Again...More Photos

More Photos

Here are some photos!

The first photo is the sunset at Pringle Bay. The next photo is Mt. Stellenbosch. I woke up to this mountain just outside my window on my first morning in South Africa.

Back in the US

After about 30 hours of traveling, losing luggage in Minneapolis, missing a flight in Minneapolis, finding all of my luggage in GR I am back in Charlevoix! It was sad to leave everyone in SA, but it is great to be back in the states. I missed a lot of people and I was very happy that Janay and my parents were able to meet me at the airport. I had such a great time on my trip and I would like to thank all of you who read my blog over the past six weeks. I know that some of you may have freaked out because I was unable to post blogs a whole lot during my trip, but I am back and I am safe so....no worries! I survived 60 hours on a plane, bungee jumping, shark diving, zip lining, absailing, mountain climbing, being outnumbered by girls 5-1, and being in another hemisphere on a different contintent. I honestly have no regrets from the entire trip. I did everything that I wanted to do and then some. So it is great to be absolutely content in knowing that I took advantage of every opportunity I had. If anyone has a chance to travel to South Africa take advantage of all of your time there because there are millions of different things that you can do while you are in the most beautiful country in the world.

So Long, Farewell.....

Sunday, April 26......Pack! It was difficult to pack all of the stuff that I bought into a suitcase, because I bought soooooo much stuff. However, I found ways to fit everything in and I did not have leave anything in Africa. It was an absolute beautiful final day in SA, and after packing we had our final dinner with the Taylors and thanked them for everything they had done for us over the past six weeks. We got "fetched" at 8:00 pm to leave for the airport. I was very sad in the bus on the drive to Cape Town. I kept thinking about every individual person that I will miss and that I built a relationship with, and it is still hard to think about those people even now...a few days later. I hope to never forget the people that I met on the trip.

Farewell Brunch

This morning we had a farewell brunch where we all invited a couple of guests in order to thank them and make some "American" food for everyone. Every host family was there and a couple of teachers from Cloetesville were there as well. We made everyone some american pancakes with all sorts of toppings. We also made some scrambled eggs and bacon and whatever else sounds good for breakfast. Everyone seemed to enjoy the food. I helped make the pancakes....I made about 100 of those things so I don't need to bake or cook anything for a long time. I believe there were about 50 people there for the brunch, which was a very high number. After the brunch I hung out at the house for a bit and relaxed a bit. For dinner tonight we decided to go to Moyo for our last group activity of the trip. This was our last night in SA so we had as much fun as possible. Jeff and I actually went up on the stage and participated in a traditional Xhosa dance. The girls got a video of it and I actually did pretty well, maybe I am not as bad of a dancer as I thought I was!! ha.

April 23 and 24

Our final two days at Cloetesville..... For the first part of the day I talked with my students about the election and whether or not they thought that Zuma was good for the country. Their responses were very interesting and it was great to see how involved they all are in politics. For dinner tonight Jeff and I went to Mr. and Mrs. Siljeur's house to have dinner. They made soooo much food for us. It was absolutely delicious and it was great to see some of the teachers outside of the school. We were at their home for about 3 hours talking and drinking coffee/tea and it was one of my favorite nights of the entire trip.
On Friday we had our final day at Cloetesville Secondary School....this was a very sad day for everyone. The teachers gave us all a glass with the school logo on it and also a t-shirt with the school logo on it as well. Also, they bought a bunch of food so we had a little send off party as well. Jeff, Kate, and I all felt very glad to be a part of such a great school and amazing group of teachers at Cloetesville. It was very difficult to say goodbye to everyone and I believe that I got about 20 or so different email addresses from teachers and students so I will try to keep in touch with as many as possible.

Table Mountain!

