...into the Wild...

It's been a hectic few days...lots of traveling. From Durban, we headed down the coast to a small town called Port St. John's. The bus only did drop-offs about an hour and a half from our backpackers, so we took public taxi the rest of the way, which is an adventure in itself. The drivers are crazy, there is nearly constant starting and stopping, but the people are friendly and it's faster than walking. :) Port St. John's is...different. It's very crowded and seems to be quite a poor area. Our backpacker was a ways out of town, almost right on the shore of the Indian Ocean. The first day there, we headed down to the beach to explore, walking along the beach and clambering through the rocks until it started to rain. We headed in for a delicious supper and to chat with a guy that we met a few days before at Amphitheatre (back in the Drakensberg). We got invited to go to a St. Patrick's Day party at another backpackers, leaving around "7:30 or 8ish, probably walking." At about 8 30, Brian (the guy) came running in to say that we had a ride if we could be ready in less than a minute. We raced out just in time and piled into the back of an old truck, with the top on the back and a muddy floor, meaning we had to crouch and hold onto whatever we could (there were 7 of us in the back), which was a bit of a feat, what with the bumpy roads and all. The party was amazing, only because of the spectacular live entertainment. A man named Tony Cox, apparently one of South Africa's guitarist elite, played for us for a couple of hours...and trust me, he was so worth the truck ride. He would have been worth a 4-hour truck ride. I've never in my life seen or heard anyone play guitar like he did. He pulled sounds out of that guitar that I didn't even know were possible and with ridiculous speed as well....Anyway, he was good. :) We walked home that night, four of us, past the solitary lights of shanties dotting the hills, past meandering cows wandering down the highways, the warm ocean breeze guiding us toward our destination. Apparently the walk was nearly an hour, but it seemed too short to me...The next couple days were spent laying on the beach and basically relaxing as much as possible. We ran into a bit of a crisis when we ran out of money, at which point we were penniless (literally, we had R1.15), all our clothes were dirty (still are), we had no food left, I hadn't showered in days, our cell phone and iPod's were all dead (and that was a bad thing...?) and no way to get into town. The day before we were meant to leave, someone had to go on a liquor run and Riley was lucky enough to catch a ride, so that was finally sorted and gave us a bit of breathing room. That last morning, we woke up to the sounds of the Irishman in one of the other beds yelling, "No! No! I didn't!" And a girl (they'd known each other for awhile) saying, "Yeah, you did." in a very unimpressed voice. Apparently the man (35+ years old) had had a bit too much to drink the night before (a post-St. Patty's Day party) and wet his bed...and the guy in the bunk below. Do you laugh? Or do you cry? lol, not sure about that one...Anyway, we caught the taxi back to the bus stopped and continued on the next leg of our journey, which was a stop in Port Elizabeth, which we didn't arrive in until nearly 11 at night. The place we stayed was...quaint, an old townhouse, much like my grandma and grandpa's actually, that had been transformed into a backpackers. That night, being the eve of my 18th birthday, I got a phone call from home singing me Happy Birthday. :) We went to sleep shortly after 12 and were up by 6 30 for more traveling. We managed to steal some bananas for breakfast and stayed outside singing and dancing on the street, waiting for the bus to come. (It was late...which would explain the singing and dancing...right?) That day we drove until we reached a town called Knysna (pronounced niiz-nah). We were picked up from the bus stop by the beach version of a mountain man (beard included) in a rickety old VW bug that had seen better days. Amidst rattles, bangs and minor explosions, we eventually made it to the backpackers. The place was beautiful, with steps leading straight onto the beach. We went on a beach stroll that afternoon, even though the weather was rather cold, collecting rocks and shells along the way. Supper was a braai and dessert was a couple of shooters, known as Springbokkies (my favourite) to celebrate my 18th. :) It's wierd to see the alcohol advertisements that say, 'Not for sale to those under the age of 18,' and realize that they no longer apply to me...We went to bed early that night, no partying for me :P and woke up early the next morning. We went for another walk on the beach, this time accompanied by the resident Jack Russels. At the appropriate time, we were whisked back to the bus stop in our VW chariot and headed out once more (this is getting to be a habit...). The mountain man's name was Barracus by the way, in case you were wondering...:P We are now in Wilderness, a beautiful little tourist town...sort of the African version of Canmore, AB. Miles of beach lay on our doorstep, cute little shops and restaurants are just down the road, an abandoned train track through a tunnel makes for a beautiful morning stroll I'm told. This afternoon we sampled the shops and I was treated to a manicure (part of my birthday present...my birthday has sort of been three days in the making...:D I know...spoiled...) and some cake. :) We bought a few more trinkets for our loved ones back home, then headed home to arrange some sky- and shark cage-diving before going down to walk the beach. Along the way, we chatted with a few fishermen, including one who caught a sand shark while we were watching. It was so neat to be there to see him bring it in and let us touch it; it was only about 2 1/2 feet, sort of like a cross between a shark and a sting ray. And, as if that wasn't a lovely enough day, we came home to our own personal pizzas made with 100% home ingredients in a wood-fired oven. Fantastic. And of course, a drink on the house because it was my birthday. ;) Tomorrow morning, I'm waking up to a sunrise walk along the train track and a hot stone massage...I. Am. In. Heaven. P.S. Family, if you're reading this, this is our next vacation spot. ;) Tomorrow it's off to Mossel Bay for some more...adrenaline-pumping activities. ;) Anyway, I've got to run, about to run out of internet time. Much love. :) xo

