South African Sports Weekend!

Last week was so much fun, and we didn’t even leave PE!  The week was just like it always is, except that I didn’t have to teach full time.  This meant that I wasn’t killing myself to try and make the most out of my trip while teaching my students all about English! Woo!

Sunday was my second time at Covenant Grace Church and I am LOVING IT.  It is so Biblical and really encourages me to question what I believe while giving me the encouragement to be a light to those around me!  On Wednesday, I went to my first Community Group with CG.  It was so nice to be surrounded by a community of believers.  We spent about 4 hours listening to each others’ testimonies and hearing about Jesus’ unfailing international love was so amazing.  I am incredibly blessed to have landed here!

On Friday, we went to our first cricket match and we had absolutely no idea what was going on, per usual.  Liz and Nicole and I started in the stands and waited for the other two girls to arrive.  Then, we explored the area a little bit and finally settled on a grassy picnic area that held a younger crowd.  Everyone brought camp chairs and blankets and it was so nice enjoying the game!

Cricket!

Love these sweet girls!

Roll Tide!

The Lizard!

Saturday, we went to the beach almost all day!  The waves were HUGE and my bathing suit top came all the way off and almost washed up on the shore! Thankfully, Emily and Maddi were there to help me out.  It was hilarious and I ended up getting around of applause from some random guys who were watching.  Oops!

Later, my friend from UA, Wellyna, and her roommie, Anna, came and visited all the way from Grahamstown!  There is apparently nothing to do in GTown, so they needed a change of scenery.  All 7 girls piled in a car and headed to our first professional rugby match! The Southern Kings (South African team) rolled over the Western Force (Australian team), 22 to 10!  We had no idea what was going on for the first half, but then found a friend (coincidentally, the one who clapped for me on the beach…) who explained the rules.  We then went to our favorite local spot, Barney’s, for about an hour, but it was way too crowded after the game so we headed home for a good night’s rest.

Rugby!

Getting our Rugby on!

Wellyna and me!

Sunday morning was BEAUTIFUL!  Wellyna, Anna and I headed to CG for church and the sermon was about resting- just what I needed to hear!  We got home around lunchtime and then headed to the market down by the beach.  I had never been before, so it was a new experience for everyone.  We became expert hagglers and I came home with a beautiful painting for only $5!  It was so tempting not to buy more, but I know I’ll be back before I head back to The States.  We walked over 5 miles so lunch overlooking the Indian Ocean was exactly what we needed! The girls had prawn curry and I had calamari.  We headed to the beach for awhile and then I saw the girls off to Grahamstown!

I love the market, obviously!

I met my roomies at Bridge Street Brewery.  I walked in and they were having dinner with the Australian Rugby Team that we watched the night before!! We had dinner with the Western Force and hung out with them for hours.  It was so much fun to see those really big guys laugh and have fun with a bunch of American girls!

With some of the team... they are HUGE!

Next update: Me jumping 710 feet down into a river valley off of the Bloukrans Bridge!

Love,

Katharine / Miss Martin  

Just a Normal Day... in South Africa!

Hello, everyone!

I haven’t blogged a lot lately, because we haven’t been doing a whole lot around here.  Emily and I just finished our 10 days of teaching (our huge assignment for the semester!), so now we can head out and do more fun stuff!

I figured, though, that I would share with you a typical week in PE, SA!

Weekdays, I sit in on half of the classes and teach the other half.  It really just depends on the day.  Some days, though, I have up to 3 free periods, some days I have none.  Their time-table (schedule) is really confusing… Here’s a picture of it:

They are on a 10-day rotation schedule.  CRAZY.

When I have free periods, I sometimes help out with Plasma.  Plasma is the school’s substitute system.  They choose to spend their money on other things, so hiring substitutes for teachers who are sick just doesn’t exist.  Each morning, our Deputy Vice Principal reads off the people who will be subbing for every class.  It’s fun, because I get to see different classes and students, some who English is not their first language!

My Grade 11s

My silly Grade 8s- I'm with them the most, which is great
because I love them!

Such fun kiddos!

The teachers are all so helpful and willing to support us in completing our assignments for school.  I don’t think I’d be able to understand what was going on if it weren’t for them!

Sweet Valentines presents from our Vice Principal,
the wonderful Mr. Bubb!

During school, we don’t have a lunch break.  Those don’t really exist here.  We have 2 tea breaks where tea and coffee are served, but you can certainly order lunch.  If you order lunch from the school, it is brought up at the first break, which is normally before 10 am!  Today, actually, we got our first food bill and we were all panicking!  We order lunch every day, sometimes a drink, sometimes a snack after school.  We thought our food bill was going to be so expensive.  We were pleasantly surprised, however, to find that our bill was only around R330, which is about $35!!! That is SO CHEAP for 20 days worth of food!

