Cricket Match & Rugby Game

Thursday February 28^th, 2013

This weekend was an absolute blast. We have been immersed in South African athletics.   I wanted to give an update on the Oscar Pistorius case,  he has made bail and was released from prison on Friday morning. I had previously mentioned that when Reeva Steenkamp chose to be cremated that she would be cremated at the Victoria Park Cremortium, which is directly behind my school. Well, yesterday was the day when she was finally laid to rest. May she rest in peace.  

Katharine(left) Liz(right) and myself at the cricket match!

Team America! 

But on a lighter note, we spend our weekend being true Port Elizabeth locals and met some semi-famous athletes. Friday we hung out at the beach until the last possible moment in the sunshine! We cleaned ourselves up and headed out to St. George’s Stadium to watch a cricket match. It is very similar to baseball. We were rooting for the Port Elizabeth Titans. We were not sure what color they were so we kind of cheered for both teams! It was all in great fun though.   

Saturday we also spent at the beach! Anyone tired of hearing about the beautiful weather??  I’ve convinced myself that I was a fish in a previous life because I never want to leave the water, unless it is freezing! But the waves were quite big on Saturday! We were able to watch some surfers, and boy did they get massive air! They were all over the place. We saw some of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University students earlier in the day with a blow up air mattress and they would ride in the waves! It looked like a blast too! I was jealous we didn’t think of the brilliant idea ourselves. Liz & I were dying to try and our adventurous bone kicked in and we asked if we could try it out! We absolutely failed. The wave we rode in sent us flying off the air mattress and skidding through the sand. The girls on shore were dying laughing when we finally got up off the sand from being knocked and flipped around through the waves.  I think I swallowed enough salt water for a sea of fish to live happily in my belly. But it was fun enough so we did it again. This next wasn’t as much of a fail. The waves were almost too rough to play in though. We figured we would have another chance.

Saturday evening we went to watch the South African Kings vs. Western Force (Australia)  rugby game at the Nelson Mandela Stadium. The Nelson Mandela Staduim was built for the FIFA World Cup 2010. The architectural design of the stadium was incredible, other than the steps walking up to the stadium that I tripped up, twice. I also ran into a lamppost, it wasn’t my night. The South African Kings came out on top beating the Aussies. Rugby is so intense, it is similar to football but without the pads, helmets and timeouts. The players are insanely huge and pretty young men.  The fans at the game were probably the best part. They were so excited to watch their teams. Someone started the wave and it was the BIGGEST wave, I have ever seen! Everyone was standing and shouting, the bongo drummers also caught on with the beat. It was great time! Liz also teaches with me at VP Grey Primary and she has a student whose dad plays for the Kings! So that was pretty cool to have a connection with a player.

The beautiful sunset inside the stadium!

Rugby!!! South Africa is in the black!  

The connections keep coming! Sunday afternoon we went back to the Brewery which is a restaurant that we have fallen in love with. We were sitting down and a big herd of huge men came in and everyone in the restaurant stopped and stared at them.  Turns out it was the Australian Rugby team, they heard our accents and began talking to us across the tables. We ended up sitting with them for a little while and finished our dinner! They were telling us so many stories of the amazing places they have traveled to play.  The tallest of the group was 6’11 and the shortest one was 5’11. Needless to say, I felt like a dwarf.  So I met the Australian Rugby team in the tip of Africa. I am getting very cultured.

The school week has been very quiet. Between loosing my voice at the games and allergies, I sound a bit manly and the students love to laugh at me! It makes me sad knowing I wont be with them much longer. I have truly enjoyed being in class with these munchkins! They are students I will never forget. 

This weekend we are traveling to Plettenberg bay to swim with seals and cage dive with Great White Sharks! Ahh! I’m so excited but still super freaked out! We will be diving by The Seal Island which has appeared on Shark Week many of times! Yikes!

I will post photos as soon as we get back!

Talk with you now!