Vacation!!!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
It was Meagan’s last day today and we (Meagan and Jo) decided to make it fun and go to an Elephant Sanctuary. We attended a 2-hour program where we got to walk hand in trunk, feed the elephants, and play with them. We received a lot of info as well, but really it was way more fun to touch them and feed them. Our group did not seem very into elephants so Meagan and I would jump at any opportunity such as feeding many times, walking hand in trunk two times instead of one, and posing for a lot of pictures. At one point the elephants gave each of us a kiss on the cheek…we had a big mud spot and picture to prove it. We loved our time! It was a great last day.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Today marked the sixth round trip to the airport and tomorrow will make it seven. We said goodbye to Cassie, our longest companion over the break. Today was a bit special because we went shopping for goodies for Abba House. They are called bags of love which is a bag listed with their most immediate needs. They were very thankful for our gifts. Today we exceeded the time limit of our visit, but the workers didn’t seem to mind. There almost always seems to be a need there for us as I held two babies in my (Adam) arms for most of the time. Before Cassie had to split, we swam at the local pool in Pretoria, close to where we will be staying. I met three guys from Cameroon who were here for school and tried to teach them how to swim properly. Hopefully living in the inner-city will give us opportunity to develop lasting relationships with random people we meet.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Today we took the girls to the Lion Park. The Lion Park consists of a small game drive, 4 lion camps, where lions are caged in a certain area but free to roam around and near your vehicle, cub world and Jo’s favorite, the feeding of giraffes. It was fun day, Meagan got to experience a bit more of the African sun. For the evening we hosted a movie night at the boy’s shelter. We decided to watch Evan Almighty and that was an excellent choice because most of the boy’s had not seen it and they laughed hysterically through most of it. They loved seeing all the animals and especially the monkeys. It was a bit different viewing it through African eyes and they often experience wildlife a bit different than we do.
Monday, January 5, 2009
It is our first anniversary today! Cassie, Meagan, Adam and I went on a tour of Johannesburg and Soweto today and really enjoyed the experience. Soweto has the a larger population than the country of Botswana. Some 2 to 3 million people who lived right outside of Johannesburg around the time of the discovery of diamonds. This is the place where Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu grew up. We also visited a small musesm that talked about the youth uprisings of 1976, a key part of the struggle to end apartheid. Then we went to our favorite restaurant, Baobab and had a great dinner. After that the four of us went home and watched our wedding video and then watched the movie Just Married. We ate some funfetti cake in honor of the day. It was a nice anniversary.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Today we went to church in the morning and we were hoping to watch Australia at the movies in the afternoon. We wanted Megan to experience a movie theatre in Africa. It is nice, you pick your seats and besides being great deals, you can put all kinds of toppings on your popcorn. And butter salt is a little hard to come by. So, we most often choose a cheese flavor. The times were a bit difficult, so we watched Pride and Glory instead. It was okay. After this we went back to the base, which has finally come to life with people again. We ate dinner with the folks there and invited a few people over for some cake and for a few episodes of “The Office.” Fun was had by all.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
It’s finally spa day! One of our friends from training worked at a lovely spa and invited us for the day. We were treated with bathrobes and slippers and a buffet with light snacks. The spa also had pools and hot tubs for us to use. We loved our massages and it was great to see our friend again. The spa/resort had baby lion cubs for we got to hold them and take a few quick pictures. One did bite Cassie, but it didn’t break the skin….so no worries. They also had a cheetah run which we watched from the second floor of the spa, a bit melodramatic as one of the cheetahs was a bit overweight and took a while to get to it’s destination. We were glad that we didn’t have to pay any extra for that.
