Giraffe Drool and Lion Scratches

We woke up early and prepared our picnic food… Today I was taking Michael to the Lion Park – finally something exciting for him to experience! With much excitement we climbed in our little manual car and drove but only 22 minutes away to where our adventure awaited us. For only R115.00 per person we had access to the Lion Cub Pens, Safari Game Drive and Lion Camps.

We started with the cubs. I am so glad that we went early in the morning! Because there were so few people there we did not have to abide by the “maximum of 8 people at a time in the pen” and “a maximum of 2 minutes play time with the cubs.” The guides let us loose and did not make any haste in chasing us out. We got so many cute and gorgeous pictures of the cubs! Being with them is incredible! Their fur is course but short; they feel so heavy and bulky. But they love to rub against you.

I owe a special thanks to Becky who gave me some coco butter lotion for the trip – it proved to be a delicious marinade for the cubs!!!! It all began with a couple licks on the knee… Michael was trying to take a photo of me with the cub, but every time I looked up to smile at the camera I noticed the licking became more like little nibbles. It wasn’t long before by bracelet became the next juicy meal… and as the lion moved up along my body a final big bite on my hair sounded the alarm. I literally played tug of war with the cub – with my hair being his personal chew toy. After the little struggle I stood up and brushed my hair, only until I felt his teeth grab my shorts!! The feisty little bugger ripped a hole in my pants! Lol… But once you see those adorable eyes looking back at you you cant help but forgive him and want to go right back to petting and loving the little guy…

I knew very well that I was going to have Michael pet lion cubs and see giraffes, but when I saw that you could purchase food to feed the giraffes I simply could not resist the temptation! R29 less and with a big bag of pellet-like food, I offered for Michael to make the first move. With a fist full of food he held out his hand and the giraffe’s long gooey tongue wrapped itself around it and gobbled up the food! Hehe, Michael was loving it!! After a couple fistfuls, it was my turn to approach the huge animal. Its tongue was so rough and hard! It slid everywhere like a serpent!!!! Our hands were so wet and sticky and the giraffe was very eager to get the next lot of food. The money was so worth it! We got tons of gorgeous up close photos and even some video footage too… I was so happy that we were able to have this additional experience on our trip.

After the cubs and the giraffes we had a picnic just outside the safari gate. With the view of three tall giraffes nearby we ate our sandwiches and then climbed in our car and drove through the gate to go on our own little safari. We saw lots of springbuck and wildebeest. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing the wind blow through the tall grass that followed us on our path… The safari ended at the lion camp where we drove through 3 camps in our own vehicles. Just outside out windows were prides of lions sleeping away on the grass. Some were even daring enough to walk up in between the cars. It amazes me how lazy these big cats can be!! But it was all a beautiful sight!

We made it home safely with tons of memories and photos. I am so happy that we were able to make this trip today! It truly was the perfect day for our encounters with the little lions and giraffes… Hopefully another adventure awaits us soon.

Just Some Photos

Hi everyone,

Sadly I don’t have very much to write about. I am finally feeling better! The antibiotics helped a ton!! We finally started back at the gym and Sparrow Village, but just in time for the teachers’ strike. The kids are not going to school and have no homework – so our help is very limited now. They are being forced to go to the study room for a few hours but they have run out of work to do and are getting very anxious. I actually cannot wait for them to go back to school so that I have some homework to help them with.

Mike and I were going to start job shadowing at Helen Joseph hospital on Fridays but all hospital workers are striking as well…. So we wont get to start that until everyone is happy and back at work. Last night on the news they were talking about how irresponsible these strikes are. Many HIV positive patients are not able to access hospitals and get the antiretroviral treatment they need. This is so shocking! Missing treatment will make the virus immune to their regiments. I can only hope for the sake of the patients that the doctors return soon… They should know better.

Other than getting back in to a routine not much is new. Hopefully I will have more to write about after the weekend…. Until then, here are some photos I have from when we went to the game farm (safari) and with sweet sweet Simon.

All my love,

Simone

Teachers Strike

To be honest, I wasn’t sure what I was to expect today. After waking up with a dreadfully sore throat from sleeping with a clogged nose I only hoped that my day would be better than my morning wake up. Most of the flu has passed now. I just have a runny nose and a sore throat as a result. But Michael and I decided that today was as good a day as any to get moving again and go out!

