Easter and an Extreme Makeover

Hi Everyone!

I hope you all had a nice Easter! It was weird not being home for the holiday, but I did have a great day here. I went to mass at Stellenbosch Baptist Church in the morning with my service learning teacher (Grant), his mother (Colleen), his foster son (Ashlek), and four of my friends. The service had much more singing and was overall a much nicer atmosphere than I had found at the Catholic Church here. The congregation was very diverse, which was a refreshing change from most other social settings around the Stellenbosch area. After church a big group of my friends got together for a potluck lunch and ate tons of delicious foods. I made roasted potatoes, and the other dishes included lamb, pasta, spicy green beans, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and apple pie. We played egg toss and had a chocolate egg hunt and just hung out in the sun for a few hours. It was a nice relaxing day.

our buffet above and preparing for egg toss below
On Monday we didn’t get to teach because our kids were still on vacation, so Grant planned an optional activity for us. With the exception of the two students who were sick, we all took the 8:20 train to Lynedoch and headed across the street to Kathleen Peterson’s house on the nearby farm. For those of you who didn’t get a chance to read my blog entry about visiting Kathleen, she is the grandmother of Ashlek and she lives in a small 3 room house with her daughter (Ashlek’s mother) and granddaughter (Ashlek’s sister). She’s crippled and can’t work any more because her mobility is limited, but when she was younger she worked as the nanny for the current white farm owner. Our activity for the day was to create our miniature version of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. We had put quite a bit of planning into this day and I was skeptical about the amount of work we’d actually get done. However, the 22 of us, plus Grant and Ashlek, were able to make a significant amount of improvements to their house. We broke up into small groups and put a new coat of white paint on the outside of the house (because the current coat was chipping and/or turning gray), scrubbed all the mold and mildew off the walls and ceiling of the kitchen, painted the kitchen a light blue color that really brightened things up, cleaned and washed the roof, began planting a few gardens in the front yard, took lots and lots of ticks off the dog, washed all of the dishes and cooking supplies; put a new floor down in the kitchen; got rid of all the loose wire that had been buried around the yard; and improved the walkway leading up to the house. A few of my classmates also gave Kathleen’s daughter and granddaughter manicures and pedicures, because Grant requested that we do something to make them feel pampered. After seven hours we left the house looking quite different than when we arrived. It was amazing to actually finish everything we started and get to see concrete change being made in their living space.
Melinda polishing the window frames while Jeff and Terry paint the houseDustin whacking weeds Dani and Paula scrubbing the ceiling... note the not so nice walls and floor

Vanessa and Autumn preparing for the floor... note the new blue walls

the new floor and new table cloth

I also want to include some pictures below from last week’s extra trip to Lynedoch. Last Wednesday I spent the day working on our new garden at the school with my friends Evan and Dustin. We were able to turn up several beds of soil and plant some more vegetables and flowers. We also had a few little helpers who wandered over to our garden and hung out with us all day. There was a young girl and two young boys who spoke very little English but wanted our attention nonetheless. The girl’s parents are gardeners at the Sustainability Institute, and she certainly inherited their green thumb. She knew exactly how to remove the plants from their container gently, place them in a shallow hole, and water them carefully. She clearly had an appreciation for the plants and the beds of soil and was extremely gentle with them. The two little boys were less skilled at gardening, and definitely not as cautious, but we let them help for a while until they lost interest and just wanted to play with Evan. Grant had brought us out some water and chips earlier in the morning, so we offered some to the kids and they seemed very appreciative. Later in the day Dustin and I were busy planting when I looked up and saw the little girl passing me a cup of water. She had gone into the school, refilled our water bottle, and poured us each a glass. Despite the language barrier, my interactions with this young girl were the highlights of my day. It was so nice to form a bond with someone even though I struggled to verbally communicate with her.

Two Oceans Half Marathon

Hello Everyone!

