As I write this, I only have five days left in the beautiful country. Things are really starting to close up. On Wednesday we had our last potluck- brinner (breakfast/dinner). I made banana muffins to contribute from our flat. It was so nice to bake something. I haven’t really been able to bake much down here. We invited the nursing majors over to the dinner too and we gave our professor a gift. As always we had a really good time and ended up dancing in the living room after most people had cleared out.
On Thursday, I finally had finished with all the essays I had to write, so I finally have time to go and play underwater hockey with the NMMU club team. Basically it’s like normal hockey, but it’s underwater. They geared me up in flippers, a snorkel mask, a glove, and gave me a stick which is really only twice the length of my hand. The captain showed me a few moves like how to flick it and how to turn around with it and then we just started the game. The goals are on either side of the deep end and they’re really just like long metal pieces on the floor. It’s a pretty fast and aggressive game, granted there were only three girls. I got a hold of the puck a few times though and it was a good experience. I did get really really bad blisters on the back of my feet though and the sinus pressure in my head is still kind of bad, so going really deep underwater kind of hurt. I can say I played it though.
Friday we didn’t have class, so we finally had a chance to just hang out. I spent about two hours just laying on the beach in the sunshine. I’ve had a pretty busy/hard semester, so it was really nice to get a chance to relax. That night three of my roommates and I went out to eat for steak and calamari. It was soooo delicious. We also reflected on our favorite moments here. Our room has really had a lot of fun. Having all of us together we have some pretty dumb funny moments. We have our own quote board and that provides us with a lot of laughter.
Saturday I went for a seven mile run. It felt really good and I haven’t run that far since I’ve been down here, so I’m proud of myself. I did have a weird encounter though. I ran on a road going up the coast and I saw three dogs on the side of the road. They were small white dogs- like the kind of dog in Wishbone or My Dog Skip. They didn’t really look too scraggly and one was cute so I stopped to see if they would come close enough to let me pet them. They ran back on this trail in the brush. When I looked back there it looked like there were clothes draped on the bushes and stuff. I think homeless people live back there, which actually doesn’t really surprise me. The townships are far away, that living in the ditch would probably let them be close to work. Not long after I left the dogs a truck pulled up with probably six people in it. A man came over and was saying, “Please don’t take my dogs.” I told him that I wouldn’t that I just wanted to pet them, but he was saying they don’t like to be touched. Probably good that I didn’t pet them, but that was kind of weird. I’m assuming that guy lives there and he’s had a previous experience with people taking his dogs. Sad. That afternoon we headed over to St. George’s Park for our last cricket game. Almost the whole group came and we had a lot of fun. It really helps that we know how to play it. The leagues that are playing here are from India. India has elections going on right now and they don't have enough security to watch over the games too, so they sent the whole leaguer down here. It was great too because we were able to by some Indian food at the concession stands. I’m so amazed too because the food here at the games is so cheap. It’s like a buck or two for a hotdog, but it seems like in the U.S. it’s like five. That night when we got home we had our end of year party. We had a yummy braai and then headed to a room to continue the festivities. We did little affirmation sheets, watched a sappy slide show, and received “awards”. The two guys who did the awards gave out some pretty funny ones. They recently found out that I made sandwiches for my catering service at home. They call me a sandwich artist, so my award was “We’ve been asking the wrong person to make us sandwiches”.
Sunday we just went to Mass. It was a good last Mass. The youth in the parish did everything and the children went up for the homily. Kids say the darnest things! I’ve pretty much been able to relax and go on plenty of walks in the warm sunshine. I’ve done some studying, but they exams aren’t going to be too bad. I’ve lost my motivation for schoolwork too though.
I officially leave South Africa on Friday afternoon. I’m really sad to leave, but also very very excited to get home. The hardest part is going to be boarding my first flight and knowing that I have 30 hours left until I really get home. This is going to be my last blog as I’m sure I’ll have nothing else exciting to write about this week. South Africa has been eye opening, life changing, challenging, and adventurous. Thanks for following me throughout these whole four months on my blogs. I can’t wait to see all of you and if you want to see my pictures I’ll be posting a lot of them after I get home. God Bless, love, hugs, and kisses.
Nikki
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