Back to the good ole' US of A

Let's be real.  The time I have spent here in South Africa has been overall a POSITIVE experience with great memories.  Now, does that mean I have ONLY had positive experiences? Absolutely not.  There were times when i have been challenged culturally, socially, academically, mentally, and the list could go on.  All of these experiences, however, needed to happen in order for me to get the most out of my time here.  I needed to go out of my comfort zone, and what better way to do that than go to a new country with such a unique culture.  Through this experience I have learned the following:

* People are people no matter where you are

* Not to give up on trusting people, but as a tourist - always play a little bit of defense

* If something bad happens - allow one day to be down about it, but then MOVE ON - it happened and you can't go back, keep moving forward

* Sometimes you just have to bite your tongue and listen

* Confidence is a strength if you have it and a growth area if you don't

* Just because it isn't the way I would do it, doesn't mean it's not as good or dare I say it - better

* Kids teach you as much as you teach them

* When you go into the unknown in order to step outside your comfort zone, it is surprising how quickly the unknown can become "comfortable"

* I am not sure I will ever truly understand the racial tension and the living situation here, but being here has given me a better understanding and an even more open mind

* Creativity gets you FAR

* Riding a bus 14 hours makes me go CRAZY and CRABBY

* Ostrich meat tastes like hamburger

* Convert rand to USD, meters to miles, and understand grams/kg/litres/mL

* The Post Office here is not my friend, and I don't think I am their's either

* How to wave down a cab

* ....... how to face my fears, the unknown, and a different world

Thank You everyone that followed my blog! I am heading to the airport tomorrow morning!

Cape Town

Cape Town is A LOT different than Grahamstown.  Grahamstown was a small town and Cape Town is a big city.  It has gorgeous beaches of the Atlantic Ocean.  There are endless shops and markets and there are a lot of things to do!  So far we have been going to the beaches a lot.  It is really easy to get around here on the taxis and the taxis are cheap - only 5 or 6 rand per person (which is less than $1) so that is pretty sweet!

The hostel we are staying at is AMAZING! It is brand new (opened in June) so it is really nice and there are a lot of really cool people here.  I have met people from England, Holland, Germany and I even met someone from the USA (Wisconsin - which was sweet and New York).  They are all so awesome and we all hang out as a group which is really neat.  It is interesting learning about where they are from as well as where they have traveled, one couple have been traveling for 8 months!

Besides the beach, we also went to Robben Island, which is the island where a lot of political figures were kept in jail during Apartheid.  The tour included an hour ferry ride across the Atlantic (30 min each way) and then a tour of the island.  Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and we learned a lot about the history of the island.  At one point it was a place where people who were contagious with leprosy went to be isolated.  After the leprosy period and before Apartheid people could actually live on the island.  We were also given a tour of the jail where Nelson Mandela stayed and we saw the cell where he was contained.  The tour guides of the actual jail were old cell mates that were contained in the jail (I should probably be referring to the jail as prison).

Tomorrow we are climbing Table Mountain and hopefully going to the Aquarium as well.  We are also looking into getting a tour of the Green Point Stadium where some of the World Cup soccer games were held.  That is what I am up to at the moment, when i come back I can be more in depth with the actual cultural experience, but it is hard putting it all into words.  It truly is a third world country and a first world country built into one.  Well one more week and then I will be heading home!  I am enjoying my experience, but I am excited to come home :)

Atlantic Ocean at Clifton Beach

LOVE THIS BEACH

Oh! Riding an ostrich :)

This is the only picture actually riding it, because I only lasted about 2 seconds before I fell off

Nelson Mandela's prison cell

The ferry we rode, it was CRAZY WINDY!

HeCTiC

This week has been absolutely crazy.  Monday, we had the opportunity to visit a township school.  Due to the school being at end of term, most classes weren’t in session.  Students came to get a meal and have a place to be, but most teachers were just marking.  We were able to see one class; Grade R was in session.  Grade R is like our Kindergarten.  There were only 15 students in the class that day, but she has 40 students on her class list.  It was interesting to see the school.   Wednesday we had our class party at my cooperating teacher’s house.  Her house is absolutely gorgeous.  She has a pool, so the students swam and played games and ate snacks.  Wednesday evening we had the Grade 7 Leavers Dinner.   This is the goodbye dinner to the students of Grade 7 for high school starts at Grade 8.  Also at this Leavers Dinner, new students and teachers are “knighted” into Kingswood College, so the other student teachers and I were knighted.  It was awesome!  Thursday was the last day of school and we had an end of the school year staff meeting and then lunch at the Headmaster’s house.  It was nice spending that time with the other teachers and also it gave us the opportunity to say goodbye to everyone.  Thursday evening we had our traditional goodbye dinner for April, Nichole, and I with our supervisor and her family.  We made chicken fajitas and they were delicious!  It is unbelievable that our time here is coming to an end.

Friday morning we headed for our two week vacation!  We started off by stopping in PE for breakfast; we had “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”.  After PE we headed to Jeffrey’s Bay and laid out at the beach and then went to Storm’s River and went to Tsitsikama.  It has been one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to.  We had a gorgeous view of the ocean and mountains.  We stayed by Storm’s river at a very interesting backpacker’s place.  Saturday morning we went back to Storm’s River at Bloukrans Bridge.  This is Africa’s largest bridge and the World’s Highest Bungee Jump.  Nichole and I joined another girl from her school back home (a COST student placed in PE) and we Bungee Jumped! It was absolutely the craziest thing I have ever done.  It is the most surreal experience.  I was absolutely petrified, but I am so glad I did it!  I have a CD of pictures and a DVD of my jump!  After bungee jumping we went to Plettenberg Bay to the beach and then headed to Oudtshoorn.  This is where we spent Saturday night.  On Sunday we went to Cango Caves, and went on the adventure tour where we crawled through the cave, it was absolutely gorgeous.  After Cango caves we went to Cango Ostrich farm.  Oudtshoorn has the most ostrich I have ever seen.  At the Ostrich farm we learned a lot about Ostriches and Nichole and I rode an Ostrich!   After Oudtshoorn we headed to Paarl where our friend Maryke lives.  Maryke is the one who is driving us to Cape Town, she has been absolutely amazing!  We are having the best time!  I will try to blog again soon!

This is my supervisor, Jean!

Tsitsikamma National Park, absolutely GORGEOUS!

Plettenberg Bay

Road Trippin'

Cango Caves

Hanging out with the Ostrich - this isn't the one I rode - I don't have pics of that yet

The bridge I jumped off! CRAZY!

Right before I bungeed! He was so nice in making me relax!

Oh my, I still can't believe I did that!

There are SOOO many more pictures I would like to post, but I can't because there are too many!  Traveling is so great! We just arrived in Cape Town!