I love the fact that Rickus is a cricket player. It enables me to attend cricket games regularly. There is a very special atmosphere at the games, which I am not sure even compares to our hockey fever. Not that the intensity is stronger here, but there is a different vibe, and I love it. Plus, I feel total pride in my friend’s accomplishments.

This weekend, we went to a mall, with an open market selling traditional African wares. I have no sense of fashion whatsoever, no sense of what to buy, and I so want to bring back stuff for my siblings. Thank goodness Hannelie is here to guide me. I think I’ll stick to petting tigers. It’s a lot less anxiety provoking than shopping.

We attended another of Rickus’ games. Just pure fun. I practice hitting a ball against a wall, and with each hit is the unwelcome thought “I’m going to miss it here”.  Already, with two weeks left still and the prospect of a real safari at Kruger Park, I am feeling a little sad. There is so much I am going to leave here. An amazing family, a great school, good friend. I am so glad I came on this exchange first, because I know that in a few months, I’ll get to show Rickus my home, my school, my (Canadian) friends. It’s not really the end at all. Even if it kind of is…

An exchange is tricky. Too short a time, and you don’t really get immersed. Too long, and the risk is great that you’ll be so involved that your life at home becomes strange and unreal. I’m thinking of all that I still want to do here. At Saints, Easter weekend is huge. The spirit runs high, and six weeks before, we are already practicing war cries in anticipation of the big rugby game. The Canadian in me can’t help being a little jaded about the whole thing, but the South African in me (eight weeks was perhaps long enough for my conversion) is enthusiastic, and I wish, wish, wish I could still be here for the games. It is perhaps time I leave, after all, before I become too involved here.

It’s really not all sunshine here. Literally. I was supposed to play my last basketball game this weekend. Eight players of the opposite team got struck by lightening as they were rushing to pull the cover over the cricket field. One is still in a coma. I heard that two girls died. It is a somber weekend. The father of a student at Hannelie’s school died in a motorcycle accident. And of course, there is the story of the Olympian Oscar Pistorius who allegedly killed his girlfriend on Valentine’s Day. It is so, so, so sad.

I am going to end this on a bittersweet note. Tomorrow, I’ll be going back to Saints for my last week of school. Then spring break, then home… – David Elbaz ’15