Week 14 – Cultural Blog

“To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.”

Aldous Huxley

Mirkwood forest

Having finished two full weeks of teaching practice, we were delighted to find out that already we get a long weekend off. As Glenn and I were quickly realising how few weekends we had left, we decided to travel, as usual, with a group of Americans. We spent the weekend in Hogsback, which is a small woodland village in what can only be described as the middle of nowhere. The Amatola Forest in the Hogsback area is often claimed as JRR Tolkien's inspiration for The Lord of the Rings, in particular for his fictional forest of Mirkwood. Having spent Saturday hiking through the forests it is easy to see how he could have been inspired here, the forests were beautiful with some incredible waterfalls and the peace and calm within the forest is something that is not often experienced. We had a great two days spent in Hogsback, staying in a backpackers called ‘away with the fairies’  and some of the people we met there could definitely have been described as being ‘away with the fairies’. 

On Sunday we moved on up the coast to a place called Coffee Bay, and it seemed that the further up the coast we went, the worse the roads became but the better the scenery became. As always, we were amazed by the scenery and the diversity of South Africa, and this was another part of South Africa’s culture that we had not yet experienced.  As we got closer to Coffee Bay it started to feel like we were stepping back in time and it became much more rural than we had yet seen in South Africa. There was something very refreshing about spending a few days here amongst villages of mud huts, long beaches, and ladies selling hand-made jewellery at the side of the dirt roads. 

On Monday morning we went on a village tour of the local village, which gave us an opportunity to learn more about the Xhosa beliefs and traditions. We were shown the scared pools in which the Xhosa people believe their ancestors live and they pray to them there. We also were given traditional clay face painting which the ladies of the Xhosa culture wear each day. Following this we were taught of the traditional procedure of marriage within this culture, which involves the male buying his wife from her family for the price of ten cows! If the lady has been educated she is actually worth fifteen cows, and to be bought by a male she must show good qualities that they may seek for in a wife. When brought into the home of a Xhosa family we were given a preview of how a typical day works in this home, as the boys of the tour were seated on chairs and beds while the girls were expected to sit on the floor. Following this we were expected to dish up and hand out the food to the men before serving ourselves.  Some of the other girls and I were not too impressed with this culture, and the more we were informed of the ‘women’s duties’,  the more respect I had for the ladies of this culture as it seems they do most of the duties within and outside the house while the men of the house seemingly did very little!

From the moment we arrived at Coffee bay it was clear that there was more poverty here than in other areas that we have seen. We quickly learnt that tourism in this area keeps these people employed, like car park attendants, ever present drug dealers, the ladies that sell their handmade jewellery and the tour guides, and we were left to wonder how these people survive financially when there are no tourists to interest in their business. I found it interesting to hear that the safety for tourists in this area is good as the locals are very aware that if a tourist is harmed in any way that they are only damaging their own income. After hearing this I did notice that the tourists went out of their way to help us as tourists and be kind to us, and we felt very safe during our stay here. We enjoyed a ‘sun-downer’ with the people of the hostel, which involved a group of us in a tractor-pulled trailer heading off to the top of a cliff to watch the sunrise, and we found that the owners of the backpacker were very friendly and served us a traditional south African meal that night which was very different to any of our own but very tasty!

On our way back to Port Elizabeth on Wednesday we made a stop at the infamous ‘Hole in the wall’, which is a natural hole through a cliff wall that attracts many tourists. The scenery here was really something else, and I almost felt at home as much of the scenery was similar to scenery we have in Ireland. Aaron, a child that offered his services to give us a tour, was a very interesting child who was 14 years old. We enjoyed chatting to him as he showed us the natural wonder and brought us to the top of a steep cliff to appreciate the view further. I was surprised to hear that he gave up on school long ago to give tours to people as he wanted to bring in more money to support his family. I find it so sad that some of the children have to give up their childhood and education in order to support their family at such a young age. However, this child changed my view of young children who opted not to go to school, as previously I assumed

they would rather be begging on the street or were too lazy to learn, whereas this child decided to leave school for selfless reason, and it has made me more aware of the various reasons why children leave education.

