Big Noah and the Big Game

Big Noah at a Big Game

Greeting earthlings,

I am sorry for not maintaining contact yesterday because I was on a flight. 

Anyway, yesterday was the day my mom would have had an aneurism. We woke up ready for our last day in Recife to go watch USA play Germany. The moment I looked outside, I knew that I was in deep doodoo. It wasn't just raining cats and dogs, it was raining lions and foxes. I mean it was torrential rain. After only 2 hours of raining, the streets were flooded to people's knees! I right then right there got done on my knees and prayed to god that the game wouldn't get cancelled, or even delayed (reasons to come later). We packed our ponchos, and went outside to hail a cab. Now, it is hard to hail a taxi in the rain in Chicago, where there are millions of taxis, but in Recife..... Not so much. My dad, the hero in a blue, poofy poncho, stood outside in the pouring rain for no shorter than 45 minutes to hail us a taxi. Once we got in the cab, we would only had 4 hours left until kickoff, and it took about an hour and a half to from the metro all the way to Arena Pernambuco. By now I was hyperventilating not in a paper bag. At this point, my mom would start to have a seizure. Our metro stop was at the airport, which was only a seven minute drive in regular weather. In REGULAR weather. I took us about an hour of driving through puddles that would be up to my shins. Once we got to the airport with about 3 hours left, and the taxi dropped us at the ticket line for the metro. The line went the length of the entire domestic terminal, plus more. I was flipping out. My dad, the gutsy South African who would NOT stand in line, decided to go to the front of line and act like he belonged there. The line that would have taken an hour to stand in ended up being five minutes long. Everything was smooth sailing until I heard there might be a delay. That's not good seeing the we have a 5 pm flight and the game on ends around 3. Plus, it's a long haul back. This is the point where my mom might pass out. But it turns out that it wasn't a delay, so we were all happy, and poor Rachie was revived. Once we looked at our  seats, we noticed that the were in a corner, right on the field. They were amazing. Anyway.. USA lost but they're still moving on. Thank you Ghana and Portugal! We sadly had to leave 4 minutes early to get to our flight, which was so hard for me. The person who owns the apartment we were staying at said that she would bring the luggage to the airport. We show up there , and there is no luggage. Grace (the owner) said she wad trying to get a taxi for 40 minutes. This is the point where my mom would have a heart attack. Rami quickly jumped in a cab to go pick it up. It turns out she was sitting in the parking garage waiting for a friend to pick her up. As Rami is backing out of the apartment, the cab brakes. Rami begs him to keep going, and gives him all his money to the driver to pay for the cab. Once we got the luggage, we checked in and got on the flight. once at our gate, none other than Joakim Noah shows up. yes Joakim Noah from the Bulls. David Rami and Alan follow him and found John Wall. Yes, John Wall from the Wizards. It turns out that they were all traveling in a pack to all of the USA games. We then flew to São Paulo, then São Paulo to Rio, and go to our hotel safely. This morning we woke up, ate breakfast in the hotel, and went just across the street to the Fifa Fan Store, where I bought s hat. Now, I am sitting on my bed, my dad is packing, and blogging to you from half way around the world.

With Great Love,

Ben

Big Shul

He everyone,
First before I blog, I would like to give a shout out to Luis al Amarelar de Cagada and his tandem writer Francisco de Maracanã al Gluten-frėe Grànolá (Rick, this is your temporary name).
Anyway, today was fun. I was woken up army style, with Rina walking up and down the halls telling us to wake up because our dads were showing up in the cars they rented. Once we got in the car, we drove 20 minutes to the oldest synagogue in the new world/americas.it was very nice. It was very well persevered, as well. Not only were we able to see the Shul, we were able to go up to the bimah. Sadly, that was renovated ass well so it wasn't the real thing. In a glass case on the bimah was the Torah that they used. I looked at it and it seemed familiar. The more I looked the more it looked like my bar mitzvah porting. I got so excited by this weird coincidence, but then I realized it wasn't, and then I was bummed. After the Shul, we drove to Olinda, a small town 20 north of Recife. We walked around in the old city which was very nice, and then stopped for lunch at a steak restaurant which was also very nice. After the lunch, we started to drive to a beach 1 hour away from Olinda. W went a third of the way, which took an hour, and decided to go back home because it looked like the drive was going to be super long, it looked like it was going to rain, it was going to be dark in an hour, and my dad hasn't been doing so great. He has a cold. He's been hacking all over the place. It's been ugly. So we turned around and went to the shopping center where we watched the game. We then went home and ate dinner of pasta and hotdogs. Now I am sitting on my bed, getting ready to read, and blogging to you half way around the world.
With Great Love,
Ben

