Friday, September 30, 2011

3 things...

3 Things That I Didn't Think We're Crucial To My Well-Being But Certainly Are Once I Realized Africa Doesn't Have Them. . . . . . . . . 

1. CoffeeMate. Cool, creamy, delicious, fat-free, chilled in the refridgerator not sitting on a shelf totally unrefridgerated, liquid NOT powder, french vanilla CoffeeMate. Just a small pour of this elixir of life transforms your every day cup o' Joe into the morning beverage of champions. I have searched and searched and there is nothing equal to or even slightly similar to my beloved CoffeeMate anywhere! I have sunk so low as to use vanilla flavored soy-milk to try and revive my coffee, it has proved unsuccessful. So America, enjoy an extra sip of your morning treat for me, as I am sadly without it.


2. Garbage Disposal. Being the fortunate American gal that I am I have had the luxury of  growing up with a garbage disposal always at my disposal (insert chuckle). Now I am without one and I can not fathom how people take the time to walk all the way over to the garbage bin to scrape their plate, and then all the way back to the sink to rinse it. COME ON PEOPLE! In America we can do it all at once!!! Just a flip of a switch and all of the apple peels, leftover mac&cheese, fig newtons, small animals, etc. etc. that you wish to dispose of are GONE! I'm sure we all get stuffed up a little when a fork slips down, but that is a risk we are willing to take. Dear GD, I miss you dearly.



3. Keyless locking door knobs.  You might be thinking "Come on Sam, let's not be the typical lazy American, it really isn't that hard to lock a door with a key." Well, it may not be that cumbersome to lock the front door, even the back door, but how about the bathroom doors, the bedroom doors, and the closet doors huh!?! Every door has a key. EVERY DOOR. April Fools Day trick of the year, STEAL ALL OF THE KEYS. Why can't they just get the nice little knobs with the sweet little turn locks or even the fun-to-push button locks? No keys necessary people!

 
Moral of the story, if someone wants to send me a care package including CoffeeMate, a garbage disposal, and about 6 keyless locking doorknobs, it would be greatly appreciated. :)

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

First Attack...

It happened...

My first near death experience here in Africa, hadn't expected it to come so soon...

I walked into the bathroom, minding my own business, just wanting to take a shower like any other innocent human, when I saw it... came right in the window... an AFRICAN KILLER BEE!!!!!!!!!!!

It had the fangs of the Cullen family, a stinger like a machete, the swiftness of Muhammed Ali, and a look in its eye that could strike terror in even the grimiest of hillbillies.

I was fast, but it was faster. Barely escaping death Jorg came and brilliantly let the bee out the window. PHEW.

But wait! Then... the monster tried to enter through the backdoor, but his attempt was immediately denied by Jorg, AND THEN... the demon bee flew over the house and tried to come in the front door, making his greatest mistake of getting stuck in the curtains. As his pleaded for his life Jorg showed no mercy and after about 10 smashes using not only his hands, but ping pong paddles as well, the killer bee had finally met his maker.

It wasn't actually a killer bee, but you can never bee too careful. 

This is a dangerous place my friends. 

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Finally Here!!

Hooray! I'm finally here!!!!

Everything went well with the trip over, well except for a few minor things like...

1. The Nyquil/Red Wine cocktail permitted me to sleep for the first four hours of my flight... but for the remaining 11 hours it was not so successful. Needless to say it was a VERY long flight.

2. The nice man next to me pulled my blanket over on to himself in the midst of his Ambien coma, so I got to snuggle with a stranger half the way to Africa because I couldn't pry my blanket from his death grip haha.

3. Babies. In the section behind me, but still, babies. Enough said.

Other than that this trip across went much smoother than the last time.

I'm still a bit messed up with the time change, as to be expected. Woke up at about 2am STARVING. Hopefully my body sorts itself out soon.

Overall, I'm a happy girl to be back here. I do miss everyone at home though! Will post again soon :)

Saturday, September 24, 2011

I Love Ya Tomorrow!

Tomorrow! AH! Jeez louise I can't believe I'm really going!

