Jeffrey's Bay Weekend

Finally, I have had a chance to update my blog from our adventure weekend!

Anna and Wellyna had off for Human Rights day off (Thursday March 21st) because they are a public school; sadly, I did not. They left on Thursday for Port Elizabeth and spent some time with friends, and I stayed at home...alone because Dr. Baxen was in Jo Burg at the time. It was a little strange being at home alone, but I was able to skype with Courtney and Jen that evening and that made it much better!

WINDY!

I left on Friday from Grahamstown to PE. Finally, we were approved for a student discount for the shuttle to PE which brought the price down from R280 to R160! It was a process, but they finally listened and gave in. Persistence (and maybe some annoyance) works! 

Our first night in Jeffrey's Bay consisted of us just checking into our hostel and then going to the restaurant..."The Mexican." I don't know what it is, but in J-Bay, they like naming their 'ethnic' restaurants like that...The Mexican, The Greek, and so on. Somewhat strange....

On Saturday, we first went to a game reserve where we rented quad bikes (a.k.a. 4-wheeler) and were able to drive around and look at the animals. Nothing like this would ever happen in the United States because of the liability involved. We were not required to wear helmets...not to mention we were riding in a game reserve where rhinos roam free. 

Honestly, though, it was amazing. Finally! I was able to drive a motorized vehicle. I know I've only been gone for a month (not even when I actually was there), but it's amazing how

See the rhinos in the background?!
Yes...I know this was too close, but it was awesome!

much I miss being in control of a vehicle and having the ability to go somewhere using more than just my two feet. I felt some freedom!


On the game drive, we saw giraffe, buffalo, rhino, and lots of different antelope (springbok, blesbock, etc,). Anna and I shared a quad and she drove for the first half, and I drove for the second. An hour into our drive, the weather started to turn. We decided to go head back a little early. On our way, a group of blesbok were running next to us and crossed our path. Honestly, it was almost surreal. If anyone has seen that youtube video of the man getting taken out by an impala, that's what I saw happening in my head. If you haven't seen it, check it out (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2oymHHyV1M). Thankfully, that didn't happen!

Between J-Bay and the game reserve, we saw a huge shanty town (at the time I thought it was huge...until I came to Cape Town the following week). It still amazes me that the extravagantly rich live so close to the poorest of the poor. I'm not kidding when I say that their homes consist of a tin shack that's about 10 feet by 6 feet and is 1 foot away from another 10 foot by 6 foot shack. The government is putting up houses, but can't put them up fast enough, and the people were told that they would have new homes soon. Some have been waiting in these tin homes for 10 years. I could go on about this, but I don't think some of my opinions should be posted online; if you're interested, I can tell you when I get home....

Restaurant

We had lunch at an awesome place on our way back to J-Bay. A restaurant stared on the beach, and it's completely in the sand. The waiters and waitresses don't wear shoes (I took mine off too), and the building is a hut on the beach. Not only was it a great place, but they also had good food! I had hake (local, common fish) with calamari. The portions were absolutely ginormous, and I couldn't even begin to finish my plate. 

View from the restaurant

After the adventures at the game reserve and the wonderful lunch, we learned how to surf! I loved surfing...even though I have much to work on. We were out in the ocean for about 2 hours, and I could have stayed there for at least 2 more hours. Our surf instructor Andrew Moon (seriously, his last name is Moon. It's a hippie/surfer name, and it fits) was in his 40s and was awesome. When I was having trouble getting up, he told me, "You think too much. You just have to chill...don't think about it...surfing is a hippie sport, man..." I loved it. No pressure; just me trying to catch a wave. When I get the next chance, you better believe I want to be out there learning. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me while surfing, so I don't have any of my own pictures.  


On Sunday, we were scheduled to go horseback riding on the beach, but it started raining and the horseback riding was cancelled. Murray (the owner/director/tour guide for Freewalkers) took us to a local cafe for breakfast after which we went back to Port Elizabeth. 

All in all, it was a fabulous weekend filled with new adventures! To all my family and friends back at home, I wish you could have been here to experience it too. 

A Typical Day

General Timetable for Kingswood College

This past weekend Anna, Wellyna and I went on an adventure trip through Freewalkers which is an organization located in Port Elizabeth that offers volunteer and adventure programs. It was a great time! I will update my blog about that soon...once I get the  pictures uploaded which is quite a long process considering the slow internet and that we only have a certain internet allowance per month. 

I decided, however, to give you an idea of what a typical day consists of because I've been asked by a few people. Beware, it's a long post.

