Cricket Match & Rugby Game

Thursday February 28^th, 2013

This weekend was an absolute blast. We have been immersed in South African athletics.   I wanted to give an update on the Oscar Pistorius case,  he has made bail and was released from prison on Friday morning. I had previously mentioned that when Reeva Steenkamp chose to be cremated that she would be cremated at the Victoria Park Cremortium, which is directly behind my school. Well, yesterday was the day when she was finally laid to rest. May she rest in peace.  

Katharine(left) Liz(right) and myself at the cricket match!

Team America! 

But on a lighter note, we spend our weekend being true Port Elizabeth locals and met some semi-famous athletes. Friday we hung out at the beach until the last possible moment in the sunshine! We cleaned ourselves up and headed out to St. George’s Stadium to watch a cricket match. It is very similar to baseball. We were rooting for the Port Elizabeth Titans. We were not sure what color they were so we kind of cheered for both teams! It was all in great fun though.   

Saturday we also spent at the beach! Anyone tired of hearing about the beautiful weather??  I’ve convinced myself that I was a fish in a previous life because I never want to leave the water, unless it is freezing! But the waves were quite big on Saturday! We were able to watch some surfers, and boy did they get massive air! They were all over the place. We saw some of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University students earlier in the day with a blow up air mattress and they would ride in the waves! It looked like a blast too! I was jealous we didn’t think of the brilliant idea ourselves. Liz & I were dying to try and our adventurous bone kicked in and we asked if we could try it out! We absolutely failed. The wave we rode in sent us flying off the air mattress and skidding through the sand. The girls on shore were dying laughing when we finally got up off the sand from being knocked and flipped around through the waves.  I think I swallowed enough salt water for a sea of fish to live happily in my belly. But it was fun enough so we did it again. This next wasn’t as much of a fail. The waves were almost too rough to play in though. We figured we would have another chance.

Saturday evening we went to watch the South African Kings vs. Western Force (Australia)  rugby game at the Nelson Mandela Stadium. The Nelson Mandela Staduim was built for the FIFA World Cup 2010. The architectural design of the stadium was incredible, other than the steps walking up to the stadium that I tripped up, twice. I also ran into a lamppost, it wasn’t my night. The South African Kings came out on top beating the Aussies. Rugby is so intense, it is similar to football but without the pads, helmets and timeouts. The players are insanely huge and pretty young men.  The fans at the game were probably the best part. They were so excited to watch their teams. Someone started the wave and it was the BIGGEST wave, I have ever seen! Everyone was standing and shouting, the bongo drummers also caught on with the beat. It was great time! Liz also teaches with me at VP Grey Primary and she has a student whose dad plays for the Kings! So that was pretty cool to have a connection with a player.

The beautiful sunset inside the stadium!

Rugby!!! South Africa is in the black!  

The connections keep coming! Sunday afternoon we went back to the Brewery which is a restaurant that we have fallen in love with. We were sitting down and a big herd of huge men came in and everyone in the restaurant stopped and stared at them.  Turns out it was the Australian Rugby team, they heard our accents and began talking to us across the tables. We ended up sitting with them for a little while and finished our dinner! They were telling us so many stories of the amazing places they have traveled to play.  The tallest of the group was 6’11 and the shortest one was 5’11. Needless to say, I felt like a dwarf.  So I met the Australian Rugby team in the tip of Africa. I am getting very cultured.

The school week has been very quiet. Between loosing my voice at the games and allergies, I sound a bit manly and the students love to laugh at me! It makes me sad knowing I wont be with them much longer. I have truly enjoyed being in class with these munchkins! They are students I will never forget. 

This weekend we are traveling to Plettenberg bay to swim with seals and cage dive with Great White Sharks! Ahh! I’m so excited but still super freaked out! We will be diving by The Seal Island which has appeared on Shark Week many of times! Yikes!

I will post photos as soon as we get back!

Talk with you now!  

Oscar Pistorius Update

So as many of you know, the South African “Blade Runer” Oscar Pistorius is being charged with pre-Meditated murder of his super model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.  Steenkamp was shot three times before Pistorius “realized” it was she. Boxes of drugs were seized from his bedside drawer. He is also being charged with having unauthorized ammunition and not having licenses on some of his guns.