On April 22 South Africa was voting for its next president. Everyone already knows that Jacob Zuma will win, but that is an entirely different conversation that I do not feel like typing about. Today we took the train in to Cape Town again. Jeff and I decided to leave the rest of the group and climb Table Mountain while everyone else decided to walk around and then take the cable car up the mountain. The path that we decided to take we were told takes about 1 - 3 hours depending on how fit you are. I sort of thought that it would take me a lot longer, but both of us made it up the mountain in just 55 minutes! I felt good about myself after the hike up the mountain, but my legs hated me! Once we got on top of the mountain we saw why it is called table mountain. The entire top is fairly flat with sort of a prarie and some boulders sitting on top. Jeff and I wandered around the mountain for a bit and did some bouldering and site seeing from every point we could find. We decided to head to the cable car and meet up with the rest of the group thinking that we would meet them once they were done absailing, but when we got there we were there in time to actually absail with them. This was probably one of the scariest things I have ever done. We absailed from the highest absailing location in the world. On one side was a completely vertical cliff face and on ther other side was.....nothing! I made it down the cliff fairly quickly and once I got used to it I had a great time. After absailing we all took the cable car down where I ran in to a couple from Nebraska who noticed my cornhusker hat that I was wearing. So we talked about football for the entire ride down the mountain. This was a great talk and I really enjoyed talking about Big Red football!!!!

April 21

This morning at school Jeff, Kate, and I met with the acting principal Dr. Rogers and discussed similarities/differences between the school systems in the US and in South Africa. We had a long talk about the fact that in SA there is a lot of prayer and religious practices while in the States there is no way you can do the same thing in the public schools. After our talk Dr. Rogers took us for a drive in the township of Cloetesville so we could see where are students come from. This was a sobering moment because I could see that the only place where the students are safe and are taught social morals and values is while they are at school. Well over half of the students at the school do not have any home structure to speak of so it was important for us to see the role that school has for these students. In the afternoon we went on a tour of a completely different school than Cloetesville. We toured the "privileged" school called Rhenish. This school is located in Stellenbosch and is absolutely amazing. The majority of students are this school are white and every class is taught in English. This is much different than most schools in SA. It was great to see two completely different schools and situations during the same day and be able to compare that advantages of some compared with others. The most interesting thing is that Cloetesville and Rhenish are only about 5 minutes from each other but it feels like you are on the other side of the world in terms of facilities and resources.

Monday April 20th

On Sunday I just slept and went to a coffee house, so there is not much to talk about so I will skip ahead to Monday. Today at school I taught a lesson about the United States in the 1920s - The Roaring Twenties. We talked a little bit about prohibition and bootleggers/speak easies as well. Before school today I experienced my first South Africa blackout! We had no power for most of the morning so I did not get to shower and anything before school. I was surprised to see that the sandwich I made was actually a Peanut Butter sandwich because I had no idea what I was putting on the bread. At school I was approached by one of the teachers I have been working with and he invited me to join him and his family for dinner on Thursday night. Of course I accepted because this was quite an honor and it was great to feel so accepted by the teachers at the school!

Cape Town

Today we visited Cape Town....finally! We took the train from Stellenbosch into Cape Town very early in the morning. A lot of people say that the trains are not safe, but I did not notice anything that would make me feel the same. The first thing we did in Cape Town was head to the waterfront to board a ferry to Robben Island. Robben Island is an island located in the harbor at Cape Town and this was the place where non white political activists were held prisoner during the apartheid government. This was a very interesting and difficult day to get through because there was so much emotion and despair in the photos and stories. The man giving us the tour was a past prisoner of the facility and the stories that he told will never be forgotton. I could see the emotion in his face and hear in his voice how much being inprisoned on the island was a test of his character and emotional stability. After the tour of Robben Island we went to the District Six Museum. District Six is the place in Cape Town where the "coloured" people were forced out of their houses and then the white government demolished everything in the entire neighborhood accept for three churches. The museum had a mass collection of pictures that were donated by the residents of District Six, so the museum was extremely interesting because it was a collection of the people's history of the neighborhood. It was difficult to see photos taken before houses were demolished and then seeing the same street today where there is nothing but a slight resemblance of a road in a field of grass. Over the past couple of years I learned that some people are beginning to move back to the area if they can prove their residence before the forced departure. I believe that about 10,000 people are preparing to move back into the District over the next few years. This would be an amazing thing for the people who lost their houses and the family history and this would definitely help heal some wounds that still exist between the races in South Africa.

