love is a battlefield

Allie and I under the waterfall on the way to the beach side pools

View from the pool

This week was packed full of swimming, sunburns, and long bus rides! I had two overnight trips. First, I had a mini-vacation with the 9 other isiZulu classmates and Reagan, one of our student life coordinators. This trip was an absolute blast! Second, all 53 students loaded luxury busses to travel to 4 battlefield sites and hear historical lectures. That trip wasn’t quite as fun as the first vacation.
Our Zulu class had the week off while the other students had finals. We decided to take 2 days and venture back to the coastal town of Durban and spend some time exploring markets and lounging in the luxurious pools at the hotel. A friend of mine’s parents decided to treat us all to a night at the beautiful Fairmont Hotel, 30 minutes outside of Durban. It was absolutely gorgeous! All 11 of us piled into a beautiful 4-person room. It was a tight squeeze but worth it. After eating dinner at a delicious Italian restaurant we decided to venture along an unlit path to the saltwater pools that were supposedly on the edge of the ocean. We finally found the pools and it was breathtaking. Infinity pools overlooking the empty moonlit beach. Could you ask for anything better? Well, to make it just a little bit better, we all decided to spur-of-the-moment skinny dip! It was a blast. The next day we headed back to the pool to sunbathe (burn, for me!) and swim. It was a true vacation.
The next day was our scheduled battlefield tours. We were going to be driving from battlefield to battlefield, on Friday and Saturday. We had a huge bus and a 75-year-old tour guide who had just as much spunk and attitude as he did years. It was a bit of a challenging trip for most of us. We were all exhausted from the long days of driving and generally uninteresting historical lectures. We spent the night in a neat hotel though, which served us the best meal we have had since being in South Africa. The butternut squash soup brought me back to fall days in Seattle with the family. ☺ It’s my favorite! That night brought good conversation and a great night’s sleep in Becca and my California King-size bed!
Today was our “Sunday Fun-day.” It was perfect weather for a slip-n-slide and chalet games. It was really fun to spend a Sunday outside in the water, eating watermelon, and soaking up the sun.
Lately I have started missing more things about home. I miss my independence. That has been one of the hardest things about being her, the inability to find time alone and leave campus without a group of over 8 people. You have to be much more creative here in finding even a half hour away from a large group. I think my personality just needs a balance of time with people and separate from. Anyways, I am still learning so much about myself and how to adapt to situations and new environments. I still love waking up every morning to the African sun!