Steenkamp’s hometown is Port Elizabeth and Tuesday at 11am was her funeral. The funeral was located at the Victoria Park Crematorium which is located directly behind my school.  The crematorium can be seen from the art room and I was able to talk with the art teacher earlier this morning.  She saw Francious Houggard get out of his jeep and walk into the service. Houggard is the rugby player that was texting Steenkamp and is apparently the text message created an argument previously in the day of her murder.  The art teacher also saw the family and friends of the Steenkamp.

Steenkamp has chosen to be cremated at the Victoria Park Crematorium, and the teachers have told us that when the “ovens” are on, the school will smell of smoke.

It is very eerie and unsettling to know this.  It gives me the chills thinking about it.  

Many people have asked what the feelings in Port Elizabeth are on this case, and the truth is, its 50/50. I don’t really know what to think about it. His bail hearing was ironically at the same time as Steenkamp’s funeral service.  His trail continues….   

I will continue to keep you all updated as this takes place. 

Talk with you now,
 

Photos from Addo & Schotia:

For my Delta Gamma, Zeta Sigma girls! 

So close to the rhinos! 

MY DREAM IS COMPLETE!

My roommate Katharine took this amazing photo! 

Scary Scary close!

Birthday Weekend!

Wednesday February 20^th.

  I turned 22 on Monday,  wooo hooo! I kept forgetting it was my birthday because I’m on a beach! Usually in February I’m cuddled up in sweats. I am not complaining though! We went and had sushi with our friends Niel and Devon. Somehow I have adopted the nick namename “ The Hobbit” because I am so short. Whenever we go out somewhere I always get bopped on the head.  The boys  were sweet and bought me a little silver “hobbit” ring for me to wear around a necklace.  It’s a big joke between Team American and them, I am sort of starting to grow used to it!    Other than Monday we had a pretty quiet and relaxed weekend!

Friday:  We didn’t do much of anything! After school we went to the beach and stayed until around 4pm. We get out of school at 1:00 on Fridays! J  We hung out around our apartment and lounged for quite some time. We couldn’t decide on anywhere to eat until all of the restaurants had stopped serving.  The only places that were serving still were fast food and there are a few, but we didn’t want to walk that late at night! So, we called a taxi and had him take us to McDonalds! It’s the first time I’ve had fast food since leaving.  Not only did I get a Big Mac Meal, but also I got it “large sized” and I devoured it. I didn’t leave a single crumb! Needless to say, I enjoyed it.J 

Saturday: We stayed at the beach and then went to eat dinner! Very boring but we needed a restful weekend. We are all either in the midst of our solo teaching or beginning.  

Sunday:  We headed out to a restaurant called Bridge Creek Brewery. It was so sleek and modern. We had a really nice time and were able to sit outside in the warm sunshine.   It was crazy windy when we left and apparently it was strong enough to knock out power in Port Elizabeth for a good 6 hours! It was fine when the sun was still up but it was starting to get late. Our neighbors had also gone to eat with us so they said we could come over to their flat because they had candles that we could light. Finally the lights came on around 11:00pm our time which was 3:00 Kentucky time.
 

Xhosa Lessons & Rugby Games

Tuesday February 12, 2013

So I am trying to keep my blog updated weekly but I am slowly learning it is becoming quite difficult.  Last week was pretty much consumed with creating lesson plans before we start our solo teaching week. Thursday we went over to Murray and Jordie’s house, which looks like it just walked off a Pinterest board! Everything was so “homey” and “African meets Farmhouse”. It was beautiful!  We had a Xhosa lesson (clicking) with a good friend of theirs Thando. It was interesting to learn how to speak and understand. I even picked up some words to say to my students. They were quite impressed Friday morning! We also learned about Xhosa culture and some of their traditions. We learned that when young boys in the Xhosa culture feel as if it is time for them to become a man, they are taken to a special initiation ceremony. They are taken to the Bush to live for a month and they learn many different things. Thando did not go into detail what they are taught. Once they are schooled they are taken to a ceremony for the boys to become men. It is very unhygienic and painful for these men. There have been close to 40 fatalities because of this ritual. After this is over, the men are painted with a red paint that stays on their skin for 6 months. When the men return from the bush and are painted red, it earns the respect of those around.  When they return, anyone younger than them must refer to these men as Boetie, which means “brother” in Xhosa.

