Yogurt Faces and Green Glitter Moustaches

Phew. The past 48 hours have been nothing short of exhausting, challenging and hectic, but entertaining nonetheless. Corie, Elyse and I successfully pulled off our 7^th grade ‘girls empowerment’ sleepover at Lynedoch on Friday evening and I sit here, relaxing and reflecting on the night.

Overall, the process was definitely a valuable learning experience for the three of us, especially in terms of planning logistics and making adequate preparations. I’ll admit that I was a bit anxious the past few weeks leading up to this weekend because we struggled with the administration at Lynedoch in order to get approval; while the principle and teachers were more than willing to accommodate our requests, hunting them down and establishing communication was a large barrier we faced. I’ve also learned never to take transportation for granted, for the three of us struggled with carting over R600 worth of groceries from the shops to our apartments and then arranging a way of getting it all to the school the following day (it’s amazing how often you use your car on a daily basis without even thinking twice!). It was also surprising to be given so much responsibility. At the end of the day, the doors were locked, the staff went on holiday and the three of us were responsible for managing these ten preteens for almost 24 hours.

But enough about my musings. You’re more interested in learning why I came home covered in yogurt and rocking a sparkly green handlebar moustache, no?

 When our girls came rolling out of the van in their swimsuits and caked in sand from a day at the beach, we knew we were in for an interesting night. They soon had dug out the emergency fire hose and were water-blasting each other, making water stream out of their noses and their hair stand on end! They were excited to have full run of the building (literally!) and kept us busy throughout the night with constant head-count checks. As it drew time for dinner, they helped cut up vegetables for skewers and Lavonia’s father graciously came to braai for us. We introduced the girls to their first taste of s’mores and true to any good sleepover, they attempted to scare each other (and especially us!) with ghost stories and practical jokes.

Finally figuring out how to re-coil the fire hose? Check!

As to be expected with any group of girls full of sugar and on their first day of fall break, they were full of energy. Corie, Elyse and I were obviously challenged with maintaining discipline and respect with the girls –although there were only ten that attended, there might as well have been fifty! We kept the girls busy with activities: they entertained us with a choreographed dance (to a Justin Bieber favorite, of course!) and we designed positive self-image collages out of magazine cutouts. The girls also enjoyed visiting the “Lynedoch Primary Spa” where they received yogurt facials, complete with cucumber eye masks in addition to neon colored manicures and goofy makeup creations (hence my super-attractive glitter moustache).

Somehow, my camera always manages to get stolen for personal photo shoots...

Getting the ultimate spa treatment from our lovely masseuses  

As everyone knows, very little sleep actually happens at a “sleepover,” and the girls were quick to inform us upon their arrival that they were going to “stay up alllllll night long.” (Here, I pause to offer a belated apology to all those moms who put up with those birthday party sleepovers I attended growing up where we refused to go to bed…) However by some miracle –perhaps it was a full day in the sun or the sugar crash after all those s’mores –it was just after 2am when the giggling turned into heavy breathing and the girls were all wrapped up in their bed sheet cocoons on the carpet.

The three of us must have been an amusing sight to see the next morning as we lugged our blankets, pillows and activities onto the train and then the 30-minute walk back home, covered in braai smoke, charcoal, with yogurt-crusted hair. Despite the challenges and frustrating moments we faced, I am so grateful for the leadership and support that Corie and Elyse added to the weekend –the fact that we were able to function successfully as a team made all the difference in the world. Not only was this experience an opportunity for us to bond with and have one-on-one time with our girls, it also made me appreciate our personal strengths that we bring to our group. I have come away with high spirits and expectations for our work for the second half of the semester!

My go-to girls!