My 10-Day Adventure!

Hey everyone!  It's been a while, but I've been on the MID-SEMESTER TRIP!  This was a 10-day trip travelling around South Africa and doing some ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE things!  Here is a day-by-day breakdown with some pictures along the way!

Day 1-

After leaving at 4am, we headed out in our HUGE bus to the city of Knysna.  The town itself was a nice place with a lot of shopping.  We had lunch, and then our driver told us that he moved our reservations from BUNGY JUMPING from the next day to in a few hours.  We got to the place and I was FREAKING OUT.  We got harnessed in, and made the long walk out to the bridge.  The walk may have been the scariest!  It was a little tiny path that you could see below you.  I got to the place where we were jumping, and they announced that I was going 2nd.  I was almost crying.  It is the TALLEST BUNGY BRIDGE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!  Anyway...I'll just let you watch the video of the insanity that ensued.

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO

The bungy was crazy.  If they didn't push me, I don't know if I could have jumped!  The first second was TERRIFYING, but after that it was just pure bliss.  After calming down, we went back to the hostile.....

So we get there..and things are cool...until about 3am.  We had a room of 6- the 5 of us guys and a random guy.  I wake up to the door opening...the random guy walks in with a girl...and they have sex...in our room...on the bottom bunk...with one of the guys from my trip on the top bunk.  I can honestly say it might have been the most awkward experience of my life.

Day 2-

After waking up and remembering the awkward experience of the night before, we drove to Port Elizabeth.  We stopped and ate lunch on the beach.  The bus then decided to break down for a few hours so we sat in the repair place.  Then we went to our hostile on the beach in East London.  It was absolutely beautiful.  We had our own little cottage and everything.  There was a club inside which we danced in and stayed up super late.  It was a great day.

Day 3-

Ok, so I got woken up early again...but this time by MONKEYS.  The monkeys decided it would be fun to jump on our roof all morning, roll off into the bushes, and jump back on the roof again.  I mean...only in Africa right?

We left East London and headed for Coffee Bay.  Words cannot really describe how beautiful Coffee Bay was.  As we drove up, the little kids in the villages would run out to wave and say hello.  The hostile was SO COOL.  The boys had their own hut, and it was across the river.  We had to cross the knee-high river every time, but that was awesome.  We spent some time on the beach, and the waves were so strong you could barely stand.  It was fun though!  Then it was the full moon.  On full moons, lots of South Africans love to party; they treat it as a holiday.  We went to the top of a hill and watched the sun set.  Then we went down and had a DELICIOUS traditional Xhosa dinner, and there were some Xhosa dancers that performed.

 Day 4-

COFFEE BAY!  We spend this whole day here.  Me and a few others decided to go on a Xhosa village tour which was really cool.  We got to interact with some of the kids, saw the huts where people lived, and had lunch with one of the women.  It was so cool!  I really learned a lot!  That night we went to the hostile across the way and danced to a drum circle and saw a fire dancer perform.  It was a great night.  I did not want to leave!

Day 5-

Despite not wanting to go, we left Coffee Bay and headed for Durban.  We spent this whole day driving and just had dinner in Durban.

Day 6-

In Durban, we went to Sea World in the morning.  We saw penguins and a feeding, a seal show, dolphins, and different types of fish in an aquarium.  Then we left and drove to Johannesburg for the rest of the day. Fun fact- the hostile we stayed in was built by the mafia!

