hi..... for anyone who reads...

soooooo its been a while. but not to worry! i've just been insanely busy. :)

i went to Pilanesberg for my camping trip. it was amazing. the drive down i got picked up by Kerryn and toby and then in four square area we traded all vehicles into the bigger suv/truck ish cars. i drove the rest of the way to the campsite with brad and chanee. it was super fun and we chased bad weather all the way down. it was like we would run into rain and then we would drive out of it, only to run into it again. all the way there pretty much. we stayed in covoy with the other vehicle so that was nice. when we got there it hadn't rained yet but we could see it was coming. so we picked out our campsite and then beat a hasty retreat to the restaurant for a cool drink till the rain sorted its self out. there is no point setting up your stuff while its raining african style. seriously the rain here is drenching. there is no chance of quickly running out of it and staying dry, if you step out the door, you are wet! so we waiting for about thirty minutes and then when it was pretty much done we started setting up camp. now the people that came with us are major major major campers. Ian and his wife, Katie, well actually mostly Ian are so set up its not even funny. Ian does lots of trips into Zim so he is well prepared for pretty much anything. We set up so much electricity in the campsite that we pretty much glowed. He had a fridge and a freezer, a microwave and and then the usual kettle and stove top!!! lol. haha. it was so awesome. it took forever it seemed to set up camp but once we did we were well sorted! i'm telling you!

i got so major help setting up my borrowed tent, which was nice because it turned out to be a massive thing and i didn't have a clue how to get it up! it was funny to be the only single person on the trip with the biggest tent! it was so big , it felt like it was the size of the two of the other tents put together. lol. it was nice i had lots of room for all my stuff.... .... ... and then some to spare.

the next morning we were up at the crack of dawn and at the gate to the reserve by six. you have to get on the road early if you want to see thing. the animals take shelter from the heat after a certain time in the morning and then you won't see anything. we had a GREAT first drive. we saw elephants and zebras and rhinos and impallas galore. we got to see a jackel, and he came pretty much right up to the car. we think he could smell our billtong or something. i spotted a croccidile. we saw hippos and turtles and waterbucks. we saw tons of birds aswell. which was really cool because often we would stop to look at this amazing bird and then something else would catch our eye. we saw an ostrich and giraffes as well. it was totally amazing. i got to see elephants to my hearts content. i mean they were so close to the car that i could smell them and hear them eating. at one point we saw this one bull all by himself and he walked almost right up to the car. chanee had to keep telling me to stop hanging out the window cause i was so excited!!! it was very cool. at about 1030 we headed back to camp for 'breakfast'. and then we chilled out for the afternoon. there was a big swimming pool at the campsite so some of the gang went for a dip. i was boiling hot so i went to the showers and had a very lonnnngggg cold shower. swimming would have felt good but it was so flippen hot and i had been up so early that i just need some chill by myself time.

we went back out on another game drive at 4 and saw lots more stuff. i got nominated an honerary south african when i spotted sternbucks hiding in the grass. apparently they are hard to spot! so yay for me! :) i was happy because i was seeing lots of stuff and i "got the eye" really quick for finding thing. we also got to see a cheetah! apparently there is only one in the reserve so that was pretty sweet!

we had a braai when we got home but and listened to an elephant screaming in the bush. don't know what was causing the trouble but he was upset. it was pretty cool to hear him!

the next morning we got up super early and broke camp and then headed back out for a final drive. we had late breakfast in the reserve in a designated area that was supposed to be fenced off and electric set up, but the elephants had been in and there was poop everywhere. so we kept our ears open for trouble and had a nice breakfast. lol.

all in all we saw so much stuff and got lots of pictures. it was an amazing trip!

i got home sunday afternoon and after doing laundry i begged Antoine to take me to the movies. Taylor caught a lift with us and we met a bunch of people from church at the cinema and we all saw twilight.

Monday i still had a day off and so me, amy lauren and Antoine went to the Lion park. it was so fun because they let you pet the baby lions. so we went in the cage and had a great time with the little cubs. sooooo cute. and then we got to feel a giraffe named Gambit. they are so gentle when they eat out of your hand and their tounges feel so cool!!! i got totally covered in slobber. :)

then you go on a min game drive and the lions are so close to your car that you could reach out the window and touch them if you wanted to. but of course you don't. lol. your supposed to keep the windows shut.... but of course you don't! lol.

monday night was life group. i love my life group here. we had the best laughs.

tuesday Aimee and antonie and i went back to the movies in the evening. its so nice to get off the property and get out and about that even if all it is is going to the movies its awesome. :)

wednesday we had a massive storm come through and the power went out from 7 and didn't got back on all night. so we went next door to Beejays and danced around singing christmas carols with her and Aimee. then we sat in the dark back at our place till like 1030 and tried to tell scary storys.... didn't go very well cause none of us know any. lol

thursday we lost power again and this time on friday they had to call an electrician in to fix the problem. lol. this is africa baby.

friday we had a farewell braai for the dutch volunteers. it was awesome. we played drums and made a massive racket. so much fun and dancing around.

yesterday was urban market and i worked the morning shift at the babies home. by myself, i took nine kids to the market in one go. i stayed down there for almost 2 hours and i was so proud of myself. this was my third market and two months ago when i had first gotten here i could only handle taking 2 kids at a time to the market. now NINE. haha!

after market, Sdu and Gershwin took lauren and i bungee jumping. i DIDN"T jump people. no freaking way! but i got great video for lauren of her jump. it was pretty cool!

last night we all went to the cinema again. :) its the thing to do here. turns out, movie going is a universal form of entertainment. :) who knew! :)