Elephants and more Elephants.

Molweni!
I've had a busy time since last writing! Everyday has been so busy, I'm not complaining but could do with a lie in!!

The school concert went well last Thursday, a lot of backpackers came to watch so the school managed to raise 1350 Rand (About 100GBP) which is a lot of money for the school, it will be put towards the feeding scheme and electricity. I had a little gril sat on my knee the whole concert, the poot little thing had no shoes and was so cold, by the end of the concert she was fast asleep on me (probaly because she had finally managed to get warm).

Friday we set off the Addo Elephant Park, we saw a herd of elephants as close as 10-15 metres away before we even got in the park! We stayed at the 'Aardvark' Lodge which was lovely, Sarah, Katie and I shared a mud hut, which was luxury compared to last week at Bulungula!! On Friday we went for a meal and drinks, was nice to see the other volunteers and we had a good laugh.
Saturday started early, so we were at the elephant park for 9am-ish. Had a great time there and during the day we managed to see lots of elephants very closely (some walked right next to our van), warthog, mongoose, turtles, all sorts of birds, zebra, dakkies, kudus ostrich and springbok. Got lots of photos, hope to get them on Flickr before the end of the month.

Sunday we packed up and went to the beach, which was stunning - clear waters and lovely, clean sand. Stopped off at a curio shop before finally ending up back at the volunteer house. We were all very tired so got showered and enjoyed a dvd before going to bed. It was a great weekend, with lots of laughing, lots of animals and not much sleep!

Yesterday was a bit of a struggle for us all because we were so tired!! School was ok, and sports on the beach went well, but the evening ended in another early night.

Today has been nice, the weather has finally settled and has been hot, hot, hot, which is brill!!!! Just how it should have been from the start!! We did paper mache masks with grade 2 today which they loved, all the older kids wanted to join in aswell. It was a bit sad because it was so obvious that all the children were not used to doing any sort of art or craft - things we take for granted as a child in the UK. They even appreciate a small piece of paper and a pencil, so when the paints were out we were bombarded! Its a shame we couldn't do it with the other children too.

Now the weather has improved the animals, creepy crawlies are starting to appear, saw two snakes today and huge (1 metre long) lizard thing!!! And that was just driving to and from school.

Going to the beach now to enjoy the sun, then getting ready for our 'dinner party' tonight. (Me, Katie, Sarah, Laura nd Howard are all sick of looking a mess and being in scruffy clothes so I came up with the idea of having a dinner party at our house. We are going to get showered, purfumed, nicely clothed, hair done and put some make up on, then have a 'posh' dinner with candles and wine) Woo Hoo!!

Hope you are all ok,
take care
love from me
xxxx