I feel like I just wrote one of these, but it is ALREADY time for an update! For those who creep on Facebook, you saw that I just travelled to Swaziland and Lesotho with one of the best people I know, Hope Chang! I left Kuwait Thursday night (technically Friday morning) at 2:45 am! So late!! My flight was only 4 hours from here to Ethiopia (Addis Ababa) and then only 6 hours(ish) from Ethiopia to Jo'burg! It went by really fast. 6 hours on a plane now feels like nothing!
Hope met me at the Jo'burg airport. She was a little later than expected, because the car she reserved to rent in Lesotho wasn't there yet and all they had left were manuals. Since she can't drive a manual and I can't drive a manual, she needed a different plan. She handled the frustrating situation so gracefully. She didn't act like an obnoxious American AT ALL. Luckily she has so many friends, and one of them was headed to Jo'burg for the weekend, so she just caught a ride with him. When she found me, we rented a car and the guy at the AVIS desk loved us. He thought we were so hilarious, which we are. He also only helped us when other workers helped like 3 other people in the same amount of time, so I guess we are high maintenance or something.
We then had a road trip from Jo'burg, South Africa to Swaziland. I want to say the trip was like 5 hours? We rolled into our hostel at midnight, which I guess was rude of us, but we couldn't help it! We woke up at 8:00 and spent the day with Swazi Trails Adventures. We went whitewater rafting, tubing, and abseiling. The guide gave us instructions about the whitewater rafting and he told us what to do if we saw a HIPPO in the WATER. That made me extremely nervous. If anyone knows me at all, I am terrified of hippos. If you want to hear my rant about how dangerous they are, please let me know and please reserve a large block of time. There is a lot to say about the matter. He also said to avoid rocks (he didn't tell us that the boats are magnetized to these rocks) and trees (because there can be spiders and snakes in them). Luckily, nothing too terrifying happened.
Hope and I had a VERY rough start to paddling. It was only us two in a boat, and of course I was the man and had to be in the back to steer (because I have all of the muscle). Well, eventually we became alright. We didn't flip or fall out of the boat at all, so I was really impressed with ourselves. We did get stuck on almost every rock, and we MAY have crashed straight into a tree. Hope has it on video, because we literally said "man, we are so pro, let's get this on video" and then five seconds later we crashed into a tree.
After rafting, we ate lunch. Oh, I forgot to mention, it was 60 degrees (Fahrenheit in case any canadians are reading this) and raining. I was FREEZING. After lunch, we went tubing. This was more dangerous than rafting. I flipped over twice and bruised my knee. Hope only flipped once, because she is the more graceful one out of the two of us.
Then our final activity was abseiling. If you don't know what abseiling is, it's propelling down a cliff. I am not really scared of heights, but it was really scary. You stand on the edge of the cliff and have two ropes clipped into your harness and that's it. They said only the first few steps are scary, then it is fun. I disagree. I was scared the whole time. When you're at the bottom, they unclip you and you have to shimmy across this ledge and that was just as terrifying, but we DID IT!
Our group! They were a great group of people!
Hope had to work Monday through Thursday. While she was at work, I read, worked on my online class, and got some planning done. I also went for a hike one afternoon. After work, Hope had a very strict itinerary for us. Monday night: we played soccer (Hope played soccer, I stood there and swung my leg every once in a while). Tuesday night: went for a run and ate dinner at #2 place on Trip Advisor. Wednesday night: Trivia at #1 place on Trip Advisor. Thursday night: Dinner and salsa dance lessons. Friday: we went to Semonkong (sp?). This is where we hiked down a mountain to the base of a waterfall (only fell 3 times combined). It was the hardest hike ever. I spent more time sliding down on my butt then actually walking. At one point, Hope said "I am going to need you to do better, Leah" It was slippery! When we reached the bottom, it was crazy to look up and know that we hiked down that. It doesn't seem possible. It was really beautiful. The hike back up makes you feel like you have never worked out in your life. It was easier (footing wise), but exhausting. Legs were burning. After the hike, we ate lunch and then went back to Maseru (Hope's city).
My solo hike while Hope was making a difference in the world.
Yes, we hiked down to the base of that waterfall. Be impressed.
That night, we went out for drinks and hung out with some of her friends. They got to listen to our reminiscing of wonderful stories and inside jokes. Fantastic.
I left Saturday morning and got back late Saturday night (same flight pattern on the way back). Luckily, they extended the holiday so I didn't have to work on Sunday. Thank goodness, I needed the sleep and a day to get my brain ready!
Now, it's time to plan Christmas break with Jess :)
Oh, and working in the meantime. I also visited my old school (I had to pick up something from the office) and I got to see my old kids! It was so cute how excited they were to see me! I was so excited to see them, too! I miss them lots! The best part of teaching is when you see kids that you are no longer in charge of :)
Much Love,
Leah