I think our visit to Coffee bay has been my favourite so far as it was a completely different culture to experience and with Shannon’s not-so-gentle persuasion, the two of us got up at 630am for an hour long surf lesson. We both enjoyed this a lot, and spent a lot of our time laughing at each other, and although we weren’t exactly pro’s, we enjoyed the chance to try something new and have both decided that we would like to surf more when we return home.  Experiencing a place like coffee Bay has made me realise that despite the bad reputation South Africa may get for crime within Northern Ireland, it is only now that I have seen area’s like this that I realise that it is a beautiful country with a unique culture that is no more dangerous than any other country.

 Unfortunately, the holiday had to end so on Wednesday we started the long journey home to Port Elizabeth for a very short two day week of teaching on Thursday and Friday!
It’s hard to believe that we only have two full weeks left in placement, and already the thought of goodbyes is not an enjoyable one. Next week brings my tutor visit for placement and a number of assignments due in, which suggests a rather dull week next week, but we look forward to our weekend away with my South African friends and also our American friends in Plettenberg in two weeks for a final celebration before we leave.

Hope all is well at home

Lynsey

 

Week 13 - Professional Blog

 “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”  Nelson Mandela

It’s hard to believe that we are already through our second full week of placement, and despite the first week being full of worries, this week has been one of identifying challenges and becoming familiar with the children and the school environment. When I first
 found out I was going to South Africa for teaching
 practise I imagined teaching in a poor school in a
township, with no running water, no electricity and no lights, so you can imagine my surprise when I first arrived at Cape Recife. The school is built on very impressive grounds, with a number of spacious airy buildings, three swimming pools, football fields, tennis courts, a number of playgrounds with swings and climbing frames and a hostel for those students who live too far away to travel. It definitely was not what I was expecting when I first arrived. However, after my initial delight at the good facilities, I soon realised that my teaching would still be very basic as the classrooms had no computers or projectors or anything technological – just a blackboard and chalk. This lack of resources meant that my teaching was stripped right back to the basics, and although I initially found this intimidating without a projector or computer programmes to hide behind, this week I began to enjoy the task of simply teaching. It is when in an environment as simple as this that your true creativeness and teaching ability comes alive, especially when your aim is to hold the attention of a classroom including 10 children with ADHD. 

Something that has really struck me about the children in my class is the height of respect they have for their teachers and other adults within the class. Every child has addressed me as ‘Mam’, and despite most of the children being excitable during class time, there is an underlying respect for their teacher that is not always seen within Northern Ireland. During my previous placements at home I have seen a number of cases of terrible behaviour and complete lack of respect for others within a number of different children, and so this respect seen within class was refreshing. Each morning the class stand to greet their teacher and any other adults that may be present in class, and it is something that is very absent from classes in Northern Ireland today. The pupils were a delight to spend time with and took great interest in my nationality and home country, and I had the privilege of having a time slot during class when I would bring in money from home and show pictures of Ireland. It’s sad that although these children have such an interest in other countries, many of them will never leave South Africa, and it has made me realise what a privilege it is to have the opportunity to travel so much.

 

Something I have observed within this class is that the teacher’s teaching style seemingly only appeals to visual learners. Every lesson follows the same format and there is very little interaction between learners or varied activities. This is a challenge that I have identified as one that will need to be overcome if I am to successfully teach each individual child within the classroom, and will be achieved mostly through trial and error.

Despite identifying challenges that will need to be addressed within the classroom, I had a number of successful lessons that I feel the children were engaged in, including a basic Spanish lesson that I was given the opportunity to teach, covering colours and basic greetings. This was a very enjoyable lesson for me as I haven’t yet had the opportunity to teach a language within school, and has encouraged me to study Spanish further in order to be able to teach it further when I return home. Following this week, we are rewarded with a long weekend and we intend to travel along the east coast towards Durban (known as Transkei), which I believe is a much more rural area than that of the West Coast.

Hope everyone is well at home

Lynsey  

Week 12 - Professional Blog.

“Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that a son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another." Nelson Mandela

Cape Recife School

 After a very eventful few weeks travelling and an almost emotional goodbye with our friends, the time came for us to finally start into the teaching practise, which also marked the final stretch of time before we had to face going home.  Having done weekly observation day visits into Cape Recife, I had a vague idea of what to expect from my class. However, I was approaching my five week placement with great anticipation as I was aware that within my class of eighteen children, ten of them were diagnosed with ADHD.  The thought of this terrified me, as in my previous teaching experiences I have had just one child with ADHD in my class and they caused great disruption. The thought of managing ten of them alongside the rest of the class was daunting to say the least. Something that has really taken me by surprise is the lack of support for the teacher of a special needs class. The teacher I have been shadowing is the only adult within her class, with no classroom assistants or support. This is in great contrast to the special needs class I visited in Northern Ireland, as there were four adults within a class of ten children. As a result of this lack of adult support I feel like the children’s learning is suffering within this class.

The teacher’s main focus is on the behaviour of the children, rather than their learning, and so with lack of differentiation and individual academic support, the children’s learning evidently suffers.

Some of the inclusive athletics.

Cape Recife was instantly impressive to me when I entered the school, their inclusive ethos and catering extracurricular activities are well publicised throughout the corridors, and you can tell it is a school that aims to include children of all disabilities and special needs. One of the main principals of the school is to encourage inclusion as much as possible. The pupils of Cape Recife have been referred there by teachers from mainstream schools who feel it is necessary, and Cape Recife provide these children with specific encouragement and support, aiming to equip them to be placed back into mainstream schools when they are ready. Cape Recife follow the same curriculum that mainstream schools do, simply with smaller classes in order to provide the children with adequate support as mainstream classes can have up to fifty children within them.

I was surprised and disappointed to see very little differentiation within the class and teaching, as it is clear that the more capable children and the less capable children suffer from this. Rather, the teacher sticks to a very structured routine which has been used year after year, leaving little room for improvisation or alternative lessons. This has made me nervous about introducing my lessons amongst this structured routine as I am unsure how the children will react to them and how the teacher will respond to my change in routine. However, the teacher cannot be blamed for this lack of differentiation within her lessons as the behaviour of the children is clearly her first priority with no other adult support within the class. This is very different from what I am used to in Northern Ireland as there is a great emphasis on differentiation there, and having seen the results of not including differentiation, I now understand the true importance of it to help children reach their full potential. Although this week has been a tiring one, and has presented some problems that I am nervous about confronting while teaching next week, I am looking forward to the challenges and am already enjoying the relationship I am building up with the children within the classroom, which I feel is a vital part of being a teacher to these children.  It is clear how important it is for these children to be inspired as they find school uninteresting and tiring, and I hope to do so in the incoming weeks.

Week 11 - Personal Blog

 “Do everything you come across”. That was the advice I received from a teacher in my placement school last week when I told him I was going to Cape Town and travelling back along the coast towards PE (The Garden Route). He soon had filled me in on the incredible views, endless activities and nice hostels to stay in that I would come across along the garden route. Needless to say, my expectations of the Garden Route were sky high before we even left Cape Town.  In my childhood, my past experiences of long journeys that entailed many stops along the way always consisted of sitting in the back of a family car being forced to listen to country and western and sleeping until we were told we must get out of the car, so already I was aware that this trip was going to be slightly different!  We left Cape Town early on Monday morning, and we loved the freedom of deciding where exactly we wanted to stop and when, something I have never really had experience of before. Our first planned stop was Mossel Bay, the first main stop on our way home. However, as we started to drive we decided it would be nice to make a slight detour and visit the most southerly point of Africa. It was a surreal thought to think that as we stood looking out to the sea that from that point on, it was no longer Africa, and although it added quite a bit of driving onto our journey, we were glad we had taken the detour.  Travelling the garden route without the comfort zone of planned stops and nothing to think about was definitely an adventure for us and I loved the independence.