Stuck

In a town that we only planned to spend a quick night in, we've now spent 2 long days, going onto our 3rd night. The town in question is Durban, right on the coast. And it would be beautiful, but our reasoning was, hey, we're only staying one night, so who cares where it is? Well, we may have possibly chosen the most dull part of the city...It's our fault though; apparently the Baz Bus only stops at backpackers when you call them to tell them to stop there, which we didn't, so we looked a bit foolish sitting around in a lobby, waiting for a bus that would never come...Thankfully, the bus comes tomorrow! Yay! Off down the coast for us; white sands and blue skies, here we come.
Today has been a bit of a strange day. The hot, sticky weather has put me in a bit of a bad mood, made worse by the news I recently received from one of my friends at TLC. Remember Max, the security guard who had his face shot up with a paintball gun? Well, he spent three days in hospital before he died from his wounds. Not all stories have happy endings I guess...but it makes it worse that I knew the guy, that I was awake and having a good time on the same yard as he when he was attacked...Because of that, and because the robberies have yet to cease for more than one night at a time, TLC has once again updated their security systems, and hopefully this time it works...
I met a guy sitting on the street today, both legs in braces. I asked him his name, introduced myself and asked what had happened...He said it was polio...I gave him some money, but I couldn't help feeling like he was chuckling to himself as I walked away...oh well, no matter if he lied, he needed it more than me...
Anyway, Riley's made supper, noodles or something of the sort, so I should go. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. :) Have a wonderful week. Much love,

Karli

Just call me Tenzing...

So...going from never having done anything of the sort in my life, to hiking 31 kms in 2 days...I think that's pretty sweet. Riley and I are in the Drakensberg right now, staying at probably the best hostel we've found so far. Yesterday, we signed up for a hike that read "Only for the fitter hiker", which should have read, "anyone who's name is not included in the following list: Arnold Schwarznegger, Lance Armstrong, Michael Phelps, Tenzing Norgay; need not apply". Unfortunately, they didn't say that, so we signed up. 19 kms and a 1500 m altitude change later...Let's just say I've never felt so proud of myself. Except possibly when I finished that one dogsled race...Anyway, it was misty/cloudy on the way up, so we couldn't see where exactly we were going. Everytime my legs were about to buckle under me and I thought we were nearing the top, another peak emerged from the fog and we staggered on. Sho, it was hectic, bru. ;) It was definitely the most wicked hike I've ever heard of, nevermind accomplished. We hiked toward Cathedral Peak and came within 200 m of the top, but were forced to stop due to heavy fog and slippery rocks. We passed waterfalls, climbed through tangles of thorny brush, clambered over boulders and skirted entire mountain passes (whatever that means, but it sounded good). It took us 4 1/2 hours just to hike in, with a short lunch break at the top. On the way down, a few of us (there were only 4 of us, including the guide, Josh) stuck our heads under one of those beautiful waterfalls to cool off. The way down was cloudless, crystal clear, perfectly serene. The most amazing feeling in the world was to look back over what seemed like miles and miles and realize that I was just standing at the base of that peak there, yeah, that one, the one waaaay off in the distance. I felt as if I'd conquered the world. And the view, oh my word, it was amazing, pictures and videos can absolutely not do it justice. Despite waking up this morning with aching limbs, joints, muscles and basically everything else, we decided to join a 12.5 km hike which was way easier; nice gentle slopes, breaks every 15 mins or so, and a much bigger group as well. Despite being an easy hike, my legs were still sore and stiff after the two hour drive home. I felt like an old woman trying to extract myself from the van...but I made it, I made it. That was the Amphitheatre Hike, in which we hiked around the back of the Amphitheatre (part of the Drakensberg peaks), climbed up a fantastic gorge and emerged at the top of the second-highest waterfall in the world, Tugela Falls. :) A fantastic day, for sure. Anyway, we are just trying to decide whether we want to hike into Lesotho tomorrow or not, and whether our legs will let us...Unfortunately, Riley's account was hacked (or something) and someone's been stealing all his money, so we're still trying to figure that out as well! Our next stop after this is Durban, where we're planning to only stay a night before heading down toward the Wild Coast! Wish us luck! Much love,

