PICTURES!!

Hello Everyone- you will be happy to know that I have put up 25 pictures! They are very random and I have taken about 300 pics so far and this is only picking out 25...BUT it only cost me R45 to do them and an hour and half of downloading- it's not as expensive as I thought and therefore will try and put more up more frequently. I also plan to write about my Luthuli (correct spelling as compared to what I first called it) experience. It was great and I got to see all of the animals in the reserve except the elephants and rhinos. Please let me know what you think of the pics and Much love to everyone!

LeTulie

I am happy to report on some exciting news!! Tomorrow I am going to LeTulie!! Woooo HOOOO! LeTulie is a game reserve where CROW released a troop of baboons a few months ago. Every so often someone from CROW goes up there to check on them and bring them food. Tomorrow is my lucky day because I was asked if I wanted to go along. Some volunteers stay there for a week or even two, but I will be leaving tomorrow early morning and coming back on Wednesday. It doesn’t matter to me though because I’m going!! I have only heard amazing stories from the people who have been there. We stay at the lodge, which is located smack dab in the middle of the reserve and the last girl who stayed there woke up to a herd of wild elephants standing outside her bedroom window. Let’s just say that this is the type of thing that I was so looking forward to doing. I don’t know exactly what we are doing there other than driving the 6 hours north, picking up baboon food, finding the troop and dropping it off for them, staying the night and coming back the next day. I am bringing my camera fully charged as I hope to take lots of pictures- I will make sure and let you all know about my experience as soon as I get back!
As far as the rest of life- it’s going okay. I have been thinking a lot about what I love about this place and what I will miss when I am no longer here. #1 is the sounds. Silence just doesn’t exist here and I absolutely love it. Birds and insects of all kinds are constantly chattering away with most of the noises being ones I have never heard before. Another perk is the food. Every week we write down what we want and give the list to the head lady. She buys what we put down and la de da all the fresh food you could possibly desire. I will miss being able to go to the cupboard and pick out any fruit or vegetable I desire. Also the meat is amazing- our freezer is filled with all the pork, sausages, beef, and steak you could imagine. Before I got here I was nervous about what I would be eating but now my only worry is that I’ll eat too much!
I do know that this type of lifestyle fits me quite well. I get up without washing my face, (haven’t touched makeup since I got here) and put on comfy scrubby clothes- usually throw some sort of headband or wrap on my head and call it good. Not caring what I look like is something I hope to carry into my life when I get home. Well maybe not caring isn’t the correct word- more like not worrying. I’m comfortable and I’m dressed, that’s all that really matters. AND then it does make those times when you go out and dress up even better. We are planning to go out on Friday to celebrate Julie’s birthday. I’m quite excited to get a peek of the South African nightlife. Julie is from here and promises to show us a good time.
Sitting next to me are the two baby vervet monkeys (millie and Minnie) who have come to live with us. Two other babies have just come in, one who was being bullied by some kids and one whose mother was hit by a car, and these new ones are now being taken care of by Mable (the head monkey lady) and M&M have been given to Amy to care for. Amy is the volunteer who is staying here for a year and studying animal behavior. She is a little apprehensive about caring for these two but I told her not to worry because I would certainly volunteer to babysit whenever she needed a break ☺!
I know this is just a quick update but all is well right now and I am beyond excited about getting to go to LeTulie tomorrow!! Ciao!

