Buzzing Around

I wanted to give a few quick updates about some of the projects Al and I have been working on lately that are finished. I'll try and do them in bullets and pictures:

Literacy Week:

• We had an awesome week of read-a-thons, essay contests, Drop Everything and Read, a spelling bee, and a 'Friday Flick' to get everyone excited about literacy! 

Heritage Day:  

• An all school activity to celebrate the national holiday 'Heritage Day'. Everyone wears their traditional clothing and performs traditional song and dances. 
• Alice and I even got some face paint as well! 

Health Fair:

• Following Heritage Day activities was the health fair that Alice and I have been busy planning with our Grade 8 learners- was a BUSY Friday. The day included fun fitness activities, health advocacy booths, HIV/AIDS screening, dance classes, a movie showing (Remember the Titans), music, and the selling of the Grade 8 cookbooks! 

Has been a busy, exciting few weeks at Walmer! 

Vic Falls Adventures!

Jolly Boys Backpackers: Livingstone, Zambia.

What an incredible weekend away! Alice and I took a long weekend and Friday morning we were off to Zambia. Victoria Falls is considered one of the 7 natural wonders of the world and is tucked in just between the Zambia and Zimbabwe border. We decided to stay on the Zambia side in a town called Livingstone right near the falls and the Zim border.

We arrived Friday midday and started sorting out what activities we wanted to include in the weekend. The afternoon began by going to the ATM to withdraw ONE MILLION Zambian Kwacha to pay for our food/activities. It was pretty funny to withdraw 1 million of any currency! Friday night we decided to do the Sunset cruise along the river that some other Americans from our backpackers had signed up for. We quickly learned that these other Americans were a good portion of the Peace Corps Zambia kids, so we got chatting to them. It was really fun to have some new Americans to chat to and compare experiences. It was a really nice perspective to speak with them about their life in rural villages and reminded me that we really have very little to complain about in our day to day life here.

Saturday morning we decided to cross over to the Zimbabwe side to see the falls from their border (it’s known for having better views this time of year). It was the first time I had ever walked across a border which was neat! We spent the day walking around the national park taking far too many pictures of waterfalls. At lunch, we noticed the table of women sitting next to us was speaking Xhosa, so we worked up the nerve to greet them in Xhosa and ask where they were from. They were so surprised/entertained by the fact that we were white Americans that could speak any Xhosa, but it was certainly fun to speak with them for a while. We saw them in the airport as well where we continued to practice our skills.

Main Falls

Saturday night was spent at dinner with the Peace Corps group. Sunday morning we were off to what might have been the highlight of the whole trip- Devils Pool. This is a natural pool that sits just at the breaking point of the falls. A small motor boat took us to the island that sits on top of the falls and we walked across the island before arriving at the edge of the falls. The excitement began when we stripped down to our bathing suits and swam across the current (only about 10m from the edge of the falls) to a rock at the edge of the pool. Once we arrived at the rock, we had just a few moments to climb to the top before jumping in! We swam around in this little pool with only a rock ledge between us and the 90+meter drop of the falls. The craziest part was the guides were walking literally on the edge to take photos of us and make sure we were staying in the right area.

You HAVE to click on this one to zoom in.
Spot the people and the pool at the top!

Our turn to swim!

The pool adventure ended with a delicious breakfast on Livingstone Island on the edge of the falls. The rest of Sunday was spent lounging around at the nice hotel that the Devil’s pool trip left from pretending like we were staying there and ordering drinks by their pool. Monday morning was our last day and we wanted to get one last activity in before we left. After wandering around aimlessly for a bit, we ended up back at bridge between the Zam and Zim border- the bridge known for its bungee jumping, gorge swing, and zip line. Well… why not?? I signed up for the gorge swing and Al, the zip line. A swing sounded fun I thought, and a cool way to view the Zambezi River rushing below me. So there I was, getting harnessed up to jump off the bridge. I hadn’t quite realized yet that the free-fall for the Gorge Swing was actually longer than the free fall for the bungee jump- 70meters (or just around 210feet) before the fall turned into a swing!

 I stood with my toes hanging off the bridge until he said jump. It was wild- I had never done a free fall activity like that before, and for the first couple seconds, I realized I was falling long enough to actually think about how uncomfortable it was to have my stomach and heart feel like they were floating above my head! But then the swing caught and I got to swing between the Zim and Zam border over the huge Zambezi River- can’t think of a better way to end the weekend! I was hauled back up, unharnessed and we hustled to grab a cab and head back to the airport.

See if you can spot me!

