We exchanged gifts early in the morning. The Forbes family gave me a bag of sweets and a cd of SA music. I haven't listened to it yet but if it's anything like what I've heard so far, I'll like it. (I do like it)
We went to church at 8.00. It was a nice little Presbyterian church, smaller than my home church. Apparently a good portion of the congregation is related to the Forbes family. It certainly wasn't what I was used to for a Christmas time service but it was nice. I was kinda sad that we didn't sing any traditional (at least what I'd consider traditional) hymns. I guess they just aren't as universal as I had thought.
For lunch we had a cold meal. The day before they cooked chicken, lamb, and gammon (a most delicious type of ham). It was a good thing that we had it cold too. It's been the warmest day by far since I've been in SA. I think they said something like 40 C. It was a good meal and very tasty. The best part about the meal though was the poppers. Little gifts that as you pull them apart they go *POP!* (imagine that). Inside is all sorts of little goodies: toys, games, sweets, and crowns. We all wore our crowns during dinner; it's sort of a tradition.
After lunch we went to the family farm and saw some of Allan's family. Nice fun people. We hung out by the pool and chatted for a bit.
When we got home we packed our bags for Cederberg. We leave tomorrow at 3.30 in the afternoon. I'm quite excited about it. It should be a very nice time.
I was able to finally phone my friend Tammy who lives in Durban. We chatted for a bit about her moving & how I'm enjoying SA thus far. It was really good to talk to her w/o using email. We've kept in touch pretty well but you remember so much about a person when you hear their voice. The memories come flooding back.
I forgot to mention that on Christmas eve we went to a family friends home for dinner. We had a potjiekos (poi-chee-kors). It's a type of traditional rabbit stew made in a cast iron pot with lots of curry and served on rice. It was really delicious. I find myself loving SA cuisine.
I think I'll also take the time to discuss some other foods I've encountered in SA. First is my favourite, boerwurs. It's a fatty, spicy, sausage and it is just to die for. Brats and hotdogs have nothing on these. Every chance I got I snagged myself some boerwurs (there was even a time on Cederberg when I went so far as to say "I'm from America, I've never had a boerwurs. Can I try one?" By this time I had had plenty but it worked and I got delicious SA sausage for lunch instead of picnic ham) Second is biltong, a sort of jerky. I really didn't notice that much of a difference between it and our beef jerky. I know that it's still raw and has to prepared in a special biltong box. Other than that I just know it tastes good. Lastly, I wanted to talk about cream soda. There could never be a more different food. First, it's green. Second, it has a sort of minty, licorice flavour. I'm not a fan. On the plus side, they do have Fanta Pineapple which is quite lekker!
The family lunch. It's a bit dark but enlarge it and it becomes clearer.
A better shot (contrast wise). The orange stuff on the table is a mixture of Orange Juice and champagne. The other drink is Castle, one of SA's fine nationally brewed beers (which can be found in the states).
Here's gramma with her to favourite Americans (me and Josh(Josh and I?))Notice how red I am.. that's just from the car ride to/from PE.
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