The last couple of days have been spent finishing up our jobs, packing, cleaning, sorting, and saying goodbye. Tomorrow is the last goodbye to all the kids and staff at school. We narrowly escaped a “farewell function,” and instead we are going to attend morning assembly and say our goodbyes there. Two more sleeps here [...]
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Last night as we were falling asleep, Kevin said that told me that we will only spend five more nights sleeping in this house. This morning when I got up I noticed how empty things are looking. It’s clean up time and it feels weird!
1, a photo by kevinandcasandra on Flickr. We randomly took some pictures of us one evening at home. They showcase Kevin’s cooking skillz, our beautiful winter bedspread and more! Enjoy! (Remember to click on the picture. It takes you to the rest.)
Today we have been married for four years. What a ride it has been. We have decided that being married and in the Peace Corps should really count for each year being two. We spend that much more time with each other. We like to call it marriage boot camp. We usually do it up [...]
This week is my last full week at home in our village. In all the cleaning out and winding down I have become a bit nostalgic about our service. We are still asked from our blog followers/friends/family: Why Peace Corps? Why South Africa? Why education? Why did we join the Peace Corps? Kevin and I [...]
Dear Pop, 6 years ago today you left us. I miss you. Love, Casandra
Turning 30:
The event itself was a mild matter. A friend joined us in Pretoria and we went all over all day long having a good time. It was a good day.
One of my good friends wrote an amazingly candid poem about all that she has done in her adult life leading up to 30. I, [...]
01kazoo, a photo by kevinandcasandra on Flickr.
Here are some pictures that we have neglected to post. They range in topics from how to play the kazoo, books, dogs, to 30th birthday bash. Remember to click on the picture to see the rest. Some of the photos have captions that tell more about what is [...]
I always tend to feel a bit bad about Father’s Day. It seems that Mother’s Day outshines it. For Mother’s Day there are always flowers, gifts and good food. Turns out that fathers don’t seem to care much for flowers and mine seems to have everything he could ever want or need (aside from something [...]
I just ate the most delicious breakfast. It was toasted low carb seed bread topped with a bit of mayo (American, not the gross SA sweet stuff), cilantro, two boiled egg whites, salt and pepper, and lots of cayenne pepper. Yum. Round it out with a super tasty orange, perfection. Oh, three cups of Joe [...]
Tomorrow is Mother’s Day. I have a lot of moms in my life and am sad that I don’t get to spend the day with any of them, but next year, I will for sure. Just some mom stuff to think about:
I used to live in the most amazing house ever. It was large and [...]
Over the last two weeks I have been a giant klutz. I guess this is nothing new. I would love to say that I have a swift hand and am a master of balance. Those are lies.
Incident number one:
I was gathering plates for dinner. Somehow they all crashed to the floor. I broke three of [...]
Haven’t posted in a while. I have a little to say about a lot of things… stuff and things.
Blogging:
Every once in a while I go through the spam comments that pop up on this blog. They are hilarious. We have many entries in Russian, cause, you know, this blog is in Russian. There are a [...]
Lately I am getting more and more fed up with being harassed. Where I do think my skin has developed into a nice and thick, leathery shield, it doesn’t seem to be holding up as well these days.
Ever since we have returned from our March holiday, the offers for marriage, gross handshakes, hollers from the [...]
Zipline1, a photo by kevinandcasandra on Flickr.
Jim, Randy, and I went on a zipline tour near Hazyview. It was a good time. Click on the picture to see more.
IMG_1366, a photo by kevinandcasandra on Flickr.
Click on this photo to see the amazing March adventures we had with our American visitors. There are many (over 400 I think)pictures. I didn’t take the time to label and comment on each one. If you want to know about something in particular, email us or leave a [...]
Tattoo11, a photo by kevinandcasandra on Flickr.
After many years of thought and contemplation, Kevin got his 16 bit Mario tattoo today. April 1, 2011. April Fools! No, just kidding, it is really real.
The tattoo took about two hours and he was a trooper and only winced once. One of the guys at the shop [...]
BRC11, a photo by kevinandcasandra on Flickr.