When living in somewhere like South Africa , there is almost an obligation to travel as much as we can as there is just so much to see in four short months. This has led to a drastic change in lifestyle for me, in that we now travel as much as we possibly can, taking every opportunity that there is to see more of this country.  This has given me a new interest in travel, both within Ireland and further afield, and I feel that my experience of international study has given me ‘itchy feet’, and an interest to see more of the world, their cultures and their lifestyles.

 A common pattern that we came across when we spoke to a number of locals, was that they have not seen a lot of their own country, and although they could recommend many places to go and visit, they had rarely been to them themselves. This is sad to me as it is such a beautiful country, yet many of the people of South Africa have seen only their own province. In reflection, I realised that many of us are similar within Northern Ireland, as we are blessed with beautiful coastlines and landscapes that are comparable to some of those in South Africa, yet many of us, including myself,  have seen only a small collection of these.  This, to me, seems like such a waste, and I hope to explore a lot more of Ireland after my return home.

 This week I have done so many activities that I thought I may never have the chance to do, most of which will be times that I will look back on as some of my most memorable. After an incredible week of travel along the garden route with many adventures, Glenn and I both surprised ourselves at how excited we were to return to Port Elizabeth which made me realise how quickly I have accepted it as my home.  We were delighted to have the chance to show our friends around our new home, introduce them to our new international friends and let them see where we have been living and a bit of what we have been doing (besides tanning ourselves obviously!). I am learning that I’m generally a pretty adaptable person and have quickly made Port Elizabeth my home from home, and almost felt a pride as I showed our friends the local area. Learning this about myself has made me realise how much I will enjoy travel in the future and how capable I am of actually doing it, whereas before I felt like I would miss home too much.

The group of us had a very memorable week as we travelled along the garden route and we stopped at a great number of attractions and towns on our return to Port Elizabeth. Our first stop was at Mossel Bay, in which we stayed over in a ‘train hostel’, which was an interesting experience. We were delighted to find that the weather went beyond our expectations, and as the boys ventured out on their shark cage diving, Emily and I made the most of the sun on the beach. I began my trip in South Africa feeling like if I wasn’t doing something significant that I was wasting time, but I’ve finally come to realise that chilling out on the beach is not wasting time. Our next stop was due to be a one night stay over in Oudtshoorn which is slightly more inland than our other stops, however the minute we walked into the backpackers and saw the list of things we were offered we decided to extend our stay for an  extra night.

  Over the next two days we visited the impressive Cango caves (one of the natural wonders of the world), an ostrich farm on which we made full use of the included ostrich rides! Emily and I managed to brave a very early morning for a sunrise horseback safari which resembled something to the lion king, and late that day the five of us went to check out the infamous waterfall which was ice cold, despite each of us braving it and standing under it completely breathless for about 7 seconds. We finished off our stay by having a tour around the Cango wildlife ranch, which allowed us to see some of South Africa’s species up close and allowed us to pet a cheetah which was just a bit too large for my liking!  Our next stop along the way was a quick one night stop in Plettenberg which is probably my favourite place in South Africa, but was massively clouded by my nerves of what was to come later that day. We followed our stop in Plettenberg by the dreaded day of the bungy jump!  While the group spent the day in Plettenberg enjoying the sun on the beach, I spent the time freaking out at the thought of jumping off a 216 metre high bridge! As the day progressed, my nerves slowly got less and less until I finally reached the top of the bridge with the words of advice that had been passed on to me ringing in my ears. “Look up and aim for the horizon and don’t think about it, just jump!” Thankfully we met our American friends who travelled from Port Elizabeth to meet us so that we could jump together, and Shannon and Ryan’s evident terror was somewhat calming for me. I can’t explain the feeling as I jumped off the bridge and fell through the air, but as I was being hoisted back up all I could think of was how pleased I was with myself for actually going through with it and the buzz I got from it! Following this we had a slight car issue that led to ten of us being stranded for six hours at the bungee centre, before finally getting off and arriving at our hostel in Jeffrey’s Bay for our final night on the garden route. Jeffrey’s bay is probably one of the most famous spots in South Africa, famous for the ‘supertubes’ surfing, and so we enjoyed spending some time watching some impressive surfing before finally starting the journey back to our new home in Port Elizabeth.