I apologize in advance for the length of this entry but I want to describe my trip to Cape Town for the half marathon this weekend. So my friend Evan and I departed Stellenbosch on the train around 3:30 Friday afternoon. We knew that the rest of the night was going to be a bit of an adventure because our plans were minimal, but we were excited for the unknown. So for the previous 36 hours I had been emailing back and forth with a woman who ran a hostel near the starting line, but our plans to stay there seemed to have fallen through because she wanted us to deposit money into their bank account, but the banks (and absolutely everything else) are closed on Good Friday. So we decided to take the train to Cape Town, transfer lines, and head to Rondebosch where we knew of two hostels that were hosting runners for the weekend. While on the train Evan called his friend Drew who is studying at UCT through the SIT study abroad program, because he has an apartment in downtown Cape Town and staying with him was our back up plan (because the race starts 8 miles from there, so we thought it would be better to get closer). It turns out Drew is doing another week-long home stay with a family outside of the city and is not moving into his apartment on Long Street until next weekend. Bummer, but no big deal.

So we catch our next train and arrive in Rondebosch around 5:15pm. We were expecting this train station to be near the town center, with the 2 hostels and perhaps some restaurants close by. Instead it dropped us in the middle of a neighborhood that looked spookily quite due to the holiday. We started to walk (our destination still somewhat unknown) and hadn’t taken more than 20 steps when Evan saw 2 girls that he recognized. They were Drew’s friends that he’d met the previous week when they were all staying in Stellenbosch. They recognized him too so we went over and talked for a few minutes before they said “do you want to go upstairs and see Drew?” We were caught off guard but accepted the invitation as they opened up a gate and sent us up a flight of stairs into the SIT headquarters. This is a study abroad program where you take informal classes for 2 months, live in different parts of the country with different families, and then spend the final 2 months doing your own research. So we now found ourselves in the SIT classroom where Drew was just as surprised to see us. After some laughs and an explanation of what we were doing in Rondebosch, we used his computer to find directions to the hostel I’d been emailing previously. We weren’t sure if the woman had given our beds away yet, but we figured it was our best bet since this town didn’t seem to have much else to offer us. After leaving Drew, with directions in hand, we acknowledged the fact that someone up above was looking after us. (From this point onwards in the trip we continuously asked each other why we never thought to bring a map of the town with us when we left home).

So we walked about 2 miles until we reached the Vera School. This is a school for autistic learners that turns into a hostel for the weekend of the marathon each year. I knew it was legit because it was one of the five hostels recommended on the marathon’s website, but it was in the middle of a neighborhood and looked completely abandoned. The entire campus was fenced in and we couldn’t see a person or a car inside the fence. We walked around the outside of the fence twice, while alternately laughing at the ridiculousness of our situation and worrying that we may never find a way inside this place. I was becoming a bit skeptical when a guy on a bike rode by us and said “good luck in the race tomorrow.” I was immediately reassured that there were other runners staying in this hostel, if only we could get in. At this point I called my roommate and had her look up the woman’s phone number for me (Anita) so that we could ask where the entrance was. Anita didn’t answer. Luckily a girl a bit older than us was walking towards one of the gates and she appeared to be heading out for a run. We explained our situation briefly so she unlocked the gate and told us where Anita lived. Awesome, we breathed a sigh of relief.

Once inside the fence we could see some cars and a group of older runners making dinner in the kitchen/lounge. This reminded me that I was hungry, but we had no food because we had wrongly assumed that the hostel would be near a downtown area with restaurants and whatnot. Anyways, we needed 2 beds first and foremost. After quite a few knocks on Anita’s front door there was still no answer. We turned around and saw a friendly looking guy who asked if we needed anything. We told him or story and he gave us Anita’s cell phone number before heading back inside to the lounge. Evan called and someone answered, but it was the wrong number. We weren’t sure what our next move should be, so we decided to sit on a bench by a little playground and see if Anita would show up. After about 10 minutes Evan tried the phone number from the website again. This time we heard it ring inside the house that we were sitting next too, as at the very least we had the correct number. As Evan heard someone answer through the telephone, we could both hear the person speaking inside the house as well. Once Anita was on the phone Evan explained that we knew it was very late notice but we were wondering if there were two beds available. She asked where he was and he said he was standing outside her house, we all laughed and she said she’d be right out. Now I have to mention here that in my emails with this woman she had seemed very quick and perhaps somewhat irritated with me (although it wasn’t my fault that the bank was closed), so I didn’t want her to know that I was the same girl from the emails. I never would have thought to do this, but Evan suggested it when I had said earlier that I didn’t want to make this woman any more irritated with Sarah Regan. Looking back on it this was probably unnecessary, but whatever. So she came out and Evan introduced himself and I decided on the alias of Joey Potter (yes, from Dawson’s Creek). Anita explained to us that some people had asked for beds but hadn’t shown up (which was me, but in my defense she had emailed me that morning and said she gave the beds away because I hadn’t deposited money yet), so she did have 2 available. Again, we thanked God for a warm place to stay.

