I woke up a little late by non-holiday weekday standards. I
had planned on waking up at 8am but since I’m a light sleeper, I was woken up a
little after 7am by some of the girls moving around, getting themselves ready
for the day. Why so early girls!? I don’t quite remember what I was dreaming
about but it may have been some
lottery numbers! Oh well…
After breakfast Narda took us for a walk/tour around the school
(Transoranje School for the Deaf) and it was so sweltering hot that I was
wondering where the pool was so we could go for a swim but we didn’t see a
pool. The grounds were so huge that we didn’t tour all of them. Later on we did
an impromptu photoshoot on the jungle gym right near the hostel/dorms. Elrie
kept asking me if I was okay because I was way too quiet haha! I relaxed a bit
as the finalists and I stuck ridiculous poses and showed off our chompers to
the cameras. [Side note: have you ever thought about how weird smiling is?
‘Look at these teeth that I use to crush food with.’ Okay I’m being ridiculous,
ignore that]. Next we took a photo with a powerful looking statue.
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| There is little tiny me in the very back. I am not THAT tiny though. |
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| Why am I always in the back!? |
After the
photoshoot we went back inside and relaxed and communicated a bit. We even
practiced our talents as the talent show was to be held on Wednesday and I
messed around and did a split that I was stuck in. One of the girls had to help
me up.
Later in the evening we were told to don our cocktail dresses as we were
going out for supper. We were excited, we prettied ourselves up and that saw my
first attempt at putting on make-up by myself. I was going for the ‘natural
smoky eye make-up’. It was okay, not great but I was going to wear my glasses
anyway. We went outside into the evening air and took a bunch of photos while
waiting for the mini-bus to come and pick us up. The bus came after a while and
we were off.
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| From left: Xolisile, Christi, Elzane, Megan, Me, Elrie, Coleen, Chanel, Alexis, Chanika, Amy and Beauty. |
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| Mega, Amy and Alexis striking a pose |
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| Me trying to strike a pose |
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| Coleen looking at Christi, Chanika and Chanel being goofs...and mentally judging them |
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| Narda showing us how she does it |
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| Coleen, Chanika and Christi |
The journey was long. The other girls echoed this sentiment
too (I didn’t talk much even then but I was starting to bond with them!), and
night fell. We arrived at a mall and disembarked. I noticed that the mall was
in another city but I understood since the organisers only got sponsors in one city and they couldn’t find
a place for us to sleep in the same city so unfortunately we had to bear the
long journeys to and from the two cities. I wasn’t complaining though, it gave
us time for us to nap a bit in the bus haha.
It took a while for us to find the restaurant we were
supposed to be at. We were a bit lost and people’s eyes were on us. I’d also
look if a group of beautiful girls in pretty dresses and heels were walking
past me. Heels. It was a bit challenging to walk the stretch of the mall in
them but luckily we were given directions and soon found ourselves at a pizza
place. Yay pizza! We ordered our pizzas and when they came we passed them
around, sharing. We talked more with each other and goofed around. It was so
fun! While eating we took turns posing for individual photos outside the
restaurant and after we were done eating we all posed for more photos outside
with backpacks we received from another sponsor (I had to tuck in my stomach a
tad because of all the pizza!). Thanks Panarottis for the pizza and thanks DCD
Defence for the backpacks!
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| Me being camera shy... |
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| Accidental pizza photo- yum |
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| Christi and Coleen trying on my glasses. |
We set off yet again but this time we didn’t walk the entire
stretch of the mall, we went out an exit that was so close to the restaurant,
and then it was off to the hostel. Yes, I napped in the bus. I think we all
did.
Upon arrival we got out of our dresses and heels and some of
us congregated into the common room for some tea then it was off to bed.
Stay tuned for Tuesday’s diary.
P.S I now realise that those are a whole lotta photos!
‘Til next time
-Bella