 It’s been such a pleasure having our friends from home here with us over the past few weeks, almost like having a bit of home here with us in South Africa, and I have loved being able to share a corner of our experience with them!  It’s also hard to believe that it is only five short weeks until we are home with them again, so although it is sad to say goodbye to them, it has marked an urgency to do more here as we are almost into our final month in the country we have grown to love so much!

Hope all is well at home, until next time,

Lynsey

Week 10 - Cultural Blog

Before leaving home I was warned not to fall into the trap of ‘living like it’s home’; when living in a country for a number of months it is very easy to put off doing the ‘touristy things’, as you felt like you could do them ‘later’. With our friends coming to visit, Glenn and I intended on making up for this by squeezing in as many attractions and sights we possibly could within the next two weeks.

 With it being Easter break, it seemed that almost all international students had the same idea – to head to the melting pot of South Africa – Cape Town. Glenn and I began our journey by travelling to Cape Town on an overnight Greyhound bus – a first experience for us both.  Typically, the bus lived up to our expectations of South African transport by arriving almost two hours late, which makes me think of our Northern Ireland public transport system with a strange fondness! We have now adapted to this slow-moving culture, and we weren’t even surprised by the announcement and we were quite content to simply sit on the kerb and wait; an attitude you would not have seen had it been 3 months earlier. Speaking to some South Africans on the bus, and locals I know from Port Elizabeth, I was surprised by the obvious split of whites and blacks in such a trivial matter like travel. The bus mostly consisted of black people and tourists, and many white South Africans spoke very lowly of the long distance buses. It has surprised and saddened me to see several examples of this during my stay here so far, including noticing that I have never seen white South Africans walking into university, or using the public transport Kombis as they drive, yet the streets are lined with black students walking and the Kombi’s are full of black people. It has made this still very obvious divide between races much more real to me. Although it initially made me nervous taking the Kombis, if we are travelling in groups I now feel comfortable riding in them, and it is always an interesting ride. Having endured our long trip, after trying to understand maps and making confused calls to find out where we would meet our friends, we were finally delighted to be reunited with 3 friends from home. We stayed in a SIM missionary guest house for the five nights that we were in Cape Town, and met some amazing people there. A South African lady named Marie was staying with us, and she volunteers within prisons working as a missionary. Speaking to her and the two owners of the house was very refreshing as, despite the thousands of miles apart, we shared the same beliefs and faith; despite loving meeting such a variety of different beliefs here in South Africa, it was nice to find someone who shared similar opinions. They had many questions about Ireland, and it was sad to hear that many people associate Belfast with bombs and as a dangerous place. Having now lived in South Africa, a country I initially associated with crime, for three months I have now come to realise that visiting other countries is so important as it can correct a stereotypes that may exist about them. Had I not been here for this time I would have missed out on one of the most beautiful and culturally diverse countries, seeing it only as a country of crime.

South Africa has a very musical culture, and so Emily and I were delighted to find small groups of singers working their way around the outdoor restaurants at the Waterfront in Cape Town, singing South African songs including Sho sholoza, a song that members of the Stranmillis choir sang at their summer concert last year. This is something that unfortunately is not a common thing in Ireland.

Every South African we met this week was very proud of their city, constantly asking us what we thought of it and being very pleased when we told them how much we loved it. I found it interesting to find that South Africans took great pride in Cape Town, yet when it came to places like Bulungula and other remote places, they couldn’t understand why we would want to visit those areas, when in fact they were some of the most beautiful places I have seen, and would much prefer than the city. I feel like it is the same worldwide; people can’t see the beauty of where they live until other people come and visit it and I look forward to returning to Ireland with my new appreciation for the coastlines and scenery. Unfortunately, Cape Town is like every other area I have seen in South Africa – alongside the beautiful areas with nice shops and impressive buildings, exists one of the largest townships in South Africa. We had the opportunity to visit a children’s home in one of the townships, and it was humbling to meet the lady behind it all.

