Johannesburg

After we traveled for a month straight being back was sort of a bummer but at the same time it was nice to be back, see my awesome roommate Brit and playing catch up in all my classes which was actually not so bad since I talked to all my teachers before I went.  I had a test and a few papers due that week so I was busy working on that for like the entire week.

We got back and I started playing soccer with some of the local guys that play with a futsol ball and they play where you have to hit this pillar in the pavilion which is so hard but its actually really fun because they are really good and I have to work on my foot skill which has always been where my lack of skills is based so I am working on it.  Lucky for me every once in a while I get a luck shot and everyone thinks I'm a pro which is not true but I'll take it.

Anyways I went to take my test and of course, my teacher decided to postpone the test for a week but its whatever.

After being back for 4 whole days we jetted again.  This time, down to Johannesburg, South Africa for the weekend. It was a good weekend.  We got on a bus Friday afternoon and got there after dark so we caught a cab and went to our backpackers which was an old abandoned mafia house so thats neat. We showed up and just hung out in our room for the evening playing scrabble and bow and listening to music.

The next morning we got a cab to drive us to a shopping center next to Nelson Mandela Square.  So we shopped.  All day long.  And it was a huge shopping mall which is so different then what we are used to around here (the malls in Gabs are "small" but they aren't like Gateway... this place was).

I decided to invest in a hard drive to be able to back up my entire laptop, a mini speaker and a really nice leather jacket.  Then after a good long morning of shopping, we went to a craft market that had everything.  I love and hate those places, like I said before, because they have such amazing stuff but I feel like I should buy something from everyone and I really HATE bartering so its a long road before I actually buy anything but I got some presents out of the way (even though I have a lot more to go) and bought myself some happy pants.  Story behind happy pants: when we were in Malawi, I was wearing some and this guy that was trying to hit on me was like "oh boy you are wearing happy pants... want to know why they are called happy pants?  Because they are so loose and comfy you can't not be happy wearing them" So far, this is true, I am always happy in my happy pants.

Then we went and got dinner in China Town which was great because we brought Meendy with us (she is chinese) so she knew exactly what to order and it was all delicious. We tried like 8 different chinese desserts and my favorite was this little egg custard pie thing. Strangely tasty.

We went back to our hostel and the bummer about Jo-burg is that it is not safe at all to be out past about 6 pm so we spent our evenings in the hostel but it ended up being fun because we overloaded on drinks and snacks and played Bow.  Then it was movie night and we watched Charlie's Angels and Easy A which was a good time.  Charlie's Angels is now my favorite movie.  Then everyone slowly started to poop out and we went to bed.

The next morning proved to be one of the best mornings EVER.  We went to this place called Lions Park where they breed and take care of lions and a few other random animals.  The best part of it was that it was almost an interactive zoo.  We showed up and found a giraffe standing in the parking lot.  We wandered around for a little while and looked at everything including a black leopard- the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. Strange looking hyenas that are wayyyy bigger then I thought they were, they were like lion size.  And a few other giraffes and meerkats.  THEN THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD HAPPENED.  We got to play with baby lions.  Let me repeat that again, we got to play with baby lions. We  went into this cage with about 4 baby lions and got to pet and play with them.  I showed up and I sat down next to this little tiny guy just to have one of the bigger ones plop right down on my lap and start chewing on my shoes and my happy pants.  We battled for a good minute and a half because he ripped a hole in my pants and was determined to destroy my shoe but it was me verus a lion.  The paws on the baby were unreal in size and strength.  We we only got a few minutes in there with them but it was great.  It was like the best minutes ever. 

Then we got to go on a little drive through the different lion enclosures and we watched them get fed- here is the issue.  I am all about rehabilitation but watching these animals, they will probably never get to go back into the wild because of how dependent they have become on humans.  Hypocrite much?  I go and play with the little babies and then decide I am against them trying to domesticate lions.  It was pretty intense, the lions had the feeding schedule down, knew the truck that was carrying the food and started chasing it until big cow body parts got dumped all over the ground. It was however, really cool to watch them eat.

We got on a bus after that to get back to Gabs and when we were loading onto the bus, my bag landed on a fire extinguisher and the whole thing exploded into a cloud of dust right in my face.  NEATO.

Back in Gabs and ready to actually stay in Gabs for a little while- like two whole weeks!  Dream Big.