Just to keep you all updated and to ensure that you aren’t forgetting me now that I’ve been gone over 6 months....!
Most frequent letter writer: Mummy – I’ve received 50 things from Mummy (not including anything for my birthday) which is pretty amazing and I love knowing that I’m pretty much guaranteed to have a letter with news from home when someone collects the post. (Daddy has written twice which is once more than I expected, so also very grateful!)
Non family best letter writer: Emma C is officially the best friend ever and has written to me endlessly and always sends me little bits and pieces such as a jumping plastic frog and a balloon that screams!
Best Sister at writing: 1st place: Cluny 6 letters
2nd place: Lou Lou 5 letters
3rd place: Matilda 3 letters
Most useless letter writer: Sam texted me on the 16th of October to ask if I had got my letter, it has yet to arrive and no other letter has been lost/stolen so.....! Abi has also yet to manage to get a letter in the post!
Funniest letter: Staighty, her letters make me laugh out loud: this is one of her own teaching experiences from Orchard House in London "Q1. Define the phrase ‘To Knock with Force’ using these letters: A, P, R, E, F, S, L. (child’s answer) RAPE (instead of RAP), of course this just so happened to be on the white board when the deputy head walked in...luckily he laughed."
Best thing sent out to me: Photos of me and Emma with friendship quotes on the back and emergency sweets from Mummy.
Weirdest thing sent out to me: Garlic powder....
Best Text: "Hunting lion in Damaraland, back next week." Byron
Best Quote: "I recognised you by your shoes and it was confirmed by your face"
Weirdest chat up line: "You have a very adorable chin"
Chelcie’s Best/Worst Joke: When teaching Long Jump – "He’s such a bad jumper, he’s a cardigan!"
Most beautiful sight: Ohorongo sunset
Most disgusting sight: Dead and gutted wildebeest
Number of Months without rain: 2.5
Number of Days without sun: 0
Best Moment: There are so many fantastic moments out here so I’m really not sure I can pin point this so here are a couple instead - watching the Nativity was amazing and it made me so proud of how well they did and how hard the children had worked, being told that we are the best/their favourite GAPs by the children is always wonderful or when they say "I love you", singing with the Swakopmund girls always made me immensely happy and every time we did it I was surprised by how talented they were. Generally being with the children when they are happy or doing something that makes me proud of them, even if it’s just a dyslexic child getting full marks in their spellings.
Worst moment: The second month was difficult as we were both homesick – not so much that we wanted to go home but we wanted to be able to share our experiences with our friends and family and show what an incredible place this is. It was also difficult getting news about how Cluny was and trying to deal with that so far away from home. Christmas day was hard but that was only one day out of six months so we both survived. Hearing what some of the children have been through and go through is always hard to hear and makes me realise very quickly that we are in Africa and not in a developed country. When Chelcie said she was going to go home and leave me alone....!
Near Death Experiences: 1 – Tate Daniel and a tree cutter tried to "poison" me one day as I returned to the flat to collect something, they ushered me over and then scooped with a mug what looked like muddy water from a bucket. They then encouraged me to drink it much to my peril – it tasted absolutely disgusting and the taste remained in my mouth for a long time, supposedly it was a mixture of sap and mealy pap syrup, never again! Also the many thunder and lightning storms have potentially been very perilous!
Most useful bring: A sharp kitchen knife, we all use it at least twice a day as it’s the only knife in the kitchen that is actually sharp. My head torch has also been very useful, especially this term during the frequent power cuts. My camera kind of goes without saying, I couldn’t imagine not being able to capture some of these moments. My blanket...
What I should have left at home: Fanny bag, second pair of pyjama bottoms, blue Aladdin trousers, pen knife...
What I miss most: Family, friends, Peppermint, Parents cooking for me, being able to sleep through the night without waking up, playing lacrosse, my scent, Marlborough Choir, having a variety of food rather than the same ingredients every week but most of all being able to share what I am doing with friends and family.
What I haven’t missed: Television, exams!
Number of books read: 94
Favourite book read: Afterwards by Rosamund Lipton
Least enjoyed Book read: Portrait of a Lady by Henry James – it took me ages to get into and then nothing really happened and it had a very disappointing ending.
Favourite film watched: Bridesmaids
Number of times cried: 30 – one of these was when I first chopped onions and it got counted, if I had continued counting how many times I have cried while chopping onions this number would be A LOT bigger!
Number of Arguments: 1
New Countries Visited: 2 – Namibia and a flying visit to South Africa
Total letters received: 108
Total letters sent: 123 (I win!)
100th letter received is from: Godmother Jo from Singapore on her way to Australia
100th letter sent was to: Mummy and Daddy
Number of photos taken: 3498 (technically this is only half of my photos as Chelcie and I take it in turn to take photos and don’t generally take photos of the same thing....)
Favourite Meal that I make: Spaghetti Bolognaise or Mashed Squash with boerwors and peas
Favourite Meal that Chelcie makes: Pancakes (and worst has to be when she made me try her Banana bread!)
Worst Food eaten: Liver and sweets which tasted like feet which I bought from the shop to inspire the children to run faster while training for athletics
Best African Recipe: Bobotie
Broken Kitchen Ware: 6 (2 plates, 2 bowls, 1 butter dish and a tin opener – I blame Chelcie for 4 of these items!)
My most annoying habit according to Chelcie: Cooking supper for half an hour without turning the oven on at the wall, this happens probably three times a week! (The arga at home is permanently on so there is no need for me to remember to switch it on!)
Visitors to the Gap Flat: 10 (Nina, Ralph and Paul Mollman, Rachel, Luise, Sam, Random German Couple, Another random couple, Faustinas and friend)
Unexpected Visitors to the Gap Flat: 4 (Snowy, Nesbo, 2 mice)
Nicknames gained: Ottowa, Smeegs and Dimples
Face paints worn: Tiger Cub, fireworks, Reindeer, Yellow star, hearts, a jester and today a zebra
What I can’t wait to do in six months time: Have a proper hug from Mummy and Daddy although I only have to wait 7 weeks and two days for this now. See everybody including the animals and go riding on Orange. Eat sticky toffee pudding and bagels! Sleep in my own bed upstairs.
Love Me xxxx
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