Beg Waves part 2

Hello world.
Today was not the most exciting day on my venture into the heart of Brazil. I slept in because I could until 11. Once I woke up, we headed to the beach, where we swam for 4 hours. the waves were very big, so it wasfun jumping them. We (Alan,David, Rami, and I) played soccer for a good part of those 4 hours. Thhr teams were me and david vs alan and rami, and me and david demolished. Most of those 4 hours it was raining, so soccer was even more fun. After the beach, we went straight to the pool on the top floor (also outdoors, so it was also raining), and swam for a half hour. In the pool we played POTUS. After our swim, we got dressed and headed to a buffet to eat that was recommended by the concierge. It was very VERY local. Te food was okay, not great, but everything else was good.  Te best part was as we were leaving they startedto play music, so the dads, bent on embarrasing us, decided that the only way we could walk out of the restaraunt was to dance. as if my. Dad wasn't embarrasing enough, the entire restaraunt had to see him shake his bum-bum, and worst of all, i had to dance with him. We walked home afterwards, and I am now in our apartment, watching Simpsons in portugese, and blogging to you half way around the world.
With Great Love,
Ben

Big Fans

Hi y'all.
Sorry I didn't blog yesterday. I was up until 2 am on a flight. Anyway... Yesterday, we woke up really early (7:30) to go to the "hippie fest" (by the way, I am still in Rio at this point). It was like a fair that sold everything from purses made out of soda can to art made out of soda cans.  We stayed there for about an hour, then want back to our apartment to get ready for our second game: Belgium vs Russia. The game was pretty boring, until Belgium scored in the 85th minute. After the game, we headed to our apartment to watch the highly anticipated USA vs Portugal game. My commentary on the game: USA played an outstanding game besides the absolutely stupid goal in the 5th minute, a nod giving up the tying goal in the final seconds. If they hadn't have scored, the USA would now be into the second round. Now all we have to do is tie, which seems pretty easy, except it is against Germany, one of the greatest teams around.

Anyway, as soon as the game ended, we rushed to the airport to catch our flight at 23:00 (or 11:00 pm for you Americans) that landed in Recife at 2 in the morning. We got to our apartment and fell asleep. Today was much more interesting. We were woken up by the Mizrahi's and their need to leave so we get there before the game starts. (5 hours before game started).  We were going to see the Mexico vs Croatia game. It was important because the winner moves on, and the loser is eliminated. We left at noon for the shopping mall to get the Mizrahis ponchos because it was threatening to rain all day, but in the end we didn't have to use them (thank god). We got to the game an hour and a half before, like we always do, and sat down in our seats. We found ourselves in the middle of the crazies!!! The game was a lot of fun, and Mexico won which made the Mizrahis extremely ecstatic. The only down side was that I had a huge headache, and I wasn't in the greatest shape, but I made it back to the apartment and took a cold shower (funny story: we don't have warm water. In an apartment building. It's not even an option!) and now I feel much better. I am now lying in bed, blogging to you, my adoring fans, from half way across the world.
With Great Love,
Ben

Big Waves

Dear beloved fans (and mom),
Today was not the most interesting day here in Brazil. The parents woke up at 7:00 in order to bike to the sugar loaf, while we (the kids) stayed asleep. Once we woke up, we went to Ipanema Beach. We played some soccer volleyball, which is volleyball but you can't use your hands, then we went in the water. We could only go in so much because the waves where absolutely enormous, and there was a huge undertow. We were there for 2 hours, then we left to watch the first game. We then walked to a restaurant for lunch,where most of them had pizza, but I had chicken.after lunch, me and my dad went on a bike ride from Ipanema to the end of Copacabana and back, and on the way there we went by the fifa fun fest. It was absolutely packed on the bike path, and we practically had to walk our bikes to be able to get through, but not without a couple of people swearing at us in a couple of languages. After our ride, we met up with the Mizrahis and went to play beach soccer on a beach. Once we were done, we went to Bob's Burgers, which was okay. Now, I am watching the end of the last game and blogging to all of you.
With Great Love,
Ben