Karli

Swaziland and Saying Goodbye

I'm at a real computer for the first time in awhile, so I figured that I would post this blog myself, rather than making my mom do it, though she does a great job. :)
Well, I suppose I'll start with the corruption, move on to the cocktails and end with the crying...My South African visa expired on March 2nd, so rather than doing things the normal, legal way and extend it at the South African Consulate (which costs at least R500, not to mention driving), I decided to try my luck at the border. After much planning and changing plans and throwing them up in the air and rearranging them yet again, it was decided that Albertina and I would head to Swaziland for two nights, then renew my visa as we crossed back into the country. We stayed our first night away from TLC at a backpacker in Joburg called Brown Sugar. It was really really nice. They served a delicious hot meal in the evening, we sipped some ciders and chatted with a guy from Holland named Jan, traveling through South Africa by himself and working at a kids' summer camp. We forgot to book Baz Bus tickets ahead of time, so we were going to book them in the evening, then we missed our booking date with the receptionist and had to book the next morning about 30 minutes before the Bus actually came. Everything was fine and dandy though. It was about a ten-hour drive with one of the most obnoxious men I've ever met, but the drive was one of the most beautiful. Winding through the switchbacks, cruising up and over the mountains...it was fantastic; what a view...:) We ended up only staying one night in Swazi, but the sunrise over the misty mountains was worth the drive and then some. :) Thankfully, we had a different driver the next morning, and thankfully again, he knew one of the border crossing guards and was able to talk his way into getting my visa extended until mid-April sometime. R100 later, I was free to go. ;) I love Africa. Oh, they have a saying: TIA, this is Africa. Golden. :) So that was the corruption...We got front row seats next to the driver (oh, he got pulled over by police for not wearing his seatbelt and was fined R20...about $3...and he had the gall to complain about it...:P)and the view was even more impressive in the early morning. I would have given anything to stay a few more days...That night we stayed in a dingy, uncomfortable...adventurous backpacker in Joburg again. The roof was one piece of tin and we had a wicked thunderstorm that night. It sounded like someone was firing bullets at the roof. So we scrapped the sleeping idea and stayed up to watch some crappy music videos until the rain stopped. :) The next afternoon, we drove home to start our packing and getting ready to go...
That evening (the 3rd), one of Thea's daughters, Zoe, took Albertina and I out for drinks at a funky little bar somewhere up in the middle of nowhere. It was such a neat little place and we had a great time chatting. But Africans make...loathful margaritas and pina coladas...for the record. Afterwards, we drove to the airport to pick up a friend of Zoe's who is working in a hospice around here somewhere...grabbed some coffee and nachos (to stay awake) and headed home. So that was the cocktails...Thea's son, Rhys, had some friends over, so we hung out at his cottage for a few hours, chatting and that sort of thing. When Rhys tried to call the night guard though, we had a bit of a fright. They've (the night guards) been given paintball guns with rubber bullets and pepperspray balls, but Max is a bit older and doesn't always pay attention very well and last night a man came over the fence, stole his paintball gun and shot him several times in the head. One shot hit his eye (apparently he may lose it), another tore off most of his lip and several more caused serious swelling to his head. Obviously, he was rushed to the hospital immediately and I haven't heard anything since that. It was definitely a scary last night. Please pray that he is alright.
Today was probably the roughest day of my life. If not, it was certainly well up there...I slept in a little, wrote everyone goodbye notes and had a big, lazy breakfast with Albertina (who flew home today as well). Everything was fine at first, but the more I packed away and the cleaner my room got, the sicker I began to feel. I literally felt nauseous and light-headed...When I got a text message from Kim (who came with Riley to pick me up) saying she was five minutes out, I just though, "My word, how did it ever come down to the the last five minutes?" It was the most terrible feeling in the world. I cried a bit then, but once Riley and Kim arrived, it was easy to get distracted showing them around the nursery and introducing them to the babies. Then the moment arrived...well, it wasn't really a moment, it was more like 30 minutes of drawn-out torture...I had to say goodbye. Kissing the babies, hugging all the beautiful people that I was lucky enough to have spent the last few months with, looking back at the house as we pulled off the yard...I've never cried so much in my life. As we were cruising along the highway, I had this horrible feeling like I'd forgotten something important and then I thought, "Oh no, nothing important, just my heart..." And that is exactly how I feel right now...not myself. The family I'm staying with is one of the most beautiful in the world, but I still feel disconnected or something...It's strange to think that every volunteer that goes through there is just a passing star in the lives of the kids, but they leave footprints in our hearts forever...I can't say goodbye, I really can't. If I think about never seeing those kids again...When Rob picked me up from the airport back in December, he said that Africa gets in your blood, that you can never really leave it...and I didn't believe him...ha...So basically, I'm a mess right now. Give it a couple of days, right? I'll be fine. So that was the crying...
Anyway, nothing more to say. I hope you are all having a wonderful week. :) Oh, and PS, despite everything, I am SO excited to travel. :) Much love,

