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Saturday, August 25, 2007

Stories from the tour and the road trip will come soon...

My dear friends, very soon, I'll be writing about the tour and the road trip. And because the next post is probably going to be about our first day on the road, I think this is the right time to write something that would officially "end" my Stellenbosch life. Because even though I went to Stellenbosch for one night couple of days before I left the country and went home, to the Czech Republic, it wasn't the same place anymore. And I'd like to say why as there are people who read this and who might be happy to read what I'm going to write. :)

Stellenbosch wasn't the same when the people, who made my life there so nice, left. The first one was Cat who saved me the first week I spent in South Africa from being homesick and sad and showed me places and I simply knew, all the time I was there, even later, when I already felt home in Stellenbosch, that she would help me if I needed because she's my friend (after almost 2 years I hadn't seen her, it was so nice to meet her again and find out that she's still that great girl who was my roommate in Canada :)).

And then the people who were in the "international students" group with me and who soon became my friends with whom I shared stories, troubles, evenings, favourite books etc.
Geral who lived just next door and with whom I spent the April holiday, shared food and ideas and with whom, I believe, I developed a friendship that would last forever. She's the special person, the special friend who makes you think that it's so strange that you know some people for ages and you're friends with them but then you meet somebody new and after a few weeks you know that this person is really going to be your great friend.
Jill with whom I watched Lost until 5 am every day until we were done with the last episode and then talked to Jacob... :) Thanks to her (and Susan's laptop) I discovered the magic of That 70's Show. Together, we found out how hard it is to eat 8 pieces of toasts and that it makes you feel really sick. She wrote a poem for me which is really great (it's going to published here if she agrees with it :)), she travelled with me, sometimes she fed me and she was super crazy and made me laugh a lot.
Susan, who didn't live with us but lived with us. :) Her gestures and using of hands to describe anything actually made us (me and Jill and also Jirka, although he barely met her :)) laugh (but in a good way) even when she was gone already for some time. Susan, whom we started to call "Short Susan" just to make fun of her and because it sounds good. :) And she tried to persuade us that she isn't that short. Susan who introduced me to the magic of The Thirteen Clocks by James Thurber, a book that I've read 3 times already and that I would have never found if I hadn't met Susan.

And there are many more things that made these girls so special for me, even though each one of them in a different way. And I believe that without them, my stay in Stellenbosch wouldn't have been so great.

And then the Saudi Arabian guys, especially Suliman and Waleed. Suliman who never drinks alcohol and thus can't eat a dessert when you tell him there's rum in it. Who almost died when he was saving his brother from the ocean. Who was one hour late once to pick us up and his explanation was **** which we will probably never know what it meant.
And Waleed who is always singing in the car, who loves parties and people and who says that he's in contact with people while working, although he works as a programmer so we have no idea how he does it. :)

And this post is already too long. :) But well, these people and some more made Stellenbosch the great place to be during the last semester. And when some of them left, the place wasn't the same anymore (and is probably never going to be the same anymore). And all I wanted to say by this post is thank you to them and that it was great and although it's over it was definitely worth it and I'll always remember it.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Would you believe it? THE CANDLE STORY is ONLINE! :)

Ok, I promised this a loooong time ago. Do you remember the Chrismas in May? Well, there was a video taken during the "celebration" and this video was supposed to be put on the web. And it took me a long time because it is a big video. But it's finally here and you can see how crazy we got (well, especially Jill :)) in May.
I hope you're goning to like because I do (but then - for me it's good memories, you know :)). Anyway, here comes special thank you (and good job and dedication and hello and all that stuff) to Jill, the story-teller and candle-mover (seriously, has anyone ever in the history of candles and the world done this job? I doubt that... :))! You rule, Jill! :)

And yes, please, leave here some comments. Tell us how you like it or don't, tell us what you'd be doing to celebrate Christmas in May if you think it's better than this movie. :) And above all - enjoy it!



Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Last moments in Stellenbosch


I did take some pictures in June. :) Well, two... And this is one of them: (Sorry, Jill. But you were such a good spy that I have to put it here and make it public... And ruin you spy career :)).



