Picture post!

According to my aunt it's a cotton tree! I'm not sure cotton actually grows on trees, but hey the fluffs look cool, for sure.


Ariella went on an outing with her school, and because we ... lost the car keys (we found them again, don't worry) we had to walk to school (we usually walk Ariella to school – but not with this much stuff.). It looks like we're all going on a trip!




Waiting for the bus to depart, being very typical Jewish mums (and cousins) – We didn't want to leave our kids! (Me, Jean and Sandra).

Ariella took my camera with her, and they went to this park where you could hold a baby lion – cute!


And... well, my aunt has lots of bunnies, she got them spayed and... they still had babies! So we had to sell them to pet stores – it took ages to catch them...


Doron (14)


Joshua (7)


Don't have to tell you who this crazy girl with a Hello Kitty shirt is.


Ariella (12)



'Old' people don't want you to know their age! (Sandra)


Tali (good friend of Ariella) had her Bati (Bat Mitzvah) party on Saturday night. She looked gorgeous! We had mini springrolls, Chillers (a milkshake, basically) and pizza and hot chips and ice cream and... lots of good food :)


Hiking in Magaliesberg (near Mountain Sanctuary) – it was a 2 hour-ish drive to get there, pff. We had to get up at 6 – after a late night (only got to bed around 12.30). EARLY. Josh is charming as ever. (Johannesburg Hiking Club)


First things first


























The hike was gorgeous (lamest joke I've ever made: Gorge-ous). I still have a slight muscle ache left over to remind me.

Rosh hashanah is coming up this Thursday and Friday. It's the Jewish new year. I won't be online until next week, because this means we're not allowed to drive etc. etc. (Just like on a Saturday because it's Shabbos). I'm sure it won't be boring though, more food, more visitors etc. etc.
Next entry might just be a 'review' of my experiences with Jewish holidays! Until then!

August 28th, Saturday

Another week gone and I'm really starting to feel like I belong here. Even saw our queen! (Would insert a picture but Ariella is using my camera at her grade six trip this week... For now it will have to suffice that there was this huge poster of some random football player with queen Beatrix's head photoshopped onto it.)

Shabbos this week was kind of special. On a Friday night it's usually only the guys who go to Shul (the synagogue) but this week we all went (including a friend of Doron from school – which is a separate story). There was a wonderful service with a lot of singing (they even did the world cup song – Hebrew prayer set to the melody that is) and after that there was a street meal. It's a meal after a service, and we always have one on Saturdays (which is amazing – there's so much food, anything and everything from fried fish, sweet and sour vegetables to the best cakes and soft drinks. Everything cold – because you can't prepare food on Shabbos – but wonderful nonetheless. This Friday though, as I said, we had it in the street, for everyone. The theme was 'Single Malt & Salmon' – Whiskey for the adults and salmon for everyone. Drinks and popcorn and chips for the kids. Lovely experience.

Doron had a friend sleep over, as I said, a boy from his school. This was a rather strange experience, because he's one of the boys I teach. A blend of two worlds; teacher-Cha and at-home-Cha. I felt like a teacher all the time, even when the guy kept me awake by complaining about Doron's hamster and nagging us about the mattrass – one was too soft and the other too hard. To be honest, I'm glad he went home at ten in the morning! What a night.

Today we're having guests over to watch rugby and play 'the Buzz game' (for playstation). I also started to learn Hebrew. Learning to read Hebrew is fun but it also makes me feel like a four or five year old all over again. Stumbling over – to my untrained eye – way too similar letters and taking ages to sound out a word is actually very exciting! Reading the first short sentences I actually understand is even better. And yes, I'll watch that this doesn't interfere with my progress in English. I just need to have my own little project while I'm here, too.

More special events are coming up over the next few weeks, Ariella's Bat Mitzvah function, Tali's battie, a wedding and I'm sure many more. Oh, and I managed to get myself invited to the movies with some girls (and maybe guys?) my age. I'm already a bit nervous about that, but I'm sure it'll be a good experience.

Until the next update!

Random things:
Vase -> /va:s/ not /veis/ (insert pro phonetics stuff I can't do on this computer)

Joshua: (talking about a map) Why did Hashem (G-d) make the countries so small but the inside so big? (Why are the countries so small but when you're IN them so big?) :D