Mbabane and the Contrasting Tuesdays

G’day everybody! :D

If you think the title is weird, wait till you read the blog!

The world didn't end last week so thats nice. Also nice: I've finally got my internet working again.

We’re into week two, and I am starting to get more settled into the school rhythm again. (yay?) This term, my target is to focus more in class and make a bit more effort (and pass french).  For those of you who are counting-impaired, this is my sixth third blog post, and I am pleasantly surprised at the interest in it so far! (Except for Fazil, that falla and his ‘bust’ computer)

This is my hostel, called Emhlabeni, on a not very nice day

I have so much work piled up right now, and yet I still have time to write a blog. How organized of me. The coordinators of the IB programme decided we needed a change in timetable. Each day we have 11 periods of 40 minutes from 8am till 4pm, of which one of them is lunch. On the old timetable my Tuesdays could only be described by one word. Awesome.

 I had SEVEN free periods, I could wake up at 9:20am, and would be done with school by 12:40. (Despite this, I still managed to once wake up at 9:23 am for a maths test and therefore discovered that sprinting from my cubie (room) to the classroom block takes three and a half minutes.) However, my new Tuesday is a shocker. I have 10 periods straight and my only free is lunch, and I have to get out of school at 4pm, to do my homework, 5:30 is dinner, and 6:15 is rugby training. Finish at 8pm, I have time to have a shower, and get ready for tango at 9-10pm. Awesome. Pffft.

Tango is getting interesting as well. We are apparently going to have a performance this term in front of the school, and I’ll let you know what happens. The first four steps are already ridiculously hard, but class is a lot of fun.

Assembly Time

The next day, (yesterday), I was awoken at 5:50am by Dimitri the Frenchman and we went running down the mountain, which is about a 200 metre vertical and much longer by road. Wasn’t that bad I have to say, once I was awake at least. 

Fiji have totally got the Edinburgh Sevens this week, and I'm not even being sarcastic.

Today was nice. Only had 2 periods and went for lunch twice! (It was pizza and wedges, so hey…)  Did I mention that the cafeteria have a one-serve policy? Basically if you want seconds you have to be cunning. The servers have good memory.

Since Wednesdays are half days, I went to town with a couple of friends (Emily and Stephen).We did some shopping for foods and fixed my watch. Boring eh? Who wants to hear about errands? Ok, Mbabane is a nice town, with about 3 sets of traffic lights, and two main malls, on opposite sides of the road. Yes, Mbabane is smaller than Suva, and does not have a harbour or a seawall (which is not really surprising since the country is landlocked). It is a dusty little place in a valley, surrounded by mountains all round. I must say it is very clean; hardly any rubbish on the streets. I haven’t been to every street yet, but plan to soon. The MHCC of Swaziland is called ‘the Mall’ and the Tappoocity of Swaziland is called ‘the Plaza’, right across the road. Creativity is not their strong point.

My town Mbabane. Notice the mall near the bottom. The plaza is across the road

There is no McDonalds here (gasp) but we do have KFC. The main restaurants are Phoenix or Finesse if you want a good dinner (and rather expensive). ‘Thorny Bush’ is a lovely little café that we discovered that has the best coffee and sandwiches in the world Swaziland. It’s completely organic apparently, and they have SOMEHOW managed to combine healthy and delicious!

(thorny bush)

Gosh. Today was immensely cold. Apparently it was 7 degrees in the morning. It is still freezing now. I don't think I have ever been this cold before.

<<IF YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN SPORT SKIP THE UPCOMING PARAGRAPH>>

I notice the 2011 Super 15 champs the Blues are not playing this week which is a real pity, since everyone loves seeing exciting rugby. However, Crusaders-Reds should be a cracker. The terrible thing is, thanks to this stupid conference system, I may be siding with the Reds on this one (a draw would actually be perfect). My team the Blues may not be playing this week, but that’s good. I will be busy watching my soccer team FC BARCELONA winning the champions league final! Watch this- Score will be FCB 2-1 ManU after extra time.

The only sad thing is that Blackpool got relegated. :( :(

<<I TOLD YOU TO NOT READ IT!>>

This weekend is Bushfire. Apparently this is the biggest music festival/party in the Swaziland calendar. I will 

be staying at Kyle’s over the weekend and heading to House on Fire (top Swazi nite-club) and I’m looking forward to having a good time with most of my friends this weekend. Will let you know how that turns out (with pictures) next week or whenever I next have time to post! ;)

On a more random note, I didn’t see Saturn, and I’m not sure if I’m first choice fly half or second, but I will keep you posted.

On a slightly more random note, I am NOT Cuban or Vietnamese.

Its 12:40am. Sorry about this rather unstructured post. I’m dead tired. If you want to contact me, do NOT post on my Facebook wall, just message me, because any wall posts will likely be drowned in all those posts I have been receiving from Sally, Fay and Benjamin! :P

Congratulations if you find this! Here's a thought before I go. : The only reason people get lost in thought is because its unfamiliar territory. 

Keep thinking! 

Until next time, ta!

DKN (twist hair)