March 16th through April 5th 2011

Tuesday April 5^th 2011

Today was just relaxing! :) I spent the day watching t.v. While crossing things off my to do list :) pretty simple! I had to type up the last month of my life haha and I got my room clean and organized. Then when Neil and Colleen got home I helped Neil with dinner for Matthew’s birthday tomorrow and I got the recipe (mom, just for you, now I at least have one haha). And that has been my day! :) just relaxing! :)

Monday April 4^th 2011

Today Was absolutely perfect!

Last night ended up being a bit different than planned. Ethel and Ricky-lee came and picked me up from Colleen’s to take me to their house for the night. On the way to their house we stopped at Lagoon Beach to watch the sun set! Oh wow it was so pretty! I gave Ricky-lee my camera and she took a bunch of pictures of me on the beach for me. Then we went to their house and we just relaxed! :) we watched The Lion King which was so awesome and then we watched Megamind, which was really really cute. :)

This morning I woke up and tried to upload the pictures from my camera from last night onto my computer and it just came up with the error saying it wasn’t formatted! So I lost all my beautiful pictures of the sunset and me on the the beach from yesterday! I was so bummed!

This morning I did some photography work and watched T.V. And then around noon Ricky-Lee and I took a walk to the beach and took photos and then we walked up and down the beach! :) we ended up being gone/walking for 4 hours :) haha it was so awesome.when we got back we walked down the street and bought a pizza then we walked back home and ate it and put on a movie we rented. It was wonderful. Then we took showers and got ready. When Ethel got home from work we went with her back to Lagoon Beach to watch the sun set AGAIN so I could re-take some pictures. :) that was exciting because it was so beautiful again :) and I was able to get my pictures. They weren’t the same but they are good too. Then we had appetizers at a thai restaurant. I tried prawn and duck... It was pretty good! :) then we met up with Colleen, Neil, and Matthew and we all went down the beach a ways and ate a at super nice restaurant called Moyo. The had a lady painting faces with traditional African ways and then had performers that came and sang at our table. :) they also had on their patio area, tables that were made from surf boards and when you sat at them your feet would dangle into a little pool. It was neat :) it was too cold tonight for us to sit out there but it was awesome. Today was so Incredible :) loved every minute of it. :)

Sunday April 3^rd 2011

Today was fast Sunday and I totally forgot! :( the testimonies were great though. It was awesome. I love how strong the members are here :) they are like a really close family. :)

I only have 2 sundays left! That is so weird! A German volunteer will be here next week which should be fun :) I have this whole next week off from school so I’m just playing it by ear what I will do :) I’m wanting to go to the beach tomorrow so we’re working out transport. But we’ll see what happens :) After church today I layed a blanket outside and I took out a pillow and took a nice nap after watching the clouds :) The rest of today should be nice and relaxing too :)

Saturday April 2^nd 2011

Today was a nice day that actually seemed quite long. I went to bed way too early last night after a full day of basically doing nothing haha so this morning I woke up and went with Colleen to a phenomenal women meeting she had. I found out there that I’ve been living with a somewhat famous lady! Oh my goodness! Haha her and her phenomenal women group were featured in Oprah’s O-magazine last year this time for being so amazing. Told ya my host family is amazing!

After the meeting we met up with the rest of the family and we all went to the mall. We ate brunch and then just walked around and browsed. Then Neil and Colleen got their massages that Jamie and I got for them! :) that was fun :) After the mall we went to a car race. It was pretty neat to see! I’ve never seen cars race before. Then we all went to Allan and Ethel’s house and we hung out, ordered sushi had a lot of fun and then came home around 10:30. They invited me to stay over at their house sometime! I think I’ll take them up on that :) I also got to meet Colleen and Ethel’s grandma “Ma” she is so sweet. I’m so glad I got to meet her! :)

Friday April 1^st 2011

I can’t believe it’s already April! Wow it’s the end of their first term here so everyone is going on a week break before 2^nd term starts. We got out of school today at 10am so the kids were only in school for 2 hours. So they colored the whole time. There were only 15 out of the 42 students in the class today. So it was a nice small class. It’s amazing though how such a small number of kids can still keep you so busy and demand your attention so much. But school swas good today! :) I got so many hugs!

After school let out all the teachers met in the teachers room and they called me over there too. They all thanked me for being there and Herasha gave me a school t-shirt and a chocolate bar. So nice! I think the rest of my day will be pretty relaxing which will be nice :) and now it’s vacation time! :) woo hoo!

Thursday March 31^st 2011

Today was my going away party with 1^st and 2^nd grade! When I got to school this morning as soon as I turned the corner and kids saw me they rean at me and gabe me such big hugs! Oh man it was amazing. I absolutely love all of the hugs I get at school. It really is one of my favorite parts of being in Africa. The children here are amazing. They are so full of love.

When class started we had them all sit at their desks and after a while I brought out the spoons to give to the kids and I started off by saying “I brought you all something very special because you are all very special to me...” and then I started bawling. They were all pretty shocked that I was crying. But it made them quiet haha that I passed out the pencils to everyone. They all liked them and said thank you a bunch of times. It was fun. Then we went into Mrs. Adam’s class and we projected the DVD slideshow onto thier smart board for everyone to watch the sound was really bad so you couldn’t hear the music too well but they all loved seeing themselves projected onto the big screen. It was fun to hear them go crazy when they saw a funny picture or recognized someone on the screen. It was awesome.

After the slideshow we had interval where Herasha and I put together the party packets. We just folded paper and made it into a cone and then put candies in it. We did over 80 of them. We also got 5 rand from all the kids who hadn’t brought it the days before and we went and bought some ice creams for them. Then after break and after a small assembly we went back to the grade one class and we passed out the party packets. The rest of the day we just relaxed and had a fun day. When it was time to go home we all lined up like we usually do but all the kids gave me hugs before they let. I had so many kids around me all at one time and at one point they all started fake crying because I’m leaving but then three of them really did start crying. After everyone got hugs my shirt was disgusting! There was a nice layer of dirt on my shirt just from the kids rubbing their faces on me. So luckily I had a tank tom underneath my shirt so I took it off and wore my hoodie but when I got home I started soaking those clothes haha. After school I went with the teachers out to a pizza restaurant it was an ok restaurant but it was fun.

