Crusing the Karoo

August is full of travel for Alice and I... good thing, because the weather seems to be pretty terrible in August- the howling PE wind is driving us crazy! Last week we had a long weekend for Women’s Day, so Alice and I decided to take a road trip through the Karoo. The Karoo is a desert/farm area inland of the southwest coast. We knew there wasn’t much to “do” in the Karoo, but we had heard a lot about this area and thought we’d check it out. The Karoo is known for having really extreme weather patterns- freezing in the winter, and terribly hot in the summer. We were prepared to freeze! Fortunately, the weather turned out to be pretty moderate. We started by driving north of PE to a small town called Cradock. We arrived in the evening and spent the night in a cute B&B there. This was our first real experience in a truly Afrikaans area, and the language barrier was bigger than we thought! The Karoo (and most rural, farming areas in the country) speak primarily Afrikaans. Most people in the country can speak some Afrikaans, even if it isn’t their home language, so suddenly English wasn’t such an easy medium of communication.

Our B&B

The next day was spent in Mountain Zebra National Park just outside of Cradock. We didn’t know there was such a thing as a mountain zebra, but we read about the difference between mountain and traditional zebras as we drove through the vast landscape. It was a very different kind of scenery to Londolozi in Kruger where I had been with my family last month, but it was beautiful in a different way. We spent the afternoon with Wildebeasts, Ostriches, Zebras, and Kudus before heading off to Middleburg.

Or at least our plan was to stop in Middleburg… That was until we got there and realized what a sad, deserted town Middleburg was. We had been warned of this at our B&B in Cradock (the owner was laughing at us for making it a stop on our trip), but we figured it couldn’t be that bad. Wrong. It was awful. We stopped to get Cokes and use the restroom and decided that one stop was enough in that town, so we moved on to our next destination, Graaff-Reinet.

Graaff from the Valley of Desolation

Because we skipped Middleburg, we got to spend 3 nights in Graaff which we ended up being especially grateful for! Graaff was a cute little town surrounded on 3 sides by mountains. The streets were peppered with shops and restaurants and full of people walking around. We spent the next 3 days exploring the shops and restaurants, going on morning runs and hiking through the Valley of Desolation. On Saturday, we drove into a nearby artist-colony town called Nieu Bethesda for the afternoon. This town is known for the Owl House, a house that has essentially been transformed into a canvas for artwork by a semi crazy lady in the 20s? Her backyard is full of unique sculptures, many of which include owls. Inside, she because obsessed with colour, and transformed many of her windows and walls into a palate of colours.

The Owl House

A fun little brewery we found in Nieu Bethesda

The beer tap!

After a few great days in Graaff we were back to PE. This was supposed to be an easy, straightforward drive, until we were about 60ks outside of any city and the gas light came on. Oops. Insert panic here. The next 35 minutes were anxiety filled as we tried to figure out if we should be driving slow or fast, checked google maps religiously on our phones as if it would make a gas station magically appear, and texted my boyfriend Andrew where we were in case we ran out of gas and lost cell reception and needed a ride. Magically, we made it the whole 60ks and danced in celebration when we finally saw a gas station in the horizon. Lesson learned, fill up early and often when driving in rural areas. It made for an adventurous morning to say the least. 

Walmer Happenings

I realize I have been updating a lot about travels and job searches these days, so I thought I would give a quick update of what is going on at Walmer High. Al and I are getting back into the swing of teaching a lot of kids after almost two months off for winter holiday. We are still working on class projects with each of our classes, and despite how long it has taken, they are finally starting to shape into a final product. The Grade 8 learners are working on cookbooks that are written in both English and isiXhosa, as well as helping Alice and I plan a community health fair for September. The fair will include fitness activities, HIV/AIDS screening, counselling services, a DJ, dancing, and some healthy food! The Grade 8s will also be selling their cookbooks at the fair. The Grade 9s are finishing up their “restaurants” that they have designed. Their final business plan, building design, menu, and security plan will be bound into a report that will be used for the business competition. The class that creates the best business wins a pizza party!

