May 2009 Archives

One of the things I don't like so much about living in Johannesburg is that we are nowhere near the sea!!!  I was born in Hong Kong, which is an island surrounded by the South China  Sea, and have lived in Guam, an island in the Pacific, and Mauritius, which is an island in the Indian Ocean. So you can understand how much I miss seeing the ocean!

In Johannesburg, the closest we have to a body of water is Zoo Lake. And it's a man-made lake, not even natural!  And it's across the Zoo. But that doesn't mean it's not beautiful!


Beyond the trees is the famous Hillbrow Tower in Johannesburg, which towers over the hospital! As you can see, Johannesburg is quite a hilly city.

One of the great things about living in South Africa is being close to amazing wildlife. It's the land of lions and cheetahs and hippos and even some really groovy birds like the red hornbill, and the most irritating one of all because of the way it screams all day long--the hadeda!

We live really close to the Johannesburg Zoo and sometimes we drive past and see from the zoo walls the lions chilling out!

Every April holiday mostly every family in Johannesburg goes on safari and stays in the one of the national parks, like the Kruger, which is the most famous and is about a five-hour drive from Johannesburg.  Think of it as one giant open air zoo with no cages! This year we went to another national park, Pilanesberg, in the Northwest Province just two-and-a-half hours away.

In the real world, at least here in South Africa, people are sports-crazy!!!  South Africans are big supporters of cricket, rugby, and soccer.  The national cricket team is called the Proteas while the national rugby team is called the Springboks, and the soccer team is called Bafana Bafana!

In 2010, South Africa is hosting the soccer World Cup and I can't wait!  I hope we get to watch some of the matches live!!! (Here I am wearing the Spanish team cap - the national team I support, a FIFA t-shirt and a FIFA medal!!! FIFA is the football or soccer world's governing body, based in Zurich. The World Cup, held every four years, is soccer's biggest event. South Africa is the first African nation to host the World Cup ever!)

Recently, on a lazy Sunday my sister and I decided to play Nintendo Wii and she chose the game Wii sports. We were going to play down list and first up was tennis. It was going to be too difficult to play against each other, so we decided to play in one team against random Miis (little Wii people). It was my serve so I hit my hardest...15-0. Five minutes later 15-40, we lost so we went to another sport.

On Thursday we went to Kingsmead, which is another girls' school, to play a netball match. Netball is kind of like basketball, but you don't dribble the ball and you can't move when you have the ball. But you still need to shoot it into the net to score and make a goal.

On Sunday, my mom, my sister, and I went to Pretoria to the Philippine Embassy to see the vice president of the Philippines. His name, I found out, is Noli de Castro. He was here to attend the inauguration of South Africa's new president, Jacob Zuma.

Just to let you all know, Pretoria is the capital of South Africa. It's around 30-45 minutes away from Johannesburg, where we live. Johannesburg is known as the financial capital because this is where all the money is!

Another great thing that happened during the Easter holiday was that I (and my sister too) went to Sugar Bay. It's a holiday camp for kids and teens, just like summer camp, and I've been told it's run American-style, which means lots of fun and lots of activities! 

Sugar Bay is by the sea, in Zinkwazi, which is in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in the eastern coast of South Africa. 
 
Every week there is a new theme at Sugar Bay.  This time it was Greek 300 Week. Our battlecry was, "Spartans what is your profession?" And we would reply "AHOO AHOO AHOO"!
 

Though I live in Johannesburg, I love visiting Cape Town!!!  It's a beautiful city by the sea and one of my best friends, Lauren, lives there now with her family.  Lauren and I have been friends since we were six years old and living in Mauritius then.  But until late last year, when her family moved to South Africa, we hadn't seen each other for ages!!!