2nd to Last Week in Maritzburg!

This week at Mpophomeni there was staff training going on so things were pretty hectic. The training was going on in the front room so we were feeding the kids and sending them home because there wasn't room for all of us and we were also trying to paint the early childhood development room so things were pretty cramped, but we got a ton done. We got a mural painted and the rest of the walls in the ECD room painted purple and I sewed 2 bean bags and started on covers for them so it was a very productive week. Hopefully this next week (our last week!) we'll be able to do a couple of programs with the kids since we'll have all of our space back and maybe even throw a party for everyone before we leave.
Saturday we went to UShaka Marine World which is an aquarium/sea world/theme park. A few of us didn't swim so we spent the whole time walking through the aquarium and going to shows. The aquarium was very impressive and because this is South Africa had a ton of sharks which are always fun. We also got to see the penguin feeding and a pirate themed seal show which was wonderfully cheesy. After UShaka we had a chalet dinner! There are 2 nursing students that live across the hall from me and because they're older and more responsible than the rest of us we call them the RA's of our chalet. Being the fabulous RA's that they are, they made a wonderful dinner for us with food Emily's dad sent from America (never thought I would be so happy to see Prego sauce and Kraft parmesan cheese!) and they gave us awards- I won "the smartest" award. After dinner we had a talent show. Everyone put together great acts that were hilarious. Zach and I played a few songs and managed to win second place which was fun. Ashton's fabulous impression of a fire alarm took first place.
Our final week in Pietermaritzburg is coming up and things are getting really busy. We have our Zulu oral final and then our written final this week and we are wrapping things up at our service sites and presenting what we've done to our university president John Wallace. And packing to leave. So things are crazy but I'm trying to use my final week here well and really appreciate it.