friday.

Last official day of work.

I can't believe it.

Ive never really been sad to have a last day before ...

Especially one that means no more 5:30 alarms and poop shoveling.

So this is a first.

Last BOMA clean .....

Last day (and first day lol) of Lab cleaning with our fancy black gloves.

I don't want to brag but as you can see we're pretty official ...

Last day of making Beth do all the work while we joked around in the foreground ...

Last day of cleaning lightbulbs and making fun of Beth for not tying her shoes.

Last day of rain watching these Amazing creatures go mudding.

(Only because its not going to rain anymore before we leave)

Ok .... lets take a break from all that ...

I made cookies for our Braai.

(Braai - which is a South African BBQ )

(which Ive already told you)

(Pay attention)

Than Schatzi decided to use garden shears to debark a slew of branches that she needed for her 

German contribution to the Braai.

(More info to follow later on)

Last Braai.

(Yes were back to that)

And then the most amazing thing happened.

Since the second week that I was here ...

(And I say the second because I wanted to give everyone a chance to get used to my sparkling personality before I showed my true colors - Grin)

So...

Since the second week that I was here Ive been asking for Certificates for all of the activities

that I have mastered .. and nothing. I was told that its not something they do here but that didn't stop me from asking and brining it up everyday.

But today ... during the Braai ... 

I GOT CERTIFICATES !!!!

TWELVE in total !!!!

(Thanks to Ann who captured these incredible moments in my life)

(HAHAHAHA)

I don't know if you can see all of them but not only are the Funny AF ...

(because of many inside jokes...and because they already know me so well)

But Christina and Nicki managed to put the M word in

EVERY SINGLE ONE

and the proceeded to SAY the M word EVERY SINGLE TIME.

And I couldn't even punch them because the fact that they took the time to do this

just for me was so Incredible.

So I  just stood there and took it.

LOL 

(This will be the only time that it will be acceptable)

(So don't any of you get any ideas)

Stockbrot.

(Bread on a stick)

RECIPE ::

1 packet of dry yeast.

1 tablespoon sugar

300ml warm milk (I also don't know what a ml is)

400g flour (nope don't know this either but 400 is a very large number)

1/2 teaspoon salt.

Yield....   6 sticks of bread.

Mix yeast, sugar, and warm milk. Rest for 5 minutes. Then add in the flour and salt.

Rest for one hour. 

Then take a small handful of dough, stretch it out till its about an inch thick and wrap it around

a branch and heat over the fire until the outside is hardish.

(Yes hardish. IDK how else to explain it lol)

Ann told us we didn't look excited enough....

SO I tried to go above and beyond.

After the Braai we decided to go out dancing for a bit.

One night on the town before our adventure had ended.

One last note.

The Last Dare I Will Ever Do.

Twerking against a wall. I didn't even know what that meant.

And I was completely unsuccessful.

At least some laughs were had at my expense.

So there it is.

Im a day behind ....

Tomorrow (which is Sunday) Ill post Saturday ...

And possibly Sunday as well since Monday and Tuesday will be spent in planes and airports.

Although I will be gaining a day somehow along the way so technically Wednesday also.

Confused? I am ....

Wednesday and Thursday ......

Not a ton of things happening  but this is what I got....

Yes.

Another sunrise...

(And a terrible picture...sorry...its just impossible to capture its intensity with my phone)

(Sigh)

BUT......

Just try and use your imagination a little...

A fire emitting from the earth...

So for our first shifts we always always have to walk out into the field and typically the

Ellie are in the farthest spot from us as possible....

Amazingly enough Henning (The amazing maintenance man) came and graciously gave us a lift!

Shungu.

Shungu farted something fierce ...

I tried to be an adult and handle it...

But as you can see...it was too much.

Thank God Ann was there to save my nose.. and my stomach.

Then we had date night !!!!

We dressed up in our best 'Shoveling Elephant Poop' clothes and hit the town!!

(We didn't actually hit the town ... and thats a weird saying btw)

We went to Lookout Deck in Plett.

It was WONDERFUL....right on the water ...great food.. great Ambiance ..

(Service was meh but who cares)

We had planned to be those people and take photos of all of our dishes but this is 

the only one we remembered to do ..  because we were so hungry and engaged in such

wonderful conversation.

And then ....

We saw it.

The thing Ive been looking for since we got here....

A MULLET !!!!!!

And it was a good one...shaved on the sides...short and spiky on top and long long in the back..

(Don't worry I got a better photo)

BAMMMMMM

(This ones for you Jo (Joanne T) (In case theres any other Jos reading this lol)

(This pic still doesn't do it justice obv but it was the best I could do without being a total wierdo and 

asking her to take a pic with me)

(LOL that would have been interesting)

These were our views ....

After dinner we went on a lovely walk on the beach...which was actually a huge sandbar.

By this point it was dark ... but the sand was partially lit up by the houses that lined it..

All was well until....

We started to SINK !!!

Fearing for our lives we stopped short and Immediately ... slowly began to backtrack ...

As you can see (because Im here now writing this) we survived.

But it was a close one.

(HAHAHAH)

Then we stopped at the gas station to try and purchase some ice cream for our take away desserts..

And found this interesting gem .....

Grandpas Headache Powder.

Apparently its like a Powered Tylenol.

(Odd)

THURSDAY !!!!

So this is my Schatzi.

Schatzi means "My treasure' in German.

Anna had told us they don't have any words like "Sweetheart or Honey" and Schatz is what they use as a term of endearment. 

(Schatzi is the cuter version)

Ever since then thats who she's been to me.

