Coffee Bay

This weekend, my roommates and I took off Friday and Monday and headed to Coffee Bay for the weekend. We hopped on the BazBus at 6:45 on Friday morning and sat for hours on our way to Coffee Bay. Not to say that the whole day was wasted, I finished the book I was reading and I got half way done with the next by the time we arrived home last night. Coffee Bay was definitely an eye opening experience. The land was lovely, All along the Indian Ocean, there are cliffs. This means that when you are on the beach, you feel like there is no one else in the world near you. One of the beaches that we went to on our way to Hole in the Wall, had hills on all sides of it. The only way to the beach was to hike 1 hour from town up and down and around many cliffs and hills. I say that this weekend was an experience because Coffee Bay is not what most would consider a tourist trap with lights and loud music. In fact, our first night there, the restaurant we went to did not have power because the signal was too weak. This continued throughout the weekend with different places loosing power. Let me not get ahead of myself. The adventure starts when the BazBus drops you off. There is another 2 hour van ride to the town of Coffee Bay. This road is filled with potholes. In many places on the road, there are so many potholes that they cannot be avoided. We did much hiking and laying on the beach, sorry Ohioans. For Hannah, I just wanted to let you know that along the road to and from Coffee Bay we passed a sign for Cuba, I recognize that it's not actually Cuba (the country) but we were all joking that we could just follow the sign and be in Cuba. Oh well, that would have been cool!

It's Been A While!

So I guess I've been slacking on my blog writing, but here is another one. 2 weekends ago, a couple of my roommates went to Knysna with their cooperating teacher. They came back with amazing pictures and stories. I am very excited to go with my parents on our way to Cape Town. The other 3 of us stayed in PE and did a few fun things. On Friday, we went to a professional cricket match and I learned that I really enjoy cricket. Then the next day Jessica and I worked at a water polo tournament at Pearson High School. Our team did very well only losing Grey, a sport power house. This past weekend, we went to the Stadium that was built for the World Cup for a rugby game. Saturday morning, we went out for breakfast (it was disappointing) and to the Oceanarium. The Oceanarium was not what we expected, but had some really cool animals, including baby sharks. Unfortunately, the dolphins that used to do shows were moved because of renovations. All in all these last 2 weekends were very fun. This weekend we are taking Friday and Monday off of school so that we can go to Coffee Bay. It should be amazing. I think I will try to go abseiling (repelling). The rocks here have been carved out by the sea in very unique ways. We will also see our first real introduction to Xhosa culture. I am very excited!

Valentine's Weekend

On Friday, the swim team at Pearson High School hosted a gala (or swim meet). Our team did as well as expected, unfortunately we were racing against bigger and better teams. After the gala, I went home and got ready for the Valentine's dance that night. My roommates and I all went to the dance. It was very odd seeing my students in dresses because I have only seen them in uniform and with their hair in pony tails. It was nice to see what they look like when they are not in school. I spent the rest of the weekend working out travel plans for my spring holiday. On Sunday, I surprised my roommates (who were coming home from a weekend away) with roses and chocolate for Valentine's day.

RAIN!

I never in my life thought that I would be excited to see rain. When I got here I learned that Port Elizabeth was in the worst drought in the last 50 years. We must take quick showers and people here recycle water to water their plants with. I have learned a great appreciation for water. Yesteterday, the school that I was in (along with the rest of the public organizations in PE) stopped classes at 10 am to pray for rain. Although it is still very beautiful here, many plants are dying because they are not getting water. Farmers are loosing money because without water their crops are dying. Although, we have had rain the past 2 days, it was very light and not close to enough. Even the littlest drizzle makes us happy.

Saving a Donkey

On Saturday, we rented a car and drove to Addo. We did not go in the park, because we are all waiting for other times to do that. Instead, we went on a canoe safari on the Sundays River. We saw some amazing wild life. This included birds such as a native species of eagle, a few species of cranes (including one big one that is about 2 meters in height) and Kingfishers. Also along the way, we saw monkeys, lizards (these were babies, but the adults can be over 2 meters in length) and Carp. The carp were very interesting because they make a suction sound when they break the surface of the water. About ¾ of the way through the trip, our tour guide (who was in my canoe) noticed a donkey who had made its way into the river and gotten stuck. He had guessed that it might have been there over night. We got some rope and he jumped into the water and helped the donkey to land. It was only a baby and we could hear its mother in the distance. That was the most amazing experience so far of my trip to SA. The boys who were our guides were very nice and brought us to their home to see a part of an elephant tusk that they had found a few weeks ago. The piece of ivory was huge and very heavy.

Our Trip to Tsitsikamma

So, last week was my first week at Pearson High School. Not only did I have to get used to students calling me Maam, but I also was immediately tossed in to a classroom as a substitute teacher for 6 days. I has been fun, but was much more than I was expecting for my 2nd day in school.

After the slightly stressful week, came an amazing weekend. My roommates and I went to Tsitsikamma and went ziplining through the forest cannopy. Although we did not see any animals, the sights were fantastic. After the ziplining and a few mini hikes in the area, we spent the night in a tree house at a place called Taniqua Treetops. Here is a picture of the tree house's shower.

This was an amazing sight to wake up to.
The next day, some of us took a hike down to the bottom of the gorge to play in the pools that the river had formed. I have never in my life seen such a beautiful sight.

Arriving in PE

Well, I have made it to South Africa. The flight was not bad, but I have to say that 15.5 hours on a plane, from NYC to Johannesburg, is a very long time! When I finally made it to PE, that's Port Elizabeth, the weather was wonderful. On my way to the house I saw the ocean and, though I feel bad for my family and friends in the north, I must say that I have never before seen such a beautiful sight. I am living in a flat (or apartment) connected to the main house. There are 4 other girls living with me. All of them are really nice and we felt like friends immediately. I was the last to arrive. The others arrived about a week or two before me.
On Saturday, we went to Jeffrey’s Bay, or J-Bay as they call it, and learned to surf. It was really fun to try to surf, I was not successful though. After our surfing adventure, we went to probably the only Mexican restaurant in SA called The Mexican. The food was good, although not anything like what any of us had expected. Also, we had fun learning to drive here. Other than driving on the left side of the road, there are some strange signs and unwritten rules of the road that we had to learn. The drive out to J-Bay was beautiful and we passed some places that we plan to go to in the next few weeks.
On Sunday, we went to Seaview, a game park not far from PE. There we were able to see many kinds of animals. Also, we saw the adult lions being fed. We ate lunch at the top of a hill. After lunch, we got tickets to pet lion cub. There were about 8 cubs that were all about 6 months old.
These first few days have definitely been tough, but, between meeting wonderful people here and having bits of home popping up every once in a while, I am doing great. Also, Jacob Vanags, if you get to read this, I would just like to say thank you, your music has been just the piece of home I have needed.