It has been a long week my friends,

Before I dive into catching you up let me first answer a couple questions. I actually get to see quite a bit of American movies because those are about the only movies that exist in other parts of the world like this and also we can't really go out after dark which is at like 6:30 so we have lots of time to kill at night. As for the roaches, I discovered the sorce one night when our power went out. The circuit breaker is hidden away in a store room at the back of our house used by the boys shelter and that is one creepy room let me tell you. But I immediatly recognized the infestation by all the roach crap scattered about the shelves. And then I saw the biggest roach of my life; it was the size of my pointer finger and I'm not even kidding. But the problem is taken care of for the moment because I told one of the interns and they sprayed and left traps over the weekend.

Ok so now to fill you up to speed before my time runs out. Thursday I ended up not going to the drop in center at all. Instead on the way to work, Thabo and I had to stop at this woman's house and pick up about 30 of these big sacks of corn meal to bring to the communities. So after we got those I offered to help Thabo drop them off and work with him for the day. So we drove all around PMB on errands and for the first time I felt like I was actually doing something. We had to make a couple home visits/ school visits and the conversations took place mostly in English so I knew what was going on. And whats more is that Thabo and I actually had conversations about each visit afterward. I am thinking that if I continue to be bored at Haniville I'm going to propose to Thabo working with him.

Friday morning was our meeting and AIDs training which turned out to be very much a waste of time for me and Aerin because it was nothing we had never learned in health class at school. We were actually quite disappointed by it and it went longer than it was meant to (because this is Africa) so we really had to rush at home so we could leave for the beach. It was a very lovely two hour drive to Shelly Beach through rural South Africa which is a truely beautiful site. I took lots of pictures so now all that remains is for me to get a jump drive so I can post some for you all to see. They really don't do justice to the land scape though. We had some really lovely flats for the ten of us (6 of us plus 4 from Durban) and we divided up the two groups when we got there. Sally and her family had a flat as well. The beach was right out our back yard. Aerin, Thirza and I wasted no time getting into the warm Indian Ocean despite it being cold and windy. Then we all had a huge pasta dinner in one of the flats and hung out until we were all sleepy and ready for bed which was like 9:30. Lame I know but as it turns out this work here really takes it out of you.

Saturday morning after breakfast Aerin and I went for a stroll on the beach. Then we returned and went with a group to the mall. The mall was nothing out of the ordinary. I bought some indoor soccar shoes for my league that I am playing in with the YFC because the shoes I have with me are not made for running or playing soccar. We came home and relaxed for a while and then headed out to the beach even though it was cold and wet. I did some shell collecting because the shells were really cool. (My mom will be proud of me.) Then there was some more relazing at the flat. Aerin and I descided to take a dip before dark and it was very very cold. There was also a stick which had us convinced it was a sea snake for a long time and we were laughing very hard when we realized it wasn't. We came back and played a very fun card game that is kinda like slaps. Then we had another large pasta dinner but different pasta this time. And eventually we went back to our flat for some more games before bed.

Sunday morning we had a big breakfast and went to the beach even though the wind was very strong. We tried to build a sand castle but it collapsed into the moat. Aerin and Thirza went for a final swim in some huge waves and I stayed on the beach and looked for shells. I also made an attempt at flying with big palm branches but it didn't quite work. We took some group pictures and then left for home. I took more pictures when I wasn't dosing off. Sunday night we were all beat and it was kinda dead around the house.

Monday Aerin ended up coming to work with me because she is currently between changing projects. It is much nicer to work at the community with another volunteer because it makes the down time there more interesting. You could really see that the kids are much more used to female volunteers because they were immediatly playing with Aerin. I had my own little group of boys though so I wasn't jealous or anything. I led a bunch of games with them of different kinds of tag and they were all climbing on me. It was very funny.

Tuesday Aerin came with me again and it was another fun day with the kids even though it was cold. And then today was quite a bit like yesterday only much slower. There were only 16 kids. I played a game of soccer with some of them and my team won! Speaking of which I don't think my tournament is going to come together but one of the interns at the Site 11 community is putting together a team and he wants me to do the same so the two communities can play eachother at least.

That is about all I have time for. We have all been very tired this week. It won't be so long before my next post so check back this weekend.

Enjoy the rest of your weeks