Transition entry: Last week in the UK---first week in SA

I’m sorry I haven’t updated my blog sooner but it’s been hectic! First I will touch on our last week in England. We cleared our entire house out only leaving a blanket and some pillow to sleep on. Chris came over and we had a slumber party! That night we had our “Farewell Dinner” at the Royal Oak. The staff gave us dinner and drinks on the house and also presents including “blessing scarfs”, chocolates, a Gurkha hat for Donovan, Nepalese knife pins, and an Egyptian cotton scarf straight from Cairo! And of course two beautiful cards with notes that I will keep forever. Strangely enough, the guys had also taken just about everything we were getting rid of in the house including some nice stuff like printers and shelving units and some not-so-nice stuff like broken chairs. I was able to squeeze in a few more days of work too which was nice! We sold our car to Cynthia and the day after we sold it (mind you, we had 2 cars the entire time in the UK “in case one broke”), our car broke. Actually it ran out of gas! So we had to walk to a gas station and get some…oops! The next day we woke up to a flat tire! Can you believe it?! I think our car was having a laugh. During out last week, we also met up with Donovan’s old friend, Ashley. He is in Bible school! He took us to his school and it was something out of the Secret Garden…apparently it used to be a really posh school for like the Queen’s kids. I hung out with Jackie a few more times and on our last night we had pizza and salad with Jackie and Adam. We slept at a Christian Bible place the night before our flight because Donovan’s friend, Anton, is a manager there and recommended we stay. It was quite interesting because what they do there is translate Bibles but it’s not as easy as it sounds. They are translating in like thousands of languages but it’s not just a direct translation. For example, in certain cultures, a Dove represents peace but in a certain South American culture, it represents evil so that part of the Bible would have to be translated differently. So basically an anthropologist has to go study the culture and learn the language before translating! So much work! Anyway our room was complete with two single beds and a Bible in between… The next morning was our flight to South Africa! We knew we had a stop in Lisbon but once we arrived in Lisbon, we found out we had a stop in Maputo which is in Mocambique! Unfortunately at the exact moment that our breakfast was being served, I was really nauseous so I didn’t eat. Once we arrived in Maputo we had to get off the plane and wait in the airport which if you wanted a new African wardrobe, or perhaps any designer fragrance or get drunk off of expensive liquors, it would be your place. But if you want, say, a piece of bread, a cracker, or even a sandwich-no can do! There was nothing to eat there so I was starving by the time we had to get back on the SAME plane and go 45 minutes to Joburg. Luckily the hostess snuck me some crackers! We arrived in Johannasberg, found our airport transfer taxi and were off to Donovan’s sister’s house! We are staying with his sister, Natalie, and brother-in-law Brandon. They have two adorable children, Joshua and Jordan. We have our own room and bathroom which is nice. Their house is beautiful complete with a 3-car garage, in-ground pool, and 2 maids. So that means no laundry, no bed making and no cleaning!



