More than halfway....?

     Another month has come and gone. =) Pretty soon that should say another YEAR has come and gone. Wow I can hardly believe we have been here almost 1 year. Alright, that's a lie. I can believe it, because honestly it felt like 10 years. I think that's due to the fact that this place lives in the past. From the cars on the road, to the speed of their Internet...ha-ha. That last one isn't funny...I need good reliable Internet to watch my Pats win the Superbowl this year. =P
     Living abroad has been both challenging and rewarding. The biggest challenges for myself are that I have not been able to work and just trying to keep busy. People always say "Oh I can't wait to retire to do nothing!" --- take it from me, it's not all that fun. Heck I used to always say that. I guess it comes down to liking what you are doing for a job. I remember all those long nights working front desk thinking I would rather watch paint dry than stand there another moment. I guess that's another thing I figured out while living here away from it all. When I get back to the States, I am getting a career that will make me happy. Not some job to fill the time.
     One of the most rewarding things about being here is that it has allowed me a lot of time for "reflection". I think a lot about the people that have come in and out of my life. Some that aren't in my life anymore that I wish still were, and others that I say good riddance. Perhaps what I am trying to say is that by being away from relationships, you learn the true value of them. So to all those people who haven't lost contact with me, who even just send a friendly hello through text/facebook/email, or to my mother that calls me everyday, I would like to say Thank You. Being away is hard and it can make you feel lonely and secluded. Messages from friends and loved ones make every day here a little bit easier.

      I guess if I want anyone to read this I need to stop being so sentimental and just tell you the facts. Lets be honest, no one really wants to know how I feel, they just want to see sharks and lions and bears? Well we haven't seen and sharks recently (plans to go again in the winter), we won't go see the lions until June, and I'm pretty certain that we won't be seeing any bears period. BUT we have been spending a lot of time at an eagle sanctuary about 45 minutes from our house. This place is for injured birds to either be rehabilitated and released back into the wild, or a "refugee camp" where they can safely live out the rest of their lives. Bobby (as I am sure you have noticed from all the bird pictures on FB) has become a bit obsessed with birds. I'm not a huge bird fan, but I do enjoy the birds of prey. I don't like the ones that just poop and eat bird seed. 
Below are some photos of the birds at the sanctuary.

Bobby attempting to feed the baby. Meanwhile the
larger owl swooped in and stole the food!

Owl on B's head

Yuck. Holding the snake.

Rock Kestrel landed on my head. Jasmina thought that was funny!

Cape Dwarf Chameleon. Pretty adorable little guy. 

They should call it an Owl Sanctuary...

They are so soft! 

    One last thing to report. Our beautiful Lion's Head (that's the mountain out our back window) caught on fire a few weeks back. It was absolutely awful, but pretty cool to watch. I was laying on the couch reading when it started to smell smoke. I thought for sure our building was on fire. (This is South Africa...not so sure you should trust a fire alarm.) I jumped up and thankfully saw that the smoke wasn't coming from our building but the mountain. It was a very very windy day and the mountain itself is very steep so it appeared that the "firefighters" were really doing much about it. We watched it just burn for at least an hour before they finally called the helicopter to start dump water on it. I would say it burned for a good 12 hours. No one was injured and no property was damaged. However the mountain did take a beating. 

This was particularly cool to see the helicopter right
out the window picking up water and racing back to dump it.

Burning into the night.

The next morning. Notice all the dark vs. the green on the left side.
Today those trees on the right side are all brown and dying.

   Okay. That is all for now. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone! See ya next year!(possibly literally??) Hope everyone has a fun and safe New Years. 

XOXO from Africa.

Adventures around town....

     Time seems to go super fast at the end of the year. Maybe it's because people have already started decorating for Christmas. (WAY too soon) Thanksgiving isn't celebrated here for obvious reasons, so they go right from halloween to "Hey! It's Christmas time!" This holiday season is going to be awfully lonely this year. With the absence of winter weather and our families, I think we are just going to skip the holidays all together. I am however ready to welcome in the new year. I have my fingers crossed for good things to come in 2015. (For all those hoping for babies...it still wont be that.)