UShaka

Today was a good day. It started off as rainy but had cleared up to bright sunshine by 7am. I helped prepare and take out the morning food, then changed the birdcages- giving them fresh food and water. After that Jakki, Julie, and I headed off for UShaka. Our goal was to sit on the beach all day enjoying the sunshine and warm Indian Ocean. UShaka is a center filled with restaurants, shops, an aquarium, water park, and located directly on the ocean. I had been there before to eat but was really excited to plop down on my towel and relax for the day. The first thing I noticed when we got down to the waters edge was that it was covered with jellyfish. These guys were only about an inch in diameter but believe me when I say they can still get ya. I did, however, find them quite fun to step on! They make a satisfying popping noise and don’t hurt as long as you steer clear of the tentacles. We walked quite a ways down the beach looking for other people- we figured it was safer that way. After finding our place in the sun we laid down our towels, slathered on the sunblock, closed our eyes and- just as I was about to give a big happy sigh- was pelted with sand. Did I mention it was windy as all get up? Yes….the flags were blowing straight to the side and it was impossible to lay down without getting sand in every possible crack and crevice. Our drive to be at the beach outweighed the annoyance of the sand and so we stayed put for about an hour. Once we had all flipped from our backs to our stomachs we sort of woke up from our world and had a look around. We were a little surprised to find ourselves surrounded by about 100 others and us being the only white people. I really wasn’t nervous or worried- but we did pull our bags a little closer and keep one eye open- until a police man drove up to us on the sand and asked where we were from. We asked him why and he said we obviously aren’t from here because if we were, we wouldn’t have parked ourselves down where we did. He said we should probably get a move on and watch our back because people were watching our bags. Needless to say we put our clothes on rather quickly and hightailed it back to the center. The rest of the afternoon was spent eating sushi and perusing the various shops.
Fishing. We went to Kenneth Stainbank Reserve tonight and fished. I was really excited because I think fishing is fun and was looking forward to getting inside the big gates that run the parameter of the reserve. In my mind I just assumed this fishing experience was going to be like all the other ones I’ve had back home. Haha. Well as it turns out- after we all piled out of the back of the truck, we were sent off to find bamboo. Yup… we cut our own poles, tied on string, dug for worms, and tied them on ourselves. It was something I have always wanted to do- go fishing with a pole and string in the ole fashion way, but uh it quickly lost its magic. Throwing the string with nothing to weigh it down got to be very frustrating for me, then not to mention fish stealing my worms or them just falling off because I can’t tie them on right…and then having to go find new bait. Ahh…I did not catch one fish. It was a good time tho, but I think I’ll just admire the Norman Rockwell pictures of ole fashion fishin rather than do it again. ☺. We’ll see.
A lizard was on my ceiling in my room when I got back from fishing. Tomorrow I get to help catch some baboons; we are testing three of the babies for TB. I am quite sun burnt. A cockroach 2 inches long went running across my foot in the bathroom before I showered. It’s 9:30 and I’m tired.

Leading this Life

Hello everyone! I finally got net and am taking the first opportunity to put my blogs up. I have not gone back and re-read what I wrote and I know my feelings at first were rather depressed and sad. Lets just say that things are improving in my mood- I’m used to being alone again, but I miss people like crazy. I’m getting to know my mates and realize we really aren’t so different. People have come and gone in the house and it makes me realize that I need to soak up every second of being here because once people are gone, they are gone. Never again will the house be the way it is with these certain people in it. The other Americans have left and therefore I am alone in the house with 5 UK’ers and one Swiss. Thanksgiving probably won’t happen this year. Alright, enjoy the blogs and the rollercoaster of emotions that go with them. Much love to everyone!


Dai Uno Oct, 22

So I’m sitting here in our living room surrounded by Laura, Emily, Ellen, Dan, and Tyler. All are from the UK except for me and Tyler- who is from Florida. I feel as though I am sitting in some strange strange world. I’m nervous because I am not someone who really does well in new areas and especially with people that I don’t know. The house that we are in is quite small for being currently inhabited by nine people. The living room consists of nothing but a TV, really great sound speakers that seem to always be full of someone’s IPOD, and five arm chairs- two couches. We have had many laughs since I’ve been here about different words and the different ways we pronounce those words. I have so much going through my head right now but there are so many distractions going on in the room that I can hardly concentrate. So please forgive me. The cat, Lucifer, is currently sitting on my lap and making it difficult to type. I am very happy there is a cat here- also a dog named Dingo.
Alright so I emailed a few of you and let you know that I made it and I told you all a little about my first day. I haven’t slept since I left Wales, which I believe is now going on some 38ish hours. I don’t really feel tired at the moment, and I just keep watching the time because it’s 8:40pm and I need to go re-feed the Dassies at 9. They need to be fed every three hours and I think I am going to start being in charge of them. We also have three Genets that need to be fed every 4-5 hours. This reminds me of my coon days and honestly I’m not really looking forward to having to go over to the clinic late at night and by 5am every morning I work. We’ll see how this works. The Dassies (no idea how to spell it) look like overgrown big guinea pigs. They constantly have a smile on their face and it just makes me giggle. There are three of them and while they are cute- they have these two sharp teeth right in front that they like to bear when they feel threatened.