After running the Longtom Half Marathon, we went to drive around the Blyde River Canyon with our guests from America. This pretty much cements the fact that Mpumalanga is my favorite province. Beautiful stuff. Enjoy the pics. Click on the first pic and it will take you to the [...]
Kevin is off to Vryburg today to attend a meeting with our supervising principal. That leaves me to write this post.
Yesterday we were called to a meeting at the Area Office (AO) by the Circuit Manager (CM). The school district is broken up into chunks by locations called circuits. We met with the manager of [...]
Yesterday afternoon the Circuit Manager of our Area Office (Department of Education) called and set up a meeting with us this morning. Wonder what it’s about???? Do I smell follow-through??? We will keep you posted.
It is 9:05 pm and I am bored. Not tired a bit. Drank too much coffee today. My playmate is still working, working, working. I can’t wait for this project to be over.
By the way, I am a lucky gal. Lucky because I have a built in partner in crime. Thanks marriage.
Well, it is reaching that point in time at site, where we are both beginning to count the days until vacation. Being at site for long stretches isn’t bad, sometimes it is just taxing.
Kevin is working on this horrible project where he has been spending 7 or 8 hours a day on his computer. Part [...]
Since our American vacation, Kevin and I have been exercising quite a bit to try and get rid of the added baggage that came back with us. When we first got to site, we ran as our form of exercise. That came and went several times because of all the unwanted attention it brought. Lately [...]
Max3
Originally uploaded by kevinandcasandra
Our (family’s) dog is gross. I am of the strict belief that dogs need to be spayed or neutered. Let’s just say that he is not a puppy anymore. Also, in the recent past he was sick and had green ooze coming out of his eyes and other unmentionable places. He is [...]
So lately I have been thinking about all the silly little things that living in a developing world village makes us do, feel, see, hear, etc. Here’s a few of ‘em and some info to go along…
Changing shoes the second we walk in the door. Why? I like to let the Kalahari know that [...]
Would the proper term be rose? Anyway, we would like to thank Mr. Austin G. and Mrs. A Murphy for their generous donations that have now put us up to $260. We have passed our $200 minimum goal. If you would like to donate still, you have until March 26. Please visit www.klm-foundation.org and click [...]
I just wrote and published this… it didn’t show up on the site. So, if it repeats- sooooraay!
We have $90 to go. Thanks to the donors of the last weeks. Potters, Dowells, and Pugas- your rocked the donation world. Thanks a million!
$90 to go. Go ahead, I know you really want to donate. Maybe your [...]
$150 to go! Thank you Arloa Cole! (I think my mom has single-handedly funded at least one child’s entire life by now with her donations to all our causes and the fun things she sends in care packages.)
Okay, we have $150 more to go. I am all out of the OPB membership drive [...]
Want a new post? Curious at how life has been since the new year started?
Donate and we will write. No new posts until we have reached our goal of $100 each for KLM.
You can do it. Give $10 to a fantastic cause. The money really does go where it says it does. We [...]
Time for the Longtom Marathon and Kgwale Le Mollo foundation fund raiser. Last year Kevin and I raised $250. Can we do it again this year?
Okay, okay, that wasn’t really me, but here’s the scoop. When visiting home in December and while raising money for Trees for Seichokelo, many of you asked how you could [...]
We’ve returned after weeks of good vacation. Friends engaged, family engaged, met new babies, saw pregnant ladies, visited McMenamins a dozen times, consumed much hoppy beer, visited the Pacific Ocean, made lots of Christmas cookies. Lived on a diet of fudge, pepperoni pizza, summer sausage, fancy cheeses, crackers, ham, and tortilla chips. Hair cut, permed, [...]
IMG_4906
Originally uploaded by kevinandcasandra
Here are some pictures from our American adventures thus far. More to come. This break came just in time for Christmas, baby Carson, my brother’s engagement and a trip to the Oregon coast.
Post Perm
Originally uploaded by kevinandcasandra
So I’ve had my perm for about a week now. I can’t bring myself to cut it into a mullet yet. I think I want to keep the long hair for new years and then cut it into a mullet. Just posting some pictures for those of you in S.A. who [...]
Hello, you!
Originally uploaded by kevinandcasandra
I know it’s been a while, but I thought that this was particularly important: I’m playing with my hair.
