Meditation no longer feels like torture, and I no longer have the desire to get up and run out of the room. For the past few days my meditations have been much easier, and keep getting easier. I find that my mind still wanders and I occasionally daydream, but I am able to bring myself back to the moment more quickly and easily. For the first since I started this challenge, I am feeling my body vibrating very slightly. I have notived this in the past, when I would meditate regularly for more than a few days, and it is definitely a strange, but interesting feeling.

Mentally, I am still feeling happier. That familiar anxiety that tends to plague me more often that not has not reared its ugly head in over a week.

I saw this video for the first time the other day on The View. It made me so happy I cried.

- Spring is finally here, so we’ve been enjoying 25-32C weather for the past few weeks.
- Steve had to go to Durban again for work, so I tagged along again. We stayed at the Netcoral Guest House, which I highly recommend.
- We finally did the Magaliesberg Canopy Tour. I loved it! Will post photos at a later date.
- Sun City and Gold Reef City are on the agenda. We will probably do Gold Reef this Saturday and Sun City the following weekend.
- Steve will be taking some vacation time the third week of November, so we’re thinking about either Namibia or the Garden Route. I would love to see the sand dunes, but the Garden Route would probably provide us with more options as to things to do & see.
- I can’t believe we’ve been in South Africa for almost five months now! We will be in Canada Dec.11-Jan.10.
- I’m turning 30 in less than two months!

Okay, back to work!

We’re home! We left Canada at around 11am on Sunday and just arrived in South Africa about an hour ago. There was a medical emergency on our first flight and we missed our connection in Amsterdam by about 15 minutes. If you’ve ever been to the Amsterdam airport, I’m sure you know how large it is. We basically had to run from one end to the other. When we started running our gate was just closing, but when we arrived the plane had just started to pull away from the terminal. The next flight to Johannesburg was the following morning (24 hours later), so we hopped on a plane to Paris, and got on the 7:10pm to Johannesburg from there. We considered visiting the Eiffel Tower during our layover, but we only had 4 hours to spare and didn’t want to risk missing another connection. I did see the Eiffel Tower from the plane, though!

I am never flying through Paris again. The airport was beautiful, but the security was insane. They asked me to remove my bandana, and I refused. I have trichotillomania and would rather jump off a bridge than go prancing around the airport with my bald spot in full view of hundreds of people. They let me through, but had me remove my shoes and patted me down a little more than was necessary. Don’t bother buying food at the Paris airport, either. A tiny slice of pizza was 7 euros, a small styrofoam cup of soup was 5 euros and a 350ml bottle of water was almost 4 euros. I purchased an hour of internet time while we were there, and only managed to use five minutes of it before my laptop battery unexpectedly died.

I am so unbelievably exhausted. I haven’t slept since 8am on Sunday. To make matters worse, the airport made a mistake and didn’t send our luggage. It’s still sitting in Amsterdam. Good thing I always bring a carry-on and stuff it full of clothes. This was the longest flight of my life and the only thing that kept me from jumping off the plane was my bottle of Clonazepam. There are a few items I must have on my at all times when I fly: clonazepam (to keep me from jumping off the plane), advil (for migraines and muscular pain, which I get frequently), and water (not having 24/7 access to water makes my mouth extremely dry, which in turn makes me anxious).

We have to go grocery shopping after we sleep, which I am so not looking forward to. I don’t feel like doing a thing today.

It feels great to be back in Canada! I didn’t sleep at all on the plane and was awake for about 46 hours in total. The 11 hour flight from Jo-Burg to Amsterdam was absolute torture. I was extremely uncomfortable, both physically & mentally, and had a pretty bad headache for the majority of the flight. Our flight left Johannesburg at 11:30pm and within an hour or two I was so exhausted I thought I was going to freak out and lose it. Not having the option of doing something I desperately needed to do (sleep in a horizontal position) made me feel like jumping out of my skin. I can’t remember the last time I felt so exhausted, but I wasn’t able to fall asleep no matter how hard I tried. When we landed in Amsterdam I took a few Clonazepams, which made the second 8 hour flight tolerable.

