Before May arrives....

... I will update this Blog! 

I spend so much of my time on the computer that I absolutely have no excuse to be so tardy with the Blog! Anyway.... here goes.....

Following on from the last entry - LONG BOY DID IT! HE CLIMBED KILI!!! PROUD, PROUD, PROUD! It was tough but they all made it - the biggest group (26 of them) to all summit in the school's history. He doesn't want to do it again & I think if he was very very honest he surprised himself by summiting. The toughest thing he has ever had to do & I do think a great experience to draw upon when life throws him some challenging situations - which of course it will! Squeeze wants to do it now! Good for her! Hopefully we will be here for long enough for her to be selected - they don't go next year, so watch this space....

What else - LOTS! The Olds came to visit for almost a month which was amazing. So fantastic to share our lives with them & now when we chat about life in general, they know what we are talking about. We did some pretty wonderful things whilst they were here too......Victoria Falls (incredible), Cape Town & Franschhoek, Somerset West & Stellenbosch (food!) & their 1st (and possibly I imagine only) safari - where we witnessed a lion killing a wildebeest and 16 lionesses & cubs feeding on a second kill. Very noisy & their table manners are somewhat lacking! 

In between the visits, there were lunches in Joburg, museum trips & general sitting on sofas! It was great fun - though we were all pretty exhausted by the end of it.

Children both still happy - mainly! Teenagers now, both of them! Squeeze turned 13 last week - with a  party for 45 teenagers, DJed by her brother. Never thought we'd see that! Another proud, pinch me moment as their mum!

Him indoors is still enjoying work, improving his golf & generally soaking up the sunshine - so to speak! Not too much travelling though did pop to Uganda last week. He cycled Cape Argus - 110km around Cape Point. Fantastic scenery though I don't think he slowed much to stop & enjoy it!

Me - well! Golf (up & down), ran the Auction for the school Family Fun Day & raised R150,000 (about £11,000), taken on a new Diepsloot project - more later. Parties & lunches, nails, shopping, taxi service for the teenagers & general stuff..... happy stuff! 

Currently planning Summer 2013 - again more on that soon - but suffice to say that the Normandy Beach Landings would have been simpler to organise!! 

A son climbing Kili….

Nothing has prepared me for this week - the week my son left to hopefully reach the Uhuru summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. I am a mess - can't think of anything else, restless, just awful.

He is climbing with a school team - the AISJ Kili Team 2013 - 22 students & 4 teachers. He is one of the youngest - at just 15. They started training last November - with hikes after school on Tuesdays & Thursday s& then a few Saturday hikes thrown in. All good stuff & helped with the team building.
Then they went to the Drakensburg in February - where it rained, rained, rained & then rained some more! They came back 24 hours early because there was nothing left which was dry. Great training & excellent team building.

KILI TEAM SET OFF! 

So I am wondering where was the prep for the Mums left behind? I know at least 3 mums who are the same as me - hanging on to every word in the occasional email updates from the Kili Team leaders. Hubby is in the UK and it is the school holidays so we are not in our normal routine either.

Tonight is the night! Today they are climbing to 4700m today then after a short rest woken at 11pm to prepare for summitting. Squeeze asked me why they summit at night so I made the mistake of Googling it - to find a blog on someone's personal experiences of submitting, seeing a body bag & lots of other detail I really could do without. And it still didn't answer my question - but now I am too scared to look again.

Some people think Kili is a walk in the park - but I think that it is massive - all 5,895 metres of it. Bloody massive & my boy is there right now - doing his very best to reach the top! Whatever happens I am, of course, going to say that we are hugely proud of him & all the others on the team. I know he will be so gutted if he doesn't get there but I also know it will not be for lack of effort & motivation or stubbornness!

Someone pass me the gin!

Safari, safari, safari!

September 2012 & November 2012

6am alarm - up & off, kids in tow - sleepy eyed & just (for once) doing what they are told! In car, Sat Nav set, off we go - our first family safari! How excited…. am I?!?!?

Head up towards Pretoria, past the horrid mines, then once past Dullstroom the real Africa started to present itself to us. Kruger here we come! 

These are trips we did a couple of months ago - have no idea why I haven't posted these (see Time Flies!)! I am now a safari addict & my not so long suffering family come along for the ride - though I do think they enjoy it really! We have been wanting to do a safari with the children for just years - I think initially we spotted that Kuoni did "Kiddie Safaris" and thought 5 & 7 years might be a good age! Money & life got in the way so now we are here we are up & at 'em! Sheer coincidence that Squeeze is 12 & many of the Lodges & Bushcamps only take children from the age of 12 - funny that! 

