Bucket List

I hope everyone enjoyed my Africa posts! I'm getting adjusted back into American life and missing Africa everyday! I do believe however, that I've made lifelong friends on this trip though so they will most definitely help me keep all of the memories alive. I'm staring a bucket list because I had so many crazy adventures in Africa that I feel I need to keep it going. I only have a handful of things on the list so far so feel free to shout out ideas and I'll add to it as more things come to me.

Bucket List:
Run 365 miles in one year.
Run a marathon
Visit all six habitable continents (half way there!)
Learn to speak Spanish
Complete my cool sock collection so I will never wear the same pair of socks in one year
Run the Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure next year!
Walk in the Susan G. Koman 3 Day Walk
Complete the list of 100 books every high schooler should read
.....

Cheers

Amazing memories coming to an end...

Well here is my last blog post of the trip. Time flies! I wish I could have written more and shared more pictures along the way but internet is a commodity here – something I’ve realized that I take advantage of in the states. I am sorry to be leaving South Africa in a few very short days but I’m ready to see my family and boyfriend again. This whole trip I kept thinking about how I wish they were all here to see and experience this absolutely beautiful country and it’s people. The hardships that a lot of these natives have experienced are definitely something I will remember.

I am mostly very sorry to be leaving my students behind. The last day at our schools last week was probably one of the most challenging days I’ve had. It was touching to see how much they cared about us and how they did not want us to leave. I did not want to leave because every student was an absolutely fascinating person. I walked through some of these houses and have seen what they live in and can’t fathom how every single one of them comes to school with a smile on their face and hungry to learn. That was probably the biggest different I noticed between American students and these students – these students have intrinsic motivation and desire to learn. I had days where I offered to play games with my students and some of them would protest because they wanted to learn. It made being a teacher that much more exciting. Below is a picture of me and my roommate Keri with one of the classes I got to work with regularly.

Speaking of roommates, mine are still wonderful. We get along no problem and I foresee both Keri and Katie being lifelong friends of mine. I think a lot of the people on this trip will stay in touch and be friends for time to come. We’ve already discussed how weird it will be not to spend every waking moment with 19 other people.

One such moment was our time in Pringle Bay beach house. The weather the weekend that we went was a little chilly and windy but we had a blast anyways. Almost all the people on this trip are big Echure fans so we played a lot of that and a game called banana grahams. There was one day where we were able to go out to the beach for a little while until it got too cold for us to stand. I took a walk with Katie and Jen and found some cool seashells. Here is a sweet picture of the sunset from our deck. 

On our second holiday, we visited Montagu, Cape Agulhus, Gansbaai, Cape Point, Cape of Good Hope, and Boulder national park. Montagu was a very cute, quaint little town with one traffic light. It was Easter while were in there so we all found little churches around town for service. We also visited the hot springs, tried to pet sting rays, as well as took a tractor ride up the side of the mountain. It is as scary as it sounds. The wagon wheel was about 2 inches from the edge of a cliff very often. The scenery and views, however, were breathtaking.  The camera does not do it justice but you can get the idea. 

Cape Agulhus is where the southern most tip of Africa is as well as where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. Here’s a picture of Keri and I were the oceans meet. 

When we went to Gansbaii, we were supposed to go shark cage diving but they were experiencing a big storm causing too large of swells to safely send to the boats out on the water. We’re going to try to go back on Saturday and try again. Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope were just beautiful. Here is a view of the Atlantic Ocean from Cape Point. 

We also saw some mischievous baboons at Cape of Good Hope. 

Boulder National Park serves as a nature preserve for penguins. They were absolutely adorable.

Like I said, I wish I could share more! When I get home, I will be posting hundreds of pictures on my facebook for enjoyment. I may also write one more reflective blog to wrap up this unbelievable experience. I cannot believe it’s time to go already…

Cheers

First holiday!

Our first holiday was excellent! We had so much fun and saw so many beautiful things. We started off at Addo National Park, which is a game reserve. From there we went to Tsitsikamma National Park and finally to Mossel Bay. On the way to Addo we stopped at a couple of wineries. The first picture is a view from the deck of the first winery we went to and the second picture is of the gardens we walked through to get to the tasting tables.

