Finally in South Africa!!

Hello everyone!! Well I’m happy to say that Mel and I finally arrived in South Africa after a 40 hour journey from Newcastle. I thought the traveling would never stop. But it’s so nice to finally unpack the bags and settle down.
I just have to think of where I last left off. I believe I was still in Ireland. It was very nice and relaxing there. The last night in Ireland Mel, Karen and I went to Dublin to check out the sights for a wee bit and then off to a pub to enjoy a Guinness. It was prime! So I’ve done 1 thing on my top 100 things to do. After my stellar beer we went off to meet Mable. I haven’t seen Mabel for over 3 years. I met her at TLC. Oh Mable (that’s for you Jen) she looks so good and it was sooo nice to see her again! We had some Italian food and enjoyed some fine conversation. She’s heading off to the Philippines to do some volunteer work as a dentist. All the best!
The next morning we got up very, very early to head off to our last destination before South Africa.
We arrived in Newcastle early in the morning to meet up with a very tired Linsay and Tony (Linday’s boyfriend). We got on the metro to go to her flat. Settled in a bit and Tony fried us some breakfast. It was very good, thanks Tony. We took it easy for the rest of the day. Linds figured Mel and I would be very tired from traveling, she couldn’t be more right! So we just took it easy for the rest of the night and caught up on life. It was very nice seeing her again.
The next day we saw a wee bit of Newcastle and then headed back to her flat while she went to work. She works at a call center and she had a few good stories for us. We visited a bit before we got ready for our journey to South Africa.
I got up at 3 am the next morning to catch a taxi by 5 for our flight. Linds got up to see us off . Thanks for everything Linds!
There isn’t much to tell about our way down to South African except that I thought it was never gonna end! It took about an hour to get to Heathrow and then over and hour to get to Frankfurt. We were in Frankfurt for about 6/7 hours and then we prepared for our close to 11 hour flight to Oberg. We arrived in Joburg and hung out for about 4 hours at the airport until we had to board our 1 hour flight to Durban. Let me tell you that that was the longest plane ride ever. I was so anxious and I’m sure if I continued shaking my legs on the flight I would’ve put a hold through the floor!
Finally we arrived in South Africa about 2 pm Africa time to see Ruth. Oh it was so good to see her again. I can’t tell you how nice it is to be back here. She didn’t bring the kids because Mel and I have two huge suit cases each.
So now here we are on the second day readjusting/adjusting to life at Sinakekele. I must say it doesn’t take long at all.
Oh the kids! Have they ever grown and for those of you who know the kids, is it ever odd to hear Mary and Jake speak so good! They’ve grown up so much! I would have to say that Jake has changed the most physically. He’s not as round as he used to be.
So Ruth (founder of Sinakekele) is living in a house not too far from Gateway (that’s for those who know where Gateway is). There are three bedrooms and Jay (Ruth’s biological son) made up his own room. It’s quite nice but the property has been put up for sale and Sinakekele will be on the move again.
For those who don’t know Ruth has been in and out of houses for the last year and half. She is trying to fundraise enough money to build a nice big place on property outside of Durban so she can take in more abandoned babies. I’ll just give you a general idea of the rising problem of abandoned babies due to AIDS, poverty and unemployment.
3 babies are abandoned every 48 hours in KwaZulu Natal. The situation is so critical that the newspapers have likened the dustbins in Durban to the graveyards of newborn babies and fetuses. I found the previous fact and statement at www.carteblanche.co.za.
Even though Ruth doesn’t have a permanent place yet, she is hoping to take in babies very soon. She is getting help from her church and everyone is ready and anxious to move forward, so it’s just a matter of time. I think this next year will see a lot of changes at Sinakekele and I’m looking forward to seeing it grow. Please keep your prayers going for Sinakekele. They are well needed;o)

Me again. I'm writting this a couple days later cause the internet went off. Umm, I usually don't like doing this, but I figure it's good enough reason. Ruth is in desperate needs of funds. She barely makes the bills (food, school funds, petrol/gas, etc..) each month. She is also working full time, so she's doing all she can. She is really wanting the next place she moves to finally be the property to stay and take in babies. She also would like to get a volunteer car to take added pressure off of her because they don't have school buses here so she's gotta find ways to get the kids to and from school, not only school, but two of the babies have HIV/AIDS and need to go to the doctor regularly, also basic running around like groceries and getting the kids out of the house. Let's just say it's really hectic right now for her and her kids. It's pretty lax for me right now, but hopefully soon things will start to pick up.