When I got home I layed down to take a nap and my mom called me. She was doing my taxes and needed me to help her. So that was fun. :)

Wednesday March 30^th 2011

Today was a really great day! School was awesome. The kids were actually well behaved today! First thing this morning we took a class photo! Good thing we did it first thing to because it rained all day after we took our picture! It was a beautiful rainy day today. :) after taking the class picture I put it on my computer and I was able to finish the slideshow. Then I did some finishing touches to the DVD and burned them. So that is out of the way. :) I forgot my pencils that I made for them today so I’ll just have to give them to them tomorrow.

After finishing the DVDs I covered books for Mrs Randhir. That lasted the rest of the day. Today Mrs. Randhir was going over multiplication and she was having such a hard time with the kids and their 1 times tables. Haha I was able to catch it on tape but it was sooo funny! I couldn’t help but laugh.

After School we (me and Mrs. Randhir/Herasha) and Mrs Adams) went to a really cheap candy/junk food store and we bought a bunch of food for the party tomorrow. I’m so excited! It should be so much fun. Then after getting all the goodies we stopped at a shoe store. It was pretty fun. All the shoes here are a lot cheaper than at home. I almost got a pair but they didn’t fit right. So I passed. But yeah! It was fun. Then they dropped me off at the pick an dpay hyper where I printed pictures to put in frames that I bought on Monday. I got one for Herasha to put in her new home and I printed a picture of us to put in it. Tonight was all about writing in my journal and catching up on writing. I’m so excited for tomorrow.

Tuesday March 29^th 2011

Today was so awesome! I really felt the love from the kids today. They are all so wonderful! Yesterday Oyama (a little boy) came up to me as everyone was leaving for interval and he was like “Kayla, do you love Jesus?” haha I was like yes, I do! :) and he told me how he had watched a movie about Jesus and how Jesus was a baby once and then he grew up and people killed him. He had obviously watched something in church over the weekend. I just thought it was way cute. Today he didn’t want to leave my side. And since he found out my first name is Kayla (cuz that’s how is signed it on the hopscotch) he will only call me Kayla instead of Miss Young. I like it haha. Oh man, and Dumisani and Tadiwanasi have been sooo super cute too! Oh man I love them! They have all just creeped into my heart and made little nests! It’s going to be hard for me to say goodbye I really love these kids. They are so wonderful! Oh man, I love my life! After school today I came home and finished the DVD Slideshow all except for the ending so I can add a group picture at the end. I’m hoping to get one tomorrow of all of us. Then I made a special pencil for everyone in the class. I taped a spoon to the end of the pencil and wrote their names and a smily face on each one. Then after I give it to them they will all have a pencil at school every day and they aren’t aloud to take it home at all. I’m pretty excited to give it to them! :)

Monday March 28^th 2011

Today Mrs Randhir was gone for a sister school meeting. So it was me and Mrs Connie today in the classroom. It was better today than it has been other days, so that was awesome. After school I got a call from my mom which was cool. So I talked to her for a bit. The rest of the night I worked nice and hard starting to put together a slideshow of all the pictures I have taken of the kids. I want to show it this Thursday for them when we have our party :) I’m way excited for them to see their pictures. Tonight was another early night cuz we’re all still so tired from the weekend.

Sunday March 27^th 2011

Today was Phenomenal Women’s big golf day. After Sacrament meeting at church Colleen picked me up and I went to go help them with the golf day. I rode around with Matthew and then with Colleen on the golf cart go go take photos of the golfers :) Then we projected them on a big screen while the guys came in and ate. We ended up getting home around 9 after a long day. We were all so tired because of the jazz festival yesterday. So it was an early night for bed tonight.

Saturday March 26^th 2011

My Birthday!!!!! :) Best day EVER!

Oh my goodness... Today was amazing! This morning was nice and relaxing. I slept in and when I woke up I got online and was able to get my parents on skype and I kept them up until 2am their time! :) The things my parents do for me :) *sigh* It was really great talking to them. Then I de-unked some of my luggage and threw away what I don’t need to bring home. That was completely necessary. I should be able to fit everything in my bags haha I will probably have to leave some of my white shirts or something here.

After a pretty relaxing morning me, Matthew, Neil, and Colleen went to Rodes Memorial and ate at their restaurant. It was really nice! The restaurant/memorial is on the mountain and we ate outside overlooking the city. It was really wonderful. I got steak and it was pretty delicious! I got nice and full and then we went and took some pictures in front of the memorial and the statues and things. It was really great. We saw two brides and their parties that were taking pictures and that was really cool to see.

Then we all drove to town and met up with Allan and Ethel and a whole bunch of other people and the party started! :) We went to the Cape Town International Jazz Festival! The second group we saw was Earth Wind and Fire! Oh my goodness!!!! Wow... It was so nice of them to come perform for everyone on my birthday!!! Holy cow... One of the best highlights of my trip was watching them perform. They were absolutely AMAZING!!! After them we went and ate and then watched two other bands. They were good too. I liked “Liquideep” they are a South African group that does “house music”. They are good! I’d like to get a CD before I leave. But anyway! Today was fantastic! :)

HAPPY 22^ND BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Friday March 25^th 2011

Oh man! Today was a long but really god day! This morning at school I just did some normal things and covered books. Then around noon I got everything out and started lining out the hopscotch on the ground. Then Jason (a local volunteer at the school) came to help me! :) so that was fun :) I didn’t have to do all of it alone. He didn’t get to stay the whole time but it was way good to have him there helping me. After he left, school was already out and I was just starting to paint the numbers and the outline of the hopscotch... But one of my grade 2 students Laeeqa came 2 hours early for her church’s youth group that meets at the school. So she was able to keep me company basically the whole time I was painting. We got to talking and she asked me (knowing that my birthday is tomorrow) “how old are your turning?” so I said 22, and she said “oh, my mom is 25... Just three years older! :)” AAAAAND... My jaw almost dropped open haha. K... This little girl is 9 years old! That means that her mom was 16 when she was born...so crazy! After I finished painting (around 4:00) I was exhausted and my back hurt somethin awful so I just put everything in a plastic bag because there was no way I was going to be able to get that paint off of all the brushes and things. It was so crazy. But I went home and took a nice shower and tried to get as much of that paint off as I could cuz it was starting to eat my hands raw. So the shower was amazing and I relaxed the rest of the day! :) super day! :)

Thursday March 24^th 2011

Today was awesome! It was the annual funderaiser for school. We took the whole school to go ice skating. My favorite part was the bus ride to the rink. They were all singing so loud and were so happy. The bus back though was quiet because they were all sleeping or tired. While I was at the rink I skated with the kids and held the hands of the the ones who needed help. It was fun :) I was able to make friends with some of the older kids which was fun :) School let out right when we got back to the school. When Colleen came and got me she took me to the home depot equivalent and we bought some super expensive paint that is meant to be used on tar. And we got some paint thinner and tape and what not so I can paint hopscotch at school! :) I’m so excited! I want to do other games too so more people can play. So that should be cool.

