Camp in England

Wednesday, 5 August, 2009                           1:40PM            Middleton, England Camp

So I made it back. The guy at the Dubai Airport was trying to give us trouble and didn’t want to let us on the flight because the children’s legal guardian was in the UK and not with us, but he did and told us that we probably wouldn’t get into the UK. Let me say that prayer works. We all got in. Agreeneth had a bit of trouble because of complications last year, but it got cleared up and we are all here and safe. 

The flight went well. I sat next to Sikhombuzo and Amazing, they were well behaved. Someone we met in Dubai worked for Emirates (the airline we used) and they set it up that the children would all get special bags with fun things. They baked them a special chocolate cake, and they got a bunch of other chocolate and toys in a little backpack. They were seriously on sugar overload seeing how they almost never have chocolate. 

The bus ride from Manchester to here felt so long. We arrived here after 12AM, so everyone was sleeping on the way over. It felt like home as I was looking out the window seeing all the trees and hills. I really missed seeing all the green, I didn’t realize until I saw it. I woke up a bit before arriving, it was dark and I looked to the left and saw a beautiful lake lit by the moon, a tear hit my eye. Further down the road it just became the middle of nowhere, nothing, just hills for miles. I wondered if the whole mall across the street was just a joke. We stopped once or twice for sheep and rabbits to move across the road, it was really cool. 

As we got closer I started to see homes, it was just so far from the city, I thought there would be no way I would find internet or a store. We stopped on the way at a grocery store to buy all our food for the week. 

Anyway, we eventually saw civilization, but its just a small town. I didn’t see the mall, it might just be a few shops.

We are in a hall/cabin. That’s the best way to describe it. It’s rougher, but we were warned. It has everything we need, and that’s what is important. The bunks in our room are very short, so most of us chose the top so we wouldn’t hit our heads. I am with Michelle, Lynsay, and Lauren. I slept so great, I was exhausted. I woke up at 7AM feeling like it was time to wake up, but went back to sleep anyway. Wake up was at 10, which was nice. I feel very rested now. 

We decided to rotate with the chaperones taking half the day off. So we are off until 12 or off from 2PM until the kids bedtime. I’m off this evening. I don’t know if there is anything to do around here. The owner of the place said he would give us the password for the internet, so I’m VERY excited about that. 

The children are practicing a song for the Fringe right now, that’s the only rehearsal they have to do while we are here. 

We are back to eating the same type UK food, I didn’t miss it at all. Maybe chips and yogurt, that’s it. It will be hard to avoid bread this week, because it’s in all our meals. I will do my best. I’ve actually gained weight on tour. I’m not sure if I said that already or not. I ate a lot in Dubai because I liked the food so much. I can afford it though. A lot of the others have lost weight. I think it just depends on the person. 

Regarding Dubai... I really think if anyone gets the chance to go there, they should, it was such a great experience to go there. I really can’t say that enough.

I'm going to upload pics tomorrow, that's my job duty :)

*** I just remembered I forgot to blog about the children learning to dive in Dubai. Kyle taught them how in the pool at the hotel, some are quite good. The girls just went into the shallow end and pretty much fell in, it takes practice, but they enjoyed it a lot. I'm not sure if i mentioned they didn't enjoy the salt water in the ocean, all the ones i asked said they would rather be in the pool. 

Selina (one of the girls in my school group) told me today that she loved the Aunties and Uncles so so much. She's a louder girl who likes to talk A LOT, especially when she shouldn't be, but I think she is one of the funniest in the choir, so I responded "you do?" she said "yes" and I said "that's really good, but can I ask if you love us so much why do you sometimes not listen to what we ask?" This is the funny part... Selina said" well Auntie you see, there's these smelly monkeys and they make my head go crazy!" I didn't know how to respond.. she said it so seriously though. She's very good at hiding a smile. I just laughed though. There's so many other funny things she said, I just don't remember to write them all down. We've got some boys who are also quite funny. I'm going to try and write more things they say, just for you to get a better idea of what I'm around all day long.  That's my second job duty :)

Friday, 7 August, 2007                       11:16PM                      Camp in Middleton, England

So the place we are in is an old church. I didn’t take a close enough look, it’s just been converted so it has a bunch of rooms, I only knew because I saw the real roof in one of the bigger rooms. 

I picked a bad time to blog...I need to get in bed. I’ve been trying all day, but other things have occupied my time. I’m really enjoying this break, and being able to have free time to do the things I haven’t had time to do.

I didn’t get a chance to get links up for my facebook photos because I have been uploading them all, but I should be able to do that tomorrow. 

Today I painted the girls nails, I’ve been wanting to do it since tour started but they aren’t allowed to have it on for concerts, so I thought this would be the perfect time to do it. We also got a bit of make up for them to put on. The bright eye shadows look so nice on them, I took tons of pictures, which I will be putting up tomorrow. 

Tonight we had our birthday party. It was so much fun! It was a surprise so we sent all the children to bed, then set everything up and woke them up. We celebrated April- July birthdays, so there were 7 of them. They all decorated a CHOCOLATE cupcake and had fizzy drinks, chips and candy. Pretty much everything they aren’t allowed to have, but it’s a special occasion. We also had dancing and musical chairs. They were screaming so much, I took some videos. I realized today it takes forever to post videos on facebook. Like almost an hour for a 30 second video. It is probably the connection here. I might have to wait until I get home to show my videos. One of the quotes from Phephile, who is also quite a comedian was " Auntie you are very cleaver, very cleaver"

I went to the store yesterday and bought grapes and yogurt for myself, I ate it all and then bought more today. I love love love grapes and yogurt, especially mueller fruit in the corner yogurt, I will miss it when I go home. I’ve had 4 in the last 24 hours :)

I’m going to bed now, we have to get up a bit earlier tomorrow, the children have rehearsals with Dave, who is the Music Coordinator for ACC in South Africa. I’m not sure his official title name, but that’s what he does. His wife Helen is in charge of all the Education, so they make a great couple :) Very very nice people. Ok bed time.

Saturday, 8 August, 2009                                5:33PM                                                         Same Location

The weather here has been soo nice. It hits me sometimes that I'm actually living my dream. I forget because I'm just living and it's just normal to me. It's really amazing that it's happening, I remember many years ago telling people the only true dream I had that I thought was possible was to work with the African Children's Choir. It just boggles my mind. 

This morning I got all the children showered by myself, it took about an hour. I was quite proud of myself. That's less than 2 minutes a shower! I wish I could be that fast. I can't even wash and condition my hair that fast :(

Today the children are doing rehearsals because they need to go through the concert for Monday. I'm watching the girls learn the new dance, it's amazing that they only go through it a few times and they know it. They learnt a new song while we were here and we only spent 2 days on it. It's not perfected, but in a week, they can learn a song. They have a new costume for the festival so it's quite fun for them. 

The bus is back, so I have re packed my bag, with as many different clothes as possible. It doesn't take long to get tired of them. We are leaving tomorrow for Edinburgh, it's a 6.5 hour drive, which is our longest road trip yet. I will probably blog on my computer for part of it. 

I have posted photo links up, but I'm sure you've seen that already... just a friendly reminder :)

Again, I encourage you to leave comments. I haven't had much feedback, just curious if you have any questions etc. No pressure haha. 

I've had the whole day free pretty much. It's so wonderful. I actually don't feel tired this week.