Week 3

           This week has started out quite slow; classes and homework are now becoming a part of the daily routine.  I have classes on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and so far they all seem to be going quite well.  For my Community Service Learning class I have selected to volunteer at a homework club in the townships called Sinethemba.  We were informed that it was less structured than other programs, but feedback from the past students led me to believe it would be an amazing experience. I will be volunteering every Thursday from 3-5pm helping children from a wide range of grade levels on homework ranging from math to reading.

Volunteering Sinethemba Day 1

          We arrived a bit early, and the kids were not going to be there until 3pm.  Phillip, a man who helps to organize the homework club began to show us around, it’s relatively small. There are girl’s rooms and boy’s room each in separate buildings.  There were many more older children attending the homework club, however they didn’t have enough space for them all so the organization had to determine and age range to keep their numbers down.  It is sad to see them turned away from an organization like Sinethemba, because the children in the townships do not generally receive attention like that from their parents. As the children begin to arrive, they are instructed to change from their uniforms into their street clothes, then to join us at the table with their homework.  It was challenging to assist the younger children because they do not speak very good English.  The majority of my time was spent helping two girls in grade five learn multiplication tables, subtraction and other math activities.  It was difficult to get them engaged at first, and they try to get you to do everything for them, even though the two of them were really smart!  After so many times of complementing them for doing it right you could see the confidence begin to build.  They were a lot of fun to help, and the one challenging thing I faced would have to be remembering the math I did 10 years ago.  It was fun to see them catch on to the little tricks I would show them. 

          

After Sinethemba and off to J-Bay!



The view on the way to J-Bay!



Friday – Sunday

A group of 12 of us decided it would be a great time to go to Jeffery’s Bay.  It is about a 2 hour drive (if you don’t get lost and stop a million times ha!) We decided to rent three cars, two of which belonged to two guys who live in Annie’s Cove, which was very nice.  We had a hard time getting everyone together to leave by noon, and turns out we got on the road around 2-2:30 and we didn’t arrive to J-Bay until about 5.  The flats we stayed in fit 6 people each! They were really nice, nice size kitchen, two rooms, one bunk bed and a lot of places to sit.  The first night was spent relaxing, playing card games and having a large Braai (South African way of saying barbequing) for dinner.



Our Sitting Room!



The kitchen

Jack Sparrow and I

On Saturday the guys decided to surf and the 8 girls went shopping and horseback riding on the beach.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day!  My horses name was Jack Sparrow, now you can imagine how excited I was about this! Ha! (For those of you who did not catch on Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean Movies) He definitely had a mind of his own at times but other than that he was a blast.  I was joking around and talking to my horse referencing the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and the girls were just laughing at me.  The ride started out slow, but once we were allowed more freedom it was a lot of fun, riding on the sand dunes, and I was most excited about walking right on the water’s edge.  As soon as we approached the water the guide immediately warned me that Jack loves the water too much, so I had to do what I could to keep him away from it! It was a very relaxing day!  That night our group went out to dinner at the Kitchen Window.  The food was great, and it was located right on the beach and had a great view!



Walking along the Indian Ocean



Our group at the Kitchen Window



We had to be out by 10:30 am Sunday, so we decided to spend the rest of the day doing some last minute shopping and head to the beach to relax.  It was nice to relax on the beach, and I took full advantage of napping while I could! We were unable to do much while we were there, so we plan to head back and see more soon.

Miss you all!

Week 2

 

Flat Mates! Me, Kelley, Glenn, Lynsey and Kate

                Monday-   Was the first day of the semester here at NMMU.  The majority of students had lectures and were not around Annie’s, so Kelley and I decided to take a trip to the internet place near the mall in Greenacers.  We went and thought we had everything sorted out, but later that day we were informed that the package we had purchased was not available at our location.  We are still waiting for the internet to get situated, so just using the cafes in the meantime.  We wandered the mall for a while, and spent most of the day enjoying the weather!

                Tuesday- Was primarily spent trying to sort out our classes which started to become quite tricky.  Kelley and I had a class on the 2^nd Ave Campus where as the majority of students have classes on North and South Campus which are much closer.  We planned on walking the whole way (about a 45 min walk one way) but were picked up by Rochelle, the taxi driver we absolutely love! She has really been amazing! That morning she gave us a free ride to campus.  We did however walk to our next class on south campus that took about an hour, but it took us through some very nice parts of town.  The homes in Summerstrand are very nice and completely fenced in.  Tuesday ended up being a pretty cool day, but we realized that the walk everyday would be doable and nice!

Just a picture of the view we are blessed with daily!

                Wednesday- We were informed of a student having trouble getting into one of his classes that was a lower level than the one we were trying to get into.  We went to the International office and realized that we would probably not get approved, and had only Wednesday and Thursday to figure out what classes we would switch too. Luckily we had prepared other classes to pick from that turned out to be much easier to get into.  Internet has been a disaster up to this point, and does not seem to be panning out anytime soon! Now that Kelley and I have switched classes we basically have to wait to start classes until next week.  So we will be starting off behind, but we were able to eliminate that walk which will be pretty nice!

                Thursday-  Those of us who were unable to attended the module for the Community Service learning on Tuesday were able to go to the duplicate section on Thursday morning!  At the lecture we learned more about South Africa and the poverty that exists here and discussed it with students from other countries (US, Germany and Norway).  Shortly after we were informed of the risk and preventions of AIDs so we were more aware of how to be safe.  We were provided with different options to volunteer and I chose to do a homework club in the townships, which is a little less structured than the other programs, but I felt this would enable me to see more of what the townships of South Africa are like! I look forward to starting next Thursday!

Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium



                Friday-  More of a relaxed day I did not get around to doing much! We have been trying to figure out a good weekend to go to Jeffrey’s Bay but we have all been trying to plan at the last minute! Friday evening I attended my first every rugby game the Southern Kings VS Sharks, I was lost for most of the game until my Irish flat mate Lynsey informed me of the basics.  The Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium is huge, and its design is quite unique on the outside!



Inside the Stadium with Lynsey and Kelley



               Saturday-  Was spent making bracelets all day, and you can ask Kate who was teaching me that I struggled the most! I kept telling her that I was doing It wrong and she just kept saying the first ones always look weird! 20 minutes later she actually looks at it and I had to untie the whole thing! But other than that I have gotten quite good at it!

                Sunday-  Has been by far one of the greatest days yet! A group of 8 of us went to Seaview Lion Park, about an hour away.  Immediately upon entering we drove up a hill and around a corner to find zebras and giraffes.  We were warned to stay in our vehicles at all times, but the boys in the car just could not exist, so we followed by example trying to get as close as we could. (or had the guts to)  We were going to rent cars until we realized how unprepared we were to do so, but our cab drivers were willing to drive us there and around the park all day.  Once we drove through the large area where the lions were having their lunch, we made our way to the café where we were allowed to pet the baby lions and tigers! The baby lions were 4 months old, 3 boys and 1 girl and it was amazing to see how strong they were at such a young age.  Most of the girls left the lions with a scrape or two, but it was more than worth it! We were only allowed to pet them for 5 min each, and I could have stayed in there all day! The tigers on the other hand were much more playful and 5 months old, and both girls.  The staff and volunteers in the cages with us were volunteers one from Washington and another from Ireland.  I was petting one tiger that was up in the tree and the other tiger came up behind me and pounced on my legs, no cuts but she got me pretty muddy!

The girls with some Giraffes

Petting the baby Lions!

                So far my time in South Africa has been unforgettable, and I am excited to continue to experience new things.  I have meet people from so many places and making more friendships every day!  Becoming accustom to the laid back culture relating to time is taking some getting used to, for example still living without internet even though I have paid for it, but I have been finding ways to make due! I hope everyone is doing well! I miss you all!

Love Jamie <3

The picture doesnt show but that Zebra was pretty close!



Full grown lion, that was in the cages at the lion park! He Looked fake in real life!



Week 1

        Monday morning we went to the first on campus orientation where we were told about the University and some guidelines and standards.  We do a lot of walking here which is really nice and relaxing.  There is definitely a cultural difference in the essence of time, South Africans are much more relaxed and easy going! Kate, Kelley and I made our way to Pick N Pay to buy phones, and have lunch at Friends where they offer free WIFI.  The first rugby game of the season at NMMU was Monday night; some made it to the start of JV and said it was awesome.  The St. Cloud group had dinner at the Blue Water Café that was right on the ocean and made for a great view. 

         Tuesday we were up at 8am to go on a city tour, which I have to say has been the highlight of my trip so far.  We went through different townships and got to see how people were living and it was really unreal! Our tour guide is extremely knowledgeable and involved in the community.  He also took us to The Red Location Museum and Backpacker Lodge.  Our tour guide actually helped 16 or so unemployed women in the townships organize the Backpacker lodge Called the Red Location, and now they are employed and running their own business.  The lodge is located in a place where tourists are able to see every state of life in South Africa.  We were all invited to the Red Location on Valentine’s Day to celebrate love the African way!  A lot of our group has decided to attend.  The mama’s at the lodge consider every one of us their children.  That night we went to Captains Bar and restaurant with a huge group living at Annie’s cove and other places. 

Art on our walk through town, students and NMMU did the Mosaicc tile work on the steps.

Panel of a van in the rock as art, represents a huge part of South Africa, Kombi or Combi not sure how to spell it! They are vans that drive the streets and pick up loads of people, and let me tell you some of them are pretty interesting and we have had some very different experiences in them.

Nelson Mandela tribute, the chest of this reads "Nelson Mandela transformed the world Celebrate his life"

         

         Wednesday and Thursday were pretty calm, just visited campus for a few hours to figure out what classes to register for, get medical aid cards and we are hoping to eventually figure out the Internet situation as soon as possible! Thursday night we went to a bar called Balizza for ladies night! Most bars we have visited now have been absolutely packed!

         Friday and the weekend were spent enjoying the 70-80 degree weather, visiting the beach gathering last minute things for our flat and meeting people at Annie’s.  It’s amazing how many people I have met already!

Travel, Arrival and Orientation

This is the entrance to the flats at Annies Cove!

So after a long two days of travel on a plane and a night in Johannesburg I have safely arrived in Port Elizabeth SA!  The first 10-13 hours of flying were not so bad but the last 8 hour stretch of our long flight was quite exhausting! We were then taken to the hotel for the night where we went out to eat at a Brazilian restaurant and had an amazing dinner with the entire group from St. Cloud!  The flight from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth was quite a breeze, and the first day here we settled in a bit, unpacked and went to Green Acers mall.  The weekend was spent at an orientation camp with a lot of students that will be staying at Annie's Cove with us.  The weekend was filled with activities, lectures, zip-lining, and lots of time to get to know one another! at the moment we do not have Internet available to us because we have been short on time! We are hoping to finish running errands on Monday after our university orientation starts!! So far so good!!

HELLO!

Hi Everyone!! I look forward to sharing my next adventure with you. I will do what I can to post pictures and videos as much as possible. I cannot wait for my 24+ hours of traveling to be over!