Wednesday April 15 - Friday April 17

Going back to school was definitely a change in pace. I went from being in a new place every single day to being back at the school and seeing the reality of most people's situation in South Africa. On Wednesday morning there was an assembly which lasted about 30 minutes. The soccer team at Cloetesville won a nationwide tournament over holiday and got recognized and congratulated by the staff and students. It was interesting because lining up for the assembly took longer than the actual assembly. Somehow they packed about 800 students into a room that should only have about 400. After school I walked around town and looked at some of the local shops and relaxed a bit because I needed to recover from holiday. Once dinner with the host family was over I laid in bed and watched a soccer game that was on TV - Manchester United v Porto. It was great seeing sports again, because I had not watched any game or anything on TV for about 4 weeks! Thursday was a fairly boring day at school. The class periods were only about 25 minutes each so there was not a whole lot of info that could be taught. Plus, the students were busy preparing the portfolios for their end of the term assessments. However, I talked with my students about the current economic crisis in comparison with the Great Depression in 1929 and into the 30s.
Friday was a very fun day at school. The school day is always shorter on Fridays - we get out at about 1:30 on Fridays compared to 2:30 every other day. I began to prepare a couple of lessons to teach about the Revolutionary War in the United States and also I prepared to teach a lesson about Prohibition and the New Deal program in the United States. After school the entire group went to a place called Moyo. This is a traditional Xhosa restaurant with dancing, music, and plenty of food. I danced quite a bit, which was fun because I am a horrible dancer. Overall it was a great couple of days back into the groove of things in Stellenbosch. I enjoyed holiday a tremendous amount, but it was nice to be back "home" and eating homemade food for a change.

Update

It is my last day in South Africa.... My plane is leaving in about 6 hours and I need to update my blog to let you all know what I have been up to over the past 2 weeks. I have been extremely busy over the past few days so I will post everything as soon as I get back to Charlevoix. I hope that all is well and I am looking forward to catching up with everyone! Take Care.

April 14----Last day of holiday

On our final day of holiday we woke up very early and went shark diving just off of a seal island in Gans Bay. This place is where they film all of the sharks that jump out of the water after seals and other animals. I was the first person to go into the tank......and I was the only person who did not listen to the instructions given, what a great combination. Within minutes of getting into the tack a great white shark head butted the cage and scared me half to death. After a few minutes I got out of the cage, but not after I saw about 5 different sharks within 5 feet of me. The people taking us on the tour told us this was the most they had seen all year - we saw 15 different sharks in the span of only 90 minutes. After shark diving we headed back to Stellenbosch and thus the end of our holiday. It was difficult saying Goodbye to Pierre and Antoinette and I hope that I will see them again!! I will have more about the days since holiday when I get more time next week, I hope that all is well back in the States, and GO TIGERS!

April 13

On this day we went to the point where the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean meet. This was a great place to visit because now I can say that I have been to the southernmost tip of Africa! Alex and I got a picture holding the Petoskey News Review because we are hoping there will put the pic in the paper after we get back....we will see. After this short trip we went on a boat ride on some jet boats in the harbor. The waves were massive on this day so the ride was very bumpy but very fun. After the boat ride and lunch at the sea side restaurant we left the Cape and headed for Gans Bay to shark dive the next day.

April 12 - Happy Easter

On Easter Sunday I went to the Anglican Church on Montague. The service was very nice and I enjoyed the sermon that was given. This was my first time being in an Anglican Church and it was nice experience. After church I joined the rest of the group to jump in the bus and head to Cape Agulhas (sp). The drive was fairly short and we arrived at our lodge around 3 pm. The lodge was only 1 block from the beach, so we spent the rest of the day relaxing on the ocean. After dinner at the lodge we played some euchre and had some fun at the outdoor bar connected to our lodge. This was probably the most fun we had on the entire trip mainly because the lodge consisted of things aimed at college age people.

