So you know what it is like in Umhlanga in Dec......when the locals all complain that the "Vaalies" have invaded, and they act like real "kydaars"? (What's a "kydaar" you are now asking - it's those real cool okes who walk around saying "Kydaar pa!  Kydaar pa!......that's in Afrikaans for those of you who got lost!!!!)Ok, so now you can picture the scenario!  It was sort of like that here these last two days, but I think the locals were all complaining about the damn foreigners......yes that's us!!!!

We get a blizzard warning on Wednesday during the day, and we are so excited we can't wait....we just want to see a real snow storm!  By Wednesday evening they are warning people to please be careful, it will be the biggest snow fall in Kansas in history.....oh boy and we get to be part of it!! So Neil heads out to Walmart to get supplies, you know we are new to this.....we might be stuck in without acccess to food and electricity for days!!! (Wishful thinking)Then it hits!!!! by 6am on Thursday morning, school and classes are cancelled, people are warned please not to leave their houses and drive on the roads, but if they absolutely need to, to please take water and food with incase they get stranded in their cars.....and if they do, please do not leave your vehicle, it is unsafe!!!  Woooo, hoooooo and the South Africans are out there like real "Vaalies"!!!!!

 

Acting like a real bunch of "kydaars", but understandably so!!! 

 

Now the fun and games are over, we realise we need to do some serious work otherwise we really will be stuck in the house for days.  By this time the snow is shin deep and rising...............our driveway is on an incline and there is no way we are getting out if we don't shovel the snow.  What happens when the snow starts melting is that it turns to ice overnight as the water freezes as soon as the snow melts.  So you need to .........shovel!!!! Yay!!!!

 

While the boys are all out there working hard, mom is inside doing the real American thing.....baking brownies,  so a tasty reward for a job well done.  So a long day in the house, but wow what an experience.  It snowed again early evening, but then it stopped and Neil decided to go for a drive to see what things looked like........despite the warnings not to......but keep in mind "kydaars"!!!!!! The roads have been ploughed so it should be ok....right????  I get a call 10 minutes later, and what do you know....he made it to Walmart.  There were so many abandoned cars just left on the side of the road where they had slid off the road and got stuck in the snow and now the cars were covered in fresh snow...quite entertaining.

 

But not as entertaining as getting another phone call about 40min later.......Neil was stuck in the snow on the corner of our street, so Nathan and Josh had to kit up and head out to dig Neil out.  What I thought would be quite a tough job turned into a midnight snow ball fight in the garden......"Kydaars"!  No self respecting American is out in the snow at midnight acting like a bunch of fools......damn foreigners!!! 

 

Classes and school get cancelled again Friday because there is just so much snow around that many roads have not been ploughed yet and parking space etc has not been cleared.  Oh were we devastated?......Nope, these kydaars are back in the snow......until Josh ruined it!  He bled all over the snow that we had to come inside again.......

 

 

The spade slipped on the snow and he got hit on the side of his nose.....thankfully it was just his nose and not his eye.  Bled like crazy but it is not broken or anything....just put a damper on our snow games.  So we decided to head out and drive around to see what it looks like when it has snowed so much.....this is new to us remember!!!

Oh it really is beautiful.  No post card can really capture what it looks like in reality.  Everything is just so clean and quiet. Felt like it should have been Christmas.  We then spent the afternoon sledding....it really was fun.

It was really good to have these 2 days off unexpectedly.  We are loving what we are doing but it does get really busy, the schedule is really hectic and we feel quite exhausted some times, but it's a good tired!  We are settled into a routine here and the days are going by really quickly.  My mom and Karen are coming to stay in June, which is really exciting.  Please feel free to contact Tracy (0829492173) to organise to send me care parcels of South African goodies.  She will arrange for my mom to bring it with her!!!!!!!!While they are here Karen is taking us to a County Concert.....so I thought I should try out my outfit.......

 

Neil and I both passed our drivers licences.  It was so nerve wrecking doing that all over again.  Felt like a teenager again.  I had a blonde bombshell officer take me for the driving part of my test.....she was really intimidating!  And I must just add in here that I kicked Neil's butt in the written test.....my guessing skills are clearly better than his!!!!

 

Thank you so much to all my friends that are keeping me updated and in the loop of what is happening back home.  You make me feel special and remembered,  To those of you who have still not contacted me.....I hope you feel guilty now!!!! I may be out of sight but I certainly do not like to be out of mind.  Love you all and miss you all a lot.