October 27, 2007

We woke up this morning and had what Marcus used to refer to as a “farm breakfast” with the whole family. Brian (Colleen’s husband) joined us and we had a very nice meal with everyone. The quote of the trip was when Brian yelled to the kitchen for someone to please bring the tea to the dining room, then he looked at us and said, “That is the nice thing about Africa, we can still have servants!” He meant it in a nice way and he takes care of his help and farmhands, providing them with a home on the property and with work, but they way he said it was shocking. After breakfast we all climbed into the back of the buckey and stood up and held onto the bars as we cruised to Mine’s house where we met everyone else. At Mine’s house we joined the rest of the group and we drove in the buckey to the club where we met with more families. The club is the tennis club that everyone is members of. All of the farms are about fifteen minutes from each other and they don’t get to see one another often, so they created a tennis club (complete with newly refinished tennis courts) and a barn with a pub where they host parties and dances. The women play competitive leagues on Wednesdays and everyone gathers at the club on Saturdays for dinner and games all day. They can go and play whenever they feel like hitting a few balls around. It was very neat!

We gathered a few more people and we went to Barry’s farm to watch the sheep be sheered. Barry explained the sheering process and he introduced us to his team who all sheer, and sort the wool. We were able to watch the team sheer some of the sheep by hand and then the tossing and sorting of the wool. It is amazing how those who were sheering can keep the pelt (if you call it that) of wool in one piece. Then to sort it, a person tosses it and throws it across the table and the sorters divide it up into the different parts of the sheep. It was very interesting watching the whole process happen.

After the sheering, we went on a drive through the mountains. We all piled into the buckey (along with Louisa and Libby, one of the little farm girls and her friend from boarding school) and we began a two hour drive! It was so much fun! The only problem was that we kept banging into the metal bars and it left bruises on our hips and butts! We were driving through the cattle pasture and we got stuck in the mud! We had to have the other buckey come and try to pull us out at well as four girls were pushing! We all were laughing but eventually Gary got his buckey out of the mud and we all climbed back in. After the drive we all stopped at Gary’s house (Louisa’s dad) and as we were talking to him, he told us that he played Rugby for England and for the Springboks, and he was on the 1995 team that won the World Cup. So when we were in his house (which was absolutely gorgeous and huge!) we saw all of his old rugby jerseys and all of his pictures taken during the game and other rugby collectables! It was so neat!

After leaving Gary’s we went to Eleanor’s school to listen to her students sing songs that they had rehearsed to perform for us. We sat in the shad and listened to half a dozen songs and then went into the one-room school house where Xhosa students age seven to fourteen attend classes to learn to read and write. After the school tour we went to Eleanor’s house for lunch and the best chocolate cake dessert that I have ever eaten! After everyone’s bellies were full we went to the barracks were the Boers stayed during the Frontier Wars. It was interesting walking around the fort and taking pictures. After funny poses and lots of laugh about velvet car seat covers, and mangers, which led us to sing Christmas songs (particularly “Away in a Manger”) we went back to the club. We played badmitton without a net, went on the teeter-totters and played many round of mafia! We taught our host families how to play. Norma, Candace, Mine, and Nandi all joined in and they held their own during the games! We had another braai complete with our favorite fried bread and of course, there were wonderful desserts! Around 10:00 Brian gathered our house up and took us home so we could shower and get ready for bed! Laura and I were a little more talkative tonight and we read for a bit before heading off to bed.