Friday, January 2, 2009
We decided to be adventurous today and go to Freedom Park. We thought it was a park that honored apartheid. We were wrong. It honored everything, meaning lots of struggles that brought about freedom. The park is only about 60% finished and the tour guide was everywhere. We were hoping that Megan and Cassie, would learn a bit about Apartheid, but we all left more confused. The tour guide had an extremely weird worldview which talks of ghosts, honoring the dead and tolerance of all people. Besides, he had a bit of a strong African accent, so we struggled. It was a long tour and boring and the “African sun is hot” (so our tour guide said), so we left early and hit up McDonalds. After this we went to Abba House again to hold babies. We have really enjoyed our time there.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Today we went to Abba House for the first time. It is a home for orphan babies. Anyone can visit and hold a baby or play with them for an hour. Most of these babies are given up for overseas adoptions. The babies can stay there until they are about 1 year old. We had a blessed time there and were very encouraged by the work that they are doing.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Today was the boys last day. We actually did not do anything today but watch the boys pack. Adam and I packed a bag to send back with them too. It took Dale 4 hours to pack his bag with the souvenirs. WOW! We played at least one game of Phase 10 and then we got ready and headed to the airport with them. They made it on with all their things! On the way home we missed an exit and took a very long way home. We were going to get pizza on the way home, but decided because of our slight mis-direction to go to KFC. Well that was closed, so we went to another place and finally made it to our originally pizza place very hungry. Then we headed back to watch a movie at about 11:45 the power went out because of a huge thunderstorm and so we brought the new year in in the dark. Happy New Year!
Tuesday, December 30. 2008
On the way home from camping, we hit up Predator World. Sounds kind of cool, but it wasn’t that great. It was more like a zoo. The real reason we went was to hold cheetah cubs. After waiting over a half n hour, we decided to ask for a refund, because the large cheetah cubs were not cooperating. It was pretty much a scam as well. They were to big to hold and if you wanted to take pictures, you had to pay even more than the fee to get in the cage. So, we headed to the market. The guys keep the market in business. We decided that Tank was the swindler of the group. He nonchalantly always seemed to get the best prices and would work the market on his own. Dale and the others held their own, but I personally think they saw Tim coming from a kilometer away. We ended the evening with a final dinner at Babob, our favorite restaurant.
Monday, December 29, 2008
The boys came in a bit later than expected, so we decided to head back to the training base as opposed to setting up camp in the dark. It was also raining quite hard. Most of our day was spent in Pilanesburg National Park. We decided to drive through ourselves, but did not nearly have the luck that we have had previously in our game drive experiences. Camping was an experience that was not loved by all, but it was still fun. I originally tried to squeeze in with the fellas, but after realizing that we would be on top of each other all night, I (Adam) choose to stay in the girls tent. We also went to Sun City, it is a kind of a paradise in the middle of no-where. It is basically 4 hotel resorts hotel, a huge entertainment center/mall, a water park and lots to see. It was a fun way to spend the evening.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
We flew back to Pretoria today. Our car was still in the parking spot. We were a little worried considering that we parked in short-term parking and didn’t learn that long-term parking was 15 minutes away until close to our boarding time. We met Meagan at the airport today and we are extremely glad to have her here.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Tonight was our last night in Cape Town and we made the most of it by eating in “The Top of the Ritz.” It is a revolving restaurant on top of our hotel. It looked out over all the city and we saw a beautiful sunset while we ate our dinner. There were a few complications getting there as the hotel lost or never delivered our reservation. We were pretty disappointed and so Adam complained to the front desk and it is amazing how they squeezed us in. Adam was also excited about a float parade that was going on near our hotel. He asked numerous people throughout the week about it, but no one seemed to know about it. So around noon we headed down and struggled to find it. Well, it just happened that it was a Hindu festival. They did have a float parade, but it was only one float and a full day of speakers and dances. We would have been interested in learning a bit more had it been a reasonable amount of time, but decided to head back to the hotel, disappointed that our first Boxing Day was not more fun.
Thursday December 25, 2008
Merry Christmas! Though the weather is warm and the lack of buildup of a Christmas season, we tried to make our day special. Our day started at a Hillsong Church, affiliated with the band, in downtown Cape Town. Then we walked to our favorite Cape Town hangout, the waterfront and went on a 1 and 1/2 hour cruise on a catamaran. It was a perfect day for the ride in the Atlantic Ocean. After that we watched a movie and then to the internet café to skype with our family. We decided to do dinner in and with a lack of facilities we ended up having ramen noodles and sparkling grape juice tonight. No complaints though, we have eaten well while in Cape Town.
