The Drakensberg Mountains

The last few days we have been in the Drakensberg Mountains at Cathedral Peak Resort, and it has been a wonderful experience. We have taken this week to be a relaxing, peaceful time to bond with Jeremy. We have no obligations but to take care of him. Someone else prepares breakfast and supper and tea twice a day, leaving us with all the time in the world to get to know our little guy. This has been a special time, an absolute blessing.


Cathedral Peak Resort is almost an hour’s drive off of the nearest town, Winterton, and is situated on the Northern tip of the Drakensberg Mountains. The resort is located right in the mountains, with many hiking trails up and around them. Although it is getting close to winter, and so the mountains are more brown than green and the flowers are nearing the end of their blooming season, the view is nonetheless breathtaking.

Cathedral Peak.

Over this week we have hiked over six hours, walking across fields, climbing up mountains, wading through cold mountain fresh rivers, and inched along cliff edges. We have seen exotic wild plants, many different species of birds (not to mention the baboons and their babies that like to play on the road up to the resort).

Baboon Rock

Trout Farm (Trout served daily at the Hotel)

Feeding the Hungry Fish

Pokes

Lake Jarod

The Fern Forest

Waking up to Feed in the Fern Forest

The Hungry Dog River

(Hungry because it is winter and there is no rain.

In the summer, the rainy season, it is no longer hungry.)

African Eagle

African Goose and White Brested Cormorant

The resort itself is amazing. Located on a mountain side, its many levels and stairways make it a bit challenging for the stroller, but most of our destinations within the resort are a short distance, so carrying Jeremy either in hand, bundled in the wrap, or in the car seat has not been an issue. The hotel is mostly indoors, beautifully decorated with sculptures and local artwork, while the hallways from the main reception to the dining room to our suite are outdoors, but well covered, and draped with greenery. We have enjoyed trying new foods, having afternoon tea on the terrace, and siesta time with Jeremy in our room.

The Chapel

We have thoroughly enjoyed our stay here at Cathedral Peak. It has been relaxing, peaceful, awe-inspiring, and even physically exhausting, which also cn be a good thing. Our stay in the Drakensbergs will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of our trip.

Our Little Jeremy

We’ve known Jeremy for 6 days now, and are beginning to get to know his personality. He is such a little sweetheart! His favourite activity by far, is sleeping. We have not yet had him awake for long periods overnight, and he sleeps for great stretches during the day. His favourite place to sleep is in the car or in the baby wrap, but really, anywhere will do.

Jeremy only cries when it’s time to eat, and then is very quickly satisfied with the bottle. Once he’s fed and burped, he’s a happy, smiley little guy again. Jeremy has a great sense of humour, and he thinks both his parents are spectacularly funny.

Already since we’ve met him, we’ve noticed changes in Jeremy. When we first picked him up at the orphanage, he could not hold up his head because his core muscles were underdeveloped. Taking his passport and citizenship photos was quite difficult because of this. But just after a few days of playing with his Mom and Dad, Jeremy can hold his head up for long periods of time. He’s also learned to click his tongue, and today he mastered the game of peek-a-boo.

Jeremy has big bright eyes that watch everything carefully. His favourite things to look at are the ceiling fan and the lights. Have to admit, they are pretty mezmerizing! He loves to talk when our faces are close to his and he is really enjoying the books we brought.

Jeremy has a bit of a cold right now and his sneezes are extremly cute! He has a slight cough and has difficulty breathing through his nose. It doesn't seem to bother him; in fact, he laughs after he sneezes (which makes them even cuter!) Jeremy also has quite a bit eczema and very dry skin. But thanks to Jeremy’s Aunt Bonnie, a pharmacists’ assistant, we came prepared with great skin creams.

Jeremy loves his bath, and kicks his feet and flails his arms because he’s so excited. He tires himself out completely. After his bath time he’s ready for some snuggle time and a nap.

Not only is Jeremy becoming tri-lingual (the baby house was staffed by Zulu and Africaans speakers, and we find he understands our English perfectly!) Jeremy is already showing his brilliance through his ability to multitask. Today Jeremy discovered that he can bond, snuggle and nap all at the same time while lying peacefully on his mom’s tummy. So lovely!

It is wonderful to have this long period of time where we can enjoy South Africa and bond with our son, and he with us. This is a time of great joy and delight for us and for our little Jeremy.

On the Move...