The table above shows the timetable for Kingswood. Every day is a little different. Anna and Wellyna's school (Victoria Girls School, VG, a fee-paying public school) has an even crazier schedule. They are on a 9-day rotation! At Kingswood, every Monday is the same, every Tuesday is the same, and so on. I've taken over two Grade 10 Life Sciences classes, one Grade 9 Geography class, and I'm helping out with one Grade 8 Natural Sciences class. I'm also observing a few other geography classes (they put earth science in with geography...I'm not the biggest fan of this because the teachers don't go as in depth as we do in an earth science class in the States).

I leave home and walk to school around 7:10 am. The walk is only 8 minutes or so. School starts at 7:30 am, but on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, classes don't start until 8:00 am because students either have assembly or chapel.

If you look at the table, you'll see that we do not have passing time between classes. This makes it incredibly difficult to keep track of students. Teachers are not necessarily allowed to let their students out early, but students are expected to be to their next class on time. One teacher, for example, makes late students sit on the floor for the whole hour even if the lateness was caused by another teacher teaching up to or past the end of the period. Other teachers, just tell the student to be on time next class and don't make it a habit. I was told that the reasoning for this is because students would walk too slow to their next classes if they had passing time, so they decided to do away with it so the students would come faster. Maybe they will learn how to teleport soon; that would be helpful.....

Everyday we have tea/break from 10:00 to 10:30 (yes, this is an old, English-settled community). For break the school provides coffee (instant), tea, fruit and grilled cheese with tomatoes for all the teachers. Every. Single. Day. I will probably gain weight from eating grilled cheese every day...but it's too good (and free) to pass up! Tea time is something nobody should tamper with. Teachers take this time so seriously. One week our staff meeting was moved from after school to break time and some teachers were visibly (some verbally) unhappy. Imagine a room full of teachers with their arms crossed and glares plastered on their faces. That's what happened that day. To top it off, the discussion was about the teacher's pay...which no one is happy about. 

You also might notice that lunch is at 1:00 every day and it is for one hour. Some days (Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays) lunch breaks up 5th period (this happens with 3rd period for tea/break on Wednesdays and Fridays as well). The lunch break up is very strange, because class is for a half hour followed by an hour lunch and the class resumes after lunch for the final half hour of class. This ends the school day. The reasoning for this, however, is for the cafeteria which provides lunch from 1:00 to 2:00 for the students everyday. It makes sense, but, academically, it's strange.

Life Sciences Classroom

Academics. I don't know how to make a generalized statement about the academics because I am in 4 different classrooms where the teaching styles definitely vary. However, I will say that the education system does need improvement (this is not to say that the American education system doesn't need improvement because it does as well). A passing mark for students here is a 40%! They claim that they test and mark harder than we do in the States. While I believe this is partially true, I don't think that it would account for a 20% difference. Students are motivated to do their work here (homework is almost always done by every student), but I think that they could study more for tests. The 40% passing rate, I think, does not expect enough out of the students. An 80% or above is treated as an A and they are highly praised for an 80%. 

Also, when teachers pass back tests, they pass them back in order from the highest grade to the lowest grade and comment about each student's performance and whether they lived up to the teachers expectations or not in front of the entire class. AHHHH!! I would absolutely hate this. Actually, this happened to me at field camp last summer, and it was terrible. This is such a big 'no, no' in the States, but it's commonplace here.

After school is done, I sometimes go home and plan lessons or read. More often, however, I walk somewhere such as Pick 'n Pay (the grocery store), a bookstore, Rhodes University, VG, or somewhere else. Next term, I will be staying after school helping out with enrichment activities which will last until 4:00 or so depending on the day. 

The Anglican church in Grahamstown's city center which was founded in 1853.

At night, I either make dinner or we go out and pick up something to eat. Kentucky Fried Chicken is a big deal here, by the way. I actually had a student as me if we had KFC in the United States. I looked at him and said, "Kentucky is a state in the US, so yes, we have KFC." I also had a student ask me if I eat salad. I told him, "Yes, I do eat vegetables, and no, I do not eat McDonalds often." He looked genuinely surprised. 

We normally are in the house by 7 pm. The three of us have been out past that time, but we would never be out alone past 7 because it's too dangerous. My first week here I felt incredibly trapped, but since we've gone out more and I know more of the city, things are going better.

Well, that's about it for a typical day. Congratulations if you made it through that long post. As I said, I'll be putting up a blog post about this past weekend's adventures soon!

Where Cows Roam Free

On my first day here, I was sitting in my room and I heard a strange noise coming from just outside my window. I got up and looked outside. Cows. About 10 cows were walking down the street and sidewalk. Later, Anna, Wellyna and I were walking to Pick n Pay (the grocery store) and we saw the cows. They told me that they roam free! The cow in the picture above was quite frustrated. To the left was a very steep hill and the railing blocked the right side. Eventually he figured out how to escape. I should say that some of these 'cows' are actually bulls and have intimidating horns...

