This weekend Sophie and I went out and got to ride horses on the beach! There's a farmhouse about a 30 minute drive away that will take you out on the horses and we finally found the time to sign up for a slot! We went out for a sunset walk so we got picked up by a taxi around 4 to take us out to the farm. Our guide gave us some snazzy helmets to wear and then took us out to the horses! I don’t have much experience riding horses but I think they're so fun! My horse's name was Coco and Sophie was on his brother, Casey! First Sophie got to get on Casey and showed all the directions and then I got to get onto Coco. After I was all ready to go, our guide warned me that Coco likes to roll around in the water when he gets all sweaty to cool off so if I see him looking like he wants to roll, I should pull the reins up and tell Coco no. She said if Coco rolls it won’t go well for me so I just shouldn’t let that happen. Good tip! Then we set off on the trail which took us down the road a little bit until finally there was a turn off to the beach. We got to ride all along the same way and really see how beautiful the area was! The sun was starting to go down which just made the whole experience that much more surreal! Then we got to the portion of the beach that is connected to a small lake of sorts. We had to walk through the water on our horses. Our guide went first and we saw that the water was up to the horse's stomach and that her feet were in the water. Then Sophie went through the water and finally it was my turn. Everything started out fine, but once we were three-quarters of the way across, I noticed how I was suddenly really leaning to one side and getting closer to the water. Then our guide started yelling “no Coco, DO NOT ROLL”. Then I also started yelling “ NO COCO PLEASE DONT ROLL”. And just like that I made it across the river without rolling! Just a close call! The rest of our ride was easy breezy after and so fun! Our guide took lots of pictures for us and we also got some selfies on our horses which are so cool.

The rest of my week was spent at ministry, continuing to grow closer with the kids! My team started describing ourselves as the toys from the Caterpillar room in Toy Story 3. All the kids mean so well, they’re just too little to understand how to be gentle with us sometimes. I’ve gotten to make friendships with some of the 3 year olds from the other rooms as well, and get to know their names and personalities. One of the kids, Shaun, is a 3 year old from Sydney’s classroom. He is the only one that speaks fluent English and will have conversations with us which is cool because all the other children only speak Xhosa. Shaun was hanging out with me, telling me about how his coloring sheets were going when all of a sudden he stopped talking. I had another kid’s shoe that I was tying, so when I looked over I saw his little hand being filled up with spit, and then he immediately wiped it all the way through my hair. That's when I decided it was time for me to go somewhere else on the playground. I then went and sat against the wall next to Faith where she was sitting with a kid in her lap. I decided I needed a little break from all the kids so I had children next to me rather than on me. That's when a little girl from my classroom comes sprinting over to me, full speed, sits on my lap, and starts peeing. I picked her up and set her on the ground next to me all with her still peeing. Then Lydia took her to the bathroom while I rinsed my pants, and she still had more pee! She must’ve had to go so bad! I will say I was really surprised by all the happenings of that recess.

The rest of our days at ministry went smoothly, I got to make more coloring sheets for my classroom and help hang up all of the children's pictures on the wall. I’ve officially learned all the names of my kids and loved getting to see more and more of their personalities! On Fridays we get to have a fun day. We go out and have morning worship that consists of up beat songs and dancing around. Then we have porridge and do our coloring sheets. Then the class eats sandwiches and lines up for recess. They then spend the rest of the day running around with all of their friends outside! They even get to eat their last meal outside while they wait for their parents to come pick them up.

January 27- February 2 2024