We’re here until September 13. I’m already dreading the flight back. I’ll need to stock up on some more Clonazepam, just in case.

Steve left for Saldanha this morning and will be gone until Friday night. Originally, he was to return on the 28th, but they decided to fly back for the weekend and fly out again the following Monday. I rented several movies to keep myself occupied while he’s away, most of which are horror movies. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

We’ll be in Canada in exactly two weeks! Not exactly sure when we’re returning to South Africa, but probably around the middle of September. Steve’s company wants to keep us here over Christmas, but I don’t particularly like that idea. I’d rather do the six-month thing from January-July.

We went to the Rosebank Rooftop Market in Johannesburg yesterday. We walked around for several hours, but I only managed to find one item that I liked. I picked up a small crystal Buddha. They had a jade one there that I liked, but it was large, very heavy, and a bit pricey. Not something I’d like to bring back in my suitcase. I really wanted to pick up a few souvenirs for family and friends, but couldn’t find anything that I liked.

There’s a bottle of Captain Morgan Spiced Rum in the freezer. Horror movies and rum. What else is a person with zero responsibilities to do?

I’m thinking about taking guitar lessons. I currently only know Stairway to Heaven, which my father taught me when I was about 8 or so & surprisingly still remember. I took a classical guitar class in high school, but have forgotten everything that I learned. Steve has a guitar here, but I’m just not motivated enough to do it on my own and want a proper teacher. Most classes are about $15 per lesson here, which seems like an alright deal.

Do any of you play guitar? How long have you been playing? Do you remember the first song that you learned?

Steve playing his new guitar:

We went for a drive yesterday and ended up at the Nan Hua Buddhist Temple in Bronkhorstspruit – the largest Buddhist temple and seminary in Africa. The temple is normally closed to the public on Mondays, but because it was a holiday we were able to get in. We walked around for a bit and I took a few photos:

You can view the rest of my photos of the temple on my Flickr page.

I’m not looking forward to Steve being gone for almost two weeks. He flies to Saldanha on Monday and will be gone until the 28th of August. I was originally going to go with him and we were going to drive down to Cape Town after for a short vacation, but the trip got pushed back so many times that we no longer have time as we’re flying back to Canada on the 31st. Also, originally, his trip was only going to be about five days long. I could still go with him, but sitting in a hotel room all day by myself for two weeks with no internet access or regular meals doesn’t really appeal to me. So I’ll be stuck here, and will more than likely be too scared to sleep at night.

1. My alarm is set for 8am, but I always snooze for 30-90mins. Waking up every 10 minutes is exhausting, but I can’t break the habit.
2. I like to vacuum 3-5 times per week. Our floors are light colored, so dirt is easily noticeable. Dirt stresses me out.
3. I no longer hate cooking! I would stab myself in the eye if I had to do it for a living, but I can handle making dinner 5-6 times per week. Steve barbecues every weekend.
4. I am quite content, these days. I’m pretty sure it’s because I don’t have to work.
5. My favorite thing about South Africa is the constant sunshine. We’ve only been getting about 1-2 cloudy days per month so far.
6. My least favorite thing about South Africa are the crime statistics. And the bugs.
7. I like to sit on the balcony and spy on people. I think one of our neighbors is a cigarette smuggler.
8. We get 2-3 wrong number calls a day, every day. Our number used to belong to a security company.
9. I am excited about turning 30 this year and want to celebrate by getting my first tattoo. It only makes sense to get tattooed in South Africa to also celebrate being here.
10. I have possibly been drinking too much rum here.

We have a place! And a car! We looked at a Peugeot this morning and decided to take it. It’s a 2005 with a little over 40k. We can pick it up on Friday. We also decided to go for a 3bed, 2.5bath townhouse in La Montage. It doesn’t have a security guard at the entrance like we originally wanted, but the owner said that he will install an alarm system for us. The townhouse has a nice, large garden and is located on a mountain. We’ll be moving in on Wednesday. We can have the place tomorrow, but since tomorrow is a holiday, we won’t be able to get our bed delivered until Wednesday. I can’t wait to move in!