Farm Weekend – Adalaide, South Africa (April 15 – 17)

yummmm.. fresh warm milk... NOT! It was gross (but maybe that is because I haven't had real milk in ages since I am lactose intolerant!)

The girls (Me, Marita, Sarah, Becca, Bridget, Kelly and Hannah)

Pictures taken at the top of the mountain that we climbed!

Giraffe head in the house we stayed at!

We left Friday morning around 10:00 to head to Adalaide – a very small town (I would say about the size of Donnellson) up in the mountains about 3.5 hours from Port Elizabeth! We made lots of stops on the way there – not for sure why but we didn’t end up getting there till around 3. When we got there we ate some cold ham sandwiches and then headed out to look around the farm. There were two couples (neighbors – but they were about a half hour by car on a dirt/gravel road away from each other!) who were our hosts. They do this every year for the international students, allow them to come into their home and tour their property. We got to milk a cow and see some of the property and then we went back to the house to chill and wait for dinner. While we waited for food we sat inside by the fire and played cards! (we didn’t realize that it was going to be so cold there so we were not prepared. After eating a huge meal of potatoes, veggies, chicken and some amazing dessert!

After dinner we headed off to where the girls would be staying (the neighbors). When we arrived they showed us the rooms where we would be staying. The first room was the Zebra room, which ended up being my room and I shared it will Chelsea – my twin she is just a ‘little burnt’ (or so she says)! That night we looked around the house a bit and then hit the sack. The warm cozy bed felt wonderful. The next morning we woke up and the guys came over to our house for breakfast (cheese, tomato, and ham toasties). After breakfast we went outside and shot guns. It was raining so he set up his gun in the shed and we shot out towards a target. The guys went first and for the first like 10 people I jumped every time that the gun fired. I have only ever shot a bb gun… so a 22 was a step up. I was one of the last girls to go and ended up not doing to bad. I was just a little bit higher then the bulls’ eye. Chelsea was the winner with the only shot that hit the bulls’ eye, even out of all the boys! Then we had lunch and after we chilled for a little while and played some cards in the animal head room! – The owner of the house was a hunter and he had heads of most animals in Africa (well except for the Big 5, which are super expensive to get license for!) including a zebra and giraffe. It was pretty cool.. a little creepy but still awesome to see a massive giraffe neck and a zebra head as well as a full zebra rug. He also had kudoo and other deer like animals and a warthog!

That afternoon we took a ride in the back of the trucks (that had a cage – thank goodness because I probably would have fallen out a few times). We took a long drive around the property, played a little bit of HEY COW – which you yell at cows and see how many cows look at you. Thanks Scott and your Wisconsin upbringing for that great game! Oh the things the people from the Midwest do. They took us to the bottom of a huge hill (almost what I would consider a mountain) and told us to hike to the top. So we jumped the fence and started the about 40 minute hike to the top. I got about ¾ of the way and wanted to stop by Chelsea told me to keep going. I finally made it huffing and puffing (which I blame on the 6,000 ft. altitude that we were at not me being out of shape!) but was so glad that I made it. The view was stunning – from one side we could see a small town and the other way we could see a large mountain range. We also got to see the clouds roll in up over the mountain and take lots of fun pictures of ourselves. The hike down was also fun – we pretty much ran down the hill. I tried to stop myself from running but that hurt worse so I just went for it. I was just happy I didn’t trip and roll down the hill. We hopped back in the trucks and headed for the warm house. Our feet were wet and freezing! At the house (that we were staying at – pretty much a mansion!) we played some more cards, drank some wine and beer and waited for the steak and potatoes to be ready. It was by far one of the best dinners that I have had while here in SA. We had steak, potatoes, bread, a couple different salads and then while we were waiting for the real food we ate desserts (lemon pie, chocolate cake and candy!).. SOOO good!

The next morning we got up and made our way back to Winnie’s house (the first house that we were at) for breakfast. After breakfast we got warmed up and watched a little bit of TV – something most of the people haven’t really watched the whole time we have been here. Breana and I are a couple of the lucky ones who have a TV – we only get 2-3 channels but it is better than nothing I guess. The SA soap operas are pretty entertaining to watch! After that we got back into the trucks and were dropped off at another part of their property and told to hike to a waterfall. We got lost a couple of times until the owner came and told us which way to go. We made it to the falls not thinking that we were have to get into the water to SEE them. We thought it was a choice whether we wanted to go swimming so none of us were prepared. We decided we had to do it if we had hiked all that way. So we all stripped down into our undies and hopped into the FREEZING cold water. I have never been in colder water. It took my breath away when I got into it.. but I did it! I got in and swam to the falls. It was beautiful and since it had been raining the whole time we were there, the water was gushing. I wasn’t able to take pictures since I didn’t feel like swimming with my camera but you will just have to believe me.. it was pretty cool. I think the best part was that we swam there in our undies as a group in freezing water!

After that we walked back freezing to the cars. I took off my wet clothes and put on my dry ones that I didn’t wear in the river. When we got back to the buses we all changed into warm dry clothes and headed home to P.E. This trip was so needed and I loved being so close to nature and on a farm. It reminded me of home and it was great to be around a family and have home cooked meals. I also felt like I got closer to some of the people in our program!