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.