April 11 - Tractor ride

We woke up very early on this day to take a tractor ride up a mountain. It does not sound very fun, but literally we went UP A MOUNTAIN. It wasn't like one of those tractor rides where you go around a corn field or up a hill, this was literally up a huge, rocky, steep mountain. The trip was a lot of fun, and we all had a great time. After we got back down from the mountain we went for a swim in one of the ponds on the base of the mountain. The water was very clean and refreshing because the mountain has a natural spring that empties into the pond. After swimming for a bit we went to the hot springs just outside of Montague. This place was like a large hot tub. Instead of a pool of cold water this was a pool of warm, steamy water. I got very suspicious though because I did not see any restrooms.....sooooo yeah. After the hot springs we went to dinner at a local restaurant called "Preston's". I discovered a very good micro beer from South Africa, which is interesting because SA is only known for wine. But overall it was a great, relaxing day for everyone in the group.

April 10 - Beach...again

We had another day at leisure in Mossel Bay....so I went to the beach again. It was nice and relaxing to sit and enjoy the warm weather and the white sand along with Ocean. At about 2 o'clock we left Mossel Bay for the town of Montague. We stayed in Montague for 2 nights and the place we stayed in was the nicest place of the entire trip. It reminded me of a Bed and Breakfast back in Charlevoix. After we arrived a few of us went out for a couple of drinks before eating dinner at a place called Monta Bella. The food was absolutely amazing. We had a great time at dinner - which took about 3 hours!

April 9 - Beach, Safari, etc.

This was a very relaxing day for everyone. In the early morning and afternoon we were given time to do whatever we wished to do in the town. I decided to go to the beach and swim in the Indian Ocean. The water was soooooo warm and I have grown to love the ocean (if there are no sharks). After the day at the beach we went on another Safari trip to a place called Botlierskop. This reserve was formed to provide sanctuary for animals who are being poached or mistreated. The animals were not "wild" and would not survive for a long time on their own. We saw 2 male and 2 female Lions ----they were quite intimidating and got very close to our vehicle, a Giraffe, some rhinos, wildebeasts, ect. The safari was pretty fun, but not as great as the safari at Addo the week before. After the safari we were all invited to Pierre and Antoinette's for dinner and drinks. THe dinner was absolutely amazing and it was nice to have a homemade meal for a change. Pierre taught Jeff and I the rules of cricket and we watched SOuth Africa beat Australia.

April 8 - Cango Caves

We arrived in Mossel Bay on the night of April 7th. On April 8th we went to an Ostrich Farm in the early morning and got to know a little bit about the farm and different products that are made from Ostrich. I actually got to sit on an Ostrich, it was very weird but fun. A couple of the people in the group got to race them around the area for a few seconds, which was absolutely hilarious. After the Ostrich Farm we went to the famous Cango Caves. One of my fears is not being able to see the sky, so caving was difficult for me, but I decided to join a few people in the Adventure Caving circuit where we had to contort our bodies into weird positions and crawl through spaces that were smaller than my body....it was stressful!! After caving we went to a local Afrikaans festival called "KKNK". Jeff and I ventured off on our own and found some great local music and some musicians who played a bunch of American music. The festival was a lot of fun and if I ever come back to South Africa I will definitely have to go to the festival again!

April 7 - BUNGEEEEEEEE

I actually bungee jumped!!!!! I do not think anyone will believe me so I got some great pictures of the entire thing. 11 of us jumped from the 4th highest bridge in the world, and the highest commercial bungee location in the world. The entire experience was absolutely amazing and I would love to do it again....sometime. The feeling right after jumping off the bridge was absolutely amazing, there is nothing but silence and the wind rushing against your face and the image of the ground getting closer and closer and closer..... The only tough part for me was hanging upside down for 60 seconds after the fall. But, it was a lot of fun and I can not wait to show people the pics. After the Bungee jumping we left TNP for Mossel Bay where we stayed for 3 nights in a backpackers lodge. I am sure there is much more I could write about this day but I can not remember much after the bungee jumping. I will write about the rest of the trip when I have more time, but until then I hope that everyone is doing well and I hope that everyone had a great Easter Holiday!

April 6 - Zip Line

During this day everyone in the group and our instructor, Sandy, went Zip Lining at two different places around the National Park. This was a lot of fun, and no one freaked out or got hurt so it was a very successful day for all involved. Other than zip lining we did not do a whole lot. It is hard to explain how much fun it was to be above the waterfalls and zip across the lines as fast as we were going.

