About two weeks ago Anne, me and two friends went on a roadtrip to Bushmans river/Boesmansrivier in the Eastern Cape to spent the weekend there. We had a crazy, awesome weekend – but pictures say more than words…
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Welcome to the Homework Club!
Shortly after Anne had arrived our BIA team started a brand new project: The Born in Africa Homework Club. We started this project as a pilot in Crags primary school with 23 kids from Grade 6.
The HWC takes place every Monday to Thursday from 15.00 -17.00. In the first hour we help the kids with their regular homework and in the second hour there is time for extra lessons in English, project work, computer classes or self esteem building.
Till now the Homework Club is quite a success and 23 of the 25 children who where originally invited to join are attending regularly. I have a lot of fun working with these kids, especially because it is a small group of children so you really have the chance to get to know them.
Unfortunately I have just one week left here in Plett, so I can´t help out at the HWC every day. I mainly work on my research now and also take some time to see as much as possible before I leave. One of my little outings after work was to Noetzi Beach – a beautiful lonesome beach close to Knysna. Another day Stefan, Anne and me went to Salt Lake River in Nature´s valley and yet another day we had a girls night at Aletta´s place…
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Filed under My Blogs
And then came Anne
Hey everybody,
it has been a while since I´ve last posted on my blog… so where do I start?
My old volunteer crew left me shortly after the vacation… Thank you Karl, Kathleen and Hayley for the great time in the best volunteer house in Plett!
After a sad goodbye and 2 scary nights alone in the BIA house, my new co-volunteer arrived. I was very nervous what Anne would be like and if we would get along with each other since it was just the two of us now… but my worries were for no reason. As soon as Anne and me met, it just klicked immediately and it felt like we have known each other for ages.
On her first day here in South Africa I took her for lunch on the lookout deck and after that on a boat trip to spot some whales. We saw a mom with her baby and 4 other whales close to our boat… AMAZING!! The same night I introduced Anne to Plett nightlife=Flashbacks… We had a blast!!!
On Saturday Anne and me were invited to the home of my godsister Leaticia, a girl in our program my parents recently started to sponsor. The reason for the invite was a triple birthday in the family: the 5th birthday of Leaticia’s niece, the 11th birthday of her cousin and the 60th birthday of her stepfather. It was a very nice experience to get to know my ” sister’s” family and Anne and me felt very welcome. Leaticia’s mom introduced me to everybody as her daughter, so now I have extended family in South Africa 
.
The Sunday we spent at the beach. Also the water is still very cold, Hayley, Anne and me went for a swim. This perfect weekend ended with a traditional South African braai with new made friends, on a farm under the stunning stars of South Africa.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Call me Ms. Christina
The 2010 FIFA World Cup is over and so are the big school holidays. This means that I am back at Plettenberg Secondary School and finally get the chance to prepare my own lessons. I am still assisting Niki Manuel, the English teacher, so I am teaching mainly Grade 12 (Matrics) and some Grade 10th.
The first day after school we had a big assembly, where a group of young artist performed songs, dances and little sketches about the topic HIV. The following Thursday Ms. Christina gave her very first lesson about the movie
“ Freedom writers” as a preparation for the coming oral exams. It went pretty well, most of the kids enjoyed the power point presentation I had prepared and took part in the discussion afterwards. Another lesson I gave was about the World Cup as a preparation of an essay the Grade 10th had to write.
Besides my work at school there is still a lot of administrative work to do for BIA and we also started the new Arts&Crafts program. Finally I have to hand out the last questionnaires and start with my final report for university. As you can see I am busy, busy, busy…
In spite of all that I still have enough time to enjoy this beautiful country.
The one weekend I had a braai at Nature’s valley and the day after went to Monkeyland and Birds of Eden to spot some animals. The other weekend I drove with Karl en Kathleen first to Keurbooms beach and after that to Robberg to hike along the peninsula. The nature here is just stunning but see yourself…
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Welcome to Jeffreys Bay!
The last weekend of the school vacation Karlien, Karl, Kathleen and I went 150 k further to the East to Surfer´s capital J-Bay. We could stay at Sassa´s place, who is the mom of a friend of Karl and Kathleen. Sassa is the best host you can imagine… (Thanks a lot!!!)
