Marli&Me

Top of the morning to ya!

     Again... It's been forever. The holidays have that effect on people. We have been all over the place and had a splendid 2013/2014 end and beginning. We are overwhelmed by the Lord's goodness as we continue to extend hospitality to various people. This week, we met an incredible group of leaders that we hosted during a huge youth camp. They blessed us by speaking into our lives through thought-provoking table discussions. Gotta love good food and meaningful fellowship!

     I've been planning this post because I was all tickled with my clever title. I have made a new friend and we have become like sisters in the past two or so months that we met. She is extremely creative, pleasant, servant-hearted, knows everybody, etc etc etc! We have recently gone into business together along with Morgan and a few other gals. We shall see what the Lord does with that. 

      Meet my lovely friend, Marli: 

Marli is from Pretoria. After New Year's, she took Mo and I with her where we stayed at her parents' BEAUTIFUL home and shopped 'til we dropped in Joburg, Sandton, and Pretoria. All of which were around 30-45min drives from her parents' neighbourhood.

This is a unique cafe with a great vibe. It's a chain and each has it's unique decor and traits. The food is AMAZING. I was overwhelmed by the menu because I saw so many things I liked. 

This Tashas was in Joburg. We were sitting across from it at a really really really good stone pizza restaurant (to follow shortly) and I saw that Tashas was closing. I LOVED the antique books hanging so Marli suggested I pull the I'm-the-tourist-American card... The manager told me I could take as many photos as I wanted. ;-) 

Behold.... Piza and Vino. Marli and I ordered a half-and-half pizza. We got the Al Pacino and James Brown. DELICIOUS.

Marli's parents live in a beautiful golf estate surrounded by incredibly awesome mountains. It reminded me of being in the Shire (because I have been there, right??). And nothing could beat waking up to the university professor-couple neighbours who blasted catholic men's choir music next door. I opened my eyes expecting angels to be surrounding me. To think... Heaven is better than this! 

 This is not out of order (for those of you who observed that this is a Tashas photo). We went for breakfast at a Tashas near Sandton. Their unique decor included those cloth napkins hanging behind me.  -Like the clueless look on my face?

After mulling over the menu... I decided on this delectable breakfast. Sweet corn cakes with fried eggs, bacon, feta, basil, avo, and some chili salsa. It. Was. GOOD.

Tashas staff working hard on a Saturday morning. Clearly a popular spot.

The dressing room at Vertigo... Not sure why I took this photo. 

We went to Sandton mall where I got a bunch of blurry photos of stores that I wanted to return to. Morgan and I were there for 4hrs and couldn't look everywhere. I'm taking a future mental note of this. Le Creuset is best.

This restaurant was also good. I just love food. And I love that a mall has nice restaurants. Then again, this is Sandton. 

People in Sandton/Joburg/Pretoria seem to be a little more health-conscious. I noticed on every restaurant menu that they had health sections. I was doubly impressed by the quinoa representation.

And I thought Coldstone was the bomb... 

Morgan and I read for a few hours at this restaurant. We were warmly received and enjoyed conversation with a greek gentleman who said he's from Greece, grew up in Egypt, and moved to South Africa to join business with some of his brothers. He speaks several languages and told us his brother is fluent in 9 languages just from the tourism business. Incredible.

It hurt my pride at first to take a tourist photo... But I couldn't resist. People from all of the world stood with cameras in Mandela Square. One of my favourite things about Joburg and Pretoria was the diversity. I love it.

We weren't sure where we were going to eat, so we decided to see Monte Casino. I told Marli that we had once stayed in the Emperor's Palace; but she said that was the mini version of this place.

They're so cute!

I really want this book! Marli said it is the baker's heaven. Only 347 more days until my birthday!! :D

We decided against Monte Casino and drove out to Rosebanks. Boy, am I glad we did! That area reminded of my father's hometown, Sewickley, PA. I could live there. The atmosphere was great. This is a bake shop that was also closing when we arrived. We were able to browse briefly and purchase a few treats for the family.

I never knew there were so many jams out there.

This is where we ate. Another hotspot. It was filled to the brim there. As hectic as it was, I enjoyed eating here and was glad we left the casino.

That night, we crashed on her parents' sofa and watched a movie. Lovely, hey?

Sunday morning, we took the long way home. She took us around the dam to see the view and then we headed off to Pretoria for breakfast.

Morgan is so disciplined. The girl orders yoghurt and granola wherever we go. 

I had this eggs benedict. I can't even remember the name now! It was excellent and I even liked the seasoned and roasted macadamia nuts. This restaurant- Cafe Beryt - was introduced to us by Carl and has become a quick favourite. Even though we live 3.5hrs away, we've gone enough times that the staff asked Mo and me where the rest of our family was... I still can't decide if that's a good or bad sign. ;-)

The trip home was breath-taking and the sun shone beautifully. 

