So im finally in south africa!!! and have somewhat neglected this blog...we are kept very busy over here, and when we are not working there are far too many people to socialise with. there has also been the problem of the internet being difficult to get hold of!So it is offically winter now and the temperature has dropped to 25 this morning.

We went to a place called candu a few weeks ago. Its about 9 hours drive away in the

middle of NOWHERE!!! and the only water they have is in storage tanks so showers are a no. I wasnt looking forward to it if im honest. but it was AMAZING!! just like every day over here really. It was such a stunning peaceful area. We billed for a bible talk and a brie (bbq) around the village. it took 5 mins to walk from one house across the field into the the next house. We got invited into some of the houses (which was ace because iv always wanted to go into the traditional round houses) i got offered some beer which was in a measuring jug and looked like strawberry milkshake with 2 inches of froth ontop. vom. I noticed

in this house they had nailed the vinyl flooring down with metal bottle tops that had been flattened.

Around 200 people came and they filleld the hall, it was incredible! it was like the feeding of the 5000 after, no joke. we only bought 100 chicken legs and some sausages and we had a whole massive pan of rice left over.

We also witnessed the baptism of siyanda. he is 20 years old. He has recently moved away to university so he is in isolation. He came back to durban with u

s for a week and i didnt quite realise how much good it did for him being around brothers and sisters his age for a week and doing gods work. We miss him here in durban and pray that he will stay strong!

Anna, simon & Nay came to stay last week, fantastic having them around! We went to the water park on saturday which happened to be the coldest day yet. it was jumper weather! cloudy and very windy. We practically had to drag laura into the water park, she really didnt want to go but i think she had a better time than any of us! She was laughing hysterically all day on all the rides. it was very amusing. Below is a picture of us having fun on the beach in "winter".

Yesterday the happys kids were back at school after the easter break. ( for those of you who dont know 'Happys' is what we call the Maison Lincon special school. Its a school for the disabled. Its very under privalaged. The children all sleep at the school. There are 2 very cramped dorms, one for the girls and one for the boys)It was good to see their joyful faces again! I love the kids there, i try and spend most o

f my time

here. There are 2 bible classes a week there, we have tiled the shower rooms, painted all the bathrooms, i am soon to start to continue simon peels photography class, i have put together a rota for the year of fun things to do on saturdays there e.g. craft days, cooking days, beauty days for the girls etc etc. I have also found myself the new travel and tourism teacher. It turns out the kids were left with no teacher and a text book to just read and learn for their exams (!) Swimming lessons are also starting in 2 weeks time EXCITING!!

There is a township just up the road from where we are staying here at the westville church. There is a couple who we met through the BEC who live there who are so convinced that this is what they have been looking for, they are so full of joy and thankfu

lness and positive energy, its fantastic. There names are br

enda and Sine. Watch this space. There is also a sister who has a house in the same township. Brenda would also like to run a creshe. So basically the land that the sister ownes we are going to build a church and a bible education centre and run a creshe! its going to be BIG! We went there the other day and sang outside the bit of land we want to build on and told everybody that walked past our plans. 3 weeks ago the sunday school already started! so we created an awareness of that too. JUst from singing on the street there were about 50 kids who turned up, we played some games on the street and matt did a bible story. WATCH THIS SPACE!

Today we are at the bible education centre in Durban. Once a week we sing outside the shop to attract people attention and to draw them into the shop and make th

em aware of the free bible course we are offering. On a normal day there are about 5-8 sign up. Last week when we were singing 63 people signed up!!! We have learnt a good number of zulu songs which makes people stop and stare, white people singing in zulu!! Last week julie, laura and i went to the toilet and started singing a zulu song whilst on the loo and a lady started speaking to us in zulu (thats how good we are!) it wasnt till we came out she realised we were white! we then explained what we were doing in durban and then she follwed us down to the BEC and signed up for the free bible course! its amazing how God works!

Paradise

Last week i found paradise! (actually phil did last year but took me to see it) It was taken on a miserable winters day - imagine how good this will be in summer, just look at the colour of the sea! There are 2 of them and no path down = small struggle down and private beach :-) i love england!

bendy bendy spine spine

Requirement number 863 - Radiological report in respect of each applicant. A "Radiological report" means a report by a radiologist certifying that the applicant has been examined and that no signs of active pulmonary tuberculosis could be detected which report shall not be older than 6 months at the time of its submission.

In order to get this an x-ray is required. doctor booked. doctor sends through my application. x-ray booked. x-ray done. doctor booked. doctor reads what is on radiological report. it reads i have a bent spine. a bent spine! i want to see this bent spine! drive to hospital. request to have copy of x-ray. told to fill out form and pay £10. £10! i already paid £81 for the x-ray! i contest and receptionist goes to see superior. superior doesnt know if i should still pay for it. receptionist just want me to leave and qickly makes me a copy of x-ray on cd. victory! it has my name printed on the cd and everything! and i didnt have to fill in that form!

"This CD is only for the use intended"

and here we are. my blog!

i do not have active pulmonary tuberculosis. i may have unactive pulmonary tuberculosis though, who knows.

you can see the pile of snow i ate too

Today i spent the whole morning making this amazing toblerone cake for phils birthday. Its a beast.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHIL!

Now i just have to drive it down to birmingham...

soda

The beauty of unemployment is going on day trips . Today me and bec (my only friend back here in barnsley) went to elsicar heritage centre. Why? because i saw it on bargain hunt. we had almost gone round the entire empty complex of old bildings and there was nothing there! apart from a sweet shop and some other lame craft shops and a tearoom.but it seems the best was waiting for us last-a large antiques centre! I bought this cute 1950's jar for a fiver! i just know it will come in handy in south africa.

fun day

At last some printwork! iv been dying to get back into this since quitting work! im doing a print for phils skating brand "pusher"

Research day

So all my friiiends (pronounced in a high pitched voice) are in africa and i am not. This is because i am waiting for a visa gaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh! but i have been making use of my unempoyment by doing some planning for africa. julie you are going to love me for this.

I went to the library. i didnt have a clue what i was looking for so i started at the begining and worked my way round. I found myself at the culture section so naturaly searched for South Africa.There were a few book entitled "South africa: a history" so i picked it up and flicked through it. it looked really dull so i put it back and picked another one out. This was equally as dull and i realised i wasnt in the mood for reading an epic book. but then again i never am. i carried on and got to the education section. perfect! i dumped my bags and coat, tilted my head sideways and began reading the titles of book. this was quite hard work, for a start my neck was uncomfortable and secondly there was way too many to read so i began scanning. One grabbed my eye titled "GAMES" i pulled it out. It was pretty perfect, minimalist pages with large type and simple illustrations.it was full of games for children. this was a deffinate yes. A vivienne westwood book caught my eye so i sat down and flicked through all the photo pages. 10 mnutes passed and i realised i wasnt doing anything productive so i got back to tilting my head and scanning. i quickly found a book titled "active games for children with movement problems" this was also perfect for if we should spend some time at happys school (a school for disabled children) however this was a little more hard core reading. with these 2 books from one section id say that was a deffinate success so went in hunt of the art section for a browse. I read through a few books on printmaking and one on bauhaus then i made my way to the desk. It seems that the have installed a self service check out so i gave this a whirl. it seemed my library card was way out of date and wouldnt even fit in the slot of one one these machines so i had to use the desk manned by a person. she didnt even give me a new library card.

I bought a lovely notebook from paperchase with illustrations of lots of old cameras on. julie this is the bit where you love me. my aim is to fill this with crafts and games for children so im never stuck for ideas when given 50 children to entertain. so far so good, iv written up all the games from the "GAMES" book.






.