I’m still alive :)

First of all, I’m very sorry for taking so long time with this update. I’ve been so busy in the last days that I even barely managed to get a good night sleep.

However, it has been a positive bustle :) As you maybe remember, Bela has been visiting me in Livingstone from the 5^th of October to the 14^th of October. We had a fantastic time together and you can’t imagine how nice it was, to have a piece from home down here :) I really enjoyed her company, showing her my African life (we stayed both at my place in the compound and at the backpackers) and doing all the crazy activities. Yep, we kind of lived on the edge to death almost every day :D Okay, the club competition Friday the 5^th of October and the boat regatta on the 6^th of October were quite calm and just great fun.

Here some impressions from the regatta:

Bela, Ben, Lockard and Anna

the other teams

4 teams competing against each other

Bela and me

The more risky activities started on the following Sunday with the full day rafting tour on the Zambezi River :) It started at the boiling pot underneath the Victoria Falls Bridge and continued with 25 rapids, which all were in the range of level 2-5 (6 is the worst level). Even though it was great fun and just amazing, I have to admit that I in some moments were a bit afraid :D For instance for hurting my teeth while we were crashing into some rocks :D (I think most of you know how much I care about my teeth :))

Here some pictures:

Before we walked down to the boiling pot

Right before tipped over

Enjoying the calm water

Us trying not to tip over

Monday afternoon after work, it was time for the most life threatening activity. Yep, we did the bungee jump!!!! Let me say it like that, it was CRAZY both in a positive and negative way. It was great fun but at the same time also the most scariest thing I’ve ever done! I’m not sure if I would do it again :D (hmmm…I’m actually going to Cape Town in December and there you can do the highest bungee jump in the world, 216 meters…well that is just a thought :D we’ll see!)

Here some pictures (I’m still working on the video):

Me before the jump

Bela was a good support :)

Can I really do this?

Okay, I can!

Me jumping

Me bouncing up and down

Tuesday and Wednesday it was time for us going on a safari to Chobe National Park in Botswana. Now you maybe think that this is not life threatening at all! In some way you are right but on the other hand, when the lions and elephants were less than a meter away from us and Zinka our guide said: “Don’t move! Just stay…” (he didn’t finish the sentence because of the lions’ unexpected movements), you felt a bit like playing with your life :D

However, it was AMAZING seeing all the animals!!! And I just went crazy with my camera :D you should have seen me :D

Here some of the best pictures (it took me ages to decide which to chose :D):

A crocodile

Hippos with a bird on the back

a nice bird :)

Elephants

A baby elephant. Isn't it sweet :)

Elephants on their way to Namibia

Elephants kissing

Another nice bird

Another nice bird

Impalas

Another nice bird

A dead buffalo

Funny hair :)

More elephants

Female lions

A giraffe, wild hogs (mum and child) and an elephant

Giraffes

Another

Another nice bird

Wild dogs

Monkeys

A buffalo

A wild hog

Fantastic sunset

Zebras

Female and male lion

male lion

female lion

Okay, he is awake

Nice teeth :)

An eagle

A leopard

A leopard eating a baby elephant

Another nice bird

"Zazu" from the Lion King

Male impala

hmmm...I can't remember

Giraffe drinking :)

Me taking pictures

The party bus

Thursday afternoon after work, it was time for us to visit the Victoria Falls and the famous Devil’s pool :) and yep, now I know why it has this name :D It is quite crazy and a bit scary, jumping in to the water and being so close to the edge. I think I’ll just let the pictures tell:

Bela and me at the Victoria Falls

Ready for Devil's pool

On the way to the pool

Titanic :) On the way to the pool

Still on the way to the pool

Still on the way to the pool

Finally arrived :)

Me jumping into the pool

The landing :)

Bela and me in the pool

Lying on the edge

Lying on the edge

So yeah, Bela and I were having a great time together :) However, to make the time perfect, we also needed some crazy dancing :) So, we went out both Thursday and Friday night and had a lot of fun :) However, on the following mornings when I was on my way to work, I kind of regretted one or two Mosis (the Zambian beer) :D But believe it or not, I managed to get some work done :)

Saturday it was time for me to let the touristic life behind and say “hi” to the African life again. We were having another sports day :) I really looked forward to it, however I should kind of have known that it wouldn’t be the best experience :D

When the sports captains and Doreen met for planning the sports day last Thursday, I had to represent Kwenuha at another meeting in town. Hence, I didn’t know what was planned or not. Well, Friday I was told that everything was ready for the sports day and I only had to show up at the sports field Saturday morning at 9 hours. Okay, when I arrived at the sports field at 9 hours, the field was full of children. My first thought was “what??! They are all on time? Nice :)”. After a more exact look at the children I saw that they didn’t belong to Kwenuha. So what was going on? Did we actually book the sports field? Hmmm…since Doreen was in town collecting the food, I didn’t know. And since the power had gone the whole night and morning all over in Livingstone, the food wasn’t ready and Doreen arrived at 12:30 hours (we finished at 14 hours). So yeah, what was happening? Did the sport captains know which activities they were responsible for? Not really…citation: “we didn’t plan anything. We just waited 3 hours for the other sport captains to arrive”. And why did only 4 out of 12 teams show up? Well, no one knew!

 So yeah, after swallowing some frustrations, I tried to find a solution for this situation. After two hours waiting, we finally got the sports field and we started our athletics day (which I quickly had planned in these two hours) :) I can only repeat myself. I really learn to be flexible and think quickly :)

Here some pictures:

Some of the boys

The relays

Saturday evening was Bela and my last evening together here in Livingstone. So the perfect ending of theses lovely days, was of course a sunset cruise :) We enjoyed it a lot and had great fun, thinking of all the activities we had done that week :)

Sunday it was time for me to say goodbye to Bela…I have to admit that I was a bit sad. We just had such a good time :)

But yeah, with cleaning my room and baking dark rye bread, I managed to distract myself :)

What is going this week?

Compared to last week, this week is quite calm. We are having a workshop on “Kicking Aids Out” the whole week and right now, I don’t have any plans for the weekend. However, the workshop is really good :) The facilitator is doing a great job and the girls are really motivated, so that’s nice :)

That was all from me! Have a lovely week :)