April 5 - Waterfall Hike

On Sunday the group went on a hike along the coast towards the freshwater waterfall at TNP. The hike took about 2 hours because we stopped along the way to take a bunch of pics and explore around the caves/rocks/etc. Jeff, Jessica, Anna, and I all climbed up the rock face to get to a cliff to jump off of into the water. The cliff was about 30 feet above the water. The jump was a lot of fun and I would love to do it many more times! After we swam in the water Jeff and I went on a hike up the Otter Trail for about another hour and saw some snakes and other freaky animals. There were tons of evidence of Baboons in the area, but luckily we did not run in to any. Something very interesting happened on our hike back to our cabins. When I was hanging out by the pool I heard a faint thunder sound and then all of a sudden a lightening bolt was within screaming distance of me. It sort of freaked me out, but it makes for a fun story. On a side note from my fun trip, on this night I was taught how to make the bridge when you shuffle cards!!!! I was so happy to learn how to do this.

April 4 - another safari

In the morning we decided to go on another early morning safari hoping to see the same kind of action, but we did not.... We left Addo Elephant park later that morning and headed to Tsitsikamma National Park for three nights. The drive to TNP was about 3 hours. Most of the day consisted of driving so not a whole lot of fun stuff happened during the day. When we got to the park Jeff and I decided to do some climbing on the low tide rocks along the ocean. I was amazed at how high some of the rock faces got in the ocean and the fact that in just a couple of hours the rocks would be flooded with water. After we got back from our hike we could not find anyone who belonged to our group. So Jeff and I decided to make friends with some of the people living next door. We had some drinks and enjoyed a great meal with some local South Africans. Jeff and I learned a lot about the culture and the people of South Africa.

April 3 - LIONS!

at 6:30 AM 8 of us with Pierre and Antoinette went looking for some wild life in the park. Within 15 minutes of leaving our cabins we spotted 2 Male Lions! This was the first time that our tour guides had seen Lions in the park (they have been there over 25 times!). This was absolutely amazing because these we wild Lions that looked like they had just got done eating a fairly large meal. I have some amazing close up pictures of the lions because they got within 5 feet of our van. We followed the Lions around for a very long time and decided to head back to the cabins after a couple of hours. The place we were staying at had an outdoor pool that all of us spent time at in the early afternoon. The South African sun is very hot and I got a pretty nice burn that afternoon, but oh well! We decided to go on another safari later that day and ended up seeing more and more animals. We ran into the same Lions we had seen earlier in the day. We also saw warthogs, kudu, zebras, tourtoise(sp?), etc. After our second safari we ate dinner at the restaurant by the park and had some drinks as a group. It was a great/exciting day for everyone.

April 2

On Thursday we continued our drive towards Addo Elephant Park after we ate breakfast at a local museum/restaurant in Knysna. The drive was very long, but extremely beautiful because we spent the entire drive along the Indian Ocean. Our tour guides Pierre and Antoinette loved to joke with us about the fact that the Indian Ocean looks different than the Atlantic. We arrived at Addo early enough to have the chance to take a short safari into the wild life park. The park was full of wild animals who were placed into the secured area in order to avoid poachers. Within minutes of entering the park we saw a number of Kudu (huge deer) and a bunch of Elephants. We were lucky enough to see two elephants fighting, which was pretty amazing. It got very intense and I did not feel comfortable being so close to them. But, it was a great experience and I got some great pics of the entire thing. When we got back from our safari we had a brai (BBQ). Pierre, Jeff, and I had some fun conversations while we were braiing the food. He is a great guy to talk to, our conversation ranged from politics to American Idol to Baywatch.

