Double Date =]

     This is the blog for Friday, not for today.  We aren't doing anything today really.  Yesterday morning I had a group meeting to plan for our activity with the Lynedoch kids at Vanessa's house.  Tyler had to get up and take the scooter to the store because another customer wanted to see the model that he was driving.  He came back with a replacement scooter for a few hours.  This scooter was such a Tyler scooter. =]

     Pink!!  It looks like a Barbie scooter.  Anyways, While I was at my group meeting he switched the scooters back and picked me up.  We talked to Vanessa because we had planned to have dinner that night and were finalising details.  She was bummed that she didn't get a good look at Tyler's pink scooter.  We decided to eat at a place called Gino's.
     We were just pretty lazy until it was time to go.  The only thing I did was change into my boots and a long sleeve cardigan because it got pretty cold last night.  It may not have been very cold, but it was very cold compared to what it has been.  Gino's was SO GOOD!  It was a pizza/pasta place and it took FOREVER to get our food.  When the food came it was amazing.  Tyler got a spinach and salami pizza and I got a regular calzone.  A regular calzone comes with mozzarella, mushroom, tomato, and ham. 
     Apparently Tyler and I are fun to watch.  We like to pick on each other (as everyone knows) and Vanessa and Jonas found a lot of entertainment from it.  We had a really good time eating out with them.  Tyler mentioned that hot chocolate would be good after dinner and Vanessa told him there was a place not far that had white hot chocolate, so we decided to go there.  The place was called Java and the white hot chocolate was not only huge, but it was extremely good as well.  I think the only place I think may have better hot chocolate than Java is IHOP.  Most of the time we were walkin Vanessa and I were talkin and Tyler and Jonas were talkin.  I'm happy that Tyler and Jonas get along so well because there aren't many guys in our class for Tyler to talk to and he never mentions any people at all in his other class.  I'm sure he was happy to be around some testosterone.  We got home around 10pm which surprised me because I didn't think we were out that long.  We went to bed shortly after. 
     As I said, today is a little boring.  We don't get Conference here until later, so we have to either wait or listen to it online.  We are still deciding which we want to do.  We will probably end up listening to it online.  I can't think of anything else to tell y'all.  Hamba Kakuhle.

Eh, kinda boring.

     Today was kinda boring for me.  Tyler woke up and went to the library and was there until about 3:30.  I haven't been feeling well, so I have been sleeping a lot.  I don't know what's up, but it takes me forever to fall asleep at night because I can't always breathe out my nose.  It's ok now because I think I am feeling better.  Tyler came home not super happy about his test.  He says, "By far the hardest test Ive ever taken.  Luckily all I
have to do is get a 50 in the class to get credit for it because it doesn't affect my GPA its just pass/fail."
     It is raining SO HARD!!  It's unbelievable how much rain there is.  I don't think it's rained here since we arrived, but now it's intense.  I am instantly regretting not bringing my rain boots.  I guess winter is here!!  I also found a little friend this morning while I was brushing my teeth.

     I thought he was pretty cute, so I left him alone (I decided he was a boy).  When I went to go back and check him out he was gone.  I guess I scared him.  He was super small.  Probably just a bit smaller than an inch.  That's about it for us today.  We just finished eating spaghetti with sauteed mushrooms and are just waiting for Two and a Half Men to come on.  That's about all.  Hamba Kakuhle.

Professor Perril and International Food Day.

     There is an Art History professor in Stellenbosch for a few days and she asked to meet with us.  We met Professor Perril at Mugg and Bean around 11:30 for an early lunch/late breakfast.  She just wanted to talk to us about our experiences in Stellenbosch because she is going to talk to the future exchange students about what to expect when they get here.  She had just come from Durbin and has been in South Africa since March.  It was a lot of fun to talk to her.  I didn't fall asleep until 5:30ish last night because I had/have a stuffy nose, so when I got home I fell back asleep.  Tyler has been at the library all day today.  I saw him when I went to sleep, when he came home around 5:45pm to eat, and then around 7 when the International Food Day started.
     International food day was so cool!  There were about 15 tables of different countries from the international students.  The countries we "visited" were Mexico, China, Zambia, Namibia, Ghana, and the UK.  The food was really good!  I really should have brought my camera to take pictures of the food, but I didn't even think about it.  The room was PACKED!!  The Mexico stand even had tequila shots.  Tyler has a big test tomorrow, but other than that we don't have anything planned.  Friday I have a group meeting and we are going to dinner with Vanessa and Jonas.  We are pretty excited =].  That's all.  Hamba Kakuhle.