Day 7-

BEST DAY EVER!  The rest of the group went on a tour, but since I did this tour when I first flew into Johannesburg, Duke and I did our own tour.  We started at the elephant park.  There was a mother elephant and two of her younger elephants.  We walked around with them, fed them, and watched them swim.  It was so cute!  Here are some pictures:

Then we went to the lion park!  I DIED.  We first played with the 3 week old baby lion cubs!  Their eyes were open, but they could not see.  They were so fluffy!  Here they are:

THEN we went to play with the 4 month old cubs!  They were SO CUTE.  They just wanted to play and nip and cuddle!  Here they are:

Next we went to play with the "devils".  They get their name because they are literally devils, but cute!  They are huge, but think they are little cubs.  They jumped on me, nipped, ripped my pants, and just wanted to play!  Here they are:

Then we went on a tour of the other animals.  We touched a Caraco cat, pet a grown cheetah, and touched grown tigers!  We even saw a one week old baby lion still with its mother!  Here are some of those pictures:

Last, we went on a walk with some of the lion cubs.  They ranged from 9 months to 14 months old.  They were very well trained, and just walked by our sides and played in the grass.  Here are some of those pictures:

It was honestly one of the greatest days of my life.  It was SURREAL!

Day 8-

We left Johannesburg and drove to our lodge right outside of Kruger National Park.  It was so cool!  We went on a drive in search of the "Big 5" animals.  We only saw three: lions, elephants and rhinos.  We even saw a baby elephant suckling!  Here are some pictures:

Then we went back and had a nice dinner around the campfire.


Day 9-

We woke up really early and drove into Kruger!  We saw a bunch of animals, and we saw 3 of the Big 5 today: elephants, lions and BUFFALO.  We even saw a baby baby elephant!  Here are some pictures from Kruger:

At night, we went outside and could not believe the stars in the sky.  You could literally see every star.  You could see the Milky Way, and we saw at least 5 different shooting stars!


Day 10-

Our last day, we went for a bush walk in the morning.  We saw giraffes and a baby, zebras, and learned a lot about different plants, animals, and animal tracks.  Then we drove back to Johannesburg and flew back home!  OH and on the way back we saw a SUPER BABY RHINO:

Overall, the trip was an absolute blast.  To see the full album of all of the pictures, CLICK HERE.  If you have any questions, comment on here or on Facebook or email me!  HOPE YOU ENJOYED!

FIELD TRIP!

Hi!  I just thought I would do a quick update blog.  Everything has been going very well.  Teaching has been very exciting and I love my kids.  Yesterday we went on a field trip to The Castle and the planetarium.  While they were absolutely crazy, it was a blast.  We paid for a few of the kids that had legitimate reasons as to why they were unable to pay, because I really wanted to make sure all the kids could go on the trip.  Field trips are so much fun and all the kids should get the chance to go.

Friday I leave for a 10-day mid-semester trip.  We will be travelling to different parts of South Africa and doing some crazy things!  Just to name a few...tallest bungee jump in the world, a two-day safari...AND a special trip that I booked one day to interact with some animals up close and personal!  I will most likely not post during the trip, but when I return I will post a full update blog with the day-to-day details!  Below are some pictures from the field trip with my kids.  To see more pics of the kids from Imbasa Primary School and the field trip CLICK HERE.  To see the newest pictures that I added to the Cape Town album on Facebook, CLICK HERE.  Enjoy the next two weeks!

How I Got to Lead the Parade

Happy Fat Tuesday!  I thought I should do an update blog since there has been a LOT of exciting things going on!

First and foremost, I want to talk about my service site!  I decided to leave my service site at Saartjie Baartman.  It has nothing to do with the site itself, but I felt very called to work with children.  Therefore, I was placed at Imbasa Primary School!  I am assisting in teaching 2 classes of 6th graders English.  During the day I work with 2 separate groups of 10 students and I plan lessons, activities, and examples for them.  I have taught twice so far and things are going AMAZINGLY!  The kids have really taken to me and really enjoy me being there.  When I leave, they walk me out and beg me to let them come home with me.  I have gotten some crazy questions like "Are you a black American?", "How many children do you have?", "Is Beyonce dead?", "Do you know celebrities?", and soooo much more.