Oct, 23 One bit me while I tried to grab and feed it yesterday and now today it’s a little sore and tender. This blog is really going to be all over the place and what I want to do is give you some idea of this place that I’m at, but my feelings are sort of overriding everything. I haven’t eaten much and I’m not hungry right now. It’s 7:30 am and I have to be up at the center at 8. I was up with Lynn at 4:45 to go take care of the Dassies and then went back to sleep. I got back up at 7:15 thinking I would eat and stuff, but all I want to do is crawl back under my covers and go to sleep. I know part of it is just feeling depressed and part of it is that I still haven’t caught up on any loss of sleep.
It’s cold here and I did not bring enough warm clothes with me. I will hopefully get to buy some sweatpants and a sweatshirt or something like that because all I have is one long sleeve shirt and that’s already dirty from the Baboons. It is really hard for me not to have internet and knowing that I can get in contact with people when I need them. No one has found a place for wireless and therefore a place to bring a laptop, but I am going to do my best to find one otherwise I have no idea how many blogs I will be able to post. It is different writing these and wondering if I will be able to put them up for others to see. I suppose I will probably write more honestly- that will also come of not really having only happy thoughts to express.
Right now I don’t know how I feel about this place. I really hope that it is just the newness of everything, because I really don’t want to give up and come home. It isn’t what I had thought it would be in my head. Guess that just goes to show how you shouldn’t necessarily have preconceived notions in your head but just accept what comes along. One of the girls in my room last night was snoring quite loud. Her bed is maybe a foot away from mine and even with earplugs it was loud enough. I thought to myself as I lay there that maybe this is why I came to Africa. To get over not being able to sleep with noise such as snoring or the ticking of clocks- I don’t know. I haven’t gotten a very good impression that I will be able to run anywhere…specially alone. The area around the center isn’t runable besides the main road that sort of leads from the houses up to the main building and clinic, and that road would take maybe two minutes to run- so that would be a lot of turning around and just general annoyance.
Basically I just miss people. I miss John and his presence and just being able to look at him and smile. I am trying to take so much strength from our love and knowing that we don’t have to be in the same place in order to express that and feel it. I miss the news and being able to keep up with it through the internet..mostly I have John to thank for that. Life is very much secluded here and I really don’t know if I will be able to last the whole time. I came here to find myself, but I feel as though I am hiding away in some place. It scares me so much. I don’t know if I can leave on my days off and go places alone- but since I got here in the middle of the week my days off fall differently than everyone’s. I can’t wait to get a phone and call people- I just don’t know when I’ll be able to get one.
If I post this- I’m sorry for all the complaints and if I don’t live up to everyone’s expectations. I think right now if offered the chance to leave I would. The only problem is not knowing where to go.

Same day- 4:14pm. One of the monkeys here has had twins. Emily and I went to see it- these monkeys are kept in an enclosure farther back away from where people don’t go. They were all quite curious about us and all the mothers brought their babies over to the front to show them off. It was lovely! Today I helped Tyler clean out the back of the ICU building. It was filthy and I had to climb up by the rafters in order to clean all the spider webs- and kept on getting surprised by the geoko’s running back and forth.