     Lets get back to the present. October and November haven been pretty good months. 

     We had our first blackout. It did happen on a Sunday night which was pretty awful because Sunday is football night. Luckily our team was on at 11:30 pm, and it was only out for 2 hours.

View from window with power out.

View after the lights came back on.

     I was right in the middle of making dinner when everything went out. So we had to go out to the grocery store for some bread to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The picture on the left is our street without power. For some reason the camera made it look a lot brighter than it actually was. On the right had side we had a beautiful candlelit PB&J meal with lays potato chips...=(

     The weekend of my birthday we drove down to a place about 2 hours away called Hermanus Beach. During the months of September and October the whales go there to have their young and raise them up for a little while in shallow waters. It is 12 on the best places to watch whales in the world. 

If you look closely you can see a small whale fin sticking up.

    We didn't get to see a lot of whales that day. I guess it is hit or miss, we saw about 6 or 7. Some people get lucky and see 20+ and even some breaching from the water. Needless to say I was a little disappointed, but cant complain too much because I can see whales from my living room window. =)

Betty's Bay. Penguin colony.

This is literally "ocean spray"
I was very exciting to get a photo of this. It was so windy
that the waves were blowing backwards.

     I went to my first Drag Show. Beefcakes. Hahaha. It was not really what I expected. The show was only one "girl" singing on the stage and telling jokes. I expected like 10 men dressed up showing off their stuff. It was still fun and a new experience. No, Bobby did not attend this outing. I went with Bobby's boss Romeel's Wife's sister Shannon. She is visiting for California and wanted a buddy to go out with.

Bartender at Beefcakes...

The star of the show Princess Pop and Shannon.

    Finally our last big adventure up until this point was a restaurant called Die Strandloper. (The Sandpiper) It's on the beach in a town called Lagenbaan about 2 hours away from Cape Town. They are only open on the weekends and do lunch and dinner servings each day. So basically it is a "restaurant" on the beach (literally sand right on your toes) that gets seafood early in the morning and cooks it right away for both lunch and dinner. It is a 10 course meal, and about a 3-4 hour experience. I usually am not a huge fan of cooked fish, but this place was amazing! People are right when they say "fresher the better!" I don't think it gets any fresher than this.

Mussels. Never had them before...cant wait to have them again!

Fresh cooked bread! Mmm it was good!

Bokkoms (Harders)
**This was Bobby's favorite fish**

Grilling the Bokkoms

Fish Curry

In-between the meal you can walk out to the beach and dip your feet in.

We found some rock anemone. That was really cool to see all the beautiful colors.

Snubnose fish.... (also served smoked angelfish
with this course, not pictured because I didnt like it)
***My favorite! I cant even describe the flavor it was soooo goood***

Snoek with Apricot Jelly, and another one I forgot the name. 

Grilling up the Crawfish (Lobster)

Crawfish. This was really really tasty! 

Serving tables

The group after the meal....full!
From left- Romeel, Jasmina, Bobby, Jarita and Shannon.

      Another few months down. I feel like I post these blogs to keep everyone updated on what cool stuff we get to do here in Africa, but also because I am trying to tempt you to come visit. This place really has a lot to offer as far as scenery and outdoor adventure. Perhaps I need to post more winery photos to tempt some of you people. Cape Town has some of the best wineries in the world. Or perhaps you guys just like living vicariously through me. Thats fine too. =) Either way--- we love and miss you all. Hope everyone has a FaBuLoUs Thanksgiving! Think of me with every bite, because I can guarantee you I will be sad. It's my favorite holiday of the year. Take care everyone...

XOXO from Africa

Lion's Head and a Language Lesson

     Yay!! It's October! My favorite month. =) Happy Fall to you all. It's finally Spring time here!! Looking oh so forward to warmer weather. Things haven't been that exciting lately, so I naturally I haven't written a new entry in a while. Today... all that changes.

