Typically when I meet non Black & Veatch people I tell them that we are living here in South Africa for my husbands work. Usually after I say this I get asked "So what is it that you do?" and typically I respond with "I am mom". However, the truth is that since I am currently not working, the kids are going to preschool, and we have a housekeeper I do have a lot of free time. My first thought was that I would take time to volunteer weekly. I reached out and made contacts with several people here in Africa pursuing Child Life and have found a few different areas that my skills can be a service to. But, I have found with many things here in Africa sometimes you have to wait for things to take off. So, in the mean time while I wait for work to pick up I am finding some fun ways to fill hours in my days.
As I've mentioned before our neighborhood has it's own golf course, and so living here has been the perfect opportunity to pick up the game again! Back in high school I was able to join the ladies golf team and learn how to play. At the time I was never very good, but it did teach me the basics of the sport, and got me interested in something I'd be able to do my whole life. However, after high school with the exception of 9 holes once a year or the occasional fun at the driving range I pretty much stopped playing. Shortly after moving here I started going to a ladies hour long golf clinic on Thursday mornings with some of my new SA friends. The clinic covers specific skills each week and and recharged my love for the game. A few weeks after starting the clinic a group of us started playing nine holes every Tuesday morning, and we have made this our weekly routine! I have even started taking a few private lessons to try an improve some specific skills. As you know in America it's a pretty pricey sport and I would never be able to afford to play weekly, let alone take private lessons. But, here we have found it to be very affordable. Just to give you an idea my group lesson is the whopping price of $10 a week including the bucket of balls, and to play 9 holes in the middle of the week it's another $10! Incredibly reasonable compared to the inflated prices charged in the States. While at times this sport is very frustrating, it has been a blast playing weekly and improving my skills. On top of that it has helped me form some fabulous friendships that I feel incredibly lucky to have so far from home.
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| Chase and I have had fun on our Day Dates out on the course! |
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| My Golfing Buddies |
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| Mitchell is loving it! |
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| Silver Lakes Golf Course |
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| Another view from the Golf Course |
The wonderful thing about playing golf is that it has also become a family sport! Mitchell now takes a group lesson once a week and Chase is taking lessons as well. We also try to get to the driving range when we have time on the weekend. Spencer will hit a few balls too, but right now he is the family iron cleaner as he prefers to spend his time at the range "cleaning" the clubs in the buckets of soapy water they have out. Over all we have all fallen in love with the sport, and as Chase points out the best thing about having two kids is that we will always have a foursome to play with!
