I was able to take a 4-week photography course from a local professional photographer at his home. I am still trying to learn how to use all the bells and whistles of my Nikon D-3100. So far the 'auto' setting seems to be working the best for me.
It's been a busy month, both here and back home. My newest niece was born on March 4th with a full head of hair. Her name is Jessica Marie, and I hate that I won't be able to see her in person until after she's walking.
Mid-March we took a 4-day/3-night trip down to Cape Town. I cannot wait to go back as there were so many things to do. Our favorite activities were the beach and hiking/sightseeing. Miranda was running in the waves and got caught by surprise and went swimming fully clothed. The water is very cold, which made Jackson cry, so he spent his time playing in the sand. We hiked to the top of Cape Point and drove to the Cape of Good Hope which is the most south-western point of Africa. There was a bus tour that took you around the whole city and you could stop and look around as you pleased. We took it to Table Mountain and road the cable car to the top to enjoy a picnic lunch with the most beautiful view I've ever seen. The V&A Waterfront was full of restaurants, shops, and activities. It was raining the day we arrived so we spent some time at the Aquarium, but was beautiful the remainder of the trip.
Miranda turned 5 on March 27 and we celebrated the Saturday before at 'Yeesh!' which is an indoor playground. We had about 18 of her friends and preschool classmates attend, and they all enjoyed her Smurf-themed cake. The next weekend we picked up the newest member of our family, Jozi. She is a black standard poodle born Feb. 2. We met the owners and the mom & dad who are very friendly and energetic poodles. They had 5 black puppies, and by the time we got there, 2 of the 3 girls had already been taken. The family was only asking for R1000 which is about $130. They hadn't planned on their dogs having puppies and wanted to sell them quickly. The money we saved was quickly spent on a crate that is airline-approved since she will be coming home with us next year. It seems that some things here are about 3x what they are at PetsMart. Jozi is sleeping well in her crate at night and is already learning how to ask to go outside. She is also becoming the spoiled princess that all poodles are, especially since a certain somebody (who originally said 'no dogs on the couch!) keeps putting her up on the couch when watching tv.
There are things I've seen here that I can't 'un-see'. The poverty rate is still very high and we get to see a lot of it when we travel or just going to the store. The government has done a lot, building homes and schools, but there's too big of a need to provide for everyone. So right behind, next to, and in-between the little government houses are shacks and makeshift townships. When you drive past them, it's hard to believe people actually live there. One particularly poor area has a school in which the children regularly come without a lunch because they don't have anything at home to bring. A wonderful teacher in that school has started a program where volunteers donate a bag of apples and peanut-butter sandwiches for as many classes as possible on Mondays so the kids can start their week out healthy. I learned I can make 16 sandwiches out of a whole loaf of bread in 5 minutes.
Miranda finally learned how to swim, just in time for winter. The weather has been beautiful and Miranda was able to get in a couple more swims the first part of the month. We had quite a couple of storms the last few days of the month, and there's now a chill in the air. Fall is definitely around the corner.
