A round robin to get the ball started

Hi
Just thought I’d send an email, rather than a letter as they don’t seem to be getting past customs, either way at the moment.
I’ve given up on face book for the time being, I find it’s not really that interactive. At the end of the day, we are just living here, the excitement of it being new and interesting has become part of our normal day now and it’s always lovely to hear what everyone else is getting up to, even if you consider it boring, it’s not for us, what we’re doing is boring. Peter’s job is taking him all over sub sahara, Dan and Alex are writing papers at the moment, exams, and I’m still adapting to being a SAHM, cook, cleaner and bottle washer, the best thing, because of the security round here is that I’m no longer Mum’s taxi as both boys have friends on the estate and all their additional activities take place during school time. So come 4pm nearly every evening we are all safe at home, using the pool or trying to eek out the last bit of shade.
At 30c most days, with little rain, it is ideal conditions for a two week holiday, but not a lot else. Good for getting the washing dry. Mind you the temps this week have reached 44c and we’ve seen the most amazing thunderstorms. It is very strange seeing Christmas decorations up in the sun especially as they try to recreate the northern hemisphere snow scenes.
I’ve found it quite a lonely existence to date, I didn’t realise how hard it was to make friends when you aren’t working, studying or hanging around the school playground. My online twitter friends have been amazing. I tweet a problem, they are mostly back in the UK, they google or put me in touch with a South African and I get an almost instant answer. I’ve also met some lovely people online that are part of a really large expat community and I’ve been to a few functions. I’m also doing some voluntary work with The baby house, a home for abused children under 4 and I’ve been helping with the collection for Santas shoeboxes and their distribution to disadvantaged children.
The photos of the elephants are from Pilanesburg we were very lucky to see the hippo on land during the day and the elephants were amazing.
Anyway enough from me, let me know your news. Enjoy the pictures and if I don’t get to see you on this visit, Dec 1st-20th, I’ll get round to you next year or you could always come out here.
Love Suzanne