Naledi was incredible - found it on good old trip advisor! Over a 2 night, 4 game drive stay we saw a lot - Big 3.5 (2 sightings of leopard, one with a kill up a tree!) . I only gave the rhino a 0.5 as it was dusk & we didn't catch it on film & we missed those hard to spot ELEPHANTS!! 

First safari was at a Bushcamp in northern Kruger, near the Olifants river. I'm very sorry but I'm not going to tell you where because it was so fabulous that I want to keep it a secret! Oh OK - Naledi & Enkoveni Lodges in the Balule region of Kruger. It is actually a private reserve just on the outskirts but as it is an open system you are likely to see any of the Kruger game. We loved it - even the 5 am knock on the door. 

The scenery at Kruger is also stunning - even if you don't see game, which is wildly disappointing, but try to enjoy the air, views & just being in the Great Outdoors!

Safari 2 didn't really set out to be a major safari - but oh boy was it! 3 of us set out to Hazyview (Long Boy was in Argentina for a Spanish school trip) - same direction past mines etc. We were meant to be sightseeing - God's Window, Panoramic Route etc, which indeed we did, but upon discovering we were just 10 minutes drive from Phabeni Gate into Kruger we were off. Having arrived at The Rissington Inn, we turned the car around ( with a lovely packed lunch quickly produced by Chris) & headed off. Just in that afternoon (2-6pm), we saw loads! 

Self drive is a little tougher, but perhaps a little more exciting. Left or right! It's a gamble….. Big 5 all the way & elephants like you wouldn't believe! Sitting in our white Fortuner with ellies fore & aft - about 70 of them…… incredible. Diving yourself allows you the freedom to take your time, make your own choices but of course you are without the guide & knowledge of the drivers & trackers. 

I think we were spoilt on this trip - we have sonce been to Madikwe (near Botswana) and I must admit - the self drive beats it all. Yet to see a kill & mating but we have more time yet! Poor kids…….!!

And of course, don't forget that scenery!

Christmas in the sunshine!

A long time ago - well April 18th to be exact - I booked some flights to somewhere hot & exotic sounding in the hope that going away from Jozi would make us less homesick at that happy/sad time of Christmas. Being Welsh we usually go a little OTT at Christmas - the most memorable was a Caswell Bay break with 22 of us & a lot of booze, dancing around the house to "Is This The Way To Amarillo?" with my sister on the spoons!! You get the picture! 

So - would Zanzibar deliver? Oh yes indeedy - almost! After a rather stressy mix up over flights with Precision Air (far too long & boring to go into here!), we arrived on December 14th in time for cocktails in the pool. As we had not really looked at where Zanzibar is, it was HOT!! Very hot - Day 2 was spent in the shade, asleep or drinking water - after Eloise had fainted (heatstroke) & I looked as if my botox implants in my eyes & lips had gone very. very wrong! 

We soon got into the swing of things - easy really because there was no swing. There was nothing to do! Just nothing - other than play cards, swim, sleep & read! We became experts at doing nothing - even lifting the Kindle was far too much at times! The beach was working community & also an informal road - with Vespas & bikes up & down. The women farmed seaweed & men fished. Just wonderful to watch them use the local produce - perhaps Victoria Beckham's face cream started off here!

The first week we just all chilled, watched films, siestad, chatted & recharged those batteries that desperately needed recharging! The second week we were a bit more lively & visited Stone Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site which is charming & smelly in equal parts! 

One of our highlights (in fact one of the highlights of certainly my life) was swimming with dolphins - wild, free & please themselves dolphins who could have swum away merrily at first site of me in a swimming costume. But no, the 6 of them stayed around, playing & mating, whilst we snorkelled above them - at times they were as close as 2 metres. Not at all bothered. Amazing! 

We saw the dolphins on Christmas Eve & then returned to a beautifully decorated restaurant & a splendid 4 course meal.

We managed to Skype the Welshies (screams & tears all round) & in fact the homesickness wasn't too bad - we certainly didn't want to be in rainy Britain, I think we would have liked to bring some of the rellies over to us! But it was definitely better than I had expected. Stockings in our bed (the norm) on Christmas morning, then pancakes for brekkie - made by someone else & then chilling again! FC had bought Ollie the complete set of Fawlty Towers, which proved a huge success with everyone! 

 Christmas evening was spent on a sunset cruise which was stunning - followed up by supper on the beach! Just perfect! 

Definitely one to remember & sheer luxury - none of the stress of Christmas other than my dream that I had forgotten to book my Tesco delivery slot!!  

Time flies….

Nearly 2 months since my last post - I can't believe it. So now I am thinking about time & where it flies off to & how do we try to control it….

I must have stopped counting how long we have been here a while ago now, so we are 3 and a half months in when I count it up. That seems incredible & also makes me panic a little because it shows that the 2 years is going to fly by! 

