Advent

Well for those who follow my blogging, you'll be pleased to know I am talking to my sister again - phew. She and her husband unfortunately had a break in while they were out on Friday night in Swindon and they contacted us on Saturday morning to tell us what had happened. There they were thinking crime would be worse in southern Africa. Luckily they are both fine but the person who broke in trashed their living room and it has left them feeling vulnerable. All this did mean I spoke to my sister again though and we're on better terms.

Been translating the song Mon Bateau de Papier by Jean Humenry as my Chinese French student needs to know it off by heart by Tuesday. Have the song stuck in my head now. We looked at Aztec gods and goddesses in French on Friday and he drew me his own version of one which he described in French as being a cross between Chantico, the Aztec goddess of fire and Ra, the Egyptian god of the sun. Am enjoying using French again and listening to French music. It is a beautiful language.

Went to two films this weekend. The Dance Trust of Zimbabwe's premier for Paddington Bear 2, where we were the oldest members of the audience by quite a long shot but which was delightful and then Justice League, which had a really quirky humour. Have spent most of the rest of the weekend preparing to do craft with the home schoolers this week for Christmas, finding French conjugation exercises, looking for material on the Amazon River and then ironing to pack for Cape Town. I have to be at the airport on Thursday morning at 4 am - arrrgh! I am not a morning person. Copious cups of coffee are going to be drunk. Hopefully the plane leaves on time - have heard stories they don't always. Will be a little thwarting if they don't when you think of the hour you woke up and hopefully we get to Joburg in time to catch the connecting flight.

Getting excited for Cape Town. My friends whose wedding I am going down for have organised some fun group activities during the week before the wedding and I have also heard from some friends. Trying to pack so I don't need to do laundry as the water crisis is quite dire. They are starting to build water desalination plants, possibly this should have been done earlier. When I did freshwater ecology in third year, there were predictions then that Cape Town would run out of water by the year 2020 and that was more than ten years ago.

Went along to the St George's advent service this evening and it brought a strong sense of nostalgia for when we used to go to St George's chapel on a Sunday for mass with my god mother. There was something very comforting singing the traditional carols and saying the responses and prayers in unison. Am having to teach my home schoolers Christmas carols as they don't seem to know them, not even Away in a Manger. After the service we had port and mince pies on the terrace of the "castle". This also brought back memories of being in the Passion Play when I was in form one under the direction of Elaine Gillespie. Saw a few of my former Convent teachers and some school friends. I was blown away when a lady who was several years ahead of me at school and who is blind recognised me by voice. I didn't really know her at school and since then I've only really spoken to her once when I worked for the Wild Tree coffee shop at Cyril Rogers' former home so I was amazed. Spoke to a family friend and they reckon things are still going well politically despite the cabinet announcement and that the way the "coup" happened was miraculous.