Oct, 24- Today was day three and I feel as though I’ve been here for at least a week. I have done a lot and yet I feel as though a lot of my time has been spent doing nothing. I really don’t have any clue what to do if I’m not following people around or just completing a task. That makes me feel pretty useless. I also realized just from what little I’ve done that I have a work ethic that is relatively high compared to most. I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but if someone gives me a task I work at it till I complete it. A lot of the people here are much more relaxed and just go about things at their own pace- which is something I want to adapt into my lifestyle. People here just have an air about them that is peace and calm.
Today as I was leaving the Duiker enclosure I put a wire through my thumb. Okay I’ll back up and explain for those of you who are interested. All of the enclosures here are made of old wire mesh type fences and the gates to them are closed by various slide latches that are rusted and hard to slide. Usually you shake it and jimmy your hand so it slowly slides out, and that is what I did today. However, this latch was very hard and so I was pulling and jimmying very hard and when it got loose my hand shot over and freed the latch. Well…. where my hand moved there happened to be a wire about 3 cm in diameter that lined up perfectly with the middle of my thumb nail. It jabbed in and hurt like hell but I thought nothing much until I dropped the latch and I realized my hand was stuck. The wire was through my thumbnail and I had to use my other hand to slide my thumb backwards and off the wire. So I started saying “ow, ow, ow, ow, ow” and was rushed into the clinic where they treat the animals. I thought it wasn’t too serious but the Big man, Boss, Alister was the one who found the dot of blood on the other side of my thumb- meaning it went clear through. So that was fun. Of course, as my body adjusted and the shock wore off, the pain came strong and my eye started filling with tears. Nothing is worse than crying in front of people you really don’t know. The tears just kept coming and was compounded by still not being sure if I want to be here.
I am sorry to only report bad and sad things. This will hopefully change- at least it better or I will just stop blogging and save you all from reading!

Animals I’ve worked with so far:
-Blue and Grey Duikers
-Vervet monkeys
-Baboons
-Genets
-Dassies (Rock Hyrax) - these are the ones I am in charge of bottle feeding
-Slender, Water, and Banded Mongoose
-Bush Pigs (one baby and one massive male)
-And a lot A LOT of birds: pigeons, mouse birds, Seagulls, Bulbul, Hammerkop, Ring neck, tamburine, and laughing doves, Weaver, Hadedahs, Herons, Egyptian Geese, Spurwing, and Pelican - that is all I can think of as the moment.

I am looking forward to going on releases.

Nov 4th. I can not wait to hear the results from the election!! That was first on my mind and therefore the first thing I had to say. I finally have internet hooked up to my computer and so blogging should now be able to go fairly smooth from here on out. I shall give you all a quick rundown on what I’ve been up to and hopefully will just update more thoroughly from now on. These events are in no particular order and very random.
-Two new dassie’s have arrived which means I am now in charge of Huey, Duey, Luey, Donald, and Daisy. They are starting to develop personalities and are very cheeky!
-The porcupine that came in with the top of his head skinned off had to get put to sleep.
-Baby ostrich came in with a broken leg and had to be put down. If you ever get a chance to see one please do! They are possibly the cutest things- it looked exactly like an adult but only about a foot tall.
-Help with the feeding of baby baboons- I hope to get video of them grooming me (love it!)
-Several trips to Mont Clair to get my computer working – also shopping
-Several trips to the Pavillion- shopping center that rivals Mall of America- I feel as though I get transported back to America as soon as I step through the doors.
-Many many Braai’s with lots of drinking- most of it not done by me ☺
-The escape of baby baboon, Boris. And recapture
-Getting attacked by Martha the terrorizing guinea fowl
-Cleaning and cleaning and preparing food and more preparing food

Basic rundown, nothing else of real significance really comes to mind at the moment. I did have the opportunity to go and stay at Rain Farm- a place where we released 8 dassies and two blue duikers. Jakki and I had to stay at the farm to feed them while they were kept in the holding cage for a few days. We spent the days in a luxury farmhouse that was all wooden floors and open beam ceilings. We were located right on the lake, our kitchen actually hung out over the lake and we were able to swim off the front to our own personal island. We also got taken on several game drives throughout the park to see all that’s being held there: zebra, impala, inyalla, wildebeest, monkey, emu, ostrich, duiker, and other small game. We also came into contact with a black mamba- the deadliest snake found around here. If you get bit and are not given anti-venom within 15 minutes- you’re toast. It was a great experience.

My view on being here has changed somewhat. The reason I came to C.R.O.W. was to get experience for my career in working with animals- in some way. Being here for two weeks- and talking to others who are here and have been here- the experience I am seeking I will not get. I have wrapped my mind around this and decided not to stay here at C.R.O.W. for the full four months. I have been given the opportunity to possibly work in a game reserve farther down on the Eastern Cape. I will let everyone know what is going on as soon as I know anything of significance.

I have no idea if I will be able to upload any photos. I was told that it costs R2 for every 300 bytes that I upload onto the internet. I really don’t know how much my pictures are and so I may try to put a few up, but more than likely it will be after I get home or if I find free internet farther down the cape.