Tonight a bunch of people came over for prepping the golf day for Phenomenal Women this Sunday. I did another hena tattoo on my foot, that was fun. I also did some planning for the hopscotch and lined up all the things I want to paint. It was a nice productive day :)

Wednesday March 23^rd 2011

Today was pretty neat! It rained pretty much all day, harder than yesterday it was really neat because the kids went crazy they loved the rain! They were all dancing in it during their break. I got some cute videos of them having fun in the rain. I loved watching them. Tonight was another relaxing night at home. I did a hena tattoo of Jack the skeleton on Matthew’s chest. It turned out really well! Haha

I absolutely loved being with the kids today! I absolutely enjoyed every bit of it.

Tuesday March 22^nd 2011

Back at school today and it really was nice to be back. :) Herasha gave me some traditional Indian clothes today!! That was exciting :) I don’t know where I’ll wear them but it was so nice! :) Kinda fun :)/ Today after work Colleen took me to Pick and Pay and I got some hena! It’s in a tube so it’s really easy to put on and draw with. So when I got home I put that on my arm and did some flowers and want not. It was really fun. Then later after mine was finished I did a design on Colleen’s arm. It turned out really nice. I love hena :) while I was doing colleen’s arm we relaxed and watched some CSI.

Monday March 21^st 2011

This morning we all slept in until about 10am and then we all slowly woke up and I ate breakfast and I cought up on some writing then colleen’s parents came over and that was nice. Then Colleen and Neil started making some delicious breakfast. It was way nice. They ate with us and we talked for a bit. Colleen’s dad started talking to me in Afrikaans and taught me some words that I’ve already forgotten. Then I started making some bread and I taught colleen how to make it too. That was fun :) I went and showered while it was rising and then I taught her how to shape it into Kaiser rolls which they call kitka bread. Then after the rolls were done I skyped my mom and that was nice We were going to go out and drive around today but we ended up just staying home and relaxing. We had school off today because it’s human rights day. But Colleen & Neil got some movies and I made Neil’s amazing tuna salad and we ate it with my Kaiser rolls while we watched some movies and just relaxed. It was an awesome night :)

Sunday March 20^th 2011

Today at church both Juan and I were a bit sleepy we kept each other awake though haha. But a person from the stake presidency came and he talked and it was really nice. :) Juan just finished his mission papers! So now he’s just waiting to get his call! I’m so so excited for him and I think it would be completely awesome if he came to the states... Or even to Idaho :)

After church Ilaria and her parents came over for lunch. So we ate some super delicious food and sat and talked for a bit. Then it was time to say goodbye to Ilaria! :( oh man. It was weird to see them go. I’m next! :(

Right after Ilaria and her family left, Allen and Ethel and their girls came over and then Ivan and his wife came over to and Neil Braaid some chicken , steak and rib and it was a party :) the steak was so incredibly tasty! Oh my goodness. And then we all stared up talking around the table until about 1:30am or so. It was so fun :) I’m so lucky to have landed in this family! :) they are so wonderful.

Saturday March 19^th 2011

Today was even more perfect than yesterday! I woke up at about 9am and got ready for the day, then Colleen dropped me off in Claremont where she put me on a minibus taxi to Cape Town. When she dropped me off she talked to the driver and was like “you take care of her, don’t you let anything happen. I know your face!” haha and what she said must have gotten to him because he took good care of me. When we got to town we were on top of the train station with about a thousand minibus taxies. When I got off the driver asked me if I knew where I needed to be and pointed me in the right direction. When I went to where I was supposed to go to catch a taxi to camps bay. I was a little nervous because all the cars were empty so I started to walk away and then I convinced myself to walk back and I caught the eye of a guy and I said “camps bay?” and he put me on a full taxi to camps bay. So that was nice and they left right away so I cot to camps bay around 11. I layed out my towel and read my Alchemist book :) Later I met up with my friend Nathanial and we swam in the ocean and got a nice tan :) We took a taxi back to town around 5 pm and I met up with Colleen, Neil and Matthew and we all met up with some family friends and then we went to a bar/balcony and we watched a soccer game and talked and had some appetizers before the big festival started. Then we got some home made Gilatto and we went and waited on long street where the festival was going to be. So we got front row “seats” for the parade. We waited for what seemed like forever and then the festival finally started. BUT even when it started only one float or show walked by and then we were back to waiting for the next something to pass by, and it was like that for the whole parade. But what did pass was awesome. :) Colleen said it wasn’t anything like last year. We were so exhausted when we left. When we got home I showered and ate a bit and then I fell asleep. But today was fantastic! :)

Friday March 18^th 2011

Today was pretty much a perfect day. At school I started individual testing right off in the morning. So I spent all day doing that and then for the last 30 minutes of the day I covered books. After school I got to meet Mrs Randhir’s husband! :) he came down from durban for the weekend. When I got home I took a 2 hour nap because I wasn’t feeling well. When I woke up I went out back again to sit in the sun and read. :) it was nice :) then after a while I came in and got all dressed up for my friend Ashlynne’s 21^st birthday party. His theme is “Black Silver and White” so I got all fancied up and Juan picked me up. :) The hall was done up so nicely :) and then served a 3 course meal! It was so great :) We got home around 1am but I guess the party didn’t end until around 3. But I’m glad we left cuz I was practically falling asleep sitting there... I tend to do that pretty often lately, I’ve just been so exhausted. Don’t know why.