April 1

I have just returned from my 2 week holiday vacation....what a great time! I kept a journal and took notes about everything our group did during the 2 weeks. We left on April 1 at 7:00 AM. At 5:00 AM I had a prank played on me by Anna and Alex. Apparently they placed our cell phone under my bed with an alarm set for 5 AM to fool me on Fool's Day. It took me about 5 minutes to figure out what had happened, so I decided to get them back by setting the alarm for 520 AM and sneaking into their room and playing the same trick on them. My room is on the complete opposite part of the house we are staying at and I heard how loud the alarm was and it was absolutely hilarious. But anyway, we left at 7 AM for holiday and traveled from Stellenbosch to the town of Knysna. On our way to Knsyna we stopped at a couple of wine farms and tasted some of the local wine. The first place was Springfield, and the second place was Van Loveran. I bought a bottle of red wine from Van Loveran just so I did not feel guilty about drinking all of their wine. After wine tasting we continued on our 5 hour drive to Knysna where we stayed in a dormitory/hostel for the night. For dinner we went to a restaurant called 34 South. I had some of the best Hake I have had on the trip. Hake is like White Fish (if you are from Michigan you should know White Fish). The restaurant was located in the harbor at Knysna, which was absolutely beautiful. The night ended with some euchre and random conversations on the porch.

"The Ark"

Today we went on a walking to of "The Ark". The Ark is a facility where people who are down on their luck (homeless, jobless, etc) go to work and live in a secluded community. The facility has a doctor, schools, church, community center, etc. It was an odd experience for me because I felt like there was something that was not quite right. The people seemed very content with their situation, but I felt like it was a pretty depressing place. The community is based around a certain sect of Christianity and in order to be accepted into the community you must attend church, devotion, and bible studies daily. I had a problem with this because I feel like if the mission of the facility is to help people it should not matter how a person worships, or if they even believe in God. Also, it was difficult for me to understand the fact that the facility used a barter system to help people get back on their feet. What happens is that there is no money exchanged between people, you live there for free and each person has a job ----Utopian Society. The problem is that the people living at this facility may never be able to leave because they have no means to support themselves because there is no money or resources to live on your own. These are just a few thoughts I had about the tour today, I hope that people don't get upset reading this, but if so then write me something back and I will respond.
The rest of today I will be relaxing by the pool and reading a book. It will be nice to enjoy the beautiful day and relax before leaving on our 2 week holiday vacation. Tomorrow we will be leaving for a long adventure. During the holiday we will do a number of things: visit wild life preserves, bungee jumping...maybe, swimming, repelling, hiking, camping, and...... a lot more. It will be difficult, maybe impossible for me to update my blog during holiday so I will be keeping a journal on the trip so I can come to the internet cafe after we get back and remember what I did! Alright, well I may not be back on here until April 15th so I hope that everyone stays well and stays safe.

Kayamandi

Today we took a walking tour of Kayamandi. Kayamandi is a township just outside of Stellenbosch. The tour showed us the reality of most peoples lives in South Africa. There are about 40,000 people living in the township that is no bigger than 3 square miles. Most of the town is shanty houses with no sewage system or electricity. This was a very interesting and shocking moment for all of us. The most interesting thing I noticed on the tour is how friendly and happy everyone living in the town seems to be. I love the mindset that all of the inhabitants of the town have because it seems as though happiness is not based around your house, or car, or personal possessions. Happiness is a choice of each person. This was something that I needed to see, and I feel that every person should see how the people of the village live and how the react to their situation. The rest of today I will be doing some shopping (if I can get charlevoix state bank to let me take my money!!!!!) and then going to a rugby game later tonight. I hope all is well for everyone reading my blog and I promise I will update more frequently!

Saturday and Sunday March 28/29

On Saturday we went wine tasting all day! We visited three local wineries and spent a good amount of time at each wine farm. It was interesting to see how serious they take wine tasting here in South Africa. I was just there to have fun, but locals seem a bit more serious. After our third wine farm in about 6 hours everyone was pretty "sleepy" so we decided to head back to town and rest up a bit. After we recovered from the day we all gathered at one of our houses for a little pool party day, which turned out to be more of a card playing day. It was pretty chilly out, about 65 degrees, so we did not feel like swimming. After playing cards we went to a pizza/italian restaurant and spent the night enjoying the view and our wonderful food.
On Sunday we took a tour of Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. It was soooooo windy! There are a few pics of me almost falling off of the point that Jeff and I made it up to because the wind was at least 60 mph. We finally saw some wild animals.....Baboons are very annoying. At the Cape of Good Hope they would follow us around and it was a bit uncomfortable because there were no fences to stop them from getting to us. But, we made it so it was enjoyable. After we hiked around a bit we went to Simon's Town to swim with the Penguins. The water was very cold, but I could not pass up the chance to swim in the ocean with wild African Penguins. There were thousands of the little guys and it was quite an enjoyable experience.

