You guys will never guess what happened today!

I had already packed my bags when mom woke me up early in the morning. I usually protest when she is trying to wake me up, but today I woke up with a big smile on my face. It was because of the butterflies in my stomach and I couldn’t stop thinking about where we were going.

We took a taxi to the airport and I thought we were on our way home. I didn’t ask at first, but then I couldn’t help my curiosity. Mom and dad just laughed every time I asked, and they were driving me crazy. Why not just tell the truth? As I said before, my parents are not normal…

As we were checking in to the airplane I saw a glimpse of the tickets. It stood Port Elizabeth on them and I looked at my parents as a big question mark. What was going on? What would we do in Port Elizabeth?

As we arrived to the Port Elizabeth airport, I wasn’t prepared to se Nina and her family waving at us. They stood beside a bus and I dropped all my bags to give Nina a huge hug! I was so glad to see her, and honestly, she is the maybe the first friend I ever had. Because of the traveling I don’t have time to make friends. That’s pretty sad, but I hadn’t time to think negative. When I heard about the plans mom and dad told me, I couldn’t believe them. Together with Nina’s family we were going to stay at their country house (a traditional house made by mud-bricks) were her great grandmother once lived. They use it to get away from the stressful city life and celebrate Nina’s birthday every year. I almost exploded of happiness.

Their country house is located in Mvezo, Umtata, and the trip with the bus would take about 4 hours. It is a pretty long way, but with a friend that you have not seen in a couple of days, the trip would end much faster. We talked a lot about the house where we were going to stay at and she also told me that the well-known Nelson Mandela once lived in the area. We decided to go to the Nelson Mandela museum at the same day and we couldn’t wait until we arrived.

The Nelson Mandela museum was such an experience. We got a glimpse of how the man of freedom grew up and where he spent his childhood. Nina and I had such a great time. After the museum we went to the ice cream bar together with our families. Nina and her parents are speaking the language called Zulu that is one of the 11 official languages in South Africa. Nina’s dad told me that there is more than 9 million people speaking Zulu, and I was impressed. The language is almost as large as Swedish and Zulu is also an ethnic group of people and the biggest tribe in South Africa. Nina’s dad also tried to teach me some Zulu, but I’m not very talented. At least, I learned the word Sawubona that is a kind of greeting.

Right now we are watching the sunset from the ice cream bar and telling hilarious stories to each other. I’m not going to have Wi-Fi at the hut, but hopefully we will come back to this place tomorrow so I can tell you more about how it looks around here.