WHAT A GAS!!

ok, never mind the title. all will be explained in the duration of this post.
so right now its school holidays, the first week thereof. we got out last week wednesday, and on thursday we went to get our reports at school, then we were done for three weeks!! the first few days we didnt do all that much... on saturday we went to the voortrekker monument... its a big building comemmorating the vicory the voortrekkers had over the thousands of zulus at blood river. long story, im not gonna recite history to you now. but ya, this building is hollow inside, like a big dome i guess, and its really high. you can go to almost the very top and look down. so right when i walked in, i lifted up mine eyes (almost to the heavens, it felt like it, the roof ceiling was so high up) and almost fainted... it was REALLY REALLY high... and i felt kinda... queasy. note, i was still on the ground floor, looking up, not even looking down and i felt kinda sick... so we made the trip up (we being lynette, rachel, sarah, brian, gordon, morgy and i) to the top. you could go out at one point, high up, and survey the city, and of course, look down. but us miskins... never. we were too busy gasping for breath after climbing the long flight of winding stairs, and me, claustrophobia. besides, im a sucker for heights... i just wanted to go down. so we continued up, gordon morgy and i clutching the railings for dear life, and not daring to look down (i did at a point, coz it we were ascending the side of a huge dome thing... and almost screamed.. dark and far down...). when we reached the top, panic set in for the three of us. morgy was in tears of terror, and had to leave with lynette accompanying her. gordon and i roughed it out... terrified. brian for a sick joke walked up to gordon and was like " so how you doing gordon?" and slapped him on the back... giving us both the shivers and sending gordon and me to the railing for support lest something happen... like a monster ascending the heights and pulling us down into the abyss (:D)... meanwhile, the rest of our party were leaning over the edge of the little wall separating us from nothingness, looking down casually... i could barely bring myself to peep over the edge, and when i wasnt clutching the wall... i was gripping the railing on the other side of me, in panic, almost making dents in the metal. i couldnt take a picture of the great heights, i would have dropped the camera. so it occurred to me that day, that the three miskins are TERRIFIED out of their minds of heights... i kid you not. gordon was shaking, and my knees were weak, and my palms were wet and clammy from sheer terror. after our descent i felt ok again... its a genetic thing. neither of my parents like heights either... our fear was a source of amusement to those who were not scared... and if you had seen us, you would have grinned.
enough of heights, its making me feel funny all over again. ok, so this tuesday (yesterday) was where the phrase "what a gas" originated. we (gordon, brian, three cool kids from church (the ndous) and i) went out to the township again with about 20 other kids from the afrikaans church and painted a big hall at one of the orphan care centers. we all arrived, and stretched after being squished in the car for about an hour, and checked out the college first, and then proceeded to the care center. the paint was grey... i thought that odd. i grabbed a roller, and a holder thing to put it on, and started to paint. alas for me, my roller kept coming loose off of its holder thing, so i would bang it on the wall to get it back on, and as i was doing this the second time, some paint spattered off the end and onto my nose and into my eye. i was in some pain, when gordon thought he would point out to obvious to me..."hey scally, its on your nose..." "my nose," i howled, "is the least of my worries!! its in my eye, and it hurts...!!" i got it out my eye, and wasnt blinded, thankfully...:D. gordon decided once again to be helpful and tell me how to get it off. heres what he said " i hope youre gonna shower in turpentine tonight, coz its gonna be hard to get off..." harhar. i got it off with some water, thanks gordon. seems like wherever i go, i come away with a bad face paint...:D during the painting operation gordon coined the phrase "it was/is a gas" when he said "this is the kinda stuff that makes memories. we'll all get together years from now and say 'member that time we painted that hall? that was a GAS!!'" everyone caught onto the phrase, and by the end of the day, it was the saying of the week. at first gordon and the three ndou boys did some graffiti on the walls, arguing we were gonna paint over it anyway... i got a picture of gordon in the act!! (sorry, theyre all on gordons comp :(...) we got about 2.5 walls done when we broke for lunch. then i went to the hospice with sarah and rebe and camden (rebes son of 2 yrs) and oupa and a lady from the church. i was hoping to find dad there, but he had left at about 12... so i missed him. but i did see one of the patients... and she was all shakey and couldnt really understand english. so i didnt know what to say... i said a couple things, and smiled encouragingly. then we went back to the care center, and i found the painting was all done... to my shame. the guys were all playing soccer with some of the township kids... gordon (called "golden" by almost all black ppl he meets... to his horror...;D) said they didnt pass to him much so he quit. i was walking around in my big ol' pj (now painting) shirt... and discussed world cup with abram and maryke... (afrikaans name) and sat around having a nice time. then we all gathered for a scripture reading and prayer, squished in the car, and went home. it was a gas.
so that was our gas of a day.
morgy right now is at lambano, and aids orphanage for toddlers in Jo-burg. so its really quiet at our house... and lynette says shes doing an awesome job teaching the little kids Bible stories and stuff. i miss her round the house (morgy that is) even tho we dont get along, i love her and its not the same when shes not here... come home safe morgy!! (sniffle...)
ok, so start the fad in america. its no longer "this is fun/awesome/great (etcetc)" its "this is a gas" or "that wasnt a gas..." or "have a gas!!"
bye guys... miss you all, and all that.
HAVE A GAS!!!