Friday my school Victoria Park Grey had their athletics day, it was very similar to a track meet. The school is divided into three houses, like Harry Potter. The houses are Andrew, Bollen and Weller, named after previous head masters. I was placed into the Bollen house!  It was so much fun to be outside with the kids enjoying the sunshine. I got very burnt! Oooops! Throughout the day the students were dancing and singing, all around having a wonderful time not being in class learning!  Parents were invited to watch their children race! The school had a race for the moms, dads and teachers. A dad who was 100% blind ran in the dad’s race with his son and guide dog! It was very encouraging!  After school was out Yaku (schools caretakers & the one who takes us to school)  took us to the township Walmer which is right around the corner from the school. This township was even worse than the one we went to Graaff-Reinet! It was so sad to see the homes that were built by hand with solely tin. There was trash laying around everywhere, and the yards were full of mud which some had pigs! Cows, goats and pigs run loose in the townships! They are all so skinny and filthy. We saw so many dogs running around too! It made me so sad to see how these animals were living.  We learned that around 20-30%  of VP Grey Primary live in these conditions. It was a huge reality to think how fortunate we truly are to have roofs that don’t leak, clean running water and homes that we don’t have to “jank wire” to the electric poles to keep intruders out.  It was heartbreaking to hear these this and know that my students could live like this. Its very hard to talk or think about. 

On to a positive note….

   

 This weekend was very relaxed and easy.  We stayed in Port Elizabeth and just enjoyed having time to sleep in.  Saturday we spent the day on the beach! Thando, the guy who taught us Xhosa joined us on the fun! We played soccer, well attempted to play soccer for a while before giving up and jumping into the water. The waves were massive and so much fun to play in! We would dive under the dinky, little waves and then would ride the big waves into shore!  We all became pruned and fish like because we stayed in the water for so long!  Sunday it rained for most of the day,  I was able to get some quality reading and nap, I mean lesson planning time in. J   


Monday night we went to the Nelson Mandela University rugby game with some of the other student teachers then everyone came back to our apartment to hang out! It was nice to get to know them outside of school! Everyone is so welcoming here! I would love to go back again and hopefully understand the game a little more! 

I was observed today by Dr. Singh( my university supervisor) The classroom was a little chatty but for the most part they were well behaved. I was happy to see that I got “Demonstrated” for all of my standards! This is a good thing J  


Saturday is the halfway point! I cant believe we have been here for nearly a month! Time flies! 

Until Next Time,
 

Addo Elephant Park, Elephant Park Rides & Schotia Safari

February 5th, 2013   

My photos are not uploading currently. I will fix it this weekend and add pictures!

So I am a little behind posting about our weekends! Ooops! :) Forgive me? 

Alright so Saturday was again AMAZING! Let me tell you all about it! 

We began our long day around 6:00 am with a 45 minute car ride to Addo Elephant Park! The park is about 40,000 acres of cage free natural habitat for the elephants and other animals! When we reached Addo we were able to go through the park in our own vehicle, which was nice because that meant Jordie (Our FreeWalker mom) was our tour guide. Jordie used to work at Addo when she was getting her masters in Elephant Behavior so exactly where to take us to see the elephants. She had a list of all the elephants the "family" they belonged in and how to identify them based on markings or characteristics. Her passion for the elephants is amazing! It was incredible to see how quickly she was able to point out individual elephants! We stayed at the watering hole for about an hour and a half and saw around 70 elephants! I wish I had video taped the entire encounter! There were elephants playing in the water, Mom elephants chasing their sons, boys chasing boys and then little babies just aimlessly running. At one point, a cow (female elephant) chased  her son after he was roughing up with another elephant. They ran right up next to our van, then between other vehicles and into the grass. When they   finally stopped, the little elephant decided to use the bathroom right in front of the van. WOW! That was something that immediately brought commentary and giggles to us! The coolest part of watching the elephants is seeing how they interact. Keep in mind these are absolutely in the wild. The park has no interaction with the animals other than when you drive through it. They have absolutely no interest in what we are doing! Elephants are so smart! Jordie was telling us some remarkable stories about the elephants! She said that one time a woman had just found out she was pregnant and hadn’t told many people yet and the elephant started rubbing her belly! How cool is that?!

