Day 38: To Rain or Not to Rain?

This morning, the skies looked questionable once again, but cleared around lunch time and the sun was out in full force.  We spent the morning at the guest house.  We read and played soccer for a bit before getting ready and having some lunch.  After lunch, we headed to the mall to exchange some money.   On our way to the mall, one of the robots (traffic lights) was out and was flashing both red and green at the same time.  So do we stop or go??  Ha ha.  I was going to take a picture, but the other direction was only flashing red on the way back.

We have yet to figure out whether there are free-standing banks.  We have only seen them in the mall.  We decided to go to North Gate (yet another mall! J) since it is close to our guest house.  We parked in the ramp and headed inside to try to find the banking area of the mall.  As with Cresta, this mall was also crazy busy!!  We found the area with all the banks and headed toward the Western Union foreign exchange place.  The doors were locked, but the girl behind the counter just looked at us and went on doing what she was doing.  We thought maybe there was a limit of how many people they would allow in at one time, so we waited.  One woman came out and, thankfully, she was willing to tell us that they were closed.  Oh yeah, it’s Saturday….banks close early.  Grrrrr.  We missed it by 10 minutes.  But wait!!!  Ned Bank is open until 2PM.  Yes!!!  So, we went over there.  Their banks have security doors, so there is a breezeway you go into, then wait for the first door to close before the second one can be opened.  There was a bit of a line, but we were in no hurry, so it was okay.  After we had stood there for a few minutes, the teller (the only one working) was explaining that apparently whatever she had been doing had caused her computer to crash and she wasn’t sure if she could fix it.  Apparently, the other people must have been waiting for a while because they were yelling at her.  At that point, we decided we didn’t need to exchange money today after all. J  As we exited the bank, we noticed a guard standing along the railing holding a machine gun.  Nicolas was walking along the railing, so I quietly rerouted him.  Now that’s something you don’t see at home!  We were going to pick up a few things, but quickly grew frustrated with not being able to find any of the stores we knew, so we left North Gate to go to a different mall that we know better.  Whew!!!  It was still busy, but not as bad as the first.  We looked around a bit and then picked up some groceries at Woolworths before heading back to the guest house.

The sun was shining on our way home, so Nicolas was excited to be able to go in the pool!  By the time we got back home, it looked as if the rain clouds off in the distance were quickly approaching.  We decided to play memory on the patio table to see if it would pass.  After 2 games, the thunder rolled in, so we headed inside.  Bummer!!  We colored for a bit and then Nicolas wanted to fly.  So, we took turns flying him on the bed (meaning we lay on the bed and he lays on our shins or feet and flies over us).  Of course, Kevin is better at it than I am and can get him higher as well.  That somehow turned into this game where Nicolas jumped off the bed at Kevin and then Kevin would throw him back onto the bed.  I thought it looked like whiplash waiting to happen, but Nicolas loved it!  I can’t help but be nervous when they play that someone is going to get hurt – fall of the bed, go head first into the floor, or what have you – but the boys just keep going!  After they were both good and sweaty, Nicolas and I made dinner – and he was a great helper!  He helped me cut the veggies for the salad, put the boerevors (brats) in the oven, and stir the pap.  Then he made a menu and brought it to Kevin, asking him what he would like for dinner.  Then, he made him stand in the bathroom (waiting room) while we got his table ready.  We seated him and then tried to take his magic blue card (credit card) to pay before eating. J  He served his drink and salad and then we all ate together.  Our guest complained that the woman he was seated next to was smelly, so my boss pulled me into the kitchen and told me I had one more chance or I was ‘out of here!’.  Geez, tough crowd! J  But despite all that, we said he enjoyed his meal, then proceeded to try to run off without paying the bill.  What nerve!  Needless to say, we had fun with our restaurant game!

After dinner, we did homework and then watched National Treasure 2 on DSTV (like Dish).  Today was a fun day, but we are hoping for the sun tomorrow!!  Tomorrow is our last Sunday at New Creation (boo!) and will be our last goodbye to many of our South African friends!  The church has made us feel so welcome here, it will be sad to go!

Only 6 more days until we arrive!!   Will we have snow??

The Longstreets