Road Trip

Hello,

I think winter has officially arrived in Kroonstad. The days are in the 50s and the nights get down to the 30s/40s. I love it, my roommates are diggin' it so much. The weather here is so funny, it will go from clouds as far as you can see to completely sunny in ten minutes flat. I don't know how it happens, but it does.

Sarah, Katie, and I took our first road trip last weekend. It was between Paris and Welkom. We decided on Welkom because they have a movie theatre and the weather wasn't promising enough for Paris, which is a little more of an outdoors place. I was also the driver, so this was my first time driving in 5th gear, which was a nice gear, still a little intimidating though when I look down and see my spedometer reading 100. We had some delicious fish and chips for lunch. I have become completely addicted to putting vinegar on fries and will do just about anything to get my hands on the duo. After that we went and saw the "Blind Side." I was pulling for "Alica in Wonderland" but the roommates weren't feeling the dark humor of Johnny Depp that day. The movie was good, gave me the warm and fuzzies.

After that, we tried to find the mall that was supposed to be nearby. We asked 2 people where it was. The first told us it was behind the building a bit, the second told us it was behind the building but it was still being built. We decided to just go for a walk instead and no joke, within probably 3 blocks we had found a big mall. I don't know what those people were thinking. We got some cheesecake at a place and it was one of the more nasty things I have ever eaten. It was still frozen from being in the box it came in and it was yucky strawberries and the ice cream was this nasty cheap stuff that we have accidentally bought twice at the grocery store. So, Welkom was okay, but I don't think we will be going back any time soon.

My computer class is going good. The students are learning really fast for the most part. Slowly but surely they are discovering the fun features such as games and music on the computer. At first I told them class time wasn't for playing games, then I thought about it more and now I can't decide. They are still learning how to open and use programs, even if they are not the most useful or complex ones to discover.

My boss is trying to open a secondary school on the property for next year. This keeps getting brought up to me in passing, even though I can't figure out why it isn't more the center of conversation. I got to go through a bunch of catalogues last week and try to see how much it would cost to get it stocked with supplies. Funding also came through for the community gardening project last week. This means that in August or September I will go away for 2 weeks and get trained by a bunch of farmers how to grow things. It will be cool, although I am a little nervous to have people's main food source left in my hands.

That is about all from me. Let me know how you are doing!

Kelly

P.S. If you are interested, here is a link to the NDMV newsletter:

http://www.ndmva.org/Media/HumanKind/Human%20Kind_Spring2010.pdf

Enjoy!