One thing I have been working with at Imbasa is bullying.  In particular, one of my students has been getting bullied by others in his class.  They call him gay, a prostitute, and say that he sells his body.  It really upsets him.  I have had to talk to the teacher to discipline the students, and I have sort of taken the bullied boy under my wing.  He has really clung to me.  I found out that his dad died, so this may explain some of it.  Yesterday, he told me he had something to tell me.  When he was struggling to talk about it, I asked if he wanted to write it in a note.  He wrote the note and told me to read it later.  When I opened it on the bus, I started crying.  In the note, he revealed to me that he is HIV positive.  He also said that his father passed away from HIV, and that he is taking ARVs every day. 

I was overwhelmed with emotions.  Of course, I was very happy and honored that he felt comfortable enough with me to share such a personal secret.  However, I just felt sad.  I'm sad because it wasn't his fault.  He was born HIV positive.  He is paying for something that was from his parents.  I'm sad because he is being bullied and dealing with the loss of his father, and he has to deal with all of this.  I'm sad because in America, there are medications and drugs that help babies or even cure them of HIV before they were born.  The whole situation is just devastating.  However, as he says in the letter, he is taking ARVs which is a medication that helps to slow the progression of any symptoms, but they MUST be taken every day.  Even a day or two of missing them could make the medication no longer work.

On a lighter note, I had an INCREDIBLE opportunity this weekend.  You probably saw it all over my Facebook, but if not...I LED THE CAPE TOWN PRIDE PARADE!  I was so excited to be going to Cape Town Pride for so many reasons.  First, Cape Town is the only country in Africa where gay marriage is legal.  Second, I have gone to Pride in NYC for the last two years so I was excited to continue being an advocate in Africa.  Third, this is a really powerful year in Africa because of the recent law in Uganda that criminalizes homosexuality.  Fourth, I was excited to be with a bunch of people in my house who have never gone to a Pride Parade before.

As expected, it was a blast.  There were signs and banners in support of those struggling in Uganda everywhere.  Shannon, one of the girls in my group from California, saw a sign that she liked so she went across the street to see if the woman had any extras.  We saw her wave us over, so we went across.  The woman with the signs asked "Would you guys like to hold this banner in the parade?".  We shouted OF COURSE and it wasn't until a few minutes later when we actually found out that the banner was the LEADING BANNER in the parade!  Here is an awesome photo taken by Molly (from our group):

Here are a few other pictures:

As usual, you can click on the pictures to see them larger, or click HERE to see the rest of the Pride Parade album on my Facebook.  

Anyway, I think that's it for now!  Any questions, comment below :)

I was relaxing WHERE?!

Hi!  I thought I would do a quick update blog!

One piece of news is that I will be switching my service site.  It had nothing to do with the site I was at, but I really wanted to be working with children and unfortunately that site was not the place for that to happen.  I will more than likely end up in a school, but I will have more news next week.

This weekend a few of us went for a hike at the Silvermine Nature Reserve.  It was very very beautiful.  It was rocky and then forest-y and just wow!  At the top there was a cave where we just sat and relaxed for a while and looked out at the amazing view.  Then back at the bottom there was a nice relaxing reservoir where we took a swim!  Here are some pictures!

Yesterday we went to the Cape Town Holocaust Museum.  At first I was a bit confused why there would even BE a Holocaust museum in Cape Town.  However, once I was there it all made sense.  It not only talked about the Holocaust, but it talked about how some survivors fled to Cape Town or even moved post-Holocaust.  It also made some connections between the treatment of Jews during the Holocaust to the treatment of the South African people during Apartheid which I found very interesting!  Any time I see or read about the Holocaust, I get extremely emotional.  The museum was just very powerful.  However, there was one paragraph on the wall that really stuck out to me and hit me hard. Here is a photo of it:  

This really just hit me like a blow to the chest for so many reasons.  First...that is me.  It made me sick to think that if I was alive during the Holocaust, myself and my family could have been persecuted against and possibly even killed.  Even though I identify as a Catholic and was baptized, confirmed, etc, I had Jewish blood and that was all that mattered to them.  The second reason this really hit hard for me was because I connected it to South Africa.  Just like people with Jewish blood, black and coloured South Africans did not CHOOSE their ancestry.  However, they were persecuted because of it.  It was beyond their control who they were born to and what blood they had flowing through their veins.  This one paragraph...something I probably already knew but did not really THINK about...really struck me.

