I love South Africa

This place is amazing! I love being here. This is by far the best trip I have ever taken. I loved Nicaragua, and always will, but South Africa has stolen my heart.

I left Atlanta on September 1st at 7:55pm. Fifteen LONG hours later I arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa to the local time of 5:25pm. The plane ride was pretty intense but I did meet a really great guy named Charlie who sat in the seat directly behind me. Through our little airplane windows we shared a beautiful view of the plane wing, haha. He and his uncle, dad, brother, and friend were going to the northern part of South Africa to travel and do some adventuring. We ended up talking most of the flight and I was really thankful to have his company.
From Johannesburg I took a connecting flight to Port Elizabeth. This flight was only two hours and I’m pretty sure I slept sitting straight up the entire time. I was exhausted to say the least! When we arrived at the P.E. airport the current temperature was 63°F and we walked straight from the plane into the windy cool air. I recognized Brendon in the lobby from his facebook pictures. Brendon and Jeanine Botha are the host parents that are allowing me to stay with them while I teach. Also with Brendon was the other American girl that is living with us at 36 Nobbs Rd. Her name is Mary and we immediately hit it off. She is from Ohio and she’s teaching History and English at a high school right down the street from our home. We have already starting planning our next teaching adventure! Maybe Germany!
Port Elizabeth is breathtaking. Our home is a 10 minute walk to the Indian Ocean and it is as beautiful as the Gulf of Mexico. The water is clear and green and the sand is white. Also Jeanine told me that where we are there are no sharks, so you don’t have worry about that anymore Aunt Lisa!  But there are beautiful whales and dolphin you can see from the beach. More to come about hopefully seeing these animals up close.

I cannot tell you how great my home is here in P.E. The Botha’s are extremely nice and they have two BEAUTIFUL twin babies that I get to hold and play with all the time. Jeanine is also an amazing cook and was once a chef before they began hosting students in their home. One of the first nights I was here we had lamb chop stew with potatoes and carrots over rice that was the best rice I have ever eaten. It was sooooooo good! My roommates are fantastic as well. Mary from Ohio is in the room across the hall from mine. We share what the South African’s call a flat. It’s basically an apartment adjacent to the main house where Brendon and Jeanine live. Our home is beautiful and very roomy. Though I do love the babies, it is really nice to be in our own space at night. Jeanine’s mother also lives in the house with Jeanine and Brendon and she is very sweet as well. Her name is Eugenie. She and I talk often and I have come to really enjoy her sense of humor. She is also teaching me a little Afrikaans.

My other two roommates are Anna Marie and her brother Riaan, who are South African. They are studying at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in P.E. I really love all of my roommates and I know we are going to have so much fun traveling and living together. A few nights ago us girls sat together and watched the South African Soaps, which is what they call their Soap Operas. The Soaps are in Afrikaans. So we were all cracking up reading the English subtitles as the drama didn’t translate very well. Everyone in the house except for Mary and I speak Afrikaans and English.
We also have a housekeeper, Ms. Virginia, who takes care of washing our clothes and cleaning our home. I am so spoiled here! I won’t know what to do when I return home! Her first language is Xhosa, which is one of the native South African languages. It sounds so beautiful when she speaks and I have asked her to begin teaching me a few words in Xhosa. She also speaks English as well. I have been spending time helping her with the babies in the afternoons and I already love her and know that she is one of the many here that I am going to greatly miss when I return home.

Yesterday Mary and I went on the coolest day trip I have EVER in my WHOLE life taken! Get ready for this Niel and Cheryl….We went on a safari at Schotia Game Reserve, which is about a 30 minute drive from Port Elizabeth. We saw so many different kinds of animals including… Lions! At one point we were close enough to a full grown male lion that I could have reached out and touched him! We also saw Giraffe, Zebras, White Rhinoceros, Antelope, Vervet Monkeys, several different kinds birds, Blue Wildebeest, Eland, Impala, Red Hartebeest, and Warthogs. Our safari also included a fantastic dinner and drinks in this awesome outdoor ranch-style pavilion. We also met three other girls that are student teaching in P.E. at a school for disabled children. We all really enjoyed hanging out and decided that we are all going to rent a car and drive to Cape Town later this month. It is spring here in South Africa, so we’re going to take a road trip on our spring break.
I am going to post pictures soon of our safari and of Port Elizabeth. I’ll post the link to these pictures hopefully sometime this afternoon. The only downside to being here is that I have very little access to the internet and the telephone, but I am going to try my best to keep in contact as much as possible.

Tomorrow is my first day of school! I can’t wait to meet my students!

I miss you all and hope this note finds you all very well. I love and miss you mama!