May I have a page?

Hi everyone!  Another day at work!  We went to the community center again, and I took lots of stuff from CCS with me: construction paper, markers, rulers, a map of the world, jump ropes, pictures of Zoe, Seth, and Payne, and the book Green Eggs and Ham.  The kids love to make pictures and cards - I even received a few from them!  I was surrounded by kids for what seemed like forever asking, "May I have a page?"  They also really enjoyed seeing pictures of my three kiddoes.  We also looked at the map of the world and found South Africa (they had trouble with this) and found the U.S. (Texas in particular) as well.  Then we looked for places that corresponded to their favorite World Cup teams.

I think my favorite part of the day was reading to a small group of kids - seeing their wide eyes fixed on the page was wonderful.

After work and lunch we had a drumming lesson.  Yes, a drumming lesson.  I did pretty well as long as I didn't think too much about it (seriously).  Once I started concentrating too much, I would lose the beat we were supposed to be copying.

We took a field trip to the Aquarium this afternoon.  They had an amazing shark tank that was big enough to scuba dive in.   The shark tank had tons of little fish that all swam in the same direction, but then would change direction simultaneously.  Remember in Finding Nemo when the school of fish gave Marlin and Dory directions?  It was exactly like that.  I also saw some "Dories."  (Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.)

Robben Island

I was so tired last night after writing about my weekend that I didn't have a chance to tell you about what I did yesterday.  First we went to our new placement - it is still near the township of Athlone, but it is in a community center instead of a church.  The set up is a bit different than last week, and that is both good and bad.  The good thing is that there is a playground outside, but the bad news is that there aren't any classrooms - we are all in one big room, and that can get loud and chaotic really fast.  It seemed to take a bit longer for these kids to warm up to us, but they did eventually.  A few of the kids from last week came over to the community center right as we were getting ready to leave for the day, but when they saw us there they promised to be there first thing Tuesday morning - and they were.

We took a little field trip to Robben Island today.  Robben Island is where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for the majority of his almost 30 year sentence.  Our tour guide told us that Robben Island was first a home for the native South Africans, then the Dutch housed everyone who had leprosy there.  After that it became a prison.  I think one of the most interesting parts of the tour had to do with the picture of the cave above.  It is situated in the limestone quarry where the prisoners were sentenced to hard labor.  There were prisoners of all educational levels there  - from lawyers, political activists, and doctors to those who were illiterate.  Their philosophy was "Each one teach one," so they would use the sand and sticks in the cave to teach the illiterate how to read and write.

Here is a picture of Nelson's Mandela's cell.  He was kept in solitary confinement, and the kennels for the guard dogs were bigger than his cell.

1 hostel + 12 zip lines + world's tallest bungy + safari = incredible adventure

Time for the adventure…

We hired a man named Farid to take us out of town for the weekend.  So Friday after placement we set out on our trek, up the Garden Route to our hostel, Fairy Knowe.  I had never stayed in a hostel, so I didn't know what to expect.  I ended up being very glad that Farid had suggested that we all bring an extra blanket, because it was COLD and there was no heat - yikes!  I will attach a pic of our little hut - six of us slept in there.  Hooray for bunk beds!  The first night there we got to talking with a man who works there, and he told us the story of how the town came to be called Wilderness: There was a man who wanted this woman to marry him. She said that if he went out into the wilderness and built her a house, then she would marry him. So that’s what he did. He went out into the wilderness and built her a house (which is the main guest house of Fairy Knowe). She followed through with her end of the deal and they were married. Wilderness is one of the cutest towns, and it has a killer view overlooking the Indian Ocean.

Saturday morning we set off to get in some extreme sporting. We first went ziplining at Tsitsikamma. It was a course of around 12 lines. We ziplined over waterfalls and through mountains/hills so that was very cool. It was gorgeous weather for it also. That was only a little taste of what was to come… bungee jumping off the Boukrans Bridge. 216 meters down, which is the highest bungee site in the WORLD. Here is a link to their website: http://www.faceadrenalin.com/
It was by far the coolest and most daring thing I’ve ever done. It was such an amazing experience - it felt like flying.  The bridge connects two mountains and a river runs through it… there is a major drought in Africa right now though so there was no water underneath where I bungeed. First time ever bungeeing and I’m totally hooked. It was incredible!  I will attach a couple of pictures, and I have a really great video as well.  However, I need to get Eddie to help me convert it to a file that youtube will recognize!