 This lady has given up her life to run three separate homes for orphans and gets very little thanks for it. It is people like this lady who make a life changing difference for these children, yet very few people even know about it, which seems like an injustice to her.  This week we went to the top of Tabletop-mountain, one of the seven natural wonders of the world, at sunset giving us breath taking views, and plenty of photo opportunities. We also spent a day driving one of the most scenic routes in Cape Town, starting at Hout bay and driving along Chapman’s peak, and were rewarded with beautiful views, a visit to South Africa’s smallest Pub, almost losing Glenn off the edge of a cliff, and visiting a penguin colony at Boulder’s beach, which was a highlight for me as I hadn’t realised that penguins existed in hot countries! On Sunday we took a trip to Robben Island, which was where Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison before becoming president. To hear of such an important part of the country’s history was so interesting, however I was surprised to hear that many of the ex-convicts and prison attendants now live together on the island.

 When climbing Table Top Mountain we couldn’t have got a more beautiful day as the sky was perfectly clear and it was HOT! Unfortunately we started the climb too late and after climbing for an hour we met some other tourists on their way down who said that we would never make the top before the cable car closed for the night, and so as I we didn’t fancy hiking down in the dark we decided to take a detour via the cable car. The view from the top will never be done justice by photos, as it was honestly so beautiful. That night it was really nice to introduce our friends from home to our crazy American friends, and we had a great night together with everyone.

Saturday was Shannon’s birthday, and so we combined groups and all of us went on the Wine Tour near Stellenbosch. As someone who is not particularly fond of wine, I was not overly excited for this. However, I surprised myself by actually enjoying a number of the wines, passing the glasses I didn’t like to Ryan and Glenn. It was a really nice day and I enjoyed getting to see how much of the culture making wine is in South Africa. 

On Sunday Ian had booked us tickets for a visit to Robben Island , the island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years. Of course, living up to our last minute standards, we were running late as we had visited Hillsong, Cape Town that morning and then got held up ordering our (very first!) subway.  If anyone from home had seen us they would have thought we were crazy! We, of course, didn’t even know where we were to board the boat, and so the five of us were sprinting through the waterfront in Cape Town, screaming directions at each other as we went. Meanwhile locals are shouting to us that it is too late and that we have missed the ferry. As tempted as I was to simply give up, Ian and Glenn’s determination saw us get onto the boat just as it was pulling away from the harbour, with every passenger turning around to see what the commotion was about. Embarrassing. Sadly for Ian the boat journey was not what he has hoped for, and as it violently lurched from side to side, Ian sat quietly with his head between his legs, turning a strange shade of green. The trip was interesting and I was particularly fond of reading some of Nelson Mandela’s many inspiring quotes in the gift shop.   

We had such a fantastic time in Cape Town, I loved the buzz on the streets at night time which reminded me somewhat of Dublin, and I enjoyed the more open minded attitude that was so evident in Cape Town in comparison to that of Port Elizabeth which sometimes seems relatively closed minded. The coastlines and views were some of the best I have seen in South Africa so far and I loved that this City had it all – busy streets, shops, businesses yet also had beaches, mountainous drives and beautiful coastlines. We are now very excited for our trip along the Garden Route next week on our way back to Port Elizabeth.

Week 9 - Personal Blog (3-04-2012)

It finally became official that I have been spending too much time with Americans when I started talking about how excited I was for ‘Spring Break’, despite it being autumn here. With differences of language put aside, we were all very excited for the upcoming holidays as we all had a lot of travelling planned. Having an Easter with no family plans was a new experience for me as this was my first year missing our Easter trip to Donegal. However, this is just another part of my new lifestyle and despite it being a shame that I missed it, I was very excited at the prospect of making my own Easter plans and having the independence to decide what to do with my break. After much discussion (arguments!), we eventually decided that the girls and boys would split. The girls heading to Plettenberg Bay which is a four hour drive along the west coast from Port Elizabeth and the home of some of my South African friends, and the boys would go further along to Sedgefield! As my school friends at home know, I generally end up organising any trips we take as everyone else is too indecisive to make a plan, and so travelling with Americans has been a new experience for me as they often know exactly what they want to do. It has taken a while to get used to taking a back seat in organising our trips, but surprisingly it has been a nice change for me to have the small details arranged for me.