Wednesday December 24, 2008
Today may have been the last time that Cassie, Jo or myself ever ride on a horse again. We were scheduled to partake in a 2 and ½ hour beach horse excursion, Jo’s desired trip, but we never quite made it. After arriving at the horse barn in the morning, we were quickly thrown on the horse without any instruction or introduction from our guide. We asked her if the commands we had known from America worked over here, and she belitted our question and said you just need to talk with them. To slow them down all you need to say is easy. So Marleen our guide lit a cigarette and was on here way. 20 minutes into the ride was when we decided it needed to stop. In the meantime, our horses had decided to sprint by our guide and very fast speeds. One time, they went so far ahead that we lost our guide. She continued to yell at me because I was not holding the reigns correctly. By the way, I almost forgot to inform you that she told us quickly into the trip that she hated Americans as well. Regardless, around the 20-minute period, she said that we would not be going to the beach because we were not skilled enough. So after being discontent with our ride through trash and feces smelling areas, we thought it would be best to head back and seek a refund. Only the refund never came.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Today was a chill day. Tim and I once again found out late last night that the waves would keep us away once again from diving with the sharks. We headed to the Waterfront and met up with Adam and Maria, two other Chapel students who are volunteering here as well. We went to the Two Oceans Aquarium and it was pretty melo-dramatic, but it was a good event for Tim to catch up with them. Other than that, our evening sunset cruise was cancelled due to rain, so we just hung out at the Waterfront. The boys (Tim, Dale and Tank) leave tomorrow for Victoria Falls in the morning.
Monday December 22, 2008
Today was a gross day. It was raining on and off for most of the day. Tim and I had scheduled to go cage diving with the sharks. This is the event that Tim has been dying to do. You go out in a boat to shark alley, and they hand a metal cage over the side of the boat. After putting on a wet suit, they throw a few of us in the cage and throw some meat into the water. Many snorkel while in the cage, but I was just going to go back and forth from the surface, because at the age of 28, I am confident to say that I will never master the art of snorkeling. So, as you can tell, we were both excited for the rush of adrenaline. They picked us up at 4:30 in the morning and drove us 2 and ½ hours to our destination to only find out as we stepped out of the van that it had been cancelled. It amazed me that the company never even considered calling the van driver to let us know that it had been cancelled, so we turned around and drove back. We spent most of the day chillin at the hotel and us guys went out for a dinner together while the girls stayed back.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Today we did it right. Since finding car rentals has been impossible, we decided to go a different route and schedule a Cape Point tour. It was great, we went with a guy named John who owns Big Blue Sky and he was a gem. We drove to the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. The water was so blue and the views were beautiful. We also visited Boulders to see African Penguins in their normal habitat. It was a great day and we really lucked out with the weather.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
We took the Big Red Bus tour today. If you have ever traveled to London, it is modeled after their tour buses. You travel around the city on a double-decker bus in which the top is open and they narrate the history of the city. One of our stops was Table Mountain, we will soon post pictures, and we spent some time overlooking the city. We also passed Camp’s Bay and Clifton Beach, one of the most famous beaches in the world. Once again, the guys can’t believe how beautiful the city is and how great the weather is as well.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Our early mornings continue as we had to be leave at 6 to head to the airport to fly to Cape Town. Everything went pretty smooth except for our parking. The other day we had asked if they had Long Term parking at the airport. We were told yes, so we didn’t ask to many other questions. Well, once we arrived today, Jo was in our borrowed car and I was returning the rental. Well, it just happened that she drove all around the airport looking for long-term parking, but could not find any. So, short on time, she had to park in the short-term and came to check in for our flight. We starting asking, hoping that we would have time to move it once we checked it, but were told that it took over 15 minutes to get to the place of long term parking. So, we didn’t have enough time and our car is sitting in short-term. Our hope is that it is still there when we get back, though we might have to pay an arm and a leg, I could not imagine how difficult it would be if they towed it or put a boot on it. Once we arrived in Cape Town, we struggled to find two rental cars because of the Holiday season and made our way to our beautiful hotel. Since we had cars and we wanted to make us of them, we decided to go out to Hout Bay and go a short boat ride to “Seal Island.” Jo thinks it should be more appropriately named “Seal Rock.” It was a rock with lots of seals on it. We enjoyed our ride on a “glass bottom boat” or so they called it. It was a boat with four windows that were just below the water line. We laughed and had fun. We went to a Canal Park, a huge mall, for dinner and then went back to our hotel room to get some much needed rest!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