Xhosa and Sandboarding

     Today there were only like five or six people in Xhosa which was nice, but I felt bad for the Professor.  I will list what we did.

-Uphi uSara= Where is Sarah?
-Nanku uSarah= There is Sarah
-Andimazi= I don't know him/her.
-Iphi icellphone?= Where is the cellphone?
-Nantsi icellphone?= There is the cellphone.
-Uya phi ngeEaster weekend? or Uya phi ngempela-veki yePasika?= Where are you going Easter weekend?
-Mna dia eCape Town.= I am going to Cape Town.
-Andiyi ndavo.= going nowhere.
-Uziva njani?= You feel how?
-Ndilusizi= I am sad.
-Kutheni ulusizi?= Why sad?
-Ndilusizi kuba ikati yam ifile.= I'm sad because my cat is dead.
-Ndinomsindo=I have anger.
-Ndikhathanzekile= I am worried.
-Buhlungu= sore on the inside/heartache
-Intloko yam ibuhlungu.= My head hurts. (Headache)
-Ndidanile nguwe= I am disappointed by you.
-Ndityhafile= I am feeling sluggish. (emotionally drained)
-Unomono= You have jealous.
-Unekhwele=I am envious of you (good kind/compliment.).
    
     Sandboarding is so cool!  So I will show a bunch of pictures and just explain it a little bit.  First of all, I was awesome at it and only fell like 2 or 3 times.  Tyler on the other hand felt the need to test how soft the sand was on a regular basis. =] (Don't worry, it was so soft I wanted to take a nap in it.)  I am just going to end with the pictures.  After sandboarding we went to grab some food and then went home.  We have been relaxing because we are both pretty tired.  3 and a half hours of sandboarding is pretty tiring.  Hamba Kakuhle.

So when we got there one of the girls gave Tyler and I a pair of glasses.  Mine reminded me of Grandpa Snow!

The group.

At the top of the dune.

Tyler, Me, Jonatan, Terese, and Pernilla.

First try.

I don't know which try this was for me...either first or second.

Yay Tyler!

Oook, I fell a few times.  It wasn't  this one, but another fall I got a wedgie so hard that it tore my underwear.  The sand isn't hard at all, but when you get to be going pretty fast and fall everything pulls up.

Jumping off the dune.

Tyler's turn!

Top of the dune.

We decided to all go down at once...I actually fell a few seconds after this picture was taken.

The sky was obviously so blue and so perfect!

<3

Worst part of the whole thing: walking up the freakin dune.  It was huge and it felt like you would take 5 steps forward and fall 3 steps back.

This was right before a fall.  Normally we fell because we started to try and look where we were going and either fell backwards or face-planted.

The group preparing for a backwards roll.

The sand on the other side of the dune was insanely soft.  When we stepped on it the sand literally covered up to our knees.

Chillin at the top.

This is where things went wrong for Savannah.  We decided that it would be a good idea to go down at the same time while sitting on the board.  The issue was Jonatan's side went a lot faster than Tyler's side and we fell and Tyler rolled over top of me and somehow in this mess I did something to my ankle.  It was a good moment.

For some reason, I did it again.

We were successful this time.

Sorry the pictures are out of order.  This is a picture of that soft side I was telling you about.  We had to help her up because it was so soft she was struggling.

Jonatan is freakin crazy and went down on his belly.

One of Tyler's epic falls.