On top of that, Donovan’s family is absolutely wonderful! We’ve already had 2 braais (South African bbq) and the meat here is out of this world. I’ve never had better chicken or steak in my life! I feel like I have done so much already—basically, we went to dinner at his Mom’s house, went out to an Italian restaurant with Brandan, Natalie and their friends, I went out for a day with Hailey (Donovan’s other sister) and her son, Connor to this gorgeous old house that the lady has now turned into a lunch/tea place. So we sat outside and had a sandwich and coffee and the kids played in the yard. We went to his Ouma’s (grandmas) for breakfast and went shopping of course. Not for clothes though..just for food and toiletries. I won’t need to buy any clothes here because Natalie got rid of so many of hers and they fit me perfectly so I have so many new shorts, tanks, dresses, pajamas, sandals everything! Some with the tags still on! Last night we went to a “21st” which is a huge party that everyone has when they turn 21 and “become an adult”. It was Donovan’s God Mother’s son and it was a biker-themed party. Natalie and Brandon live in a complex called Eagle Canyon which is surrounded by a high wall and tight security (to avoid burglaries) and a beautiful golf course is in the center. There is a clubhouse that has a restaurant, golf store, spa and gym. I joined the gym and went through my work out with trainer on Friday so I will get to start doing that this week. And I can walk to the gym which is convenient since I can’t drive here. Donovan joined the BIG gym with Brandon so that they can train together (not in the complex). Apparently, the gym I joined doesn’t have heavy enough weights… One day while walking to the gym I heard a cute little bird squacking. All of a sudden the bird flies full force towards my head and I duck…it was so scary! I later found out that these birds want to poke out your eye if you get too close to their babies and they usually won’t actually hit you, but sometimes they have bad aim…needless to say, I walk off the path when I see these birds now. I also went to a pilates class with Natalie which was really cool. It’s in this lady’s house and she transformed her garage into a gym. My butt really hurt the next day. So what have I noticed so far about South Africa in comparison to the States? Well, the weather for one. Of course the weather is hot and dry and beautiful everyday (pretty soon I will hopefully be tan…HAHA). But it is also the “rainy season” so there have been crazy thunderstorms and hail---yes HAIL! People (mostly black) are just all over on the sides of the roads and meandering across highways like nothing. They ride in the back of pick up trucks, standing or sitting, speeding down the highway. At every traffic light (or “robot” as they call them here) you are bombarded with people selling you sunglasses, purses, squares of grass, handing out flyers, or begging for money. The beggars are creative though…of course you have the good ‘ole person holding a sign that says they need money to feed their family but then you have blind guys with canes being escourted up and down the highway. Apparently, the escourts get money and give the blind guy some but keep most of it! Also, every parking lot has watchmen. They just stand in the parking lot and make sure that no one vandalizes your car. But be sure to give them a tip when you leave! Or else they will remember your license plate and scratch your car the next time you come! Even though I haven’t gone to any parks yet, seen any elephants, played with any lion cubs, or even gone swimming, I feel like I have done so much just because everything is a new experience for me. It is so interesting and wonderful to see where Donovan is from, how he grew up, and meet the people who love him. Tomorrow I am going into the office with Natalie and am going to start doing some office work (her and Brandon own a landscaping company). Next week we are going to Sun City (“the lost city”) for a week! I can’t wait! Well, that is all for now and I will try to write again soon but don’t know how soon soon will be. So, in the words of South Africans, I’ll write again “now now”. P.S. And yes, I saw all the embarrassing baby photos ;-)


For some reason the site is not allowing me to format my pictures so I'm not able to place them within the text so here they are...all out of order...

This is the downstairs of our house (I didn't take any pics upstairs):

Our bathroom:

Donovan with his God mother's children (and his eyes closed):

At the 21st:

South African hail storm!

That's Josh running to escape the hail!

Donovan with Brandon and Natalie:

Me with Brandon and Natalie (at Tony Spaghettis'):

At our Royal Oak goodbye dinner:

Our house in the UK (bare):

Donovan fixing the tire on our funny car:

Me and Jackie (and Adam and a chili):

England

Ok so I apologize for not updating...been traveling and only got internet access now! The following post was written last week but not published...I still have a lot to write about my last week in England and my first week in South Africa but at least for now, here is a summary of my time in England...or atleast my likes and dislikes...write again soon!


Things I will miss about England:

