Friday 22nd, Saturday 23rd, Sunday 24th and Monday 25th February

Friday

The boys picked us up "early" on Friday as we were going to a church, in Howick, called Oasis for a soaking. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but we got there late - blame African time - and so snuck into the back. A lady was playing the piano and singing, whilst everyone else was just sat there listening and reflecting. The church was there to pray for and with you. After the soaking, Sarah took us to a farmers shop where we bought the most amazing food!! The food in the township is very different to what we are use to, so this was a God send! Sarah then dropped us off at Howick Community Church (HCC) where we had the chance to relax, Facebook, Skype and just generally chill. We had some lovely talks and caught some rays. We were there to help with the Junior-Junior Youth, Junior Youth (5-6:30) and Senior Youth (7-8:30). These were both really good, and many of the Senior Youth were a similar age to us, so it was really nice to just chill and chat with them. We had takeout pizza ordered for 6:30, which was incredible!! After Senior Youth we came back to Pops (the township), and chatted with our host families. Chloe and I's host family were waiting for us when we got back, so we played a couple of games of cards with them and then crashed in bed!

Saturday

Sarah picked Chloe and I up at 10(ish) - Sarah is English and so runs off English time, which is certainly refreshing! Sarah drove Gideon, Eli, Chloe and I to her house while we waiting for Esther and Ruth to finish up at the Lion's River breakfast. We suncreamed up (was lovely and hot) and headed into Howick Centre to a cafe called Chinwag's. I had a huge English breakfast and the yummiest chocolate milkshake, before we all headed to Karkloof Falls. We stopped at a veiwing point and took some photos of the main falls, before heading up the world's dustiest, bumpiest, most potholed road I think any of us have ever expereienced! However, once we got there, it was most definitely worth it!! We walked into the river at the top of the smaller waterfall above Karkloof Falls. Eli, Chloe and I then swam up river (against the current so it was major swimming) about 100-150m to some large rocks. We used the current to almost whitewater raft (with our bodies being the rafts!) back down to the top of the falls. Having witnessed some South African locals jumping off the top of the falls, Chloe decided to go wild and so Chloe, Eli and I jump of the top of falls!! The waterfall was around 20-30m, high, and so the drop was insane! The plunge pool must have been really deep, because none of us even came close to touching the bottom.. (Don't worry Mum, we checked about rocks and stuff first!) So crazy, was really, really good though. Esther and Gideon took some really good photos, so they will follow at some point... After the excitment of swimming all the water up the river, jumping off a massive waterfall and just generally having a wild afternoon, I managed to slip off a rock on the last metre back to the bank, fell on Chloe - who dropped Eli's flip-flop which floated off down the river - resulting in giving myself a fat lip and Chloe a bruise on her arm!! We headed back to Sarah's and had a South African Brie (for all you Brit's that is a BBQ), and chilled. Eli, Chloe, Esther and I then watched The Avenger's and had a lovely, relaxed evening.

Sunday

Sunday morning we headed to HCC and had such a funny service - in Africa it's acceptable to shout out and ask the preacher questions whenever you feel the urge! We had non-stop converstations over real tea (made Chloe and I so happy!!) about who we were, what we were doing, where we were from ect.. Sarah, Esther and I made macaronni cheese for lunch, and then we headed over to a lovely couple's house called Vernon and Jill. We were able to sunbathe, swim, table tennis, play darts, eat yummy food (popcorn and cupcakes was a first to eat while sunbathing!) and just chill and chat with them. They have told us we can pop over whenever we want some downtime and just some space to relax - such lovely people. Chloe and I then headed back down to HCC so I could Skype and then the rest of the team came down for the 6:15 youth service... At HCC everything seems to be followed be pizza, so after the service we chatted with the youth, lots of from Friday night, and ate pizza. After this, we were dropped back to Pops. The children were really excited and and gave Chloe and I the biggest hugs when we got back, we played with them for a little bit, and then we all went to bed.

Monday

Today had an interesting start.... Gideon and Eli told us to be ready for 8:30 this morning and so Chloe and I woke up at 8. We dressed, ate and got ready for the boys at 8:30 and then sat and waited.. and waited... and waited... it got to 9, so we rang them - no answer. We waited some more... 9:15 came so we rang again - still no answer. We waited even more and then called Sarah and she had no idea what was going on. Finally Eli called us at 9:50(!!!) to say "Sorry we used an English alarm clock..." We were dropped at the Care centre and covered some more folders with pictures so that they were more interesting for the ladies, Chloe then drove us down to the family centre, where wer started to plan the English lessons we are going to hold 4 times a week. We had a base for our lessons now which is great! We had lunch, and then I drove Chloe, Esther and I down to the petrol station where we got icecream!! Driving back was certainly an interesting expereince. School had just finished and so there were children (4-18) just all over the roads, they don't care about the cars, they are just so chilled. Dodging children and various livestock is always interesting. We had spent the rest of the afternoon creating advertisment for the internet cafe and hair salon.

Hope this brief update makes sense!!
Miss you guys,
Lots of love, Nicola. Xxx