Hot Hot Heat - 11/11/12

Top row left to right: John, Cheryl, Andries, Kait, Sarel, Regina, Lisa
Bottom row left to right: Gabby, Ben, Corinne
Left to right dogs: Ninja, Dopey,

Walking in the Orchard

GABBY - I woke up this morning with horrible pain on the right side of my neck, ear and eye.  I have been struggling with this pain for about a week, but today it came to a climax.  I broke down in the morning, scared of the unknown and lack of medical assistance here.  Currently, my right eye is swollen, and I have a swollen lymph node and glands on my neck and around my ear.  It is really painful, uncomfortable and frightening since I don’t know what it is.  Ben theorizes that it could be allergies or an insect bite.  Ben’s been really supportive and fed me some IB Profen, which seemed to help for the rest of the morning at least.  We went with Sarel to try and figure out the mystery that is the dirty tap water.  You can’t drink the tap water here, but you shower and brush your teeth with it.  For the past two days it has been tree bark brown.  We went into the orchards and to the dam, which is the source of the backpacker’s water.  No one really knew what we were looking for, but Sarel managed to kick some fishermen off of the private property.  Ben and I walked in the orchard for a bit, looking at the growing limes.  The orchard is stocked with lemon and orange trees, as well.  We returned back to Orange Elephant and enjoyed “pancakes” made by Regina and Lisa.  The German version of pancakes is the American version of crepes.  Americans just seem to do everything bigger than everyone else.  Even our pancakes are huge.  I wrote a couple postcards and melted in the unbelievable heat of the African sun.  It was 42 degrees Celsius, which meant about 107 degrees Fahrenheit.  Hello heat!  We tried our best to keep cool by sitting in the shade and lounging around.  Ben and I finished our laundry and retreated to our cave, which was surprisingly nice and cool to watch a movie/pack.  During the “Blood Diamond”, we cuddled occasionally, trying to avoid the exchange of too much body heat.  About halfway through the movie, we were pleasantly interrupted by an ice cream Lenmore’s run.  Everyone jumped in the car and bought multiple ice creams from the shop.  The ice cream pops were devoured within seconds.  After Ben and I finished the movie, we headed into the outdoor oven that was the backyard and prepared ourselves for the Sarel Sprinkler Session.  Sarel had control of a hose and let loose, spraying everything in reach of the water.  Ben and Sarel did push-ups while I dominantly sprayed them in the face, on the back, and down the shorts with the hose.  It was a really nice way to literally let off steam and cool off, while having a great time together.  Cheryl arrived back home first, followed by a liquefied John on his bike.  He was in a motorcycle getup similar to my dad’s, which consisted of a heavy jacket and pants to protect from any falls, flies, or foolish drivers.  Needless to say, the guy was drenched in sweat.  All of the volunteers, Kait and Sarel participated in a rousing game of speed ball (beer ball as Ben calls it) and eventually settled down to gaze at the sky illuminating sunset.  I was able to Skype with Amy and my parents, which was a nice treat.  I wanted to talk with them seeing as I don’t know what the Khotso internet will be like.  Could be the last time I speak to them in awhile.  We had a DIY dinner, which was a bit disappointing seeing as it was Ben and my last night in Addo.  We wanted a full on braii, but that wasn’t in the cards for the night.  We sat around and drank beers until I finally was able to coordinate a group picture of the whole Orange Elephant clan.  Ben was freaking out because Andrie’s took out a bunch of his camera gadgets and hooked them up to his camera.  His Rebel EOS has never looked so fancy.   We finished the night watching Friends and talking kak with Sarel.  It was very strange saying goodbye to everyone.  I’ve grown very close with Sarel and Corinne especially.  Lately, we have just been having so much fun with Sarel.  I feel like we are finally becoming very close and now it’s time to leave.   I know adventures await us in Southern Drakensburg, but it is never fun to say goodbye.