A Zithulele weekend

I am spoiling you here by posting all these blogs at the same time! Sorry at the lack of pictures but as I am currently relying on the kindness of others to use the internet I can't use up all their data allowance :( My phone is currently not working so sorry I haven't texted anyone back.








So this weekend has been fun! On Fridays we finish at 1pm except that I didn't actually finish in the pharmacy until 3.30pm. Had some general chat with Liz, Karl, Sally (doctors here) and Roger (Jabulani manager) then went home for dinner. Sam is the most stunning cook and makes dinner almost every night, yes I know that makes me very lazy. We had beef stew which was excellent, then I made pancakes again :) We took the pancakes and some beer to Liz's house, since Liz has been left alone by Monique the pharmacist's departure. (I hope you are following this!) It was a proper good night, we played 30 seconds which is a South African version of Articulate where you have to describe a word without saying the word and it was absolutely hilarious. I won't put any examples of how ridiculous our descriptions and guesses were but I haven't laughed that much in a while! We had some hot chocolate with marshmallows (something I haven't actually had since Marjorie made it for me and Frido two Decembers ago :O) then went home around 10pm, which is late considering that in Zithulele, midnight refers to 9pm!







Saturday morning we got up late, pancakes for breakfast (comprehend the extent of this obsession yet?) then I did some washing up and washed my clothes. Washing by hand isn't really that bad except I can never be bothered with it and it takes about 5 years to get the soap out. We did some work on the garden, then went down to Lubanzi beach with Roger and Karen for the trials for a new Ecoventure Club that offered a mix of outdoor sports like surfing, hiking, climbing and activities like tree planting, community clean up etc etc. It was a Jabulani project which we hoped would be a big success but sadly no one turned up (epic fail) so we just wandered on the beach for a bit. Better luck next time.







In the evening we got a text from Liz asking us if we wanted to go to Hole in the Wall and Coffee Bay with her and some friends from East London so obviously we said yes. [Any question which asks if you want to do something outside of Zithulele or involves food must always be answered yes!] At Hole in the Wall, actually at the Hole itself this time we sat in gale force winds, drank cocktails that Liz had brought (what is actually in a Strawberry Dacquiri) and ate Nik Naks, which are something of a local tradition. It was really nice, the sun was going down and it’s a beautiful place so it didn't really matter that the wind was like something out of Twister!







Next stop was Coffee Bay for our third trip to Papazela's pizza place. This time Sam and I got different pizzas then traded half so I had half of a Mamazela (chicken, pepper, onion) and half of a Papazela (mince, pepper, onion). Man, those pizzas are good. As usual, I put a tonne of Nando's chilli sauce on and destroyed my mouth but oh well...







This morning the reggae from next door started at 6am, wonderful for a Sunday morning! I have been writing replies to the letters I received yesterday; I have never been so pleased to receive letters in my life! So far my tally is at four: two from Mum, one from Kirsty and one from Megan :D please keep them coming, I will reply to them all.







We got a lift down to the beach with the crew from last night and had a morning swim/beating from the waves which were epically big today, then had pancakes for lunch. Do you think we are going mad out here in the sticks?!







Just got back from a wonderful adventure – Anita, Etienne, Sam and I went to a local bottle store to stock up on some more beer. It was possibly the grimmest experience you can imagine. We went into a tiny hut which was packed full of people who looked a bit ill, including a woman who was drunk and spilling her beer all down herself (nice) then asked for our beers. While the man was getting them, the police walked in, and the police are very rarely in these parts. The police woman had a machine gun and was nonchalantly swinging it around and hitting it off the door but luckily once she had had a chat with dribbling drunken lady she went away. Good times! Don't worry about me; we will be going to the tavern which is much nicer in future!







Well that's all for now. Tonight we are going to a New Year's party because nothing happens until February here apparently (that's why we went to buy beer in case you were wondering).







Hope you are all well! Someone please send me a picture of the new Town House Fish Bar? And Hello to Mrs Elliott, I hear you have been reading :D







Salani Kakuhle xxxx