In The Other Kingdom

Dumela.

It is the end of week 2 already at Waterford Kamhlaba and I'm already under a lot of strain. 10 homeworks over the weekend. Bleugh! But I've settled in and back into the rhythm of school. The weather is not so cold as last term and I have been able to be in shorts a lot. That's nice.

At this time last week I was chilling in Lesotho.This time last year I was in Fiji. I am now in Swaziland. Interesting ain't it? Anyways, why was I chilling in Lesotho? Well we had a French trip to this other little kingdom in Southern Africa. Now thats a lot cooler than the French trip at home! At home Garden City ga call it a French Trip hahaha. Oh and we were to spend 4 days in French. Interesting.

Lesotho. Click to enlarge.

We left at 6:00am on Friday (read: 7:00am) and had a Loong trip ahead of us. With me were Sofia, Anna, Emily, Yuscah (Mozambique), Ousman (Senegal) and Sandi (Swaziland) among others. Most of the trip would be cutting across South Africa to get to Lesotho. Lesotho is an odd little country that is completely surrounded by South Africa. Its like Fiji only the Pacific Ocean is South Africa. Crazy aye?

Basti (Germany): "Women love the simple things in life... For example men."


Sitting at the edge of a huge cliff



Where was I? Yes, well we got throught the South African border smoothly, and the long ride through South Africa began. We passed through the towns of Amsterdam, East London, Bethleham and Standerton. Don't worry, we were still in South Africa! (Lesotho is not THAT far!)

Its still pretty darn far though. It was supposed to be an 11 hour ride. Naturally it ended up being a 14 hour ride, including two stops and two border stops. At the border of Lesotho I got that old excitement of entering a new country I had never been to before. We entertained ourselves by dressing an egg like Dimitri and pretending it was Emily and I's child, like those American sex-education classes (according to Sofia). We set ourselves a target to keep him safe throughout the weekend. He lasted almost four hours before I chucked him out the window.

Only in Swaziland moment: Stephen, Basti and I are coming back from town, toward the huge Waterford hill. As the taxi is going up the hill, the driver seems to be struggling to control it. I ask the driver if we should walk, but he shakes his head, turns the taxi around and reverses up half the way. At least a kilometre. Hahaha. Where there's a will there's a way

So at 9pm we arrived finally, in Moricha, an hour from the capital city (Maseru) to the guest house where we were staying. The French owner greeted us jovially in French and we introduced ourselves. I got the usual 'ooooh' when they heard I was from Fiji Fidji. We had a delicious dinner of some French meat and crashed to bed.

Over the next four days we climbed two mountains, saw dinosour tracks, had a picnic, swam in a lake, visited Maseru and the Alliance Francaise, as well as an IB school in Maseru, where we met our fellow IBs, and spoke a lot of French. We learned a bit about the country as well. Unlike Swaziland, the King has no power, and the people love him apparently. It also looks a very poor country, and the landscape is amazing. Just mountain after rocky mountain, and valleys. That seems to be all the country is made of.

It was a loong ride...
sorry you have to tilt your head
for this one i cant make it straight

In Lesotho, playing 30 seconds, a game kinda like charades but with speaking instead, Sandi's turn. Sandi: 'What is something that we really want since we got here?' Theresa and Relish at the same time 'MEAT!!
(The answer was Facebook)
After four lovely days, on Tuesday, we had to go home. :(  Awww. We said our goodbyes (in English) and headed to the bus. Sigh. Stuck in the bus for another 13 hours. It passed pretty fast. We arrived back at Waterford Kamhlaba at around 9pm. Uneventful journey, spent telling jokes and making up jokes. My joke made up:
What did the Stop sign say to the Give Way sign? any guesses? I'll mention next time anyone who can get the right answer. ;)

Sooo back at Waterford. We had rugby training today. Played sevens. Gosh, I am not physically fit at all.
 Do you know that feeling of intense hatred of that person who is walking slowly in front of you and blocking your way? They seem like real idiots sometimes don't they, and you just wanna take a blunt knife and stab them or something.

Rugby tournament last term.
Waterford Kamhlaba

Fiji has just lost 49-3 to SOuth Africa. But I thought they actually played alright, apart from a couple of periods in the game. We were really taking it to them at some stages! Go Fiji! Do us proud! Stephen is worried we gonna get Wales. We might. Remember, last world cup we almost lost to Japan + got thrashed by Australia before beating Wales. ;) Wales suck. I prefer dolphins.

Ok. Got to go now. Look out for post cards!
Enjoy the week. Relish the stress.

DKN

THe Difference Between Boarding and Planking

Hello!
This is my 15th blog post, and 1st for this term. I know it looks like there are only 14 but since I'm superstitious there's no 13. I know that technically makes number fourteen number thirteen but if the hotels in Hong Kong can do it with their floors so can I. Nyah!

I'm back!