If you are interested in donating in Canada it is tax recieptable (sorry if I spelt that wrong). But the thing is with that is %15 is taken for the organization is goes through. I know of a previous volunteer that wires money to Ruth and would be more than happy to wire it for you if you are interested. If you have any questions please e-mail me at cindee@sinakekele.org.za It will take a couple days for that e-mail to be up and running. Today is March 29.

Will update when something exciting happens! Ciao!

In Ireland

Hello everyone. Well here we are in Waringstown, Ireland. i have come to the understanding that although i am Canadian we are all really americans at heart! (Karen just put that on there, she really meant that Canada is the best country ever and she wishes to live in saskatchewan!)
Anyways..
This last week has gone extremely fast! One more day in Ireland and then off to Newcastle, England. And the chauch I am purchased the tickets for Newcastle for the 6 am flight and we fly out of Dublin. Karen lives much closer to Belfast and it takes an hour and a half to drive to Dublin. I really have to pay more attention to detail in e-mails!!! So we have to get leave at 3 am Thursday morning!
So how has the trip gone so far you ask? Well it's gone really good. The flight from Canada to Frankfurt went well. They don't have tv.'s in the back of the seats and to make things worse most the music stations weren't working, and to make things more worse, Mel's little entertainment unit wasn't working at all!

We got so bored we decided to stick the water bottles on our heads.







We landed safley in Frankfurt and stored our luggage and purchased a train ticket to Liege, Belgium. I think it took about 2 hours to get there. We arrived at around 11 am to the beautiful face of Nathalie!! So good to see her again. It's been close to three years since i've seen her last, but it feels like I just saw her. This photo is her and I at the Eiffel Tower.
The first day in Liege she showed us around. It's really cute and I do like Liege better than Brussels;o) Really I do! Everything is made of concrete and is really close together. They have cafe's and shops all over the place. We stopped at a pub and had a fruit flavoured beer. Was it ever good!!
After we went back to Nathalies and relaxed and went to bed very early.



The next morning we took off to Brussels and met her friends for lunch. After lunch we walked around and saw the sights of Brussels. I'm just gonna stick some pictures from Brussels.














Above is Nathalie with the troll and to the right is the peeing boy of Brussels. Nathalie was explaining to me the story of the peeing boy and I compleltly misunderstood her. She said that there was a fire going out of a bomb and he peed on it to put out the fire and saved the city. I thought she said bum instead of bomb. I later asked her again about the story and she clairfied the bum part;o)

The next morning we got up early and took a train to Paris! It took about two hours. We arrived and took the Metro to our backpackers and set out to the city of romance. We went to the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph, The Obeliske, Notre Dame, Champs Elysee and Moulin Rouge. There was a couple more things, but i've forgotten the names.




















At the top is Mel at the Arc de Triumph and beside that picture is the Obliske with the Eiffel Tower in the backround. On the left hand side is Nathalie and I in front of Norte Dame and to the right is Mel and I in front of the Eiffel Tower. And to the right again is Moulin Rouge, oo lala!


I must say we were all exhausted by the time we finished sight seeing! We had some food and in my salad I found a chicken bone, mmmm.. Oh and I now know how to eat salad and fries with a fork and knife. I'm a proper young lady now. After we ate we went back to the backpackers.
Got up the next morning and did a little bit more sight seeing and then just barley caught our train to Lyon. We arrived 3 min. before departure. It was just like the tv. shows with the running and the sweating and the jumping on the train. Well not that extreme, but the running was happening. It was exciting!