Karli

Preparing to leave

Friends, family, relatives, acquaintances, etceteray, etcetera....hi. :)
Tomorrow is my last day on schedule here at TLC. I don't remember my first day that well, except Tammy showing me how to do the dishes...Everyone here keeps asking how I feel and if I'm sad and all those other things that they seem to be required to ask when someone is leaving...No, not really. There are a heap of us leaving right now; two left yesterday, two on the second and three of us on the fourth (I'm one of those three). I feel like everyone is leaving, except me; it hasn't really become reality for me yet. Tomorrow evening, my roommate and I leave for Swaziland for a few days. It's my special little way of hopefully getting my visa renewed. :) So I'm not even really leaving, not yet anyway, not until the evening of the fourth. So I still have time, just a little bit of time...to cuddle the kids, to move out of my house, to say my goodbyes...Come March 4th, I'm sure I'll be a mess. :)
In case I didn't mention it, I'd like to just bring up the case of South African drivers once more, just so some of you might be less inclined to get road rage the next time you're driving in Canada. A few days ago (or was it a few weeks...?) Kim and I were driving to her house along a two-lane highway. We were coming up to a light and it turned yellow. Kim of course, being the responsible driver that she is, slowed down and stopped just as the light turned red. However, about five seconds later, as the other lanes were starting to pull out, one car whipped past us in the other lane and a second after that, another car squeezed by on the shoulder, just managing to miss about 6 cars. It was ridiculous. But normal...nearly everyone drives like that. The driver here at TLC is a pudgy, balding thirty-something year old who really just wants to marry a volunteer and claims he used to be a race car driver (which means, like...when he got his first car, he pushed it past the speed limit...once). So he drives Rocky (the van) like a race car...Rocky is kind of the equivalent of a GMC Safari. :)
The last couple weeks have been good. We had a 'cultural evening'/bonfire, which was lovely, especially after a few people had gone and Dan pulled out his guitar and started singing Country Roads...it took me back about 9, 10 years...There's something special about sitting around a fire with so many friends, chatting and watching the stars. :) A couple nights ago we went to a place called Boma Restaurant. We were supposed to be able to try a bunch of exotic meats, but I only had ostrich, kudu and springbok. They were all in stew- or sausage-type dishes so I couldn't really properly identify the meat...:P It was amazing though. For R100 (the equivalent of about $15), we could have unlimited food and drink from the buffet. And this wasn't just a piddly buffet; it had everything; pastas, salads, meats, stews, stirfrys, breads, sushi...desserts of course. :) Afterwards, we almost got to go out to NewsCafe (a dance club/thing...), but then the two drivers decided they were too tired and made the decision for the other 19 volunteers. Oh well, other adventures ahead. :)
Only a few more days until I start my travels across South Africa! I am SO excited! :D But excited as well to go home in 45 days! :D Anyway, I hope everyone is having a wonderful week; I am! I'll try to update this at least once while I'm traveling. Much love,

Karli

Under the stars...

Last night was lovely. :) About nine of us went out for drinks at an Irish Pub yesterday evening. Go figure, you go all the way to Africa to go to an Irish Pub...riiight...but, Dan the Irishman was driving, so it was up to him I guess. When we got back, Albertina, Lisa and I gathered up as many blankets as we could carry and headed out to the swinging bridge that is in the kids' playground. It was a perfect, starry night...clear as far as the eye could see...which is pretty far, when you're staring up at space.
Anyway, there were no mosquitos, no rain...beautiful. We cuddled in and fell asleep. Well, that's sort of how it happened. We may have woken up a time or two to shift around so that the planks were digging into the other side of our ribs, or to wonder why the night guard was yelling and waving his flashlight around and leaping into the van to race over to the gate...just more robberies. It was so...magical...to wake up to the birds starting to sing and the morning sky just starting to glow. :) It reminded me of sleeping in the hammocks at North Knife, or the igloo at Dymond Lake, or on a blanket with my little brother and sister on our front lawn...:) Speaking of the robberies, I think that it's just life around here. I'm pretty sure that a robbery has happened every single night since I've been here. Last night they were after the land lines, which is pretty standard.
:) I think that we've just stopped worrying about it. They've put up barbed wire in some spots, and palisade fencing in other places and locks on all our doors, so none of us are very worried. :) We also got a new baby, a preemie. She is the smallest human being I have ever seen. Her entire foot is smaller than my thumb, and I don't know if you've ever seen my thumb, but it's small to start with...She weighs less than two kilograms and the smallest clothes we have are too big on her. When you pick her up, it almost feels like you're not holding anything. Her name is Beka and she's adorable. :) But there are so many rules for preemies.
Apparently, if anything at all goes wrong, they stop breathing. If they get cold, they stop breathing; if they get over-stimulated, they stop breathing, etc, etc....So, it's a little nerve-wracking to be in the nest, but so far no mishaps. :) Anyway, I'm about to be late for work. I hope you are all having a wonderful week. :) Much love.

Karli

The end is near....

