Tail???
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Gail, Chris and Tina toasting with their Amarula

One follow-up note to yesterday’s dinner:  We now are Wanna-Be members of the “Amarula Club”.  We enjoyed our little aperitif while Gayle told us the story of this delightful beverage.  The facts:  The African Marula Tree produces round fruits (a member of the mango family) that are favorites of the Elephants, in fact it is sometimes called… wait for it…the Elephant Tree!  The “Tale”: You become a member of the Amarula Club when you, let’s just say become overly intoxicated from drinking Amarula…Chris-Tina’s new goal in Africa!  (Brazzier’s on!)
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Justice, Gail, Zali and Chris at The Tribe Restaurant

Tina and I had a great day today with our SANBS group!  What an awesome bunch of people!  We had our second day of training and I could not be more grateful for the opportunity of being able to do my work in this beautiful country with these amazing people!
Juice!

Instructions Required! (See warning label on picture)

I chose to stay away from the juice today since I had such a “concentrated” experience with it yesterday (clearing of the throat sound).  We had an amazing lunch which Tina and I took back to the facilitation room so we could prep for the afternoon session.  I was eating what I thought was some kind of BBQ’ed ribs that were delicious!  Gobbled them down, finished prepping and started our afternoon session.  I asked everyone how their lunch was and told them how awesome I thought the “ribs” were.  I was then informed, ever so gently, that I had eaten Ox tail!  (That explains the actual vertebrae that were left on my plate when I was finished!).  I have to say, they were good though!!  I can now officially say I had “tail” in South Africa….WOW!

Tina and I then had the distinct pleasure of dining in the Melrose Arch area of Johannesburg with our new friends Gavin and his lovely wife Ilana.  What a blessing!  Within minutes we were talking about ascension, 2012 and Africa’s role in the “new world.”  (Jay – I owe you BIG for the introduction!  Love you for it!!)  We had an absolutely lovely waitress, No (her name is “No”) who made our dinner that much more enjoyable with her beauty and sparkling personality.

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Gavin, Chris, Tina, Ilana at Melrose Arch

Tomorrow we only have one short session (1 hour compared to 8!) and then we are off to Cape Town on Tuesday.  We are so looking forward to Cape Town because we have heard sooo many wonderful things about it.  Our list is soooo long of what we want to do while we are there!  We also found out that the sun does not set there until 10pm!  We are thinking we need to give the town a heads up that Tina and I are coming!  🙂

Until tomorrow….

Chris-Tina

We’re Just Happy All Around…

As Tina and I were waking up this morning I was blabbering about how great I slept, how comfortable the bed was, how rested I felt, blah, blah, blah…and Tina said, “Well, you’re just happy all around aren’t ya!”  And I stated, “That’s our phrase of the day!”  And voila!!

Chris, Zali and Tina at SANBS

Chris, Zali and Tina at SANBS

We started our day by officially being “fetched” by our driver, Simon, who was taking us for our tour of SANBS (South African National Blood Service) and lunch with my good friend Zali.  Simon drove us to SANBS and we met up with Zali and her amazingly dedicated and passionate staff.  We were whisked off for a tour of the blood lab where Lillian very passionately described the cutting edge  technology they were using to screen their blood donations for Hep A & B and HIV.  They are truly world leaders in paving the way for other centers throughout the world to have a diverse sampling of HIV+ blood to test new serums against this deadly disease.

Zali, Tina, Chris and Lillian at the blood lab

Zali, Tina, Chris and Lillian at the blood lab

After discussing the details for my workshops for the Congress, we then headed to Maropeng for lunch where we proceeded to get lost in the desert of Africa with Zali as our chauffer, Gail as our back-seat driver and Tina who knew all along how to go (those of you that know me KNOW I was absolutely no help in the direction department!).    We made getting lost a game between the car  full of women vs. the car full of men that we were following.  Of course, once the women took over the lead, we found our way to the restaurant! (Sorry guys!)

At lunch, to mine and Tina’s pleasant surprise, we ended up having a very spiritual discussion with Zali, Gail, Jerry, William and Justus.  We discussed traditional healing methods, crystals, channeling with angels and tarot cards.  Then we took an unplanned trip into the “Cradle of Humankind” at the Sterkfontein Caves.  WOW!  What a tour!  We “met” the world famous “Mrs Ples” and “Little Foot”, an almost complete Australopithecus skeleton dating back more than 3-million years.  We saw stalactites and stalagmites and generally just had a blast literally crawling through the caves!

Chris and Zali squeezing through the cave

Chris and Zali squeezing through the cave

Then, Chris’ most favorite surprise was Gail mentioning that she knew of a great store in Clear Water to buy crystals.  (I was totally in heaven at this point – I was just happy all around!).  Tina and I bought many crystals and were assisted by one of the strongest Indigos I have ever met, Philipe.  Let’s just say we were vibrating when we left…

We headed back to Zali’s office to catch our “fetch” back to the hotel and she presented us both with gifts which included homemade drums, bags, a hand-beaded notepad folder and pen, and a paper pad made from bananas.

At dinner, Tina and I discussed how even if we planned this day we could not have done it better.  Everything just fell into place…as it should and always does when you live in the present moment and stay in a state of joy.

One of the most amazing things we noticed was the level of pride everyone here has for their country and even though the country is very diverse, the respect and admiration they all have for each other.  Also, the incredible level of hospitality that has been shown to us just in the two days we have been here.

“See-a-bonga” (Zulu word for thank you) for sharing our adventure with us through our blog!

Headed to Mabula Game Lodge tomorrow until the 13th.   We are not sure if we will be able to blog there but stay tuned because we will catch up when we return.

Chris-Tina

P.S.  We did see two “wild” animals today…a Meerkat that crossed our path on our way to lunch and a…wait for it…snail!  Yes, I said a snail!  The sad part is that Chris was most excited because she had never actually seen a snail before.  (You’re in Africa and you get excited about a SNAIL Sopa!!!  OMG!!)