New Years 2009/ 2010

I decided I wanted a New Years with a difference and so was born the 'great adventure'! I had read in a magazine earlier the year about kayaking on the Orange River and had wanted to go ever since then, but never had the time or anyone that would go with me, until I randomly mentioned it to my roommate and she said "OK, lets do it!" Wooohooo!

We called the number in the magazine early the next morning and was told that the next trip was over New Years - in 2 weeks- and yes they still had 2 places open!

It was so exciting planning for the trip. Everything we took had to firstly fit into the kayak, but more importantly had to be waterproof and any trash we made we had to take with us. So planning what we were going to eat was fairly important.

The article suggested that we portion the food into ziploc baggies and label them for each day. So we did just that! We didnt have a little gas cooker to take with us, so we planned to cook supper over a fire each night (vacuum packed steaks, vacuum packed veggies in foil and some breadrolls to make grilled garlic rolls!), breakfast just required boiling water (oatso easy and coffee) and lunch was bread/ crackers, cheese and biltong. For snacks we had energy bars, wine gums, crisps and of course more biltong!

The prepacked ziploc baggies

The starting point was in Hopetown, about 120km south of Kimberley - pretty much in the middle of SA. The drive down was about 8hours. And we were booked into a nice guesthouse called 'Frieda's B&B'.

The trip was 4 days, 3 nights on the river - from Dec 31st - Jan 3rd.

Welcome to Hopetown!

Crossing the Orange River

Me and the magazine that inspired the whole trip

Liz and I on the river

Each day we rowed about 15km, just a few hours, and very much within our means fitness wise! I loved the quietness, the beautiful scenery - we even saw a few fish eagles! Gorgeous.

All the kayaks - we were 16 on the trip

Night 1 - Old Years Eve: Making a fire to cook supper.

It POURED with rain the first night - we were standing with tarps over the fire to keep it dry, but we were soaked! After the food was cooked we retired to our tiny tent to eat and with the howling wind shaking the tent we went to bed at about 8pm :-) Happy New Year!

Day 2: Packing the Kayak (aka: trying to get everything to fit again)

A rapid. They look a lot more impressive from inside the kayak!

Hell's Gate. A waterfall/ rapid that we couldnt shoot.

Portaging around Hell's Gate

Everyone said that 'You havnt really kayaked until you've tipped', so I guess I can say "We HAVE kayaked!" Shortly after this portage Liz and I hit a rock and tipped over. It was kinda scary getting the splash cover off and getting out the kayak. Liz headed straight to shore and left me to rescue the kayak and paddles. Swimming across a strong current with a dead weight with another rapid looming was not the easiest but I made it to the eddy and dragged my weary body onto the rocks. Then the tiring job of pumping the water out of the kayak started. Liz and I both had huge bruises on our thighs were the kayak had hit us when we bailed - so we can say with pride "Been there, have the bruises!"

Final Day! Camped out on the same beach as what was on the cover of the Go! Mag

Our kayak and tiny tent

Gavin our fearless guide

4 days later and we are still smiling :-)

This holiday was the best I've ever been on, it was so much fun! LOVED IT! Who wants to join me on the next one?

Moving Forward!

I've just moved! I now live in a very nice quiet 'suburb' of Sandton (in Johannesburg) called Sunninghill. I'm sharing an apartment with a girl I've known literally all my life and even though Bala can't live with me (1st floor, no pets allowed) Pretoria is still close enough for me to go visit!

In other news: I'm also starting a new job in January ... as a SOUND TECH for an events company in Midrand (about 10km from my new place!) To say I am excited it an understatement!!! That means I'm finishing at the University (Tuks) now in December.

AND finally I'm in my final year at Uni!!! I'll still be studying via correspondence next year (a full-time course load)... I've got some International Politics, English Lit and Philosophy modules left to do (and then I'll graduate! Yay!)

Not sure if I mentioned it, but I also bought a car a few months ago - so now I am well and truly an independent adult... which I've come to realize just means having debt! ;-)

My 2008 Honda Jazz 1.4 dsi

Here are some pics of my new place:

My Room

(all equipped for studying!)

The Kitchen

 (we've gotten a washing machine in the meantime and will

be replacing the brown towel with some blinds...soon...)

The Couch

The TV

The Lounge/ Living Area

(we are planning on getting new curtains... soon... )

The Hallway

So there you have it!

An Update

Since I've started my other blog I haven't really thought to update this blog! (I do apologize)

Winter has come and gone, Spring/ Summer is here and I must say I have been quite busy these past few months:  I am still working at Tuks (my 'day job' doing admin at the university),  I am still studying towards my degree (BA Linguistics & International Politics... urgh it's slow going) and since my last update I have started freelancing! Yes, my diploma in audio engineering is not going to waste!

