Day 25: Lost in a Sea of People

I'm sure there's been some bitterness when I write about how many gorgeous days we have has here in South Africa while we know the weather at home is all over the map and mostly on the colder side of the spectrum.  Well, today was noticeably colder with very little sign of the sun.  No actual rain, just a bit of a gray day.  And noticeably colder was somewhere in the mid-60's.

Nicolas was very excited to start his advent calendar today!  He did a performance for us about how it was the 1st of December.  It was combined with a song, but of course I can't remember what it was now. :)

We spent the morning hanging out at the guest house - more tickle fights and giggles.  Nicolas also thoroughly enjoys "flying" with us.  By flying I mean that we lay on the bed and he lays on our legs and flies around.  It's a great workout for us and he has a grand time flying to London, Sweden, and Japan.  Despite a few crash landings, everyone made it out safely.

This afternoon we headed out to the mall (even though we know that going to the mall on Saturday is the definition of insanity).  As I have mentioned before, the mall here are huge.  The one that we went to is probably 5 times the size of Rivertown Crossings and is completely insane - especially when combined with the fact that we don't know where any of the stores are or what stores have the things we need.  Stores like Target or Meijer - your one-stop shop - don't really exist here.  We did go to a store called Game today which seemed like a combination of Sears and parts of Target, but still not quite like home.  Our mission was simple - a few more shirts for Nicolas and temporary tattoos.  The shirts were easy.  The tattoos - not so much.  We started at Game (which I naiively thought was a game/toy store).  After no success finding them there, I asked someone who worked there are she told me the name of a store we could try.  I repeated the name back to her and she nodded, so we went and found a mall directory board.  I searched it and could not find the name she had given me.  I must've looked confused because a security guy came and asked if we needed help.  I told him what she had told me.  He looked at me for a second and then said "She said Showbiz".  Oh.....now I feel dumb.  Thanks!  So, we headed toward Showbiz.  This mall is so busy that even I - the ones who loves the search for a great deal - don't enjoy it.  It feels like swimming upstream no matter where you walk.  It's as if people are determined to walk as close as they possibly can to me, if not run directly into me.  We did, however, make it to our destination.  The store lacked logical organization, so after wandering the entire thing, we hadn't found our temporary tattoos.  So, I asked someone and she kindly led me to them.  No wonder I didn't find them.  They had one kind on an endcap with fake eyelashes and "freaky nails".  They aren't exactly what we were looking for, but they'll do.  Another weekend adventure at Cresta shopping center! :)

Once back safely at the guest house, we went on a search for some Christmas music.  It seems that they do not have a radio station that plays Christmas music and we need some tunes to help us get into the Christmas spirit!  No snow, no winter coats, no tree, and no music - it just doesn't feel right!!   Thankfully, Kevin was able to find some options to stream Christmas right into our living room. :)  The rest of our evening followed our normal routine, although we did start a new flavor of ice cream tonight! :)

We were able to chat with family again today, which was great!  It's nice to hear how things are going back at home!

Tomorrow starts a new week!  It's hard to believe we have been here for almost 4 weeks now.  The time has really flown by!  We'll be back home and in the snow before we know it!

The Longstreets