#71

I had a marvelous birthday day!  My colleague at Operation HOPE picked me up for breakfast, bringing a gorgeous bouquet of flowers.  There is an intern, a college student from Notre Dame, with us for two months, so he was along as well.  Went to the office and she handed me a box of cupcakes from a favorite bakery.

Mid-afternoon I met a woman from my Saturday morning meeting, we drove to a tea garden and had tea and conversation with another, then attended a small discussion group meeting, followed by dinner at a great restaurant with five of us there, where I received a lovely gift basket.

It was overwhelming to be remembered in such a way from these new friends. Certainly took the loneliness away...plus lots of greetings on Facebook and emails, and some cards in the snail mail as well!  I am truly blessed!

SOCIAL

I had a nice time with Vicky, who arrived Friday.  She is now working about 14+ hours a day and has 11 days work and 3 days off.  We went out to dinner then to "Fruitvale Station," a very good film.

Saturday we drove two hours to Bela-Bela, a hot springs place (old name of Warmbad) where they had an outdoor pool with lots of water things for all ages, including slides and tubes, as well as a little zip-line adjacent.  There also was an indoor option with an additional very hot pool area primarily used by older people, but it was a beautiful day so chose the outside. I sure couldn't help but think what fun it would be for all my grandkids to be there and enjoy it with me. The photo of me alone was when we first arrived; an hour later there were lots of young people having a great time.

She took me out for an early birthday dinner when we got back.  We both slept like a log, which was good since it was 55 in the house (and no thermostat to turn up) when we got up...so winter is slowly but surely arriving. She will plan to come to Joburg every two weeks until she's done with the project, so we have some other out-of-town trips planned.  I really appreciate her company and the opportunity to get around in private car.

Went to church then did a bit of shopping before she left.  Across the street from me is a veteran's hall that is used occasionally by a theater organization, and tonight an acoustical guitar player by the name of Steve Newman performed, and was very excellent.

ZOO TROT - OR NOT

Caught a tuk-tuk early this morning to go to the Zoo for their monthly "Zoo Trot" event...one can either do a 5 K or 10K.  It was my intent to do the 10K, then walk the 6K back home, but I took my camera this time and since I was walking in areas I had not seen on my previous trip, decided to look at the animals and birds, so I just walked around for two hours.  It was a nice event, with many families just strolling,  as well as serious runners.

The two things I wanted to photograph were the scarlet ibis and crocodiles, as I had seen lots of both a month ago.  However, couldn't find those birds and there were only a few crocs hanging out, but here's some of the things I saw, including the gorgeous lion above that was so nice to just lie there and pose for us.

I then walked to the nearby Moyo restaurant where they have a wonderful Sunday breakfast buffet; I had been there once before with Vicky.  The bathroom sinks and mirror frame are unusual enough to warrant sharing the images.

KON TIKI - SCOUTING

What a wonderful Saturday I had at a Scouting event with a couple that I met at a PCV training a few months ago.  At that time, they told me if I wanted someone to do something with, send them an email...so I did, and they took me to a raft-building competition at a small lake about a 30 minute drive from where I live.


Sheila and
Andrew Tanner, Scouters extraordinaire! They are now leaving for a five-week holiday, which will include two weeks of sailing on the Adriatic Sea.


There were 52 rafts built from Friday afternoon to Saturday noon...then they were launched, and the raft crew had to spend 24 hours on it...cooking all their meals, sleeping (it is now getting fairly cold at night).  I watched the latter stages of construction and the launchings.  Pretty amazing what these 11-18 year olds can do!


The rafts were judged on many factors, including mobility (all had paddle wheels), craftmanship, etc.) This year's theme was "Go Green" so lots of use of plastic bottles.









There were probably about 1000 people there, with troops from all over South Africa, lots of leaders, parents, grandparents, etc coming to watch.  Perfect weather, wonderful to get out of the city!

Also,  I learned what Kon Tiki means...guess I missed the book and movie but will watch it now when I get home. So if my readers don't know...Google can tell you!

The Pre-Launch Ceremony was impressive, with all the troops gathered in a big circle with all their energy and enthusiasm!  And, officials did it right...it was short and sweet!

A few of the rafts on the lake.
There was also a game area, kind of a carnival, where lots of fun was had by the younger kids.  Got some photos and good ideas to share with my teacher daughters for possible use.

Was googling Scouts and found this very interesting piece of information about Scouts South Africa.  Wow!
Chief Scout: Sibusiso Vilane

Mr Sibusiso Vilane is one of a handful of South Africans, and the first black African, to climb each of the Seven Summits, the seven highest peaks on each of the seven continents. He climbed Kilimanjaro seven times (Africa), Mount Everest (Asia, 2003, 2005 and 2014), Mount Aconcagua (South America), Elbrus (Europe), Carstensz Pyramid (Oceania), Vinson (Antarctica) and Denali/McKinley (North America).