We left Addo and headed to Kwantu to ride elephants! Ahhh! It was awesome! There are four female elephants at the reserve and they ranged from 11-20 years. I rode the youngest elephant Mandebvu who is 11 years old. I was fortunate enough to ride with the main game reserve tour guide and he told me so many neat things about my elephant and the elephants in general. The passion these people have about these magnificent creatures shines through when they are talking about them! It made me sad riding the elephant because I had just spent hours watching untamed elephants and that is how they should be. Don’t get me wrong, it was an incredible experience riding one but I don’t think I would do it again. Elephants need to be free and not cooped up behind an electric fence.  I don’t think I will be able to visit a zoo anytime soon without feeling a little guilty.

We left Kwantu and went to Schotia Private Game Reserve. Murray grew up with the owners son Justin. Schotia was the first private game reserve on the Eastern Cape. They have all sorts of animals,   I sat in the front of the safari jeep next to our safari tour guide Scott. The jeep was wide open, no windows, and some seats didn’t even have side doors or anything holding them in and let me tell you this was a VERY bumpy ride! The first part of the tour we saw an elephant, and lots of ostrich, impala, kudu, waterbuck, wildebeest, springbuck, eland, and red hartebeest. We each got to take turns riding in the trekker seat while Scott drove. The trekker seat was a seat with handles on the hood of the car where you held on for dear life and hoped we didn’t get too close to the big five animals. When I was up there, I didn’t get to run into any animals sadly! 

 Scott spotted a giraffe and let us get out of the jeep and walk over towards it where we were literally on the other side of a tree from a wild giraffe! We felt fine and safe until we looked down the hill and realized the only two rhino in the park were right behind us. We slowly (cannot make sudden movements near wild animals) walked back onto the jeep and drove up to the rhino. Rhinos are nearly going extinct because the Japanese want for the rhino horns. They believe they’re medicinal but really a rhino horn contains the same things as fingernails and hair, but since it’s seen as medicinal thousands of these animals are being killed for their horns and rhinos cannot reproduce fast enough to save their species. We got a little too close for comfort to these rhinos in the park! Rhinos are herbivores so they only eat grass but if they feel threatened they will charge. We were within an arms length of these rhinos and don’t let our smiley faces fool you, we were scared for our lives!  

 Once again these creatures are so amazing and breath-taking to see in their natural habitat. The place we ate was a huge circular hut that is surrounded by a fence to keep us safe which we needed because during dinner we heard the female lion roar and looked out the window with a spotlight and there was an entire family of lions sitting under a tree right outside the place we were eating! It was pitch-black out because there were obviously no streets, roads, or lights other than what was coming from our spot lights on our jeep.

We were able to find the lions right away this time thanks to the female roar and them being right outside where we were eating. Lions eye structure is different from other mammals including humans so they are able to see better at night and the spot lights do not bother them. When our jeep was next to the lions we had to be completely still and silent. At one point the lion pack crossed our jeeps path and the lions were surrounding our jeep and within two feet of my door. I was honestly too scared to even take a picture with flashes so it was hard getting good pictures when the spot lights hit them. We were out following the lions for a good 45 minutes and it was finally time to head back to the main gate and head home. Jordie had set up for our safari driver Scott to drive us all home since he lives in port Elizabeth too. The drive home was 45minutes long and all of us girls talked and played name games the whole way home. We were home by 1130pm and were in bed by midnight. We were so happy to be able to sleep in today (Sunday) for the first time since we have been here!

Graaff- Reinet Weekend Trip

January 25th- January 27th

Now that I have informed you all about the FreeWalkers lets jump right into what we did this weekend! Where on Earth do I begin.  

Friday: We left Port Elizabeth around 2:30 and heading about two hours slightly northwest to Graaff- Reinet. The drive there was actually not bad. Murray turned on some "African Beats" and we watched out our windows looking for animals! We saw monkeys, Kudu, Blue Cranes, Springbok and Ostriches!  We stayed at Murray's sisters lodge: KingFisher Lodge!  Every detail of the house was beautiful!

