Day 50 - Fun Facts

G'day
We awoke to the familiar surroundings of our bedrooms at Debbie's home in Bulawayo. Coming home quite late from the Addison's last night, a sleep in was well deserved but this morning was a special occasion, so special that none of us could sleep in and everyone was out of bed by 6am. Today was the first day of school for 2012 and every Brennocks girl and Lisa Taylor were dressed in their uniforms ready to greet the day. It was definitely a big day for Becky and Lisa as it was Becky's first day in prep and Lisa's first day at a public school and not at willow park. After parading their uniforms and then eating breakfast and discussing nerves, excitement and anticipations, Debbie drove off with the kids waving goodbye to us. Fun fact: school starts at 7:30am and finishes sometime around 1pm.

So we were home alone sitting in the silent environment discussing how quiet the mornings will now be. We discussed what we wanted to do and achieve for the coming days. Fun fact: our 2 month holiday will end in 2 weeks (sadly). So with approx $2k of donations left, Debbie suggested a portable mixer system with mics and speakers would greatly benefit SJC for any concerts, presentations etc. Alex took the responsibility in researching the best possible deals in south Africa since audio engineering is his field of expertise. Andrew and I also did some much important issues in the morning, Facebook. Fun fact: If you can't find it in Zimbabwe, drive to another nation like South Africa, cause they will probably have it.

We had planned to pick Lisa up from school and then head out to Willow Park to see the girls at SJC for we haven't seen them in 10 days, which actually feels a lot longer. So with time to kill before 1pm, we decided to do some gift shopping and souvenir hunting. It's Alex's birthday tomorrow and guys being guys we had no idea what to get him, so we asked him to give us a covert sign if there was something he liked. We walked into a store, got the sneaky wink and purchased Alex's birthday present, an African image on canvas. Fun fact: The sneaky wink was invented by Alex Taylor in 2012.

We headed to the street vendors (which if you've been following the blog we met them on Day 2) and started the negotiating process to secure some awesome African handiwork. The street was laid with wooden craftsmanship of the big 5 animals (leopard, lion, elephant, rhino and buffalo), key rings, bracelets, wooden bowls and toy vehicles made out of wire. The cool thing about these handmade creations are that you can watch them making their crafts on the spot. With just a piece of wire and a pair of pliers, a man was making the feet of his guineafowl creation. Andy and I paced ourselves up and down the street constantly being asked to view people's items for sale. Alex insisted on not participating in this part of the shopping expedition. When we saw something we liked the negotiation process began. Fun fact: 'Negotiating' was invented by Alex Taylor in 1547. It would always start off with the salesman naming their sale price and then us telling them 'they're dreaming' in response. After constant haggling, we would agree on a price that was ridiculously lower then the initial asking price, be accused of being unreasonable and then the exchange would occur. Andrew told me one salesman was willing to use Andy's shirt as a bartering item, unfortunately it was only valued at $5. After an hour of shopping, it was time to pick up Lisa Taylor from her first day at a public school. As the air-raid siren blared through the air signifying the end of the first day of school, kids streamed out of the buildings in their green and white striped uniform. Lisa walked to the car with her friend, Senso, and we dropped her off at Tina's house, one of the staff members at SJC. To our surprise, Samantha, one of the girls at Willow Park who has been away over the christmas break was there waiting for a lift back to SJC. We were only too happy to taxi her while her and Lisa caught up with each other.

We arrived at SJC in the afternoon and were greeted with many hugs. It's been 10 days since we've last seen the girls and the babies but to them and for us it's been 10 days too long. We spent a few hours there just catching up and seeing what the girls had been up to while we were gone. The girls were also interested to hear what Samantha got up to over Christmas and New Year.  Gogo Rhoda had a very special present for us. She made 3 beanies for Alex, Debbie and I. What a fantastic lady. We departed SJC and wished them luck as they start school for the year tomorrow. We arrived home, had a delicious dinner thanks to Debbie and was then greeted with a power cut while we were starting to write our blogs. Fun fact: 'Power cuts' were invented by Alex Taylor in 1342.

Thanks for reading

Jonno