Where are we up to? Long Boy is now in Argentina on a Spanish school trip - left yesterday at 6am from school, 20 of them & 2 teachers. Buenos Aires & Cordoba for 8 days. What a fantastic experience - my school trips were down to the local shopping centre with a clipboard to harass some unsuspecting pensioners innocently going about their business! 

Squeeze has been partying with friends for the past 24 hours - popped home to replace her contact lenses & gone again. This has been a major surprise for us - the freedom & ease of the children's social lives - in Johannesburg! Creates it's own problems with balancing schoolwork, sleep, family time but we are getting there. Any normal family with teenagers has the same issues I am sure, wherever they live.

We have been travelling - that takes time! Time to plan, pack, travel & enjoy! Last trip was Cape Town - WOW! Will do a separate blog on that - it deserves it. Another trip next weekend - to Hazyview (minus Long Boy of course - sob!). 

Scarborough, Western Cape

Last weekend Squeeze was dancing in Pretoria in a show called "A Galaxy Beyond Imagination" - wonderfully choreographed & produced by the Dance school she attends in Bryanston. Again, we had to pinch ourselves that 3 months in to this New Adventure, we were watching our daughter/sister more than holding her own on stage! 

Squeeze in rehearsals

Bradley (had to lose the Lance nikname after the recent shocking news :(( ) is racing in the Momentum 94.7 cycle challenge tomorrow morning & is currently busy polishing his bike! He has been training hard & has lost weight as well as a lot of time in the gym! You have to admire him - when he sets his mind to something, he's off! 

So where has my time gone over the last 2 months since I last wrote? Not sure really - heavily involved in Thokozani but that is only once a week, lunch & coffees take up a decent amount of time as does shopping & exploring the many, many retail outlets in Johannesburg. Then there is the vets (ear infection after too much swimming), ad hoc bits & bobs like losing 1 hour & 42 minutes trying to but $$ for Long Boy's jolly to South America, physio on my knee (another story) and so on. Same day to day things, just different location.

I also spend a lot of time taking photos of silly things - random things that catch my eye! Like the following:

Paperwork - that is another thing that takes up a lot of my time - as does queuing! But I am chilled, probably the most chilled I have been in a long time so let time tick on - do it's worst - because we are enjoying every minute of it! 

Out & about...

It would be so very easy to stay put in the environs of Dainfern & Dainfern Valley, never venturing beyond FourWays Mall & having the occasional evening out at Montecasino! The days go quickly here -  although I am not entirely sure what with seeing as there are no household chores to do (maid) or general maintenance (renting) & even getting up at 6am (school bus arrives at 6:40am) doesn't seem to make much difference….. but there is always time to explore & learn. 

Cooling Towers in Soweto

When I was telling people in the UK that I was coming to live in Joburg reactions ranged from "Oh Dear" to "Exciting!" but the general reaction was "What a shame it's not Cape Town" or "Do you have to?". I have already mentioned that Googling "Living in Johannesburg" is not the most reassuring thing to do but I would like to set the record straight…..

FNB Soccer Stadium 

Ok, I have only been here 7 weeks but I have tried to learn more about the place we will be living in for the next 2 years including:
1. buying a car from Melrose
2. visiting a township in Diepsloot
3. enjoying The Nutcracker at Joburg Theatre, downtown
4. spending a day walking through the Central Business District with a group of white, well dressed ladies 
5. lunching in a variety of places like The Westcliffe & Deco Park
6. walking the dog at Walkhaven, a fabulous off-lead piece of walking for the pup in your life
7. spending another day with not the same but similarly dressed ladies in Soweto
8. feeling rather overwhelmed at the Apartheid Museum

Hector Pieterson Museum

Nelson Mandela's former house

Not bad for 7 weeks I think! And the most incredible thing about it for me is that had the Doubting Thomases & The Cynics had their way I wouldn't be here! I have already had a number of "Pinch Me I'm dreaming" moments, like standing in Nelson Mandela's former home &  & I am one very lucky lady!

Texting! 

Yes, some of the trips have been organised & with a guide but I do feel that I could drive into Soweto & have lunch on my own trip with friends. You have to be careful of course - I was told I should have left my engagement ring at home - but you have to be careful everywhere. Just yesterday the latest crime statistics for South Africa were reported - a fall of 3.7% for murders over the past year but a 27.6% reduction over the past 8 years. There are still 43 murders a day in South Africa but it is a pretty big place & perhaps for some people South Africa = Johannesburg.

Joburg has a lot to offer - it's not Paris or New York, but there is certainly stuff to do for everyone. You might just need to look for it a bit more & organise yourself but it is doable… and really really enjoyable.

And for those who suggested Cape Town as being a more enjoyable place to bring teenagers up, read on…..http://urbantitan.com/the-10-most-dangerous-cities-in-2012

CBD Johannesburg