After we snacked around and got the tour of the house, we cleaned up and headed up to the Camdeboo National Game Reserve that surrounds Graaff- Reinert! We were able to hike up the mountains of the Camdebdoo Game Reserve to watch the sunset over the Valley of Desolation. The views were absolutely breathtaking! My photos do not do justice for how pretty it was on top of the mountain! If you were to look down it was slightly nerve-wrecking! Regardless, it was a great time up there! After watching the sunset we went down to a restaurant called "The Gentlemens Club". The restaurant was originally built for ONLY men to enter. The wives would have to wait in the car while they shot pool and hung out with the guys! Women have only been going there for about 10 years or so.  The food was delicious! I split a meat trio with one of my roommates and still didn't finish it! It was a platter composed of three fillets: one springbok, one beef and one ostrich fillet.  The ostrich fillet was better than any other fancy piece of steak I've eaten anywhere in America! Yum! Oh and the cream soda here is even better than anywhere in the states, and its GREEN!

Saturday: We started the morning out right by waking up to some fresh fruit and bush tea before beginning our long day outside. Murray and Jordy took us to a small little town called Nieu Bestheda and it was too cute! It felt as if you were walking back into time. Everything was simple, quiet and all around peaceful.  After a little tour we took a donkey carriage over to a little restaurant called The Brewery where one of Murray's friend decided he was tried of the busy lifestyle he used to live and decided to move. He moved onto some land and built a restaurant where he creates his own goat cheese spreads, homemade breads and hand crafted beers. The goat cheese, Kudu salami and homemade bread is served on a rather large platter and put in the middle of tables to share! Our table shared three :) Yummmmy! After lunch we went on a boat tour through Camdeboo National Park! I was a little afraid to get into the water but I was assured that the only thing in the water were catfish!

After the boat tour and showering we headed out to see the township that many people live it! It was a great thing to see but at the same time very hard to see how people lived. It was heart-wrenching to see the children in such rough living quarters and to think only a few miles up the road we were staying in such a beautiful home.The people were all very happy though, no one looked miserable. We noticed many dogs and cats running around that we obviously not taken care of and they were referred to as "township animals" and we weren't allowed to touch them.   

  

We ended the night off right down at Miemies. Miemie's is a restaurant that is based in a family home inside of a township. The owner of the house: Miemie and her husband Richard used to work on Murray's family farm and when they lost the farm, Miemie and Richard moved to the township.  When Murray created the FreeWalkers he wanted to build a restaurant for Miemie because she used to cook on the farm! He and some of the volunteers created a restaurant in her backyard! It was literally tin shacks with African cultured decorations inside.  The food was again amazing and we were surrounded by friends and laughter! Miemie and her family were very welcoming into their home and we really enjoyed learning about the South African culture as well as eating true South African food! We finished the night off dancing with everyone and bringing the night in with many laughs, mostly at my poor dance skills!

One of the tables in the backyard! 

Other Cost Students Emily and Liz. 

Homemade rolls that were baked in funnel cake batter and others were put on the grill! YUM! 

Miemie is camera shy!  

Miemie's grandson Sean! He did not speak English! He was my buddy for the evening!   

I dont even know what everything was, but it was all amazing!

Miemie!

Sunday: For breakfast we had ostrich eggs and to get the egg open you must hit the top of it with a spoon and then flip it over and do the other side. Then you are to "blow" out the yolk! I volunteered to blow out the yolk! It was a disgusting sound but after it was cooked it was good to eat! I wasnt a huge fan of the ostrich egg, but only because it was spicy! Im such a big spice baby! After breakfast we said our goodbyes and went back towards Port Elizabeth and stopped at Daniels Cheetah Breeding Farm and Spotted Cat Conservatory. The farm is used to breed wild cats and to healthy raise them and then release them into their natural habitat! We were fortunate enough to be able to pet one of the tamed cheetahs! Her name was Ola and was 8 years old. 

Whew! It was quite a weekend but such a great one at that!  

I also wanted to give a heads up on my grandfathers surgery! The surgery went smoothly and he was joking around with the nurses shortly after. True to his sweet, loving Pop-Pop spirits! Thanks for the many prayers, I have no doubt that each and every one of them was heard!  

Here in South Africa, they say "See you just now" instead of goodbye or see you later. I think I will start using that phrase often! :)