We were greeted in Lyon by Melissa's family. We hopped in the car to Bourgoin, France. It's a beautiful little town/villiage outside of Lyon. We went back to her cousin Marta's house and ate. When you eat in France you eat lots!! The courses never end!! I didn't know that they served in courses and neither Mel or I paced ourselves, so by the third course our buttons were popping off! And not to mention you drink good wine with each meal. A meal lasts about 2/3 hours. Lots of visiting. But it was a shame with the language barrier. It was very hard to have a conversation. A couple of her cousins spoke a little bit of english and our french really didn't amount to anything. I shouldn't of droped out of my university french class!!
The next day we got up and had another 3/4 hour meal with another one of her cousins. After lunch/supper, or lupper, we went to a rugby match with her cousin Virginie and then back to her other cousins house for another meal. We were still full from the other one but we made room for more food. I should mention Melissa has a million cousins here and I hardly remember the names. Finished that meal up and went back to Marta's to get ready for the next day.
We got up a wee bit early and went to a restauraunt/hotel for a very fine meal! Boy was it good. We started off with some duck liver (it was very good!) . The second course was frog legs and they were so tasty. The third was duck. After the duck we had cheese. The French have cheese after each meal. After the cheese was dessert. And of course we had wine with the meal. Oh was it good wine! It was from Bordeaux which I'm guessing is a popular place for wine. And I can't help but thinking of the wine tasting we had at Joey's. Deb this wine is much better then the wine we ever had!! No aftertaste. So good, but i'm sure it would cost you an arm and a leg to bring in! You would love it.
After the meal we visited more and drank a bit more... Well I drank a bit more, Mel drank a lot more!! You should've seen her the next morning. Hehe.. Oh and my apologies for no pictures from Bourgois. They are all on Mels camera.

The next morning we got up to leave for Dublin. Boy was that a long day. Our layover went from 7 hours to 10 hours in Stansted. Our plane got was delayed. And poor Karen!! She was waiting at the airport in Dublin for four hours with nothing to do! And again, why I flew into Dublin, I don't know!! My most sincere apologies Karen!!




This is Mel and I in Stansted.





The next day we got up and went to Newcastle for some lunch and we had a beautiful view of the mountains. We later went to a castle. Sorry Shar I don't think this one would make Most Haunted. It's very modern inside. We walked around the lake by Castle Wellan. It is just absolutley gorgeous here!! The air the scenery. It was nice to get out in the country again and get some fresh air.


This is a large chair that was by the lake.
Below is the Castle again.





















After the Castle we went to the worlds largest maze and if it wasn't for Karen i'm sure it would have taken us at least 45 min. to do! The sun was starting to set and Karen decided to help us out a wee bit, actually she just told us how to get through.
So here we are on the last day in Ireland, (should have stayed longer! I really don't know what I was thinking when I booked the tikcets). We are just eating something quick and then off to Belfast. Get to see Mable. It's been three years as well!
And I promise not to have such long blogs! Also I apologies for grammer/punctuation mistakes. Mel and Karen are patiently waiting for me as I finish this so I quickly went through for mistakes.
So next time I write will be in South Africa!!!!!!!!! Can't wait!

Never was too fond of Goodbyes!

Well the time has come for me to leave Regina. Am I excited you ask? I've been asked that many times and at the time yes, but as of now.. ummm, yes and no. I'm gonna miss my family and friends and oddly enough work! I think it's the people I work with and some of the customers.

This last week has been full of many goodbyes. I'm quite anxious to get on that plane and say my final goodbyes.

Being from Canada we had to have a couple goodbye parties in the snow. Hot tub and BBQ. Sorry Elliot I didn't know how to rotate the piture, so everyone, turn your heads.

Wild deer we had. Good stuff..

Lucky Nathan was the only guy in a hot tub full of some good looking women! I'll miss you all from work! And Evan, I didn't get the classic Evan pose for my going away! I guess when I come back.




And yes that is the fry guys. Fry guy number 2 and fry guy number 7.

Have to get one of Mark. Since you left Joey's there has been a huge void in mostly everyone's hearts.




A huge thanks to everyone at work for many, many good times, support through hard times and lottsa' laughs! I'll miss you all!!

To my friends. I'll miss you all eventhough I don't see many of you all that much since you are all over the place. But when I get to see you it's like you never left. And I don't have many pictures so i'll keep it short.

Jen, it just won't be the same without you!! I'll think of you everyday and shed a tear!

And to the crazy ladies. Many memories have been created with you and i'll never forget. I'll miss you all!

Now to my family.It's a small family here and Regina so there wasn't that much for going away. I worked it out so I would have one last b-day here before I left. So we had birthday/going away part for moi.

This was at my grandpa's 98th birthday. I'm sure i'll be seeing many more times!! Tough old man!

My big bro. and sis.

Great Grandpa with the rugrats.

And a radom picture of the family I thought i'd throw in.

A many thanks to each one of you for your constant support *cough*.. Me going back to South Africa would be impossible without you. I'll miss you all very much and look forward to seeing everyone.

I bid everyone a farewell.