     We finally hiked Lion's Head. (2,195 ft above sea level.) It takes a little over an hour to hike to the summit. We chose a day with perfect weather. It was about 75 degrees, almost a tad too hot, can't imagine the people who do the hike during the summer months!

We went all the way to the highest point.

Once we got to the ladder parts, we thought we were almost there...

Nope. Still a long ways to go! And UP!
If you look closely you can see people climbing on the top right side.
Just to put into perspective how huge that mountain is...

We made it!! Sea Point down below.
(again you can see the hiking trail all the way at to bottom....)

You can even see our house from here. =) 

View of Table Mountain

View of the City Bowl from the other side.

Hiking down...careful not to fall...it's quite a ways.

     As for your lesson. Well its short and sweet but we have been compiling a list of things that South Africans say differently than us silly Americans. 

• Traffic lights/Stop Lights --- Robot (They also drive on the left side of the road, and absolutely no turning on red. Not even to make an easy left.)
• Elevator --- Lift
• Bathroom --- Toilet 
• Apartment --- Flat
• Eggplant --- Brinjals
• Zucchini --- Baby Marrow
• Cookies --- Biscuit
• Bill --- Cheque (This one is particularly funny. At restaurants here, similar to Europe, you have to as for a check if you want to leave the table. Otherwise they simply just let you sit as long as you'd like. So when we first arrived, we would flag them down and simply ask for the bill please. They would be like....huh?? We quickly learned its "check" or "SA Cheque" and always just cheque.)
• BBQ --- Braai (South Africans are very proud of their Braais)
• Gas --- Petrol
• Ketchup --- Tomato Sauce
• French fries --- Chips
• Movie Theater --- Cinema
• First floor --- Second Floor (This one is particularly tricky. So if they say such and such building 2nd floor. They actually mean 3rd floor. We say the 1st floor would be ground level, but they have you going up one floor. In writing this it sounds silly, but really its confusing...)
• Grades --- Marks
• Pickles --- Gherkin
• Arugula --- Rocket

   (**Blue is an update**)

    That is all I have for now. I'm sure there are a million things I am missing/still learning to add to this list. But all in due time. Learning something new everyday. This place never ceases to amaze me. So long for now! Hugs and kisses to everyone. 

Happy 39th Birthday Mommy!!

Hope it's not stinky like his diaper was!! ;)

XOXO from Africa!

Monkeys, and Cheetahs, and Elephants! Oh, my!

     We had an exciting first week of September. So exciting that it's going to be hard to share it all with you in words. First I would like to say, I really have a great husband. Possibly the best. It says a lot about a person when you WANT to spend countless unseparated hours together. Bobby and I often joke that we are twins because we constantly find each other picking up on each others habits. We laugh because we will pack clothing separately but end up wearing matching outfits. (Sadly---we kind of like doing that.) All around we really enjoy each others company. Thank you Kurt and Terri for raising such a great man.

    Okay enough fluff (sorry about that) lets get to the adventures. We took a short 5 day vacation to a town called Plettenberg Bay about 6.5 hours away. I did not realize this until we set off on this trip, but damn South Africa has some very diverse terrain. We went from the beach, to the wine lands, to fields of flowers roaming with sheep, cows and ostriches, to rolling hills, to desert-ish flat lands, to forrest filled with monkeys, to towns on the sides of cliffs, through the swamp lands, and back to the beach. All that in a span of 6 hours! 

Day 1: Mostly driving. 

                Stopped at a Wolf Sanctuary. (lol they were wolves imported from America)
     This place also served as a farm with a bunch of random farm animals. Donkeys, sheep, ducks, chickens, roosters, etc. Best of all, lots of tortoises roaming around. We even caught two mating. It was amazing. Very loud. Lol. Okay maybe we were a bit strange to find this entertaining...but come on. That is not an easy task for that little guy. We took a video, but uploading it is too much of a process, so you will have to take my word for it.

This isn't something you see everyday. =)

Big puppies

Bobby playing with the Ostriches. 

      Later on dinner on the beach.