The freelancing is quite exciting, it's mostly corporate shows (conferences etc) but it's doing something that I love (sound) and it's a really nice feeling to finally be working on building my career in a professional environment (as opposed to the 'volume control management' I did in the bush bush) :-)

To chronicle my new adventures as a freelance tech I started my other blog (but you have to be on the list to access it - so drop me a line and I'll add you!)

Till next time!

Dassieklip Farm

I've just had a lovely getaway! I spent the majority of the past week on Dassieklip farm (near Volksrust) where Kobus & Mariaan, friends of my parents live. 

View of Dassieklip Farm

Arriving at the farm - Bala with her head out the window!  (photo by Ani)

We went there for a break and also to get the wooden chest I'd bought on the drive down from Pemba fixed. It felt like April had more public holidays than workdays (which was really nice) so apart from the 2 days I had to be back in Pretoria for work, Bala and I were at the farm for 7 days! It was loads of fun:

I spent quite a bit of time in the work-shed working on my box: It had to be sanded down completely, which meant doing each side - inside and outside - with 7 different grades of sandpaper! After that was done, the bottom had to be replaced, and 'feet' put on to give it some ground clearance. I probably worked on it for a total of 4 days...


The old stone work-shed

Inside the work-shed

Me sanding the chest

The finished (Smooth and Shiny) chest ...albeit upside-down and back to front in this photo!

The farm is pretty much located where the Free State, KZN and Mpumalanga Provinces meet, so its fairly chilly! It's not a working farm as such, they have 3 horses (Mike, Misha and Jasmine), 2 sheep (Poplap and Meh) and a smattering of cows on the hills (the cows actually belong to the owner of the farm).

Bala meeting the sheep (photo by Ani)

Karlien (the horses' owner) on Mike and her puppy Toffee (photo by Ani)

I also had the opportunity to go riding! I'm still nice and sore, but it was totally worth it :-)

Me riding Mike with Bala running alongside (photo by Ani)

Me and Misha

There are plenty of things/places to explore:

Me sitting on the cliffs (photo by Ani) 

Plenty of open veld to ride: Karlien and I riding with Jasmine running with us

Some old-fashioned farm implements were still laying around... (photo by Ani) 

At night the stars were so bright! [Southern Cross and Alpha Centauri] (photo by Ani) 

My sister (who was there for 3 days with her husband) and I also had some quality sibling time

And of course, we HAD to have a braai!  [Sarel, my Dad and Kobus]

Bala also had a blast - she and Toffee became great friends and at times could be seeing chasing each other round and round playing like crazy!  Bala also loved barking at the sheep, the cattle and she even had a go at the little filly, Jasmine (although she soon realised it was best not to mess with a horse!)  When we went out riding she would run full speed next to us, bounding over the grass. She was usually exhausted by the time it got dark, and I'd find her curled up all alone in the bedroom, fast fast asleep :-) 

But now it's back to work. I start my exams soon too, so I guess I have to study at some point :-S

Back in SA...

I'm back in South Africa (nearly 2 months already!) and I've sorta settled into life in the 'civilized' world! I'm really enjoying it.

I continue to study full-time thru a correspondence university here in Pretoria, called UNISA (University of South Africa) - I am doing a BA (General) with majors in Linguistics and International Politics, and a minor in Portuguese. I've only ever taken one or 2 modules per semester, so now that I have a full course load it's pretty intense. But I'm excited, I should finally graduate June 2010.

I also found a job! I am working for the Faculty of Education at the University of Pretoria - I am administrating a Government bursary called Funza Lushaka, which is specifically intended to help Education students. It's a lot of work, and quite challenging - no 2 days are the same!


An aerial view of the Groenkloof Campus where I spend my working days
(the tall buildings are the student residences)


The campus is quite pretty - with lots of green!

The job unfortunately doesn't pay enough for me to rent an apartment nor buy a car, so I am living back with my parents and borrowing a car. It's quite an adjustment after having lived on my own for the past 7 years... but with that said, I'm really happy to be back in SA, its a new season and I'm excited to see how things pan out!

Ilha de Moçambique

On the way down to South Africa I took the opportunity to stop on Ilha de Moçambique for 2 nights - its a beautiful little island - very run-down, but oh so picturesque! There are not much in terms of museums, but they were busy renovating the São Sebastião Fort, which houses the Chapel of Nossa Senhora de Baluarte, thought to be the oldest European building in the Southern Hemisphere. The island, which is only 3.5km across, used to be an important part in the slave trade, and today there is still a very big difference between the largely uninhabited "Stone Built Town" and the over-populated "Macuti Town" - its like there is an unspoken divide on the island...