Yesterday was an adventure; our first day of driving in South Africa. I need to preface this, however, with the important note about the topography of Durban. Durban, and its surrounding area, is the hilliest place I have ever seen. There is literally no place that's flat for more than three metres. The hills are huge -- too huge in the Westville area to use a stroller even. We've walked everywhere the last few days, but have carried Jeremy in the baby wrap; the stroller is just too difficult. We have huffed and puffed up hills to buy diapers, a cell phone, and just to get dinner, and we have the shin splints to prove it.
Now...I do drive standard. I swear I learned to drive in a standard car, and a terrible one too -- Chevy Malibu with a stick shift so stiff I had to use two hands to put it in third. Everyone in South Africa drives standard and so, when we were told that to rent an automatic is $500.00 more, we opted for the standard. Marc would learn in a parking lot somewhere. We`ll save the money.

We "hired" the car and the Avis guy picked us up at the bed and breakfast. When he heard we had no GPS, he actually drove us to the mall and brought us to "Game" a Wal-Mart-ish store so that we could buy one. You can`t do without this, he said.

GPS in hand, we signed the paperwork and were given a sporty little Toyota Corolla. That's when the problems started. To leave Avis Rent-a-car, one must first drive up a very steep driveway. Using the left-handed stick shift, on the left side of the road, with the steering wheel definitely on the wrong side of the car, I placed the car in 1st and promptly stalled it. Six times. This did not aspire confidence in the Avis guy. I got out of the car and he placed it in first for me, (which is where the reverse is supposed to be, by the way, I swear it). Properly in gear, we hobbled up the driveway, and crossed traffic to the left side of the road into a busy intersection.

Now, I'm normally very good at lane positioning, I distinctly remember getting an A+ in lane positioning in driver's education, 16 years ago, and in my defense, the curb was on the wrong side of the road (who knows why) and I was on the wrong side of the car (crazy South African cars), and I hardly left a mark. Well actually, we didn't check. We didn't dare stop the car; who knows if we'd find first again.

Geraldine (as we refer to our GPS) politely guided us, turn by turn, back to the bed and breakfast. She did not, however, remind me which side of the road to drive on. That became Marc's job. Every intersection, before I turned, he would calmly state, "remember, you`re going into that lane", pointing patiently to the left side of the road. I would have gotten annoyed by his left-seat comments, but I was so stressed I forgot. I didn't even mind when he reminded me to look the opposite direction when crossing traffic. When he tried to help me find first, however, I admit, I did tell him off -- he can't even drive stupid standard cars.

The final hill into our bed & breakfast is, in fact, one degree short of an 90 degree angle, really it is! And I think first gear ran away in fear. I'm not sure what gear the car actually was in while we roared up to that height, but it sure was smokey. The car lurched to a stop, almost in the driveway, and I turned the car off. Without missing a beat, the phone rang. The Avis man, offering to personally bring us an automatic car, for only $100 extra. (I think he had been wringing his hands the entire time we drove home). Marc and I looked at each other's white, stressed faces, and quickly agreed that it might be a good idea to have an automatic after all.

Half an hour later, our little automatic hatch-back filled to the brim with our giant suitcases (and we left two in storage at the B&B), we were on our way again. I was still driving, Geraldine and Marc both switching off with giving directions. This was another adventure; we were going on the highway -- lots of highways.

In case anyone is wondering, in South Africa the slow lane and the fast lane are backwards. The left lane is the slow lane, and the right lane, the fast one. So...while I was so courteously moving over into the right lane to let people pass, I actually was cutting them off as I ambled over at a mere 100 kms an hour in a 120km per hour zone, into their fast lane. And who could blame me when the police car, sirens blaring and red lights flashing came right up behind me, who could blame me, really, for pulling over on the shoulder-less fast lane on the right side of the road instead of moving over to the slow lane and coming to a halt on the wide shoulder?

Apparently, a police officer can.

Actually, I only got a dirty look and a wagging finger, he wasn't after me after all. Still shaking, and a little humbled, we continued on our way. This time in the slow lane, Geraldine still pointing us where to go, Marc growing quieter and quieter.

Things you see while driving in South Africa: Cow-crossing signs on the highway, people walking around on the highway, pick up trucks loaded with people sitting on the sides and tailgate, going 130 kms on the highway, Renée's little Avis rent-a-car hatchback driving in the fast lane slowly, on the highway.

Once we recovered a little from our initial frightful driving experiences, we began to look around. Geraldine got quieter and quieter as the highways got simpler and simpler. Soon we were just coasting up and down and around the steep hills of the greater Durban area. South Africa is a beautiful country! Absolutely gorgeous. It was a beautiful drive.

And what of little Jeremy through this all? Jeremy slept soundly through it all!