"Well... That's all I have to say about that."

Langely Safari Adventure: Part 2 (Gabbi's Photography)

Top of the morning to ya!

    Here we have Part 2 of our weekend adventure... The photos in this post are exclusively Gabbi's photography. The girl is amazing. As I said in my last post, I will include some facts that we learned today about the various animals. 

  Enjoy!

Do you know the difference between deer and antelope? I didn't. A deer's horns drop whereas antelopes have stabilising bones in their horns that keep them erect. Unless they are imported, deer will not be found in South Africa.

The Kudu are majestic animals. They compete on my personal list with the mighty Moose. Today, we were privileged to see at least 20 of these: male, female, and young! God is amazing.

I managed to get a video, but here we have some wild dogs - also known as Cape Wild Dogs. As a threatened specie, there are roughly 200 of these in Kruger National Park. It is guessed that the lions (the only animals in the park that do not fear these dogs) are killing them off. Each dog has a unique identifying pattern on its coat. 

They can run up to 20km a day look for prey. Unlike with other predators, prey start running when these dogs are within 150m of them. Once the wild dogs have eaten, they return to their dens where they regurgitate their food for their young. 

We discovered these dogs at Transport Dam where the "Battle of Kruger" occurred several years ago. The original guide who took the tourists who filmed this "battle" was there today. He never received credit for the video which later turned into a NatGeo special.

Cape Buffalo

Only in Kruger would hoppers (young grasshoppers) stop traffic as they migrated across the road.

Dad captured this on the GoPro and Gabbi got it on camera! We were directed by other guides to an area with 8 adult lions: 4 males and 4 females. One of the females was in heat and the alpha male had to ward off two other males -potentially his brothers- who were tempted by the pheromone that the female was giving off.

This is the face a male lion makes when the pheromone has taken effect on him. Unfortunately for this male, he was not the alpha lion and therefore had to suffer.

The two underdogs.

The Kudu.

Woodland Kingfisher.

A white rhino trying to cool off from the heat. These animals mark their territory with a LOT of spraying. We saw one spray today. They also defecate a specific amount of stool every time they mark their territory.

There are around 13,000 elephants in the Kruger Park. According to experts, there should only be about 7,000 when considering the amount of sustenance required and what is produced in the park. Elephants eat up to 18hrs a day. Their hearts weigh around 25kg or roughly 50lbs. When walking briskly, an elephant can cover 3m in one step!

Cool fact: Turtles,  Tortoises, and Terrapins are three different things. Turtles: live in water and have fins. Tortoises: pull their heads into their shells, live on land, and eat greens. Terrapins: walk on land and swim in water, they fold their heads to the side, they eat flesh/meat, and they defecate on anyone that picks them up leaving a horrible smell that can stay for days. However, all three - when they lay their eggs- will have more females if the eggs are kept in a warmer area and more males if the eggs are kept in colder areas. This is the opposite of other reptiles such as crocodiles.  

"Well... That's all I have to say about that."

Langley Safari Adventure: Part 1

Top of the morning to ya!!  

     My family and I just returned from an incredible weekend with our Swedish friends: the Langleys family. They own a tourism business in White River and invited us to join them on a trip to Kruger Park for their daughter, Katelynn's, 18th birthday. 

     We saw an incredible amount of animals and learned so much from Hylton, Katelynn's father, that I am dividing this into parts... I think it may end up being four parts. 

     I'll try to be as brief as possible and share photos and a couple of videos if they load. Intertwined between the photos, I'll give you some facts I learned today!

  

Katelynn said most people say her dad looks like George Clooney... I initially thought he looked like Cary Grant; but now I agree that all three look like brothers. haha! - He is such a knowledgable man who is clearly passionate about what he does. He also has a great sense of humour! He taught us new words like "Gabro", which is the area of land that is more open and the trees are more sparse. Kruger, for instance, is mapped according to its various soils. You can go from thick bush with tall trees to flat lands with little bushes and sparse trees. That is simply because of a soil change. 

The lovely Katelynn, herself! In the short time that we have known her, she has already been a blessing to each one of the Whitlocks. She is such a mature young woman with a heart for the LORD. 

Dad was REALLY excited about using his GoPro... He actually captured a fight between some male lions we saw. I'm hoping that one will load. Frighteningly spectacular(!!!!!!!!!)... Especially since all 8 lions were - roughly- 50m from our vehicle.

This Silver Cluster Leaf was one of our first lessons... Hylton had us each pick one and simultaneously put them in our mouths and chew. DISGUSTING. With a high concentration of tannin, it completely absorbs every ounce of liquid in your mouth... It is the substance that makes dry wine... well, dry.

This was my reaction to the leaf... I would never survive Bear Gryll's show.

This is a Black-bellied Bustard. If you are a nerd like me and love watching NatGeo with your family, you may have seen the mating display this bird puts up on one of David Attenborough's shows. The Bustard flies vertically into the air and then drops gracefully to attract females.