Friday March 27

Friday morning and afternoon I spent at Cloetesville Secondary School. I taught a lesson about the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The students have been learning about the Cold War and it was my responsibility to discuss and teach about the United States' involvement in the "conflict" with communism. The students were very receptive and active during my lesson, all of them were hanging on every word I was saying, probably because I am just a difference face than their usual teacher. After school on Friday Jeff and I climbed Mt. Stellenbosch. We took some great pictures of the valley below and the city and villages in the area. I have been shocked at the tremendous beauty all over the region. I was farely scared climbing the mountain because I have never done anything like that before, but I made it! After we climbed the mountain we went to a brai (briy) with everyone in the group. A brai is like a barbeque, and they definitely know how to BBQ in South Africa. We had lamb, chicken, sausage, potato salad, chips, and of course, wine. For the first time on the trip we were able to go out and experience the night life in Stellenbosch. We went to a couple of local pubs and participated in some of the festivities with some locals. Overall it was a great night and I had to take care of a few of the people on the trip, but it was a lot of fun.

March 25/26

Sorry I have not been updating my blog a whole lot over the past week, the internet has been down all over town and it has been difficult to find the right time to check the cafe. On Wednesday and Thursday we spent the morning and afternoon working in the schools. Wednesday night we had dinner with our host family and discussed different kinds of English dialects in the United States. It was a pretty funny conversation because they were amazed at hearing me impersonate a southern accent. I just thought of George W. and remembered back to hearing him speak, however, I think I sounded a bit more intelligent. Anyway, on Thursday we went wine tasting at a local wine farm and sampled six different wines. It is interesting how wine is so much a part of the culture here in South Africa. After wine tasting I went out to dinner with 5 others and our professor and ate an amazing beef kebob. The food was terrific and the wine was even better.

The second week away

The past couple of days have gone very well both inside and outside the school. I am starting to get to know some of the students and they are more comfortable with me. Whenever Jeff, Kate, or I walk around the school we have students coming up to talk to us and yelling across the courtyard. Last night, Monday, we all went to the University Cup Semifinal rugby game at the stadium here in town. It was a lot of fun and reminded me of a football game in the states. After one full week here I am started to get used to the area and the people here in South Africa. I enjoy my time at school every day and look forward to the little adventures we take every day after school. We have some fun things planned for this coming weekend, I will mention a little about what we have planned later this week. Until then, stay well!

It has been a while

Okay, where do I start? I have been extremely busy over the past 4 or 5 days so I have been unable to post anything new. Last Thursday Jeff, Kate and I had a pretty rough day at the school. We had a few conversations with some students and realized how tough life is for most young people in South Africa. We were all pretty bummed after school so Jeff, Jessica, and I decided to climb Mt. Stellenbosch in the afternoon. I have some great pictures from the hike, and I definitely stepped out of my comfort zone on the climb up the mountain. There were a few times where I thought to myself "this is probably the dumbest thing I have ever done". But, in the end it was worth it because the view was absolutely amazing. On Friday, after a great day at school, the group left for the beach house on Pringle Bay. The weekend consisted of laying on the beach and swimming in the Atlantic Ocean. A few people ventured on a hike, but I was content relaxing on the beach. The scenary was once again beautiful. The pictures I have taken do not do the view justice. In order to appreciate the beauty of South Africa a person must BE HERE! However, the pictures are still amazing. We got back from Pringle Bay on Sunday night and ate dinner with our host family and chatted a bit with them.