I had some video that I took these last two weeks, but I decided I am going to hold off showing that until later on in the trip.  I'd like to record some more stuff and put it all together!

Anyway, I'm not really sure what is planned for this upcoming week and weekend.  Tomorrow I am going to visit my friend Carra at her school that she is teaching at to observe and see how she runs her classroom to get some ideas.  Other than that, I have no idea where this week will take me!

I do have ONE piece of VERY exciting news though!  Over Easter break while I am here, I will be going with our landlord and a group of students on the trip for a 5-day white water rafting and camping trip in Namibia!  And this is no longer a Cub Scout camping trip...this is the real deal!  (If you flash back to last week's blog, you can see where Namibia is on the map).

Anyway, if you have questions please keep asking them!  To see the rest of the pictures from the hiking trip as well as a bunch of other things, click HERE.  It's the same album as always of photos, but I am constantly adding new photos at the bottom.  TALK TO YOU ALL SOON!

PS- I am always happy to accept mail while I'm here!  Ask me for the address!

LET'S LEARN ABOUT AFRICA!

OK so I feel like there are some people (cough cough my family) who may need a little bit of education about South Africa.  This post is going to just be dedicated to hopefully teaching ya'll a little bit about WHERE I am and WHAT South Africa is like.

This is a map of the world:

There are 7 continents.
The top yellow is where America is.
The blue is Africa.

Here is Africa close up:

At the bottom you can see South Africa.  That is the COUNTRY I am in.  Africa is the continent, South Africa is the country.

Here is a map of South Africa:

It is broken into 9 provinces.  This would be like the states in America.  I am in Western Cape.  In Western Cape I live in Cape Town, which is a city.  Inside the city of Cape Town I am staying in Observatory, which is a suburb.

Ok let me break this down into a nice chart:

WORLD->AFRICA->SOUTH AFRICA->WESTERN CAPE->CAPE TOWN->OBSERVATORY.

Got it? Good.  Here's a little bit about South Africa, or at least some of the things I think you should know:

• South Africa has 11 official languages: Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu
• The census breaks South Africans into 4 main racial groups: Black, White, Coloured, and Indian/Asian.  Coloured is a term almost exclusively used as a race in South Africa.  To say "mixed race" would be too simplistic, but for the purposes of this basic blog I will leave it at that.
• The poverty rate is SAID to be around 25%.  However, it is definitely higher.  One statistic says that 70% of Black South Africans are unemployed. (US unemployment rate is about 7%)
• The currency is known as the Rand.  Typically, the conversion was about $1 in US dollars was equal to 10 Rands.  However, the Rand's value is declining and right now it is about $1 USD to 11 Rands.
• Only about 12.1% of the country has had some form of education past high school, and only about 26% have completed high school. (An average of 71% of Americans have graduated from high school)
• South Africans during a political election vote for the PARTY they want to rule.  The party then chooses the President.  Right now, the party in control is the African National Congress, the party that Nelson Mandela stood behind and chose him to be president from 1994-1999.  The current president is Jacob Zuma.  He currently has 6 wives.

Let's leave it at that for now.  HOWEVER, I challenge everyone that has actually read this post to this point to comment with a question they have and I will do my best to answer them all in my best blog!!

OK, now let's talk about Apartheid.

