We Bought a Car

How do you go about buying a car in South Africa? Well, it isn't like buying one in the States. First you have to find out what is out there and match that to what your family needs, what your environment is like, and what car is most likely to be stolen.

We used to have a minivan which worked great for our needs. They have them here too, but they are a ton of money. A 3 year old minivan goes for about $35,000. That meant we were not going to buy one of those. Plus, everything that has to do with driving here is designed around a car that is the size of a Dodge Neon or smaller.

So next we started looking at vehicles that sat more than 5 people so that when we have visitors, we can all ride in one car. There are actually a bunch of them around but they are all fairly new. Toyota has a couple, VW has one, Peugot has a station wagon, Mazda has a new one, and Renault has one. We liked the VW and the two Toyotas but the problem with both of those is that they are the two brands that are stolen the most b/c the parts are used to repair the Micro bus Taxis which are all Toyotas and VW's. So here is what we ended up with. A 2005 Renault Grand Scenic dCi. It is sort of a Staion Wagon mixed with a Mini Van. It has 2 extra seats that fold up from the trunk that the kids can sit in when we need to put more than 5 in the car.

It is a wierd car that has way more options than we need but are neat to play with. You basically take what you can find in the used car market and this one was loaded. One of the options that we really like is that it is very low on the stolen vehicle list.

This is the key (card). You put it in a slot and push a button to start it.

Yes, we do have to drive on the "other" side of the car. Everything here is a stick shift unless you spend a ton of money and they all have little engines. This actually has a decent size engine (1.9 liter 4 cylinder) but it is a diesel and has a bit of torque. It also has a 6 speed transmission that make high way driving a bit easier on the engine. The speed limit on the highways here is 120 km/hr (80 miles/hr).

So after 3 weeks of looking and about 1 week for the dealership to get the money, we now own our first SA vehicle. We hope that it is a good enough car that whomever replaces us in a couple years will be able to buy this car and not have to go through the hassle of buying another vehicle.

THE WEEKEND

Saturday - Maddie was invited to a birthday party for a girl in her class, Kayla. She seemed to have a good time. Her favorite part was getting her face painted. The party was at a restraunt with little carnival rides in the back of it. It was nice to have the weather warmer the past few days. It may have reached 70 degrees. After the party, we decided we needed some more entertainment for the kids so we went out and bought an activity set which included a net with shuttleball, minature vollyball, and slamball. They had a lot of fun.


Look how big the birdie is - the kids were laughing


The next tennis star??


concentrating so hard



Sunday we were able to attend a church down the road from us. We have been on a church hunt these past few weeks. We sure do miss Caledonia CRC. We went to a baptist church and found out the total members were about 40. They were very nice and inviting. Not very many families with kids. I do have to say it was much better than the first church we went to the Sunday before. At this particular church - I left with a headache on how loud it was. He was really screaming at us(I guess he wanted to get the point across). Just when I thought it was going better - the minister asked those who were sick or in pain to go up front to be prayed for. At first I was touched on how they wanted to pray for each individual then the weird part happened. One of the ladies had a demon in her and they performed an exorcism right there. WOW - never seen that before. She had witchcraft in her and it took a lot of falling down and shaking and yelling at her to get the demon out. How do you explain that to Maddie, who was watching the whole thing with her eyes wide open. It calmed down and Scott and I are not sure what to think about the whole incident. It sure made us appreciate our home church. We still are looking for a church that will fit us. We have been very open-minded, but it seems to be harder than what we thought. Pray that we will find the right church where we can worship.

Well that was our evenful weekend. Scott is at training all this week on how to do steel trusses. Pray for his saftey in his trips there and back. Pray for my safety too as I try this whole driving a stick shift on the wrong side of the road by myself - AHHHH.

A NEW MEMBER TO THE FAMILY

We have added a new member to the family. Scott came home with a kitty!! The kids are so excited (me too). It adds a little extra fun to our family. The kids named it Sylvester (I think they miss our cat Sylvester at home). The pet store said he is 8 weeks old, but I have a feeling he is not that old yet. He is so teeny. Maddie woke up this morning and ran down stairs to get the kitty. She has been carrying it around since we have gotten it. She even wanted to show him her school.

Talking about school – the first day was a little rough – the teacher said she was very shy and stayed to herself. We went to pick her up early and we watched her on the playground. She was looking a little lost. BUT – day two went much better. We went to pick her up and she was so excited to show us the whistle (bell) at school and her new friends. The little girls in her class came up to me and said that they were Maddie’s new friends. It was so cute. Maddie also was invited to a Birthday Party on Saturday. WOW is she happy. It seems to be going ok for her. The teacher is very impressed on how much Maddie knows her numbers and letters (Maddie just beams). School is good for her.

Well we are still trying to get on a normal routine here – I think it may take a few months. We are all doing well. Scott has to go to some training next week for work and it seems to be moving slow for him. He is constantly checking his emails and trying to get things accomplished. It is weird having him home all the time – The kids and I like it.

MADDIE STARTS SCHOOL TODAY

Well Scott left at 7:00 this morning to bring Maddie to her first day of school. She is in Grade 0 (kindergarten) at Charis Christian School. I was sick in the bathroom just being nervous for her. It was like she was going to preschool all over again. I called Scott and he let me know that it was going well. Maddie was nervous, but her teacher (maam Loraine) was very nice and so were her classmates. Maddie had to use the bathroom and a classmate took her hand and helped show her. That was nice. Scott stayed for a while and then left. We are about to leave to pick her up. I pray that she had a great first day and that she made some friends.

How do you like the uniform? Maddie thinks it is wierd that they are all in the same outfit. In a way it is nice, because I do not have to think about what she has to wear in the morning (especially that early in the morning - who starts school at 7:30??).


Here is her class - 1 kid was out sick (kind of nice that it is a small class)


Reading a Bible Story

THE ZOO

What a beautiful day we had yesterday. We decided to get out of the house and actually do something. We visited the Pretoria Zoo. What an amazing zoo. The kids were so excited we could hardly contain them. They were pointing and screaming at every animal. It was a very open zoo so it felt like you could touch the giraffe, rino, elephants, and “deer” Scott and I were amazed at the landscaping and can only imagine what the zoo looks like in the spring and summer. We sure had a relaxing day. We will definitely be going back when it is spring (maybe for Alex’s birthday in October). Enjoy the pictures. I have resized all the pictures so they upload fast - I hope the quality is good.




Maddie wanted us to take a picture of the Koalas because it reminder her of Auntie Betsy


This Baboon was pulling his hair out and eating it






The Bird Sanctuary was three stories tall and amazing - You can see Pretoria in the background.

We looked at the hippos for a while and after a few minuetes a baby hippo popped out of the water. Maddie and Alex - they couldn't awe enough.

OTHER ANIMALS

My favorite part - THE TIGERS

Incredible scenary -will look amazing in the spring (It is winter here)

Break time

Flamingos???

The elephants

Pigeons eating the elephant dung

The last place we went was to the aquarium and the shark was huge.

Alex was pretty scared - We had to leave - It was so sad

It took Maddie awhile, but she finally agreed to a picture by the shark

T