Big Jesus

Hi y'all,
Today was a lot of fun. We were woken up by the sleep demons at 7:00 in the morning. We had to wake up early in order to miss the lines to go up to the "big Jesus". Once we got up to "big Jesus", we could see the entire city of rio. From the favelas to maracana. We managed to get there just in time because a fog was rolling in over rio. Once we got down back down the mountain we headed to a really good place for lunch. I would like to take credit for it, but it was my mom who was the one who recommended it. 2 for 2 so far mom, not to shabby. After the delightful steak that I ate, we decided to walk to a hike. A little redundant, isn't it? Our hike was a hike the squiggles would enjoy so much. A hard climb through the jungle over rocks and tree branches. The climb was to the cable car that took us up to the mountain Sugar Loaf. We climbed for half an hour only to find out that we had to buy the tickets on the ground. We walked back and went to the Fifa Fan Fest in order to sell our tickets for the game that we bought but it ended up that we are going to be in Recife during the game. We had 6 tickets, two were ours and four were the Mizrahi's, and we sold them $300 a piece. We then headed back to our room, and now I'm crashing on a couch and I'm about to fall asleep.
With Great Love,
Ben

The Steak of the Ages

Dear beloved fans,
I have been criticized about my work, and I respond to that: it looks like you're SOL. I write the way I want, and you can't do anything about it. You shall enjoy my work or don't read this. I don't care which one.
Now, back to brazil. Today we didn't do much because it was raining cat and dogs Brazilian style.  Barely got to walk around when it was not raining. We did however get into a restaurant down the street from our room that has been packed the entire time we've been here. We sat and had some drinks and some fries. We were going to walk to Copacabana, but it was still pouring, so we stayed here and watched some more futbol. The men went out to wait in a line for dinner, and we joined them as they got to the front of the line. We ate at a very well known restaurant, known for its meat that you get to cook yourself. It might have been the best steak I've ever had. I am right know chilling in my bed, doing absolutely nothing besides talking to all of you.
 With Great Love,
Ben

Viva Brazil

Dear followers,
I know that it have not communicated yet, but stuff happens. I have settled down in rio with the Mizrahi's. Our apartment is across the street from Ipanema beach. Also, next to our building across the street is the hotel that the team from Netherlands is staying in. Yesterday, we flew into rio and landed @ 5:30 in rio. We needed to get our tickets for the game, and there was a ticket office at the airport, but it only opened at 9:00, so we chilled out at the airport for 3 hours. After we got the tickets and arrived at our apartment, we watched all the game. Since we were with the Mizrahi's, we needed to go somewhere for the Mexico-Brazil game. We decided to go to the fan fest. It was a big screen on Copacabana beach, and and a lot of people showed up. We had to stay in the back. We watched the game with sore eyes from squinting, sore ears from all the yelling, and sore legs from all the standing. The Mizrahi's were very into the game, expressed by Rami's yelling in Spanish, while I was not so excited. The game ended in a tie, although the game was really close. This morning we slept (me) 13 hours, and my dad was forced to wake me up because we had to leave @ noon because we were going to the Spain-Chile game. Me and my dad sat on the second row of the second level in the corner. They were really good seats. Chile surprised us all with a 2-0 win that caused the World Cup champions from 2010 to be eliminated. The game took up the entire day because we only got back at 7. We went out to dinner and watched the Croatia-Cameroon, which decided if the Mexico-Croatia game we are going to see is going to be interesting, and now it is. As of now, I'm sitting on the couch watching an intense soap opera in Portuguese that I don't understand one bit.
Com grande amor (you can translate it),
Ben

Milly cookies in the Book Lounge

Yesterday was fun. "What do you mean?" I was to tired to blog. That's why.

Anyway..... In the morning we went to Milly's. it was really nice to see her again. She was my dad's babysitter. After all the talking and laughing and hugging and taking pictures, we got some Milly biscuits. "The best in the world" believe me, you've got to try them. Sadly I can't bring any home, so ill just have to eat it myself" what a hardship. 

After, we went to eat lunch at the goat restaurant, and I remember what I watched there well. It was the first day of Group F play, Spain vs Switzerland, the so-to-be winners suffered a loss in the first game. The goal was scored from a low cross from the left side, and a man on Switzerland scored (don't yell at me, I didn't catch his name). Switzerland was wearing white, and Spain was wearing red. The final score was 1-0 Switzerland. Hat was 3 years ago, and I still remember it. I have a very high capacity for useless information.

