Monkeys Being So Naughty...

This morning I woke up and it was an overcast day, but the flowers were beautiful out! I started taking pictures of the pretty white and pink blossoms right outside our chalet. And then a few others around campus. I soon noticed that the boys looked like they were up to something. I saw Joey (Adam's roommate) lurking around one of the trees.
After breakfast I was walking back to my chalet when I saw Joey facing off with a monkey. The monkey however wasn't running away like they usually did. Apparently something had gotten into the monkeys and they naughty and aggressive the rest of the day.
The boys decided it would be fun to tease them by setting up a muffin on a pole and when the monkeys got close enough to grab it, to throw sticks at them. The monkeys were too quick and grabbed the muffin in about 10 seconds but dropped on the ground right next to my chalet.
I was able to sit and watch a whole horde of monkeys come over to scavenge all the muffin crumbs from the ground.
The best part was when people came walking up or down the path they would scatter but then some would almost charge the person walking. It was crazy seeing them so aggressive. I still love them though and am definitely not sick of them yet!

The pretty pink & white blossoms

All of the chalets (one on top and one on bottom)

Beautiful spring trees

Joey lurking around the trees

Joey facing off with a monkey

The monkeys waiting to cause trouble

Adam W. ready and waiting with his stick

The horde of monkeys eating the muffin crumbs

Their tails are so long...

Me with the monkeys

The one in the middle kept looking straigt at me

Close up look at the Monkeys


Monkey Infestation


Katie's Close Encounter with the Monkeys
(watch closely as one monkey runs right up to her as she walks by)

Stinging Nettles! :(

Sunday again! This morning Adam and I listened to a Mark Driscoll sermon which was very good. I definitely needed a break from everything that we have been doing. My isiZulu class is getting more and more intense. We have a bunch of vocab and quizzes all the time which consume most of the free time during the day (we have class at night).
After our sermon I really wanted to go hiking again, as it is becoming somewhat of a weekly occurrence. We decided to go to a new stream but it was too overgrown with thrones to get by. We grabbed a few machetes and the guys started hacking away. We needed some gloves however to clear what they were chopping up. I volunteered to get them and climbed up the hill. As I neared the top I felt a stinging/burning pain on my knee. It hurt so bad and I had no idea what it was. It felt really hot and was really itchy. When I scratched it though the pain got
a lot worse. I decided I would just not touch it in hopes it would go away.
I continued my search of some work gloves but could not find any of the workers anywhere. Adam just got out of a meeting the same time I was nearing the end of my search and I asked him if he had seen anybody who knew where gloves were. He wanted to know why and what we were doing. I proceeded to tell him and then told him about the random pain I had on my knee, but when I looked down the skin was bubbly and white. It looked like someone had dripped acid on my knee.
I started freaking out but Adam said he had some antihistamine wash so I decided to go wash it out right away. Thankfully it felt a lot better after that but I decided I would take it easy the rest of the day. I found out later that I was stung by a stinging nettle plant that is covered with spines that inject histamine if they come in contact with skin. They also look very harmless unless looking really close up. Ouch!

My knee after I washed it

A little bit closer up

A stinging nettle plant

Bushman Cave Paintings

Today Adam and I got to go see some ancient cave paintings of the Bushman people! We left early in the morning when it was cold and rainy out, drove 2.5 hours, and arrived in the Drakensberg Mountains. By the time we got there it was neither cold nor rainy so my hat, scarf, jacket, long sleeve shirt, and jeans were quite out of place!
We had to hike about 45 minutes to get to the start of the tour spot. We waited awhile for our guide and climbed a few trees and rocks in the mean time. Our guide came and we went up to look at the paintings. They were really incredible. I was surprised they looked as good as they did after so many years. Also the Bushmen were amazing artists. There was a lot of detail and everything looked so meticulously done.
After looking at the paintings we hiked down to a stream to eat lunch and splash around in. The scenery around us was absolutely breathtaking. The colors on the mountains and the way everything was shaped was amazing. I'm constantly in awe of God's creation here.
The whole day was really a good experience.

In the bus all bundled up!

Right before our hike

Hand holding candid ;)

Our group on the trail with the mountains looming in the background

The trees were really unique

Adam and I waiting for our guide

Kat and I after climbing a huge rock formation

Bushman Paintings (Double-click to get a closer up view)

The caves were filled with them

The bushmen painted themselves with large buttocks' because it is a characteristic unique to their people group

Can you see the dark coiled snake?

Adam and I by the stream

Eating lunch!

Chill-axing on the rocks

Beautiful!

One of my favorite pictures so far

Adam and I hiking back

Another one of my favs

I love the way they gently slope

Brittany and I about to get on the bus (she is hilarious! Adam and her get into it everyday)

Chubby Bunny Braai

Today it was national "Heritage Day" in South Africa so we celebrated with a "Proper South African Braai" which was pretty much just a Barbecue. We got out of isiZulu class early and played volleyball and 500. After that it was time to eat. They made lamb chops and mutton sausage. This would have been delicious except for the fact that the only people who enjoy the taste of lamb is Adam and one other person. The rest of us have a really hard time choking it down...
On a positive note we had smore's right after! They were a good reminder of camping back home. On an even more positive note they had extra marshmellows and some of us decided it would be a really good idea to play "Chubby Bunny" if you hadn't heard of it the players pop a marshmellow into their mouths and then say "chubby bunny" then repeat. The point is to see how many marshmallows one can hold in their mouths and still say "chubby bunny" without choking to death. Francie and I were the champions at 15 mallows in each of our mouths! It was pretty ugly... as you can see from the photos :)

Francie, Me, Kat, & Brittany starting out

A little further in...

Just Francie and I left

10 deep

Champions!

Tree Climbing Day!

Today was a pretty cold a dreary day filled with homework and class, so we decided to climb a tree! Other than that there isn't a lot going on. I just really liked these pictures so I thought I would put them up. Everything is good, Adam is good, classes are good! :) I miss all of you a lot!!

(from left to right) Calvin, Adam W. Zach, Me, Bethany

I love this picture! It expresses my love of tree climbing just a little bit :)

Chameleon

Adam found a chameleon today!! He climbed up a tree and brought in down with his flip-flop. We all took turns holding it. It's little mitten feet had tiny spikes on them that made your hand feel like it was going numb when it was walking on it. It was super cute and when it was scared it would open it's mouth to make it look bigger. It's eyes could look in all different directions and it was really really neat!

Picking up the chameleon

Letting it crawl on my hand

Double click this picture to see it's mitten feet closer up

Adam after he brought down the chameleon

Adam putting it on his hand a realizing that it's mittens felt like mini Novocaine needles