I’ve been growing it out for almost six months. It has a natural volume I could not have guessed existed. It also appears that I have curly hair, but it’s never been long [...]
1
Originally uploaded by kevinandcasandra
Over the Thanksgiving holiday, we got a chance to see a cow slaughtering. This is the first time we have seen the slaughtering of any animal here in SA. I think we have had the chance to see this before and chose to make ourselves scarce. On Thanksgiving, however, we decided to [...]
Well, another South African Thanksgiving is here upon us. This is the last one we will spend here with our Peace Corps family.
What are we Thankful for this year?
-patience
-Fellow PCVs
-A chance to visit the States
-Health and safety
-A roof over our head
-PC experiences and opportunities
-Family, family
-Friends
-Each other
-Entertainment
-Fat cakes
-Personal growth
-Generosity
-Relaxing mornings
Of course these are in no [...]
We think summer is here. It is h-o-t-t hot. We have been up in the mid to high 90’s almost every day.
It has been raining regularly for about two weeks now, so that is good. Good until the humidity and ants set in. At least the gardens are getting a free watering.
As I [...]
1
Originally uploaded by kevinandcasandra
Here are some pictures of our daily walk home. These photos were taken a few months back. They show the route along the tar road. You will see Tonki- our doggy friend who likes to escort us sometimes. There also some pictures of the different houses we see along the way. [...]
Donkey2
Originally uploaded by kevinandcasandra
It’s a toss-up. Cutes farm animal I have daily contact with… baby chicks or donkeys?? Donkeys win! They are adorable and come in many sizes, shapes, and colors. We have the super fuzzy variety, the Eeyor variety, the super baby variety, and we even have a dog variety here in our village [...]
PCVs sometimes say this is the “Posh Corps,” and marvel at the fact that most of us have technology at our fingertips. The volunteers that are here in SA for round two of their service have told us about how in their first term of service, they spoke on the phone maybe once or twice [...]
Elephant
Originally uploaded by kevinandcasandra
A few weekends ago we had an opportunity to visit Pilanesberg National Park. Pilanesberg is similar to Kruger National Park – a game preserve with a wide variety of African animals. Kruger is in Mpumalanga and is much bigger, but Pilanesberg has most of the same type of animals, including the “big [...]
This week is tearing on by. Yay. That is a good thing in my book.
Yesterday I had the last of my physio therapy appointments. I am kind of glad to be done with them, although I don’t feel that I am healed. It was a bit of a miserable day.
I woke up at 4:45. [...]
Haha, that word makes me laugh because of the way people say it around here. Imagine being punched in the stomach and coughing while speaking. It usually comes out as something like, “feezia!”
Anyway, I have my weekly appointment today. I am not looking forward to being gone all day and traveling for hours.
I hope [...]
Sunrise- woke up and bathed and patiently waited for Kevin to wake.
8:00- Kevin woke up, we packed up, cleaned up, ate up, and got ready to go.
9:00- Got a ride from friends for about 5k. It was hot so I got a popsicle at the shop where we were waiting. Stood at the side [...]
Saturday was a great day of relaxing, sun, and general loveliness.
Friday was a fairly uneventful travel day.
4:45- Woke up thanks to our supervisor playing his radio next door to us. Thanks.
8:00- Left our house. Caught the bus at 8:15. Got into town around 9:15 and stopped at the ATM and got a few groceries. Got on another taxi that surprisingly filled up in twenty minutes. [...]
First and foremost. I need to amend yesterday’s post. There was no show watching. No relaxing. There was electrocution and bug hunting.
I was either plugging or unplugging my computer and I got shocked. It was the most powerful shock I have ever felt. It made me jump. Literally made my body leave the ground. [...]
Fairly typical day today…
5:30 woke up to the sound of water filling buckets- music to my ears. Got up and thought about getting water until I remembered that Kevin is now the designated the water boy by my PT. Oh well. Drank coffee, did lots of computer work for my committees, grants, and the like.
7:30 [...]
Physio makes days like today a bit out of the ordinary…
Woke up at 6:00-Went out to water the garden first thing since the water was off last evening around 6:00pm-tonight too, do I see a pattern coming?
Picked some greens for KK. I am all but bathing in them so I thought it might brighten another [...]
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