Last birthday in SA

Hello all,
Only about 1 1/2 months left now! For those of you wondering how my birthday went they had a surprise party for me at work with a huge cake in the shape of the numbers 26 and balloons. Most of the counsellors attended and some even gave me some small presents. The weekend before my birthday I went to my roomates farm in the Free State and we drove aound in the pickup truck inspecting the cattle and we also had a birthday cookout for both of us (her birthday was on the 25th). We also went to Gold Reef city theme park in Johannesburg, which isn't quite as good as US theme parks, but it was a good time and we went on all the rollercoasters as Marizette (my friend) had never been on a roller coaster before. Talitha, another one of my roomates, had her birthday on October 4th, and all of us went out to dinner and walked around the university campus for a bit.

The last week of September was also Aardklop week in Potchefstroom, whitch is this big Afrikaans festival that attracts people from all over. I don't understand the music and the other entertainment much, but I spent several days exploring the clothing and gift stalls and buying food, as the park the festival is in is just down the street from my house.

As far as work is concerned everything is going well and the new volunteer Liz is gradually adjusting to the routine. Due to our awareness campaigns and increased advertisement of the line, the calls per month have increased dramatically, and we are now ahead of several other Provinces in terms of call volume, even though we are one of the least populated Provinces. Next week we are going to Mafikeng for the who week to train community members there in conjunction with the Red Cross, which I am looking forward to as it will be a chance to get out of the office for a week.

Not much else in terms of news from here. Only 5 weeks left in Potchefstroom and 6 weeks left in South Africa. Looking forward to getting home and finally seeing all of you.

Jennifer