I put my bag in my room, made my bed, and before I could think about my hunger again the group of people in the lounge offered us pasta! They had made way too much and were strongly encouraging us to eat with them. It didn’t take any coaxing for me to make a big plate and thank them repeatedly. Fortunately Evan wasn’t all that hungry because all the pasta had meat sauce on it and he’s a vegetarian. They poked fun at him for only eating an 8th of what I had, but he was polite and did eat some of it (luckily only enough to give him a small stomach ache later). The people staying in the same building as us were so friendly and welcoming, and it was really interesting talking with them. Some were family members, others just friends, but they run the ultra-marathon together each year (Two Oceans has no standard marathon, just a 21k and 56k). Some guys were doing it for the 9th year and they were in their mid-sixties now. They told us all about Comrades too, which is the biggest ultra in South Africa at 90k (~54 miles)! They asked us how we were getting to the race in the morning and we said we’d planned on walking since it was only 3km away (the one thing I did right was pick a place close to the start so we didn’t have to worry about transportation). However, they insisted that we catch a ride with one of them to save time. The guy who had given us Anita’s (incorrect) cell phone number earlier immediately agreed to drive us. We thanked him profusely and chatted a bit longer before heading to bed around 8:30pm.

I got up at 4am, after tossing and turning all night, and got dressed for the race. We were in the car by 4:30 and at the start by 4:45. We bought some crackers for breakfast, pinned our numbers on, put our bag in a van that would take it to the finish line, did a quick warm up jog, and joined the 11,000 people who were lining up for the race. While standing in the crowd with 15 minutes to go before the gun went off we replayed the previous night in our heads and appreciated the fact that we made it to starting line. We may have been ill-prepared, but we had a lot of fun. It was the first time we’d done something more than a day trip on our own here in South Africa, because we’re always with the other 45 Americans in our program whenever we travel. With that many people you rarely get to interact with the locals and make connections with people like we had last night. And most importantly, even though we didn’t have a concrete plan, we knew we were in safe areas and were aware of any places that should be avoided.

So the gun went off at 6am, while it was still dark outside, and after about 3 minutes of walking with the whole crowd we could begin jogging. The first 3k was pretty slow because the pack was still tight, but we were able to pick it up after that. I felt really good from 4k-10k (and by this time the sun was up), then from 11k to 16k was quite a bit tougher. The middle part of the course had some rolling hills, but after that there was a gradual up hill that last for about 4 kilometers. The final 5k wasn’t too bad and we both finished in 2 hours and 11 minutes. It was 1 minute over my goal, but I was still pleased. Plus we got bronze medals for finishing within 3 hours so that was sweet. The most amusing thing about the race was that they offered Coke at every single refreshment stand (along with water and Powerade), and at the end of the race you got a voucher that could be redeemed for either a Coke or a water. From what I saw it looked like roughly 80% of the runners were drinking Cokes behind the finish line. Apparently this is true of most races in South Africa, which doesn’t actually surprise me because people are crazy about Coke here.

We sat for a few minutes, rested our legs, and retrieved our bag from the van before taking off in search of the nearest train station. After a mile long walk, a 15 minute ride back to Cape Town, an 80 minute ride to Stellenbosch, and a 30 minute walk we were finally back at home. It had been an awesome adventure and a great race.

