique we just had to yell "YEBO SIYABONGA!!!" til he let us out! We then started walking again, and there were no taxis to be seen. Mum you are going to kill me for our next decision, but it was daylight and there's only one road into Manzini so we couldnt have turned off anywhere, and if we hadnt have done this next thing we would have been stranded walking through the middle of night - coz our phons dont even work in Swaziland! So we had to HITCH :P but luckily we were picked up by this legend of a bloke called Robbie. He didnt only take us to Manzini to get another taxi, he took us all the way out of the city, to Matsapha right outside the door of our backpackers! And when we offered him money he didnt even want any! I LOVE THAT MAN!!!!!

The backpackers we're staying in at the mo is called Swaziland Backpackers, it's lovely and has good dogs :P. Helen and Alvaro (GAPS from Kosi Bay) are joining us tonight, so today we're just gonna have a wander round Matsapha. Tomorrow nothing is open so we will laze by the pool, and maybe volunteer a couple of hours at the orphanage on the top of the hill. On Monday we are gonna do a "swazi highlights tour" run by the backpackers, where we will visit the craf markets, swazi candles, watch traditional swazi dancing over a waterfall etc! And I expect I will spend way too much money! And then on Tuesday we're heading off to Mozambique 😊 havnt planned it too much yet but we will spend a couple of nights in the capital, Maputo, and then go a bit further north and camp, then go up to Tofo, the surfing place :D. And fingers crossed get to go snorkelling and SWIMMING WITH DOLPHINS!!! Can't wait 😊. It's fin not to have too much planned and do it as we go, coz we can change our minds at any moment, and be spontaneous :D.

Anyway must dash, hope you're all OK and I miss you all lots!!!

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Comments

[mum]

re: bad dog
Learn zulu word for "sit!" or carry food bribe! Have already spoken about scary hitch-hiking so will go back to silent concern mode....xxxx