I miss my mom. I have never missed her. Through out my child hood I remember cursing her in my head and telling her, “Just you wait till I am 18 and never come back.”
I miss her random phone calls and silly questions
“Did you take the pizza cutter?”
“No, why would I take the pizza cutter? And I was home like a month ago, don’t you think you would have noticed before now.”
“Are you sure? Do you know where it is?”
“No”
I miss how she covers her mouth and noise when she is embarrassed or truly laughing.
I miss how she is the only one I can break down to. She is the only one that can look at me and make me cry.
I miss how she would call me at 7 in the morning and would keep on calling till I picked up.
“Kell”
“Yes”
“Can you buy some yarn for the women at work today? They will pay you back.”
“Yes”
“Ok they need Night Lights, Kiss it is a pink color…. (20 min. later). Thanks, call me later and do you want to come for lunch?”
“No, I have a doctor’s appointment.”
“Ok, bye”
“Bye”
I miss how she would get angry at the fact that I had a doctor’s appointment and could not come for lunch.
I miss the child inside of her. Her goofy laughs, the way she dances, when she breaks out in song, how she is obsessed with splinter cell, coffee with the girls and if I was luck I would be invited. Her back seat driving always drove me insane but I now realize that it is a very important aspect of my life.
I don’t miss her nagging at me to do well in school, telling me to stand up straight, and always reminding me of my track days.
A relaxing weekend.
We left Pretoria in a mad dash due to the fact that I was late, sorry. Once we where on the road I was noticing how close the crazy Swede was getting to the parked cars. When he nearly took one of the mirrors off a parked car I asked him, “Lets try and not take any mirrors off this trip.” Well he didn’t listen and continued to drive on the edge of every road we encountered. I felt like my mother, teeth clenched and eyes squinting, we finally pulled up to Sun City, South Africa a.k.a. Vegas. We entered hungry and hot from the ride. After eating an ungodly expensive meal at $20 a plate, we went to gamble. But half of us thought how stupid to trough your money away. You could be buying a meal with how much they just lost. Watching the four of them lose and gain what it would cost for the whole trip I finally sat down to play two hands. Once I had doubled up I left.
When everyone had finished gambling it was time to go. We got some very strange instructions to the hostel. It went something like thisTake a right out of the exit.
Drive 15 km, take a left at the road marked 565
Drive 20 km, take a left at a gravel road.
Straight, straight.
Stay to the right.
Right.
Take a right at the first road you encounter after the last right.
15 km and the hostel is on the right.
P.S. this is the short cut.
What? So we tried with all of our might to not anger the car behind us as we slowly got more and more lost in the bush. At one point there was an argument.
“This is not safe.”-Jess
“It is safer then walking home alone in Pretoria, all you have to worry about here is getting eaten by a large animal.”-Kell
“Whatever.”-Jess
After 20 phone calls 15 wrong turns and a dead end. We started to find our way to what we would call home. Once we arrived 2 hours late, we had 3 hours to sleep and be ready to go on a safari.
It is funny to think what a safari is? It is animals watching animals. So I watched an elephant and he watched me, I watched a giraffe, zebra, baboons, and hippos, and they all watched me. The only difference is they don’t have a camera and a nice Land Rover to ride in.
Once the three hour tour was over we speed away to Sun City. Keep in mind this is the fakest place in the world, there palm trees are even fake. But we had all be craving to lie in the sun at a beach, and that is what we did, laid on fake sand, next to a fake ocean that created fake waves. It was great.
On our ride home the other vehicle popped a tire and we found a dead cat in our bathroom. It was very entertaining but not very relaxing. I now know who I would like to travel with. There are some people who are to negative to let anything just happen.
HI
Hello,
Sorry I have not written in a long time but I have been busy with starting classes and well just enjoying my time here. Last weekend was RAG, which is homecoming for the students at the university. On Friday night we went to a 12hr concert. We also got to see a famous South African group play. And surprisingly we know most of there songs. On Saturday we went to the block party. This is where we danced the night away. It was a blast.
I am not going to lie but I hate telling exactly what I did so I am going to switch gears and let you guys read a poem I wrote the other day in class.
An observation.
When you say you are an Afrikaner you say that you are white and speak Africans.
Why don’t the Africans sit on the same bench as the “blacks”?
Why do the Africans tell me that “In ten years South Africa will be a completely white country due to A.D.I.S.?”
Why are the Africans so proud of there country when they shipped all of the “blacks” to the townships and put all of the whites (Africans) in hug houses with large fences and guard dogs?
Why is it that a friend of mine can not come out with me because he will be beaten up if he is seen with a “white” girl?
Why is it that all of the “black” people sit in the back corner in my classes and all of the “white” people sit in the front?
Why is it that the Afrikaners are scared of everyone but there self?
They say that the Apartheid ended ten years ago but it is still alive and well in Pretoria.
This weekend I will be going to a game park. That means something more to write about. Talk to you soon. Hugs.
sorry, i didnt know if the computer was working. so if you want you can read about the moutains 3 times.
Drakensberg
The last 4 days I have been touring the Drakensberg Mountains. They are south east of Pretoria and the landscape for Lord of the Ring was based off this regain. When we arrived we took a 4 hr. hike through elephant grass, marsh, and a stream. The next day we hiked 600 meters up the mountain to the top. This is where we sat and watched the fog engulf us and move on down the mountain until it would disappear. It looked like a seen out of Baraka. After we had our lunch we set off the watch the 3rd largest waterfall. It was amazing to say the least, we where surrounded by a beautiful landscape and baboons.