Thursday March 17^th 2011

Today was a quick day at school. I left at 1:00 after doing individual testing all day. Siv left today around 3:30 so I just got picked up when she did. While she was packing I went into the back yard and layed out in the sun and read a book :) it was lovely :D Then I had to say goodbye to Siv. It was sad to see her go. The rest of the day was full of lounging and lazyness. We had take away fish and chips for dinner and watched t.v. With Neil. Nice and easy day!

Wednesday March 16^th 2011

My Birthday is in 10 days! I’ll be going with my host family to the big Jazz festival in town Friday and Saturday. I can’t wait.

Today at work was good. Mrs Randhir came to school even though she’s still sick. She gave the kids a full day of good talking o since she got nothing but bad stories fro the other teachers from when she was gone. So Hopefully the kids change a bit after today. I took the kids out and did some ore individual reading tests and a story telling test. The story telling one was kind of fun, they just had to tell me a story with a beginning a middle and an end and it was pretty interesting to hear some of the stories kids could come up with and how many of them couldn’t even start a story. I got a nice flip flop tan line from it too haha.

Siv and Ilaria are both leaving this weekend! :( it will be so sad. I found out that in April before I leave, school gets out for a break on the first and boes back on the 11^th but I’m technically done with my project on the 8^th... Sooo.... I’ve got two weeks at the end of my stay to do whatever I want! :) haha hopefully it won’t be too cold and I can go to the beach and maybe tan a bit :) that would be cool.

Tonight we’re going out for sushi for one last hurah before the girls leave.

...

Sushi was amazing. I usually can only have so much sushi before I start gagging but this sushi was made properly and it was so good. :) I was surprised. :) Siv and Ilaria wrote a super great poem for the Isaacs family about their stay here. It was really clever. It is Colleen’s nephew’s birthday today and he loves Salena Gomez so they had me call him and pretend to be her... It didn’t even work for a second haha. He even knew it was me... So that didn’t work but it was fun :)

Feb 22nd-March 15th 2011 Sports Day, Safari, Jungle Gym, and catch up!

Tuesday March 15^th 2011

Today was insane. Mrs Randhir was home sick today so we split up the class again and I was left with just 8 students again. Well you’d thing that it would be easy to just watch 8 kids and teach them new things. Yeah not really. It was so so frustrating! They don’t know how to listen and I don’t know what else to do. How am I supposed to get them to listen to me if they don’t even listen to their teacher! It is mad! So repeated myself so many times today. And I left school pretty frustrated. The second half was a bit better than the first half though. I had them make get well cards for their teacher and then I drew a bee on the board and I said write 5 sentences about this bee. Only two or three students ended up giving me five sentences and it wasn’t even about the bee. Then I had them do some maths out of their workbook... That was insane, but I got over it. Then I came home and watched tv for a bit and then I continued typing this blog and now I’m at 11 pages and I’m done when I’m done with this! Haha We had steak for dinner with mashed potatoes and squash with corn and cheese on it. It was yummy. :) and then I got ready for bed and now I’m going to bed. :) hope you enjoy/enjoyed reading this haha sorry it took so long to get caught up! I’ve been nice and busy here :)

Monday March 14^th 2011

Well I think I went to bed too early last night. I ended up waking up 45 minutes before my alarm... So I got online and was able to chat with Maureen a bit. Love her! Then I left for school. We were kinda late today because traffic was awful I guess there is a taxi strike going on. Well when I got to class it was like half it’s normal size! I guess because of the strike taxies are staying home so half the class wasn’t able to come to school!

Mrs Randhir was sick so she only stayed the first part of the day until one of the other teachers sent her home. So the second half of the day they split the kids up between the 1-5^th grade classes and left me with 8 girls to teach. We spent the rest of the day learning about doubling and halving numbers. I think I bored them haha. I’m definitely not a teacher.

When I got home I caught up on journal writing and then I started typing up all of this... Procrastination to the max. We’re going on 5 pages now... Ridiculous.

Sunday March 13^th 2011

Today was a very sad day. It’s Jamie’s last day and we had to see her off :(

Church was amazing. The lady teaching relief society was talking on service and she said that when she thinks of service she doesn’t think of that word but instead she thinks of someone coming to her and saying “please help me.” I thought that was a neat way of thinking about service and I want to start doing that. :) I also was able to meet a lady from Orem Utah! Crazy how small the world is! After church I got there and Colleen’s parents were there visiting so we talked with them for a while and then I had some left over enchiladas they have saved for me. I also skyped my parents and they are at my grandparent’s house so I was able to talk with and see them too! It was so awesome! My grandparents are pretty much the greatest. I love them so much! :) After skyping Jamie and I gave Colleen and Neil a thank you card and two gift cards for full body massages from their favorite place :) so that was awesome! :) we made them both cry and well, we cried too. Then we all got in the car and left for the airport with all of jamie’s things! I helped her check in and what not and then we sat at mug and bean and bean and waited until the last minute to say goodbye. Then we all walked Jamie to security and said our goodbyes! It was so sad! :( I am really really really going to miss her! I’ve literally spent like every minute with her for the last 2 months! Crazy! :(

Saturday March 12^th 2011

Today I stayed at home and had a lazy day with Colleen! I was on facebook and posted some of Colleen’s pictures for her, watched t.v., got on fb again, made bread... And that was pretty much my day! Haha I skyped my parents this morning and that was wonderful. I was spoiled and I got breakfast pretty much in bed and a delicious toasted sandwich for lunch... Yeah today was rough ;). Around 5:30 we went into town and picked up all the girls. They were all burnt haha, they had spent all day at the beach and none of them had really slept at all last night because they were out on the town and having too much fun. So we picked them up and then we went shopping for the ingredients to make my mom’s delicious sour cream enchiladas. Jamie and I started making those as soon as we got home and they turned out to be a hit! We threw a going away party tonight for Jamie, Siv, and Ilaria. They are all leaving next week! :( everyone came over and we all just ate and talked all night. Then before I was about ready to go to bed we all went outside and stood around the fire and Colleen started talking about how much she loved having us and how much she’ll miss us and what not. And well, we all started crying. It was so sad! We really feel like we are at home here. The family is all so great and we are so welcome. It is really amazing. So after crying for a bit I went to bed early so I don’t fall asleep in church tomorrow. Gotta get up early.

