Kanya's Baby shower!

(updated with pictures!!)

When Kanya and her sister and their husbands went to Canada a few weeks ago, my friend Jeanette decided it would be a good idea for me to meet the four of them and make some friends in Joburg.  They were extremely nice people and invited me to attend Kanya's baby shower since I would've arrived by then.

To prepare, I googled the route to Kanya's from my new place and sent the map to Maita to get approval.  I wanted to make sure I googled correctly and didn't plan a route that will make me drive through the unsafe parts of town.  I also got the GPS from TechnoServe just in case.

OOh a no stopping sign!

attempts at taking pictures while going to the on ramp for N1 towards Pretoria

Unfortunately, the GPS was not very good and it was very focussed on telling me the street I'm on and not the street that I should be turning to.  So... I got lost.. and had to make a phone call to Maita for help!  After an additional 10 minutes (making the trip more like 35 mins long rather than 25), I finally arrived!

Kanya lives in a gated community and in the complex there is a clubhouse which is where the baby shower was held.  Because Kanya does not know the gender of her baby, the theme was polka dots (it was so cute!) and there were baby outfits hung on clothes lines as decorations.

Looking out at the club house

cutest decorations ever!

Kanya and her sister Maita

The food was also amazing, not to mention the dessert.  My personal favourite was the coconut chocolate almond crumble bars, I definitely need to get the recipe from Maita sometime.

Someone made a winnie the pooh diaper cake! 

The sweets table

beautiful (and tasty) red velvet cupcakes

These were the best!! Coconut chocolate almond bar things - i need the recipe

hmm cake that baked in a cardboard tray!

These were hilarious ;)

It was actually the first baby shower that I've ever been to.  So I struggled a bit with what to get Kanya.  Rather than getting her something baby related, I actually ended up getting her a DIY kit to make bubble tea.  I remembered that when we met in Canada, Kanya said she really wishes that you can get bubble tea in South Africa (but it does not currently exists).  I'm so glad that Kanya was very excited by this present that I brought =)

The day ran extremely smoothly from the amazing planning of the organizers Maita and Marica.  I also quite enjoyed the activities.   There was a clothespin game where if you say the word "baby" in a conversation then you lose your clothespin to the person you're talking to.  The person with the most collected clothespin wins.  (Clothespin also has a different name in South Africa).

We played a few quick games of charades.  Then there was a game where everyone has to draw the baby on a paper plate that's held in front of their foreheads.  During gift opening, there was a game of sticker bingo.  In short, each gift has a sticker on it and each person is distributed a bingo card.

Another thing that was also happening throughout the shower was a cushion cloth to be decorated by everyone.  The end product was beautiful (I will post a picture).  I have taken good notes during the day, so TONG, I'm ready for yours! Your shower will be awesome! Bring it on ;) (just j/k)

My attempt at drawing a baby with this plate on my forehead.. the happy face on the top right was not bad?

Kanya sticker bingo to be played with gift opening!

Bingo cards that came with stickers on the back

cute little girls getting excited about teletubbies on the towel

Each present has a sticker associated with it.. I was close.. but not quite , we were lookng for a "Z".. They say "Zeee" here not "zed"

pooh bear!

Such a cutie! Took me awhile to get this shot though

The cushion cover! 

The highlight of the day was definitely the gorgeous cake that was made for the bride.  It was the most exquisite cake ever featuring a jeweled dress with a baby bump on it.

Beautiful display (and i like the table cloth too!)

This cake was beautiful!

Look at it! *aww*

Kanya with her cake! (and Siam is the baby bump's name)

We took apart the cake!

I stayed to help clean up and to just hang out with my new south african friends =)  (actually the truth was I saw the beef curry that Kanya was making in the slow cooker and invited myself to stay for dinner).  It was the most delicious "carrie" that I have ever had!  Jeanette has told me about Kanya's chef skills before and I must say expectations were definitely exceeded.  I'll be over for dinner anytime! =P heh

Who can resist that?

served with rice and butternut squash

There are also a few of Kanya's friends that I met today and it was quite cool to make new friends.   Kanya's mom, Brenda, was also super nice.  She is Canadian and lives in Swaziland.  I will definitely need to make a trip to Swaziland in the near future (and try to go before the baby is born, yay Road trip!).

Since I've arrived, I have also started to learn new vocabularies.  See if you know what the following means:

1. Baby shower related - "dummy"
2. Baby shower related - "nappy"
3. Other South African vocab - "boot"
4. Other South African vocab - "robot"

any guesses??? (scroll down for answers)

The highlight of the day was definitely my breathalyzer test when I got pulled over at a checkpoint on my way home.  They must've noticed that I was foreign and decided to check me.  Apparently I had some issues blowing enough air into the machine for testing, so I had to do it a few times.  And needless to say it was 0.0 =P

It was quite the experience for me since I haven't even had this test in Canada.

More random pictures of the day:

Maita and I

Me and my new friends : Maita and kanya!

Kanya's cake!

She was ready, this sign will be transferred to her car ;)

Answers:  dummy is a pacifier, and a nappy is a diaper.  Boot is the trunk, and Robots are traffic lights.