saying goodbye...

Well, my time here in Durban is almost at an end, and I'm staring at the date in disbelief! I cannot comprehend how time can go by so fast!! I only have one week left before I arrive back in Toronto. I'm so pumped to be coming home to be with friends and family again, but I'm so sad to say goodbye to everyone here. It's a differnet sort of sad than when I left Canada almost seven months ago. Back then I knew that unless something crazy happened and I died, I'd be seeing everyone again. But now leaving here, I'm not sure what the future holds. I have two years left at school, and then ideally I'd be able to come back and visit for a month or so. But two years is a very long time, and who knows what will happen in my life and the lives of people here. I've made some really great friends here through the church and in two years time who knows where they'll be. But I'm going to make the best effort humanly possible to get back here. I want so badly to be able to come back and see the kids and see how they've grown and changed and to see Sinakekele up and running and Ruth's vision in full swing. So I know no matter what, I've got to make it back, even if just for a short stay. It's also hard saying goodbye to Mel, my friend and fellow volunteer, because although she's also from Canada, she's all the way over in Regina, so it could be at least a year before we see each other again. It's definitely a bittersweet time for me right now, with so much anticipation about going home, while at the same time I'm desperately trying to soak in each minute I have with the kids and everyone here...

Anyhow, a short update:

the Drakensburg mountains were amazing!! So gorgeous! The part we stayed at is called Giant's Castle, and it's definitely big enough for a giant! It was quite misty when we got there, so we could only see the mountains that we were immediately surrounded with, but as the mist cleared later on we could see the mountains that were farther away, hidden by the clouds, and it was so neat! It was like God's little (or should I say big!) surprise for us :) We did 2 short hikes our first day there, both about 2hrs. long, and our second day we did a 4hr. hike, about 14km long! Sho, were we tired!! But we were proud of ourselves for accomplishing it! I was quite scared at times, as we hiked around the sides of the mountains, there were huge drops on the one side, it threw me for quite a loop! But we trekked on none the less, and ran into some horses grazing on one summit, and later on some wild baboons (we pulled out our little swiss army knife just in case they decided to get vicious):) We also got a bit of a fright driving through a township on the way there, nothing too scary, but a bit dodgy for two white girls by themselves...but we made it! All in all, a quite successful South African Adventure!

Another exciting event, Mel and I spotted Percy Montgomery, a famous South African rugby player for the Springbok team. He apparantly uses the same internet cafe we happen to frequent, quite awesome! We saw him about 3 times, but were unsure if it was really him, and then this week we discovered he was the real deal! So we've brushed shoulders with a real South African celebrity!

The kids are all doing great! Siya is enrolled for "Big School" next year, and had his orientation day yesterday. He is so thrilled to be going to Grade 1, I wish I was here to see him on his first day! Simon will be continuing with Grade R next year at BroadAcres, and his class will only consist of 6 kids, perfect for giving him the attention he needs. Mary and Jake are enrolled at the local preschool, the same one that Tory, a baby the Ruth had at one point, is attending, so they are excited for that! They will all be appearing in their school Christmas play on the 28th, I'm glad to still be here for that, I'm sure I'll get some great pictures!

Oh, and the building plans have been submitted to the architecht this week, so we are anxiously awaiting approval...

Bye for now!