Last night we went to Mervyn's house. He owns the abook a lounge, a cute cozy bookstore. We went there before we went to eat. We played on their trampoline, and did a lot of other things. The food. I dreamt about it. The sauce on the veggie was amazing, and for dessert, she had pudding. It was the greatest thing I've ever tasted. I forced my dad to get a recipe. 

So anyway.... We stayed out until 10:00, so that's why I was to tired to type.

Bye Peeps

Benny

The Rusta-Mouses of Langa

 Today was interesting. Today we started of like every other day. Waking up and eating. Then , at 9, a guide came to the house and picked us up for a tour of Langa, a township (google it) outside of Cape Town. We went into a couple of places. I will tell you everything that's happened in those places. First, we went to the Cultural Centre (we're in South Africa, deal with it), where we saw a pottery project going on, and where my mom bought a painting that you will see when you come to my house. Next, we walked and talked about everything between. The number of families per room in 1995 (3 in small houses, 16 in a small hostile.  Each family only got 1 bed, so it was sad, but it shows you how much we have that we don't need) to politics (Western Cape is the only province not dominated by ANC (google it)). We then went to the very poor side of town. We went into a hut and saw how small there living space is, but the good side is that they get privacy (put 2 & 2 together). It was funny. There were 2 doors. My dad asked why? Are there 2 houses? Our guide (which was the same guide me and my dad had before in 2010. Small world, huh?) answered that it was only 1 house, but it went to the man's room, so he didn't have to go through the main hallway because e didn't want everybody to see who he brought home.  Later, we were driving ing the Beverly Hills of Langa, and found a person selling 7455 tee shirts. We learned earlier that someone made tee shirts with the area code of Langa, so we pulled over, and now my mom and I now own them. For lunch, we went to a place called Mzoli's Meat, and oh boy, it was absolutely amazing. Crazy good.  I won't go into detail because my drool will slobber up the iPad. Lets just say it is Heaven ribs with Angel sauce. After we got home, we went for tea with some of my dads cousins, Lidia and Bev. Granny Wendy also showed up. It was nice getting to see them again. Shout out to Sam: Ollie asked where you where and if you where coming back. We played on the playground and had a lot of fun. For supper we had Monica and her family come with Theo and May. It was fun, but the best part. We were flipping through the channels, and came across something called Rusta Mouse. It's these Jamaican mouses that are completely stereotypical. It was hilarious. They were like "Jya man" YouTube it. Try not to laugh.

Bye Bye Man

(Bob Marley)

 Benny

Welcome to Cape Town everybody.

Today was fun. Not amazingly great, but good. Just like Grandpa Michael's sense of humor. So anyway...  This morning started off with a big bang. Literally, at 6:00 this morning. Sarah went to the bathroom and came back and "BAM" she hit the door dividing our room from our parents room. She woke me up, because I was the only one sleeping. After, we drove to King Shaka Int'l Airport. We got there WAY to early, or in my mom's case, just in time. We ate a good hardy lunch with the 2 and 1/2 hour we had to waste. The flight was quick and easy. Just the way I like it. We landed in Cape Town, and got greeted by Jenny's dad and brother-in-law. They had 2 cars. An old dirty white Isuzu truck, or a very nice, very snazzy black Mercedes. Guess which one I chose (no prizes, I know, I know, it's a heartbreak). We then got there, we ate, and now I'm in the Granny flat, a small flat next to their pool, blogging to you from half way across the world.

I got the results on that Google thing, didn't get any answers ( I just really didn't want to Google)

Benny

WARNING: It's Illegal to Drive Giraffes, Zebras, and Sunscreen Ninjas in this Vicinity

Yesterday:
1 nap, 3 game drives. Good enough. Ok.. Ok.. I'll tell you if you stop begging. We woke up at 5:30. It was just because we want to. Actually, we went on a safari, if you want to call it that. Te guide apparently woke up on the wrong side of the bed. He yelled at us because we walked in e dark, he was saying "camp only fenced for Elephants, not small animals" like a lion is small " and that we don't want kids to come face to face with a lion. You parents would run away and leave the kids behind". This dude thinks that I would not run as fast ad my little feet could take me if I saw a lion 10 feet away from me. Thus guy definitely does not know me. So afterwards on the safari we saw a lot of giraffes, and zebras. Later, we went on 2 other game drives. One we saw buffalo for the first time, and also hyenas for the first time. The other one was not to successful, but we don't need to go into that. 

