May 19th.
Today was our day off! So glorious! I slept til 830, after
waking up around 7 and thinking, nope, not today! Haha. After I woke, I spent
til 10 on my computer, catching up on school emails and whatnot. Then I moved
to the outdoor eating area with a cup of coffee and Pride and Prejudice :) Kira
helped me figure out how to put in my “washing” as they call it, so I did a
load of laundry while I could. I spent some time talking to Toko about running.
He is insane; he’s like 55 years old and runs ultra marathons! Then, I talked
with Lukas and Kira before lunch. We had pancakes for lunch, which were quite
thin and light, like crepes. Most of them put normal things on their pancakes,
like peanut butter, syrup or jam. Except Kira, who put avocado and Marmite. And
they think I’m the strange one. I did learn, though, that a pullover fleece is
called a jumper. Here I thought a jumper was a sleeveless uniform dress that
you wear over another shirt. Then Lukas, Kira, and I sat around and talked for
a good while after the others wandered off. After that, I spent some time
working on my data and pounding out some plans for my research with Andrew and
Lukas. A great opportunity for “Tease the American” came up when I asked what
A0 and A2 meant. Apparently the paper sizes are measured strangely here. Like,
printer paper is A2. How should I know? Sheesh! Around 3:45, I moved up to the
observation deck. I had a lovely time there, over 2.5 hours, just journaling
and listening to the bush and some music as I watched the sun set. It was
absolutely breathtaking. When the stars came out, they too were marvelous. I
didn’t want to come down, but I was getting a bit cold. I may sleep out there
tonight because its so lovely! We had Boerewors for dinner, which is
essentially a long spiral sausage. Very South African. We also had mashed
potatoes and gravy, peas and carrots, and sautéed veggies (peppers, onions,
zucchini, mushrooms). SOO GOOD. Gail and Peter outdid themselves tonight :) I
took over cleaning up the kitchen, which ended up being very difficult and full
of scrubbing with all the pans. Luckily, Lukas stood there to dry everything
and proceeded to tease/annoy me the whole time. It’s been “Pick on the silly
American” for two days now! Usually, they just tell me they are going to feed
me as a sacrifice to animals we come across on drives, because apparently lions
especially love “the young tender ones.” It’s usually “Pick on the young
American girl” when we are all together, which is probably because I’m the new
girl this week, and also the youngest here. But they are so funny, I have to
laugh. It really started when I didn’t know that there were such things as
electric kettles! They boil their water in this little plastic jug that looks
like a Brita filter. It plugs into the wall and they call it a kettle. Forgive
me if I’m wrong, but I though a kettle was that pot you put on the stovetop and
heat water in, and it whistles at you when the water is boiling? Since when can
you plug in a kettle?? Our electric kettle was apparently broken since I got
here, but it got fixed a few days ago. Now, I had been drinking tea and coffee
all week, but only after Gail or Peter heated the water and got theirs first,
then I just used the remainder for mine. But Saturday, I decided to heat a fresh pot of water so we
could all have coffee/tea with our French toast lunch, and I had to ask how to
use the electric kettle. That
started a hilarious conversation about kettles and tea and how no Americans I
know have an electric kettle, but apparently that’s all Australians and South
Africans use! Now, I will never live that down! But really, I really love the
people here. The guides are great, and the other volunteers are so interesting
to learn from and hang out with. I love that it’s not super busy right now,
because we are more like a family :) No fire tonight, so we all turned in early
to read and relax before bed. Right as I got into my room, I hear this crazy
cacophony that sounds like black-backed jackals howling, or a pack of hyena
maybe. There were also some low noises like moos that could have been zebra. I’m
not sure what went down, but I could have just heard some successful hunting
party and some animals death. I will have to ask the rangers tomorrow. Also, tomorrow
we go to town, and it marks one week of my being here! Man, time flies!!
The view from the observation platform when I got there, around 4pm.
Sunset a couple hours later, about 545pm.
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