Probably the most exciting thing that's happened to me so far happened just the other day. 'Tina and I were listening to one of her CD's and, after years of hearing my dad sing it to us late at night, accompanied by his trusty guitar, I finally heard the song 'House of the Rising Sun'. I've never been more excited in my life. Ok, that's a lie, but I was pretty pumped. :)
Oh my word, one of the dogs just attacked one of the TLC drivers. He's fine, but all of our hearts are pounding. The dog that attacked him is named Baron and he's a huge mastiff, bigger than any dog I've seen. He only ever attacks black people and he doesn't give any warning, which is what just happened. But everyone's okay, so we're good...But scary...
After I finished my last nightshift (*sniff*), I spent the night at Kim and Rob's place again. It was so wonderful. Over lunch, I sat around, not worrying about any babies, listening to Kim's dad tell me about his pet lion that they owned before the war days. Yeah, he's cool. Afterwards, I had a nice long shower, gave myself a face mask and soaked my feet in Kim's foot jacuzzi...thing...It was bliss. :) I got a chance to go on the REAL internet. Checked my facebook for the first time in almost 3 months. It was disappointing. :P In the evening, I talked to my family on Skype for a bit, then went with the kids to their school to watch a comedy show put on by their teachers. It was so hilarious and if it had been performed in Steinbach, all the teachers would have been fired and it would have made the news. :P Let's just say that it ended with all their male teachers performing the full monty...in glow-in-the-dark underwear. :) Classic. :P It's funny how 'history repeats itself'...yes, this may be totally insignificant to you all, but the next morning, I tried a traditional South African breakfast cereal for the first time, that my dad first tasted on the Churchill River 20 years ago. For some reason, that was important. :P
Anyway, I have to go help figure out a way for us to get to Lesotho on March 1st. For some reason a 1-hr flight costs R5000...so we're going by bus. :) Much love, wish us luck! :)

Karli

Zoo excursions

I'm writing this after just coming off of another night of night shift, so if my typing sometimes seems a bit discombobulated, that's why. :) Night shift is going well. I just finished my....second? Third?...night. I'm worried though, because once I finish this night shift, I have only two weeks left here at TLC. Not a happy thought.
I got a chance to be a real mom the other day. Mairi, Lisa and I each brought one of the kids along to a petting zoo/farm about 20 minutes from TLC. I brought a little girl named...Tessa. :) She's about 8 months old and the cutest, sweetest little thing. I got to carry along nappies and bottles and mushy food for her, feed her, let her sleep on my lap...We were in a restaurant for lunch and I gave her little sugar packets to play with to keep her happy...then she figured out how to bite them open and was most of the way through her first mouthful of sugar before I noticed. Perhaps I'm not quite cut out to be a mom yet...:P Anyway, the 'petting zoo' was interesting. When we arrived, we paid our entrance fee and were directed by the desk lady towards a man who was going to 'show us around'. We walked over to him and I asked him where the animals were and he shrugged his shoulders and went back to his shoveling. Not a good sign. We found out later though, that he had a point. After about an hour wandering around the massive yard (nice manicured lawn, pretty play structures...not very farmy looking) and playing with their ample supplies of exotic ducks like...mallards...we finally found two cement pillars with the words 'Farm Yard' stamped into them and a variety of pens behind them. We were quite hopeful until we walked past the pillars. Here's how it panned out...Pen labelled 'sheep': two sheep in the far back corner of a pen large enough to keep 300 sheep in, not quite within petting distance....Pen without a label: Possible sighting of a pig laying in the shadow of a pretty miniature roof...Pen labelled 'horse': one chicken...Pen labelled 'camel': Poo. Strong suspicions that there may once have been a camel in there. And...that was it. A little disappointing for something we paid the equivalent of 4 dollars for. However, we had a lovely day anyway, sitting in the shade under the trees, playing with the kids, chatting and working on our suntans. :) We called the driver early...and that's when our next adventure began. You know when you drive into a parkade and they have horizontal poles hanging down to tell you whether or not you'll fit? Well, our driver seems to think that if the pole scrapes, drags and bangs against the top of the van, that means that we won't get jammed under the cement cieling once inside. He was, of course, wrong. Gotta give him credit for having perserverence though. :)
The water is out at the cottage and I haven't showered in...I'm not sure...three or four days? Luckily I'm on night shift and people don't have to spend much of the day smelling me. It's also 'high' fly season...so as you can imagine, it's not pretty.
I guess that we all talked about needing a change in groups long enough that they got sick of it and decided to completely rearrange the nursery. CAROLINE is WALKING! Can't remember if I told you that, so I figured I'd just throw that in there. :) Anyway, back to rearranging. Today, Quester (get this, his name means, 'one who asks questions'...never would have guessed...) moved from Nest to Fledgies, Ilana moved from Fledgies to Grubs, next week Caroline is going from Grubs to Creepies and Mbali will go from Creepies to Lions, taking Khensani's place who is going to her new home in Finland tomorrow, which is the same day that Nerina (nestie) is going home to her new mom. How's that for change? Crazy that Khensani, who is three and well rooted in TLC, can go from never having met her family, to living with them in Finland in one day...A bit unsettling I'd imagine.
Albertina and Tori had Wednesday off, so they invited me along to go to the zoo (the reeeeal zoo) with them. Awesome that you can run on such a small amount of sleep. :) It was really nice, huge actually. Their baboons had hemorrhoids....probably the most disgusting thing I've ever seen. :) Nothing really exciting to say about that day...except that I finally got to try a Peartiser...and I had a fruit smoothie that made me think of my dad. :) *sniff* :P
Anyway, I can't think of anything else that I wanted to say. I hope that everyone has a wonderful week. :) God bless and much love. :)

