A day to remember to be thankful.

I hope all of you celebrating have a big piece of dark meat turkey with gravy for me! Remember to think of all the things you're thankful for. I'm thankful for my time in South Africa and the chance to learn from people from different parts of the world. Also glad I've been kept safe. Still can not believe I've been here a year. The thought did cross my mind to invite people over and cook a big feast including a turkey. However, I took one look at the frozen turkey in Woolies and decided that it's too much work. If I were going to have a party, I think I would go with chicken which is much more manageable...Cheers!

Ahhh. the traffic!

It usually takes me 20-30 minutes to get to work. I had to travel a bit the past couple of days to various hospitals and have spent just under 6 hours which really should have been 2 1/2 hours on the road sitting still in traffic. I know that the summer brings construction and road works but this is ridiculous! And on top of that, there are always accidents. Today, I sat still for 2 hours because of a motorcycle accident where they decided to close the highway for 3 hours. One of the only times I actually wanted to get out of the car and runaway.

Another try at it.

The rain finally broke and we had 2 great days of sunshine this past weekend for water skiing. This time we went to the Loch Vaal which is south southwest of Johannesburg. Good times. And, i finally got up on skis after all these years! The sport is quite enjoyable when you're not crashing hard on the water all the time.

More pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/backroads.traveler/LochVaalWaterSkiing?authkey=aKBqrlXttcw#

Absolutely Fabulous

Once the Jacarandas started blooming again, I knew that my one year anniversary was approaching.

I spent last weekend "celebrating" with Laura who was visiting from the States for a week to finish up some work. We went to the Brayanston Organic Market to eat and shop. Tried on some "fabulous" hats but decided not to buy them.

Franschoek

.

While in Cape Town, I took a drive to Franschoek- A little town in the Cape Winelands originally settled in by French Huguenot refugees. A beautiful place fully surrounded by vineyards and mountains.

The Southern Rights are out...

I took a weekend to go see the whales in Hermanus. Whale season runs from August to October each year along the southern coast of South Africa before they migrate south to Antartica for the summer.


More pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/backroads.traveler/HermanusSouthernRightWhales?authkey=dN7rifA2CLA#

registered and ready

after going through the process of confirming that i'm registered to vote and in what state, i finally received my absentee ballot. now, i have to figure out how to get it back to the U.S. as it seems i can only mail it back...

apparently there are 6 million voters who live abroad. i saw on CNN that there was one country where the U.S. embassy held a "come out and vote" party. i'm thinking i may have to pay a visit to the Consulate here in Joburg to put my completed ballot in the mail.