Jeff's Cheese Sandwich

This morning was our first day at Cloetesville Secondary School. Jeff, Kate, and I all got to experience the different atmosphere at a school here in South Africa. There are a few differences between SA and America. For example: the students line up outside the classroom (boys in one line and girls in the other) the teacher then walks outside to let the students into the room where they remain standing until the teacher says "good morning class", the students then say "good morning mister or misters or misses". This formality exists during class as well, the students do not speak unless given instruction to do so. Only the teacher speaks until questions are asked during class. This is much different than the United States (in most cases). I met a few extremely nice teachers at the school and was greeted with many welcomes from the staff. One funny thing that happened today was while Jeff, Kate, and I were sitting in the teacher's lounge waiting to head to the classroom. Jeff was very excite about his sandwich for lunch because his roommates made it for him. However, he never looked at it before he left his home this morning. So, when he opened his lunch and found two slabs of bread with one slice of cheese covering 1/3 of the sandwich I saw the saddest look imaginable come across his face. As for the rest of today, I will be hanging out in the village for a few more minutes and then proceed to eat dinner with the entire group around 7 PM tonight. I do not have much more time, so I hope all is well in the US!

Arrival in South Africa

We got in to South Africa at about 10:30 PM last night (430 in Michigan). The flight was very long, but I slept and watched tons of tv shows and movies. I enjoyed watching episodes of Family Guy and The Office and watching Step Brothers. After getting through customs last night I met the father of my host family. He is very nice and excited to have us visiting. We did not get to the house until about 1:00 AM. Waking up this morning was amazing. I am living in the room called "The Crow's Nest". It is called this because it located in the top level of the Taylor's large house. When I woke up at 8:00 AM I looked out the window and was shocked to see three large mountains right out my window. THis was my first time seeing mountains!This morning we all met at my host family's house and proceeded to go visit the 3 schools we will be working at. I will be at Cloetesville Secondary School with Mr. Henry teaching History and Health. I am very excited because Mr. Henry is a very funny guy who is also one of the acting principal's of the school. After touring the schools all 13 of us ate lunch at the Stellenbosch Hotel and now I am typing at the Internet Cafe in the "village". I am astonished at how beautiful the area is and amazed at how much this town feels like a European city. I will try to upload a few pics whenever I get a chance. I am sure that I have left out a ton of stuff, but I will be writing more in the next few days. I hope all is well wherever you are reading this from. Take care.

Anxious, Excited, Nervous....

This afternoon my mom and I drove from Charlevoix to Grand Rapids to stay in a hotel close to the airport (we were both scared of a possible blizzard up north). We arrived in GR and went out to the Grand Rapids brewery for dinner, and now I am trying to watch as much basketball as I can before I leave tomorrow afternoon. I am getting very excited to leave! I found out today that Tuesday morning we will be meeting the principals and the teachers of the school we will be working at, so we do not get a whole lot of time to rest, but I am excited to get into the schools as soon as possible. The next time I will post anything on here will probably be Tuesday or Wednesday from Stellenbosch, South Africa. Until then, stay well!

Here is a picture of the University of Stellenbosch. This area is a couple miles from where I will be living.

March 10 2009

Hello everyone! For all of you who do not know, I will be traveling to South Africa for a six week study abroad trip with Grand Valley State University. There is a total of 13 of us going (12 students and 1 professor) and we will be participating in a number of different activities during our six week trip. I will be teaching at a secondary school just outside of Stellenbosch, South Africa. I am planning to post at least 3 or 4 times a week so I can keep everyone up to date with what I am up to while on my trip. I am starting to get very excited....and a little nervous. I am excited to travel and experience a new culture, but I am a little nervous to get on a plane for the first time! We will see how it goes... Just so everyone knows, I will be leaving on Sundary March 15 at 3:00 PM from Grand Rapids, MI. We are flying to Detroit and then flying to Amsterdam from Detroit. We will have about a four hour lay-over in Amsterdam, followed by a very long flight to Cape Town, South Africa. We will be arriving in South Africa late Monday night and we will be given a couple of days to tour the town (Stellenbosch) before we begin teaching on either Wednesday or Thursday. I am looking forward to meeting my host family and getting to know as much as possible about their culture. If anyone has any questions or comments you can write back to me on this blog and I will try do my best to respond to you.

Jake Teuscher