Here are some other fun German words that Ive learned 

(DISCLAIMER : there are some curse words coming up)

(Also I can't add the cool double points on top the O because my computer is not German)

(But we just figured out how to change the other ones !! Group Effort !! Thanks Annie)

(NEVER MIND WE GOT THEM ALL !!!!)

Hören - To hear

Tschüss - a friendly Goodbye "see you"

Halt Dein Maul - Shut the Fuck Up (grin)

Arschloch - Asshole

Sommersprosse - Freckle

Schlammschlacht - Mud Fight

Schneeflocken - Snowflake

Scheiße - Shit

Win Stück Scheiße - Piece of shit

Regen - Rain

And now you are as immersed in the German language as I am !!!!

Moving on...

This is Sushi. 

(What does Sushi do? She rolls)

(LOL)

(But thats actually how she got her name)

And then into the field ...

(This Photo was taken by : Ann K C)

Sally......

Orange Mushrooms ...

Idk.

Just Bright Orange Mushrooms.

The ladies and Kevin and HD (Davidson)

(Being Elephants)

Flowers.

Oh and Ann.

Sally...

Hey have I ever told you all that Sally is my favorite?

Because she's the Scheiße?

(Thats shit in German...remember?)

(Get your Scheme together)

(Grin)

Just some ladies....

Trunk Snug.

(These new few Photos are by Annie K C)

HD (Davidson)

Aliyah shooting Shungu.

Her love.

Wilfred, Ndyebo, Kuda, Berry, 

(Oh and Tanna ... Me .. Aliyah .. Gemma .. Daisy)

So that was our last day in the Field ....

So sad...

But such a great day.

We have only a few days left.

Tomorrow (Friday) will be our last Boma clean.

Stay tuned .......

TUESDAY !!!

Not a super eventful day but still a good one !!

So... When the Ellies 'eat branches' what they really do it is roll the branch around in

their teeth and scrap all the bark off with their molars ...

Its incredible just how clean they can get it ...

Ive demonstrated below ....

Found another one !!

They usually don't eat the leaves or small attached branches ...

So these completely clean ones are an exciting find !

(Well they are to me anyway...prob Im just being a huge dork)

(Which obv Im totally ok with)

(Grin)

We were in the field early on Monday am ... most of the Ellies were grazing in the Valley

(Which is a sloped tree covered area .. making it very difficult for us to see them)

I was just there trying to do my job until I noticed I was being photographed...

So I gave a little 'finger pose'

Sigh.

And since it was virtually impossible for us to collect our data...

We had to find other ways to pass the time.

This (in case you can't figure it out) was Ann and I recreating the scene from the Lion King

where Rafaki presents Simba to the animal world.

I think we NAILED IT.

(LOLOL)

This sweet little gem was done by Ann

(So cute)

I don't know if you are aware but we are working closing with Elephants

(Grin)

So heres so photos of that.

(Nandi ... Thandi ... Sally)

Thandi and Sally

And this great beauty is Sally.

She is my favorite.

(I don't know if Ive mentioned this before but If I haven't, be prepared to hear it a thousand more 

times ...and If I have then you already know that you'll hear it a thousand more times because 

Ive already said it a thousand times....)

(Thousand. Just wanted to say it one more time. Or a Thousand.)

(HA !)

Anyway she has no kids of her own ....but she looks after everyone and she's no bullshit.

We're kindred spirits.

Just a side view ..

She's just so Majestic !!!

Just tossing a rock ... no big deal ...

(She's doing this to scratch her back believe it or not)

OK !! 

When our workday was completed we hopped in my sweet rental car and went 

searching for some abandoned houses.

Christina knew of two so we headed out.

This is what happens when you don't realize there are burrs on the plants ....

(oops hahahah)

(She's prob still picking them off)

This isn't the coolest photo but I had to show you how bright this flower was.

It was so bright that my camera couldn't handle it... 

(meaning theres absolutely no detail in the photo)

This guy was cool though.

There was a fire a few months back here ... it ravaged the area and destroyed many houses 

and trees .... 17 people were killed.

They don't know exactly how the fire started but they do know it was caused by man.

(and not to clean the brush ... more likely a careless mistake)

At the last house we visited had some amazing backyard views.

Like AMAZING.

And then. At 9:00pm we decided it would be a great time to try and make some donuts.

(Something we've been craving since we arrived)

So we looked up a recipe ...threw caution to the wind and went for it !!

(Well we attempted to make donut holes because who has time for all that circle shaping)

Step 1.

Make dough.

(Duh)

Step 2.

Heat up some oil to a specific temperature which we couldn't do since we don't have an

oil thermometer.

(We winged it)

The first few were a total flop as the oil was way too hot and the outsides cooked in 4 seconds

and the insides were raw.

(You can tell by Christinas face lol)

But then Beth got into a groove and then ended up being not that bad lol.

She made them bigger ...but the problem was that they weren't sweet enough and really just

tasted like bread AND the cinnamon sugar mix we made to roll them in didn't stick.

But a lot of laughs were had and we still managed to satisfy our cravings.

(Note ... If you see these donut holes on the market DO NOT BUY THEM)

(Beth is trying to steal our idea and open her own donut hole company.)

(BOYCOTT)

OK !

Well thats all from Tuesday !!

Today is Wednesday but Ann and I have 'date night' at a lovely restaurant so I don't 

know If Ill be able to post about it.

So Ill be a day behind.

However its supposed to rain and thunderstorm all day so I don't know that Ill

even have all that much to post about so ... well see.