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
Friday, February 12, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
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
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
Monday, February 1, 2010
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
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
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
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
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
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
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
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
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
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
Saturday, January 2, 2010
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. :)
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. :)
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