Back in Business

(This was the title of this post before all that crazy "Photobucket" stuff happened to our blogs. I guess there's a limit on how many photos you can upload on Photobucket, which is what I use, and I went over by .5mb so they shut it down for 2 days. But now we're 'back in business'! Ok onto the post that you can NOW READ!)

Ok. Let's be honest. So far, I have pretty much been a weekday-widow and a weekend-wife. We've had a lot of fun on the weekends, but the weekdays have been pretty tough. Ben has been working a LOT. And with no friends, no family, no cell phone, opposite time zones, new country, new culture, etc...it's been rough.

We've learned that things in Africa take about 4 times as long as the States. And we've also learned that there seems to be a trend of flakiness here. I applied to over 15 jobs...nothing. No responses. I've had a lot of success with marketing my photography business, but besides a couple of portrait shoots, all the weddings aren't for another 10 months. A few weeks ago though, I felt hope when a big photographer here had an add for an assistant. (Richard Simmonds is his name. No, not Richard Simmons, there's a 'd' in there. His site is www.videotech.co.za) I was super excited because it would be the perfect job. I'd be able to do what I love, and also learn a lot from him about photography and the area here in South Africa. I applied and he quickly responded telling me he loved my work and wanted to hire me. I told him I was available anytime to meet and then 3 weeks went by and nothing. I even wrote to ask if he was still interested and that I was available blah blah. Nothing.

After a bit of a breakdown, a long shower, and some heartfelt prayers this week, I got a call Wed morning from Mr. Simmonds asking if I was available the next day for a photo shoot! Uh...ya! I was super excited and went to meet him. He's way cool! He resembles Mr. Clean. He "heads all projects as Producer, ensuring productions are planned and executed to the highest standards." He told me the shoot tomorrow was from 7:30am till about 2pm and was an event for the Miss Earth South Africa girls. They were going to go to a school in Tempisa, very poor township and teach the kids about helping the environment and plant trees and stuff. They also got a tour from their sponsor, Console (a glass making company) of their glass factory. I was to kind of be a journalist photographer and photograph everything going on.

It went SO WELL! I loved it and I had a blast. You can see some highlights on my photo blog. This is the perfect job for me! The weather was beautiful and the kids were adorable. And the glass factory was fascinating. I had a photo shoot after in Pretoria:

and I have one tomorrow too here in Joburg. (Go to my blog and read this guy's story, it's amazing. What a great guy). I'm also meeting with a teacher tomorrow to see if I can teach some poorer schools Math on some days. Also, I'm joining an orphanage, Princess Alice as a volunteer to feed the babies 3 hours a day. What could be better!?

Life is good people. I'm back in business. Africa rocks. I'm so happy to be here. We leave for our big 8-day trip next Friday! We're going to the Okavango Delta and Chobe Game Reserve in Botswana and Victoria Falls in Zambia & Zimbabwe! WE CAN'T WAIT!