As you know, my dear cousin June came to visit me for the whole of last week, and we toured the whole Metz area like there was no tomorrow. We did everything and more... and June was a trooper... always interested, always asking questions, hangin' with my coworkers, kids, and family members, eating traditional food with her hands, wearing a traditional skirt, dancing with a band, learning people's names and how to greet in Sotho, eating at some fine South African restaurants (that's sarcastic and not at the same time), listening to me chatter away about every possible thought that crossed my mind (hey! I know I'm a talker, but it isn't everyday that I have someone with me in my room and around for me to bounce ideas and thoughts off of), and she even brought two huge bags filled with clothes that she and Rishi (the other Gupta. Hi Rishi!) wanted to donate. We've covered this before, but for clarity I will say it again... June and I are cousins AND friends.
Because we did SO much, in such a short amount of time... I'm just going to post some photos from a few of the highlights of her visit.
The Sponge. This is where June slept every night. It takes up every inch of open floor space in my room and has a couple of fans... people seem to love it. Every morning it would be moved out to the garage for safe keeping and so we could move around. MmaDiapo gave it to her with the warning that she shouldn't sleep on one side of it because a chicken had ripped a hole in it, wanting to lay her eggs and nest. So June, every night, slept on the non holey side. 
Here's June and Charlie posing with an 80 kg bag of mealie meal we picked up from the grinding mill in Lorraine Village just down the road. It seemed to weigh the car down a bit... it is quite large, the size of Charlie as you can see. The meal was used for bogobe/pap at the party and for the oh so important traditional beer making. 
We visited every drop in center to hang up World and Africa Maps and to deliver new reporting tools to the cookers. We sang with kids, kids sang to us, we prayed, we watched Rejoice get down in some jump rope, and we got to eat two meals, including samp and beans. 
We met Rejoice's whole family. In this picture we're posing with her nephew and her son (far right), Sean. So awesome! I was really excited!
We went to Kruger and spent a lovely day talking to a founder of an income generating project, touring around the park seeing animals with Rejoice (it was her first time to visit since she was very young), and finished the afternoon off with a nice lunch and coffee time at Satara Camp where Surprise and WonderBoy made us some pretty good coffee and Rejoice put her usual 3 packets of sugar in her tea.
And while the party prep was underway.... Keri and I took June to the bakery to pick up the cake and while we were waiting for them to put the finishing touches on, June took her first South African koombi ride! We took it to Lorraine and then hopped off to catch another one back to Metz. I think the drivers were a little confused. 
Mokgotse waka. My friend. AKA Renilwe. This is Emma's son and he's totally cute... also totally scared of me. June got to see the tears firsthand. 
Another fine South African dining establishment... Spur. I think the one in the airport is called "Soaring Eagle" or something like that. They're all decorated with a sort of Native American theme... tomahawks, feathers, pictures of chiefs in headdresses, and with names such as Cherokee, Arkansas, etc. June had her last food in SA at a Spur... Keri and I thought it was only fitting to help her ease back into America.... and she hadn't had Malva pudding yet, and the only other place that offered it was Wimpy. 'Nuf said. Word.
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