After breakfast we made our very first trip down to Brightwater Commons where we window shopped and dipped in and out of flea markets. The stores are all located outside, much like that of the outlets. It felt good to get some sun and be out.. If only I could enjoy it as a healthy individual!

After lunch Michael and I made our first serious trip to Sparrow Village. Last time we were there there were only about 7 students in the study room and with the village’s much relaxed policy about homework I did not expect to see more than this number today. But surprisingly the current teachers strike worked in our favor. No school was held today and the children were put in study sessions throughout the day. The room was jam-packed with kids! With a single raising of the hand our services were called for above the bustling of child chatter. Once Stacy told them that I could help with Afrikaans homework I realized I was doomed!! But it was fun to revisit the language that used to haunt me at night… I am going to have to do a lot of remembering!

Sparrow is actually running into quite a predicament. Turns out their lack of interest in pushing the kids to do their homework may actually affect their funding – grade reports came back and many kids are failing school. Hopefully this is where Michael and I can make our impact. It appears that many of them just want you to give them the answer – we are going to have to challenge this comfort.

My favorite child was Simon, a little boy who is still learning to count and write letters. The little sweetheart sneaked in the room once everyone left and sat on a chair waiting for one of us to notice him. I asked him if he had some homework and with a nod of the head he came and sat next Michael and I. With great shyness he turned his book page by page until some 50 pages later we landed on his homework. He is so adorable!! I took a photo of Michael and Simon with his homework – I have to post it!!! I cannot wait to see sweet sweet Simon tomorrow – Simon who likes to write his letters and numbers sideways.

A Close Encounter

This weekend Michael and I were invited to join my family from Canada at a game farm lodge. Our 4:45am wake up was followed by a 9am arrival at Mabula Lodge in Limpopo. My cousins were staying up in Sunset Hill, a house with a gorgeous view across the deep set valley. Michael and I saw 3 giraffes eating from the trees in the valley with the aid of binoculars. After a lunch that was entertained by many visiting horn-bills (birds) and a brave warthog, we played a couple card games and then ventured off to where we were to spend the night: 5-star Mabalingwe Lodge.


Upon arrival, we settled in and started a bonfire (in the lapa). Our visit here was filled with many animal encounters, a result of people continually feeding the wildlife against the lodge’s regulations. These now friendly beasts sought to harass us into feeding them, a task my grandfather enjoyed giving in to. My favorite was when two very eager warthogs decided to follow Michael around! I took a video of the encounter. but I cant seem to upload it online.

After meeting many monkeys, baboons, warhogs and nyala (buck), Michael and I eventually retired for the evening; only to be woken up by a very strange roaring sound! At 5:30am I shot up in my bed and rushed to the glass sliding doors that separated Michael and I from the dark wilderness outside. For a minute straight our senses were overwhelmed by the drawn-out-rough-roaring that rolled into our camp. It wasn’t anything like a lions roar – quick and powerful. But rather like a continuous moaning and sawing. This happened 3 times during the night. When morning came, I discovered that no one else in my family had heard it. But I did find out that leopards make more of a sawing noise and Impala bulls (buck) make a sounds very much like that of a leopard. Who knows what was out there….? It was a very thrilling experience. I wish I could have seen its figure in the night though the glass doors.


Our trip was cut short because my grandfather wasn’t feeling well. So unfortunately we had to cancel our scheduled safari and head back home after lunch on our second day there. While I was not able to introduce Michael to the giant beasts of the wild, he was able to have some close unique encounters that he did not have before… I will definitely make it my personal goal to take him to a lion park where he can meet the king of the jungle and hold the little furry ones.

In a way I am glad that we went home early. That very night I had a bad fever. I fell in and out of delusional dreaming and shook from the chills only to be dipping in and out of sweaty heat strokes. I had a very rough night and woke up with the flu. We had to cancel Sparrow Village for the day because I was not prepared to risk getting any of the kids sick… I only hope this passes soon! I hate the flu!

First Visit to Sparrow Village

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted a new entry. Things have been crazy on this side with trying to learn how to drive stick on the left hand side of the road, and then there is the never ending battle to overcome jetlag and not give into the temptation of sleeping our entire days away here in South Africa. Our days have been mostly filled with family braais and many attempts at driving. I must say, Michael and I are getting real good at driving! I am so proud of us!!

