Winter break 2015 and a visit from Auntie Kristi!
Today was the first day of school after a long, but very fun
winter break! What made this break so fun; a visit from my sister, Kristi!
Truly, we had such a wonderful time having her here and we would love to have
more people visit so that you could see just how much fun it is to hang with
the Feys in South Africa (she would totally agree, as would both sets of
parents!)
I should have been keeping track of all we did, but I will
try to get it all written down here. Pictures will follow on Picasa as soon as
I find the time to sort through them:
The holiday started on June 18, Jori’s 9th
birthday. We celebrated Tyson’s 11th birthday on the 16th,
so the holiday was already off to a great start. On Sunday we went to Menlyn
Mall in Pretoria and let the kids loose in the new arcade. They loved it and
Darin and I loved watching them just have fun. The week before their birthdays
was exam week at school, so they had both been busy studying and it was nice to
have some down time.
After the Menyln adventure, things were pretty run of the
mill; lots of meetings, movie watching and normal school break stuff. That all
changed on July 1 with Kristi’s arrival! Her plane landed in the morning, and
we spent the first day just showing her around and letting her go to bed early.
Day 2 Kristi actually came with me to the hospital for Amo to have a breathing
and suctioning treatment. Day 3 we headed into Hammanskraal to visit one of
Take Action’s community partners, Horn of Salvation. We were created by a
parade of children and adults who led us from the main road to the centre,
singing and dancing. At the centre, we were thoroughly entertained by
performances from the musical, Serafina, which is based on the youth uprising
in the 1970’s here in South Africa. It was a very fun morning and a special
treat for sure. Day 4 was Saturday and we headed out to another community
partner, Maubane Rivoningo Transformation Centre. There we helped out with a
sports day that some student athletes from Cedarville University in the US put
on. Kristi learned quickly that the African dirt gets everywhere, coats
everything and that even in winter, the sun is hot, hot, hot! Regardless of
those things, it was a very fun and tiring day. So ends the first week.
Sunday we headed to church and on Monday we headed out to
Pilanesberg Game Reserve. We were in that area until Wednesday afternoon. You
will read about our time there below thanks to Jori! Thursday we had a Take
Action team meeting. Kristi came along and enjoyed some real coffee, versus the
instant I drink at home. She was very happy! We were out for a good part of the
day, then raced back so that she could get to her microlight flight in time.
She enjoyed that experience, seeing giraffe, buffalo and more from the air.
According to my calendar, we laid low on Friday and Saturday. So ends the
second week.
The last week started out with a bang. We headed to the Lion
Park, made infamous by the woman from the US who was just mauled and killed
there by a lion. Keep your windows up people! We did see the killer lion and
she was still looking hungry. We also saw many other lions, fed giraffe and met
a friendly ostrich that Jori named “Lindsey Lohan”. We also pet baby lions, I
was bit by one particularly vicious little guy and Kristi and I pet a teenage
cheetah as well. After the lion park, we headed to Wild Caves to do some
caving. Again, I will let you read more about that from Jori, but if you are looking
for something to do in the area, we would all highly recommend it! Tuesday we
headed out for Swaziland, which Jori refers to as Zimbabia. It was a quick
trip, overnight only, but a fun experience. Thursday and Friday were spent
doing last minute shopping, hanging out and packing. Then Friday night Kristi
flew out. The goodbyes are never fun, but the togetherness was totally worth
it.
Here is Jori’s take on the school holiday, including time
spent with her auntie Kristi. I will be posting pictures soon, but we are
having internet issues and it is just not going to happen for a while, which is
a real bummer as you will surely want to see all the fun we had after reading
about it!
Dear Diary (by
Jorin Fey)
My five week
holiday was the best!
On about the
second Wednesday my auntie came. She brought us lots of gifts from family and
friends. When afer about two days she started to teach us card games. After
about five days she was here we went to Pilanesberg. It took us about 1 ½ hours
to get to Pilanesberg (so long). When we got to the hotel we would stay at and
it wasn’t open, I asked my dad “why it wasn’t open” he said “it will open at
2:00” so we went to eat lunch at a nearby mall. (We got KFC). Then we got back
to the hotel and it was open, so we got in and they showed us to our room. It
had a TV a big bed. In a little room was another big bed. When we got settled
in we watched TV for 2 hours. Then we ate dinner and went to bed. The next morning
we woke up and ate breakfast then we got ready and got in our car and drove to
a game park, when we got to the game park my dad signed us up and we got in the
park at 6:30 we saw lots of animals elephants, hippos, rhinos, bucks and lots
of others. Then we left and went to eat dinner at the mall. (pizza) Then we
went back to the game park and saw more animals, then we went back to the hotel
and went to bed. The next morning we woke up and showered and we went to
another room and ate free breakfast. Then we left and went to chameleon village
and held a snake and went on a tour and we used R50 of our birthday money to
hold a meerkat and mongoose, it was fun. Then we went home and I played.
On Sunday we went
to the lion park and fed giraffes and ostriches and played with lion cubs. One
naughty cub bit my mom and she hit it soft with her camera. Then we went to
caves and we went down in the cave and saw bats and some parts of the cave we
had to crawl and I hit my back. Then we went home.
On Tuesday we went
to Swaziland. At the hotel we stayed in my family slept in room 40 and auntie
slept in room 25, first we watched some TV then we watched a movie on my dads
laptop. Then we went to bed. The next morning we got free breakfast it was like
a buffet. (so good) Then we went home.
On Friday night we
drove auntie to the airport her plane did not leave until 7:30. So we went to
Wimpy and I got a Bar-One ice cream cup. It was so good. Then we said good-bye
and we drove home and went to bed.
On Sunday we went
to church and after church we went home, then Mbali came back. Then we played
and then I went to bed. On Monday I woke up and ate and played and I went to
bed early. On Tuesday I was tired and my mom said we were going to bed early
again and Tyson and my dad left at 6:30 in the morning to do Tyson’s EEG and I
watched a movie and played and went to bed. On Wednesday I went to school and
now I am writing my story.
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