Overall, it was an incredible weekend entirely worth the “splurge”! It was also interesting to spend time in a different Southern Africa country and compare to South Africa. I knew that South Africa was different to the other Southern African countries, but it wasn’t until I actually left and spent a couple days away that I realized how truly different it was. South Africa certainly experiences challenges of poverty, power struggle, and economic struggle like many other Southern African countries, but it materializes in such a different form here! The disparity between rich and poor here never ceases to shock me, and the way the poor live in South Africa is so different- so much more crowded, dirty, small- to the way the “poor” live in other African countries I’ve been to. It was also incredible how much safer Alice and I felt walking around in Zambia and Zimbabwe than we do here. There were so many people walking around on the roads and the whole atmosphere felt so much more relaxed. Our new Peace Corps friends were telling us about how they hitch rides anywhere they need to go. We were blown away by the idea of hitching- that’s something we would never be able to do here without risking being the latest news headline!

The weekend proved to be a great vacation, a nice perspective and an exciting adventure. If you have the time and the money- go to Victoria Falls!! 

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???? :)

Winter holiday...

Because YES, it is winter here. It was quite an eventful holiday with a fair amount of travel so I will try and post a picture or two that highlights each place I traveled with the fam. We started out in PE where I live, which gave my family some time to get over jetlag and relax a bit before we start the bigger travels. There's not much to do here, so our weekend was filled with eating at some of the good restaurants we've found here, exploring a music festival on Stanley Street, and going to South Africa vs. England rugby match.

All green for the Springboks!

After the weekend here, we began our drive down the Garden Route. This drive is known to be one of the most scenic in South Africa, and has lots of great little towns to stop at along the way. Our first stop was Tsitsikamma (where Andrew and I traveled a few weekends back), where we did 2 short hikes along the coast. We continued the drive to Knsyna where we spent our first night. We had great seafood on the water front and spent the next day exploring the Knysna Heads.

Knysna heads

Then we were off to Mossel Bay, another quiet beach town just a couple hours further down the Garden Route. We stayed at a B&B with and incredible view and enjoyed another great dinner on the water. Unfortunately we didn't get to spend too much time in Mossel Bay before we were off to Cape Town!

The next 3 days were spent in Cape Town. We hit up a lot of the touristy things including Table Mountain, the V&A Waterfront, Cape penguins, and Cape Point/Cape of Good Hope. I enjoyed getting to see all the well-known places, but we all agreed we'd like to have more time to just explore the city and some of the cuter neighborhoods. What I did get to do, however, that I was SO stoked about was have a hamburger and milkshake at the Royale Eatery on Long Street. They had fantastic burgers and ice cream (two things that, on average, seem to be prepared entirely differently in this country). So I was a happy girl that day. We loved Cape Town and I am definitely ready to plan a trip back to see more!

Cape Town from the base of Table Mountain

Table Mountain from Cape Town

Wine tasting

The girls at a windy Cape Point

Cape of Good Hope

Then we were off to Joburg for the afternoon where we stumbled across a very similar music festival to the one we went to in PE and explored some cute areas (after about an hour of driving in circles through central Johannesburg because of a broken GPS). And then we were off to Kruger! Every part of this trip was incredible, but this may have been the best part. We stayed at a lodge called Londolozi in Sabi Sands, a private game reserve in the southernmost part of Kruger National Park. The lodge was exquisite, the staff was phenomenal, and you can see for yourself below what the game drives were like...

Baby elephant trying to learn to eat with its trunk

Our Londolozi crew

I couldn't rave about this part of the trip enough! SAVE YOUR MONEY AND GO HERE!

After the fam departed, I was back to PE for one more week of holiday before school. It was mostly spent relaxing and cooking with Andrew, but I did have a few last adventures. The weekend after I arrived home, Andrew and I went to the Grahamstown Arts Festival, which is the national art festival here. We saw a few shows and walked around the tents full of jewelry, crafts, and clothing. It's an 11 day festival, but I felt like I got a good taste in the day we spent there. 

Andrew and I :)

The last weekend of the holiday was spent back in Knysna. Andrew and I, along with 6 other of our friends, traveled to Knsyna to run the Forest Half Marathon.. or that was the plan. Until the largest rain/wind storm imaginable hit the SA coast and flooded most coastal cities, resulting in a cancelled race. As it turned out, not only was the race cancelled, but the road to the house we rented flooded while we were out to lunch, forcing us to leave the cars, be transported back to the house, pack our stuff, and wade out! 

Wading... I hope this makes you Americans appreciate your summer right now! 

It turned into one adventurous weekend and we had quite a jol (good time) regardless! After about 2 months of holiday, its back to the working world. We've got a lot of work and a lot of travel planned for the upcoming months. Will be busy, but I'm looking forward to it. Work hard, play hard :)