Then we went to Elephant Sanctuary at the Crags in Plettenberg Bay. A lot of the elephants were rescued.  One of the elephants used to be someone’s pet until she got too big and the owners couldn’t take care of her anymore. We got to walk the elephants by putting our hands in their trunks (a little slimy in there). It was cute how they held onto our hands though. Then we got to feed them which was really cool. They ate raw pumpkins and squash and carrots.

The next day, we set off to go to the Garden Route game reserve. We had a safari tour of the land, which was so expansive that driving around it took over 3 hours. We were in a safari-like open truck and again we lucked out with the weather, besides it being a little windy. Anyway, we saw rhino, giraffes, zebra, lions, elephants, cheetah, ostrich, antelope, and lots of brush.  It was pretty good, but not quite as authentic as a real safari.  Here is a pic:

If you have a chance, check out this website:
http://www.huntersnamibia.com/
My college roommate now lives in Namibia and runs a safari company with her husband.  It looks amazing. 

And that was how I spent my first weekend in Africa. I’m not quite sure much else would’ve topped it. Tomorrow we are going to Robben Island to take a more educationally-minded trip.I am very excited for that! I hope I didn’t bore you with all the details but this is a weekend that I never want to forget

Soccer tourney, dance off, and lots of hugs

Okay, so I haven't written since Thursday, sorry!  I have so much to say, so I will do one post to talk about my last day at the church in Athlone and another post to talk about my adventurous weekend.

Friday was my last day with this group of kids. The older children had a soccer tournament, world cup-style. When they paraded in after the tournament they were so excited and proud - the top two teams received soccer balls as prizes.  It was great to see that these children, although they've been neglected, still have pride in themselves. After that there was a dance-off, and I was one of the judges - I guess they picked me because I am such an expert on all the latest dance moves!  Some of the older girls must have heard about my Justin Bieber song stylings, because they made me sing "Baby" again - this time with the rap part included too (watch out Ludacris - I'm awesome).  The kids were all so sad to see us go, and I was sad to say goodbye to them.  There were lots of hugs all around.  It was very fulfilling though, to know that we made a difference in their lives and got them off the street for at least a couple hours.  Monday we'll get a new assignment, and start all over with a new bunch of kids.  I've gotten really attached to these kids already though, so I'm not really sure how I feel about starting all over again.

Ek kon von de Verenigde State von Amerika

Hi everyone!  I had my first Afrikaans language lesson today - can you tell from my title?  It reads, "I am from the United States of America."  We learned to say some other important things for working with kids, like "don't" (moene), "please" (asseblef), and "peanut butter" ( grandboontjie botter).  I think I did OK mimicking the pronunciations of the words when I had to repeat after the teacher, but trying to figure it out now is difficult!  We will have more language lessons later.  It surprised me that so many of the young kids speak Afrikaans since it was the language that the Dutch imposed when they came here many years ago.  It is still taught in schools, but so is English.  Our language teacher told us that she feels that Afrikaans might be phased out in the future.  In other areas of South Africa,the people speak Xhosa. 
I worked with Safeline in the township of Athlone today - I don't think I mentioned the name of it yesterday.  Things went pretty well.  The bubbles and balloons that I found in the CCS storage room were a huge hit.  The kids just combined them both into one word and called them "bubblaloons."  I also brought along some bright pink nail polish and painted everyone's nails.  Yes, I was very popular today.  Luckily, three of the older girls at the camp helped us with the little ones again.  It was nice to talk to them, and they had all kinds of questions about the U.S.  They wanted to know if I knew Gabriella from High School Musical.  :) 
Tomorrow will be Safeline's last day at this particular church in Athlone, so I will take my camera and get some pics of all of the sweet kids.  I won't be able to post them until Sunday, though.  My volunteer work is only during the week - the weekends are for experiencing South Africa.  I am going with a group of volunteers on a weekend trip.  There will definitely be a safari and some other adventures.  I will fill you in on Sunday!

