My First Week at Lily

The entrance of Lily of the Valley! (A.K.A My new home!)

It has been so fun getting back to Lily and seeing all the kids and volunteers!  There have been so many new faces to get to know as well!

I came here on Friday and started the weekend off getting to hangout with the kids and just getting comfortable with them again.  Which made the whole process a lot easier!   Allison (SALTer at Hope Valley) was also here and so it was great to catch up with her and just get to know her, and then to hear how things are going on at the farm and at school.

View of par of Lily

My weekend started Friday off packing my stuff and heading to Hope Valley with Pros.  Where I was getting a little nervous to see people (but I was not sure why).  I got to see most of the teachers and all of my students!  I walked into my old class room where I said “Hello!” and all the kids just turned around and stared at me!  Ha! It was really funny.  Allison and I were expecting them to go a little crazy.  But they were all just shocked they didn’t know what to do.  Eventually they all got up and gave me a hug.  Where I got the reaction I expected was with the grade one class.  They all got up and ran to give me a hug, which was nice!

The second house on the right is where I live

After the quick visit there we headed to Lily.  It was nice to get to Lily before all the kids got home from school.  I got the chance to unpack all my things and get to know my new roommate, Salome.  She is from Germany and will be here for 3 months.  So far we get along great!  After spending some time with the kids and getting reactions like, "Oh, Miss!  What are you doing here!?" and "You're back!" Allison, Salome and I spent the evening cleaning our kitchen.  We spent almost 3 hours just trying to get the kitchen together.  Our biggest goal was getting rid of all the bugs!  Our kitchen was a home to many cockroaches!  Yuck!  But so far it has been great!  Today, Thursday, I have not seen any!  Something is working!

After face painting!

Saturday morning I spent painting little kids faces!  This was fun! The kids are so cute!  In the afternoon the kids went swimming which means I become a life guard!  Ha!  The pool is not deep at all, so its not hard with the older kids but the younger kids is a little scary! Over all though so much fun!

It was great to go back to the church service on Sunday here at Lily!  The high school students always do a great job with singing and its just so different from home!  Maybe one day I will be able to share the experience with some of you!  Even if it is through video!

My time at Lily in the past was always during the weekend or holidays so the kids were never in school.  Meaning this week has been a stretch for me!  It has been difficult to try and figure out what I am supposed to do during the time the kids are at school.  I know over time things will get better but for now I feel a little lost during those hours.  I always look forward to when everyone starts coming home from school!

Also spend a good deal of time learning how to play Spin Tops!

For now Wednesdays and Thursdays are my days off.  This Wednesday some of us volunteers went into Durban, where the weather was beautiful in the morning so we made a stop at the beach for a little while!  After we headed to the mall for a few rounds of bowling!  I  did well my first round but slowly went down hill with each game!   And today, Thursday has been pretty relaxing... I have stayed in my house and cleaned and listened to music.  Not much else to do.  I could have read or watched a movie but there were somethings I wanted to get a little cleaner.  I also made a quick tour of my house.  So if you want me to send you the video let me know and I will send it to you! :)

Salome, Dominik, Christy and I at the beach!

Now it is almost the weekend again. And its going to start all over!  Can't wait until things become more comfortable and I am able to just enjoy where I am!

Until next time.....enjoy your bug free home! (unless you don't and you have cockroaches and want to get rid of them then try mixing baking soda, sugar and water and leave it is spots you have seen them supposed to get on their feet and they take it back to their eggs and kill them!)

Gotta Love Transitions

Me in front of Notre Dame Cathedral
(No I did not see Quasimodo!)

Hey all! Sorry for taking so long. Well longer than I had hoped it to be at least!  When I last left you I was just about to leave Toronto!  Well just incase you did not know I made it to South Africa safely!  
The 'road' here was long, but enjoyable! During my flight to Paris I talked quite a bit with the lady who sat beside me, her name is Julie.  Anyway Julie and I decided we would take the train into Paris together.  This made my decision a lot earlier of whether or not I should go into Paris!  It ended up being that we spent pretty much the whole day together until I needed to head back to the airport before it got dark.  Julie was travelling for work and had been to Paris, it was so great of her to spend the day with me! It was such a blessing!
My time in Paris was spent mostly on a tourist bus.  Julie knew of a bus that went around Paris going to all the main sites where you could hop on or off the bus when ever as long as you had your ticket!  Julie and I got off at the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Eiffel Tower.  Both places we enjoyed both the sites and a bit of food! Of course I was in Paris so I had to take part in enjoying not only cheese and bread but a little glass of wine too.
It was very cool to be in a place with so much history, and to see these iconic places.

Eiffel Tower!

After spending a long day in Paris I waited around the airport for almost 4 hours until my flight left.  I spent a good chunk of my time on the flight sleeping...or at least trying to.  I then got to Johannesburg, (where all 3 of my bags made it!) and met up with Pros for a smoothie.  Then finally made it to PMB where Jon Barnes (one of the new South Africa reps, who are taking over for James and Joan) met me to bring me to the prison....the old prison.  Remember?
I have spent the last few days with Jon, Dawn, Khaya and Ali.  I am looking forward to getting to know and spend time with the Barnes Family over the next two years! Over the last few days Dawn and I have spent many hours running around trying to get things ready for me to go off to Lily.  So tomorrow the next transition starts.

Tomorrow I am heading to Lily and will start settling in to my new place and there is a hope that I will get to stop in at Hope Valley to see my fellow teachers and my old students!  I will also get to meet the new SALTers for this year.  So far I have met one, Melinda, she is working here in PMB at the Project Gateway School where the MCC office is located.

My new friend Julie, who took me around Paris

I have mixed emotions about tomorrow. I am excited about going and seeing everyone and getting settled in finally!  I will finally not be living out of a suit case for the first time in 5 months!!  I am a little nervous to see people at the same time.  I am praying settling into my new role will be good!  I will try to keep you up dated as things go!

Until next time... watch an episode of Friends! (Watching this show has been really great and helping me not to stress too much and miss people from home too much)