South Africa.

The flight to Joburg was delayed due to the fact that they had loaded cargo on to come to Botswana which was then unable to be taken off because the equipment was not available, so we had to wait for insturctions. The flight is only about 30 minutes, but thanks to the terribly annoying children sitting behind us it felt like HOURS, they were yelling, kicking my chair, telling ME to be quiet and fighting with one another, the parents had NO control....


Upon arrival in South Africa we were greeted by Steve, Hayley, and Ashley. Hugs, Kisses, and we were off to the car to head home. On the drive home we were able to see the sun start to come out, what a lovely change from all the rain! Another thing we saw were two horrible car accidents, ones that appeared to be fatal yet, this was normal for South Africa and mainly with the BMW's and Mercedes drivers.

We arrived at the house and moved our bags into our room, which is apparently Ashley's study? or I believe, Antony's old room before he moved out? We quickly threw our stuff down and proceeded outside to say Hello to Dean and Christine (another aunt and uncle who live in Vancouver). After a little hello to everyone we changed out of our airplane clothes and into something to wear to Jenny and Gary's for a christmas dinner.

Side note, Precious is Hayley and Steve's maid, she was only here on Thursday and has now gone to visit her mother and daughter for the christmas holiday. Friday we had another woman come in, but i don't know her name or anything about her really, except that she smelt, and not a good smell.

Jenny and Gary are great friends with Hayley, they've known each other for about 20 years, they have two children, Gemma, who is 24 ? and Liam who is 17, lovely people. They have a dog that looks like a cat, adorable little thing and a huge backyard that Shirley just adored! dinner was wonderful and the wine was flowing.

Side note, I did not have any wine, although i have now been told that they drink "light" wine, which makes sense because i lost count at how many glasses everyone was on, but no one was sloshed. Light wine, good life choice.

Gemma was telling about this cruise that she just got back from, it was sponsored by Miller, and it was essentially a party cruise, just my type right? The cruise was three days long and travelled from joburg to mozambique i think? Gemma said it was literally a 24 hour party, they did have police on board and when someone was too drunk or just being out of line they were arrested and placed in the holding cells in the bottom of the boat.

After we had all taken our time in eating dinner and dessert as well as a few more glasses of wine we drove home, where Ashley proceeded to bed, and the rest of us stayed up and then mother and i decided to call it quits, i watched a movie and fell right asleep.

Friday we were blessed with a LOVELY day, by the time i got up Ashley Dean and Christine had already been for a swim, so I put my bathing suit on and soaked up the sun. The water was still quite cold, but eventually it became necessary to get right in, and so it happened. Not only did I manage to swim yesterday but i also tried "Cheesy Marmite" which ended up being bearable in comparison to the regular Marmite. I also tried Hunter's Cider, a beer somewhat similar to Strongbow, 5.5% alcohol, sweet tasting and fairly delicious. We ate breakfast outside, eggs, toast, baked beans, and some sort of meat? very yummy.

Somewhere along the day most of us managed to catch a little too much sun, but luckily Hayley and Steve are equipped for the situation, they have aloe plants growing everywhere! we just has to pick the leaf and split it in half and then we had fresh aloe, a perfect way to heal the burns (used again this morning).

Mama, Steve, Ashley and i eventually changed and got ready for a mission, finding Ashley black closed toe heals for the wedding. We went to about every shop in Northgate and then had to head off to Fourways crossing where we finally found a pair JUST as they were closing, phew, mission accomplished. next mission was to conquer the grocery list, after hitting up Woolworth's grocery in one plaza we moved to the next Woolworth's in the neighboring plaza, followed by the liquor mart and pick and pay, finally done.

We got home and all continued to lounge around for a bit longer, drank a bit more, talked a fair bit and then Hayley decided to get dinner started, we had a thai type of stirfry, it was absolutely delicious! throughout dinner Hayley and Steve told us a couple stories about Antony, what a funny little boy he used to be ! I wont share the stories in the case that he wanders upon this and i get in trouble :P.

Someone i have yet to have mentioned that is incredibly important to the family is Bird. Bird is a talking bird and sits in his cage, on a swing in the outside patio thing, or on his tree house thing that Steve made. Bird whistles, talks, repeats and mimics noises that he hears (example, the microwave, he makes the EXACT sound that the microwave makes when it is finished heating, when he first started doing it Steve and Hayley thought it was in fact the real microwave, but they soon began to realize Bird had been tricking them). Bird is quite fun and i enjoy his company in the house as well as outside when he joins us there.

Steve and Hayley also have two guard dogs, Hedges and Benson, they are very protective, and apparently necessary as well, the security around the house consists of this; a normal home security system, a gated driveway and around the house, with electrical barbed wire on the top, and the number 7 of their house electric, a gated front door that is always locked, as well as bars on all the windows AND a gate in the hallway between the kitchen and living areas to the bedrooms that is locked at night, and of course the dogs, we are definitely safe in here.

Last night we all went to bed fairly early, once again i got in trouble with Shirley and was unable to blog because in her eyes it was too late, so i put on a movie and did my best to fall asleep. This morning we all got up by 9 am where we then went to the craft market, grocery shopping again and to the mall again. We had breakfast when we were out, it was delicious, i had scrambled eggs with tomato and feta cheese in them, yum. As well as a latte and a cup of coffee, needed for sure. Shopping was rather unproductive, i only purchased a headband, they had these sunglasses that were PERFECT for Justine and I to wear to Mau5, which is now in 8 days ! but the line up went ALL around the store, not worth it.

Now we are all home and waiting for the arrival of Nan, Jane, Collin, Jene and Hayden, when mother dearest and i will move to the hotel and then we will all reconvene for dinner tonight, before the wedding tomorrow morning at 9am ! how exciting !

As for now im going to soak up the sun!

tata