Pretty large chunk of the trip!!

Hello everyone!

I’m sorry that I haven’t blogged in awhile, I have been super busy and a little exhausted when I have time to blog. But the past few weeks here have been very eventful. In my last blog I wrote about wanting to work in the preschool in Kurland. I haven’t been doing that, but I have been working in a daycare called Come to Learn Daycare, which is like the preschool, but less teachers, fewer kids, and it is not registered by the government. It is actually run by this woman named Patricia, and she runs it out of her house. It is a pretty amazing place. Although the discipline and other things are very different from in the U.S., the kids there are learning so much, including three different languages, English, Afrikaans, and Xhosa. So for the past three weeks, Monday through Friday, I have been helping in the daycare from about 8am-2pm. The kids have been adorable, but very naughty at times as well. But overall, I had a really good experience at the daycare, and I will really miss the kids.

At the end of the first week at the daycare, we had a long weekend and went to a town called Addo, which is about 2 hours away, to go on a safari! We stayed at this place called Chrislin Bed and Breakfast, which was super nice and fancy. We stayed in these luxurious mud huts which were really awesome, and our breakfasts and dinners were both delicious and looked beautiful. But the Friday that we got to Addo, we went to two different places. The first was a place where we got to look at jaguars, pet a cheetah, and play with lion cubs!!! It was really fun. Then we went to a place that had all kinds of things, from snakes (which some people held), other reptiles, porcupines, owls, meerkats (which I got to hold!!), and other things. Then on Saturday, we went on a driving safari in Addo Elephant National Park, and we saw elephants, zebras, warthogs, meerkats, buffalo, kudu, and other things that I don’t remember the names of. But basically it was awesome!! On Sunday, we went on a hike within the national park, but where there weren’t any animals. It was a good, easy hike and then we spent a few hours at a really nice river. It was a nice relaxing day. Then on Sunday we went on a river safari, which was basically canoeing down a river! It was super fun! The river was apparently the fastest flowing river in Africa, but it wasn’t very fast where we were (thankfully). But I think that was one of the most fun things on the trip so far.

On the rest of the weekends, we have just been going to different places on Saturdays and hiking on Sundays. Although I did actually go zip lining about a week ago, which was really fun! We went zip lining at the Tsitsikamma Falls, so it was beautiful, and it was really fun as well. And a little calmer than bungee jumping! And yesterday we went to a rugby game in Kurland and supported the Crags Jaguars, which was really fun! But also a little confusing because I know nothing about rugby.

Tonight is our last night at Rocky Road, so this weekend we’ve been preparing to leave and packing. It has been bittersweet for me, as I am really excited to come home and see everyone, but this trip has gone by really fast and a part of me isn’t quite ready to leave. But tomorrow morning we’re leaving for Cape Town, where we will be until Friday. We will be staying at another hostel, and we will be going to museums, doing touristy things, and going clubbing at night! I am really excited. Then I’m on my way back home, going on two 10-hour flights. I’m not so excited for that part, but very excited for when I arrive! I will probably blog again when I get back home to tell everyone about my last week! Until then, I hope everyone’s summers are going great!