Kayaking through my worries

Hello,

Tofo oh how I love Tofo. If I could choose any place to live I'd probably choose Tofo. Such a beautiful beach with such a relaxed lifestyle.

I had a few adventures at Tofo here is one of them. Note i didn't take a lot of photos because well 1. I wanted to enjoy the moment and 2. I was scared my camera and/or phone would fall into the deep dark ocean and I'd never see it again.

Luckily our guide took some photos and I got the photos from him.

So on Wednesday afternoon me and a few friends went to Liquid Dive Adventures to see what activities they have to offer. There were some nice ones but one that caught our eyes was island kayaking tour.

Now me being me the battle with myself started. Should I shouldn't I. In the end with some advice from my friends on how it is a once in a lifetime opportunity I decided I will do it. So me and Naret sent a message to the owner to book our spot.

Photo : Liquid Dive Adventures

The next day we got up early, watched the sunrise and then got ready for our adventure.

We got in the Bakkie and left to Barra beach. We got to Barra and our 4km rowing journey began. Yeap that is right 4km!!!!

At first it was fun but then my arms betrayed me!! The weak little sticks on my body got tierd and I wasn't even half way. And there I was in the middle of the ocean with no land beneath me. After I really couldn't go on anymore we took a small brake in our kayaks ate some snacks they provided us.

It was high tide and those nice little sand banks the photo above talks about were nowhere to be found. And my excitement was gone. But determined to not die I pushed through. Finally about 1km away from the island the high tide became a low tide and a sand bank popped up. And I was so excited.

We got out, had a walk, got some shells and enjoyed the beautiful view. In the distance dark clouds started to pop up, I mean seriously what more can happen to demotivate me? But  we pushed through the last little stretch, and I started praying and praying that we will get to the island before it started to rain.

Then the waves became worse, the wind became worse and well my stress levels got worse as well. I was freaking out inside. Then the rain started. After some more prayer it calmed down, (thank goodness for that) still a small drizzle but waves wasn't to bad so I started to relax a bit more.

Finally we got to the island and the sun came out again. Whooo hooo! We went on the island tour, tried to climb a coconut tree and failed, ate, And waited for our sail boat back. Don't think I can explain how grateful I was for that sailboat. It was such a nice journey back. No worries at all well every now and then I thought the boat might tip over but at eas knowing the people on she boat knew what they were doing.

Yay I survived!!!

Our one guid 

And the other one

This trip was probably one of the most challenging and rewarding experience. Being able to overcome the difficulties especially at that moment of my life was an eye opener. God might put you through difficult time and storms where you feel you can't anymore. Just remember you can face your storm no matter how big or small!! Especially if you have God on your side.

Be humble, enjoy life and live with no regrets.

Anschke

Back in South Africa

Hello,

It's been way to long sorry life has just been pretty hectic. Hopefully it will go better from now on.

If you didn't know I came back too South Africa on the 27th of August. I'm back for good now. My three months are over. Can you believe it? I've been in and out of SA since April. Time flies.

God has blessed me all the way, helping make this journey I went through possible. I can't thank Him enough.

I'm still trying to settle in. Going from a place where it is africa time and no city rush to well city rush has been a challenge. But growing up in the rush I'm sure I'll be back in the old routine in no time.

I must say its nice to be around people who can talk English or Afrikaans again. No charades trying to tell someone what you want or trying to figure out what the price is of something. I don't think you appreciate your own language until you aren't around it anymore. But I am still going to learn Portuguese. Watch the space.

Now my personal experience had loads of challenges as well as good times, and I know everything happens for a reason. You have to be broken down to be built up right? But overall I had a blast. I met so many great inspirational people along the way.

Sorry this isn't a very long post but I will start sharing some more stories of the people I met and also some other bits and bobs in the near future. So please follow the blog to keep updated.


Live humble, enjoy life and have no regrets

Xx Anschke

Mozambique wedding

Hello,

Hope you guys are doing well??

This week was very relaxed left Tofo on Wednesday so Thursday and Friday I did some work in Manjacaze. It's nice being back but I do miss the sound of the ocean especially at night. I think I need to get myself a backtrack of the ocean to listen to at night. Hahaha

So yesterday I went to a Mozambique wedding. We only went to the afternoon festivities.

In short how a Mozambique wedding works is there are two days of wedding fun. Day one  (which I can pick up from white dress, cutting of the cake, speaches vibes it is more western if i can word it like that)there is a ceremony at church the couple goes to take photos, then they go to home affairs. After that they return to their guests for lunch and the giving of gifts.

Day two (more relaxed and local.) there is a ceremony again. Then there is a breakfast and some more gift giving. Can't say much more as I don't know the details.

As I mentioned earlier we only went to the afternoon festivities which was basically food. Now let me add we weren't really officially invited because they invited people by going to their houses and inviting them. Now at the time they were doing that the MOZaic team wasn't at the office. Thus not officially invited. The people who accompanied me phoned the day before to hear if we can come and they said yes.

Where in the world would you call a day before a wedding to come? You missed the RSVP so no you can't. That's the answer you'd probably get back in South Africa. So this was quite interesting for me but shows their hospitality.

