5 weeks, it's going so fast!!

well, it has been more than a week since my last post, as last Saturday saw a complete power outage in the town and then the server went down on monday - just wasn't a good few days for internet. So I now have a lot and a lot and a lot to catch you all up on. So here goes:

we have been working very hard on our project - building a stage, meshing our window frames now and still cementing - sigh, pillars are the worst. last week was filled with pranking the newbies and having pranks played on us by the boys, all good fun. Unfortunately, our 3 month group lost a member after one girl became really ill and in the end had to return home. She is greatly missed.

I met up with the St Paul's group, joining them on their waterfall work which brought back many memories, and also enjoyed chilling with the teachers and with Tess and Em at our favourite, El Rancho (the italian restaurant with a mexican name in an African country - love it :P)

But the week that has just been has been one of the best weeks - EVER! on Tuesday morning we left for Ndarakwai, which is a concervation ranch and is possibly one of the most beautiful places on earth. We arrived and had our briefing and went out on a walk that afternoon, on foot, coming close to zebra and giraffes, elands and baboons - I was in heaven.

The next day, we had our breakfast and headed off to work on the furrows that lead to the waterhole. It was quite cool which was nice and always was windy so even when the sun, ever so rarely for us, popped out, we stayed at a nice temperature. But the most annoying thing of that day would have to have been the ticks - we were viciously attacked, my tick count for that morning was something like 78 on my clothes - they were everywhere and we were all rocking the pants-tucked-into-socks look - it was really good fun!!! after coming back for lunch to our camp (the walk to and from takes about 30 minutes of walking through beautiful landscape) we got down and dirty making some elephant dung paper which on friday we made into little books - adorable!! it was heaps of fun, especially when you literally stuck your hand into a pile of boiled dung and washed it and washed it, and then chased after people with dungy hands - hilarious!

Thursday saw us working on the waterhole itself and many blisters later and falling into the waterhol or course, and being covered in mud, we had made quite impressive progress and our leader, Fabion, was very happy with our work - yay!! we then went into the treehouse to watch the animals, as we had quite the audience while we worked. Unfortunately, a jeep scared them all off, so we headed back and that afternoon we went out walking, and it was really good fun!!

Friday morning we made our way out to a masai boma and we learned about their way of life and then i was paired with a young wife who helped me make a necklace and a bracelet - even though we couldn't understand each other, we were still able to laugh and have a fantastic time - it was amazing! Then they danced for us and we did the hokey pokey for them! That afternoon, we made our elephant dung paper books and broke camp and headed home - bumpiest trip ever!!!

Tomorrow, we leave for Kidia, to live with the Chuga for the week, so I am really looking forward to it!!
Until my next update - who knows when, hahaah!!!


Annie