HCA Winter Fair Day

 

 

 

Today, was a busy day. We had to be at ballet practice at 8 am ready to go. Mrs. Pannifer is very strict. We ran out the door and raced to practice. We got their just in time. The girls did their bit and then we had to get changed into their pony costumes for pictures. They look so cute! I can't wait to see them in next week's shows. Afterwards, we came back home and got ready to go to the HCA (Hillcrest Christian Academy) Winter Fair day. It is hard to believe this is winter. There are some days it is a little chilly in the mornings but on the whole, it stays in the 80s during the day. The nights are cool and the days are warm. It makes it hard to dress the girls. I dress them in layers so they can take off long sleve shirts as the day warms up.

We met up with Jane and Chris Akob, friends of ours from Cameroon. They are living here with their family. I have known Jane for years as she used to work for a long time for Heifer. The girls love their daughters- especially Elma. So, we spent the afternoon there. Walking around and the girls riding rides. Then we went to eat at a place called Nando's. When we got home it was getting dark. The girls took a bath and by 7 pm they were pleading to go to bed. They were so tired. They played hard at the HCA Fair.

Sienna is constantly telling her stories. Today, I heard her out on the veranda talking away to Emmanual (our gardner), about how Froggy made a mess in the flowers and Emmanual needed to fix the mess. Froggy picked all the flowers and got her clothes all dirty and she had to go to school with dirty clothes. Emmanual's English is basic so he wasn't sure what she was talking about. He thought she was talking about a real frog. So, I had to explain to him that she is always telling these stories and we showed him who froggy was. He was busy working and pulling weeds and there she was talking 90 miles an hour to him about froggy and the trouble he was in. It was very cute.

All the little ponies

 

 

 

Here are a few more pictures from this morning's dress rehearsal. The show is next week. There is one on Friday night and another on Saturday. I am sure it will be cute! The girls are enjoying it.

 
 
 
 

More pictures from the dancing ponies. One is of Sofia, one of Sienna, one of the girls with their friend Tayla and then one of all the little ponies peeking out the door at the other dancers.

Dancing Ponies

 

Here the girls are getting ready for dress rehearsal this morning. Sofia is making sure Sienna's mane is looking good. So sweet.

Local news

Tonight, the girls were eating green beans and buttered potatoes. Sofia ate all her pototoes without hardly stopping. Sienna wasn't too thrilled to have the potatoes. We had them last night and Sofia begged me to make them again. She loves potatoes. Sienna ate everything but her potatoes. I told her to eat at least one side of the the two sections she had of the potatoes. Her plate was one of the divided ones into 3 parts. Two parts had potatoes. So, she quietly piled all the potatoes onto one side and came into the kitchen and told me she ate the one section of potatoes as I asked. I asked her to bring me the plate and one could very plainly see that there was now a HUGE heap in the one section. I told her that was lying to mamma and she should never lie.

Now, on to some local flavor....

The Comrades ultra marathon was this past Sunday. The marathon is approximately 56 miles long. Yes, that's right, runners run 56 miles. The winner was a man from Zimbabwe. He also won it last year. The marathon goes right in front of our office. I didn't take the girls to watch because of all the road closures and I wasn't sure how to get to the office so we could sit and watch. It puts the marathons in the US to shame- it is over twice as long.

I saw in the classifieds yesterday that spitting cobras are for sale for about $45 USD very close to where we live. Same neighborhood. I just hope they aren't catching them around here. I was amazed they were selling them so cheap.

On the same topic of snakes, there was a VERY interesting story today in the local weekly free paper. Last week, residents in Hillcrest were shocked when they saw a local Zulu woman walking down the main road carrying a 220 pound python. Mama Tole, a sangoma (medicine woman, witchcraft, etc), said she disappeared to the deep end to a nearby lake to get this python. You hear often about the sangomas (and sangomas in training) having to take on a very challenging feat in the ocean or in lakes. Anyway, she captured this python and carried it back to her village. She is living now with the snake, talks to it and sleeps with it. She says it is her ancestor- her late grandfather. She said her other ancestors protected her when she went into the lake "to fetch" her grandfather.

Now, this may seemed far "fetched" but this type of story is very, very common here. The ancestors are very important here. And the cultural beliefs run very deep. Another example is the epidemic of HIV/AIDS. So many people die because they don't think it is AIDS. They think that they have been cursed with witchcraft. You hear this more often than not.

Last Tuesday, a newborn was found on the road very near to our office. The baby is okay.

And finally back to us....today when we were going to the grocery store, a lady came up to me and asked about the girls. I get it so often- "are they twins", "yes, they are". She said, "I also have twins, or I did. One of them died last year, they were also both girls, 2 years old, she died because I didn't have money to get her the health care she needed". She was such a sweet lady. I felt so horrible and can't even imagine the pain of not being able to get the healthcare needed.

Froggy goes to the cheese planik

Today, Froggy went to the cheese "planik" (planet) with a rocket ship. The cheese planik is yellow and it has purple palm trees. Froggy saw lots of frogs living on the cheese planik. They were green with yellow arms and purple eyes.

Last night, we were talking to Mae Mae and Carla on Skype. All was going fairly well and the girls were talking to them. Then, Sienna, "tired of having the computer in her face" (these were her words), kicked the computer and it hit Sofia in the head. Sienna went to time out and I finally got Sofia to calm down. She had a big knot on her head afterwards. She didn't understand the knot and why it was there. She thought her head was cracked. Poor thing. Afterwards, Sienna felt really bed. She kept hugging Sofia and telling her she was sorry. And Sofia would respond "I forgive you".

I took the kittens for their 1st round of shots yesterday. They are 11 weeks old. And I think we are still calling them Gaby and Bella. They did really good at the vet. I put them in their new carrier and they didn't really like it too much. I have to take them back in a month.

9 days to the World Cup. The excitement is building.....

Sienna said today- "Mamma, you are the best mamma in the world. When you are sweet to me you are like candy. When you are mad, you are like a rat."

Then they were talking about getting married. Sofia started the conversation off by saying that she was going to marry Billy Ray Cyrus and he was going to sing Achy Brakey Heart to her all the time. Sienna said she was going to marry Froggy because he was going to grow tall and big. And Sofia promptly said- "No, Sienna, Froggy is a toy. You can't marry a toy. You need to find a real person to marry like Cody or Clay" (Mrs. Tammy's boys).

Sienna said that Froggy is teaching her how to behave a little better lately.