To put it very simply for those that may not know, Apartheid was a system of racial segregation throughout South Africa by the government from around 1948-1994.  This was during the National Party's government reign (that was the political party).  I cannot really explain in words how terrible this was.  People were forcibly removed from where they were living and relocated.  All the while, there was violence and uproar throughout the entire country.  Thousands of people were killed in shootings, beatings, etc.  It basically tore this country to shreds.  While Apartheid is technically over, its remnants are still visible throughout the country.  In fact, there are some areas where people are still living in groups with people of their own race because they never moved after Apartheid ended.  

I was not alive for the Civil War...I wasn't alive for the Civil Rights Movement...but what is CRAZY is that I WAS alive during Apartheid.  The "technical" date of the end of Apartheid is debatable, but may say it was on the day of the 1994 elections where ALL RACES were allowed to vote for the first time.  What was that date?  April 27, 1994.  The day of my 1st birthday.  Anyone born after April 27, 1994 is known as "The Born Free Generation" because they were not born during Apartheid.  I am living in a house with people and going to school with people that are part of this Born Free Generation, but I am not.  I lived during this time.  I may not remember it, but it is CRAZY to think how recent such a terrible event happened.  

OK, I think I've probably exhausted your brains for now.  I hope you learned a little bit.  Please post a question about something you want to know in the comments, or if you would like me to clarify anything further.  THANKS FOR READING!  I have a lot of exciting things coming up (including a video), so stay ready!

THIS WEEK HAS BEEN CRAZY!

Hey all!  Sorry it's been a while since I posted last.  It has been a busy week!  To sum it up:

-I finally began classes!  I am taking a Tourism Planning course, a Psychopathology course, a Visual History course, Theology of Forgiveness, and Leaders in Grassroots Organizations.  So far, the classes are going well!

-I started at my service site!  I am going to be at Saartjie Baartman, which is a center for women and children who are survivors of abuse.  While I am still getting adjusted, it looks like I will be doing some different activities with the children, as well as running different types of support groups and activities for the women.  Due to the nature of my site, I am bound by confidentiality and will not be able to post photos or stories.  I will, however, let you know what I personally am doing there!

-Last weekend I went to the V & A Waterfront, which is a VERY NICE area right on the bay!  There are stores, museums, food markets, arts and crafts exhibits, etc.  We went to the aquarium, took a tugboat ride, visited a Nelson Mandela art exhibit, and a few other things.  It was a really great day!

There have been a lot of emotions running through my head lately.  I have had some very interesting experiences, and have learned so much.  My next post will more than likely be a brief history/geography lesson for those of you that may not be so great at that (yes, I'm talking to you mom).  Keep your eye out for that!  In the meantime, here are a few photos from the last few weeks.  You can see more on my Facebook album here.

Hanging from a WHAT?!

Ok so this is not going to be a long post, but I just wanted to update you all on the CRAZY experience I had yesterday.  15 of us decided to go REPELLING DOWN WATERFALLS!  Now you see, in theory this sounds easy.  However, when you are carrying a backpack and trying to do it....your gravity gets a bit thrown off to say the least.  So the first waterfall I repelled down I ended up hanging upside down from a rope for a good while.  The woman kept telling me GET UP, STAND UP, but it was not that simple.  The backpack had my balance sooooo thrown off, I just basically rolled down the rest of the waterfall.  Good thing there were 4 other waterfalls that I DID NOT keep the backpack on for!  I got a little scraped up and such but it was totally worth it.

It really was an absolute blast.  This took place on private property, so we were the only ones there.  The water flowing was SO clean and amazing.  We drank right out of the river and waterfall, and it was cleaner and better tasting than even the tap at home.  The waterfalls were pristine and the views were incredible!  We also went cliff jumping.  I only did the one that was about 20 feet, but it was still surreal.  We started on the top of the mountain about 3000 feet up, and just worked our way down.  It was an unbelievable experience.  I have only a few pictures right now, but the action pictures will be posted on Facebook in the next few days once our tour guide sends us the pictures he took so KEEP AN EYE OUT!

This week I start all my classes as well as my service.  I will post another update in a few days!