After the wineries we stopped in a backpackers house in Knysna. Africa is a country that struggles with having enough water so many of the places we stayed at were participating in efforts to conserve water. The Knysna backpacking place limited your shower to 2 minutes and turned off the hot water…

When we got to Addo, we went on several drives through the park looking for animals. I saw all sorts of African animals – elephants, zebras, antelope, monkeys, warthogs, etc. Several of us went on a horseback ride through the park and got up close to a lot of the animals. It was super sweet. Later that night, we went on a night safari and drove up next to a carcass that hyenas were feeding off of. It smelled and looked gross but it was interesting to see these animals function in their natural habitat. Hyenas actually look cute unlike how they look in the Lion King :)

Next was Tsitsikamma, which was absolutely beautiful. Here is a picture from the rocks right in front of our cabin.

We hiked up the mountain that our cabins were at the bottom of at 6am to see the sunrise beyond the mountains. It was so serene and peaceful.

We also had a rain spider encounter in our cabin. They are huge and gross so capturing it was quite the ordeal.

Next day we went hiking to a waterfall next to the ocean. Here is part of the 1.6 km “trail” that we hiked to get there and following is the waterfall.

Next stop was bungee jumping on the way to Mossel Bay. I did not jump but it was awesome being out on the highest bungee jumping point in the world cheering on my friends as they jumped off. We finally made it to Mossel bay and just relaxed for the night. The next day we visited Cango Caves, the Feather Palace and Oudtshorn festival. Below is a picture of the caves and some of the ostriches.

The following day, 13 of us went SKYDIVING. Yes, I went skydiving!! It was so liberating and such a beautiful view. I loved every second of it.

Something that really made me stop and think was a man who asked me if I’ve learned that Blacks have no brain. Although apartheid was abolished over 10 years ago, there are still very distinct separations here. There are three main classifications: Whites, Coloureds, and Blacks. Blacks are traditionally the pure African natives and tribes. Coloureds are any people that are not White and not Black. I guess it took me by surprise that there is still blatant racism in this country. I kindly told the man that I have not learned that and actually wanted to let him know that in fact I’ve learned quite the opposite. Many of my students who come from the Black townships are brilliant and much more cultured and matured beyond their years.

That’s as much as I have for now. Still having a great time and looking forward to more adventures. I almost want to move here and grown some avo trees and aloe plants in my backyard. J

Having a great time!

The experiences I’ve had so far have been beyond my imagination. The plane ride was long and exhausting and it took us about 2 – 3 days to get adjusted to the jet lag and time change.

These are a few of my fellow travelers taking a quick nap during our layover in Amsterdam.

 Some of the bags didn’t make it to Cape Town so this is us entertaining ourselves until those people could make arrangements with the airport.

We are constantly doing something everyday all day so I am just now getting used to the walking, different events, school and dinners. My host family is great. We actually don’t see them very often because we’re always out and about and they are very busy too. They own a property that has their own house plus a few other guesthouses. We’re in the guesthouse called “the barn.” Below are pictures of the kitchen, bathroom (or toilet as they call it here), and our bedroom (3 of us are in here).

This is a picture of part of the township where I am teaching and where all of my students live.

The picture was taken from the parking lot of Kayamandi High school. Kayamandi is the name of the township. “Kaya” means home, “mandi” means pleasant. I will tell you that the community here is extremely pleasant but their living situations are far from that. The next picture is of the central area of the high school. Students are gathered to watch a film after school and to play a game of netball.

Next is a picture of some of the kids in Kayamandi entertaining themselves on the weekend. They loved us and we LOVED them!