Thursday, August 16, 2007

Last moments before The Tour :)

Well, it's been a long time but there are still some things left that are worth being posted here.
The first one is BRAAI that took place in Cape Town on June 3 at Saleh's place in Cape Town (Saleh is one of Suliman's friends, therefore one of our Saudi Arabian friends). Suliman told Susan to come and tell us about it. Susan couldn't go because June 3 was the day when her tour started, but she told us. At first, Jill and Geral said they would go because they would feel bad if they didn't go. I said I wouldn't go because I had an exam the day after and wasn't very far with my preparation. However, things changed suddenly.
Suliman called me while I was writing a messge to him saying that the girls would go but I wouldn't. He said: "Well, let me think of something."
Well, so he did think of something, after which I got an sms that they would change the time so that it would start at 3 pm so that I'd be home before 9 pm. And he asked: "Does it fit your plane?" :) I couldn't say no, so I didn't. Then I got an answer: "Barbora, your present is very important." :) We were laughing a lot with the girls, and even more when Suliman asked, later, in person, if he really spelled it wrong. If you don't find this funny, it's because you have no idea how many messages like that we got from some of the Saudi Arabian guys. And I'm not laughing at them, at least not in a bad way, they knew we were laughing, and it was fun. (Like another message where we were told to "Keep it real, ah shit." Or one saying "We're going to be late because ****" - nobody knows what the **** meant, or what we were supposed to keep real... :)) I miss the guys and I'm really happy we met them.

Well, and the second one is this: Geral left on June 13 which was a very sad day in the history of my presence in South Africa. I never know what my reaction is going to be. I'm always the 'cool' one - I hate saying good bye and so I don't (How does that work? I simply tell the person that I'll come to say good bye but at the end I don't, cruel, eh? :)) But I had to and I wanted to spend the last minutes that Geral spent in Stellenbosch because she was a wonderful flatmate and I can't explain how happy I'm that she lived just next door! So this part of the post is pretty much just to say THANK YOU, GERALDINE! (And I hope I'll see you soon :)).

Monday, August 13, 2007

Back home...

Hi everyone, if there is someone who is still reading this after such a long break :). I'm back home and I decided to switch to English because now I can TALK to the people who speak Czech only and who are interested :).

So I'm back home... What does that mean? It means never again having my own bathroom as in Concordia :), never sharing an apartment with the girls I shared it with, no more Afrikaans, no more driving on the left side of the road (and yes - it still seems weird to me that people here drive on the right side :)), no more Kayamandi, no more... being in Africa, that amazing continent. And so much more.

But it also means being with my family again, my nieces, speaking Czech (in which I kinda suck right now :)), being home. You know - East or West, home is best; and despite the fact that a short while after I was back in the Czech Republic, I realized there are things that I really don't like (seriously, why do people look at you as if you were crazy when you're walking barefoot in a city, but it seems ok to some really fat men to walk around topless? :) ... And also - being back in my hometown and listening to the people on the streets sometimes makes me laugh :)), I love this country and it's simply my home (also - there is nothing such as a perfect country and who saw "Samotari" knows that all countries suck :)).

Well, just to prevent myself from being sentimental, I'm just gonna tell you what's gonna happen here. I was travelling in Africa for more than one month. And that's a lot. So give me some time and sooner or later, you'll find many new posts here, describing day by day where we were, what we were doing there and stuff like that, including some pictures.

And then... It seems it'll never stop... Although I'm starting to hate airports, although I can't sleep in (on? :)) planes, although there are no free pages in my passport as they are all filled with stamps and stickers :), I made this big decision: Today, I bought a plane ticket to Pittsburgh. So next year, in February, you'll see me there. :) Am I happy about that? Not really... But it's hard to say. Simply - I still haven't found a way to be with all the people I love at the same time. It's either with some, or others, or nobody... But if you know about a good way how to deal with this, let me know, please! :)

And take care, everyone!
Places I've been through, travelled through, live at...
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