6:15am- woke up. Dad called last night and we talked until almost 11(late!). I was wired on cold drink I drank with Tanya when we were hanging out with Collen and Beshu (work colleagues). Had tea, read a little, and managed to send off a couple important emails.
8am- worked a little on blogs and organizing my photos. Got dressed and ate Rice Krispies for breakfast.
9am-walked to post office with Elayna (for the last time!) and Christy (a new volunteer who will be taking over at Lepellele, the organization Elayna has been working with since last year in Mabens which is about a 30 minute taxi ride from Metz). Said hi to John and Victor and made sure to find out when they would both be around for picture taking with Tanya and I. Mailed off some stuff to the States and a few funding proposals Synett has worked very hard on went to Polokwane and Pretoria.
11am- checked in with my office. Synett is bored because there's nothing really to do... no money for transport to go see patients and check on drop ins, proposals have all been written up for the day. Hang out for a little while. Walk to Kodumela with Elayna and Christy to see Tanya and meet up with Nick. Three generations of PCV's all in the same room! Elayna and Tanya representin' SA-15, Mmapula SA-16, and Nick and Christy SA-17. Talked to Ledile, Program Manager for Kodumela, about planning community gardens for Maruleng CHBC (my organization) drop-in centers. Have to have a plan for getting food if funding from local government isn't going to be reliable.
12pm- walked to post office with Nick and discussed the difference between being negative and being realistic. I hashed out some things that have been really bothering me this week... and thanked him for listening. I'm really glad he's my closest neighbor after the SA-15s leave. Checked mail and got a letter from Grandma! It was good to hear from her... and it seems we were thinking of each other right around the same time, I sent one to her just a few days after she sent her's off.
1pm- walked to main tar road to catch a taxi to fax a funding proposal to an HIV/AIDS prevention organization funded by Irish Aid. Sat in the back of the taxi where I could open a window and have the breeze cool me off. After we had dropped off the last guy at Moshate, I asked the driver to drop me at the Lorraine Cross. He jumped. I had scared him, he thought he was alone in the taxi.. that there were no other passengers... he aplogized for not noticing I was still around and for his singing. I thanked him for the ride and paid him my R5. Walked through the door of the business office, greeted the woman (who was not Salvia, the woman who is usually working), and learned that the fax was down (just like all the faxes in Metz and the one at the hospital). Walked outside and ran to catch the driver who had just dropped me off. "Will you take me to the post office at Trichrdtstal?" He thought for awhile... it is a little farther down the road and not where a lot of people coming back down this way will be hanging out. Taking me would be out of his way. He agreed. Another R5 later, I'm on my way.
2pm- He dropped me off in the parking lot right next to the women selling fruit under the tree. I bought a banana and walked inside. Oh yes, I could send a fax, yes it was working. I started thanking the woman profusely. "Oh this is great! This really makes my day! I really needed to send this off and no other faxes are working!" My comments are met with a smile and an "Alllllllright." She takes the proposal and steps into the back. I hear the busy signal loud and clear before she even emerges to tell me the number is busy. Will I wait or would I like to take my papers and go? No. I'll wait. I'll just be outside using the phone. I'll come back after I make a call. Thank you.
3pm- Call Dominique to check in in the States. I love... LOVE... that there is a public phone "nearby" that can be used with my calling card. I wake her up, we talk for an hour, and she catches me up on all the happenin's in Austin. Getting off the phone is bittersweet. I've been distracted. Although people have been watching me for an hour and there is a little girl who has stared at me the whole time, I've beenso focused on the conversation and how normal it felt... it felt the same as if we would have talked in Austin... being 5 miles away instead of thousands. We say our goodbyes and I'm thrust back into reality with more of a spring in my step.
4pm- fax has been sent! All is well. I walk out of the post office to the tar road and start to worry I may not get a ride for awhile. The worry lasts mere minutes. I walk a little ways and am picked up by a taxi not 10 minutes after hanging up the phone. I catch the taxi back to Metz and am dropped off at the cross by Taposa Bakery. I see Maite walking to get meat for supper and yell her name to catch up. I see Synett leaving the office... the AIDS prevention organization has called, the fax has been received. We talk while Maite comes back from the bakery empty handed. Maite and I walk to the other tuck shop to see if they may have chicken legs for sale. We look in the freezer and see nothing but bags and bags of frozen chicken necks. She decides on Hot Chilli Pilchards (fish) in a can. We walk to her house and hang out out back by the cooking fire for a little while. I hold Lethabo (who is 7 weeks old), I make Karabo laugh, we make plans to take family photos, and I let them know my parents are coming to visit... ask them to help me with a few ideas I have.
5pm- Maite, Karabo, and Lethabo walk me to my gate. As I'm passing the kraal where all the cows have been put away for the night, I watch the sun slip behind the mountains. Maite laughs when she sees me pull out my camera, "Mmapula you take many photos!" I unlock my door, take out mac and cheese/ green beans leftovers and put them on the stove to heat.
6-9pm I eat, I write a few emails, I address a letter to be sent, I write my blog, I wash my hair and bathe, and I start a new book.
9:30pm- my light is off, my fan is on, my door is locked, and Van Morrison is singing me to sleep.
The post office with the fax and the public phones! Just a R10 taxi ride from Metz Village right in the middle of a bunch of private, Afrikaner owned farms. 
The view of the sunset from my yard. Beautiful.
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