Back in Stellies

Hello everyone!
Now that I’m done filling you in on my spring break adventures I want to mention some fun things that happened in my first week back in Stellenbosch.

- On Thursday I did 9 miles as my last distance run before the half marathon (which is coming up in 4 days now).

- On Friday we get to go back to Lynedoch for the first time in 3 weeks and it was really a breath of fresh air. I didn’t realize how much I missed the school until we got there. It’s going to really tough when we head home in only 9 weeks. We had class all day but, as usual, Grant broke it up quite a bit. In the morning before our morning snack (homemade muffins!) we went downstairs to the big hall where the learners were having an assembly. They were being dismissed at 10:30 for their spring break, but before they left the 8th grade teacher, Mr. Myburgh, told them to say goodbye to all their friends. We didn’t know what he was saying because it was all in Afrikaans, but at this point all the kids turned to each other and gave everyone around them the biggest hugs. I think people often underestimate how caring children are, especially in this community that struggles with violence on such a regular basis, but it was nice to see all the kids so genuinely happy. On their way out of the hall most of my 6th graders came up and gave me a hug and it was definitely the highlight of my day. After out morning snack Grant took us back downstairs to the now empty hall and had us play tag for a while. He’s been encouraging us to find our ‘golden child’ so he wanted us to run around and let some energy out. We had delicious homemade hamburgers for lunch and had a lot of good discussions about service work, reciprocity, and the importance of proper reflection.

- On Friday night I had a basketball game in Cape Town. Again we only had 6 players, but this time we won 60-15. I’m pretty sure it was the first time in my life that I’ve been on the winning end of a blowout. It was really exciting to win a game, it was a feeling I’d kind of forgotten about. This coming Friday is out last tournament game so hopefully we’ll get to win one more.

- On Saturday I went to movies with some friends and saw How to Train Your Dragon. I had no expectations at all and didn’t know what the movie was about, but I really enjoyed it. I’d definitely watch it again soon. Afterwards we went to Earth Hour which was a world wide event that consisted of turning the lights off for one hour in order to raise awareness about environmental causes. Our event took place on a grassy lawn in the middle of campus that’s usually pretty well-lit at night, so they turned the lights off and people hung out listening to an African band play instruments for an hour. I guess this initiative has been gaining momentum in recent years and places such as the Eiffel Tower and the Great Pyramids in Egypt participate.

- On Sunday I hiked up Table Mountain! It was a really steep hike but well worth it because the views from the top were incredible. You can see almost all of Cape Town, from the waterfront and Green Point Stadium to the beaches on the west side to Robben Island 8 miles offshore to downtown CT. It was amazing, and luckily the seemingly ever-present cloud above the mountain moved while we were on our way up in order to make the views possible. I was pretty tired by the time we got up and walked around the top (remember its flat, so there’s a lot of exploring to do even after you reach the summit), so I decided to take the cable car down. It’s only R85 ($12) and it rotates 360 degrees to give you a complete view of the city before you get down to the ground. The animal in the 3rd picture below is called a dassie and they're all over the mountain.

- On Monday I went back to Lynedoch with 12 other students for an optional day of work (because the learners are away on vacation now). I spent most of the day working on our garden that we’ve developed for the kids. It’s coming along nicely and I was happy that we finally got the soil ready for plants (we put in cabbage, basil, and cosmos flowers for starters). Grant’s mom made us salami sandwiches for the morning and homemade macaroni and cheese for lunch, and for dessert Grant took us to the store and bought ice cream for everyone. That evening we all headed to the stadium for the final rugby game of the season. Kurt Darren, one of the biggest Afrikaans singers, performed before the game and Francois Penaar (Matt Damon’s character in Invictus) made an appearance to shake all the players’ hands (in the picture below he's the second guy in the row of four with suits on). It was a great game and we ended up beating UCT 17-14 to become national champions for the third year in a row! Everyone rushed the field afterwards and fireworks went off as the trophy was presented to the team. It was a really cool experience, but I kept thinking how much more excited I’d be if it was a team I felt more connected to (i.e. NHS softball in 2006 or St. Mike’s men’s basketball now). Regardless, it was great to experience such a crazy and awesome event with the Maties.