We have decided to use our time here to fulfill some personal goals. Michael and I signed up for 4 months membership at Fitstop gym. We have been going everyday now and it feels good to be able to have a sense of purpose or achievement in our day. Ever since we graduated from college it feels like we no longer have a purpose in life… It almost feels like we are wasting away slowly. But I know that once we get into a comfortable routine here things will start feeling better for us.

Today was our first visit to Sparrow. The place is huge…. An entire hillside covered with orange domes – a seemingly extension of the red sand upon which they reside. Our first 30 minutes were spent waiting in reception as the staff members tried to figure out who we were and who we were supposed to meet. After a very brief meeting with Reverend McClintock and Rose, we were introduced to Toko and Kenneth who supervise many of the youth activities. Kenneth gave us a very welcoming tour of Sparrow. Turns out Sparrow Village will only need us Mondays through Thursdays t help the kids with homework. But here is the challenge: Sparrow has 180 kids who go to school and no one makes the children do their homework. There is a study hall where we will be but very few kids have the initiative to come and get help. We met a lady who comes to help on Thursdays and she usually bribes the kids with computer games… Michael and I are going to have to do some creative thinking and see if we can help these kids take an interest in their education. Any suggestions?

Seeing how we have our Fridays open, I am going to arrange that Michael and I job shadow every Friday at the Themba Lethu HIV Clinic of Helen Joseph hospital. I recently went to say hello to the doctors I was with before and they are dying for us to rejoin them. I know Michael will love the experience! I certainly came back with a whole new perspective!

We tried McDonalds today… Something tells me that this might be the first and last time we eat anything from there. America definitely has the upper hand when it comes to skinny fries and beefy burgers! Michael LOVES Simba Chutney Chips (this is my kind of man!) lichie juice and Milo chocolate… He does not like chocolate log or milk bottles (a candy here). He says the graham cracker of chocolate log taste stale and milk bottles either taste like nothing or sometimes like soap. Haha. You win some and you lose some.

Our Arrival

After a 2 hour flight from Atlanta to Cleveland followed by a 16 hour flight straight to Johannesburg, South Africa, we finally made it! The flight wasn’t bad this time around. Michael and I drugged up on Dramamine and slept more than we probably should have. We did not even watch one whole movie on the flight…. The only complications I ran into were leg cramps and the awful pins and needles!!

Most of the flight was spent over the Atlantic Ocean, but once we had reached land the view was spectacular! Our first sight was of the vast desserts of Namibia. This was the first time I have actually looked out over another African country. Michael had the window seat and I could see wonder all across his face as he glanced at and pointed out the randomly placed mountains along the landscape. He showed me a volcano – an incredible view when looking from above! Below you will find a photo he took of it.

As we approached South Africa, the farmlands became more defined and we eventually approached the city of Johannesburg (appearing much like those that stretch across America). Customs went well, except for the fact that Michael and I could not enter the country in the same lines due to my South African citizenship. I was worried about separating from him so early, but he made it through so easily without any questions being asked of him. We gathered our belongings, waited forever for our luggage and left to meet my Dad and his girlfriend.

With the winter season drawing to a close, the red sun continued to set as early as 7am. The night swallowed us as we drove home from the airport, and the many lights of the city welcomed our arrival. But South Africa hid under the stars, only to show us her beauty the next morning. With a quick visit to my grandparents, a dinner of scrambled eggs, broccoli chicken, and smoked trout awaited us (much better than any of the food we were offered on the flight). Bellies full, we returned home and unpacked. A much needed shower helped us relax and the night was spent watching episodes of Dexter in an attempt to fight the jetlag and make us sleepy. 2:30am rolled by and we finally decided to give sleeping a try…. We woke up to a very bright 11:10am. What was left of the day was spent relaxing and adjusting. Highlights include oh-so-ever-scrumptious lamb chops over the fire and a quote from my grandmother, “The problem with testicle-pie is that it needs a lot of testicles!” Tomorrow we learn how to drive stick on the LEFT hand side of the road. Wish us luck – we are going to need it!!!!! 2 days until we go to Sparrow Village… I cannot wait to see what it has in store for us.