Driving in SA- Arrrggghhh

Driving seems to be something I write about a lot. You have to be so attentive when driving here. Take your eyes off the road for a second and you could hit someone. You very rarely see people talking on a cell phone when driving. For one thing, it is illegal. And not to mention pretty hard to do since most all of the cars here are standard. Another thing that is illegal here is to drive and smoke with kids in the car. This was a recently passed law.
There are so many police roadblocks here. When I drive to work in the mornings, I usually pass about 3 or 4.
The girls do pretty good in the little car we are driving- especially since it doesn't have a radio, a dvd player, etc.
Another thing you will see quite a lot of here is people (men) peeing on the side of the road. Last Saturday, we had come to a major intersection and were at a red light. Right on the side of the road was a guy peeing. I told the girls not to look. He was on Sofia’s side. Of course she look and was asking why he was peeing on the side of the road.

The cows are another danger here. Every morning on the way to work I also have to watch for cows. They graze freely on the sides of the roads here.

Then if it is raining and foggy, driving conditions are so much worse. Especially in the hills going to the office. The hills are usually blanketed with a thick fog.

But on the days it is sunny, the view is spectacular. You can see for miles and miles in the valleys and hills. I almost stop every morning when I pass through this certain point on my drive to work. It is breathtaking.

The girls are good. This is their first full week of school. On Tuesday, Sofia was sad and didn’t want me to go. But for the past two days she has been okay. I think it is partly because they were with me nonstop for the first month. Sienna just plops right down and starts coloring. They are going to start ballet classes. Apparently, there was a demo at school and they really want to do it now- Sienna and Sofia call it ballellet. And now they want to wear tutus.

It has been really hard this past week and a half knowing Gary is so sick. I want to be there with Mom but know that if we come, we can only stay for a little while. So, I am trying to wait as long as I can. There has been an outpouring of love and support here from staff and friends. They are very concerned. The girls know PawPaw is sick and we talk about it in the evenings.