Needless to say, whenever I'm walking somewhere, I watch out for cows and cow pies!

No Water

Michigan is blessed with plenty of access to fresh water. That's not the same situation here in Africa. There have been a handful of people and organizations around the world trying to bring awareness to water issues (cleanliness, availability, etc.), and if you haven't listened to them yet, you better start. Water is a resource that I have taken for granted and have only just started paying attention to in the last year or so. 

Most people think of those who are extremely poor and live far away from a city being the ones who do not have water. While that is true, I currently do not have water. Parts of Grahamstown has been out of water for a couple days, and the current 'word on the street' is that it will not be back for another few days. Most people say that the problem has been caused by the fast growth in the city but no change in the water supply during that growth period. Clearly, one would expect the system to eventually become overloaded. This hasn't been the first time this has happened since I've been here. It is by far the most widespread event, but not the first time I've heard of it happening...and I've only been here for 2 weeks. 

Think about all the things you need water for. We are lucky because we can go to the store and buy bottle water because we have money for it. We also have huge rain barrels in the back that can be used for non-drinking purposes. However, what if we did not have those resources (and there are people here living in the townships that do not), what would we do? What would you do? How would you go about getting water for you and your family? (By the way, this is not just a problem that is happening outside of the U.S., as I hope you already know). 

The next time you turn on the faucet, think of where the water is coming from and think of all the people who either do not have faucets or who have dry ones.

Geology Connection

Rhodes University Geology Department

I love teaching students, but if I'm being completely honest, I do miss being a student and being a part of a university setting. Rhodes University is in Grahamstown, and I decided I'd look up the geology department and see what they have going on. What a great visit! I loved the feeling of being back in the "student seat" rather than the "teacher seat," if you know what I mean. With this contact, I am acting, sort of, as a liaison between Rhodes and Kingswood to bring more awareness to geology-related jobs to the students at Kingswood. Essentially, to put in plainly, I am recruiting students to study geology at the university level. Sounds good to me! 

This geology department is over 100 years old. The majority of the geology students go into mining because of the gold and diamond and of course the Bushveld Complex which provides the majority of the platinum group metals in the world.

While that is all neat, and I could talk about geology for a long time, that is not why I am writing this post. I'm writing because I loved seeing that geologists around the world act so similarly. The professor I talked to today wore Keen sandals (I was wearing mine too), his office was an absolute disaster (papers everywhere, rocks piled somewhat neatly, maps hanging all over the walls, etc), he ended every email with "Cheers." The other student I talked with was a male who had a beard and talked about drinking beer. Yes, this is a geology department, and how amazing it is that the characteristics cross from one country to the next.

To all my geology friends out there, we sure are lucky people! It's a great community to be a part of.

A Game Drive!

This weekend, Anna, Wellyna and I were able to go on a game drive (or what we call a safari in the US) at Kwantu Game Reserve. We decided Friday night that we should do something on Saturday, so we started searching...at 10:00 pm. At Kwantu we found a 3 hour drive including a visit to the predator rehabilitation center, snacks, and a 3-5 course meal for...R500!! That's about $55! Not a bad deal.

When we got there, we were the only ones going on the afternoon ride. So we had our own personal drive! Beyond that, the food that was provided was top-notch. Snacks were quite fancy and the dinner had 2 starters (soup, salad with chicken) which could have been my meal, a main course (lamb curry, rice, vegetables) and dessert. We were treated very well.

Here are some pictures of the day:

LION!! We saw 3 total: mom and her son and daughter. The son is looking at us.

Anna, Wellyna, and I

This is a very old hotel that was used by travelers in the 1800s
on the main road between Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown

A white lion. He was in the predator rehabilitation center.

Sleeping Under the Influence of Jet Lag & Crickets

I really haven't had a major problem with jet lab. However, I have been waking up after 2 hours of sleep wide awake and thinking that I overslept. That happened last night. I woke up at 12:35 am but thought that it was 6:15 am. To make it worse, my phone uses the 24-hour clock, so it said 00:35 and I thought my phone was broken (in my dream-like state).  I eventually remembered, and convinced myself that I didn't oversleep and that 00:35 is truly a real time.

However, my waking up made me conscious of the cricket singing in my room. It was driving me nuts. I turned my light on and saw a small insect from where the noise was coming from, but I decided it was too small to make that big of a noise (dream-like state again). I finally fell back asleep only to wake up at 03:15 to the same cricket, but coming from a different location. I turned my light on again and saw the same insect in the new location. I knew it would be a long shot to kill it because they can be fast, but I found a shoe and was successful! I had a peaceful sleep for the rest of the night.