So while we where Braai-ing, a hyena showed up and my mom almost jumped out of her pants. She yelped and pushed all the kids into the kitchen that had 2 enforced doors. I was laughing how scared my mom was, I was scared to, but definitely not like that.

So anyway, last night my mom woke up at 2:00 and heard notices outside. She got her bag and pulled out the mini tubes of sunscreen. She started throwing them in the corner where the sound was coming from. We now call her "Mom, The Sunscreen Ninja, Scarer of Hyenas, Killer of Sunscreens, and Defender of the Safari Tent" I laughed when I heard about it.

Today: 

We started by driving to find a new place to stay. We found a place, but it was at a fork in the road. We chose the left side. Apparently my good lucky left side ended not being so lucky for others. It turned out to be a one way track leading to nowhere and since we have a trailer, we couldn't back up, so we had to get up and out of the car, so the dads could manually do it. On the way down, we saw a sign at the fork that said it was illegal to turn that way, but apparently the dads were to busy getting us lost to have noticed. 

So at this place we decided to stay, and we've been chilling all day long. We went for supper at a place called The Clay Pot. It was good, and I got some more Hake that I always want. hake is a fish that you can't get in the U.S. So now I'm lying on my parents bed, blogging to you from half way across the world.

(I've run out of things to say in different languages, so yore gonna have to bear with me hear, it's not like I can Google it.......

Wait........

Be right back....

Gotta find nearest computer.....)

Bye

Rambo, the Elephant With a Soccer Ball as a Kid

Today.... Wow....... We started by packing up and eating. Then, we went to an Elephant Encounter. There were 3 elephants that came. Rambo, the dad, Rachel the mom, and Jabulani, the baby. We learned about them, then got to "Encounter" them. Hence the Elephant 'Encounter'. For Rambo we got to put food in his trunk, feel his trunk, touch his belly, legs, and behind his ears, and got to put food on his tongue. I was so much fun, but quite disgusting. It felt like putting your hand into... Well..... And Elephant's mouth. And forRachel, we just got to put food in her trunk because she is still protecting Jabulani. Jabulani is named after the World Cup soccer ball because she was born in 2010. After, we drove.... And ate........ And drove, and now were in the bush. We're staying in Safari Tents, which are literally 2 or 3 beds and a bathroom, and a small hut next to it for food. Everything had a lock on it, every container, and the door has 1 lock, and one of those doors you put over a store after it's closed. They have all these locks because monkeys are a mucho problemo. Now, I'm sitting in between our 2 huts, blogging to you from half way across the world. 

See Ya Partner

(Cowboy) 

(It's not the same as Taggert because Taggert is so dumb he gets his own language)

Benny

The Genealogy of Sea Sickness

Today I learned a lot of things. That the bottom a a whale's tale is like a fingerprint. Never the same, and that seasickness is a gene, and it looked like it got passed down to me. What are you asking me? I can't hear you from half way across the world. What? Ok..ok.. I'll explain it to you. 

Today we started off with a 3 hour whale watchers boat tour. It was absolutely amazing. Whales were coming in and out of the water, and water coming out of the blowholes.  For the first 1:30 minutes it was absolutely stupendous, but then I learned the 2nd thing. I made the fateful decision to go look on the top deck. I was up there for less than a minute, and I got seasick. I ended up throwing up and feeding the fishes. I then just laid down and moaned. It felt horrible. After the ride, I got on the sand, picked it up, stared at it like it was god or the meaning in life, then threw it up in the air and played around in it

Like it was the best thing ever. I bent down and kissed the ground I was so happy. 

After, I ate my body weight/weight of puke in food, we went on a hippo tour. It was on a river, so I was fine. It was actually nice, and we saw something that you don't see, we saw a wild leopard. It was amazing. Absolutely stunning. 

After we came back and ate, now I'm sitting by the fire and blogging to you about the The Genealogy of Sea Sickness.

Blllllllllleeeeeeeeeeeecccccccccchhhhhhhhhh 

(Puke)

Benny

Driving The Zulu Rhino's

Today was driving and watching. First, we drove, and I watched movies. Very detailed start, isn't it? I bet you're wondering what movies I'm watching. I've watched Fast and Furious (1 &5), Die Hard, Die Harder, Die Hard With a Vengeance, and Die Hard 4.0. Very good movies. We also saw 2 big black rhinos moving across the street. It was amazing because its not likely were going to be that close again. 