We have a new windshield! Amen. After calling him every 15 minutes starting at 7:00, I finally got a hold of him at 8:30 am. He was refusing to get something done and just wanted to take care of it at a later date, but I refused, so Tim and I drove part of our way back to Pretoria and met him at a garage where they fix windows. Unfortunately they did not have the correct window, so it was nearing 11:30 by now, so we made a plan to drive the 5 hours back to Pretoria and make it to another store before they closed. Luckily we made it and it was all taken care of. It relied a lot of my stress, because we felt uncomfortable leaving a car with a broken windshield at the airport for over a week. We also had a Christmas program scheduled at the boy’s shelter for the evening. Our friends desired to do some ministry while we were here, so we thought we would show them where we will be working in the near future. It went o.k., I think everyone was tired from the early mornings and my buds never really had a chance to plan the program like I thought they would, so Jo and I through together one the day before. We were glad that they got to see where we would be serving. Oh by the way, there was a lot of construction going on at the shelter, so we are excited as to how it will look when we start in the middle of January.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
If you thought leaving at 5 am was early, today we left for our morning walk at 3:30 am. We were dead tired. Fortunately or unfortunately, however you look at it, our walk was cancelled due to rain. The girls decided to go back and for the guys, we had a back up plan to go out once again with Heinrich if our walk happened to be cancelled. We did not see nearly as much as we saw the day before. We just missed a leopard by 10 minutes or so and happened to see a black rhino for a few seconds. They, along with the cheetahs are only about 250 or so in the entire park. The park is as big as the country of Portugal, so we were pretty happy with the amount of animals that we have seen over the past few days. As for the window, I finally talked to the third person regarding my incident of the window, but they refused to send anyone out to fix it today. He promised to call me back tonight, but I have not heard back from him, so I will try again first thing in the morning, he said he would be in at 7:00 and we were hoping to leave by 9ish, so hopefully something can be done.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
We had an early morning as our Safari guide picked us up at 5 am. He was a great guy, we were the only ones on the Land Rover and we loved our guide, Heinrich. We saw quite a bit as well. We were lucky enough to see to prides of Lions. Three Cheetahs, many Elephants, quite a few Rhinos, some Cape Buffalo and Jo’s beloved Giraffes. It was a great day, the only downer was that I kept trying to get hold of the security company who dropped the beam on our car, but after many phone calls, I have made it no where.
Monday, December 15, 2008
We have arrived in Kruger and boy did we hit it right. We got the hook up from a missionary about a lodge just outside of Crocodile Bridge, the lowest southern point of Kruger. Once we checked in, we made our way to the gate for the evening safari. Once we arrived at the gate of our complex, we had a little bad luck. The guard who was holding the beam accidentally dropped the metal beam on the front of our car and shattered the windshield. Almost the entire left side was cracked and we could feel the windshield flex as we drove over the dirt roads. Immediately after it happened, he came to say he was sorry and was motioning for us to be on our way. I kept my calm, but began to see how this would be fixed. We were short on time because we had to be at the gate for our safari, but we filled out an accident report and were on our way. Hopefully they will fix it before we have to leave for Cape Town on Friday. By the way, never go on an evening safari, we could only see eyes of the animals and never had a clue as to what we were seeing.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Our friends have arrived! We spent most of the day preparing for their arrival. We have the rooms cleaned; we have done our laundry and have most things in place for the next two to three weeks. We were fortunate to be lended a car that was not be used for the next month, so that was quite a blessing. We went to pick them up around 10 pm at the airport, but they did not arrive until close to midnight. So, that meant a late night and early morning as we will leave for Kruger in the morning. Another added benefit of their arrival means that we received some Christmas presents. Thanks to my parent’s bible study who gave us the hook up and recently a package from Johanna’s parents church, we are very fortunate to have some many caring people that seek to bless us while we are here. Oh by the way, I think the best gift that I got was three dvds of Cavalier games for this year. I can’t wait to watch them.
Comments
Tyler on Dec 26, 2008
I like the horse story on 12/24. Haha. Sounds like Marleen is too much like John Wayne.
Merry Xmas. Take care!
Robert on Jan 11, 2009
I love you guys and wish you all the best. Sorry about your horse trip and your American-hating guide! My prayers are always with you.