Ahron Osheroff and Brent Hale both in their 2nd year playing rugby in Reno will meet up with Gabrial "Jesus" Barbato who will be playing in his 4th year all arrive together at Durban International airport at 10.10pm upon flight SA0585 and will be greeted by Barry Anderson, Coaches brother. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Fred Forster and Glen and Jackie Fichardt who donated funds towards the flights. All 3 players will be joining College Rovers, the same club Chad and Carl went to last year. Next year the Nevada Rugby Union intends to send 5 players to South Africa.
The boys arrived safely in Durban South Africa and no time was wasted in introducing them to a traditional South African Braai. The next day they were introduced to the rugby club, College Rovers, where they will be learning some new tricks for our next season. In the first photo on the left is Barry Anderson with his daughter Mandy, on the right who has since left for the UK, next to her is Brent, Ahron and Gabe on the far right. Yes, those are beers on the table and the legal age for drinking is 18 in South Africa.
Practice starts tomorrow and I am sure we will hear more about South Africa from them in the near future. So far so good they are enjoying themselves.
1st Update
Well, our stay here is about half way through, and it seems like the longer we are here the more fun we have been having. We have taken trips around the area, as well as doing things inside Durban.
Last weekend we made a trip north of Durban to a place called St. Lucia. It is known for having an estuary full of hippos and crocs, as well as a game reserve that some say is better than the world renown Kruger. This is why we went up there. We were in St. Lucia for only three days, but we had a blast for those three. The day we arrived was spent checking in to the local backpackers, and organizing a trip to the Hluhluwe/Imfolozi Game Reserve, then going out to dinner. We couldn’t get the trip for the next day, Monday, because it was already booked full, so we scheduled it for Tuesday. so on Monday we went on a game walk where we saw hippos, zebras, crocs, tons of birds, chameleons, and impalas. Then after that we went to the beach, to swim in six foot waves. When we got back we found our walking tour guides and went out with him and his friend who was celebrating his 21st. it was really hard to wake up for the safari the next day, but knowing that I dropped money on I had to get up and it was well worth it. At the game park we saw white rhinos, zebras, wildebeest, kudu, warthog, lions, giraffe, buffalo, and a buck of other small animals from the antelope family. We didn’t get to see elephant which was a bit disappointing, but it was still very worth it. After the safari we had to take the 3 hour drive much faster so as to get back to rugby practice that night. We made it.
Our rugby team has won the league, and now after this weeks last match we have three weeks off then the playoffs for the Findlay cup. We are favored to win since we have been unbeaten so far this season. The rugby has been an awesome experience and every time I get on the field I just try to do the absolute best I can. Some of the guys here are surprised at the hard hits we make, unfortunately for me though there are like 4 other fokes in front of me so I only get like 20-30 minutes playing time. It’s still really good though.
Once we get the time off of rugby, Gabe and I are going to Cape Town for ten days, it should d be fun there, but since we are doing this we are missing the big trip down the wild coast to go fishing. Barry, our host, is a bit upset at this, but he says we might get the chance to go down again. We will see.
I would love to keep telling you all about the other things I have been doing like the Durban July horse race, going to the Sharks games, fourth of July celebration....but my teammates are done with their computer time and are growing inpatient to leave. Sorry .I will try to get on again before the week is up, also next time I will have some picture to send because I finally got a flash drive to use down here. ha-ha
Everyone keep well,
Ahron
2nd Update
hello hello hello,
I hope every one is well. i am good, except for that my trip is coming to an end. we leave next Thursday and I am not really looking forward to I, but since I am already signed up for classes I have to go back.
From the 14-24, Gabe and I went to Cape Town. It was awesome. We were in Cape Town for 7 days then in Stellenbosch for 3. Cape Town is pretty much like any big international port city, say a san Francisco or Seattle, Barcelona, etc. we went out there and we meat more people from America and Australia than we have met all trip, but we still had fun so it wasn’t too bothersome. We hiked up to the top of Table Mountain one day. it wasn’t really a hike more of a run, it only took us an hour, compared to the average two and a half. Once we got to the top it was, well, flat, like a table. But when you walk around on the edges there is no railing or anything to keep you from falling. its a straight fall about 1000m. The views are amazing though.
Another day we went to cape point and Cape of Good Hope. That was really nice too. There were baboons just hanging out everywhere trying to steal food and cause trouble, this was wild seeing that. We went hiking around that area, which is table mountain, and while we were hiking it started raining, but not just your average sprinkle of rain. This was like some one grabbing buckets full of water and throwing it at your face and body as hard as they could. Water was pouring off of me in a matter of seconds. It was crazy.
Then when we had our fill of Cape Town we went up to Stellenbosch for three days. Stellenbosch is where all the wine is at, so of course we went on a wine tour or two. It was really fun. I had no idea what I was doing but I dressed up like I did know and at the end of the day, I couldn’t tell a white wine from a red, not because I was that gone, because all the wine was like an overload for my taste buds ha-ha. Something else cool those three days was that the university there was coming back into session so the town was packed with students. I decided that I am going to find a way to study there for a semester or two because it is so nice.
I attached some pictures of some rugby, some wild zebras, and me at Kings Park watching the Sharks play.
I hope everything is going good for every one, and ill be back next week.....too soon I think.
-Ahron
