Photos

The World Cup is less than a year away! I'm jumping for joy on our hike in Pietermaritzburg.

This is what's left of a waffle covered in ice cream, bar one chocolate sauce, and various syrups. Mmmmm! I could get used to this!

 

A little bit of fun on the beach between meals.

The DAD Fund and Tour de Vino

For info on what I am working on click on this link. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=142887812047 This is a new organization that was started by Lyndon Barends and his daughter Ezlyn. We are in the process of organizing everything.

I am also working on the Tour de Vino. It is a bike race that hosts 4,000 competitors, both professional and amateur. There is a mountain bike race and a road race. I am in the process of contacting companies who may want to donate their products to be in the competitor's goody bags. Hopefully I can get some good stuff for the athletes!

Food and Fun in the Sun

Hello,

I made it back from Durban in one piece. It was a great long weekend. The highlight for me was going to the Prawn Shack, which is about an hour and a half outside of Durban. It is literally a two story shack on the beach. The first level is a bar and the second level is where you sit and get food. You arrive around 11:30am and have a 7 course meal that is spread throughout the day. In between courses you can go downstairs to the bar or take a walk to the beach. The food was delicious and atmosphere was laid-back. They have a shot of tequila in which they put in a small live prawn. We had to have one because it is a right of passage at this place. My shot had 5 prawns in it and one that was giant. It was awful! I can't believe I was convinced to do it. There were swings next to the bar instead of stools. They were a lot of fun until they became painful. No, they do not work like normal swings, my scrapped up and bruised knee is proof.

Yesterday we spent some time at the beach. I attempted to go surfing for a little while. I did catch a few waves on my stomach, but I was not able to stand up this time. The waves were a little tricky. We also ate a traditional African restaurant. I had an ostrich burger, it was really good. Ostrich meat is similar to beef, but it is healthier. We then had waffles and ice cream for desert. The theme of our weekend was definitely food.

Last night I found out that the Sports Science Institute would like me to come work for them from October 12 through December 12. They are based in Cape Town, so I will be moving there a little sooner than expected.  I will be working on a child outreach program on top of the projects that I am currently working on. At the moment I am working on a cycling race called Tour de Vino and an organization called the DAD Fund. I am going to be pretty busy for a while!

I will post videos (yes, videos!!) and photos later today.

Sun, Surf and Sand

I am currently sitting in the Matchworld office surrounded by signed jerseys, sports posters, and Coke bottles. There is a TV that is playing a soccer match and there are people walking around in rugby jerseys. I am in sports heaven. :-) One of the projects that I am currently working on is called Tour de Vino. It is a bike race through wine country. It is both a road race and a mountain bike race, there will be 4,000 participants! I will have another entry explaining more about what I am doing work-wise another time.

Tomorrow morning, bright and early, Ezlyn and I are off to Durban. It is a sub-tropical city that sits on the Indian Ocean. It is known for good surfing and lots of fun in the sun. Tomorrow (Thursday) is a public holiday in South Africa. It is Heritage Day and national Braai (BBQ) day. People are really into Braais here. They even have a website dedicated to Braai. Here is the website: http://braai4heritage.co.za/ I am currently downloading the Braai song, which was recorded by a collaboration of famous musicians in SA. It's catchy.

Ezlyn and I will be meeting up with one of her friends that is doing her residency in Durban. I am excited to jump on a surfboard again, it has been a while. The ocean that I will be in is known for having a high population of sharks, so if you don't hear from me for a while it means that Jaws won. Just kidding Mom..


Here is your random South African fact for the day:

When people say something will be done "just now" what they really mean is it will be done later on. When they say that something will be done "now" it means that it will happen in a little while. When they say something will be done "now now" it will be done at that moment. Don't make the mistake of standing around when someone promises you something "just now", you run the risk of looking like an idiot. Not that I know this from personal experience or anything. :)

Have a good weekend! I know I will!

Ok, maybe the one with the lizard is a bit of an exaggeration.

A Not So Welcome Visitor

Hello friends.

Last night as we were settling in, I was in my room and I heard Ezlyn scream and run out of her room. So naturally I got up and asked her what was going on. She said that there was a giant spider in her room. I am not a fan of spiders, not even a little bit. But, I was curious as to how big a "giant" spider is in SA. Well, it was as big as my hand. No joke. I have NEVER seen a spider that big other than on TV and in a zoo. I didn't see it at first because it was on her closet door, right in front of my face!!! As soon as I saw it I had a mini heart attack. We got her mom and she grabbed some bug killing spray. I had a shoe in my hand and Ezlyn had a broom. I honestly don't know how we would have gotten it out of the house without killing it. I also grabbed my camera. Estee attacked the giant spider with the spray, and I took a picture of it when it was curled into a ball. I thought it was dead at this point, I was very wrong. As I was taking a picture of it, it uncurled from the ball and ran at me. HOLY CRAP!!! Did I ever scream like a little girl, Estee and Ezlyn were yelling for me to hit it with the shoe. I did just that, the shoe didn't even cover the entire body of the spider. I then took a picture of the squashed spider.

After this traumatic experience it was very difficult to fall asleep. We think the giant man-eating spider got in because the windows are open in the house. My windows are shut, and will now remain shut for the rest of my time here. I do not want to wake up to a crawly, huge, visitor. Every time something tickled me last night I was convinced that there was a spider in my bed. Yuck. But it's ok though, because apparently only the small spiders are poisonous. :-O Ironically enough, I think I was the most brave out of everyone last night. I mean, I did get close to it to take a picture. Ezlyn and I both got up early for work this morning. Neither of us got much sleep last night, we both had the creepy crawlies. I will post my photos later.

Poor Giraffe..

New friends.

