Internet access is a bit spotty, but I’ve found a place across the st from my digs here- Fernleigh Gardens (aka fawlty towers) They’ve blocked facebook, so this will have to do for now…
Breakfast is served 6:30 am- 8:10 am. They LOCK THE DOORs at 8 AM. If you’re not in- no breakfast for you! And you have to sit @ your own table. We invited a friend (who had been assigned another table) to join us & the waitstaff went ballistic. If you want condiments (except jam), you have to buy your own, which are then kept on your table. That said, it is clean, safe & friendly, which is the important part. And thank goodness we’ve found a place just around the corner to get espresso. South Africans tend to drink Nescafe (ugh!).
This is MUCH better than the technical college we stayed @ over the wkend, where we had a room in Block C (no lie!) and I was afraid to take off my shoes. I have dipped my toes in the Indian ocean & found out there are 3 distinct clicks in the Zulu language. Oh, and guys from Swaziland are possibly the best dancers in the world! Even the accountants (or especially the accountants?)
But we were there with Sarina Condello for the Noah’s Child Empowerment Conference. There may be more info on her website, but let me just say it was one of the most powerful things I’ve ever been witness to. The sound of over 300 people singing the “Zulu National Anthem” is unbelievable. And we also had a drumming session (yes, over 300 of us playing African drums!) The whole conference was to give the overworked, under or un-paid childcare workers a break, some fun and some new tools to use in their work with orphans of AIDS. I’ll have some pix later.
Next stop- Thurs- is Nairobi, where we’ll be staying 2 nights in a very swanky hotel. And then off on safari!