Friday March 11^th 2011

I was so excited all day today and pretty anxious for the jungle gym to be delivered and set up! They ended up showing up around 10:30ish and I went outside and took a bunch of pictures of them putting everything up. When they got there the church’s grounds keeper (same grounds as the school) came out and threw a fit because he thought that when they asked if they could put up a jungle gym it was only a temporary thing... Well our set is pretty permanent! But we just changed the place that they were going to put it, (which I think ended up putting it in a better place). But after that they started digging the holes and planting it! :) it was so cool, they made it look so easy. But it was really neat when the kids came out and they saw these men putting up the jungle gym and they all ran out of the classrooms and were cheering! It was really cool :) and then they all stood around it watching the guys work. When things were all done and school ended Jamie wrote a check... And well I wish I could say everything was all fine and dandy but there was problems because the wouldn’t take an american check! Yikes so they told us we had to go to such n’ such bank and transfer money and that they would wait for us. So we got one of the teachers to take us to this bank and things didn’t end up working out smoothly. And then Colleen came to the rescue AGAIN and she called the company and they called their guys and told them they could leave. Colleen is amazing! So we got all that temporarily sorted and then we got home and were able to figure things out and it was all settled. Then all the girls got ready for a weekend in Cape Town and Colleen and I dropped them off in town and then Colleen took me to her cousins (?) 14^th birthday party. All her family was there and I got to meet them all and when her aunts and mom greeted me they gave me hugs and kisses. It was so awesome. Probably one of the best feelings ever ;). The night was filled with dancing and lots of eating. It was great haha. They even sent me home with a goodie bag, a plate of sweets, and a plate of food. Ah! Poor Colleen and I were so tired after all that dancin! Haha ;) It was a good day! :)

Thursday March 10^th 2011

Today was relaxing because we were all so tired today. We woke up at 5 and went to work with colleen. We originally wanted to do this instead of go to our own project because she was going to take us to a guy in the town where she works and we were going to order benches for our school. Well after talking more with colleen today we found out that the quality of this guys benches wasn’t too good and they would rot away in about 3 years. So Jamie and I were in a dilemma because now we didn’t know what to donate to the school and Jamie leaves this upcoming Sunday! so we finally decided to go back to our original idea and donate a jungle gym! :) so Colleen hooked us up with the same people that they ordered their swing sets from, we found their web site and found the set that we wanted to buy! Then Colleen called them for us (which was a good idea because the lady on the other line spoke afrikaans and didn’t really want to speak english), and she placed our order and asked our questions and things and then she was able to get them to deliver the set tomorrow morning around 9am! So Jamie would be able to see the set be put in the ground before she leaves! :) that was so exciting! So we got that ordered and everything and we are so so excited for tomorrow! After work we went and stopped by a place called the “farm school.” it’s a school for kids with fetal alcohol syndrome. We stopped to drop off a box of clothes that were donated by some former volunteers that lived with Colleen. So we all went in and dumped all the clothes on the floor and put some of the babies around the clothes to take pictures and then we sat with them for a bit and talked. There was one baby there named Jamie and she looks like a 6 month old baby, in the footie pajamas and everything. Well one of the care workers there told us that baby Jamie is actually almost 2 years old and because her mom drank when she was pregnant Jamie will never grow up. It was really shocking for all of us. She couldn’t walk even, she just scoots. It was so sad. And the fact that all the kids there were affected in some way from the same thing.

Wednesday March 9^th 2011

Today we went back to school and it was so nice to see Mrs Randhir an the kids!!! I really do like ti tehre. I was so exhausted today though. I still havent recovered from the weekend.

Today the principal asked me to try and create a school mascot of a cartoon elephant! Yeah I’ve taken a couple classes, but I am not a drawer!

I attempted to finish the individual reading tests, I have three left. I love working with the kids on a one on one basis. Absolutely love it. Before I left on safari one of the kids (who learns a bit differently/slower) turned in a crossword puzzle that we were having the kids do. When he turned it in to me he was absolutely beaming! He was so happy he had finished. When I looked at it first I saw that he had circled a bunch of different “words” but but it didn’t look like any were real words... So I said good job and gave him a hug. Then while everyone was on break I looked a little harder with Jamie and we found that, at the bottom where it lists all the words that are hidden, he had circled 5 words and crossed out all the rest. Well those 5 he had circled were all words that he was actually able to find and the ones he had crossed out were ones he couldn’t find! I thought that was very interesting.

After getting home I made some kaiser rolls for the family and when colleen got home she went crazy over coming home to the amazing smell of home made bread! Then I made neil’s tuna salad which was so delicious! And we all sat down and ate some amazing chicken wraps. Yummmm! I love dinner here!!!

Tuesday March 8^th 2011 (back in Cape Town)

This morning we slept in until about 9:30 which was nice sincewe got in late last night and had had a weekend full of 4:00 mornings! After everyone was ready we took a minibus to town with all our bags and left them at the SASTS office off of longstreet. Then we did some market shopping/browsing and stopped for lunch. We went to a really amazing restaurant next to the green market square. Traffic was crazy on the bus ride home, it took over an hour to drive a distance of about 30 minutes. The rest of the day was devoted to relaxing and showering :)

Monday March 7^th 2011 (SAFARI trip)

Today was a really long and kind of boring day. We woke up early and were rushed from the start to hurry and get up and go to breakfast because it was crucial that we left early for the “oh so big” day ahead of us. So we were rushed to pack and get out. Then we went to breakfast there and it wasn’t even out and ready yet. But then we ate and paid and what not and then got in the car to leave on our long journey. We were taking the scenic route back to the air port today and we thought it was supposed to be a tour, but it was really just a longer but beautiful car ride. We did make a stop at God’s Window canyon (the third larges canyon in the world). The driver was rushing us while we were there and wouldn’t let us take a trail we wanted to because “we didn’t have enough time.” Then we forced him to wait while we looked at things at a market at God’s Window. When we got back in the car we just kept driving until we got to the airport where he dropped us off, put our bags on the sidewalk and then said thanks, nice meeting you and drove away. Well after this 9 hour long drive we were at the airport 5 hours before our flight! We couldn’t even check in until 2 hours before the flight. We we sat around, ate and wasted time until we were able to get on the flight back to town. Ridiculous. But overall the trip was amazing!!! My highlights were: the elephant back safari, seeing giraffe while swimming, and getting to know Hannah and Colleen. Good good times. :)

Sunday March 6^th 2011 (SAFARI)

I take it back... Today was absolutely one of the best days ever!!!