House Music

Dear diary,

Last night/this morning I went to my first rave. It was pretty sweet, but crazy. It is everything I ever imagined a rave to be like. I have found that house music is very popular here. In fact, it is pretty much all that I have listened to while in the car with Ezlyn and her friends. It was also the only thing being played at the club. I have to say that it grows on you for a while, and then it all just begins to sound the same. But I may change my opinion of it as time goes on and more house music is forced into my ears. ;) It is just different than what I am used to I suppose.

After not sleeping a wink last night, I am a bit tired this morning. But I still managed to make scrambled eggs and pancakes for everyone this morning for brunch. People in SA like to put ice cream on their pancakes, did I mention that I really like it here? Ice cream is a favorite food of mine. And since I am talking about food, everything I have eaten here has been wonderful. Estee (Mrs. Barends) is a very good cook and I certainly wont be going hungry anytime soon. Maybe it is time to once again pull my running shoes out of retirement.

Ezlyn's friends are an awesome bunch. I met a lot of them yesterday and I look forward to spending some more time with them. Maybe next time I can introduce them to some "real" music, like Tegan and Sara.

Keeping it real in Johannesburg,

Hilary

Chilis Coaster.. Dubai

Traffic in Dubai... Madness

Hello South Africa!

Well, after a very long trip I made it to Johannesburg. My trip started with a 3.5 hour drive from Wausau, WI to the Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport. I then flew from MSP to New York. I spent an entire day in NYC. I had a blast and met some really cool people. I was in NYC on the same day as the MTV Video Music Awards. I saw their outdoor stage/red carpet and I saw a lot of the stars driving in. The amount of people gathering in that area was crazy! I am disappointed to say that I barely missed Taylor Swift's Subway performance. I got on the train just a bit before she did. Bummer.

From NYC I flew to Dubai. It was a 12 hour flight. Can I just say that Emirates Airlines is FABULOUS! Everyone has their own TV screen with hundreds of movies, TV shows (entire series) and music available electronically. They had hundreds of artist's CD's to choose from, they also had video games. Since I was distracted by how great the entertainment system was I did not sleep as much as I had hoped (only about an hour.) The food was really yummy and the flight staff were very nice and welcoming. I have never had such a great all-around flight experience. I will most definitely continue to fly on Emirates.

I was hoping to spend some time checking out the city of Dubai. But when I arrived I was exhausted. I ended up getting a hotel room and crashing for about 6 hours. The hotel that I stayed in had a shuttle from the airport. I have never been so scared riding in a car in my life. There are no apparent traffic laws, so the roads are a free-for-all. The driver was practically connected the bumper of the car in front of us. There were cars everywhere.

It is currently Ramadan so restaurants are not open until after 6:30pm at night, and stores are not allowed to sell any food or drinks. No one is allowed to serve alcohol and clubs are not allowed to play music. Also, people are not allowed to be seen eating, drinking, or chewing gum in public. I found this out while reading a brochure with a piece of gum in my mouth. Whoops! When I finally did venture out of my hotel room I was starving. It was odd looking at what was around the hotel, I was completely surrounded by American restaurants. There was a Pizza Hut that looked like a 4-star restaurant. I went to a mall and wandered around aimlessly for a while waiting for the restaurants to open. I was too hungry to be adventurous with my food, and instead of tasting local cuisine I ended up eating at a Chilis (lame, I know.)

Hopefully I can come back to Dubai one day and spend some more time actually seeing what UAE has to offer.

I flew from Dubai to Johannesburg (an 8 hour flight). My flight left at 4:40am, so I left my hotel around 2:45am. I slept most of this flight, which was good. I am now sitting in Johannesburg with Ezlyn. She has some fun things in store for us. Next weekend we are going to Durban for a mini-vacation. She has a friend that lives there whom we will meet up with. I am excited to go to the beach!

The Barends are very nice for taking me into their home, they are making me feel very welcome. For those of you who are worried, I am staying in a very safe neighborhood.

I apologize for such a long entry, but I had a lot to talk about after my trip. I am off to get some much needed rest. Later skaters.

Longest Travel EVER!

With just over one week before I begin my trek to SA I have a laundry list of things that I need to get done. Packing is still on the list.. I hate packing! In the past, I used to enjoy packing because it meant that I was traveling somewhere. When I would go to training camps in Mt Hood Oregon I would pack a month ahead of time. No joke. I was a packing nerd. After a few years, the excitement wore off. Now packing = stress.

Here is why I am dreading packing:

1. It is for a year!!!!!!
2. International airline weight restrictions are very different than domestic weight restrictions. (Guess who has to deal with both.. on three different days!)
3. My room is a disaster.
4. I am going to have a million carry-ons, including a guitar!

My travel plans have been finalized (almost) as of today. This will be quite a long journey, but I will be able to experience a lot of new places.

On Sunday the 13th I fly out of Minneapolis at 7am, it is a 3.5 hour drive from where I am currently living to the airport. I arrive in New York City at 10:45am. I will spend the entire day and night in NYC, a first for me! I fly out of JFK Monday the 14th at 11am. I land in Dubai on Tuesday morning. I will spend the day in Dubai, another first! My flight leaves Dubai at 4:40am on Wednesday the 16th. I land in Johannesburg around 10:30am on Wednesday the 16th. Do not be deceived by the timing of the flight from Dubai to Johannesburg, it is still a 10 hour flight, it is the time difference that tricks you.

If I look a little weary stepping off the plane in Johannesburg, I think my 3-4 day trip is a solid excuse. Not to forget the fact that I plan on doing fun things in-between flights. Rowena might meet up with me in NYC! That would be terrific! :)

Remember, you have to take the time to make opportunities for yourself. Do not be afraid to travel alone, you might meet some very interesting people and have wonderful, growing, experiences. Never shy away from a chance to experience something new and different. Change equals growth.