Catching Up

May 1

I can’t believe it is May 1st and we left Arizona three weeks ago. In some ways it seems like we’ve been here for ages, and at the same time it feels as if we just arrived. A couple of days have passed since my last blog. We moved out of our “group home” in Hermanus and spent two nights there with host families. Barb and I were hosted together in the beautiful home of Metcalf and Carina Fick. We spent yesterday morning visiting a really nice, small private school and I got to observe a first grade class (the same age as Quincy) and the afternoon at an abalone farm where we saw abalone being bred, grown, harvested and canned. And then last night we presented to the Hermanus Rotary Club. BJ, Sarah and Barb went out to a pub after the meeting with a couple of the Rotarians, but I was anxious to get home and get in bed!

We left Hermanus this morning and were taken by a couple of our hosts about two hours to Swellendam, where we met up with a few of the local Rotarians who hosted a really nice lunch for us. The Swellendam Rotary President, Paula ?, prepared a HUGE meal for about 12 of us in her home. It is amazing that she went to all that trouble and we only spent about 2 hours in Swellendam. We were met in Swellendam by a Rotarian from George who picked us up and transported us for another 2 hours or so to George.

Barb and I are again being hosted together with a family (Ralph, Lynn and Lauren Tarr) that lives about 20 minutes outside of George in a little village called Wilderness. It looks pretty much like it sounds! We are in a beautiful home with amazing views of the rolling hills and valleys. We’ll be here for 4 nights. We don’t have a good internet connection here, so I’m not sure when I’ll be able to post this.

 

May 3 - South African Idol

I’m enjoying a special South African cultural phenomenon tonight: the final results night of South African “Idols”, the local version of our American Idol. My host family is just as into their Idols as we are in my house. The last two contestants are a a rocker guy named Jason and an urban pop girl named Sasha Lee. It is so funny to see this show in the exact same format as our American Idol (same theme music, graphics, judging process, etc.) but with a distinctly South African flavor. They are about to announce the results. For the record, my choice is Jason. Stay tuned for the winner. (It is Sasha Lee. Oh well. I guess I should have voted.)

We had a GREAT day today! We were driven halfway to Knysna, where we were met by a Rotarian from the Knysna Rotary Club who would be our guide for the day. Mike Mills was a great guy who had been a GSE team leader to Dallas a couple of years ago. He had a very good insight into what we were interested in doing (and NOT doing!) and we didn’t visit a SINGLE museum today! We met up with a group of other fun Rotarians (including the District Governor Elwin and his wife Ena) for coffee and then headed out to take in some of the local sights. We enjoyed a great and leisurely lunch at a seaside restaurant where we all laughed together as if we had known each other for years. The weather was spectacular today which made it all that much more enjoyable. All in all it was a very fun and relaxing day. Thank you Knysna Rotarians!