Winter break 2015 and a visit from Auntie Kristi!

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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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