One of the last things I thought I would ever need in South Africa was a pair of mittens. Seems pretty illogical right, needing gloves on the African continent? This type of thinking was proved to be wrong as I went to Pretoria for my last rowing regatta. We drove about 6 hours on Friday to the dam, which is right outside of Johannesburg. By the time we got there, it was dark out, so we set up out tents quickly and went to bed early so we were well rested for the next day’s races. I only got a couple hours of sleep that night because of the coldness – but luckily the sun was shinning bright the next day. Weather here is so crazy.
The next day, we raced in our Girls B 8 boat. Our timing was a little off, but it was still a fun race. My hands were bleeding and covered in blisters by the time it was over. Just as I was walking back to camp to get a bandage, I got called to race again. So I hopped into the boat, and was back in the water in about an hour. This time it was the Girls B 4, and surprisingly enough, we didn’t do that bad. We still came in dead last – but at least we didn’t capsize the boat.
The girls B crew are only allowed to race twice, so that meant I was complete with all my races by Saturday afternoon. So I had all day Sunday and Monday sit around and lay in the sun – which I definitely did not complain about. We ended up hanging around in the grass, cheering on the other races, and cooking lots of food. That night, we made s’mores by the campfire. The South African guys on our team had never had them before! It made me feel like I was home in Leeland again!
On Sunday night we drove to Johannesburg to spend the night because Monday is a public holiday and we didn’t have school. We had an after party at a sports club, and then got up early the next morning to return to pmb. I’ve had so much fun with rowing, and am so sad it’s the last regatta. Besides negative aspects such as getting up early and suffering through the cold, I’m really glad I did rowing. I met SO many cool people and travelled to lots of places I would have never gone before. I didn’t write about them on my blog – but the other weekend trips that we went on included: Albert Falls, Thunderkloof Dam and the Duzi. Maybe I’ll join the rowing team at MSU… it still definitely won’t be the same as it is here though.
The next day, we raced in our Girls B 8 boat. Our timing was a little off, but it was still a fun race. My hands were bleeding and covered in blisters by the time it was over. Just as I was walking back to camp to get a bandage, I got called to race again. So I hopped into the boat, and was back in the water in about an hour. This time it was the Girls B 4, and surprisingly enough, we didn’t do that bad. We still came in dead last – but at least we didn’t capsize the boat.
The girls B crew are only allowed to race twice, so that meant I was complete with all my races by Saturday afternoon. So I had all day Sunday and Monday sit around and lay in the sun – which I definitely did not complain about. We ended up hanging around in the grass, cheering on the other races, and cooking lots of food. That night, we made s’mores by the campfire. The South African guys on our team had never had them before! It made me feel like I was home in Leeland again!
On Sunday night we drove to Johannesburg to spend the night because Monday is a public holiday and we didn’t have school. We had an after party at a sports club, and then got up early the next morning to return to pmb. I’ve had so much fun with rowing, and am so sad it’s the last regatta. Besides negative aspects such as getting up early and suffering through the cold, I’m really glad I did rowing. I met SO many cool people and travelled to lots of places I would have never gone before. I didn’t write about them on my blog – but the other weekend trips that we went on included: Albert Falls, Thunderkloof Dam and the Duzi. Maybe I’ll join the rowing team at MSU… it still definitely won’t be the same as it is here though.
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