Four hula hoops, one jump rope, and a soccer ball

I don't know if I told everyone or not, but the World Cup completely disrupted my volunteer plans!  Not that I don't love soccer, but I was really looking forward to working in an educational setting here in South Africa.  Anyway, because of World Cup, all of the school children are on holiday from school.  Soooooooo, that threw a huge monkey wrench in my plans.  Today I worked with an organization called Safeline that was running a holiday camp for the township kids.  I, along with another CCS volunteer, had a group of about 15 3, 4, and 5 year olds from 9am until 1:00.  The title of my post is what we had to entertain them with.  It was hard work, let me tell you.  The kids were VERY active, but so sweet and practically starving for attention.  They would just grab onto me and refuse to let go.  The language barrier is a bit of a problem. Most of the little ones speak mostly Afrikaans, but they did understand some English.  I was glad that Payne used to sing the Justin Bieber song, "Baby," because we found a connection there - seriously!  We sang it together.  I will be seeing the kids again tomorrow, and I found bubbles and balloons in the CCS supply closet to take with me - woohoo!  We also have Afrikaans classes tomorrow afternoon, so I will fill you guys in on everything I learn - I'm sure I'll be amazing.  Kidding, but I'll do my best.

Etafeni

We also went to Etafeni yesterday.  It is an incredible community center that services township women, children, and teens.  There is a preschool, an after-school program, AIDS counselors, and craft skills for women - check out some of their products by going to the website:
http://www.etafenitrust.org/

The other side

So today we saw a completely different side of Cape Town.  Above is a picture of part of Langa, one of the oldest townships in Cape Town.  These two teeny shacks a just a small part of the hundreds of "houses" like this in Langa.  (Langa means sunrise in Xhosa, the native language).  Clearly, there is no running water or plumbing of any kind in these homes.  Sometimes they have to light fires in them to stay warm.

If you are a bit more fortunate, you might be able to stay in a place like this.  This is the kitchen of a hostel that is used by several families. They have running water and electricity.  It costs 20 rand a month to live here - about $2.60 in U.S. dollars.  Also, there are several bedrooms in the hostel that families share - at least two families per room.  However, it not just their room, it's really their entire home.

Here is a lady from the hostel that was so excited to share her home with me. 

Everything she owns is behind us.

The government is working to update and modernize these hostels, but it is a slow process.

Cape Town

Had a tour of Cape Town today.  Here are some pics:  the first is the Castle of Good Hope, the oldest surviving colonial building in South Africa.  The second is a view from Signal Hill - see the soccer stadium?  That's probably as close as I'm going to get to a game!  The last pic is of me at one of the beaches.  It is winter here, so it's really cold (hence my fleece) but there were people out surfing.  Tomorrow we have a township tour and a history lesson, and then volunteer placements start on Tuesday.  More pics tomorrow!

arrived!

After a 9 hour flight to London, a 12 hour layover in London, and an 11 hour flight to Cape Town, I am finally here.  Exhausted, but here.  None of the other volunteers have arrived yet, but everyone will get here today.  The driver, Kimie, picked me up from the airport and talked me through what we were seeing as we drove in.  Everything looked beautiful around the airport.  He said, "When we get over this bridge, everything will change.  Don't be shocked."  And over the bridge, there it was: a little township overflowing with patched together shanties.  Apartheid may be over, but a great number of the black population still lives in poverty. 

I think we are taking a township tour tomorrow - if so, I will take pictures for you guys.

a day in London

I got a chance to spend the day in London today. I was planning on going on a walking tour with a group, but I got on the wrong subway my first go -bummer- so I missed it and had to strike out on my own.  That's one of the things that stinks about traveling on your own - you have no one to blame but yourself when something goes wrong (English II - remember the Lopate essay?). Went to Westminster Abbey and the Victoria and Albert museum.  The museum had an exhibit on the evolution of fashion that was incredible.

Leaving Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the big day!  I've got to get my packing done today--it's going to be strange packing for winter when it is a million degrees here.  I have a twelve hour layover in London, so if anyone has any opinions about something that is a "must see, " please let me know.  (I know there are tons of things to see - please help me narrow it down.)

I recieved my volunteer placement.  I am going to be working at Safeline Child Abuse Treatment and Prevention Centre.  Safeline is a non-profit organization that works in low income and under-resourced socio-economic areas. It delivers services to children between 2 and 18 years of age who have been sexually abused, raped or physically assaulted. Victims and their families are referred to Safeline from various government and local community organizations.