Knysna Weekend

My dear friends and family,

I must appologize for my lack of postings...you must all be so worried, I'm sure. I have been monstrous busy completing my 20 days of teaching. I have yet to blog about my weekend in Knysna (Feb. 19 to Feb. 21). However, let your minds be at ease, for you are about to read about it now!

One of the teachers at my school, Herbert Hurd Primary, invited me and another student place here, Ali, to her home in Knysna. After school on Friday, we joined the teacher, her husband, and her daughter who was visiting from London and headed on our way to the beautiful beach town about three hours from Port Elizabeth. When we arrived, we went directly to a market that is held every Friday night. There was live music and lots of wonderful foods. Ali and I walked around exploring the homemade pizzas, Mexican corn fritters, hot chips, mini donuts covered with caramel & candies, cakes, pastas, etc. After finally deciding on dinner, we settled down on our blanket eating our spinach and mushroom pizza and listening to Sweet Home Alabama playing in the background. Ahh...if it wasn't for the salty sea breeze coming from the Indian Ocean, I would have thought I was home.

The next morning, we got up entirely too early to be sure we caught the high tide. This family actually thought they were going to get me to wakeboard. I watched as teacher's daughter flawlessly glided across the water like she had special lessons from Jesus himself. As I strapped my feet into the board, I reminded myself that she was a triathlete and there was no way I'd be nearly as good. I did give it my all until I felt that my arms would absolutely fall off and I could not longer grip a pencil, much less a rope being dragged behind a speeding boat. I didn't quite get up all the way, but they told me we could try again the next morning.

After a pleasant boat ride, we went to explore another market. This market was full of local foods, drinks, crafts, arts, and my personal favorite, junk. We perused for hours before leaving empty handed. I am so proud of myself for withholding and not buying everything in sight. However, this will not last long--I'm sure I'll find some things to bring back to my friends and family.

Since it was about 12 noon, we figured it was a perfect time to go nap on the beach for a couple hours. The beach was beautiful, and Ali and I were thrilled it wasn't quite as windy as the beaches in PE.

On Sunday morning, we again raced to get to the waters before the sun rose. I tried again at wakeboarding. While I am not going to be in any competitions anytime soon, I did thoroughly enjoy myself. And this must be said: the wakeboard I was using was only four inches shorter than me--that is entirely too big for me being such a shortie. If anyone has access to a smaller board, I'm sure I would glide over the waters like an angel. Thank you.

The rest of the day, we relaxed and rested. It was such a wonderful and fun weekend. I loved spending time with the family and being welcomed into their home. They were so kind and stuffed us full of fresh fruits and vegetables. Perfect! Ta ta for now!