1. British Accents. They are funny but what's even funnier is how the pronounce certain words. For example, Zebra is "zeh-bra", Hyundai is "Hi-oon-day", Aluminum is "al-ih-min-ee-um", garbage is rubbish, garbage cans are dust bins, fries are chips, chips are crisps, trunks are boots, underwear is pants, color is colour, the toilet is the loo, a napkin is a sanitary pad and a serviette is a napkin, a cash register is a till, gas is petrol, tires are tyres and cell phones are mobiles. And finally, "You alright?" is "How are you?" and "Cheers" is goodbye slash a little bit of thank you.
2. That people think my "accent" is cool. Some girl the other day was like, "Wow--your accent is so cool. I'm so jealous!" Really? American accents are so...oh I don't know...blah.
3. Indian food: It's reallyyyy good here! Curry, naan bread, and bhat (that's rice!)! Mmmm...
4. The 'Royal Oak" and all the Nepalese guys: The 'Royal Oak' is the pub where I worked. All the guys there were Nepalese and I swear, they are the nicest breed of people in the world.
5. Chandy: This is half beer; half lemonade and it's amazing (and I don't even like beer!).
6. Pimm's: Yummy rum mixed with lemonade, mint, and fruit drank most famously during Wimbledon
7. Honesty in signage: The British have really funny signs in their country, like the one I blogged about before on the tube which said something along the lines of "If it's really busy, people may have to sit on your lap." Other favorites include "Elderly Crossing" complete with a picture of Grandma and Grandpa with canes and "Please don't eat smelly food" courtesy sign in the train station.
8. Old stuff: everything here is really old but really beautiful at the same time.
9. Price of Brie Cheese: It's like 1 dollar for a triangle (not on sale!).
10. Proximity to other countries: it's so easy to go to France for a weekend or Germany for a "holiday". In the same regard, people from all over Europe and the rest of the world reside in the UK so you're always meeting interesting people from all sorts of cultures.
11. Aero chocolate: delicious chocolate bars that come in regular chocolate and chocolate mint. Silky chocolate with air bubbles. Yummy!
12. Coronation Street: a British soap opera. It's ok...if I ever come back I'm sure it will be easy to catch up on...
13. Museums: so many of them are free! It's great!
14. Boot sales: imagine BARKS garage sale every Sunday---that's what we have here!
15. Bed and Breakfasts: they are cheaper than hotels here! And plentiful!
16. Radio 1: it's better than Z100---WAYYYY better. They play throwbacks and new music and have great DJs and celebrity guests and cool games. One of my favorite things they do is have each musical guest record their own version of someone elses' song.

Things I will NOT miss about England:

1. English Breakfasts: I don't know about you but I'm not that hungry in the morning. A bowl of cereal or a piece of toast and coffee is plenty for me. So I don't know how the people here eat those bloody English breakfasts! I mean who wants eggs, toast, mushrooms, tomatos, sausage, and bacon for breakfast! Yuck!
2. Tipping policy: As a patron, it was all well and good. But as a bartender, not so much. People do NOT tip bartenders here and when you eat out, it is customary to tip only about 10%.
3. Driving on the other side of the car and the other side of the road: it's wierd and scary and I can't do it, therefore I don't like it.
4. Degrees Celcius and Military Time: What can I say? I'm an American stuck in my ways.
5. Pounds: the pound is worth a lot more than the dollar (1 pound = like $1.65!) which means when you come to the UK, you automatically have less money. So not cool! And the paper money only starts at 5 pounds! And they have SO many coins...1 pent...2 pents...5 pents...10 pents...20 pents...50 pents...1 pound...2 pounds... Such heavy pockets here!
6. Teenagers: teenagers here all seem to be troubled. They all have babies and start drinking really early.
7. The weather: contrary to popular belief, the weather is NOT horrible here. However, being from NJ, I know that there were definitely more sunny hot days in NJ than here this summer, and for that, the weather makes it to my "dislike" list. But I have to give the weather some credit...it's not as bad as everyone makes it out to be!
8. Eggs are not refridgerated at grocery stores. Yet the refridgerators come with egg containers to put them in...hmmm.

10 days until SA and some Britney!

Just a quick post....10 days until South Africa! And also, if you remember me and my cousin's Eurotrip and how Venice was so boring...well, he has finally posted one of the many videos we made that day and I wanted to share it: BRITNEY LIVE IN VENICE.