Karli

A day off

News from the nursery...We finally got a new baby yesterday. She's two weeks old, a tiny little thing. :) Her name is Naledi, meaning 'star' in Zulu. Which makes eight in the nest now, a bit of a handful for just one person. Oh well, it's worth it for the chance to be with all the newborns by yourself for a little while. :)
I had another day off yesterday. :) My roomie, Albertina, and I woke up, went for a few laps around the track, then came back inside to make ourselves a delicious late breakfast. :) We headed out with three other girls around eight o'clock and drove to Lenasia (the Indian section of Joburg) to pick up our rental car before heading out towards Pretoria and the monkey sanctuary. We got lost in Pretoria, as we often do and ended up arriving much later than planned. We stopped at a Spur (restaurant with 'American Indian' decor/style...hilarious actually) for lunch and I made a friend by telling the waiter that they played great music at their restaurant (U2). He left a note on our bill saying "Thank God there are still people with good taste in the world". I kept the bill. :) After giving a drunk hobo some of our snacks that we brought along, we finally left for the monkey sanctuary. It was...nice. Way too expensive for a 1 hour guided tour...but hey, why not? All of their monkeys are in one massive enclosure and are donated from zoos or from people who don't want them as pets anymore. One of their monkeys was dropped off wearing a pink dress with a dummy/soother in her mouth...wierd. We stopped at the Hartebeestpoort Dam on the way back to take some pictures and enjoy the beautiful view. Above the dam is a pretty little lake surrounded by hills with prim little houses and personal boat garages built into the sides. I would love to live there. :) Next, we did a bit of browsing through the shops along the side of the road, stopped for ice cream and bought a bag of mangoes from a street hawker. We went home with plenty of time to spare, but then spent nearly two hours stuck in Jozi's rush hour traffic...gotta love breathing straight exhaust for that long...The weather had been beautiful and hot all day, so it was strange to hear on the radio once we were back in the city that the rain had caused flooding so bad that areas of the city were shut down, including one area where 10 kids had to be airlifted to safety after their bus was swept off the road.
Yesterday evening was also Tea with Thea. I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but it's when all the volunteers gather in the main house living room to listen to Thea tell us about her life and the reasons why she and TLC are here. Last night she told us of her brother, a leader in the anti-apartheid movement, who spent most of his life running for his life. After talking and visiting, we move on to the cake...which is of course, the important part. Amazing food...:) Not as good as my mom's or ama's though....:P
Well, that's it for this one. Have a blessed day. :) Much love,

Karli

Half way point

Hi everyone!! Sorry about the wait! I know I say this every time...but, the time is flying by! I have 28 days, 28 DAYS left here at TLC....I'm not sure how I'm going to tear myself away when the time comes. However, I'm so excited to go traveling and even more excited to step off the plane in Canada on April 1st. ;)
News...news...no robberies at all to report. :)
I went out for sushi for the first time in my life a couple of weeks ago. My favourite part was having them meander by on a mini-conveyor belt...like tiny tasty bits of luggage...The salmon rose was not my favourite. Yes, it sounds pretty, but having a mouthful of raw, cold salmon floating around was nearly enough for me to give them back the sushi I'd already eaten...if you know what I mean...
Okay, I don't think I wrote about this in my last blog...Last week, three of my bestest friends and I went to Pilanesberg Game Reserve (or is it National Park...oh well :) ) for the day and it was amazing. If you ever end up in South Africa, forget Kruger, Pilanesberg has everything. We had a herd of elephants following our car down the road for pete's sake. Within 20 feet of the car, how sweet is that? It poured the entire drive out there and was sunny immediately after we arrived....coincidence? :P We got there at 9 and by the time lunch rolled around we'd seen a lion, a herd of elephants (with a bunch of adorable little babies :) ) (definitely the coolest part of the day...), three rhinos, waterbuck, kudu, small little...deer...things..., springbok, zebra (also with cutesy little babies), wildebeest, giraffe, bunches of random birds, a limited view of a hippo's rear end, Egyptian goose...etc..etc...it was ridiculously awesome. ;) :D Of course, I took tons of pictures and videos, what do you think I am, crazy?
And this Thursday, a few of us are going elephant riding. I. Am. So. Excited. :D
Going to church and out for supper afterwards has become a weekly thing, which is wonderful. The church that we go to is great, very youth-orientated. As the pastor says, if you like loud music, this is the place to be. ;)
Rhys (Thea's son) got a new puppy. It's a German Shepherd, 6 weeks old, about 2 pounds and all fluff. So adorable. :) Oh, and Rhys got electrocuted...did I write that in the last one? He grabbed a live wire and started convulsing, foaming at the mouth, screaming, etc...landed up in the ICU for a day. As soon as he got home, he went back to work with the electric lamps to finish his work...ha ha...funny. His hand is now infected and swollen from the burns and the holes that the shock left go almost all the way through his hand...you can see right down them...it's gross. But he's fine and in generally good humour about it...:)
Not that you care, but Sulleyman is walking finally, Farren said 'hello' on her first birthday (still can't crawl) and Ilana can sit up by herself. :) :P
Anyway, there are people in line waiting for me so I should go. Love and miss you all. :) Have a wonderful week. :) xoxo