Ilha de Moçambique is on the UNESCO's World Heritage List and totally worth the visit!

Here are some photos - click on the thumbnails to get a bigger picture.

Final Dive in Pemba

Just before I left Pemba, I was sponsored to go for a final dive!



It was easily one of the most beautiful dives I've been on - visibility was fantastic and the bright sunlight streamed in and illuminated the vibrant colors of the coral reef! We saw a Napoleon Wrass, an Octopus hiding under a rock, Scorpion fish, Trumpet Fish and lots more.





It was a great way to say goodbye to Pemba!

Happy New Year

I welcomed the New Year on the beach out at Maringanha with Jacinto, Katie, Raphael, Ana, Jessie and Rui - and of course my dog Bala had a blast running around chasing crabs!



The sky was clear and the stars bright as we built a fire in the sand


and roasted marshmallows to make 'smores'


and to add the usual African flair to the festivities, the guys cooked pork...

As midnight approached we made sure to keep a close eye on the clock. But when our cellphones displayed 00:00 we realized an important thing: We had totally forgotten to countdown! So we promptly started a countdown - and when we reached '1', the few cheap fireworks Rapha and Ana had bought at a store in town were meant to go off. But they didn't, so we counted down again and finally halfway thru our 3rd countdown they lit up the beach.


We were all laughing quite a bit by then!

It was a fun way to spend New Years and I wish you all a wonderful and prosperous 2009!

A Final Project

I was doing movie night for the kids one night a few weeks ago and was shocked at what they had. 150 eager eyes were focussed on a small TV and the dodgy DVD player kept skipping and jumping throughout the movie. This really wasn't fair - we are a children's ministry after all! So I decided to tackle it as my final project here. With a very kind donation from South Africa, I was able to install a projector and Media Player in the library, and now ALL the kids can actually see the movie!

It took me about 3 weeks to get the entire DVD collection converted to divX format and loaded onto the Media Player. It was over 100 DVDs! Most of them are bible stories, but there are cartoons (Tom & Jerry) and also a few Disney movies. All in Portuguese of course!


Mark Mozely helped me put up the cage that John Woollet had designed for the projector - but my drill stopped working just as we were about the put in the final two screws on the front. So in true Iris style we improvised and used nails instead. They were really really really long nails, so we only hammered them in halfway - but now it looks kinda ghetto! But at least it's up and works like a dream!



The first time they used it was on Christmas day and the kids loved it!!

Christmas (round 2)

Merry Christmas (again!) Today went by so quickly, but it was busy busy busy!

It started this morning 9am with handing out of gifts - all the kids got a little gift bag which had been bought from money raised by the children of the Valley Brook Community Church, CT and I helped Jessie hand out the gifts to the Tias, Tios and their kids.



Then we headed down to the church for a live nativity play which was organized and performed by the visitors.




It was great, really well done - they even used a real horse to take Mary to Bethlehem!



After the play, all the Iris kids and missionaries went to the refectory and enjoyed a great chicken lunch. It was family time, and it was really nice.


Then the real fun and games started - feeding all the villagers...

Over the past 3 years our strategy for keeping things organized and calm has evolved into a system that works very well! It has taken some time refining it, but I think we finally have it down!

From the front gate they were let in in groups of 20, holding hands and then via the church they made their way to the refectory - all the while being led hand in hand!


At the entrance to the refectory porch their hands were checked for a purple mark, and if they were un-marked they were let in.


At the door to the refectory they were filed in single file, handed a coke/fanta and a plate of food then directed to a seat.

As soon as they were done eating they joined the 'exit' line, where they were searched for food and plates before being let out. As they exited their palms were marked with a bit of gentian violet and each of the kids got a toy or some candy.



(Gentian Violet is used in wound care, and leaves a nice purple stain which lasts about a day or 2 before it washes off, so it was great to control who had already eaten)

Then they made their way back down to the front gate and went home!


We fed 2500 people today, all in just 2 1/2 hours!

After it was all done, the missionaries got together for a BBQ at John & Margaret's, where we ate and chatted till late!
Mark and Bridget, BBQ Chefs!

And for dessert Jessie baked a cake, and as an homage to the cold American christmas she was missing, I decorated the cake!

Then Jessie, Bala and I went to Maringanha and lay on the beach looking at the stars. It was gorgeous!

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas also!