None of us are looking happy or in the camera's direction because the wind was blowing so hard.  It literally hurt when the wind blew because the sad was thrown against our skin.  It felt like little needles.

I decided not to go after the ankle incident.  That is, after we did it the second time and were successful.

Sorry, out of order.  Tyler took a picture of my scalp when we got home and you can see all the sand I wasn't able to brush off.  There was literally sand in every opening of our bodies as well as all over our bodies.

I am wanting to say this was one of Tyler's last rides.  He finally got the hang of it! =]

Sunday and Monday.

     Sunday was pretty good.  I had to teach the YW lesson which was on being self-reliant.  I know that's important and all, but it was kinda a weird lesson to teach.  All the YW meet together for class because there aren't enough to really break up into Beehive, Mia Maid, and Laurel classes.  We have two sets of sisters who are very outspoken which makes lessons fun.  As y'all know we watched Carolina play (lose) Sunday night.  We also found out that somehow Julia has once again won the bracket we set up.  Unbelievable. 
     Monday was pretty fun.  We painting a room and painted desks and Lynedoch.  We split up into 2 groups in order to get the job done faster.  Tyler and I were in the wall painting group.  The room took a long time to paint.  By the time we finished I couldn't smell the paint anymore.  We just repainted it white which sounds boring, but is ok since the desks were painted dark green and something similar to a sea foam green.  After coming home we wrote in our journals and took a nap.  I have been tired so much recently for no reason, it's weird.  Tyler woke up to go to the rugby game.  We won 23-0.  Go Maties!  When he got home he brought the stuff to spray on the mold.  I think the mold is the reason I have been so tired because after he sprayed it, I woke up this morning feeling really awake and good.  We are now getting ready to go sand boarding.  I will post again about it when I get home along with the notes I took at Xhosa.  Hamba Kakuhle.

Cape Town Carnival

     I can't remember as much as I should, but I will post pictures and explanations.  I know I haven't posted in a while, so I am going to do a post on the Cape Town Carnival and then another one for Sunday and today.  I am going to do that one after the Rugby game.

65 people on the bus...way crowded.

Stellenbosch from the highway

I know it's weird that I put a picture of katchup on the blog, but it was in a super weird container.

In front of the African Trading Post.  This is one of the store that cell the crafts that the tribal Africans make.

This is Tyler's water buffalo.  He seems fascinated by everything here that is made out of wire coat hangers.  This buffalo is only made of wire coat hangers and beads.  It's pretty impressive.

Rooster for my mom.

One of the locals told me that when we start seeing a lot of the fog come over the mountain that it means winter is close.

These guys were singing at the mall, so I wanted a picture with them.

Sunset at Cape Town

Waterfront Mall

Stadium

The Carnival (parade) begins.

I am pretty sure these girls were naked, but just painted.

The point of the Cape Town Carnival is to show all the many cultures of South Africa and especially Cape Town.  When you see the women in very elaborate dresses they are just representing them.

For those who don't know, Cape Town has a very large homosexual population and has called itself the Pink city (Or something like that).  This is a drag queen!  These guys were so fun!

This is their flower.

I think I have mentioned this before, but South African taxi drivers are crazy.  This taxi was made out of I don't know what and the people inside were fake driving it like they were in a bumper car!  They were so funny.

This is supposed to be a representation of Mother Africa.

I know these pictures are dark, but these women are dressed in Indian dresses.  There is a very large Indian population in South Africa.

This will be a long caption.  I met a woman on the way to the parade and we ended up hanging out the whole evening.  She was telling me about how people from Cape Town look at Stellenbosch.  First of all, they look at it like it's a party school, but other than that she had some interesting perspectives.  They call the people from Stellenbosch the Afrikaaners and she said that most people view them as way behind in time.  She said a lot of people in Cape Town don't speak Afrikaans because of it being considered the language of the oppressors.  She didn't seem ignorant like some of the other people I have met which was really nice to see.  She says that Stellenbosch is very different than any other place in South Africa which I never considered.  She was a really nice woman and it was fun to hang out with a local during the Cape Town Carnival.