This morning we woke up again at 4am (third night in a row, not easy). Then we were picked up by a ranger to go on our morning drive safari at the reserve. It was a really quiet morning there to. Quiet enough that I fell asleep in the open vehicle. BUT just after I woke up the ranger spotted an elephant! So we stopped and stared at it then we found another one, then another, and another.... Turned out there were 8 elephants! And after watching them for a bit they started crossing the road behind us! Then we backed up and one or two crossed in front of us and then the main lady elephant crossed in front of us and got mad and made noises at us. We found out later that she was spooking because there was a giraffe close and I guess elephants have problems with things that are taller than them! Then we kept driving and saw the giraffe. Then a zebra from really far away. And we saw another comondika. After the morning drive we got dropped off for breakfast and we had lots of fruit and I made an egg, bacon, and tomato sandwich. Then we got all signed up for the elephant back safari. Then we were picked up by our armed ranger to take us on the walking safari in the reserve. It was kinda neat. He made bracelets for us out of a tree and showed us different animal tracks. We walked all the way to our rooms. Then we all took a good long nap. I was woken up by Jamie running in our room and saying “where’s your camera?! There’a a Giraffe and it’s baby right out back!” so I jumped up and went and watched these beautiful animals and we kind of stalked them for a bit :) AND THEN we were picked up for our elephant back safari, we signed a waiver just in case and then we started the “interaction” part of our elephant adventure :) First we learned a little about the elephants while we all stared at one. Then we played some games with her. First the guy had four of us take off one shoe and put it in front of us. Then he took our shoes and mixed them up so we had the wrong shoe in front of us. Then he had the elephant face us and he said “ok go” then the elephant picked up a shoe and gave it to it’s correct owner! She got every single one right by scent! And she was so quick too! It was phenomenal. Then she played some soccer. Then they took her away and brought over the male elephant and we were all able to go up to him and touch him and take pictures with him. They even had him lay down and we sat on one of his front legs and we took another picture. And then after everyone had posed we went over and jamie, me and Hannah put on helmets and got on him! :) the three of us rode around and the other three girls walked in front of us. After we were done riding we switched and the three of us walked while the other girls rode. It was so awesome! I couldn’t get over the fact that I was walking with elephants!!! :) I loved every second of it. :) when we got back we relaxed and I looked at some of the pictures I took and then around 6:30 we called on the radio for someone to come get us for dinner... No one responded so we figured we would wait until 7 because that’s when they usually came. Well long story short, we ended up looking out into the dark with a flash light and saw a pair of eyes that we were pretty sure belonged to a lion. Then I went to my room and when I came back outside all the girls were screaming and ran into the closest room so of course I screamed too and ran with them. Then the told me that they had heard the lion make some growling but not roaring noises. So we we had a lion outside our door and a radio that didn’t work. We were stuck there for 2 hours until jamie remembered she had cell service in the other room, so we ran to the other room but we didn’t have the reserve’s number! But then I remembered that I had taken a photo of the safari car when we were in Kruger and it had the phone number on the door! So I got my camera and zoomed into the picture and we got the reserve’s number! So we were able to call the lodge and tell them our situation and they sent someone. Then the jerk that picked us up said that he heard us screaming for help but he was busy with guests. Grrr. But we finally made it to dinner and we had kudu and crocodile! It was delicious. They performed some african music which was awesome, I got to record some of it. After we got back to our rooms I wrote in my journal and Hannah and I sang Colleen and Jamie to sleep haha. It was fun ;)

Saturday March 5^th 2011 SAFARI

Today= Exausting + One of the best days ever

Like I wrote yesterday, we woke up at 4am and then were picked up to go to Kruger. We had the same guide that we had last night so all of us were tired. But he was a trooper! We were on safari in Kruger today from 4:30-6:10ish (14 hours!). We waw quite a bit of animals but everyone was saying that today and yesterday have been really really slow days. Which I believe because we didn’t see ANY zebra in Kruger. But we saw tons of impala, wilda beast, Giraffes, elephants, kudu, african buffalo, a crocadile, some baboon (from far away), comondika, and a pack of about 6 lions hiding in the bush. They were all female except one baby male. They were sleeping an dbeing lazy and we got about 5-10 feet away from them! It is so incredible to me how big their heads are! They are so massive. I loved seeing the elephants and the giraffes. They area my favorites. It was so crazy for me as I was looking into the brush thinking, “I am really in Africa and a real, wild elephant/giraffe/rhino etc. Might be hiding around the corner.” The highlight of the safari would probably have been finding the lions and seeing wild elephants. I can’t wait until my elephant back safari tomorrow!!!

For dinner we had pork chops, lamb stew, pumpkin soup, and rolls... Yummm. We are absolutely getting out moneys worth for this trip. When we got back from Kruger we finally saw zebra at the game reserve and some more impala and kudu. Today was a dream. :)

Friday March 4^th 2011 (SAFARI)

This morning we were picked up at 4:45 am on the dot! We were picked up by a hotspots guide. He was very nice and knew a lot. He drove us to the air port. The van even had a head set mic that he wore and it was hooked up to the speakers so we could hear him talk. He told us our itinerary for he next couple of days. We will be staying at a camp site inside an animal reserve near Kruger National park. Once we are in the reserve there are no gates keeping the animals away from you, so the animals could literally be on our doorstep! Once we got to the airport he checked us all in and gave us our passes. Getting through security was a synch! One of the girls that was with us even got through with a full bottle of water.

After the flight...