It's been a while but I'm finally back at Waterford after an awesome time in Fiji. Fiji included tennis, an interesting birthday, university lectures, hibiscus festival and of course seeing my family and friends. The trip back was really long, but interesting at the same time. I really am sad to leave.

My family saw me off at about 8am on Saturday morning at Nadi, and the plane departed on time in the rain. It seemed Fiji was crying(of sorrow) that I was leaving! And let's face it, why wouldn't it?


Fazil's text to me just before I boarded: 'js dnt board, u shud plank cz boarding is boring!'. That's why he is my friend hahaha.

I boarded the 767 jet, and my idea of sitting beside a hot girl for 10 hours did not happen when instead a young Indian guy sat beside me. But hey, at least he spoke English this time! 

On planking, has everyone heard of this? In my opinion its the stupidest idea ever. Why do people want to behave like a plank? Planks are boring. If you have to imitate something make it an aeroplane or something. Not a plank.

Planking. Or dead.

Anyways, after watching Rio(again), and reading the Air Pacific magazine, I arrived in Hong Kong 10 long hours later. The steward was typically Fijian, giggling at everything and making us laugh. Oh yeah, halfway through the flight another plane passed by ours, heading in the opposite direction. It was pretty close! I could actually see the design on the tail, and probably could have read the words had it not been going so fast. Anyhow, we landed safely in Hong Kong. Smoothly as well.

In the Hong Kong airport, there must have been someone famous, as there was a rather large crowd surrounding him/her. I didn't really get a glance, but as it was unlikely to be a tennis player, since the US Open is currently on in New York, I didn't really mind.

The boys taking a break during tango class

I went into town again. (Do you really think I'm going to spend 9 hours at an airport in a foreign country?)Most people probably don't know this about me, but I am a total space geek. Since I was young I have always been fascinated by the universe. And why wouldn't I be? It is totally amazing. I therefore got off at Kowloon and took a taxi to the space museum. (If only one of my chinese friends was here to translate!) The museum was quite small, but interesting all the same.

Imagine the electricity bill

I spent the remainder of the time mucking around at the harbor, watching the lights on the buildings turn on. 

Anyways, after about 5 or 6 hours in town I headed back to the airport. I checked in using the automatic check in, and I felt so proud and Asian when I finally succeeded! By the time I had got to the gate, it was about 10pm. 

I just want to clarify this, to answer some peoples' questions: Every word on this blog is my own, unless I say so. Promise! Not cheating! :) (though not all the pics are mine)

I used the free fast wireless internet and I was so very extremely tired at this point. After a 10 hour plane trip and 5 hours in Hong Kong, and with it being 2am Fiji Time, you can't blame me! Thank you Fay for keeping me up again through Facebook! And to Shu as well.

my English gets gooder as I spend more time in
Swaziland

Apparently I was illegally staying in Fiji the whole time. When I left Fiji with my NZ passport, it seemed I had never legally entered the country. The guy at the airport seemed really suspicious until I remembered I had entered the country on my Fiji passport!

I met Dilys who lives in Hong Kong. She came to the gate, and we boarded the plane together. Dilys hadn't done any homework at all, which made me feel a little better about myself. We had a good catch up session, until after take off at least. I fell asleep, and remained asleep for the next 9 hours! Apparently I gave my dinner to Dilys. But I can't remember this at all. 

I woke up finally, breakfast was served, and I watched a movie called Going the Distance. Cathay Pacific has those little TVs on each seat. (Hint hint Air Pacific). It is a pretty nice movie. 

Well, we landed finally in Jo'burg early in the morning. Back in Africa. The Waterford kids trickled in during the day, and we had great catch up time. Emily had been drinking until 4am the previous night and had apparently narrowly avoided a fight. (It's not Emily without the whacko stories!) By the way this is Emily Morris and NOT Emily Lo! Don't confuse.

As I said, US Open is on. I still think Roddick has a shot. Don't laugh. I met someone in Fiji who reckons Australia are going to win the World Cup. Go Roddick! Go Fiji! Go All Blacks!

Random at the hotel hahah

So Emily slept most of the way back, as did most people. I don't really like sleeping on buses so I stayed awake and probably annoyed most of the people around me. When I was done with that about 4 hours into the trip I went to the free seat at the back and talked to Dimitri instead, who was also not asleep.

We arrived in school at about 9:30pm after 6 hours of travelling. I was shattered at this point. >50 hours of travelling, arrived at 9:30pm, AND there was school the next day! What the hell. Tuesday's a public holiday that's why.

I went, had my first shower in 50 hours and then fell asleep. It is now end of Monday. I had an ok day at school. Tomorrow is a public holiday so that's nice. Some people are so jet lagged. I'm not. Impressive no?

That's all for now I think. I am going to Lesotho this weekend on a French trip! Will be awesome! (Except for the French part). Let you know how that goes next time. Lesotho is another country in Southern Africa by the way, just in case you haven't heard of it. 

Remember: Grow old, but don't grow up! ;)

DKN