We arrived at the house and she welcomed us with some beers and homemade Boboti. She had also prepared the fireplace outside and fire master Karl just had to light it and keep it going. A little later some friends of Sassa´s daughter joined us for dinner and after that introduced us to J-bay nightlife. It was great fun, thanks a lot guys.
The next morning Sassa showed us around the J-Bay area. We collected some shells at the beach, spied on some surferboys, and Karl also gave us girls some time to shop in the Billabong factory store. After this exciting day we stayed in that night, played games and watched some movies.
The next day Sassa showed us the rest of the area and we had some delicious lunch before the four of us made our way back home to Plett.
I started the week with helping out at the `Place of Hope´ in Kwanokathula where a women shelters nine orphaned toddlers. It was great fun to keep those little cuties busy.
The same evening Kathleen, Karl and me went together with Isa to the township New Horizon to watch the semifinals of the Tisha Talent competition. Its a local talent competition between the townships, where uprising talents are discovered. All candidates will be filed in a database so they can be booked for local events and actually earn money with their talent.
On Tuesday Niki, the English teacher I work with, picked me up at the BIA house to spend some time with her and her family in nearby Knysna. I got to know her husband Marc and her cute kids Caleb and Zimran. After staying the night at her place and prepare some stuff for school the next day she took me to Thesen Island, where I tried for the first time in my life some oysters. They taste like the sea, which is nice but I wouldn’t spent a lot of money on it.
The last highlight of the week was when we went shopping with Keagan, who is Karl en Kathleens godchild. We also took Keagans brother Quivian with us. First we went to KFC to get some food and after that to the shops to buy some clothes and some toys. After the shopping tour we drove to the beach, played in the waves and kicked some ball on the sand. It was just beautiful to see how much fun those little ones had, spending some time at the seaside. And it was then when I made the decision to sponsor a godchild myself.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Filed under My Blogs
Playing Tarzan
After an eventful week Karlien, my co-volunteers and me decided to go to the service on Sunday morning . It was very different from what I am used to from back home,very lively with a lot shouting, singing and clapping.
Later that day Karl,Kathleen and me went to the Keurboom River and hired a little motor boat to cruise down the beautiful river. Karl proofed to be the best captain although Kathleen and me did our very best to keep the boat on course. That Sunday ended well as I could witness Germany kicking some English ass.
On Wednesday Johan, Stefan and me all had a day off and went to Tsitsikamma to go tree canopying. Tree canopying means that you slide attached to a rope from one tree to the other. Around each tree is a platform where you land on. It was a lot of fun sliding through the Tsitsikamma indigenous rainforest, and standing in the crown of 700 years old giant trees was a truly amazing experience…
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Filed under My Blogs
Fatboy Slim is in da house
A lot of stuff has happened during the last weeks… But let´s start with the beginning.
After finishing the Arts & Crafts holiday program I started my weekend with a Friday party night at Flashbacks. There was no time to recover though as Karlien en I had planned to accompany Karl en Kathleen to Storms River Mouth in the Tsitsikamma National Park where they would walk the famous Otter trail. So on Saturday morning Karlien picked us up (her Chevrolet is working again) and we made our way to Storms River Mouth. After having lunch with a seaside view we started the hike to the waterfall which is meanwhile also the first part of the Otter trail. It was a very nice hike along the coastline and far away we could even watch some whales playing in the water. I wasn’t envy Karl en Kathleen though who had to do the hike with their 15 kilo backpacks. While those two still had to reach their hut and had 4 more days, including some river crossings in front of them, me and Karlien walked back to the car and made our way home. Karlien dropped me at Nature’s Valley where I spent the rest of the weekend with the boys because nobody of the other volunteers was home.
On Monday me and Hayley just wanted to have pizza at Flash’s and play some pool when Glenn told us that Fat Boy Slim would be the DJ at VIP’s that night. We couldn’t miss that of course, so I called Stefan and Johan to let them know as well. It was a very fun night and I also ended up taking photo’s with Fat Boy Slim for the local newspaper as Glenn is the photographer (Yeah I’m famous now)
The next day me and Hayley went to the Crags to plant some more trees for Kurland Village. The weather was nice and us and the kids had a lot of fun, digging holes and planting some more trees. The same night we went up to Kransbos to watch the Bafana game. Also our boys beat the French guys it wasn´t enough to go through to the second round. But hey, Bafana Bafana left with pride.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Filed under My Blogs
diechrissi