The rest of today was amazing. After landing we were picked up by our transfer service and then we went and picked up two other people. They were on vacation from Brazil. Then we all drove for about 6 hours to our lodge at the private game reserve. It was absolutely beautiful! Johannesburg is more what I had expected cape town to be like. It felt like my idea of Africa. It was neat. :) it really made it hit home that I was in South Africa. Finally right? I’ve only been here for almost two months. Haha. We saw the FIFA world cup stadium in Johannesburg, that was neat. One of the coolest things I saw while driving though was the “caution hippos crossing signs” on the highway. When we got to the camp ground we saw wart hogs first and then we saw our new next door neighbors! The hippos living in the watering hole in our front yard! :) it was amazing. Then we settled into our rooms and got our swim suits on and went to the swimming pool across the watering hole. After a bit of swimming I got out and sat next to the pool. Then I looked up and I saw a Giraffe walking our way!!! Oh my goodness it was so awesome! So we all got our cameras quietly and slowly walked as close as we could! We got about 100 feet away from it and were taking pictures and such. After the nice swim we got ready and went to dinner at the big lodge/hotel that is also inside the game reserve. It was so nice! We ate Kudu, it was kind of like beef but different haha. It was really really fabulous though. I liked it. We also had nice potatoes and veggies. Then we were picked up by a ranger and he took us on a night drive safari. Overall it was so fantastic! And now we are all exhausted but we are waking up again tomorrow morning at 4 to start again!!! So far, today I have seen: wart hogs, wilda beast, rhino (male and female), Impala, Monkeys, zebra (only like one and it was dark so it wasn’t a very good look :( ),Giraffe, bush baby, ouwl, bunnies, and a comondika. It has been truly amazing, totally worth every penny I spent. I can’t wait for tomorrow!

Thursday March 3^rd 2011

Today was good! Mrs. Randhir was back in class so I was back to just being the helping hand and I loved that. The kids were having another naughty day though. They were all super loud and seemed to complain extra today. So they ended up not going out for second break and we kept them inside to help us glue pages into their testing notebook. Before the first break I took all the girls ou tto do the reading outs of the individual littl ebooks as a group and we sat on a piece of golden grass. It was so hard tfor me to try and have them be quiet. They could not for the lf eof them get through a page of reading without people talking! Not cool. We ende dup switching from having each person read a page to having everyone read together as a group. That was better but not everyone read. After reading I had them run around and the taught them how to play red light green light. And we played outside until their break. Colleen ended up picking us up a bit early because she was in town! So that worked out well because we were able to come home and shower and pack. Then Colleen took us to the SASTS house. We are getting picked up at 4:45 in the morning for our Safari! I so so so excited!!!

When we got dropped off we met all the other girls that are coming with us. There are 7 of us total. I was also able to meet a girl named Sofia. I was friends with her on facebook before I came so it was good meeting her haha. She was hilarious. All of us went out to a mexican restaurant. I had chicken enchiladas and they were delicious. I went to bed around 10 after we got all settled from getting back from the restaurant. It was a good night :) I’m so excited for the Safari!!! :D

Wednesday March 2^nd 2011

Oh boy! Today I was so tired! Mrs Randhir was gone today for a religious holiday so it was me and a kind of student teacher that is mostly just there to keep the kids quiet while they work.... I really don’t know how it is expected that one teacher can teach 43 students. It’s not fair to the teacher or the students. So today was really tiring, it was out of control. But then on a lighter note... Tonight I went with Jamie, Siv, Colleen and Neil to a fair in Wynberg. We basically just went for the food. I got sweet and sour chicken which was okay. But the rice was gross. Then I got a hena tattoo on my arm, it looks pretty cool. But it is really light, I don’t think it will last too long. Then when we were leaving we went to go watch siv and Jamie on the farris wheel. Well... While they were riding another ride turned on and it started spinning really really fast, so fast that it made the power go out on all the rides. So mid air Jamie and Siv were stuck on the farris wheel and they were ready to get off. It was so funny. Jamie said that was more scary than bungee jumping off the highest point in the world! Oh man... It made us laugh. :)

Tuesday March 1^st 2011

Today was an easier day at the project. I brought my camera today and basically just took pictures all day for my online assignment. After I left the project though I felt so gross. Today it was 37C and 95F. And the kids were all sweaty and dirty from playing in the dirt and then they would come and hug me an wipe all their sweat on me in the nicest way possible I’m sure... But it was gross. So I showered right away when I got home and then I worked on some photos and then I made bread for the family and we had spaghetti and meat balls that neil made. It was super delicious but we didn’t end up eating until after 9pm because we didn’t start the food until later. But it was worth the wait :) my host family is amazing. :)

Monday February 28^th 2011

Today went by pretty quickly and it was pretty eventful! I spent a lot of the day making copies and cutting the pages so they could glue them in their work books. Then in the afternoon I continued testing the kid’s reading individually. I called one girl out and she said her tummy was sore, I asked her why and other normal questions and I didn’t know what was wrong or what to say so I just had her continue reading.... Well at one point she just broke into tears and started saying her tummy was soar again... And then!!! She puked all over my legs, her legs, skirt feet everything... It was even in her shoes! So I took her over to the faucet standing between her and the classrooms so no one would see her (she was super embarrassed) and then I cleaned her up and sent her to the office and told her I’d send her things and no one would know what happened. Well... All of the testing papers for everyone in the class were covered with puke and the table and chair... Everything... So I went and got the janitor and told him what happened and his response was “gah! They are supposed to go to the bathroom and do that!” and was all upset. So I just said she didn’t know she was going to throw up all over everything and walked away. I had already cleaned up the brunt of it, all he needed to do was take a hose to everything. He’s just lucky I took her out of class and she didn’t puke on carpet and all over more than just me! It was crazy. On our way home Colleen took us to a school supply store where she buys her equipment so we could brainstorm what to get for the school. We decided we want to get outside stuff for the kids to play with or on. Hopefully we can get some donations so we can get them something really good!