I can only hope that this time goes a bit smoother than the last! The last time I flew to SA from JFK, it just happened to be the day after they shut JFK down because of that insane snow storm. So... JFK looked like a war zone. There was no food in the whole place, only soda and it smelled like a PortaPotty at Countryfest. Lovely. People were fighting each other to use the outlets to charge their phones. Then the flight got delayed once, twice, three times, four times, and FINALLY I got on.  With a little help from Nyquil I made it to Johannesburg safely, and had to wait another eh 4 hours or so because I missed my connecting flight. PERFECT.

This time will go better. I just feel it. Unless Mama Nature throws us for a loop and just decides to drop the snow tomorrow oiy.

Anywhoooo...

Last night was the lovely Foxy Gale party at Halpin's. Thank you to everyone who showed up! It was really such a great farewell gift to be able to see everyone before I left :). I'll miss you Jolly Ranchers!

PA Love <3

<3
A special farewell to the 'Foxy' of Foxy Gale, Jon Fox! God bless you my friend and please stay safe!

Party Rock was in the house last night

 Now it is time for some final packing. I'm definitely bring too many shoes, typical chick. Then it's 'Mock Thanksgiving' as I'm going to miss the real thing over here, and it being my favorite holiday, my lovely family is going to have a Thanksgiving tonight with all of the trimmings! Lucky Me :)

Monday, September 19, 2011

Sunday, September 18, 2011

The Car Guard

Hello hello :)

I've decided that I'm going to start a little side topic in this thing called...

"Things in South Africa that Americans Don't Have, 
and that Americans Will Find Strange"

My first topic...

Car Guards

Excited American (center) posing with a Car Guard (left) and Car Washer (right)
So... when we Americans go to our friendly neighborhood Walmart we really aren't that worried that our car is going to be broken in to, or parts of it will be missing, or the whole gosh darned thing will be missing. Well... in South Africa is a wee bit different. There are these lovely enthusiastic men called "Car Guards". They usher you to their section of the parking lot, with all the ethusiasm in the world, and then 'guard' your car while you're in the store. Then you hand them a rand or two and off you go.

Of course we are a bit weary about walking to our car alone at night, especially being a woman, but they guard your car during the day! B i z a r r e, and sad :-/

On a high note, there are also people that will wash your car while you are shopping! Now that is something I wish we had in America!!!

Here's an amusing little viddydiddy...
7 guys, 7 guns, to steal 7 cars

Kind Words :)

Friday, September 16, 2011

Things I'm Going to Miss (besides the obvious)

Things I'm Going to Miss
(besides the obvious, like friends & family & dog & all that stuff :) )

 1. Law & Order SVU
2. Dunkin Donuts drive through french vanilla iced coffee
3. Real internet (not South Africa's lame excuse for internet, might as well have two cups tied with strings)
4. Wearing warm, fuzzy mocassin slippers
5. Snow angels
6. Foliage, gosh heartbreaker
7. Not needing someone to guard my car when I go into the store
8. Paychecks wa wa waaaaa
9. PUMPKIN CRUNCH
10. Charlotte :(

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Oh my bloggg

Waka waka!

After many requests for updates about my upcoming trip I have decided that the easiest way for whoever is interested to see what I'm up to is to start a blog. I'm going to call it a travel diary instead, because blog sounds so ehhh. 
So for whoever would like to read this... W e l c o m e T o M y A d v e n t u r e ! 

Here we go...

So here I am, a mere 10 days away from my attempted relocation to South Africa woo! I can't believe it! I've got one suitcase packed, one more to go! 

For those who I haven't talked their head off about this I'll give a bit of background.
1. Girl meets Boy



2. Boy moves back to South Africa
3. Girl spends month in South Africa


4. Girl returns to America oh so very sad :(


5. Boy was supposed to move to Florida with Girl but... the government caboshed that 


6. Girl decides what the heck, and is hopping the Atlantic and going back to South Africa.


So off I go... flying out bright & early on September 25.  

As excited as I am to go, I'm also quite sad about leaving. I'm going to miss my family so much, and I'm really putting my parents through the ringer with this one. I'm also going to miss my friends so very much. I'm even going to miss work, whaaaat. I've made so many fantastic friends at the Ranch. I'm one lucky gal. 

Welp I'm going to wrap up this little intro and call it a day :) Hope that everyone enjoys my lovely travel diary. Goodnight xoxo