Alice and I had both lost a bit of motivation with the projects because they were dragging on much longer than we anticipated, but as we see the groups at work and the final product coming together, we are reminded why we began the projects in the first place. Regardless, we are excited to wrap-up this unit and move on to different types of teaching. Our goal for the final term is to work with the head of the English department and the English teachers in targeting smaller groups of learners that are in need of extra English help. We are continually overwhelmed by the number of learners we teach each week and are really excited by the possibility of working closely with a smaller group of students that we could get to know and help with specific needs! So I will keep you posted on that progress.

This past weekend, Andrew, myself, and 5 other friends went to Bushmans River for the weekend (about 2 hours up the coast from PE). Andrew’s gran, uncle, and family have property there, so we stayed in one of their houses on the river. It was great to see a part of the country that his family has such strong ties to and that I had heard so much about. Saturday morning, 3 of us ran the Mountain Drive Half Marathon (and yes, half of it was up a mountain)- it was tough but we had a great time! The rest of the weekend was spent watching the Olympics, relaxing, and braaiing. Winter seems to have hit pretty hard in August, so it wasn’t ideal weather for swimming or outdoor activities. Alice and I are grateful to have planned so many trips in August to get out of the PE wind, but our next one is going to be a cold one! Tomorrow, we are headed to the Karoo- an area north of PE that spans through much of the southern inland, to road trip for a few days. The Karoo can be very hot or very cold, and it looks like we are going to get the very cold weather- highs of 4-8 degrees Celsius with chance of rain and snow! Yuck. There’s not much to “do,” if you will, in the Karoo- its lots of farmland and historic small towns, but we are excited to explore and hopefully get a hike or two in as well. Will post some photos and updates of that trip next week. Enjoy your warm American weather- we are more than jealous on this side!

Big moves for the future!

Well, if you haven’t already heard from my mother, my big news of the week is that I accepted a teaching job for next year! I had been in communication with a school called Lebone College after a friend from my running club recommended I check it out. The school is located in the rather rural town of Rustenburg in the Northwest province, but it has quite an incredible story behind it. During apartheid, the Royal Bafokeng people, who live in this area, lost ownership of their land. As a result, many of the men went to Joburg or Kimberly to mine for gold or diamonds and earn money. The people saved up enough money and were able to buy their own land back. Decades later, the Royal Bafokeng learned that they were sitting on almost 40% of the world’s platinum resources. The discovery of platinum in Rustenburg brought a flood of miners as well as an increase of wealth to this small rural community. The Kgosi (or King) of the Royal Bafokeng a few years back, Lebone II, decided that one of the best ways he could improve the community he lead was to pump money into excellent education programs. In turn, he created a stunning high school which was named after him- Lebone II College. The idea was to drastically raise the standard of rural education in South Africa and provide a high quality education to students coming from disadvantaged backgrounds. In turn, the school has a large social responsibility to the community as it is a model for other local government schools. The school provides great amount of teacher training and participates in community work that benefit the local community.

Spending the day at Lebone, I was blown away by the campus, the kind and welcoming teachers, and bright students. The school teaches their students to think, a skill that seems simple, but is easier said than done. Many of my learners at Walmer, by no fault of their own, have been taught to copy, read, and recite. At Lebone, I saw students actively thinking throughout class, challenging each other and their teacher, and expressing their thoughts creatively.

While the town is certainly no Johannesburg or Cape Town, I was so impressed and excited by what was happening in Lebone that it didn’t seem to matter! I felt so welcome at the school in my one day there and could tell immediately that it was a community of teachers I would love to be part of. I am looking forward to the move and am excited to be challenged both personally and professionally. I am very grateful that I will be home for six weeks over Thanksgiving and Christmas, and that this job will also allow for me to visit home periodically! If you want to read more about the school or see more photos, here is their link: http://www.lebonecollege.co.za/

Have I convinced you to visit yet???? :)