On 17 January 2008, Mr Vilane and his Team Extreme partner, Alex Harris, became the first South Africans to walk to the South Pole completely unassisted. April 2012 he completed the ‘three poles challenge’ (North Pole, the South Pole and Everest) when he trekked to the North Pole. He is currently a professional speaker, mountaineer, expedition guide and leader. In December 2013 Sibusiso Vilane was nominated as Chief Scout of SCOUTS South Africa. At his official inauguration on the 15th of March 2014 Chief Scout Sibusiso Vilane motivated all Cubs and Scouts to reach for their dreams and venture out into the world as they are “Limitless!”. 

MOTHER'S DAY AND MORE ON VOTING

Thank heavens for modern technology.  What a joy it was to be able to talk to all three daughters on Mother's Day!  I must admit I was feeling a bit sorry for myself in the morning, but by the time I Skype called them later in the day, I was more content.  I went to church, then got a Sunday paper and perused it over lunch, then went to see "Grand Budapest."  Funny movie.  Walked home, finished  a report due for the Peace Corps, watched another episode of West Wing.  I am enjoying this program; seldom saw it when it was on, and have all seven seasons on my computer, thanks to other PCVs, and am now starting season five.

Speaking of politics, discovered that the voting is really for the parties more than the candidate. There are 31 parties, but only 11 had enough votes to get one or more of the 400 seats in the Parliament.  The ANC is the ruling party (since Mandela and the end of Apartheid) and the DA is the next strongest.  There is concern that only 1 out of 3 of the "born free" voters (since 1994) registered to vote... that some apathy is starting to set in already.  Lots of bad things could be said about the government and various persons in high places.  HOWEVER!  They had a 73% voter turnout last week.  Rather impressive, yes?   Here's one photo of the line of people waiting to vote.

EVENING WALK

 As I walked home from the grocery store yesterday afternoon, I pulled out my camera to take a couple of photos some of my friends will like.  There is a dog park about a block square nearby, and here is one corner of it.  There's a lot going on around 5ish when people get home from work.  The dogs run and people chat.  Very nice.

Here's a gorgeous bush full of orange blooms.  Beautiful flora here...too bad I don't know the names of the various things I see, but I sure do enjoy their prettiness!

We've been having wonderful fall days, and not too cold in the evenings yet.  Wearing long johns  but not many layers of fleece...yet!

My friend Vicky is back; she's working  11 on 3 off during the turn-around at the refinery,  so we're planning a weekend getaway the end of the month.  Fun!

TODAY IN SOUTH AFRICA

This is what's happening in my part of the world today.  Election day is also another public holiday. The last one for awhile.  Can you imagine it's only been 20 years that everyone can vote here?!  They've come a long way, but I think everyone agrees they've got a long way to go yet.

JOINING CHURCH

 Here is a photo of the group I was with when we all joined Parktown North Methodist Church.

WALKING AND SOWETO VISIT

I sure do a lot of walking!  Without a car and a small dorm-size fridge, I make numerous trips to the grocery stores every week; the nearest is 20 minutes walk.  Last Sunday was great weather and I walked to the Zoo...got in at pensioner's rate of R36. In addition to the Big Five and many other animals (including a napping Grizzly), saw some gorgeous scarlet ibis, at which time I realized I forgot my camera!  Total  likely distance that day: 7-8 miles.  There is a concert there next Sunday on Mothers Day so I may go back for another walk, with camera in hand this time.  I'm sure there will be a huge crowd.  Something I was told by my counterpart makes a lot of sense, for this zoo and those around the world.  Most children do not have the opportunity to see these animals, on photo safaris or in fields, or wherever their natural habitat may be.  So it is important to have zoos.  Huge improvements have been made over the years to provide the animals with an appropriate environment.  This one wasn't too bad.

Yesterday my counterpart drove nearly an hour to pick me up to spend the day at her house in Soweto.   We got there and her mother was in a church meeting and never did get home, so it was just Tshidi, her little 3-year old and me.  She made a nice lunch for me and as we were leaving to come back, saw her mother on the street so met her briefly.  It was a nice outing, and I think she was happy to show me that there are many homes in quiet neighborhoods in Soweto that are nice and modern, in addition to the tin shacks which tour companies tend to focus on.

My friend Vicky is back in the country but is working a turn-around at a refinery two hours from here so will not be seeing much of her.

Work is progressing; I will have the first draft of the manuals (Facilitator's Guide and Participant's Notebook) done by the end of the month then will start working on the NGO management guide.

Today was church; I joined...they are very welcoming and wanted me to feel at home there while I am here, so I may end up with the shortest membership of all.  It will only be for six months.  Joining with me were two Chinese, and four black Africans. Yes, very diverse congregation!