Yesterday was the big Christmas party, and it was everything I could have wished it would be. The sun was shining, the Simunye room was decorated, all of the games supplies were set up in time, and even though the date had to be changed to a Sunday, there was an awesome turn out! My parachute station turned to sheer chaos from the start. I had all of these great clever games planned out, but with a language barrier, and short attention spans, my games quickly turned into throwing a bunch of play pit balls onto the parachute and flinging them off. The kids loved it and so did I, and it was a colourful, beautiful, mess.
The day was filled with singing, and food, and presentations, and dancing, and games, and a visit from "Father Christmas", and presents! Watching the kids open their presents was fun because they were so excited and it was cool seeing the presents we helped pick out and wrap be put towards such great joy.
It was also a little bit of a sad day, because since the SOH is being closed for the summer over here, I most likely wont see these kids again. It's been so amazing getting to know them, and having them give me hugs, or teach me Zulu words, or ask for pushes on the swing. They're all such sweet kids, and I hope they'll keep their friends and knowledge they've acquired at the Seed with them the rest of their lives so that they can become amazing leaders in their community and their country. Saying goodbye was a teary affair, and I hope that when I come back someday I'll get to see some of these kids all grown up and awesome. I'm already planning a trip back and I CAN'T WAIT! I love this place and these people.
Immediately after the party, we packed up for an overnighter to Oribi Gorge with Heather, Caleb, and her friends Joe, Judy and their son Israel, who Caleb calls "Baby", which is pretty adorable. We braaied last night, and played lots of tag and hide and go seek with the boys. Caleb is hilarious, and his accent makes it only more so! He's always finding little creatures and showing them off. "Look he-ah, Baby! It's a caterpillar!" Haha he's always good for a laugh and a frog sighting.
This morning we went on a hike along a river, and amongst many awesome things, we saw crazy plants. bugs, rapids, trees and a dead mongoose! The weather was awesome, and it gave me a chance to justify the runners I brought along with 12 other pairs of shoes on this trip, so that was good! We drove around a game park and saw lots of giraffes, impala, wildebeest, and zebras, and then had a picnic lunch. We then drove along possibly the bumpiest, dirtiest excuse for a road I've ever seen to get to a suspension bridge that crossed the gorge. It was pretty scary to walk across, but so fun at the same time, and Lauren (who's super afraid of heights and normal bridges) even went across! So proud!
It's been a fun two days, but I'm exhausted and ready for sleep and some down time this week.
2 weeks 'til we're home. Wild.
xo
Alanna
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| Musa MCing the presentation (can you find me? one of these things is not like the other...) |
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| One of my favourite boys with his present. He's so sweet. :) |
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| I'm going to miss my friends! |
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| The whole gang on the hike! |
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| Caleb and I |
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| Dad, Adam and I on the suspension bridge. |
A new blog entry only a couple days after the previous one?! Wild stuff, Alanna. Wild. This installment was a nice change of pace from your last couple "heavier" installments (though those were nice). It was also good that you talked about the Christmas party that was being set-up for a couple weeks, because it delivered pay-off of that whole affair for your readers. The Gorge trip sounded fun too. 8.5/10.
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