Karli

swimming cell phones

It's been awhile since I've written, but I'll try to talk about all the interesting things that I remember. :)
I just finished my second night shift, so I'm still getting back into the non-nocturnal side of life here at TLC. Our last night, Camilla and I had a different night shift leader (my roomie, Albertina) and it was definitely more fun than the nights prior to it. We ordered pizza and coke from the nearest place that provided a free delivery service and we had ice cream that one of the other girls bought for us during the day. When we needed mugs for coffee (among other odds and ends ;) ), Albertina and I climbed through the dish pit window since the kitchen door was locked. We were like spies...it was quite fun. :) Afterwards, Albertina and I set about cleaning the couches...for the first time in four years. If you can, try to imagine four year's worth of rotting milk, vomit, spit, random bits of various cookies, dirt and a few hairballs all mixed together and cemented into the cracks between all the couch cushions (which aren't removable). It was fun. :)
Also while on night shift, I tried teaching my cell phone how to swim. Strangely enough, it didn't work. It was an accident really. I was standing on the edge of the pool, fully clothed, watching the Lions go for an afternoon swim when Albertina (she's always the one getting me into trouble) convinced me to jump in. So I did. And it was so much fun. The Lions are hilarious in the pool. Some of them get so excited about jumping off the edge that they often forget to make sure someone is there to catch them...but, no tragedies. :) After about a half hour or so, I began to wonder why Katie hadn't texted me back...and that was why. So, I'm sorry if I haven't been responding to your texts or phone calls; I have a good reason. :)
After night shift, we get a day off (usually to sleep), so Camilla, Albertina, Mairi (who also had a day off) and I arranged for Gareth, one of the TLC drivers, to take us to Bruma, which is a huge African market...centre...thing...The market was lovely. It reminded me of markets in Mexico, where everybody is your friend, everyone has something special to show you and everything they're selling can be found two shops down...:P I did buy a lot of presents though. I can't go to a market and not buy presents. :) So, Becca, Alli and Adam, I already have surprises for you when I get home. ;)
We've had no new babies recently. We did find out today though that one of the Nest babies and one of the main house kids (she's three) are brother and sister, which was a huge surprise. I have no idea how the social workers manage to make these connections since 90% of the babies are abandoned without so much as a name. We also found out today (at our weekly meeting) that 1...2...3......9 of the babies will have homes within the next few months. They said that this is the biggest group of babies they've ever had leave in such a short time. Obviously, it's a huge blessing. It also means that we'll get several new babies and the groups will all change since the most developed Nesties will go to Fledgies, Fledgies to Grubs, etc...I'm excited to see all the changes. And to meet all the adopting families. :)
Anyway, that's it for now. I hope all is well at home. I think about you every day. :) Much love.

Karli

Parcel from home!

Hello:

Hi everyone, guess what! I received my first parcel from home today!! It more than made my day, obviously. :) I got...my favourite movie (Chocolat), a new journal, a few bags of my favourite tea and notes from mom and Adam. Adam's was on the back of his newest hockey picture and all the girls here agree that he's very handsome and tough-looking...but don't tell him they said that. ;)

Everything is routine here. The days don't really stand out from each other as much as they used to. Except the other day when I was on 'wishy-washy' for three hours in a row...I got a lot of cleaning done that day. :) We are at max capacity as far as volunteers go, and the office has scrambled to make up a few jobs to keep us all busy. We have four hour breaks every day, expected to increase to five hours this week. I'm off for the rest of the day since I start night shift tonight...another night shift...crazy.

The robberies have settled down as far as we've noticed. We had a locksmith come in and put new locks and deadbolts on all of our cottage doors, every cottage got an air horn, they've finally started putting barbed wire around the top of the wall and the head peoples' phone numbers are now posted in every room in our cottages...so they've upped the security...but just a bit...;P

Anyway, as I'm sure you can tell, nothing really exciting has happened here lately. No new babies, no new adoptions. Although, one of the Lions is finally on her way out. A lady came yesterday to meet her and fell in love with her, so the lady will be back to visit until they get used to each other and Khensani can go home. :) So that's an answer to prayer. :)

I'm supposed to be doing laundry and going to sleep right now, so I should go. Much love. I hope all is well back home. :) xo