The next day I went with some people I had meet from the hostel to look at rock art. This rock art is over 800 years old and very hard to get to, I once again hiked up the mountain to an over pass where we found the rock art. As we where admiring the work a thunderstorm rolled in over the mountains and we where stuck for about an hour. I watched as the mountains appeared and disappeared in the rain, we watched the lighting and enjoyed every moment of it, until we had to hike down. This was a little slippery.
The last day I took the Europeans on a hours ride through the valley. This was a blast none of them had ever been on a horse. We galloped thought the mountains valleys and enjoyed the landscape.
So that I what I did, now what did I think of it.
I find it very interesting how fast I have made relationships with the students that are here on exchange. I already can see life time friends, there is a Swedes guy that has nicknamed me his little sis, and we all seem to get along very well.
I finally did see some of the Africa I had been hoping for, we stopped in a village on our way to see the rock art and where swarmed by children, I know that this life style was some where in this hugs country.
As for South Africa, I have falling in love with it. I don’t like the racism, I don’t like how there is discriminations, but I do love the land, I love the people, I love how I can be in America on one corner and Africa on another. I love waking up and see the most exotic birds you could imagine. I love that there are flowers everywhere, and that things are slow moving. I like that when I say hi to a black person it makes there day. I like the fact the my gardener passes me for giving him food.
But school has not started yet, so we will see how much I love South Africa once it dose.
Thanks for reading.
Drakensberg
Drakensberg
The last 4 days I have been touring the Drakensberg Mountains. They are south east of Pretoria and the landscape for Lord of the Ring was based off this regain. When we arrived we took a 4 hr. hike through elephant grass, marsh, and a stream. The next day we hiked 600 meters up the mountain to the top. This is where we sat and watched the fog engulf us and move on down the mountain until it would disappear. It looked like a seen out of Baraka. After we had our lunch we set off the watch the 3rd largest waterfall. It was amazing to say the least, we where surrounded by a beautiful landscape and baboons.
The next day I went with some people I had meet from the hostel to look at rock art. This rock art is over 800 years old and very hard to get to, I once again hiked up the mountain to an over pass where we found the rock art. As we where admiring the work a thunderstorm rolled in over the mountains and we where stuck for about an hour. I watched as the mountains appeared and disappeared in the rain, we watched the lighting and enjoyed every moment of it, until we had to hike down. This was a little slippery.
The last day I took the Europeans on a hours ride through the valley. This was a blast none of them had ever been on a horse. We galloped thought the mountains valleys and enjoyed the landscape.
So that I what I did, now what did I think of it.
I find it very interesting how fast I have made relationships with the students that are here on exchange. I already can see life time friends, there is a Swedes guy that has nicknamed me his little sis, and we all seem to get along very well.
I finally did see some of the Africa I had been hoping for, we stopped in a village on our way to see the rock art and where swarmed by children, I know that this life style was some where in this hugs country.
As for South Africa, I have falling in love with it. I don’t like the racism, I don’t like how there is discriminations, but I do love the land, I love the people, I love how I can be in America on one corner and Africa on another. I love waking up and see the most exotic birds you could imagine. I love that there are flowers everywhere, and that things are slow moving. I like that when I say hi to a black person it makes there day. I like the fact the my gardener passes me for giving him food.
But school has not started yet, so we will see how much I love South Africa once it dose.
Thanks for reading.
Drakensberg Mountains
The last 4 days I have been touring the Drakensberg Mountains. They are south east of Pretoria and the landscape for Lord of the Ring was based off this regain. When we arrived we took a 4 hr. hike through elephant grass, marsh, and a stream. The next day we hiked 600 meters up the mountain to the top. This is where we sat and watched the fog engulf us and move on down the mountain until it would disappear. It looked like a seen out of Baraka. After we had our lunch we set off the watch the 3rd largest waterfall. It was amazing to say the least, we where surrounded by a beautiful landscape and baboons.
The next day I went with some people I had meet from the hostel to look at rock art. This rock art is over 800 years old and very hard to get to, I once again hiked up the mountain to an over pass where we found the rock art. As we where admiring the work a thunderstorm rolled in over the mountains and we where stuck for about an hour. I watched as the mountains appeared and disappeared in the rain, we watched the lighting and enjoyed every moment of it, until we had to hike down. This was a little slippery.
The last day I took the Europeans on a hours ride through the valley. This was a blast none of them had ever been on a horse. We galloped thought the mountains valleys and enjoyed the landscape.
So that I what I did, now what did I think of it.
I find it very interesting how fast I have made relationships with the students that are here on exchange. I already can see life time friends, there is a Swedes guy that has nicknamed me his little sis, and we all seem to get along very well.
I finally did see some of the Africa I had been hoping for, we stopped in a village on our way to see the rock art and where swarmed by children, I know that this life style was some where in this hugs country.
As for South Africa, I have falling in love with it. I don’t like the racism, I don’t like how there is discriminations, but I do love the land, I love the people, I love how I can be in America on one corner and Africa on another. I love waking up and see the most exotic birds you could imagine. I love that there are flowers everywhere, and that things are slow moving. I like that when I say hi to a black person it makes there day. I like the fact the my gardener passes me for giving him food.
But school has not started yet, so we will see how much I love South Africa once it dose.
Thanks for reading.