I had no expectations of what Plettenberg Bay (known as Plett to the locals, I am told) was going to be like, but I certainly wasn’t disappointed! It is a town of cobbled streets, nice restaurants, friendly locals, plenty of activities and most importantly a stunning beach that stretches for miles. Before I left for South Africa I worried that I would begin to take the coast for granted if I saw it every day. In actual fact I feel lie it has only made me love it more, and so the three of us spent our first afternoon exploring the beaches. Albergo backpackers, our hostel for the weekend, provide a braii every night if we provide the food. Living here has definitely made me more adventurous in the food I eat, and I have been trying meals that I would never consider trying at home, and so after some gentle persuasion, we decided it was time to be adventurous and try some ostrich burgers rather than our standard choice of chicken. Thankfully we were all pleased and despite almost eating them only half cooked, it was a successful meal.

On Sunday, some of my local friends took us on a hike on Robberg island, and we saw some of the most beautiful scenery and beaches that quickly made ‘Plett’ my favourite place in South Africa so far. The Americans were absolutely blown away by the scenery and the coastlines, saying that they have never seen anything so beautiful. Although I agreed that it was beautiful,  realised that if you took away the heat and added cloud and rain it could almost pass as Ireland. Seeing the stunning coastlines here has made me realise just how beautiful Ireland also is, and although the weather may not be just as pleasant at home, I’d love to see more of Ireland’s coast lines when I get home as I feel like it’s so easy to take them for granted.

On the Monday morning we decided to go swimming with seals as a group from Annie’s cove had highly recommended it. I think I went along with this plan without much thought, as suddenly I was fifteen minutes away from the beach in a wetsuit, snorkel and flippers and was somehow surprised that these people expected me to jump in with at least 100 of these strange creatures! Despite a nervous first five minutes of seals swimming towards me with their mouths open (I swear they looked vicious!), I soon realised that they were just inquisitive animals that wanted to play, and we spent half an hour swimming amongst them, only occasionally screaming in terror as they brushed against me. All was going swimmingly (excuse the pun!) until I swallowed two mouthfuls of salt water which I was quickly informed definitely had seal poo in it. Thankfully it was nothing a good puke over the side of the boat couldn’t fix! Embarrassing. After our busy morning we spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach and eating in a seafood restaurant. With it being April fools day this weekend, on Sunday we managed to convince the boys that we had all been food poisoned, and they both surprised us with kind, sympathetic responses which soon transformed into a response typical of two angry, huffy children, which brought us great entertainment!

We got home on Monday early evening to give Glenn and I time to get some work done before we head off to Cape Town on the overnight bus this Tuesday night to meet Emily, Ian and John who are visiting us for two and a half weeks. We plan to spend time in Cape town and travel the garden route back with them. SO excited.

Until next time

Lynsey

Week 8 - Cultural Blog (25-03-2012)

Long weekends have taken on a new meaning for me living in Africa. At home a long weekend normally means an extra few days to chill out, see friends and not do very much at all. Here, a long weekend sees Annie’s Cove deserted as almost every international student packs up and travels to somewhere new to do something ridiculous. This weekend was no exception!

Having spent Monday and Tuesday trying to get a week’s work done in two days, Wednesday morning saw four of us head off to travel along the ‘Wild Coast’, which is along the East Coast of South Africa. I can’t forget to mention our experience of typical South African time keeping before we even left! We were borrowing a car from a South African friend and planned to leave at 9am. However, he said that he needed to borrow the car for half an hour before we left. We waited for two and a half hours before he returned, and he seemed surprised that we were getting extremely impatient. From what I have experienced, this is typical of the South African culture that I am slowly growing to love, and find myself checking the time less and less, and becoming less and less punctual as a result, which I am sure will not improve my already poor time-keeping skills at home. However, I am constantly reminded of how refreshing it is to live in an environment in which punctuality is not the be all and end all in our day.