While I’m thinking about it- Mom, the address here is:

C.O. Mabel Watts
FAO: Tiffany Fisk
The Center for Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW)
P.O. Box 53007
Yellowwood Park 401
Durban, Kwa-Zulu Natal South Africa

Trips, trips, and trips

   Hello to all again.  It has been a little while since I have again blogged, but here I will do my best to catch you up with the going on’s in my life (once again).  I will be here in Cardiff for five more days before I head to Africa.  This is met with mixed feelings, I am incredibly excited and nervous- I just keep reminding myself that I am doing this because I want to do it.  I can not wait to get hands on experience with animals that I have only before seen through thick zoo glass.  Today I bought my bus ticket back to London Heathrow, so whether I like it or not, I’m off!

         Okay-back to the blog, I plan to put pictures up of our trip to Brecken Beacon National Park, St. Faagen’s (an old welsh town), and Glastonbury.  Plus the one’s of the Roman Bath’s- I have not forgotten, do not worry!  In the National Park, we mostly drove around and looked at the scenery.  In the old welsh town we walked around and looked at the old welsh buildings.  BUT Glastonbury was much more exciting, which is why I shall elaborate on it.

         This town deserved much more time spent in it than we gave it- much to both of our disappointment.  We got into town, walked up to the top of the Tor, ate at a café, and left- all within about 5 hours.  We didn’t know much about Glastonbury except that it was a short distance away and had some interesting sights.  The first thing we noticed when we got there was a lot of people dressed in a rags/gypsy fashion with long hair, braids, and pendant necklaces and most of the stores had to do with psychic healings, crystals, or meditation.  It was thee most hippie town I had ever been to and I wanted to go inside and explore every single store!  It really was quite fantastic.  Unfortunately, we did not go in any but made our way up to the top of the Tor (http://glastonburytor.org.uk/).  This link explains the Tor.  Supposedly people make their way up to the top of the hill and when they come down they have a renewed sense of peace and well-being.  It is said to be a spiritual place of healing.  I was up for some healing, but I admit when I came back down all I felt was hungry!  We ended up eating at a small café that was full of mystic paintings and the such.  They had wonderful food- John and I were just afraid that we were going to get put under some sort of spell… J.  It was a great experience and I would have loved to have more time to explore the town and all it offers.              Okay on to our Scotland trip.  This was very much an enjoyable experience.  The countryside is absolutely gorgeous and pleasing to the eyes.  Rolling, green hills with sheep, cows, and horses as far as the eye can see.  We were fortunate to get to experience all different types of Scottish weather- sunny, fog, rain, windy, cloudy, chilly, and warm.  We started our journey Saturday morning and made it as far as the town of Moffat where we slept in the car.  Yes we planned to do this and both of us were actually quite excited about it.  We stuffed three quilts and seven pillows into the trunk of our car!  Needless to say the idea was much more enjoyable than the actual experience.  We put down the back seats so we were laying half in the trunk and half on the back seat, but neither of us could straighten our legs all the way unless we smushed together at an angle with our feet at the right of the trunk and our heads on top of the laid down front seat on the left.  I think we may have gotten 5 hours of sleep between us both.  Oh well- it was an experience we wanted and we got it!

       Sunday we headed for Edinburgh and to find our hostel which was located on what is called the Royal Mile, right in the heart of the city.  Here I am going to type out John’s account.  Monday morning he wrote down what we did on Sunday and I am going to type it out word for word.  This way you can experience it through his eyes- it may be refreshing for those who tire of my ways!! Anything written in italics will be my thoughts- perhaps to help clarify or further enlighten you on the topic.       

