A Year Ago...

As we settle back into life in America, it is hard to believe that we've been back since March. And even harder to believe that only a year ago, we were trekking around South Africa. The difference in living styles is literally a world apart and I am shocked by how quickly we were able to jump back into the routine of normal, American life.

One of the best decisions we made while traveling last year was to keep journals. We tried to keep our blog updated when we had internet access, but it was spotty (at best) in Souoth Africa and having real, pen-and-paper journals proved to be a great way to record all the ridiculousness of life there, as well as random thoughts and feelings. I've been flipping through our journals lately, and really enjoyed comparing the current date with whatever we were doing exactly a year ago. How far we've come!

So, I thought it'd be fun to share with the rest of the cyber-world. Here is my journal entry from January 25, 2011.


This whole trip has become even more ridiculous. I thought we were leaving our crazy current situation (living in a thatched-roof hut with a loony Canadian grandma in an African village without electricity/plumbing or running water) for a little bit of normalcy. But, as I sit in an armchair with a TV tray (complete with doily) and watch “Street Lawyer” on a really fuzzy TV while listening to roosters crow, mosquitoes buzz and random American rap music blare from trucks outside, I realize that “normal” doesn’t really exist anymore.




We haven’t seen the sun since we got here on Friday – literally. It has rained and rained and rained and we’ve been stuck in this crazy house acting like old people. Cabin fever got the best of us a few times so yesterday we ventured out to the library in search of free internet. Fail. Today, we scoped out all the shops and were not surprised to find out that they all carry the exact same things. Various crème-filled cookies, canned meat, pilchards in chili sauce, corn snacks, soya mince, Robertsons’ spices, Aromat, pap, samp, flour, Jungle Oats, candles/matches, various strange-flavored candies, room temperature yogurt, milk-based “fruit” drinks, and the same fruits/veggies: cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, pears, cabbage, apples, plumbs and butternut squash. And sometimes beets.


Even though there’s not a lot going on here, it is good to get away. Ironically, I still haven’t done any laundry and I’ve only bathed once, so I’m wearing all my stinky clothes from Godeka until it stops raining or I get myself into the tub. I think that fact that I’ve been shuffling around in Yvonne’s slippers and David is wearing her pants for the 2nd day in a row really sums up our time here. TIA.