Days 7-10 - Avoca River, Addo Elephant Park, Wilderness Beach

On Friday morning, after our vans had left for their return trip to Stellenbosch, a big tour bus arrived in JBay to bring 24 of us to our next location. After a 2 hour drive we arrived at the Avoca River Cabins where we'd be spending the next 2 nights. We slept in tiny huts with just enough room for beds, right alongside the Avoca River. We spent the day swimming, canoeing, and sitting by the fire.

On Saturday morning we woke up early and headed to Addo Elephant Park for our 9am game drive in an open air vehicle. The drive was really cool and we got to see lots of different animals. We only saw 2 of South Africa's 'Big 5' - elephants and lions - but we were told that sighting the lions is rare so we were pleased about that. The park is absolutely huge and there are only 10 lions in the whole thing, but we were able to see 3 of them (all roughly 2 years old). The pictures of lions below were taken by a friend of mine who had a professional camera with her, so they're a lot nicer than my shots. The animal below that you may not recognize is a kudu, which is the second largest antelope in the world and can jump 9 feet in the air. And the last picture is Pumba the warthog. After the drive we had lunch before getting in our own tour bus and driving through again on the paved roads. We didn't see anything new, but we spent some more time at the watering hole where the elephants congregate.

Once we were back at the cabins we relaxed and enjoyed the river and the camp fire again. In the morning we drove for about 6 hours, with stops along the way, until we made it to the Wilderness Beach House Backpackers where we'd be staying the night. Me and a couple friends explored the nearby beach once we were settled, and we saw the biggest jellyfish we'd ever seen washed up on the shore. They were at least 18 inches across and had huge tentacles. We went back up to the house for a delicious lamb roast and spend the rest of the night sitting by the fire. In the morning we left for our last leg of the trip and after another 6 hours in the car we were back in Stellenbosch. It was an amazing 10 days on the road but it was good to be back home. It seemed like forever ago that we first got in the vans at 5am last weekend, yet the trip went by too fast.

Day 6 - Surfing, Sandboarding, and Goodbyes

It was 8:15 on the morning of Day 6 and I was awake and eating breakfast before my alarm went off. I was scheduled to spend the morning surfing with 9 of my friends and I was really excited about it. I had tried surfing twice before with a friend, but this would be my first time taking a lesson. We put on our wetsuits and walked out to the beach where our boards were waiting for us. Our instructor, Dale, went over the basics and then gave us 20 minutes to catch some waves just lying on our boards, no standing up yet. Then we went back to the sand and he taught us the final couple steps and we had about an hour to work on putting the whole thing together in the water. It was an exhausting two hours in total because each time you caught a wave that brought you to the shoreline you had to carry your board back out until you were waist deep again. I had a really great time and was able to ride several waves to the shore, granted they weren’t very big.

Afterwards we had 10 minutes to put dry clothes on, get in the vans, and head to the dunes for sandboarding. I was also really looking forward to this activity, but it wasn’t quite as cool as I expected. On my first run down the dune I tried to turn on my heel side, as I would on a snowboard, but I just ended up falling on my butt. The sand was really hard and it was nearly impossible to do anything besides ride in a straight line down the hill. The main slope that we used was pretty small, but walking back up each time became difficult as we were all wiped out from surfing. Regardless, it was a neat experience and I’m really glad I did it.

Once we got back to the beach house I ate lunch, took a shower (I still have sand in my scalp though), and napped until dinner. After eating I hung out in the living room/kitchen of our house, listened to Hestea’s “end of the Garden Route” speech, and got into bed pretty early.

