The Weekend

Saturday
 So I really wanted to title this one: Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh my! But the only one we saw of those is....LIONS! See the picture below! I still cannot believe that I was so close to that many REAL lions that were not in captivity or a zoo! On our ride alone to Addo Elephant National Park we (Leah, April, Lauren, and I) saw enough wild animals to make anyone happy.  I got to see a monkey cross the road, not a deer, a monkey! We also saw giraffes just hanging out on the other side of the road and other deer like animals. Lauren who has been here since August had never driven before, but really wanted to experience what it was like to drive on the opposite side of the road in the opposite side of the car-she did great! We rented a really cute automatic car called a Clio! When we were en route to the park we went through a township which are what slums are called here. It opened my eyes to a whole other part of this area that I am definitely interested in and feel fortunate that I get to see that side of South Africa as well. The four of us got a quick lunch at the park and then headed out on our own in the car all afternoon to look for any signs of wildlife that we could find.

     The first animal we encountered was some warthogs like Tamone from The Lion King! They were a lot faster than I would have thought and they looked like they would be singing "Hakuna Matata" all day long. Over an hour had passed and we had yet to see an elephant. The whole energy level in the car was starting to die and we started asking any car we passed where we might see some elephants. All of a sudden when we rounded a corner we saw three huge African Elephants! We were all super excited and took a million pictures. Fast Forwarding a bit, we stopped at a "Picnic" site for a moment and asked a gentleman if he had seen any Lions. He quickly gave us directions to where he spotted some earlier so we bee-lined it to the spot which was hard to miss with all of the other cars looking at the lions as well. There were FIVE of them! Three males and two females. It was just amazing. Then on our way back we were talking about how it is called an Elephant park, yet we saw more lions and warthogs than elephants. Well we had to literally slam on the breaks because we saw an elephant that was standing in the middle of the road and then about five more appeared...and we even got to see a few babies!

     Saturday night we went into Grahamstown and experienced a bit of the night life in which is a bit of a college town because of the nearby Rhodes University. The place we went to was called Rat & Parrot which is the must see restaurant/bar in the area. We celebrated Misty's last night in Grahamstown and I had the opportunity to meet some of her friends and a lot of other people from around the town.  I was shocked how quickly people realized that we were from America-and how they loved how we say zebra and giraffe due to the long 'a' sound we stick in there.



ELEPHANTS!







Mufasa



    



Lauren, April, Me, and Leah stopped at a lookout point for
a quick picture, to our left was a  "Beware of Lions" Sign





Sunday
       Despite the dreary weather it did not stop Leah, Lauren and I to head to Port Elizabeth for a day of adventure. The whole purpose behind  the trip was to go to the market they have right on the beach on the weekends, but because of the weather they did not have the market! It was quite a shame, which people say here instead of "darn-it" or "fiddly-dee." We met up with one of Lauren's friends, Andale, who is originally from P.E. and he showed us an alternative market to go to! We all bought some souvenirs and enjoyed an afternoon of walking around the Boardwalk. When first seeing Andale (On-doll-ay) I had to do a double-take because he was wearing an MSU track jacket! Andale was in E. Lansing this summer for an Athletes in Action program and he listed off all the athletes and coaches he met. I just couldn't believe that I would run into someone in S.A. that knew who Tom Izzo and Mark Dantonio are! One of the souvenirs I bought is a piece of artwork of the township that was done for the World Cup. While at this little vendor/kiosk the artist had asked us if we had been to the township in P.E. yet and after telling him no, Andale offered to give us a tour of it because that is where he is from (and it is much safer to go with someone who is from there). It is hard for me to put into words my experience of viewing the township in P.E.. It is humongous first of all, thousands of people live in these tiny train car like houses, trash is built up on the side of the road, people walking around all over the place...it is very surreal. Townships are a result of the apartheid and it is not looked at as sad or depressing, it is just normal. The whole concept of townships is very hard for me to wrap my head around, I just have so many questions about them!

  On our way home we stopped at a Farm Stall which is similar to a country store back home. I got some grapefruit marmalade and some real pineapple juice, the pineapple is delicious here! We had a huge family dinner for Misty who leaves Monday. It was a lovely Family Sunday Dinner:)

Port Elizabeth on a Cold, Windy, Rainy Day...
try to picture it as Hot, Humid, and Sunny.

      

Tomorrow is my first day of school and I cannot wait to see what a private school in South Africa is like!

Cheers!