Written on the 7th September.
So yesterday was Amber’s birthday and also a German volunteers birthday too. Turns out that in one of the local bars, Stones, when it’s your birthday you get R100 worth of free drinks. That’s only about a tenner but during happy hours it buys about 15 shots. Needless to say we had a party! I have to tell you about these shooters though, it’s a South African thing called a springbuck? Springbok? Basically, it’s the SA equivalent of peppermint schnapps (but bright green) in the bottom of the glass and the SA equivalent of Baileys poured slowly so it sits on the top… sounds ming but it’s SO GOOD. Like minty ice cream.
On nightshift in Happy Feet at the moment. This is the house for the younger children which means there is more to do as about 7 of them need to be woken up 3 times during the night to go to the toilet. Obviously this can cause a few tantrums! Keeps me busy though which is nice… 10 hours is a long time to amuse yourself.
I think I’ve changed my opinion on nightshift though. That first night was a total shock to the system. I honestly thought that was the shittest I’ve ever felt. You get used to it though. Also, as I think I’ve said before, it means we have time during the day to get involved in other things. For instance, I went with the boys from CHILLI to horse therapy on Monday. Now, anyone who knows me quite well will realise that, after giving the whole horse-riding thing a go, I’m not all that keen. Luckily for me, there was no actual riding of the horses involved in the therapy. The whole thing was pretty casual, we just rocked up at the stables and the women running it gave the boys shovels and a wheel-barrow and sent them off to muck-out one of the stables (Lesson one: you have to look after and work for the things you enjoy). When they were finished, they gave them the first clue for a treasure hunt and the buys had to run around the farm finding the rest of the clues (Lesson two: teamwork). After that, they were given halters and lead-ropes and told to go and get a horse. This wasn’t all that difficult, seeing as the horses are used so often for therapy they are insanely docile. Then they brought the horses down the an enclosure and got to walk, run and ‘play’ with them. It was actually really touching to see these boys, most of them teenagers who fight with eachother all the time, being so careful with these animals. They weren’t dragging them around behind them, they were all busy clicking their tongues and being so gentle. It made me smile. I’m finding that these ridiculously happy little moments pop up in the weirdest places.
On the way back to the car one of them came up to me, hugged me and told me that I’m hot. It doesn’t take long for them to get back to normal!
2 comments:
Who would have thought you would be converted to anything horsey? :)
i miss you :( this made me laugh though! x o x
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