View from the table

Day 2: Tried to talk B into bungee jumping.

Worlds highest bungee bridge...he wasn't having it.

    Instead we decided to go zip lining over waterfalls.

After zip linning we drove back into town to hike Robberg Nature Reserve.

On the drive back we came across a family of Baboons.
Just chilling on the side of the road.
This little one has a baby in between its legs.

Hiking up the side of the mountain

This is after we made the turn on the hike. Secluded beaches. Breathtaking

B playing with the snails

We did the half way hike. (Witsand)

Day 3: On this day we had quite an adventure. It first started at MonkeyLand. A free roaming primate sanctuary. All the monkeys are running around just being monkeys. You aren't allowed to touch them, but they come pretty close. Again another place where we have way more pictures than the African uploading internet will allow me to share.

Relaxing monkey

Lemur monkeys eating. 2 week old baby on this ones back.

Me and B posing on the bridge. =)

     After MonkeyLand, right across the parking lot is a place called Birds of Eden. Normally I don't really like birds. Mostly because I am constantly thinking they are about to poop on me. This place was pretty awesome though. Lots and lots of birds just flying around "freely". Again, this was a place where you can look but not touch. (We happened to be the exception to that rule....)

This is a Knysna Lourie. Really cool but very skittish. 

Started so innocently....lol
"Oh wow look at this pretty bird"
I was walking slowly because I wanted a picture...

This bird was evil. lol. He would say "Hello" then dive bomb our heads.
We would duck (I would scream) then we all would laugh--including the bird.
He would chuckle about it and bob his head. Then repeat. It was hilarious
and terrifying at the same time. We finally got away from him...but later
on he finds us at the end of the walk. To again torment us. I have all this captured on video. 

Beautiful!

Aww how cute he's coming over to say hi...

Nope....Bobby being attacked....again

South Africa's national bird. The Blue Crane. Big Guy.

     After the birds of eden we booked a sunset Cheetah Walk. We learned that you walk a dog, a cheetah walks you. =) This was pretty amazing! It was a long walk all through the natural forrest. Really cool to hold on to the fastest land animal while it prowls through the forrest. They have these specific rules while you are holding onto the leash--- never to loop it through your wrist to hold on, don't tug on the leash, don't let the leash lay on the cheetahs back (I guess it irritates the cheetah?) and always let go if it starts to run! It actually at one point during our walk got a fright and it took off while we were holding it. It was scary but at the same time awesome! Ripped out of our hands so fast! Poof she was gone! Obviously she stopped and they caught her.

Before the walk, they showed us around the park. They have all
kinds of cats. We were also permitted to go inside the cheetah "cage". 

Sunset during the cheetah walk.

Day 4: This day is the reason we made this trip in the first place. Part of what we considered Bobby's birthday present. The day began at a place called Radical Raptors. This is a place that rehabilitates birds of prey back into the wild, and the ones who cant go back they keep. We got to see a flying/hunting demonstration and also got to hold the birds.

Owl making its landing!

This was a black Eagle. HUGE talons on that thing! He was also really heavy!

     After radical raptors it was time to check in to the Knysna Elephant Park. Here we got to feed elephants, take a walk with them AND we also spent the night in a suite right next to the elephants quarters. Once in a lifetime event for sure. They were sooo adorable.

B feeding them some fruit.

Walking

Posing with Sally. She is 25 years old.

B posing with Keisha. She is 11 years old.

Feeding Sally after the long walk.

This is the view from our suite.
All they do is eat and eat and eat. 

They finally fell asleep at about 11:30pm.
**They were awake and eating again at 4:30 am**

Day 5: Morning viewing of elephants. Drove home.

In the morning the guest in the suites get a private
 viewing of the elephants roaming the forrest. They happened to
be eating again. =) No surprise. 

About to start the drive home selfie. 

     This was hands down one of the best vacations I have ever taken. We ate some good food, had a blast with some exotic animals and got to spend quality time with each other. Africa sure does have some great perks once in awhile....but we still miss home.

XOXO from South Africa!