Karli

Don't panic

Nobody panic:
Hey everyone, I sort of get the feeling that my last blog post sort of left a few people wondering what the heck I am still doing here....To put all your fears at ease, I have some news. You know that gun that was apparently jammed? Well, as it turns out, it wasn't a gun at all, it was a long whip, used for keeping the dogs from attacking the robbers. The night guard saw the men again later and realized that he had been mistaken, it was a whip. So no worries. :)
Our internet has been more than a little dodgy and sporadic lately so emails might be a bit few and far between...
Hm, what to tell? I go to go to church for the first time since I've been here! It was an evening service and a local guy (who often volunteers at TLC) offered to take us with him. It was so wonderful; a lot like our praise and worship nights at home, mostly young adults. Afterward, we went out to a restaurant called Spur and had a bite to eat with some of the people from the church. Laura (a friend from Germany) and I have asked to have the last hour of every Sunday off, so hopefully it will become a regular thing. :)
I've been out a lot lately, which is a little strange. Besides church, I was at Southgate Mall the other day, just to buy groceries and mail a parcel (which didn't happen). And last night 9 of us went out for Mairi's 19th birthday to Moyo's (I was there the first week I was here as well) for supper and drinks. I had line fish (don't know what it actually was) with a sauce sort of like squishy pea sauce. :P It was quite good. :) We made it home just after 11 and I was asleep about 33 seconds after my head hit the pillow.
No new babies or adoptions recently. Right now there is some sort of stomach bug going through the nursery, only the Lions and Creepies though. Unfortunately, we can't really pin it down because the Lions ate acorns (poisonous apparently) and both Creepies and Lions were accidentally given milk that was bad. Of course, it might just be a typical stomach bug. I feel a little nauseous today though and I'm hoping I can skip over the sickness...
Anyway, that's all the exciting news for now. Did I mention last time that I finally got a letter? From Becca L. :) It made my day. :) Anyway, toodle-oo. Much love.

Karli

Happy New Year

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!:
I'm finding it hard to believe that today is the beginning of my second month here. Thinking about when Becca was gone to Thailand for 40 days, it seemed like she was gone forever...but when you're the one gone, the time absolutely flies. I try not to think about leaving though, because I know I will miss these kids. They tell you when you arrive to try not to get attached...riiight...
I feel sort of like a student here, having to learn how to buy and manage my own groceries. I buy all the things that we would have in our own house at home (but in smaller quantities obviously). I still can't manage to finish what I think I can though. For example, I've been working on this one loaf of bread now for at least ten days and have gotten to the point where I just rip the moldy chunks off before I make a sandwich. The moldy chunks are getting bigger though and I'm trying frantically to finish the bread before I actually have to throw whole pieces away...
Our New Years Eve party last night was splendid. :) We bought loads of food, made a huge bonfire and all sat around and talked for ages. It was so lovely. A few of the girls and I spent most of the evening talking about Buddhism, Christianity, demons, parallel universes and being able to tell the future...really light stuff...It was cool though, because there were so many different ideas tossed around and no hard feelings about any of it. :P I came up with the brilliant idea of going around the circle and all saying something that we were proud of in the past year, i.e. our accomplishments, or major events that had occurred. It definitely made me realize what amazing and diverse people I am with right now. :) At 12, we went into the nursery and had our champagne there so we could celebrate with the night shift people as well; we all screamed 'Happy New Year!!!!' and didn't even wake up the babies. :) We hung around with the Main House kids for a bit since they were having their own party, complete with a hot tub...which was...a wine cask/barrel (?...just big enough for one person) propped up over a fire pit. Awesome. :) I managed to call a few people and wish them happy new year, but apparently everyone calls somewhere at the stroke of midnight, so all the networks were busy and I couldn't get through to very many people...I was asleep by one though, didn't feel like staying up all night...however...
This is the part that I will get a few emails about (from home at least). Remember when I wrote that we had two nights in a row where guys had jumped the fence (great fence...) and stolen things? Well, that was a couple weeks ago and it was quiet until two nights ago when they came back and stole some more lawn mowers. Everyone's response to this was "Oh, ok." Rather than the "Omyword, we're all going to die!" that it was last time. So everyone was fairly relaxed about the whole thing. Last night though, around four o'clock, my roomie woke up to men shouting right outside our cottage. She got up and saw men running around and let the night guard into our cottage (who had knocked on our door). I woke up when she came back into our room in a panic and started frantically searching for her phone. When I was awake enough to realize something was wrong, I got up and wandered over to the front door, where Albertina (my roomie) and the night guard were trying to get ahold of Pippa and Thea. After a few wrong numbers and cuss words they managed to wake up Pippa. The night guard just said, "Pippa, can you bring Mama (Thea) and drive down to the preschool right now. Thanks." And that was it. As it turns out, the two guys from the first robberies brought their friends. There were 6 men hiding outside our cottages last night and one was carrying a gun. The night guard was chasing five when he heard the one with the gun hiding in the bushes trying to reload his gun. Thankfully, it was jammed and I think that's the guy that the night guard managed to hit with an iron bar that he threw. The iron bar is the only weapon on this property. How these guys manage to get by the 7 or so trained guard dogs (German Shepherds, Mastiffs, etc...), I'm not sure....A little while later, Pippa and Thea drove up in the truck and picked up the night guard, who told us to lock our door as he left, and started driving around the perimeter. Holy brave women. I would have stayed in my room. Unfortunately, the ring of keys hanging by the door are all for something different then that particular lock. So, we pulled the couch in front of the door so they would at least make some noise if they tried getting in. Then we went around and latched all the windows, then peeked out our own window for a little while before decided to go back to bed. In the end, nothing scary actually happened, but it was enough to keep us all on our toes...
That's about it for news around here these days. I'm looking forward to my next day off on Sunday. :) Hopefully it will be a relaxing one, although, we are down from 13 to 9 hour days, so I don't know how much more relaxed I can get...Anyway, much love. I wish you all the best in the New Year. I know that this is one that I will certainly never forget. :)