Hello

It has been a couple weeks now since I have been able to post. Since there is quite a bit to catch you up on, there is going to have to be some summorising. First I will say that the scabbies, after the edition of a take over bed bugs, has been all taken care of. Our house has actually been more or less pest free so that is a good thing. Let me also say that on the 17th I was able to cellebrate St Patty's day with some real Irish and that was rather fun though no one realised what day it was until later in the afternoon.

I will start two weekends ago. We left early friday morning with the Durban YDC and Sally and her family to go to Sanni Pass in the Drakensburg mountains. It was in fact the most beautiful place that I have ever seen in my near 18 years of life. We stayed in a smallish cluster of huts on a hill down in a massive river valley surrounded by even more massive mountains. It is in fact one of the few places here in South Africa that gets snow. We spent the weekend doing some hanging out, playing soccer, and taking some hikes. One such hike took us to a huge, three level water fall with ice cold pools of water to swim in that were so brightly blue the pictures we took didn't do them justice. We were surrounded by wildlife and I dare say that if there is such a place as heaven it looks something like this. I have never felt so on the edge of civilization as I did there.

We returned home Sunday evening rather reluctanly and I had two days to clean my things and get myself back to reality before heading up to L'Abri for my first camp in two weeks.

Wednesday we left early for L'Abri, this time a camp of fourteen year olds from a Christian School. This camp started off like all the others but immediatly there was something different, something truely odd. Yes, it was freezing cold up there. We were almost always in the mists and I had to huddle under two hoodies just to stay warm. I found this camp to be a less meaniful one both for the campers as well for myself. We were unable to do all we had planned as well on account of the weather. We did get to go on a night hike though it wasn't nearly as cool as I though it would be. It was hard enough trying to keep all 50 kids together in the pitch black and thick fog. Some of the highlights of this camp were a soccer match of five L'Abri staff against 25 campers with us winning 9-2 and a tallent show. Martin, Richy and I decided to put on a fashion show with garbage bags and it later ended in a Zoolander style walkoff to conclude the tallent show. The teachers then held a spiritual with the kids which we were not obligated to attend. I was glad I ducked out of there when it turned into a crazy madhouse of wailing and speaking in tongues which could be heard across camp. Not to pass judgement on such things but I was rather put off that they were doing that with kids. Anyway, there was still some success to the camp and we wrapped it up an hour late on friday.

Friday night we went out a cafe, which has become something of a favorite, for dessert. We ended up having a dance party there and were the last ones to leave the place. Fortunately, the staff seemed to be enjoying us.

Saturday, Richie, Thirza, Aerin and I were the only ones around the house and we actually had quite a nice time. We saw a Rugby match down the street with the premier high school rugby team in all of South Africa. We watch some movies and if I may brag, I cooked one of the best dinners ever (well, that I have cooked anyway.) That night we went out to an Irish style pub and ended the night searching for a food place which ended in vain.

Sunday we went down to Durban and spent the day on the beach. The ocean was as warm as bath water and we had a lot of fun. The way back was not so nice though because I fell asleep just as we were leaving the city and woke up an hour later back in the city completely lost. Turns out our driver doesn't know how to follow road signs. So after a long long time we made it home and collapsed.

This week has been pretty mellow. I saw a huge monkey yesterday about ten feet from me which was cool. Tonight we are going to Kareoke and friday I head back to L'Abri for another camp.

So long guys

Hello Everyone,

Let me begin by wishing everyone a happy March. I know some of you are still waiting for me to post some pictures. I have given up the notion because the internet is far to slow here to put them up. In fact the last time I tried they weren't even attached after 45 minutes and I ended up running out of time. So I think that everyone will have to wait until I get home. Now not a whole lot has really happened for me in the last week.

Friday was my busiest day since my last post with Aerin and I finishing our mural. Her boss and another guy she worked with took us to this place called the Crafty Duck for lunch. They have lots of animals there amoung other things so while we waited for our food Aerin and I wandered around to look at the animals. We spent most of our time in the nearby snake house which was actually quite a creapy area. The snakes, of which there were some extremely venomous ones were kept in these glass boxes which were closed by the tiniest of locks. In many cases, the boxes weren't even completely sealed. So Aerin and I were quite careful about where we were stepping. Now our lunch was most tasty so that was excellent payment for the murals.

The rest of my time has been spent walking around town or hanging out with the people I live with. This is a pretty slow time at L'Abri now and I'm not even scheduled for any camps. I think there are two that I can join anyway though and I will find a couple times to go up there and work on some projects. There are also some more opportunities for me to paint so I think I will begin pursuing those options in the meantime.

So the major event of this week/ African experience is an outbreak of scabies in our house. For those of you who don't know what scabies is feel free to search it on wikipedia before reading further. There is a very detailed article there that I have actually just read myself. Anyway, this infection began sometime a couple weeks ago with some clothing in the back laundry room from the street kids. One of the people I live with decided to move this pile. Shortly after moving said pile, this person noticed a very itchy rash appearing on parts of her body.The next time she saw Sally, she asked if she should go to the doctor. Sally immediatly said that that looks like it came from a kind of bug which infects your skin. This person decided to wait and see what would happen. Sure enough, the rash didn't clear up on its own. In fact, it got worse. So last Monday she finally went to the doctor. The doctor took one look and said, that is Scabies, here is some lotion and soap to kill them. What the doctor didn't think to tell us was just how contageous scabies is. Within a day or to of my housemate going to the doctor, others started noticing a strange rash appearing. One even came forward that she had had a rash now for a couple weeks as well. Turns out, you can get scabies from just about any surface an infected person comes in contact with; especially if they scratch alot. It took Sally last night to point this out. Well now everyone in the house is paranoid beyond belief. This morning I woke up to the sound of Sally giving some of the early risers a list of instructions. I came out of my room to see huge piles of linens and such waiting for the wash, surfaces being scrubbed, etc etc. Before going into the shower I was given my own bar of special soap and a bottle of special lotion. But I dont have scabies I protested. Too bad they told me, you have to use it anyway. Now let me just say that its not as simple as soaping up in the shower. You have to get wet, lather up, and then turn the water off and stand for 10 or so minutes until the soap drys. Only then do you get to rinse it off. Now this soap actually really burns, most of your body is fine, but boy in places that have soft skin, ouch. The lotion must be applied to wet skin as well and you can't dress until that is dry as well. Meanwhile, we can't go home now until this evening because we had to doom fog our entire house, plus the laundry room, plus the car that we use. Today, phone calls were also made to people we have come in close contact with so that they are warned. Personally, I think this is an over reaction, but I guess we aren't taking any chances...

So long, may you all remain scabies free