Home Sweet Kim

After three days in Kimberley, South Africa, I finally feel settled. Hooter, Lindsay and I were introduced to local Skillz (Skillz is the Grassroot Soccer curriculum) coaches on Thursday at the office. The coaches were great and I was excited to see that there were three female coaches in a group of eight. I think that the women can serve as great role models for young girls in the GRS programs and I look forward to seeing them in action in the coming week.

We've explored Kimberley a bit and we're very happy that it's larger than we anticipated. There's definitely more than just The Big Hole, which we have still yet to visit). Yesterday, we did some much needed shopping to make our house feel a little homier. We have new bedding and accessories that make it easier to envision the house as our home for the next year. I'm still adjusting to the microwave-size oven with two burners on top for cooking. But overall, it's pretty comfortable living. Lindsay and I share a room with a bathroom, off of the main room and kitchen. Hooter's room is slightly detached, but he has his own bathroom as well. It's a small place, but it's all we really need. We live on a nice piece of property with a few other renters in similar guesthouses. I am most thankful for the hot water we have. It definitely increases my daily happiness.

Our neighborhood is also great. We live in a nicer area of town, where most house are fenced and gated. It's a safe place for me to run and we have small plaza about a ten minute walk around the corner with a Pick n Pay(grocery store) and Vee's Video. We've rented movies twice already and I have a feeling that by the end of this year we'll have watched most of their limited selection.

As Kimberley is not the liveliest of cities, I anticipate being able to read a lot during my downtime. With a large sliding glass door in the main room, we get a really nice breeze through the house and have the perfect atmosphere for hanging out. We might try to get a hammock on our patio for extended lounging. The temperature is warm during the day and pretty cool at night. I'm a little scared of how hot it's going to be in the summer since it's winter right and now and already in the 70s during the day.

A great discovery today was a rugby match between the Kimberley Greikwas and the Pretoria Blue Bulls (I kid you not). It was my first rugby match and I plan on being a huge fan this year. For about five bucks, it provides some quality entertainment on a Saturday afternoon in Kimberley. Plus, our team is apparently pretty good.



Lastly, we made a huge discovery yesterday. After hearing a lot of commotion over the fence, Hooter decided to take a peak and found eight puppies. We want to steal one, but The Beast (angry father) guards them pretty viciously. Instead, we might try to befriend the owner so we can play with them.

One more day of relaxing... work beings on Monday!

As we say in Kimberley, love and diamonds forever.