If it's terribly hard for you to understand what exactly is going on in the video...here is some explanation. We are under an overhang at the train station in Venice and it is pouring so everyone is underneath the roof. There are 2 hippy guys singing horribly with a sign that says something along the lines of "Give us money and we will stop singing". Their bowl is empty. I tell my cousin to go up to them and ask if he can make them a business proposition...he joins their band and they split the "hefty" profits. The guys immediately agree and the video is what ensues!

Well, I might as well tell you what I've been up to this week. On Monday I went into London to meet up with Nancy (my mom's best friend from California). Donovan met us later on in the day. We went to Harrods and had lunch in Covent Garden. We then went to the Tower of London to do the tour (something I've been wanting to do the whole time I've been here) and it was closed! It was like the one day that they were closing at 3:30pm for repairs! Can you believe it? Anyway, it was a lovely day.

Me and Nancy:



On Wednesday night I hung out with a new friend I've made, Jackie. We drank wine and talked. She lived in Mountain Lakes, NJ for 6 years when she was younger! How crazy! It was a really fun night. When her bf got home, Donovan then joined us and we went to the pub for an hour or so. We were singing and having a grand 'ole time.

Tonight I'm working the pub. I also worked a funeral reception today at the pub. Tomorrow we are having lunch with Donovan's friend, Ashley, who he hasn't seen in 8 years and who is currently in Bible School! Saturday night I'm working and then Sunday we are going for lunch with Cynthia (woman who's kids I babysat) and her family.

We also started to clean the house this week but still have a lot more to do...

Have a great weekend everyone!

Claire's Birthday and an Irish Bum

Another week closer to South Africa. This was a hectic week in that we first found out that we would be going to Montreal, Canada. The next day we found out that we are no longer going to Canada at all. So, as it stands now, we are leaving for South Africa on October 19th and returning in early January. Plans could change at any time but that's the plan for now.
Yesterday was Donovan's friend, Claires' birthday. So we went into London to an area called Angel about 3pm and started the festivities at The Winchester bar/club! The night ended at the Old Queen's Head Bar. The area of Angel reminded me very much of Hoboken. It was a lot of fun and a long night including some prayer to the porcelain Gods. Ugh. It was so interesting though because unlike a party in America, in Europe/the UK there is so much more variety. For example, Claire is South African, her boyfriend was Dutch, 2 guys were Italians, 2 more South Africans, 2 Brits, 1 American (that's me!), 1 Australian...all at one party! It makes for good conversation anyway instead of "Hey--where you from? North, Central or South Jersey?" It's like "Hey---where you from? Like in the whole world?"

Here are some pics from the night:



Donovan and Tony:


Claire, Lauren, me and Linda:


Chris and Zoey:


Me and Claire with champagne mojitos (good idea at the time!):


Me and Chris:




On Friday night I worked at the pub. There was this really cute old Irish man who ordered a Guiness and right away, I started asking him about Ireland. It all started out nice. He's been a lorry driver for 25 years (that's truck driver to Americans) and he has a son named Jeffrey. But as the Guinesses' kept coming, Noel (pronounced 'Nole") kept spilling more and more of his secrets. I learned he'd been to prison 5 times (but rest assured...it was all for fighting and stuff like that when he was young...). I learned that his belly button also served as the "mouth" to one of his many body-covering tattoos. Attractive. I learned that the Guiness at our pub was "very strong", that I had a "very nice accent", and when he started to pull his pants down to show me his other tattoos...well, I served some other nice guests. Apparently the rest of the bar staff had seen his ass last weekend so they weren't surprised. Irish people are crazy. I really want to go to Ireland. I got a book from the library on tracking your ancestors so I was thinking I can find my Irish relatives and go pay them a surprise visit!
Oh, and I started reading "Eat Pray Love" (recommended by many including Audra) and am really enjoying it. It's so funny because she goes to Venice and describes it exactly like me and Nat experienced it! Page 105 for anyone who has the book...
Tomorrow I am going into London to meet with Nancy for lunch and do some sightseeing. Have a great week, everyone!

Cheers! And stay sexy, NJ...