The hospitality here has been amazing so far. Everyone is very kind here - even strangers on the street. The only very strange thing I have tried so far is ostrich. It was good! We also tried a traditional South African sausage (I forgot the name already…) similar to brats that we eat in America. The food here is similar to the food in America but most of it is prepared with fresh ingredients. I had a soft serve ice cream cone today made with real fresh crème – so delicious! That’s all for now…internet is hard to come by so I may not post again for awhile. We have three days in the schools this week and we’re off to do some traveling while the students enjoy their holiday break from school. Should be fun!

Please post comments and questions! 

Farewell USA

Hopefully we'll see more of these in a few days :)......

Please pray for a safe flight!

21 hours 'til departure...

It is the eve of my departure to South Africa. I've got some mixed emotions but mostly I am really excited. It almost seems surreal because all of us have been talking about it for so long. I will certainly miss my students from Steele, but I am thrilled to meet the students in SA. I am curious to see the differences between the schools here and there and the cultures overall. I'm excited to get to know my four room mates better and develop lifelong relationships with them and the other 13 students going. I am NOT excited for the 27 hours total on the airplane...

I am not 100% positive how much access I will have to internet so I will do my best with this blog. I know lots of you want to follow along with this trip, see pictures, and hear about what I'm doing. I promise, I will do my best to keep you updated, but also understand with all that we're doing and the "behind-the-times" technology over there, I may not have frequent access. I will be keeping a written journal while I'm there so my plan is to write once or twice a week on this blog highlighting things from my journal and posting a few pictures. I may not post all of my pictures right away - I would prefer to spend time with my host family and other students than to spend time posting pictures, but I will post some here and there so you get a taste :)

THANK YOU all from the bottom of my heart for the thoughts and prayers as I embark on this journey. I anticipate that this will all be a huge life lesson for me not only with education and culture but personally too. I could not ask for a better group of students to travel with. These people are very open for discussion about anything and everything. We also have quite a bit of time together to ponder, debate, laugh, and cry with each other. I don't expect anything less than to be totally and utterly exhausted by the end of this trip, but to take so much from it that will teach me so many things.

Prayers from South Africa for my friends and family back home..Love you all!

Cheers

Failing...New Plan

This semester has posed a huge challenge to keeping up this blog and all of the goals I set for myself. So, I've decided to abandon and/or change a few goals...

As for the no biting nails goal, forget it. I only do it when I'm stressed and stressed is all I am this semester. I'm still going to make an effort but there isn't much hope. Better luck next year, huh?

My 365 miles in 365 days isn't going so well. I hardly have time during the week and spend all weekend catching up on homework and preparing for the next week. I don't feel like I've really taken a break this semester. I did this weekend which was nice, but one little break means double the effort afterwards. It's a vicious cycle. I have every intention of continuing running when I return from South Africa, but for now, it just doesn't seem possible. However, I am NOT giving up. In leu of my running goal (for now) I have registered for the fifth third 10000 steps program. It's free, and you get a free pedometer! I figured I could manage getting in some walking everyday better than I can fit in running. I think this is a good compromise!

I apologize for the lack of recipes. Honestly, I haven't had much time to do a lot of cooking either. (Boy, I'm looking forward to March 20, my departure date, more and more everyday!) Here is an easy easy pasta recipe I made this week.

Pasta Salad:

Boil half a box of whole-wheat spiral pasta (I overcook it because whole-wheat pasta is a little tougher)
Slice some red and yellow peppers.
crumble feta
open a jar of sliced olives (whole olives are cheaper - I usually buy whole and slice them myself, but I accidentally grabbed sliced at the store)
Dice a little bit of tomato (or get cherry tomatoes and cut in half or quarters)

Cook pasta and let cool slightly. Toss in veggies and cheese. Coat with italian (or greek) dressing.

I made a huge batch and just eat it for lunch everyday :) This is very versatile. You can add whatever veggies, cheese, dressing you want. Heck, get crazy and add a little bacon or chicken or both!


P.S. Remember when I said I had lots of kitchen tips but when I went to write them here I forgot? Well, I just remembered one yesterday...

If your cutting board is slipping around on the counter and making it hard to cut, lay a damp towel underneth it - it works wonders!

For now, Cheers


I will do my best to give you some more in the future :)