Our final weekend- drum circle, moya, and groenkloof nature reserve (spoiler alert: zebras!!)

Where we last left off, I was just about to head to the group's drum circle at Klitsgras that Crystal, my classmate, organized for us.

As it happened, I got no work done Thursday or Friday- though I did conduct that interview on Thursday.  It was nice to take a small break amidst a ton of research, school visits, interviews, reading, and writing, to just enjoy a little more of Pretoria.

The drum circle Friday was perfect.  We originally were going to go two weeks before, as it is offered every other Friday, but it was actually better that we didn't-it was a nice final activity for the whole group to do together in our last weekend.

We got there and started by getting some food and drinks from the bar.  Our professor loves to dance so when the music came on she took off doing the electric slide with some classmates and teaching the others a move or two.  When Daft Punk's song "Get Lucky" came on, we all rushed to the dance floor. It's kind of become like a theme here as the music is so fun and upbeat.  Having already rented my drum for the evening, that made an appearance on the dance floor too.  Can't wait to see the pictures and video my classmates took of that.

Shortly after, we made our way to this indoor/outdoor area around a bonfire for the drum circle.  We played for a few hours and had fun following the beat.  After we'd had enough, and our hands hurt, half of us headed back to the hotel.  The others danced the night away.

Icing a classmate.  If you get presented with a smirnoff ice, you have to drink it in one sitting.  Your only protection is to have one on you.  He didn't.  He was a good sport! 

Elizabeth, Amber, Marc, and I, with a photobomb from Rebecca! 

Bonfire at the drum circle 

Virginia, the local administrator for the trip.  Love her!

Drumming in full swing

Curtis, Rebecca, Amber, me, and Zack, our program assistant 

Savanna Dry- amazing cider

Curtis dancing it up

Saturday I woke up early and did tons and tons of work with one small skype break to chat with my mom.  Hi mom!

I was super motivated to finish at the very least a draft of my paper, figuring I'll be pretty lazy about it when I'm back.  Happy to say, mission accomplished.  After working from 9am to 3:30pm with only one small break, I had my draft done.  They printed it for me at the hotel.  I plan on editing a bit on my massively long flights home.

Saturday night we went to dinner at the famous Ocean's Basket next to our hotel that everyone has been raving about.  It was awesome- even as a vegetarian!  Probably one of the better meals I've had in S.A..

After, we relaxed for a bit and then met Frans, the hotel manager and our friend, at the Drop Zone in Hatfield Square to celebrate "Christmas in July."  Never done that before!  It was a snow party with styrofoam like snow everywhere.  It was so fun!  (It was not so fun cleaning it out of my shoes, jacket, purse, hair etc. later haha.)  We had a great send off that night.  A small group but very memorable.

Crystal, a moose, and Jessica- who knows why there was a moose at Xmas in July?

Now you can see what I had to clean later...

Obviously, I needed to wear a moose head.  Bucket List complete.  Haha

Snow beards were very popular.  I made this one. 

Crystal, me, Jessica, and Janelle

Sunday morning we were up bright and early for our presentations.  They were interesting, but it was a lot as there were 19 of us that each had to present.  After that, at about noon, we headed to Moya (a popular destination for South African food) for our farewell luncheon.  We realized why it was a lunch when we got there--the property was beautiful.  As it's winter here and the sun sets at about 6, it would have been chilly and not as enjoyable in the evening.

We ate outside as one big group and had amazing food, great wine, and lots of laughs.  I'm really going to miss these guys!  The best part is that we are almost all from the NY area, so reuniting shouldn't be too hard.  (In fact, we've already picked a place and a date for our first reunion.)

Music accompanied our lunch

Half the group

Teboho, our fearless leader! 

Homestay Sisters, complete with face paint from Moya 

Me and my professor, Teboho.  She's amazing.

The hotel staff has become like family, as we've been there for so long, that our professor even invited a few of them.  (One was hurting a bit from the last night's snow party, so he sat it out. Sign of a good night?!)

We made it back just in time to do some last minute shopping at the Sunday market across from our hotel and then doing final drinks last night at a local bar/restaurant.  We even brought the game Cards against Humanity, which has entertained us quite a bit here.

This morning, I looked into the possibility of going to a Nature Reserve known as Groenkloof- it was close to our hotel, and I thought it would be nice to do something on our final day being that our flight wasn't until the evening.  A few of my classmates expressed interest, so we packed up our things, went down to breakfast, and checked out of our rooms all before 9am.  The hotel held our stuff and we arranged for a taxi to take us, drop us, and come back for us when we called.  (Having a local phone has really helped in that sense!)

We were a little disoriented as the trails to hike were not super clearly marked (we had been warned) but were able to ask someone who worked there and he set us off on the right track.  We walked two trails- a 3.5 km one and a 4.5 km one- stopping for pics along the way- in a total of 2.5 hours.  Good exercise before the long flight!

While the beginning was a fun hike, we thought we might see some animals and were a little disappointed.  Until...first, Crystal spotted giraffe (she has good vision!!), then just a bit down, we spotted some sable/antelope.  Then, crossing our path a bit later, were 4-5 zebras!!!  They were just a few feet from us and our minds were blown.

It was so cool to see them in their natural habitat- not on a safari from a car but walking around where they roam freely.  They stopped in their tracks, and unlike the other animals, didn't seem spooked by us.  We snapped a million pictures and could now die happy.  Just as we thought we had reached the peak of happiness, we came across the watering hole they all came from, and got even closer with another 6-7.  With 2 more in our path later, we were elated.  It was so cool, I can't even describe it.

Here's some of the pics.

Map, which was not really all that helpful 

Fast birds, looked like turkeys 

Group shot at Groenkloof 

A local Zulu tradition makes you gather stones, spit on one, and toss it into a pile to get your ancestors' protection for travels.  So, we did it!

My stone looked like Africa.   Do you see it?

These helped lead the way.

Zebras at the watering hole

He was looking right at us!

Ahhh so cute!!

Hanging with some zeb's 

They were directly blocking our path, but we didn't mind.

Later, I climbed this giraffe jungle-gym. 

Going to miss this gorgeous weather!

After a quick bite, we gathered our stuff and the same taxi driver came back to take 3 of us to the airport together.  We got there in about 40 minutes, and hugged, excited to have made a new group of friends and happy that it's only goodbye for now.

Now, I'm sitting in the airport waiting for my flight.

I'll probably post again once I'm home.  For now, that's all though!