• Arrive in Edinburgh @ 12:45 (1st car park)
• checked in to Brodie’s @ 1pm       our hostel
• ate breakfast outside            * (favorite kind of breakfast) w/ latte, but forgot about Americano, didn’t understand John’s ‘cistern’ reference
• settled into dorm-moved car to more secure car park (17 pounds)           

          *John’s anxiety rises with manual transmission and hilly terrain            

           many kills of the car which never ceased to bring forth swearing

• walk down to one end of “Royal Mile”            

           *Parliament building (no paddling)  

             there were small ponds in front where apparently you could not go paddling- they                      were perhaps 6 inches deep           

          *Contemplate walking the precipice but No- tomorrow  (also starbucks)

• start our ascent of “Royal Mile”
• stop at Indian shop….gaze at seashell bras and some jewelry
• continue to enjoy street vendors, doorways, bagpipers, Scottish Terriers, hippie cows
• arrive at Edinburgh Castle (no tour today, but maybe tomorrow) enjoy view
• walk down steps, Tiff bathroom, John spills coffee while setting up picture
• John loves the ‘manfrotto’ unipod from Wynette, Tiff loves the name ‘manfrotto’
• blue doors, red doors (proof by pics)
• nice couple takes our pic, we oblige their request also
• go into sword shop, clerk gives us advice
• enjoy street painter-decide to research the Caves/Dungeons, John overrules on money and weather…Tiff complains but still anticipates the dungeons        we never saw them
• walk along side of waverly train station and modern Edinburgh, go back to old town
• enjoy photo making at steps         took three pics and combined them into one
• peruse a few ‘girlie’ stores
• go up fun alley way (dark, thin, pretty)
• to “The Mitre” bar..John: 2 guiness, Tiff: rose wine, and shared bread.  John’s philosophy on ‘life is highschool’
• back to Brodies….sign up for two pound dinner (the cost, not the quantity)
• John buys hackysack, clerk pokes fun at John and compliments his lady
• go to tattoo parlor..Cornhusker painting from Nebraska…Clerk lived in US for 13 years and husband from Lincoln, NB.     It was odd- small world
• finally to last shop….buy cheap books: “The Life and Death of Planet Earth”  “Eastern Philosophy” and “Why God is Not Great”…plus a ring
• to Brodies…wait for dinner           

         *quiz each other            

         *’share’ john magazine        

                I shoved myself close and was annoying as I tried to read with him             

         *dinner late           

         *save wieners for last           pork sausage type things, very good!

• to dorm for bed: read, shower, read, kiss, goodnight in separate but nearby top bunks
• John snores, but sleeps well.  As annoyingly chipper this morning. 

Side notes that are scribbled at the end:

• “Favorites in life”   Tiff = 5   John = 0    apparently I say ‘this is my favorite’ A LOT
• most look like dog/owner                    the dogs and their owners looked alike here
• dogs look smaller
• Mitre waiter gets Tiff’s attention multiple times      he was rather cute, what can I say!
• Good intention with leather-bound books 
  

       That was John’s version of our Sunday- I hoped you enjoyed it! Now for Monday we went and actually toured the grand Edinburgh Castle.  It was beautiful and we have many the pictures to join.  We then spent the afternoon traveling up north and stopped off at a small town right on the coast.  A few hours were spent walking along the water picking up random rocks/shells and talking.   We then headed back to the hostel and relaxed til bedtime.  John didn’t snore this night- made me happy because I got sleep!        

       We headed back the next day- stopped at roadside stands for food.  John got a double cheeseburger (which was wonderfully yummy) and I got soup (thinking I would be healthy)- my soup ended up being powdered with hot water added to it.  Grrr.  After 7 or so hours in the car we made it back to our apartment.  It was a great trip with lots of historic architecture, luscious scenery, and manual driving- which provided amusement for me and anxiety for John.          

       I think that is all I shall write for now.  I’m not sure if I will get another blog in before I leave- I don’t imagine I will be doing anything of great significance.  Most likely we will be lying low and trying to enjoy our last days together before a four-month hiatus.  As I have no idea when I will get access to internet in Africa- I ask you all to be patient! I plan to blog often and post whenever I am able.   I thank everyone again who reads my thoughts and hope that you look forward to hearing about Africa because here it comes!!!        

Familar Faces

Here is the picture you wanted mom! We got to meet up with the Okoboji folks this morning around 10am. We took a quick picture before they toured the Castle and soon Kevin and I will be leaving for the opera. Tonight will be my fourth time watching it, and I'm excited to get to share it with so many other people. Sorry this is going to be short, but I wanted to get this picture up because John and I are planning to rent a car and head for Scotland tomorrow for a short vacation and I didn't want to forget, so Enjoy!!!!!!