Sunday February 27^th 2011

Today didn’t feel like Sunday because I didn’t really make it feel like a Sunday :(. It was stake conference and everyone was meeting over an hour away so I didn’t get transport to church because my friend that usually takes me to church was out of town this weekend.... So I “bunked”/skipped church today. This morning everyone had a nice lazy Sunday. We all lounged and did our own things until about 3pm when Jamie and I finally took showers. Then we all ate chicken curry and finished getting ready. Then all of us went to Kirstenbosh Gardens for a concert. The performers were Chad Saaiman and Loyiso Bala. They were really really good. :) there were also some other performers,m they only did like two songs but it was an acapella group and they were amazing. I would have liked to see more of them. During the concert everyone drank wine, ate crackers, chicken and cheese. And it was just a really good time relaxing and being with each other. After the concert they were signing autographs and selling CDs and wat not so jamie and I went down to get a cd and the line for autographs was cut off so we just went back to the family. Then Colleen talked us into going back down and trying to get Chad’s autograph. So all us girls went down and we just kind of hung out around the end of the line. We ended up getting an autograph and a picture with Chad :) haha it was so funny. Jamie even gave her number to a security guy because she thought he would let us through to Chad. Good times. Then I got to be the designated driver for one of the cars! It was my second time driving in Africa and I think I did pretty darn good! I stayed on my side of the road, drove the speed limit and didn’t hit anything! Wahoo!

Saturday February 26^th 2011

Today didn’t go exactly as planned but it was a good day! I was supposed to meet up with a friend and go to her house and eat lunch with missionaries and her. But we couldn’t work out well enough the timing and transport. So I went with Colleen, first to Matthew’s cricket game and then we went to the mall and did some grocery shopping and looked at clothes stores.. It was nice and relaxed. Then after we were done there I had her drop me off at “China Town” and I did some shopping there. It took me about an hour to skim through all the stores. But I was able to find some gifts, a little black dress that is really nice, and a little cami thing. And it was all pretty inexpensive! :) so that was nice. Then I came home and I lounged around for a bit and then I got all dressed up in my new dress and did my hair and what not and then Nadia (colleen’s niece) picked me up and we met the girls in town and we went to two different clubs. It was fun but I was so so tired. I could have fallen asleep while dancing... So we kind of made Nadia leave “early” and we made it home around 2am and we all fell right asleep.

Friday February 25^th 2011

Another good day! Neil dropped me, Ilaria and Siv off in Cape Town where we met Jamie. Thenwe walked around green square market and did some shopping. Then we met up with Adam and we all went to the District 6 Museum. It was pretty neat! There was a lot of reading and it was able to help me understand a bit more about district 6. It was nice because it is such a big part of cape town and their history, so it was nice to learn about that. After the mseum we all went to ht water front and we ate luncg at one of the restaurants there. I had already been there but I totally didn’t mind because they have some delicious food! And I got to watch an african singing group perform and I bought one of their CDs it was awesome. I also went to a music shop on the waterfront and I bought a Peter Tosh CD. Then I went to the waterfront craft market and I bought some freshwater pearls!!! That was exciting. :) it kind of made me feel like a “real woman” since people always say that every woman needs a set of pearls. So I’m excited that I was able to get those. And they are real! :) and even better, they are from Africa! :) I took a bus back to Wynberg Station to meet colleen, all the other girls stayed in town for the night. Well I didn’t exactly know where to get on in wynberg... Haha I knew I was meeting her at the train station.... So I saw a sign for the wynberg train station and I got off the bus and waited for Colleen at the train station. Well... Turns out I found the wrong train station I wynberg... So Collen called and said “umm Kayla... Where are you?” haha that then I went out to the main road and told her some of the stores that were around me. Turns out that the road I was standing is known for it’s hookers! She said that I could have just waited about an hour or to and started working! Haha oh man oh man... It was an adventure. While I was standing there an older man walked up to me walking his bike and was like “you shouldn’t stand out here like this alone, people are evil!” and so he stood next to me so I wouldn’t be alone, well then he was like, if I had a car I’d take you home...” nice but kind of creepy so then my phone rang and it was Colleen asking where I was so I told him that my ride was here and said goodbye. Haha it was awesome an awesome adventure. ;)

Thursday February 24^th 2011

Today was really a great and long day! It was the sports day competition for school so when we got to school we got all lined up in our houses and we walked down the road a ways with the whole school to a public grassy field. After we got all sortedwe started marching like we practiced yesterday. A couple of kids were sitting out because they were told not to March and didn’t know why they couldn’t. Well my theory is that sports day only happens once a year and it is one of the biggest events of the year, not really something that should be taken away from someone who probably doesn’t have a lot to look forward to. So I went and grabbed their hands and had them come to the back of the marching line with me and I marched around the field with my house. After everyone marched we started putting people into their racing groups and then we started races! :) it was really great to watch the kids having such a great time. It is really such a big deal for these kids and I think it is wonderful that I had the opportunity to be here for it. I took tons of pictures while I was there, it was a neat experience. :) While walking back to the school a tree branch got stuck in my flip flop and sliced my foot open. When we got back Mrs. Randhir insisted on being my doctor and she fixed me up.

Tonight I went to a meditation class with my Mrs. Randhir. It was really a fun experience. We sat in basically a living room and we started meditation, just like that. I sat cross legged on the couch and they took us on a journey. It was really relaxing/awesome.

Wednesday February 23^rd 2011

Today was a pretty good day! My teacher was gone today and I had a student teacher from grade one in the class with me. She was basically there to help me get the kids quiet after they went crazy. She has that powerful teacher voice that says listen to me, I’m serious” and I don’t have that. We had some work sheets that Mrs. Randhir (my teacher) left for us to have the kids do. We got those done pretty quickly and then we read some books and whatnot. Then after the break everyone went outside and got into their “houses” for sports and practiced marching in their lines for tomorrow. Then the house I am with went into one of the classrooms and we got creative, well I thought it was creative. We made pom-poms out of plastic grocery bags and team flags out of tissue paper and wooden sticks. Only the older kids were allowed to make the stuff though (which I didn’t understand); meanwhile, the little kids were so noisy and pumped with adrenaline from the excitement of sports day. It’s such a huge event here, everything stops for sports day. It really gives the kids something to look forward to but puts a hold on education. Kind of a catch 22. After all the excitement we went back to the classroom and did another two maths worksheets. After class was out I went to grade one and helped Jamie cover some books.

When we got home we lounged and then we all helped make dinner. We had steak and kidney pot pies home made fries and salad. Then we got all ready for bed! Tomorrow we’re going to call and book our safari! So exciting.