Montebello!

A BUSY WEEKEND!

We had a great weekend! On Friday night, we were all exhausted. Katie and I watched “She’s The Man” which I had never seen and thoroughly enjoyed. I ended up making it about half way through the movie before calling it a night at approximately 9:30pm. Awesome.

We had pre-arranged to join Baba Benji for our weekly trip to deliver food parcels in the valley. It has quickly become one of the highlights of my weeks here. The families are the same each week and now they know me (and the others of course). It was a gorgeous, HOT morning and we had a nice time seeing all the adorable kids on the route, giving them candy, and taking some cute pictures! One of the families makes sure their children say “thank you” to me in English which is pretty amusing…coming from 2 and 3 year old babies! At least now the little Zulu children have stopped running in terror when I arrive because they now recognize my white face.

Saturday was sweltering here…probably around 85 or 90 degrees. We decided to attend the Durban Sharks rugby game. Rugby is HUGE here. I’m going through sports withdrawl due to not being at Saints () and not having sports on TV here, so this was a lot of fun for me! I had never seen a live rugby game and I loved every minute of it. Wow, what a rough sport! The Sharks won which was an added bonus. There are many things here in South Africa that I don’t understand. One of the weirdest things I’ve seen during my time here had to have been the “Sharkettes.” They are not cheerleaders and they are not the dance troupe. No, weirder still, they are girls who wear bikinis covered with a black silk bathrobe and run around before the game “faux-flashing” the crowd. Nothing more, just simply “faux-flashing.” I can’t say anything more…

We woke up on Sunday, got ready and headed out to a place called Montebello (about an hour and a half from us). My roommate Katie was an Augustinian Volunteer last year in the Bronx and worked at a shelter called Siena House. The shelter is run by the Dominican Sisters and one of the case workers there is Sr. Pat. Sr. Pat has been in South Africa as a visitor at a compound run by the Dominican Sisters here. She graciously invited us to visit and have lunch with her. It was a blast. She (and the other Sisters) were very hospitable and welcoming. It was fun to see/talk to another American! The compound that the Sisters run at Montebello is quite impressive. They run an children’s home (similar to an orphanage…see pics below), a chronic sick home (mentally and physically challenged adults and children), a boarding high school with 400 students, a crèche (daycare), an elementary school and a training novitiate for young women interested in entering religious life. Sr. Pat took us down a very muddy road to visit the children’s home where she had been spending most of her 6 weeks. The kids literally went nuts when we arrived. They were so sweet and very excited to meet more Americans!

It was a long day, but it was well worth the trip. Just a side note…as we drove to our destination, we passed a sign on the highway for “New England Road,” how funny is that??????


Here are a few pictures from Montebello:

-The group shot (roommates plus Matt-Alex's Boyfriend)
-the girls from the high school
-Me with a cute little guy from the home
-Sr. Pat with the kids from the home