I'm still here!

       Hello to all! I am sorry that it has been way too long since I have last blogged.  If anyone is actually following them- I must say it has probably been pretty boring. I did, however put up new pictures of when my friend Sarah came and visited.  This is the same Sarah I met in Chicago waiting for our plane.  And I believe I said in my blog that she was going to Bristol, but that is wrong- she is studying in Brighton.  I knew that- therefore I’m not sure why I said Bristol- alas Sorry Sarah!! J 

        I have not blogged nor emailed much because I really have not had any time to myself.  Here, I will try and relay the last week for you all.  Last Friday was the opening show of Barber of Seville.  It went great as far as I am concerned.  The audience, according to the cast members, was a little dry.  The space of the performance is quite large and by the time our laughs reached the stage the actor has moved on to the next line.  I did enjoy it, however, and John got both good and bad reviews from it.  Everyone from Milford who is coming to the show will enjoy it very much I believe! It is very comical and will have you laughing throughout the entire show.

       Saturday and Sunday were spent with Sarah.  It was SUCH a joy to have her here.  We went around the main shopping centre on Saturday.  They were having a massive cheese festival with over 400 different kinds of cheeses to sample, but we decided it would be best for our bodies if we didn’t partake.  It would have been tasty though!  We walked through the grounds of Cardiff Castle and enjoyed the beautiful day.  Since she was up and on the train by 6 am that morning, we didn’t make it a late night. 

       Sunday was spent taking the bus to Caerphilly Castle- again we had pretty good weather.  I hope you enjoy all the fun pictures we took! We ended the day there by finding a pub called The Picadilly and enjoying a bottle of wine and possibly thee best fish & chips I have ever had.  They were doing karaoke; we wanted to be brave enough to do a song- hence buying the bottle of wine- but as soon as we got done with our food and headed over to that part of the resturant they were done.  We figured they saw us coming and thought they should pack up to save us the embarrassment.  So anyways, we left the pub full of good food and wine and went to wait at the bus stop in order to go back to Cardiff.  We passed the time sitting on that bench and singing anyways.  We went through our repertoire of Disney songs (Jenna I thought of you!) and entertained two teenage girls who probably thought we were crazy.  Well, we sat there for about 15 minutes, saw our bus come, got really excited because it was starting to get cold and windy, and then saw our bus go flying past.  We ended up breaking down and asking those girls if this is where we were supposed to be and they informed us we were, in fact, wrong.  One was nice enough to take us up the hill to the bus station where we ended up having to wait an hour and 15 minutes for our bus to come back.  We were a tad bit frustrated but passed the time talking and watching some other teenage girls who also missed their bus.  They said they really liked our accents- we were both surprised and flattered.  We ended up getting back to the apt about 10 hours after we left.  It was a good day!

        Sarah left early Monday morning by 8:30 and John and I just bummed around.  We bought train tickets to travel to Bath on Tuesday.  We were planning on staying overnight in a hostel or B&B, but of course our planning isn’t always the best so we decided to just go there and get some place to stay at night.  It was about an hour train ride away and when we stepped out of the station we were met with wind and rain.  Of course neither of us had an umbrella and so we spent a good 20 minutes walking around this beautiful town looking for a place that would sell us an umbrella for under 20 quid.  The purpose of us traveling to Bath, for those of you who are wondering, is because this town holds one of the biggest Roman Bath Temple that has been uncovered.  We had also heard that for about 20 quid we were able to go to the spa here and sit in the real mineral hot water baths.

       I was bummed to be in town on this rainy day because the weather did not make us want to go wandering around outside and look at the scenery.  I’m not even sure we took any pictures outside of the Roman Baths, but this town reminded me of what Italy looks like.  Granted I have never been to Italy, but everything was made of stone and had curved arches, large pillars, and that general Roman feel.  The streets were all made of uneven bricks and twisted this way and that throughout the city.  We finally figured we were walking in a big circle after having passed by Abbey Church three times from different directions. 

