I've been bad, I know...
August and September were crazy travel months and I'm still catching up to life... In two months, I spent a week in Cape Town, a week in Kruger Park, a week in Mozambique and then a week in Botswana. Eish!
Kruger Park was FANTASTIC... and FREE! We have a monthly tour of the park with our volunteers, and my boss was nice enough to let me join. I spent five days and four nights (in a tent, mind you) with our friendly tour guide, Bob, and four of our volunteers. Five days driving around the park, listening to innapropriate songs ("Girl I'm gonna make you sweat") and we were lucky to see the Big Five. Elephants, buffalo, Rhino, Lion, and Leopard, oh my! It was definitely a week to remember...
During this time, I also secured an African boyfriend. It was actually quite easy... I was sitting at my desk at work early August and he walked in and asked me out... I didn't even have to move! We went out that Saturday night, and the rest is history. We've been dating for three months now and he's adorable (and he used to play professional soccer in Swaziland and has the cutest arse, as they say here). His parents are South African, but he was born and raised in Swaziland, and is the youngest of 12 kids and speaks Zulu. The best part about all this is that we actual met early April at a lunch we held for our project partners, but I was still so new in the position and I don't remember meeting him... but, alas...Dating a Swazi has really opened me up to a part of Swaziland I would never have seen... on the weekends, we go to all the local bars, and since I'm always the only white person, there's a lot of staring. His friends speak to me in siswati, and then they all laugh at me. I refuse to dance, because if you saw how Swazis move you would understand why I would not open myself up to that form of humiliation. My BF tells me on what seems like a daily basis that white people can't dance. or jump.
I met his family at some sort of wedding ceremony thing... not the wedding, but when the grooms family gives the brides family all these gifts. And when I say family, I swear there were like hundreds of them. It was very romantic evening, and he helped me pee behind one of the buildings behind the homestead, because people, this is Swaziland!!! I also went back to the same homestead the night before the funeral... the singing was INCREDIBLE. They like to sing here. And have big families.
Just because I like to keep it real, I also had a run-in with the law. After I came back from Botswana we went out and had a few drinks and then it came time to drive home... I was mostly sober, and it's literally like a mile to my driveway, and I was pulled over and forced to take a breathalizer test! There is zero tolerance in Swaziland, and I would have been thrown in the slammer if it wasn't for my boyfriend's sweet talking.
Let's see... what else? Oh, right... one day I thought my cottage burned down in a bush fire. Turns out it was an organized "fire break" by the game reserve, but it was pretty damn close, people! And because this is Africa, no one thought to say "Hey Sarah! It's going to look like your cottage is on fire, but no worries!" But anyhow... these "organized" fires last all "winter" during the dry season...
"Winter" in Swaziland lasts from about June through August and then it pretty much turns into summer... technically its still considered "springtime" in Swaziland, but it's no joke... and I'm killing more flies than Mr. Miagi. Last Sunday was about 100, and there's no a/c, and I think I almost died. I have a hunch that I'm going to be very, very hot in the next few months. Karma's a bitch, and I apologize for laughing at all your Facebook status updates this past July. And don't get me started on the beetles here... I swear to you they are as big as pigeons. Ok, maybe not quite as big... but you get the point.Things have settled down and I promise to keep in touch!!
Hugs and Kisses :)
