Now that my dad has returned home, we are ready for the next visitor! The weather was great for the rest of his trip and we were able to go out and do a lot of "Africa" things. We went to the Montecasino and looked for the guards who hide in the shadows with machine guns, but we still can't find them. After a croissant in a cafe, we headed to the Bird Gardens which were a little more alive than when we went back in July because now it's spring. A stork had laid an egg and was busy tending to the nest. The following day we headed to the Elephant Sanctuary near Harbeespoort Dam. After 2 1/2 hours spent learning all about elephants, touching them, and walking with them, we enjoyed a buffet overlooking the sanctuary. The next day we drove to the Rhino and Lion Park. We spent some time petting the baby lions and walking around the park. You can drive your car around the wild life area and watch the feedings. The truck that delivered the food had a system: stay in the truck while feeding the lions, only put your arm out the window to throw the chain over the log, then pull away so the dead animal falls out the back. Although the lion decided to just pull the animal out the back of the truck himself. Then the truck drove to the area with the wild dogs. The feeder got out of the truck and was running around with the dogs, then just threw the food off the back. For the cheetahs, he stayed in the bed of the truck and threw the food high in the air and the cheetahs jumped up to catch it. The only Rhino we saw was way up on the hill as we were exiting the park. We definitely had our fill of animals after that.
We did a couple of shopping trips to two different types of markets. Bryanstan Organic Market is located outside and the booths are set up like a craft fair. It reminds me of the Apple Festival I used to attend at Ward Meade Park in Topeka. We were able to pick up a few souvenirs before enjoying a lunch of spinach & feta quiche with salad and chocolate croissants to go (they call it 'take-away' here). I will never eat croissants from a can ever again. Rosebank market has the same sort of merchandise, just in a larger scale, and most items do not have a price tag because you can bargain. It is located on the top floor of the mall's parking garage. We ran into some Americans there, one from California who is living here for a few years for her husband's job, and another two from Maryland who were also here for work, but just for a few days.
Miranda has started swimming lessons and they aren't going very well. She is very scared and screams and cries a lot. We've only been to two lessons so hopefully it will get better. Her school had a concert a couple of weeks ago and her group dressed up like walruses and sang a song. She was so unhappy and didn't like her costume, and I hardly blame her when I saw what all the other kids got to wear. Who wants to wear brown when the others get to be bunnies and fairies? Oh well, she gets to be Ariel for Halloween. I actually found orange pumpkins at the grocery store yesterday. They are rare here, and no trips to the pumpkin patch. Jackson has another tooth, so that makes 7 total.
We had yet another wave of sickness go through the house. Miranda was battling a 100-102 degree fever for 5 days, then she got pink eye. Then Jackson got it. It's been so fun trying to hold his eyes open while I attempt to put in eye drops. I thought the rain was supposed to wash away all this sickness, but all it did was prove to me that rain spiders know how to get in my house. I've only had one, but it was absolutely horrifying! Apparently they eat lizards, so the little one in the garage that keeps hissing at me better watch out.
We went to Gold Reef City amusement park this weekend and it's like Worlds of Fun, only smaller. It's located on an old gold mine next to Johannesburg, and there's a tour you can take where you can see a gold-containing ore vein. We didn't have time for the tour. In the park they have a couple of hotels, and the live shows of 'Idols South Africa' are filmed in the auditorium. The park was about $50 for the 4 of us. We pretty much stayed in the kiddie corner, and there were two areas that we didn't even get to go to. The Apartheid museum is just across the street. It was sad to drive by Johannesburg and see the ruins of large buildings that were once grand. After apartheid ended in '94, crime settled in and most of the businesses moved out to Sandton City, which is now the wealthiest city in Africa.
I decided this weekend that I really do despise a few of my neighbors. Especially the ones next door who let their dog bark non-stop for 45 minutes at 6:30am. And the ones behind me who let their gardener mow at 6am. And definitely the ones across the street who have huge parties that last way past midnight where I can hear every word of every song in my bedroom. The only thing that keeps me from egging their houses is knowing that they won't be my neighbors in less than 2 years, and if they ever did anything like this back home, I could call the police and they would be fined and/or arrested for disturbing the peace.
I seriously still cannot understand some of the people here. Clearly I can't understand what they are saying since I keep saying 'sorry' and 'I don't understand what you are saying' so you'd think they'd slow down or speak louder. Nope. They are in fact speaking English, but the Afrikkan accent is so strong that I feel like they're speaking a different language. There are dozens of languages here, but Spanish is not one of them. Oh how I wish I could speak Spanish fluently, just to mess with them. I'm about to whip out all the words I do know the next time I can't understand them and see how THEY feel.
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