Congratulations are in Order

We are now officially the proud parents of Jeremy Arthur Phumlani Hoogstad!

Today, at about 12:30 pm we met our son for the first time. We got to hold him, and kiss him, and then we got to take him home! Glorify the Lord with us! Let us exalt His name together (Ps. 34:3 -- our family verse.)

I didn’t know how I’d feel, the first time seeing Jeremy. It’s something you picture over and over while you’re waiting. Today I felt a little nervous, and excited, and actually a little numb. But when Daphne, the woman at the baby house, handed him to me, a wave a emotion swept over me. My heart jumped to my throat and she placed him in my arms. It was incredible. Our eyes brimmed with tears and we held him tight, taking turns to hold our little guy. Marc and I spent an emotional time on the couch just looking at him, talking to him. He has the brightest eyes and the most adorable hairstyle. And HE SMILES! How incredible it is when you make your child smile! How even more incredible when you are meeting him for the first time and he breaks into a big wide grin; it’s makes you rejoice with all your heart. Unfortunately it was not possible for us to go into the baby house to see where Jeremy had lived the last three months. We would have liked to see his room and his crib and to meet his caregivers, but Daphne has promised to email us some pictures of those things so that when Jeremy is older he’ll be able to see where that part of his life took place.

After picking up Jeremy, we drove straight to the court. I was very nervous about the court, having never been to one before. But it was so relaxed. We met the magistrate in his office and basically watched him read our paperwork. He was very personable and very happy for us. Then he signed a lot of documents, looked up, and said, “Well, Congratulations are in order!” And that was that. We took a few pictures and brought our baby home. This afternoon has been wonderful. It was a relaxed, quiet afternoon just playing and talking and feeding and rocking Jeremy. He didn’t sleep much, but was content the whole time. Now, he’s sleeping peacefully in his “cot” as they call it here in S.A.

We are filled with gratitude to the Lord for what he has done for us. Jeremy's name means "Exalt the Lord!" And that is exactly what we are doing.

A Labour of Love

We’ve arrived! I write this from a cozy little room in the Westville Bed in Breakfast in Durban, South Africa. It’s 6:30 am here, 12:30pm in Sarnia. I have just slept for 9 hours and can sleep no more.

Once in this blog I referred to the plane ride to South Africa as our own kind of labour, the airport terminal as our delivery room, and the flight attendants our nurses. Well, I can honestly say that this journey was the longest labour of my life.

We left our home at 9:00 am on the 16th. Almost exactly 48 hours later, we finally arrived at our “home” here. Although I had managed to sleep for an hour our two in the airport and a few hours on the plane, Marc had pretty much stayed awake the entire time. He had caught 20 mins of sleep here and there, but people who suffer from insomnia, rarely can sleep in a plane of hundreds of strangers. As a result, Marc, who has been sleeping since 6:30 pm yesterday, is still sleeping, almost 12 hours later.

Our journey was going incredibly smooth. My parents arrived at our house on the 15th just in time for supper. On the 16th, my dad drove us to Woodstock where we met my brother and sister-in-law, Eric and Bonnie, who drove us to the airport. All the little worries of travel, (Are our suitcases over the weight limit? Did we remember the passport? Is our carry-on the right size?) All these little questions were answered without a glitch. Everything went perfectly.

We made it through security, found our gate, and passed the time until boarding with a few friendly rounds of 2 person Euchre. I embarrassed Marc by taking our picture as we waited, and then it was time to board the plane. (will be posted soon!) After watching an in flight movie (Invictus, just to get in the South African mood), we noticed that our destination had changed. The flight monitor no longer read Amsterdam, but had changed to Paris. We didn’t worry until a few hours later when the Captain announced that Amsterdam was covered in a giant cloud of ash from our friendly volcano, and we were forced to land in France.

Marc and I looked at each other, our stress level multiplying as we wondered how we’d make our 10:30am connecting flight to South Africa in Amsterdam when we were stuck in Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.

It was a tremendous disaster. Our flight attendants assured everyone on board that when we landed, Air France would take care of everything and provide instructions as to how to continue on our journey, that everything would be ok.

We were transported to the terminal by bus and then waited in line with the passengers from 6 OTHER REROUTED PLANES. We each had, literally about 1.5 square feet in this line and TWO HOURS LATER, we still had not moved one inch. People were frantically calling family, hotels, airlines using cell phones and laptops, babies were crying, people were yelling and we still had not seen one person from Air France to give directions.

I decided to be assertive.

