12 November 2012

Fresh volunteer meat

Today was a very quiet day at the park, with very few visitors, but we were still kept busy as the new volunteers didn't arrive until the afternoon.

It was my second day of working in the nursery, but it was made quite uncomfortable by the knowledge that the snake which had dropped by the other day has not yet been caught. Fortunately I did not see the snake - you certainly would have known it if I had - although three mice (not blind, to the best of my knowledge) come into the nursery every morning via a hole in the floor to play with the young cubs.

The youngest cubs at the park

Throughout the day, three new volunteers arrived, from France, Peru and Brazil.

We also had our weekly supermarket trip. Although I didn't need much in the way of food as I only have three days left (sob), I went along to browse, and end up armed with a plethora of confectionery which is not available in England.

South Africa is already well into the swing of Christmas; visiting a shopping centre in Johannesburg last week was a bizarre experience for me. Strolling in wearing shorts, a vest top and flip flops to be greeted by a lifesize Santa model and oodles of tinsel is not something I am accustomed to. Naturally, the Brazilian and Australian volunteers did not understand why I could not equate hot weather to Christmas. IT'S NOT CHRISTMAS UNTIL YOU CAN SEE YOUR OWN BREATH. Today in the supermarket, the Christmas mood continued, as the display at the front of the store was set up with all manner of Christmas biscuits. Thanks to the proximity of the chiller cabinet, it was slightly more acceptable, temperature-wise, and I was very tempted to buy some adorable Christmas biscuits, beautifully wrapped and looking as if they were held together by love, but they would not have survived the journey home in my suitcase.

The evening was a very pleasant one; all of the volunteers gathered in the kitchen and we spent the evening drinking wine, playing Monopoly and chatting, something which we had not done before, as the group of volunteers was so large previously.

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