Alcohol in Supermarkets

In South Africa, beer and wine is sold in supermarkets. All the beer and wine is locally produced and readily consumed. I have enjoyed drinking some old favourite wines.

The local currency is 'Rand'. The exchange rate is about R:$ = 6:1. In other words to calculate what an item is going to cost me I divide the amount by 6.

There is VAT and GST (taxes) on many products but all taxes are included in the price. The price on the label is what you pay at the till - it's wonderful - I wish the PEI Government would pass this kind of legislation. My son Rynier is the basket bearer.

Matric Dance

My eldest son attends school in Pretoria. At South African schools grade 12 is usually referred to as "Matric". This refers to the examination that is written at the end of the year. It is common to say "I am in matric." That would be understood to say you are completing your schooling in that year.

One of the highlights of the year is the Matric Dance - I imagine it is similar to a Prom but never having attended one I am not certain about this.

My son's Matric Dance is in May and so he decided he would like to hire a suit for the occasion. We went with him to select one. Here are his little helpers giving him unsolicited advice!

Pool area

This is my sister and brother-in-law's back yard. The thatched area is called a 'lapa'. The design is very common in Africa. Thatch is very cool and grass is easy to come by. There are no walls to allow a free flow of air to cool one off. The pool is nearby if it is still to hot!

Under the lapa they have chairs and on the other side a large wooden dining room table where we easily seat 12. This is where all the entertaining happens in the summer and even in the winter during the days the weather is lovely and warm and this is the most pleasant place to be. This area makes entertaining very pleasant and relaxed. The compulsory 'braai' (barbecue) area is also close by. In South Africa 'briquettes', made from coal, are used as wood is becoming very scarce and pollution in the large cities is a problem.

Warmbaths

Warmbaths is a small town in South Africa, north of the capital Pretoria. As a child my parents would take us there. There were hot pools with waterfalls and fountains. Over the years when I became a parent I would take my son there. They built slides and tubes and the nicest part is that one pays one entrance fee and you are free to use all the equipment. The children love it.

This week it was a treat (now that we are on holiday from Canada) to visit this old spot with my young children. They put on their bathing suits and I don't see them for hours. They never stop going down the slides and running up the stairs with their endless energy. I was concerned about our pale, winter Canadian skins under the warm African sun but the sun screen did it's job and we had a wonderful visit.

An African school was on an outing for the day. I wanted to capture the children swimming in the paddling pool so I wondered over. When they spotted me with my camera they waved, danced, cheered and begged me to photograph them. I don't know who had more fun me or them!

Flying to Africa

We flew from Charlottetown (via the Tim Hortons drive-thru!) to Halifax and then after supper and some window shopping off to London. We had planned to explore London but the 6 hour flight left us very tired (having been unable to resist watching some of the latest movies on our private minuture TV screens on the back of the seat in front.)
The 12 hour stopover was a little brutal but we made it through and were soon on our way to Johannesburg South Africa. Both flights were overnight and left us disorentated and exhausted.
We were very happy to finaly arrive at our destination.