The host family...

^ my host family's cat Ginger (aka Gingie) at the end of my bed (he sleeps there every night- ugh he is so flipping cute- most affectionate cat ever)

I really lucked out.  My host family is wonderful.  My room is downstairs so I kind of have my own lair haha.  My host mom is a great cook and I wrote it on Facebook, but some people might not know- my host family fed me ostrich the first night I was here!  After, I was done, they asked me what kind of meat I thought that was and at that point, I knew I was in for a surprise haha.  It was this casserole type thing and I thought it was beef.  It looked and tasted just like beef and if they hadn't told me, I would never have known I'd eaten ostrich!!  Anyway, that was one of those- wow I really am in Africa moments and I loved it!  Anyway, what else can I say about my host family...We always talk about how American English and South African English differ and my host dad especially loves those discussions (my host mom calls him a "closeted American").  Sweaters are jerseys.  Bathrooms are toilets.  Bathing suits are swimming costumes.  Closets are cupboards.  Cookies are biscuits.  and many more.  Plus, I learned a phrase that all South Africans know about, which is "just now."  Basically, you say it when you are going to be somewhere or do something in the near future, but not right that second.  It could mean in 10 minutes, an hour, more, who knows- just don't wait up haha.  Also, they have showed me the joys of electric tea kettles, which boil water 10x faster than on a stove, which I guess comes in handy more here because people drink tea 24/7.  Lots of South Africans drink this particular type of herbal tea called rooibos tea with these biscuit thingies called rusks.  Really tasty.  Rooibos, by the way, is Afrikaans for red bush.  The languages most commonly spoken here are Afrikaans (which is really similar to Dutch), Xhosa (pronouced *click*- osa, yes, it is a language with clicks!!), and English.  My host family just speaks English, but as I said, it isn't the same and I love it.  Anyways, I really like my host family's daughters.  All of them are younger than me (9, 12, and 14).  All of them are really polite and sweet and the youngest two are especially hilarious when it comes to being absolutely random and kidding around all the time.  We all went to their cousin's fifth birthday party this past weekend and had an awesome time on the moonbounce (aka jumping castle) acting like complete fools.  Oh and another thing is that at that party, I learned a new game that is apparently a must-do at kids parties around here- "Pass the Parcel."  You basically wrap some prize up in layer upon layer upon layer of wrapping paper, put on music, and pass it around it a circle.  Whenever the music stops, whoever is holding the package takes off one layer of wrapping paper and usually gets a lollipop or something that was wrapped up in between layers.  Then you just keep passing until all the layers are gone and someone gets the grand prize!  I'm playing that at my next birthday party...haha, but no, really, I don't know why we don't play that at younger kids parties in America- it's fun!  but anyway, I should wrap this up and go to sleep. In America right now, it is 5:02 PM (my laptop still says American time by the way, so all I had to do just now was look up in the corner of the screen), but here it is 10:02 PM, so 6 hours later!