Strike Day 4

Oh my gosh, Happy (one day late) Birthday to Brady!!! What are the birthday plans for the boys this weekend? Is he going to have a party? Can he make us another video?

Well, no one thought it would go on this long. But today is now the fourth day of the Combie strike. People all over the country are feeling the effects of not having this form of transportations. All the bus stops are full of people seeing if there is anyone who would pick them up. Many of the staff for our flats haven't been able to get to work the past few days. Since this is the first week of school, even students haven't made it to class yet.

To add to the problem, there was an attack on the train tracks last night. I really don't know too much about it yet, but it seems to be affiliated with the strikes. Someone cut a piece out of the tracks early Thursday morning. A train going on the tracks saw the missing piece and was able to slow down, however a few of the wheels were still derailed. It was just a minor accident. But they were lucky because passenger trains also travel on those tracks. Actually most of the people who live in the townships take those trains to come into work in the city. A group of the maids for our apartments got stuck at the train station this morning. The owner of the flats went to pick them up, but now they don't know how they'll get home at the end of the day. They already are prepared to spend the night away from home (although one of the cleaning ladies told us she has children at home she needs to get to). It's just too bad that this is all because the World Cup is coming to SA!

We took private taxis and our professor's cars to class again today. And remember, today was supposed to be my day off! But instead, here I am in the computer lab, waiting till it's time to run to class. I made a really great lunch, I tried my hand at marinating chicken. I just used whatever we had in our fridge (not very much cause it's a tiny fridge)...ketchup, mustard, garlic, soy sauce, and sugar I think. But it turned out really well and now all my roommates are asking me to make that for them too. I already planned to make dinner tonight for my flat though and I'm using one of Mac's recipes for terriyaki shrimp and my mom's rice pilaf. Should be good!

Tomorrow is our first weekend trip! A lot of people from our group are going to Jeffrey's Bay this weekend. Since it was easier, my flat planned our trip on our own so that we didn't have to coordinate with 20 other people. The plan is to go to the airport via private taxi tomorrow and pick up our rental car. Then start driving toward Jeffrey's Bay (about an hour away.) Along the way we will stop at Seaview which is a game park where you can play with lion cubs and such. My roommates haven't gotten to do this yet, so it should be fun. Then when we get to J-bay we'll drop our stuff off at a hostel called Island Vibe. This is supposed to be a really nice hostel with 300 degrees of ocean view. In the afternoon, we're taking surfing lessons!! I'll let you know how that goes. The rest of the time there will be spent touring the city and seeing what else it has to offer! Then we'll be back on Saturday night.

Early Sunday morning we are leaving to go to Addo Elephant Park and Schotia Game Reserve. I'm excited to go here because I think I'll for sure get to see the rest of the Big 5! This is an excursion that is a mandatory part of our trip and our study abroad fee pays for this. We'll be at Addo during the day and then go to Schotia for a night game drive and a traditional South African feast (I'm not sure what that will be!) So don't be surprised if I don't post for a little while. I think I'll be on the go until Monday!

I hope you all have good weekends!!!!