pure happiness

          The weekend trip titled Frontier consisted of a farming adventure! We (about a group of 20 international students) were taken to a farm three hours outside of PE in beautiful mountains seeing the third highest mountain in South Africa (just south of the Winterberg Mountains). First, I would like to say I adore the ocean but if I had to pick between living in the mountains or next to an ocean the mountains would win. Particularly this location with isolation to the extent of taking dirt roads for over an hour to arrive at the farm house. Also, I enjoy the aspect of not being able to contact the outside world with no cell phone service and neighbors miles away. When we arrived we were given lunch with tea and biscuits. Let me warn you future housemates... we will be having lots of tea and biscuits, I'm a bit obsessed! It was wonderful to have home cooked meals for the weekend and have something other then pb&j!
          The weekend was fantastic nothing I can describe other then pure happiness. Everything just seemed perfect. At one point we were in the back of a 4x4 (picture a safari type truck) and I said I would love to see a rainbow. Not even 30 seconds later the prettiest rainbow I have ever seen spanned between two mountains. I felt like a farming princess for the entire weekend with the gorgeous nature, generous hospitality, and loving company. When I went to bed there was candy on the pillows, when I woke up Kelly had already started water for tea, and I was able to take a bubble bath! Heaven. Not to mention... I was challenged out of my comfort zone once again! We milked cows (squirting milk into our mouths straight from the utter), sheered sheep, shot a 22 rifle, held a baby goat, climbed a mountain, and swam to a waterfall!! The farm where we stayed earns money from wool, the most expensive wool being received from the neck of sheep since it is least exposed to the elements.
        I loved hiking through the beautiful scenery! The only negative was GIANT spiders everywhere! South Africa defiantly has lots of wildlife.. there was even an earth worm about 5 feet long! The house where we stayed had a trophy room... wild animals that the owner hunted, one even being a giraffe! During the rainy part of the day we sat in the room playing cards and drinking tea. Life is so so good and only five days until Easter break!
               Cheers!
                    -Becca

 p.s. thanks for all the birthday wishes :) birthdays in South Africa are enjoyable, spending time at the beach and celebrating with friends!

        Molweni! (meaning hello to a group of people in Xhosa) I hope all is well! I have been here for almost 10 weeks! I now have different classes and one I particularly enjoy is Martial and Family Interactions, it is interesting to analyze attraction and marriage compatibility. Surprisingly, a lot of the statistics come from the United States. This is similar to most of my classes with us even having text books from America. I can count on being called for my opinion everyday in class for the view of an American (it can be a bit embarrassing sometimes)! It is shocking what a key role America has for setting standards even down to musical influences as the radio still blares artists like Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, and Justin Beiber here.  
       A few weeks ago (I know it has been a while since I wrote) I woke up and headed to the bathroom still groggy, I didn't turn on the light. There appeared to be rice all over the floor and I was a bit confused. While stepping on the rice it felt softer then I would imagine and there was no reason for rice to be on my bathroom floor. Then, I realized the rice was moving.... not rice at all but maggots! They were everywhere!! Kitchen, bathroom, my room, Coleen's room! Coleen and I were able to get them under control and then a maintenance man came and sprayed to kill them. They have only been back once since and Coleen and I are becoming quite independent in the getting rid of bugs aspect!
      This weekend was rather exciting with my Iron Girl race (a 10k run, 6.2 miles) and the Ironman on Sunday (the only Ironman held on the continent of Africa)! My run went well and was interesting.. an Olympian gold medalist, Zola Budd Pieterse, won my race and Bridget and I were able to take a picture with her! Out of 698 runners I came in 29th place with a time of 50:50. The race was brutal with intense wind. While running next to the beach I was eating sand thanks to the windy city but could not close my mouth being I needed all the oxygen I could get! Then, out of nowhere there were mules on the race course... only in Africa. We ran to a penguin rescue center and back to the boardwalk. The best part of the race was the end where they were handing out my favorite food, Popsicles! Plus, I now have a cool pink shirt and medal!
         The Ironman is the most exciting sporting event I have ever seen, even better then a Browns verse Steelers football game! We woke up early and walked to the beach to see the sunrise and the start of the race. For the race a mad rush of almost 1800 men and women flooded to the Indian Ocean! An Ironman consists of  a triathlon, 2.4 mile (3.86 Km) ocean swim followed by a 112 mile (180.2 Km) bike ride followed by a marathon run (26 miles, or 42.195 Km)! We stayed all day enjoying the atmosphere and hanging out on the beach. I have never been more impressed by athletes and their physical ability to keep going regardless of the pain. We were able to witness a world record being set by Chrissie Wellington from England with a time of 8hrs and 33 mins! She came in 8th place overall... being an excellent role model for women!
        This weekend we are going on a Frontier trip, to a South African farm! I look forward to telling you all about it!
                             Cheers!
                                    -Becca