A herd of female and baby Impalas. The "fast-food" of the bush. They have "M's" on their rear ends that looks like the McDonald's "M".

Mo, Katelynn, and I.

Graham and Dad.

Wildebeest. So majestic.

Zebras... Another animal you see A LOT.

I was all proud of my iPhone photography... But look at the next post that has SOME of the photos Gabbi captured. Blows mine out of the water, for sure.

"Well... That's all I have to say about that."

"Hamba Kahle, Tata Madiba"

     December 12^th and exactly a week after the death of Madiba was publicly announced.  Aside from the politics and peculiarity of the chronology of key events leading up to this announcement, I couldn’t help but notice that many world leaders came together and could agree on one point:

Nelson Mandela was the most powerfully humble and impacting world leader in history.

     Today, his casket was taken to Pretoria in Gauteng province. There, the masses queued at fields where buses and shuttles drove them up to the Union building where the casket was displayed under high security.

       

   My family and I drove the 3.5hrs to Pretoria so that we, too, could commemorate the life of the man we all (and especially my father) wanted to meet. Although my dad had the opportunity in the past, he chose to wait until the day we, as a family, could be introduced to Mandela. Sadly, this was not God’s will for us to meet him alive.

    

   When we arrived at the public park and ride area, we found the lines so overwhelmingly long that we knew many of those people – and especially those of us who had just arrived – would most likely not get the opportunity to see Madiba. We took some photos of the queue and headed back to our vehicle.

When we arrived in central Pretoria, all of the flags were at half-staff.

The public parking and ride area was FLOODED with people.

Dad has that look on his face where he is thinking about a Plan B.

Taking in the scenery...

Walking back to the car in pursuit of Plan B.

These are the lines we encountered when we arrived. I'm not sure if you can tell by this picture just how thick it was. 

    My dad, who will exhaust every avenue before defining a new realm to pursue, decided that we would try getting in another, less-trafficked area. Our new objective: the VIP Park and Ride...

    We arrived at Plan B and found a sweet-looking Afrikaans policeman who asked us where we were from.

   South Africans LOVE the American accent for some odd reason and God worked that in our favour. Dad told him we were from the states and he let us pass. After a few more layers of security, our family settled down in a shuttle with government workers and policemen. From there, we were driven to the front of the line with a few other secured shuttles.

  

   The Union building is a spectacular work of art. It also has a breath-taking view of Pretoria. When we arrived, we were conducted and watched by many police and military personnel who kept the queues flowing smoothly past the cameras and Madiba’s casket.

The ride up to the Union Building.

The Union Building... I was greatly impressed especially when I saw this F-250 

police vehicle. Oh yes!

   I have been to several funerals and looked at the lifeless bodies of loved ones. But it was never a reality to me at the funerals when I would see a once vibrant human lying still. I remember looking at my great-grandmother, Elisabeth, and expecting her to open her eyes at any moment and smile at me. Or when I stood over my great-grandfather, Morgan Thomas, waiting for him to sit up and break out into some spectacular operatic piece.  – I wept before both of their viewings; but I found myself almost void of emotion (or too mixed up with several) at their funerals because it just wasn’t real to me.

   

   Knowing this about myself, I was surprised by the great emotion I felt when I passed Madiba’s lifeless body. I had travelled three hours with my family, queued, and then caught all but 5 seconds of the face of a man I had read so much about.

   I looked at a little boy beside me in queue who shared heritage with this great leader. A guard greeted him by referring to him as a “young man”. His mother brought him - no doubt - as an investment into her son's future. A call to manhood as the policeman confirmed in the choice of words he used to address the woman's son.

    I looked at the thousands of people standing in the warm sun to see their “Tata”. I looked at the soldiers and security guys who organised the routes, transports, queues, display, etc. for their beloved leader. I looked at the many nations that came together. And then… as I turned my head away from where he lay, I saw some policemen holding boxes of tissues for those who passed.

“Feet away. Yet, a lifetime away.” –Abba

   

   The culmination of observations and thoughts welled up inside of me. I was sobered and near tears. I read  “Long Walk to Freedom”, heard Mandela speak on television, recalled his struggle, recalled his forgiveness, and listened to the endearing words of whites and blacks, alike.

    I do not intend to idolise a man. However, we worship celebrities and fools. Yet, here lay an honourable man who was honest about his sins and reconciled himself to those he could.

   Madiba has left a legacy that – as Morgan said – could last as long as 200 years if we remember and recount it to our children. The LORD did an amazing work through this man and gave him favour with man.  

   We - my family and I – are sobered and honoured by the fact that we can be a part of such a great history and share with our children and grandchildren.

     I see it as a mercy from God that despite our disobedience, He allowed the world to be led by such a man as Nelson Mandela.

“Hamba kahle, Tata Madiba… Go well, Father Madiba.”