After school, the students are required to participate in sport at least two days a week, which means that all the teachers coach at least one sport.  Here’s my after school schedule:

Monday: Sprints and Fitness

Tuesday: FREE!

Wednesday: Sprints and Fitness

Thursday: Musical Ticket Sales

Friday: Cheerleading

So, basically, I’m busy and loving it!

Shannon and I take our Sprints and Fitness group to the beach
sometimes!

Chasing each other, trying not to get tagged! 

Fun in the sun!

After school, we don’t have a whole lot to do because we cannot drive.  Normally our group goes for a jog, heads to the beach, goes grocery shopping or prepares lesson plans.  Weekdays are actually pretty boring and all the days run together.

Hanging on the rocks by the shore

Team America by the waves

When 5 girls grocery shop, they let us take the cart
home because we buy so much!

For dinner, though, we have found tons of great spots!  One of my favorites is Primi Piati- they have everything from pizza to gourmet game and fish.  They have quite an extensive drink menu, too- The picture below is me with a “Jam Jar” and it’s basically a lot of local juices.  Tons of sugar, but so delicious! They also have a “Tea Pot” and you drink your tea out of the tea pot! So simple, but we love it! 

Some of our other favorites are on Stanley Street but we have to get in a cab to head over there!  It’s fun to stay local and walk off some of your dinner!

The giant JAM JAR! 

Delicious!

After dinner on weekends, we usually head to Barney’s.  Barney’s is the local college place so it’s fun to hang out with all of the college kids from the local university and dance the night away!

Sweet Nicole and Me at Barney's!

Team America at Barney's!

Hopefully, I’ll have an adventure to update you on soon- we are going to Plettenburg next weekend and I am going to the HIGHEST BUNGEE JUMP IN THE WORLD!

Lots of love from SA!

Katharine / Miss Martin

Safari-ing!

Last Saturday was a long, hot, beautiful whirlwind full of safari adventures.  There is no possible way that I could explain how amazing it was to you, but I’ll try!

We began our day at 5:30 am where Jordie picked us up in Big Red.  We drove the 45 minutes to Addo Elephant Park and made it just in time for the gates to open- first ones in the park!

Addo is the third-largest national park in Africa, so the acreage was really amazing. The park has about 500 wild elephants and several other species of animals including lions, zebras, kudu, rhinos and warthogs.   

We drove around and saw lots of wart hogs, lots of greenery, but nothing really “cool” yet.  We rounded a corner and drove up on a watering hole and instantly saw about 60 elephants.  It was unbelievably breathtaking!  You couldn’t talk loudly or get out of your car (obviously) but Jordie used to work in the park and it was AMAZING how much she knew about the elephants and their families.  Our trip wouldn’t have been half as interesting if she hadn’t been with us!

All ready to go, bright and early!

Jordie explaining the elephant families- SO neat!

Just playin' around

Hey, baby!

See how close they were?! 

The zebras finally got a sip, too!

Two boys going at it

Kudu in the bushes

Big Paul got too close to the other cars! 

After leaving Addo, we drove to Kwantu Elephant Sanctuary where we got to RIDE ELEPHANTS! They are such beautiful, gentle giants but their size is overwhelming when you are right next to them.  We got to ride around the game reserve and then we were able to feed them afterwards.  So neat!

Beautiful girls

Such a cool experience!

We got to feed the girls after we rode them!

She was stunning

Our last stop was Schotia Game Reserve!  This was easily the coolest part of our trip.  We hopped on an open safari truck and saw elephants, antelope, ostrich and all sorts of cool animals!  There is a seat on the front of the truck called the “tracker seat” and everyone got a turn outside of the truck.  We saw antelope warthogs and other small game, but the second I got on the tracker seat we saw a giraffe and two white rhinos!    That was my bragging moment for the day!

Walking with a giraffe.  Casual. 

'Sup, Big Bird?

So cool.

Hey, big fella!

On the tracker seat- maybe more fun than riding
an elephant!

About to eat a TERMITE.  Slimy, yet satisfying. 

Bachelor Party

Hippos!

2 feet from the truck. Yikes. 

We made a stop for dinner and it was DELICIOUS.  Lots of good veggies and local game- Kudu is quickly becoming my favorite.  After dinner, we drove around looking for lions.  We hopped in the truck, drove 2 feet outside of the dinner camp and there were 9 LIONS SITTING OUTSIDE OF OUR DINNER CAMP.  They were there the whole time!  It was amazing to watch them stalk and hunt antelope. 

That is a lion. CRAZY!

That thing on the side of the picture is our truck.  We could
reach out and touch her!  We didn't, obviously...

No zoom needed!

I, unfortunately got sick and stayed sick for almost 2 days, so I was glad to be home but the weekend was unreal!  Next update: Learning Xhosa!

Love,

Katharine / Miss Martin