Anyway..... We went to a place called Hluhluwe (pronounced: Who Knows?!?!). It's very pretty. So after driving we came and ate lunch. This is our first time going to a not self catering hotel. The food is actually good. We then went on to a Zulu village where we saw how Zulus lived a long time ago, and we drank Zulu beer (which in my case tastes better that regular beer...... Not that I've drank any..........), and saw a Zulu dance. Now, I've just topped off my desert of ice cream and I'm sitting on a bench, under the stars, blogging to your from half way around the world. 

Hamba Gathle

(Zulu)

Benny

The Walk to the Giraffes

I will tell this story as a Chinese restaurant owner; hopefully i wont offend anyone.  Add accents wherever and whenever.  Sorry. No connection to wifi. No able to blog. You want sweet an sour sauce with that? Yesterday. All driving, and driving and no miso soup.   We ate at Spur, Texas style in Dundee.  We are staying at this national park called Ithala.  It is in the hills and we can walk here because there are no lions.

 Today: wake up and eat, but not egg rolls. Then, go meet private guide, Jeremiah, but he did not have a good name like yours truly, Mr. Wong . Next, drive to hike and hike for 3 hours, but hike no end in Chinese restaurant, that be better. See vilderbeast (English: wilder beast), Impala, Reebok, Wort Hogs, and James II. James 1, scary little kid that follow around Ben for 4 days. James II followed where ever went people.   James II is a single male blue vilderbeast that followed us on our hike.  jeremiah said wilderbeast love to watch people and are very curious.  james II STAYED about 500 meters in front of us and then would turn around and watch us.  He would hide behind bush and stick his head out to spy on us.  We named him James II after the other little stalker boy.

After. They eat. But not good, because not from "Mr. Wong's Chinese Emporium."  We now bring health and food grade up to F-!!" After. Go on game drive and see Giraffes, Zebras, and all other animals named before, and half of them on sale at Mr. Wong's Chinese Emporium!! They very good with duck sauce and Chop Sueey. After they take lot of pictures, they go eat food, but not my famous Fried Rice. After they chill. Now they blog.

Your Fortune Cookie
Bring Laughter and Farts (I'm looking at you Grandpa Michael)
Lucky Words: Ben is Awesome (if you say that in front of me, I might let you live........)

Benny

The Slow Monkey

Today was a nice day. I heard that the weather's bad in Chi-town, but its still good because the Blackhawks won the STANLEY CUP!!!!!!!!!!!! My life has meaning again!!!!! 

So anyway... Today was a good day. The weather was nice, like around 75 degrees, and sunny. We started off with horseback riding, which was fun, but been there, done that. If you are not familiar about what I'm talking about, then read my Utah blogs. It was nice, but I got stuck with the slowest horse in the group. He was slow and hard to get moving, so he kind of reminded me of Grandpa Michael. It was funny, because Sarah's horse's name described her absolutely perfectly. The horse's name was Bin Laden. After, we ate and and sat outside and tried and succeeded in finding monkeys. We were given the choice to go on a 4 hour hike or hang around and play chess and badminton, so I asked myself "What would Grandpa Michael do?" So I decided to stay and chill. We played lawn bowling, and badminton, and went to check out the aviary. We then just came back and ate supper, and if you don't know what 'supper' means, then shame on you for not paying attention to what my dad says.  We're now just chilling in our huge (and for us, too fancy) chalet. 

 See Ya, Y'all

(Taggert)

(Blazing Saddles)

(Watch it)

Benny

the African Fish Monkeys

"What's with the title?" "What kind of title is that?" All good questions, but I'll tell you if you will stop asking questions. I'll start from the beginning. I woke up. What an epic start. We ate breakfast. It's crazy how much adrenaline is in the air. We went and drove to the aviary. We went to see a show. The first falcon wouldn't come back until after the show had ended. After a while came the African Fish Eagle, and when it landed, or came down to land it looked like a airplane. If you call my dad and ask him about it, you'll have to stay there for a while while he told of the greatest story of the trip. After the show, we got to hold the fastest bird in the world, a Peregrine Falcon. After we went home and ate. And after we were chilling, we saw monkeys, which my mom had always wanted to see. I thought 'Why be so excited if she sees monkeys every day when she wakes me up'. After we went to see a very nice waterfall. Overall it was a eventful day. 

