Hello, How are you?? (in Xhosa click click click) been here for 3 days now…internet is very far away.
i’d love to share the wild advenutres and post some pics, but that’ll be for another time no doubt. currently my NEWWWW phone number is 0783990239. when you call from canada i think you take away the 0. text me, call me. put it on your parents bill, they’ll never know.
when i awoke my first day in Tendergate village, i started speaking to my host mother, 15 minutes later into her babbling on about sometime, i realise she doesn’t speak english or xhosa…but africaans. hrm…guess i’ll have to learn. she explained using body language that the eggs i was about to eat were rotten (her pretending to throw up, and pointing at the eggs)
i can’t believe i’m here right now, or what exactly i’m doing…i’ll have time to figure that out. email, call, text, c’mooon.
Nico
Change of plans, I found out yesturday I will no longer be heading to Kuruman, but will now be making my way next week to Ntabethemba in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, closer to Takastad.
This is good for a few reasons:
1) mountainous area, i personally prefer a hill to ..a flat desert
2) the people in the area speak Xhosa (the X is prenounced with a Click of the tongue) - my roomate this past 2 weeks speaks Xhosa and i’ve already learned a few words/clicks - there are 3 or 4 different kind of clicks, all mean different things…Click me? Click you!
3) I won’t be too far off 3 other volunteers, one in Lesotho, and 2 others in the “very rural” area of mount fletcher *** by very rural, i mean they’ll be getting around by horse, no electricity, or hot water, cell phones work…but you’ll have to climb the mountain first to get reception.
Over the past 2 weeks I’ve learned alot about what International Development means for SCORE (www.score.org.za) . It’s not about feeding money and resources into a community, the best kind of development is for community to learn, do everything, and the international developers to sit back and facilitate the process. hrmm..I’ll let you know how that way of thinking goes over the next 8 months.
Yestuday was the training groups one day off where we became the tourist of cape town. I visited Robben Island, the “alcatraz” of south africa. its been a prison/leper colony/ museam for 400 years. Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison there, along with many other black political activists. it also happens to have a massive penguin and rabbit population. Leave it to the norweigans to be attacked by one fo the penguins ofcourse.
Training almost done, cape town for 3 days, then road trip for a few days to my community. I’m psyched.
so i got a mobile phone - i think you need to take the 0 out if you dial from anywhere other than South Africa - note 6 hour time difference from toronto
It has been a full week now of being overseas and as usual the “just a week?? But I’ve done so much” thoughts come into play. Currently I’m enjoying my rest after last nights world cup celebrations, (what sorta guy head butts???) and soon to undertake an assignment. Here’s a quick timeline of the past week:
Halifax -> London England meet up with Aisha -> Cape Town -> Sleep -> City of Paarl outside Capetown -> Training for the past week with 9 Norweigans, 3 South Africans, 1 australian, 1 dutch, 1 Namibian, 2 zambian, 2 zibawen , 2 Swedes, and another Canadian.
Thoughts to note for future:
Cape town has a serious gap in wealth. Full luxurious mansions are just down the road from full on Shantytowns. Before the apartheid (the segregation system of South Africa that lasted until 1991) , Townships (what look basically like shantytowns) were the areas were all the black people lived, and still do, pretty much as far away from the whites.
You may see “shantytowns” on one of those sponsor a kid a dollar a day Sunday tv commercials, but heres the thing: after visiting one township a few times now, I didn’t feel sad, I didn’t feel like I needed to “save” anyone there, or build anything – what I first felt was a sense of community that I appreciated more than my own home community. Hundreds of people just hanging out, talking to one another on the streets, jamming to music, kids playing soccer with plastic bags, everyone just enjoying their home where they’ve lived there whole life. Chumpa Braa (Very good in norweigan)
Wintertime here, the days are short, but beautiful – one day of rain, every other day has been sunny with highs around 17. The city of Paarl where I’m staying is surrounded by rocky mountains, cliffs and wineries, typical South Africa? Not exactly – I’ve learned this past week that nothing is ever typical.
Another 10+ days of training, then off to my placement. I may or may not be in an area outside the town of Kuruman in the north. Theres also a desert near by…sandboarding and sun screen may be on the agenda. More to tell another time…
chillin at the hali airport, about to jump on board, thoughts from yesturday:
10k race: a few days ago, my mom suggested i “get outside and do a 10 k race”, i dont know whos mom just says that,but mine does, so i did it. and I actually did alright considering a number of factors :
- i haven’t trained in the past 4 months
- i ran twice in the past month, once just to catch a bus
- two nights before i went to the Maxwell Plum Pub for beers, cheers and cheeseburgers
- I sprained my ankle last month
well..”alright” means to me winning my initial goals- to beat the guy infront of me who ran with a stroller (who does that?), to pass the bald guy, and finally beat the person with the fluorescent hat…which i never did beat…
Pig Roast : an old pal/extreme adventurist Jan decided to have a piggy roast. The swine was delightful. no apple in the mouth as i had originally imagined, but well worth it as a final unofficial goodbye party.
World Cup: one word: Zidane
a few from yesturdays race and roast
