Deep and high
The program for this trip is intense. Every 2 or 3 nights we pack our bags and head to a new city. Each time it is hard to leave my hosts, the club, and the new friends. The time is racing by and I can't believe that we are nearly done with the official group study exchange program. We are currently in Parys and have only 2 more stops on the exchange!!
(Warning: Mothers shouldn't read the next part if they are feeling a little antsy about previous postings on my blog!)
But everyday we experience something new and exciting. In fact, nearly every time we leave a city I get emotional. In Welkom we toured the Harmony gold mine. This was a tour in style...very South African! We didn't look at a simulated mine and view a video as we might have done in the states. Instead, we put on mud boots, overalls, thigh-high socks, hardhats, and miner's headlamps and piled into an elevator filled with other miners. We descended for 4 or so minutes deep into the earth. My ears were popping...we were dropping at a top speed of 12-14 meters per second!! At level 21, we got out. Let me tell you, 1,600 meters (!) below the surface of the earth is a steaming hot place to be. We spent at least an hour or so down there walking and talking with the miners. I even got to try a drill. It was hot and uncomfortable and I can't even begin to describe how dark it was when you switched off the lamps. I didn't see anything gold and shiny but I did get a look at the gold reef in the wall. Unbelievable!
But as fantastic as all of that was....we had to leave Welkom. The very next day we headed to Kroonstad. Here we went gliding!! We were strapped into what looked like toy planes and a giant contraption some distance away pulled long wires attached to the gliders, pulling us up from the earth high into the sky. My first trip was amazing...I sat in the front with Trevor the pilot behind me. The glider is virtually silent once it is launched into the sky, the only sound is the wind resistance against the thin canvas walls surrounding you. It was unbelievable. I felt like a weightless bird gliding up and down and around, with almost nothing between me and the sky. I was mostly surrounded by plexiglass and the view was incredible. The gorgeous grassy farmland was laid out in front of me like an offering that I couldn't refuse. I didn't feel a single second of fear and when my mouth wasn't hanging open in awe, I kept asking the pilot to do more acrobatics. We did loop-de-loops, forcing my lips and cheeks to be plastered against my skull, then I seemed to float away from myself when we decended. Around and around we went, up and down, and all I wanted to do is laugh with joy like a little kid in a candy store. At top speed we were going about 150-200 kilometers per hour. Unfotuantely the thermals weren't the best and we didn't have an incredible amount of lift, but we were at least 2000 kilometers above the ground.
I loved it so much I got a chance to go again; this time we swooped back across the airfield toward the tent where our friends were watching, taking pictures, and having a braai (South African barbeque). As we were swooping down, one of our team was looking up with his camera taking a picture of the fly-by...we came so close, he looked up in fear and ran off! Really we weren't close enough to the ground to hit him, but I laughed so hard at his surprise that I nearly cried.
What a wonderful day. But oh so sad, we had to leave Kroonstad. The next day (I think!) we left for Parys. I was sure I would be disappointed after all we have done so far. But before the day was out I was locked in an enclosure with 3 nearly grown Cheetahs. Let me tell you they purr and lick just like a housecat; only louder and harder! Some tips about Cheetahs I have learned: their fur is soft, their bellies love to be scratched, but you must not --MUST NOT--turn your back or make any sudden moves! Leave your children at home since in a Cheetah's eyes tey are nothing more than tasty bite-sized snacks. Not long after that we came within 50 feet of a herd of African buffalo and saw an African sunset that set the sky on fire. Today, the adventures continued with a morning brunch cruise on the mighty Vaal river.
Un---!#%$*!$#--believable!!! Or, as the South Africans say, LEKKER! LEKKER-SUSA-KREKER!
I LOVE AFRICA.
(Warning: Mothers shouldn't read the next part if they are feeling a little antsy about previous postings on my blog!)
But everyday we experience something new and exciting. In fact, nearly every time we leave a city I get emotional. In Welkom we toured the Harmony gold mine. This was a tour in style...very South African! We didn't look at a simulated mine and view a video as we might have done in the states. Instead, we put on mud boots, overalls, thigh-high socks, hardhats, and miner's headlamps and piled into an elevator filled with other miners. We descended for 4 or so minutes deep into the earth. My ears were popping...we were dropping at a top speed of 12-14 meters per second!! At level 21, we got out. Let me tell you, 1,600 meters (!) below the surface of the earth is a steaming hot place to be. We spent at least an hour or so down there walking and talking with the miners. I even got to try a drill. It was hot and uncomfortable and I can't even begin to describe how dark it was when you switched off the lamps. I didn't see anything gold and shiny but I did get a look at the gold reef in the wall. Unbelievable!
But as fantastic as all of that was....we had to leave Welkom. The very next day we headed to Kroonstad. Here we went gliding!! We were strapped into what looked like toy planes and a giant contraption some distance away pulled long wires attached to the gliders, pulling us up from the earth high into the sky. My first trip was amazing...I sat in the front with Trevor the pilot behind me. The glider is virtually silent once it is launched into the sky, the only sound is the wind resistance against the thin canvas walls surrounding you. It was unbelievable. I felt like a weightless bird gliding up and down and around, with almost nothing between me and the sky. I was mostly surrounded by plexiglass and the view was incredible. The gorgeous grassy farmland was laid out in front of me like an offering that I couldn't refuse. I didn't feel a single second of fear and when my mouth wasn't hanging open in awe, I kept asking the pilot to do more acrobatics. We did loop-de-loops, forcing my lips and cheeks to be plastered against my skull, then I seemed to float away from myself when we decended. Around and around we went, up and down, and all I wanted to do is laugh with joy like a little kid in a candy store. At top speed we were going about 150-200 kilometers per hour. Unfotuantely the thermals weren't the best and we didn't have an incredible amount of lift, but we were at least 2000 kilometers above the ground.
I loved it so much I got a chance to go again; this time we swooped back across the airfield toward the tent where our friends were watching, taking pictures, and having a braai (South African barbeque). As we were swooping down, one of our team was looking up with his camera taking a picture of the fly-by...we came so close, he looked up in fear and ran off! Really we weren't close enough to the ground to hit him, but I laughed so hard at his surprise that I nearly cried.
What a wonderful day. But oh so sad, we had to leave Kroonstad. The next day (I think!) we left for Parys. I was sure I would be disappointed after all we have done so far. But before the day was out I was locked in an enclosure with 3 nearly grown Cheetahs. Let me tell you they purr and lick just like a housecat; only louder and harder! Some tips about Cheetahs I have learned: their fur is soft, their bellies love to be scratched, but you must not --MUST NOT--turn your back or make any sudden moves! Leave your children at home since in a Cheetah's eyes tey are nothing more than tasty bite-sized snacks. Not long after that we came within 50 feet of a herd of African buffalo and saw an African sunset that set the sky on fire. Today, the adventures continued with a morning brunch cruise on the mighty Vaal river.
Un---!#%$*!$#--believable!!! Or, as the South Africans say, LEKKER! LEKKER-SUSA-KREKER!
I LOVE AFRICA.
posted by Julep | 6:17 AM
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