        We decided to check out the spa first (The Thermae Spa website- www.thermaebathspa.com).  Once we finally found it, we decided our best option was to do the Twilight Package.  This included three hours of spa time, a meal at the café, and one glass of wine (how generous) for 35 pounds per person.  This didn’t start until 4pm and was called the Twilight because you were supposed to get to enjoy the spectacular sunset from their open rooftop pool.  We decided to do this even though we wouldn’t be enjoying the view because the entire sky was overcast and consisted of nothing but gray clouds. 

        It was about 1:15 at this point and we had until 4pm to get back to the spa.  I was giddy with excitement because even though I did pretty well with layering on clothes for the day, I was pretty chilled and nothing sounded better than three hours spent relaxing in natural hot mineral waters.  We headed down to the Roman Baths (website- www.romanbaths.co.uk) and paid the 10.50 to get in.  This place was absolutely HUGE and after walking around it for two hours, I still don’t think I got the full idea of its grandeur.  We had individual, handheld, audio tour guides, which looked like 1990 cell phones and there were numbers posted throughout the temple, which you pushed when you wanted to hear about what you were looking at.  This was nice because you could go through it at your own pace.  John took many pictures at the Roman Baths and therefore I will let those do most of the talking.  This was a wonderful experience; I posted the website because it will go into much better detail than I can.  Check it out!  

Alright, I know this is a long read- it's almost over! The last thing I have to write about is our spa experience.  We got there, and bought our package which only cost 70 pounds total, but when I checked my visa yesterday, it was $126.56.  So lets just say that the american dollar is pretty useless here.  Anyways, we grabbed our free robes and towels, and changed as fast as we possibly could (since we only had a certain amount of time in the spa).  We had to wear these plastic bracelets that basically tracked us wherever we went and timed us so that if we stayed in the pools longer than our 2 hours, we would get charged.  So we changed and headed up a level to the regular mineral water pool.  We were expecting something very hot and pale green (like the mineral water in the roman baths) but all we got was a luke warm, chlorine smelling type pool.  It was a very soothing atmosphere, I will give it that, but it wasn't quite what we were thinking. 

Alas, we spent about 15 minutes in that pool and then headed for warmer waters.  We went up to the third floor where the steam baths were- found them quite inviting, but decided to save them for last.  We ended up on the fourth floor, rooftop pool.  Now I imagine the view was absolutely spectacular, but it was so cold and windy and still raining, that we scrambled out of our robes, threw them and our towels onto the shelf, and practically ran into the steaming water.  It felt wonderful!!  We stayed in this pool enjoying the odd smell and soothingness for about 45 minutes.  It was still spitting rain at this time and it was a great sensation to have your face hit with stinging cold but then get to dive under into perfectly hot bliss whenever you wanted to.  I can't really explain the water- it almost felt like silk.  We realized later that we never even looked over the edge to see what the view was.  It was simply too cold!

We left the rooftop pool and headed for the steam room.  Here was my favorite part of the spa experience, in fact the entire day.  The room was dimly lit- all metal and stone and looked sort of like a posh New York apartment.  There were four circular glass rooms in each corner.  Each room was a different scent and a different temperate and completely filled with steam.  In the center was an open shower surrounded by different colored lights.  The water fell directly from the ceiling in a circular pattern onto the ground.  It fell with different pressures and was quite hot.  It felt so good to stand underneath it and let it fall upon your face.  The steam rooms were amazing.  It was such a contrast in temperature that when I stepped in a room I got shivers every time.  The scent ranged from Lavender to Peppermint and just invaded your senses.  Inside the rooms was a stone bench that ran along the edge.  This is where we lounged out, let our pores open and cleanse out.  It felt wonderful! I hope everyone gets to experience something this luxurious at some point in their life.  

After being in the steam rooms for 40 minutes we decide to change and go get our free meal in the cafe.  We showered and changed, but when we got into the cafe, we found ourselves surrounded by everyone still wet and in  their robes.  I wish we had known to come here in our robes, I would have found it fun to eat in this fancy place with wet hair and nothing on but an oversized fluffy robe.  Oh well...next time we find ourselves in a spa- we'll know. (Hah, that is probably not likely to happen, but I can wish!)

I could probably write more,  but I think I will leave you at that.  Congratulations if you made it through reading all of that without taking a break!  Hopefully pictures will accompany soon- that will give you a better prospective.  Cioa for now, Cheers!