Weekend in Pretoria....Now in Mauritius!!

Greetings from the beautiful island of Mauritius!!!!!!

I am going to give you all a quick update! After I last posted we had a great last family meal at the base, they even set up the tables all nice and made a great meal! Before the meal started Daan announced to the new DTS students that it was a happy night cause it was their first family meal, but it was also a sad night because it was our last family meal. He then invited a few people to get up and say a few words of encouragement to Bob and I! A few people did and of course I did cry! Then to celebrate how much we have a part of the country of South Africa we all sang the national anthem of South Africa....yes, I bawled some more!

After family meal, as we had already moved out of our flat we were staying in the hospitality on the base. (which for now, is in a flat 5 minutes away from the base) so I had two of my friends, Claire and Rachel spend my last night in Jbay with me, as Bob was watching the soccer at Mark's and then going to spend the night there. Us girls had so much fun! We watched "Sweet Home Alabama" and then ended up sleeping together in the king size bed!!!

Thursday afternoon brought us saying goodbye to our Jbay family....I was a mess to say the least!! As we were taking a bus to Pretoria, we had to be in Port Elizabeth for 3pm. Mark drove us and we left Jeffreys Bay at around 1:30. Saying goodbye was so hard....I love these people!

We got to the bus in time and started on the road...our bus ride was SUPPOSE to be a 16 hour ride. But at 2am, the bus made a stop and we were told that we had to get out, switch buses as there was something wrong with our bus. After we had switched buses and had been on the road for about half an hour, they announce that they forgot the fuel card for the bus at the last stop and we had to turn around, go back and get the card!!! The bus we got onto was an older bus it couldn't go as fast as the other one, so we ended up being 6 hours late!!!! We were suppose to be in Pretoria at 9:15am and we ended up arriving at 3:15pm!! It was hard, but at least we were safe!

Once we got to Pretoria, we met Veronika and had such a wonderful weekend with her! Friday night, Veronika had already arranged to go out with her Mom. So, her Dad spoiled us and took us out to dinner. It was such a great night - he took us to this awesome resturant, then drove us around Pretoria. (showing us the different sights!) The only bad part about this weekend was my right ear got plugged and hurt for the first two days! But we had a great weekend, on Saturday night, our friend Judith (who was a student on the January school we staffed last year and came to Mauritius with us) came over for supper, along with 2 other of Veronika's friends. We had such a great time. Sunday was church and then we just relaxed in the afternoon and in the evening as it was the World Cup finals Veronika had 4 of her friends over for supper, then we all watched the game together.

Monday brought us just running around Pretoria with Veronika...it was so much fun! We always love spending time with her. Then this morning we were up bright and early as we needed to be at the airport for 7:30. We got up, got everything finished packed and made it to the airport at the appointed time. Once we checked in, we quickly grabbed a coffee and left Veronika at 8:30. (as our flight departed at 9:30) It was a weird feeling as I sat in the airplane getting ready for take off...half of me excited about the new adventure and the other sad as I am leaving the country that has such a huge part of my heart. Our flight to Mauritius was a 3 and half hour flight and all went smoothly. We are also now 2 hours ahead of South Africa time...which puts up at 10 hours ahead of Alberta time!! Once we arrived in Mauritius we were greeted by our friend Christian and it felt so good to be here!! We are in winter and the weather that greeted us was +25!! Not bad for a winter day!! haha! The humidity of the island....I just love it! Once we got outside I just felt like part of me was home! I love this island, I had forgotten how much, but one breath..and I was in love with this place all over again! The colours that are on this island, the people. I am going to enjoy every minute of the next two weeks!! Also once we got to Christian's house and got to see my "Mauritius Mama" awwww....I am so happy to be here!

Well that's all for now...I think I might go watch a movie with some of my friends. Bob is going to start the DTS debriefing tomorrow as their DTS grad is this coming Sunday! I hope to update again soon while we are in Mauritius....