On the Road Again

Tomorrow morning, my time in Muizenberg is over. A taxi is picking me up at 7:15AM and I'm off on my tour of Namibia, Botswana, and Vic Falls. Jalle is meeting me in Livingstone, Zambia on May 11th (which is my sister's birthday!) and I'll spend a few days with her. I am really looking forward to that!

Muizenberg has been fun. As I predicted, I am really sad to leave, but I also know it's for the best. I've been getting bored with the routine and I am definitely ready to see some new stuff.

This week has been crazy from start to finish. On Weds I went to see Cape Point with Ken, the new Irish volunteer. We took the train to Simon's Town, saw the penguins again briefly, and then hopped in a Rikki (van) to the Nature Reserve and Cape Point. It was a beautiful day, but very windy as always at the point. It was definitely worth the visit.

Yesterday I decided that I needed to visit the orphanage where most of the other volunteers at the lodge work. I only stayed for a half day, but I was exhausted. There are children from 2 months to 6 years old there, and there are a lot of them. The volunteers are each assigned to work with one age group - infants, toddlers, or the older kids. I visited all three areas in my 3 hour visit. They are all adorable and very excisted to have any attention they can get. A few of the babies just cry until someone picks them up. So I helped play with them, took lots of photos, and then helped feed the infants before it was time for me to head back to Muizenberg to wrap some things up before I leave tomorrow. I'm really glad I went. I don't know how Steve and Amy and the rest of the volunteers do it every day. It's exhausting, but defnitely worthwhile.

Today was my last day working in the surf shop. So of course it had to be the busiest day we have ever had since I have been here. We had a birthday party of 22 kids first thing, followed by another lesson at 11AM, another at 12PM, and finally one more at 2PM. It was mass insanity from 10AM onwards. And to make things even crazier, it was also a lovely day and the surf was not big, but very clean and glossy. So it was a good day to be at the beach. I spent the day in the shop, taking care of renting boards and wetsuits, making sure the kids could get the wetsuits on, all of that. It was busy, so the day just flew by.

Tonight we are staying in the lodge and grilling out - which is called having a braai here in South Africa. So we're cooking burgers and brats over a wood fire. It just sounds much better when you call is a braai, I think.

I'll update more as soon as I can, but it may be about a week or so! Next time you hear from me, I'll be in Namibia!