South African Winter!

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Cape Town Holiday!

I finally took a break from the Respite Unit and went to Cape Town with my roommate Katie and my friend and her cousin that were visiting! It was an awesome 6 days in a beautiful city!!! What a nice change from Durban!!!! (Or, as I refer to it lately, Dur-bag). Cape Town has a much nicer vibe...it's clean, pretty and calmer! It is truly a city which caters to tourists! We had a fun filled time and saw so many beautiful sights including:

-Table Mountain
-Robben Island
-Green Market Square
-The Cape of Good Hope
-Boulders Beach
-A Cape Town Winery
-Victoria and Alfred Waterfront
-Tons of great restaurants/shops!

Here are a few of my over 600 pictures of the trip...


*The amputee baboon that sat beside the car!



*Papa Baboon?



*Me at the Cape of Good Hope!



*Gorgeous coast line...



*The sign says it all!



*St. John's Beach in Simonstown...so pretty!



*Fun beach cottages!



*The best market I've ever been to...Green Market Square!



*Queen of Table Mountain?!



*The Group...



*A view from atop Table Mountain...



*The inside of Nelson Mandela's cell on Robben Island...



*Katie and I on Robben Island.



*The boast we took to the island...



*Table Mountain from Robben Island!



*The Waterfront!

The afternoon at Lucky's!

One of the days that Tricia and Megan were here visiting we went to visit Lucky and baby Andile at their home. It just happened to be a busy day at the home. Their property is made up of about 10 small houses that are home to Aunts, cousins, friends, nieces and nephews. Everyone was outside when we arrived doing wash, getting hair cuts, cooking, cleaning and playing. I know many of the family members from just simply being around so much. They were all interested in the "white" visitors and wanted to hang out. The kids and teenagers there just loved having new people around. We spent the afternoon talking and dancing! The kids showed Tricia and Megan some traditional Zulu dances and sang to them. Beware: one of the pictures is of me trying the kicks...yikes!

Cooking with Bongi!

On Saturday during Tricia's trip, I decided to arrange a Zulu cooking lesson taught by one of the Respite Unit care-workers, Bongi. However, due to the ever present language barrier, Bongi thought I wanted her to cook for us. After a little bit of confusion cleared, we all went to Bongi's house and spent the day with her, another care-worker Nomthandazo, their families and friends. The food was amazing and she did manage to give us a few cooking tips. We ended up having an absolute blast at the get together.

Food Parcels...

Sweet buddies on the route...



My favorite guy in KwaNcglosi, Thulani, wearing a Saints track suit courtesy of Sarah Lang!



My little friends waiting for sweets!

Americans visit St. Theresa's!

The boys at St. Theresa's thoroughly enjoyed the visit of Tricia and Megan! We visited for a day and had a great time. The boys of cottage three all got some real, genuine American money...which to them is like getting 1 million dollars! They loved learning about money, card games, and America in general! We walked the boys down to a park for their picnic lunch and then the chaos began...how many boys can you fit on a merry-go-round?

Kaylee Julianna Parsons!

It is with great pride (and sadness, because I'm so far away) that I announce the birth of my new niece, Kaylee Julianna Parsons. She was born on June 24th, 2009 to my sister, Kelly and brother-in-law, Jamie. She is welcomed also by her older sister Elle and her older brother Christian. Thanks to great technology, I was able to skype with my family while they were in the hospital an hour or so after her birth! It was awesome. I am very sad to be in Africa at this time, but I am counting down the days until I can hold her and love her up!

An impromptu invite...

During the first weekend Sarah Lang (from Saints) was visiting, she saw just about everything major. We had just returned from a trip to the Midlands with my patient, Slindokuhle, and we had to drop the care-worker, Lungi off at her home in Inchanga. It was a Saturday afternoon. Lungi asked us if we'd like to come and have a look at her house. I said yes and followed her around on a tour. As we were about to get in the car, we saw men with walking sticks dancing and heard quite a bit of chanting and singing. We asked what was going on. Lungi and her family told us it was a traditional Zulu ceremony at which they would kill a cow in celebration. She asked if we wanted to go see the ceremony. Of course, we said YES. As we entered the yard, all eyes were on us. Most of the men were still dancing and singing and the women were preparing the meal. Many people (and many drunk men) came over to us to ask for a picture and a marriage proposal or two (or ten). It was awesome to see the festivities first hand and get to be a visitor just for a bit.

Chocolate Heaven!

I was told by Slindo (our blind patient) that she loved chocolate. I was trying to think of somewhere fun to take her that she could enjoy without having to see everything. I decided on the chocolate fondue place that I had gone before, Chocolate Heaven in the Midlands. A group of us went during the week that Sarah was visiting from CA. She absolutely loved it and so did we. Here are some photos of our day which basically consisted of eating our way through the Midlands...

More Game Reserve Pictures...

Ooopss. I thought I already posted these. This was an incredible day at Hluhluwe Game Park!

Safari girls!

What a day!!!! Sarah, Katie and I went to Hluhluwe/Imfolozi Game Reserve during Sarah's visit. It was absolutely phenomenal. The reserve is home to Africa's BIG 5: rhinos, lions, leopards, buffalo, and elephants! We saw 4 of the 5 (no leopard!). There are also tons of other animals including warthogs, zebra, giraffes, wildebeasts, impala, springbok, etc, etc, etc!