Life in Anecdotes

We've been busy for the past week and instead of writing a narrative, here are some anecdotes/things we've learned or seen, etc

There are many private game reserves near to where we live. We visited the biggest this week for a braai (bbq) in honor of the school governing body at one of our schools. It's kind of creepy to enter the world of vacationers while with friends from the village. But we know just a 20 minute drive from our house there's mini golf, swimming pools, and various other luxuries.

The national park down the road is a little less fancy. On an impromtu tour with one of the teachers who is also the chief's brother, we saw giraffes, warthogs, monkeys, impala, and water buffalo.

Vuvuzelas (the toy horns that are controversially a staple of South African soccer games) are not just popular at the stadium. They are often heard around the village. In fact, vuvuzelas, roosters, and house music are the top noises heard in villages.

When you cook for yourself, you miss South African food. When you eat South African food three days in a row, you miss protein (at least for us veggies).

In the same week, we had a conversation about how factory farming was unnatural and found out they are building a feed lot right outside of the village and are excited to start raising fat cows who aren't moving around to graze.

All you need to start a brass band are empty two liter bottles, deodorant containers, and wire.

Catholic church is still only an hour and 15 minutes in a place where all the churches last anywhere from 3 hours to all day.

We're not the only people in the village who get excited to talk about gardening, compost, and pest management.

A conversation about what age to teach children about menstruation can really derail a meeting.

Gogos (grandmas) are the best people to hang out with, and suprise gogo birthday parties are the best.

But the biggest lesson of the week is just that what you expect when you wake up in the morning is rarely how the day turns out so go with it.