MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Hey Everyone,

I would like to wish you a great Christmas. We had a great Christmas day. We woke up and opened some gifts and hung out with our dog. Then we drove to the office and called some family and friends. After the calls we rushed home to prepare Christmas dinner for some of our friends and when we got home we realized the duck that we were going to cook was rotten in the packaging. So instead of the a Christmas Duck we had Christmas Breaded Pork Chops. To tell you the truth I think the chops were better than the duck would have been. We also enjoyed homemade eggnog which turned out really good. Then it was off to see The Chronicles of Narnia and home to bed. It turned out to be a great day. I hope your day was a great and enjoy the college football bowl games that should be on now until whenever. Cheers.

Chris

Trip To The Bush

Tuesday Rach and I got a call, from Annette (a lady we work with,) that she has a friend who paid to go on a two night holiday in a cabin in the bush. However, her friend couldn't go and asked if she knew anyone that would want to use it. So Annette called us and we said “yes”. So Rach, Guinness and I headed off for a short little holiday. The cabin was nice and it had this great view of the mountains, it was on stilts so our view was up over the trees, which made the view perfect. We were not allowed to let Guinness run free because the cabin was in the game park and there are no fences keeping the animals from coming near the houses. On the main road to the cabin we saw zebras, warthogs, bucks and wildebeests. It was cool. The last morning I took Guinness out to take care of her business and there was a strange noise getting louder and louder. Guinness finished what she was doing and ran back to the house. When we got up on the deck we saw that there was a gray monkey with a black face up in the tree yelling at us. I don't think the monkey was a fan of our dog. Pretty cool. So we stayed there for two nights, watched movies, went looking for animals and played Scrabble. It was a nice get away. Cheers.

Chris

Coolest folks in the Republic of South Africa

One of the things Rach and I are in need of is a second vehicle. We don't have the money to get anything, but the other day I got a loaner vehicle from a friend of mine, Hennie. He had this old Vespa scooter sitting in his back yard and I asked him if I could borrow it to drive around town if Rach had the car. He said yes, and now we have this supper cool Vespa to drive around. There is a problem though, it tops out at around 83 kph which is about 51 mph so there is no driving to the training facility, because it is down the highway. The other problem is the registration is very out of date, so if I were to get pulled over there is no chance of not getting a big ticket. So besides these set backs and the fact that it doesn't always start and I have to push start it, it's a cool thing to have. I am still hoping to get another car or something, but for now it really is the most fun way to go to the grocery store to buy milk. Until later, cheers.

Chris

Righteous Burn Man, Righteous!!!

Hey Guys,

Last Saturday my buddy Jacques Jacobs, Mari Walters brother-in-law if you know her, arranged for a small group to go quad biking. We had a blast! There were trails through the woods and an obsticle course and mud and riding up this super technical trail over rocks and up a rock wall. It was beyond nuts sometimes, but we all made it out alive. We were on this one trail and I was in the back of the line and there were these jumps and we were all trying to get some "big air" (as much as a few chumps get) and as I jumped the last jump I noticed that everyone stopped ahead of me. I landed and tried to turn, but I ended up doing this really pathetic slow fall off my quad as it turned very slowly. So then I rolled on the ground next to Jacques quad and hit his exaust pipe with my forearm. The crash wasn't that bad, but it left me with this killer burn that impresses all the ladies. Well maybe not, not even my wife really. What does a guy have to do to impress some ladies? I guess loose an arm or learn some old poems or something. I think it looks like a coffee stain, like when there is a little coffee on the bottom of you cup and you put down and it leaves this little half circle that tapers off. Rachel thinks thats stupid too, don't feel bad for thinking that. Oh well, at least I had a great time riding the quad bike and met some cool guys so I guess the burn was worth it. Hope all is well with you and I will write more later. Cheers.

Chris

I know how you feel Mr LaRusso.

Hey Guys,

You know in the The Karate Kid when Daniel LaRusso (played by a young and smashing Ralph Maccio) is playing soccer and he gets into an altercation with some of the guys from the Cobra Kai dojo and the coach kicks him off the field. Then Daniel walks off the field and in his frustration about his new school, the students, the Cobra kai's and the move from Jersey to California he yells “This school sucks, it sucks!” I had a similar experience the other day here, minus the soccer, the altercation, anyone one from any opposing dojos, or Elizabeth Shoe watching from cheerleading practice. Rach and I were at the bank and something that would have taken 15 minutes in the states took roughly an hour and it was just a little too much for me. I didn't yell or storm out of Africa, but it was just the thing in a series of events that upset me to the point of wanting to say “This continent sucks, it sucks!”. Like Daniel, I eventually felt better about my new life and my new home, but at the time I was quit frustrated.
I just wanted to tell you this because we always go on and on about the great things here, but there are also things that can wear on us. Please be praying for us, especially in this Christmas season, that we can just continue on when we are reminded in the little things that this not America. Thanks for all your support of us being here and I hope you are enjoying a cold/wintry Christmas. Cheers.

Chris