Leaving Marc to hold our place in line, I wormed my way past hundreds of people trying to find the front of the line and this is what I saw: Two Air France people trying to facilitate the rebooking of six planes of passengers, one passenger at a time. It took about 15 -20 minutes per person. There was no way we’d get to the front of the line for at least about 8 hours.

I decided to continue being assertive.

I walked around the terminal until I found someone in a uniform. I stopped her and remained calm and polite. I explained that we needed help, that our baby was waiting for us in S.A. and was there any other place we could get a flight to South Africa. She said, not without going through customs and getting our baggage. I said that’s fine, and she pointed me towards the customs. Not wanting to worm my way back through the crowd, I went to the front of the line and used my God given, much practised, very very loud voice and yelled, “MARC HOOGSTAD, PLEASE COME TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE”, everyone stared, one person said, well that’s one way of doing it. I said, “well, I’ve got nothing to lose, have I”.

And there came Marc. We quickly moved through customs, found a new line and waited, 45 mins later we were asked by a uniformed man if Amsterdam was our final destination or if we needed a connecting flight. WE WERE IN THE WRONG LINE! Bless his heart, this man personally escorted us, and about 50 people who were also in the wrong line, up the stairs and to the new line that we needed to be in. Continuing in my new calm but assertive manner, I sped walked, leaving Marc behind, and managed to find a place in the front of this new line. 20 mins later, we had two tickets to Johannesburg leaving that evening at 11:20. We went through security, arrived at gate E62, only 14 hours early and began our long and sleepy relationship with the international departures terminal of Charles de Gaulle airport in France.

We payed 25 Euros (50 dollars) for a scrambled egg, two sausages and a salad each for breakfast (who eats salad for breakfast?) and 20 Euros for two sandwiches, an apple, diet coke and a Heineken for lunch. Played more Euchre, blogged, Skyped with family members, and read nearly an entire book and FINALLY, found ourselves aboard an Air France flight to Johannesburg.

13 hours later we boarded our third plane to Durban. Once we landed, Paul, our shuttle driver with the coolest accent, who insisted on driving a van with a steering wheel on the wrong side of the car, drove, on the wrong side of the road, to Westville and here we are.

We each took the best shower of our lives, quickly dressed, and met our social worker for paperwork. Then we walked to the “Westville mall” found supper and went to bed.

We made it! We are here, and, in 5 hours, we will hold our son for the first time. And like all mothers who hold their baby for the first time, those long hours of labour, our airport terminal delivery room, and our flight attendant nurses, will fade away until they are forgotten forever.

Mama's Takin' Us to the Zoo!

Mama's taking us to the zoo tomorrow! That's what our girls were singing the weekend we got the call. We had planned a weekend with the girls in Toronto and so...heads still reeling from our joyful news, basement a mess with renovations, we packed up our stuff and headed to the Toronto Zoo on perhaps the most beautiful day of the year.

We had such a beautiful day with the girls, weather wise, and other wise. We explored a new aspect of creation, and celebrated family. It was wonderful to spend time together.

We stayed in a hotel with a pool and swam at least twice a day, enjoyed meals out, and picnic lunches and watched tv in the hotel room. The girls LOVE hotel rooms and were so excited.

The other highlight, and the initial reason for the Toronto trip, was to celebrate South Africa Freedom Day with other families adopting from South Africa. The yahoo support group of families adopting from S.A. plans different events throughout the year, and one of them is Mahata Mmoho, a festival to celebrate the anniversary of the black vote in South Africa. It was a terrific day, very loud and busy, but a great celebration of black South African culture.

They had Lindiwe, a Zulu South African singer who led us in South Africa's national anthem, taught us a Zulu lullabye and sang one of her own songs. Three incredible South African dancers who study at the Creole ballet school in Toronto. They demonstrated the Gumboot dance (a dance developed as a means of communication by black miners in the gold and diamond mines), traditional stick fighting with knackberries, and other dances. They also got us dancing. The children all brought rainboots and the dancers taught them how to dance the gumboot dance. They also taught us the famous diski dance for the World Cup. Finally, the day ended with a drumming workshop for the children.

The place was packed, and the children all had an incredible time. Sara and Leah are still dancing the gumboot style dance at home!

We also caught up with former schoolmates of ours, from Marc's highschool and our university. They are also planning to adopt from South Africa. Their son Nathan and Leah hit it off and became fast friends. After the festival, we enjoyed dinner with them at a local Indian restaurant.

The weekend was fun, exciting, family oriented, and a great way to celebrate our family and the culture of our little Jeremy. We had a great time!