So only in true African style we say we leave at 11:00 and only end up leaving at 12:00. Which in the end I was grateful for as we waited until 15:00 to get seated which i might add was a story on its own.

At the entrance to the wedding weaved coconut tree leaves and flowers

So I didn't understand much but what i gathered was they called people by name to get them to the tables after a while the guy doing this came to take to us and said they told him about us and now he knows who we are (well thats what they told me he said). Not to long after that all the seats were filled except 4 and they call us to go sit there. Did I mention that there was still about 70+ people who didn't have a table excluding the children. So the people who only phoned a day before gets the last seats . Maybe it was because we are from MOZaic maybe its because I'm white who maybe its both reasons. Lol ;)

Isn't this so festive? Braai's in the back everyone sitting together quite contently gotta love it.

A local drink they handed out
While we waited. Basically mielie maize and sugar. I dreaded them brining me some as i really don't like maze. And they brought me some. I tried it but tasted a bit like it was off so me and Lulu gave ours to children lol 

After that the couple cut the cake. There were a few speaches and then we finally ate !! So what was on the menu? Well we had starch meat with a side of beetroot.
Menu
Pasta,
Rice,
Pap (mielie maize),
Potato chips,
Potato salad,
Beans (two types),
Beef,
Goat,
Chicken,
Beatroots

It was really good though!! Then they gave out cake but I think they forgot our table  which made me sad I really wanted cake ... but that's ok next time.

After cake it was time for giving out gifts. So the couple and their spiritual mother and father (which I think is the maid of honor and best man) sat down and everyone who had gift took it up to them some singing songs and dancing and some just giving the gift and going back to their seats.

The couple and their wedding part excuse the quality of the photo as i didn't want to invade their privacy.

Well that's it for today hope you enjoyed it.

Live humble, enjoy life and have no regrets.

With love Anschke

After a week

Hello dear ones,

It's been such a crazy week since I came back to Mozambique. Crazy in a good way and a bad way.

Crazy good as in I've met so many wonderful people. They were such a big support and could bot of asked for a better group to spend this week with. Not just the group but all the great experiences. From building a jungle gym to woman's amd kids ministry. Every little moment was great. I would not exchange it for anything.

Crazy bad I won't go in to too much but I've been going through some personal issues. So even though I've had so many good experiences it was shadowed by sadness most of the week. It's been a great challenge and I've wanted to give up and go home and be around my family but I've decided to push through a bit longer.

At the moment I'm at the beach, so its a wonderful place to get quiet and connect with God and myself. What I usually do is keep busy to forget the pain and this is not healthy. For the next week its going to be me and God. Being in another country away from your loved ones when you are in a bad  space is difficult but in the end I think  I need this.

It's so difficult especially being so far from my loved one's but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger right? Oh I hope so.

A little background on this photo we built a jungle gym and I tried to stay away from the paint as I always get paint everywhere. Now on the last day we painted someone pants and i help and this is the end product of my hands guess which hand is mine. I'll give you a hint the purple one.
 

So a little piece I wrote that this photo made me think of. Once again I'm no writer so its not so great.

Sometimes life gets dirty and difficult but when you put your hands together it becomes a bit easier.

It is great to know that there are so many hands to help, they might not always be right next to me but I know that I have so many people I can call of i need them. Even if they are 1000s of kilometres away.

Stay humble xx
Anschke

Oh stary night

Hello,

After a two week brake in SA I'm ready to return to the country que stole my hart years ago. Mozambique.

 It's where the only moving lights you see is not the airplane but a shooting star. Where there is not street lights but the moon and stars to light the way forward.

Thousands of twinkling lights. Not just a star here and there like a star here in the city, in it's much more beautiful than you can ever think. Oh beloved night sky can not wait to see you in your full glory again

Okay so as you can see I have a slight obsession with stars ... And well this is my attempt at being a good creative writer poem. I'm more of a creative picture person than the writer but enough about my writing here are a few images of my stars. I'm still starting off with night photography so please do not judge.

Enjoy

They are not great but being my first time trying something like that I'm pretty impressed with what I got.

Packing

Hey,

Packing, packing, packing you got to love it right? It signifies a new trip some more adventures and experiences.

Oh but other than that it actually really sucks :/. Packing and your bag ends up not having space and you still have a few things to fit in well that really sucks. Repacking and a lot of pushing and sitting on bags occur in this time.

Here is some of my packing fun.

So here i basically just took out the clothes that needs to be packed.

 Did some sorting and folding

And I'm done... After a few struggles and rearrangements. But I'm ready and super excited for this journey. We are leaving pretty early tomorrow. And by pretty early I mean we meet up with each other at 2:30 am!! But thats ok it's going to be a fun adventure.

On another note,  in between the packing I voted in the South African Municipal election. It was my first vote ever and I feel super excited i could be part of that.

And I had some fun with my little nephew. He is starting to walk and after someone said when you see him again he will be running around. So of course  I decides i will run around with him now so I don't miss him running while I'm gone .

My little sunshine I'm going to miss you !!

But that's it for today. Stay tuned for more of my adventures.

Stay humble xx