In addition to all the amazing activities I participated in this week, I really enjoyed getting to know our drivers better. Aside from Hestea there are 5 Stellenbosch undergrads/grad students who drive everywhere and take care of us on the road, and this was our last night with them. We see them around campus and hang out with them periodically, but the Garden Route trip is the bulk of our time with them, and now it was coming to an end. Hestea made a nice comment about each of them in her little speech and we all thanked them for the time, effort, and love that they put into the week. In the morning I would be heading a little further up the east coast with 23 other students, but the drivers and the rest of the crew was either going home or doing their own weekend trips, so this marked the end of our official Garden Route holiday.

Day 5 - Bungee Jumping, Island Vibe, and St. Paddy's Day

After packing up and having breakfast in the barn we said our goodbyes to Antler’s Lodge and hit the road again en route to Bloukran’s Bridge. Bloukran’s is the highest commercial bungee jump in the world and 29 of us we making the leap today. I wasn’t really nervous until we arrived, got our harnesses on, and had our weight written on our hand. Hestea told us that in past years they jumped in order of weight, which would have put me first. I really didn’t want to jump first. Luckily once we got out to the platform they called my friend Julie’s name first and I was able to relax. After watching her jump and seeing the smile on her face when she got back to the platform I was no longer nervous, just really excited. The guys that worked there were super friendly and they had music playing the whole time to pump us up. When it was finally my turn to go I got my ankles strapped in, then I was carried to the edge of the platform where the two guys holding me immediately starting counting down from 5. There was no time to think twice or be nervous, so I dove off and absolutely loved every second of it. The feeling of free falling in indescribable, but so amazing. I would encourage anyone who gets the chance to jump to do it, you won’t regret it!

When our group was done jumping we got lunch in the restaurant that overlooked the bridge and watched some of our other friends bungee. After everyone had gone we got back in our vans and drove to Jeffrey’s Bay. Once again, Hestea amazed us with her ability to find the coolest places to stay. Island Vibe Backpackers was situated right above the beach overlooking the Indian Ocean. There was a lounge, a small restaurant, a bar, dorm style bedrooms, and a beach house. After getting a quick tour of grounds we were told that the beach house belonged to us for the next two nights (see picture below). Me, Adrienne, and Vanessa picked a room with a sliding glass door that opened up to the beach (our view is pictured below). It was an incredible spot. Once everyone was situated a bunch of us hopped in the vans and drove a half mile down the road to the Billabong Factory Store. It was a huge place with tons of clothes for real cheap. I wasn’t planning on getting anything but I couldn’t resist, I walked away with 3 shirts for under $20. After walking home we had a soccer game on the beach until dinnertime. Dinner was Thai chicken curry and it was so delicious I could have had at least four plates if there has been enough to go around. We spent the rest of the night celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and talking about how awesome our bungee jumping experience was.

Day 4 - Kayaking, Tsitsikamma, and Pizza

I was awake around the same time as the sun on Day 4 in order to get some breakfast in the barn before heading out to the bay. Twelve of us went on a 7am sea kayaking trip around Plettenberg Bay for 2 hours. The water was beautiful and it was so peaceful to be out there when everything around us was quiet. It was a cloudy morning so it wasn’t too hot yet, but it certainly tiring on my arms. We got to see a baby seal, a mother seal, and 3 hammerhead sharks swimming near us. I didn’t see the sharks, but I guess they’re pretty small and have very tiny mouths. Out two guides said that during high season you can see Southern Right Whales, Great White Sharks, and lots of dolphins right in the bay.

After kayaking 8 of us left the bay, stopped at Antler’s to pick up 4 more people, and headed to the Tsitsikamma Forest to do a canopy tour. We had two great tour guides who helped us zipline from platform to platform high up in the trees of the forest. There were 10 ziplines in all and they varied in height, length, and speed. I thought it was really cool how the platforms are made to never cause any damage to the trees. Check out the picture below to see how they completely rely on tension because it is forbidden to put even one nail into the trees.

After having lunch in Tsitsikamma we went back to the lodge and I took a nap. When I woke up we all left to have dinner at a pizza place on the beach. The pizzas were great, I had 10 slices, and the view from the restaurant was beautiful. I was pretty tired by the time we got home so I just laid in bed and hung out with some friends until I fell asleep.