When we finally got on the road we were not disappointed with the stunning views and scenery on our drive. South Africa is one of the most beautiful countries I have ever seen with such diversity, as it has stunning coastlines yet also has incredible mountains, quirky beach towns and rural villages yet has beautiful, well developed cities. Despite the MANY differences we have discovered between ourselves and the Americans, we are all blown away by the amazing scenery in South Africa and are agreed on how there is no comparison to our home countries.

 After a five hour drive, many stops, stupid games and photos taken, we eventually arrived at the destination our SATNAV was taking us to, following the co-ordinates our hostel had given us. I don’t know why we were surprised to find that we appeared to be in the middle of a housing development with no hostel in sight. After a phonecall and over-complicated directions, we eventually arrived at the hostel with no explanation as to why the co-ordinates were wrong – we just put it down to ‘This is Africa, what else do we expect?’! Just another example of the laid back lifestyle out here which has given me a new found appreciation for the efficiency and organisation of simple things in Northern Ireland.

The hostel, in a town named Chintsa, was exactly what I expected South African hostels to be like, with stunning views, basic bunk rooms, beautiful homemade breakfasts  made by the ‘mamas’ that work there and temperamental freezing showers that literally took your breath away!  The atmosphere of the breakfast room reminded me somewhat of my granny’s kitchen, as the Mamas are typically caring, respectful and most importantly, cook remarkably good food. All of these are attributes that are seemingly engrained into the lifestyle of these Xhosa South African ladies. The four of us spent two days here canoeing (and sinking) up the river, exploring the beaches and talking to other tourists who are also travelling South Africa. I loved meeting these people and found it so interesting chatting to people and hearing their plans. Many people I have met here seem completely content with a life of travel, most of which travel alone. It has been so refreshing to meet people who simply decide what they want to do and go and do it, and many of the people I have met seem to have learnt so much about themselves as a result. However, as much as they seem to have enjoyed it, I feel like travelling is something I would rather do with company!

On Friday four more friends joined us and we travelled on to a place called Bulungula, futher along the coast. If I wasn’t convinced that I was experiencing ‘real Africa’, this weekend convinced me. The journey was one to remember, as the further we drove, the worse the roads became until soon we were swerving around the biggest potholes I have ever seen at 10mph. Bulungula is like nowhere I have ever seen before. The hostel took ‘the middle of nowhere’ to a new extreme. The hostel went right back to basics; no electricity within the mud huts that we slept in, compost toilets that required two spoonfuls of soil after use, paraffin showers in which the water is heated through a piece of paraffin-soaked toilet roll thrown into the system, a large campfire area and traditional Xhosa meals served each night. The one night that we spent there quickly made me aware of how much we rely on technology as all of the girls had a panic when we realised we had no internet, no phone signal and no way of charging our phones.

                                                                                                     

Having a break from it was so refreshing as it allowed us to enjoy the hostel and go out without bringing anything with us, something I hope to do more often now as it is so easy to become reliant on these things. We woke up the next morning to a goat trying to get into our room and a cow blocking our path to the shower! Definitely a weekend spent within nature.  Staying in Bulungula and driving home allowed us to see a completely different part of Africa, and it is always a shock to realise that people live in this culture with such a basic lifestyle. I was surprised to find that every child we met along the road ran after our car waving and shouting ‘happy’ at us. We had a packet of biscuits that we handed out to some of the children as we passed, and to see their faces light up as they received them made it so real to us how little these families have here.  To see this area of South Africa was a surprise to me as it is so different to the areas of poverty I have seen before within Uganda, giving an idea of just how different areas within Africa are to each other, and the difference in levels of poverty.

 Sadly due to terrible weather and terrible dirt roads, we had to leave Bulungula a day early to make sure we got home, and despite a few hills that took more than a few attempts to get up, and pushing the car in torrential rain, we eventually made it home after a nine hour drive!

We now only have one week left until Easter break, and I’m getting very excited to greet our friends in Capetown and show them around our new home. I also hope to travel to Plettenberg Bay this weekend with some of the American girls to explore and begin our Easter break as we plan to continue – with plenty of travel!

Hope all is well at home!

Lynsey