By the way, a BIG shout out to Jack for turned 4!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Ariva Diechi

(Italian)      (I know I've used Italian before, but its like bye and farewell)

Benny

Our Days at Cathedral

Its been a while. I know I didn't blog yesterday, but that's because all we did was driving and driving and driving and picking up our cousins and driving and driving and going shopping for 5 hours and kept driving and driving and then we got to Cathedral Peak then had a Braai (a South African barbecue).  So today.... We woke up. Very exciting start. We then went to eat breakfast in the other Sollinger's house because we put all the food there because they had a bigger kitchen. After we went to go on a group hike to the Bushman Cave Paintings that left at 9:15. You think that if we got there at 9:16, then it would be fine, and that they left late, but folks this is not America. We got there and they had left. We left to try and hurry up. We got there to only find out that this wasn't a trip to the paintings, but a 3 hour hike to something called the Sphinx. It was all because of a 12 year old boy who's been here so many times you couldn't count it on your fingers and toes. There were 2 families. Us and another family. We both wanted to just go to the paintings, and finally convinced the boy to go there. After that, we found a huge chess board and played. Overall I played about 3 games, and got chased down by a knight, run down by a pawn, and tried to be beheaded by a queen. All because Sarah had some anger management issues. After we went into their house and ate lunch. I went in my house and heard that fateful knock. It was 2 kids both under the age of 8. Thanks to mom's thoughts and the things she said, I ended up playing with them and them following me like a shadow. I tried to get away, but failed almost every single time. After playing, we went on a hay ride. Which was fine, but uneventful. After we played more chess, then came back for another Braai. Now, I just finished my food, and I'm just chilling. 

Voetsak

(Afrikaans)               (Google it)

Benny

The 'Magical' Drive

It all started with a short drive to a small town, then the ball got rolling. In to morning, we went to eat breakfast at the restaurant at the lodge. After went to a very small town named Clarens. We got out of the car, and my dad went to go get money from an ATM, but he noticed that he didn't have his wallet. Luckily my mom did, and she also had her ATM card. Dad and Sarah went to the ATM, while me and my mom (sorry English teachers) went to an info center and got a lot of info, and by that I mean a LOT.  She answered every question my mom asked. She had told my mom about this blanket store, owned by 2 old women. She said it was worth the 2 minute drive. We got there, and went looking for blankets but not expecting to buy any. We started to get more invested. My mom had found a small blanket with colors that she said "would go great in the family room". She found a bigger blanket that was "so comfy". She couldn't choose, so we got both. As we were paying, my mom looked at the shawls hanging from the ceiling. She asked if she could try one. Now we own it.  

After our/her shopping spree, we drove to Lesotho. A little country in the middle of SA. We got information from the information lady that said we should go to Lesotho and go to a town called Oxbow. W went through both borders, and got into a city called Botha Bothe. It was amazing. It was pretty much a flea market and a market compiled. There were stores and shacks with items for sale in it everywhere. after that we kept on driving. It took a long time to get there, but we missed it. We kept going and going and going. On and on, until after 3 hours, we started to maybe think that we passed it. Even when the road ended, we still thought that Oxbow was ahead of us. After we FINALLY turned around and headed back, we passed the area where Oxbow should have been, and we all started cracking up because here was a sign that said Oxbow. But it was only facing one way, so on the way there we couldn't have seen it. 

The  information lady said that we should by Maize Meal to give to the people in Lesotho because the poverty was so high. And for all of you who don't know, Maize meal is pretty much Matzo Meal, so keep it away from all dogs. So on the way back we saw a bunch if shacks with people in front of them, so. Pulled over. Now let me tell you. Little backstory. We were told not to give to them directly, but to drop it on the ground, so people wouldn't feel left out. So we pulled over, but the people were already starting to run. Let me tell you, as soon as you pull over for 2 minutes, like 20 people will come out from anywhere and beg for food. So we had to give to them by hand. They were really happy, and so was I, but the one thing that bugged me was that my dad was taking pictures of everybody. It made me mad that he was invading other people's space. At one point he pulled over to take a picture of a kid who was herding cattle and was getting up in his face with his camera. I think that my dad shouldn't be able to do that. Please comment your answers, and please agree with me because as always I am right, and you don't want to be wrong.

Adios Amigos,

Benny