Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everybody!!!! Today is the day that my fellow interns and I have deemed Christmas in July. And it's the perfect time of year for it! You may be thinking..."but, it's hot." Not here...here in South Africa it is currently winter. It's so cold out today! And the wind is outrageous. One of the rooves on a cabin that our current mission team is staying in blew off last night and a couple of the windows to our living room blew off. But that's totally normal for this time of year....the wind that is, not the roofs blowing off. ;) Anyways back to Christmas...the cold weather really makes it feel like that wonderful time of year so we decided to celebrate. Last weekend we decorated our living room with lots of snow flakes and paper chains. It looks AMAZING! And for stockings, we bought rugby socks and everyone decorated them and we hung them. Last night on Christmas Eve we put up the tree (borrowed from Niel and Alece), made popcorn chains, made cookies, and watched Elf. Today we had an amazing Christmas breakfast....pancakes with fruit topping and whipped cream and bacon on the side. Then we decorated the cookies that we made last night. Tonight we are having Niel and Alece over for Christmas dinner....stuffed red and green peppers with chicken and an amazing apple dessert. It should be awesome. Then we are going to open our Secret Santa gifts and our stockings. I can't wait....it is going to be so much fun! I love Christmas!!!

Here's a picture of our stockings....

More pictures to come later.

Oh, side note....we leave for our retreat on Monday and have our horseback safari on Tuesday. YAY!

Exciting news...

So we found out the other day that we will be going on a retreat at the end of this month...back to the same place that we just recently had our safari. Yay! Last time we went because the team staying with us was booked at two safari places and they couldn't get a refund, so we went since the place was already payed for. Anyways, this time it is a 3 day retreat. And, the part I'm most excited about is that we get to go on a horseback safari!!!! That is something I have always wanted to do!!! I'm so excited!!!!

Well, I've got to go now, but I will try to update later this week. There is a lot going on this week and next week that I am rather excited about!

4th of July in Africa

We got back from safari on Monday evening, had a regular schedule on Tuesday, and left for Joburg early Wednesday morning. The 4th of July isn’t a holiday here in SA but as Americans we know how to have a good time. Aimee, Cassie and I spent the day shopping and just having a good time. We thought about going to see a movie but decided against it. Then at about 4 o’clock everyone met up and we headed over to our dinner location….Primi Express. There we changed into nicer clothes and sat down to a nice Italian dinner. It was so good. When we finished there we headed over to the Monte Casino for the big show….not fireworks, but a big show nonetheless. Niel and Alece got us really good seats to the traveling Broadway production of The Lion King. It was such a good show. I enjoyed it a lot and it was an awesome way to spend the 4th of July! And I got to see The Lion King in Africa! How cool is that?!?! I wish I could have taken some pictures for you all to see but as in the States, cameras are prohibited. Oh well, here is a shot of us after the show……
I thoroughly enjoyed my 4th of July, and I shared it with an AMAZING bunch of people!!!!

SaFaRi!!!!!!

So, this past weekend we had the opportunity to get away for a couple of days and go on a safari, and I have to say this was probably one of the best ones I have ever been on! It was so much fun! And we got to see everything which is a major plus. Even the welcoming sign was exciting to see...

On the first drive we saw tons of impala and lots of other deer-like animals…
Warthogs…
This one was right outside our room…
Isn’t the baby cute?! (in a weird sort of way)…

Rhinos…

Giraffes….

Hippo…. :)
In the morning of the second day we went out for another game drive. It was really cold and we just wanted to find the elephants. We didn’t really see much of anything though except for deer, zebra, and wildebeest. Ingrid our guide didn’t give up searching for the elephants though….trust me, she stopped to check a lot of poop and tracks for warmth.
Suddenly, towards the end of our drive we came to a rather abrupt stop. She had found them. Ingrid found the elephants and drove us in for a closer look. There were so many of them…and they were so close..



And there were a lot of babies…

One of the more friendly elephants playfully broke the mirror on the safari truck! It was so funny and quite a sight. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that sound or the sheer humor in the moment....

I’ve decided I really like elephants. Even though they’re wrinkly, their beautiful and graceful and God couldn’t have done a better job creating them.
Here is a picture of my fellow interns and I at sundown on the safari (the hippo is in the watering hole right behind us but you can't see it)...