Garden Route

Hi everyone! Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted. I’ve been frolicking around this country doing one amazing thing after the other. I figured I’d get you up to date with the TWO spring breaks I had here in Stellenbosch.

At the end of may (right before my 21^st!) our study program AIFS took all 35 of us on the garden route. This is basically the route up the coast of the western cape which takes you to the main tourist attractions. It was basically 6 days jam packed with all sorts of activities.

On the first day after a 5 or 6 hour car ride we arrived at an ostrich farm! The first ostrich we saw was actually a midget, and was smaller than I am. Then we saw an ostrich named Betsy, which is apparently the nicest ostrich that ever lived, and by that I mean she’s just not pure evil like the rest of her species. A few of us got to go into the cage and feed her, and i even got a hug from her long neck that can turn around 360 degrees. We got to walk around, stand on ostrich eggs, and watch these creatures do their thing (which isn’t much!)

About an hour later we arrived at the Cango Caves in Oudsthoorn. There were two options for tours, standard or adventure. I was a little apprehensive to go for the adventure route but hey, you’re only in Africa once right? So our group (the majority of people) took off into these. The first few chambers of the cave were massive with super high ceilings. Little by little the chambers got smaller and eventually most of us were bending down to get through. We then got to a chamber that had a set of metal stairs leading towards a small hole. Our tour guide informed us that this was where the real tour started. These holes looked rather snug so we dropped our cameras and headed up the stairs. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We were crawling on our hands and knees, shimmying through holes about half our sizes. It ended up being really fun as we pushed and pulled each other through the impossible spaces. For lack of better words, here is the website for the caves and you can see for yourself!

http://www.cango-caves.co.za/adventure.php

After the caves we arrived at Buffles bay, our hostel for the next 3 nights. The hostel had such a cool feel and was right on the beach, incredibly gorgeous. When we arrived it was around early evening so we grabbed some drinks from the bar (a godsend) and went outside to watch the sun set. Little did we know, we were in one of the ONLY places in the world to see the sun set and watch the moon at the same time. The moon was actually the biggest its even been in 18 years. It was incredible to be able to turn your head 180 degrees and see a completely different sky. At that point I knew I was so blessed to be in that spot at that exact time. It was an omen to how great the rest of the week was going to be!

The next day I woke up and went horseback riding. There were 4 of us girls and our guide, who was a 28 year old girl from cape town who had been riding the same horse since she was 7. She took us on trails through the mountains and it was incredible. My hours, Topdeck, did not necessarily like me but we had fun all the same. For the rest of the day we just laid on the beach until they prepared a wonderful braai for dinner! After that we received a “surprise” which was a visit from a band at a local Rastafarian village. They played some amazing music, and obviously a few Bob Marley covers.

The next day we went to Knysna Elephant park. We got to feed elephants, from babies to adults. They are absolutely adorable. Although, they are rather messy eaters and were spraying dirt and water (and probably snot) all over the by the time we left. After we left, some of us went paragliding. Basically, you get attached to another person (an instructor) and the inflate a huge parachute and you run off a hill until the wind catches you in the air. We swung around in the air for about 20 minutes and the view was absolutely incredible. The ocean was right ahead of us and the town below looks so cool. Everything below us looked like little tiny ants as we swung. I would easily say that paragliding is the closest you can come to flying. My instructor York was so much fun and he did crazy things like making our chute swing back and forth from side to side, or swing us around in circles until I thought I was going to be sick!

The next day was our biggest day. BUNGEE JUMPING! We drove to Bloukrans Bridge, and without taking one look at the actually bridge/jump I signed myself up for the bungee. About half of our group decided to jump as well. Once we were weighed and harnessed in we took the scariest walk of my life. To get to the jumping platform you had to walk across a see through bridge. Imagine a chain link fence and how see through and bouncy it is… that’s pretty much exactly what we were walking on. For me, this was scarier than the actual jump. The coolest part about the bridge platform was the atmosphere. Everyone working there was excited to be there, and there was a DJ playing all kinds of house music and everyone was dancing around. Because I signed up early, I ended up being the 2^nd person from our group to jump. My friend Kellie who seemed so calm and collected jumped first and had pretty much perfect form, which definitely eased my nerves. The tied my feet together and attached my harness and I was ready to go. The helped me hop over to the edge and at the count of three I was jumping off of the WORLDS highest bungee jump. Right as I looked over the edge was the first time I actually was scared, but once I started falling all of my worries floated away. The 8 seconds of free fall was indescribably peaceful. The absolute only thing on my mind was falling, and you couldn’t hear a thing. Because I was headfirst I never got the stomach feeling, which is usually the worst part about falling! As I re-watch the video of myself jumping and bouncing back up, I realized that at no point did I have any idea which way I was going. I was never sure if I was bouncing up, down, or just swinging. I was convinced that when the man who worked there came down to harness me, I was not bouncing anymore. The video proved me wrong. It only last about a minute but it was such a surreal feeling its very hard to describe. So my friend John came down and harnessed me up and pulled me back up to the top with him. After I got up my adrenaline was at a maximum for probably about 5 hours. After that we went back to the new hostel and settled in. (again, here is the website for bloukrans bungee, since words just cant do it justice)

http://www.faceadrenalin.com/

The second hostel we stayed in was Antlers country lodge in Plettenberg bay. This hostel had a much different feel as it was located on what looked like a farm. There was green grass everywhere, cows and horses behind fences, and a beautiful swimming pool in the middle. There was even a dining hall that made me feel like I was at some sleep-away summer camp. We went to town and walked around and had lunch and acted like tourists. Then we went to MONKEY LAND! Basically you walk in the front gates and there are just all different sorts of monkeys roaming around freely. It was easily the most monkeys ive ever seen in my entire life. We unfortunately didn’t get to touch or feed them, but I was okay with just looking.

The next day we went to a cat reserve and saw cheetahs, leopards, and even a wildcat (WOOO UNH!) After we got some good pictures we went back to the lodge for, unfortunately, our last night of garden route. We had a long drive back in the morning but it was definitely exciting to come back to Stellie and see everyone we missed, as well as begin my birthday celebrations!

So that was spring break round 1, I’ll be sure to fill you in our round two very soon! The first half—Namibia, the second half—Katie’s visit!

Miss you all, Thanks for reading!

xoJill

Cederberg and Kayamandi adventures

Sorry its been a few weeks, but so much has happened I don’t know where to start!

First things first—classes. For classes I am taking drawing, Afrikaans, Xhosa, and South African History, none of which seem very hard. The languages are both so different, yet very cool. I’m not sure I’m thrilled with what the Afrikaans language stands for, or the history of how it came to be the dominant language in this country, so I’m glad I’m also taking Xhosa as well, the language of the native people. The history class is actually pretty awesome. I’ve never been a very good history buff, but it’s interesting to hear about their history from within the country. History is very objective and can be spewed and will be viewed and interpreted differently in different countries. I know the information I’m getting here is as close to first-hand as you can get. As far as drawing goes, I'm absolutely terrible, and only taking it because it is the only course UNH will accept for an art credit. 

After the 1^st week of classes, my program (AIFS) had a scheduled trip to the Cederberg Mountains. After about a 4-hour drive through the mountains, we arrived at a base camp with about 5 or 6 cabins for us. Hannah and I shared a room, and shared a house with our closest friends. That night we had a braai, and our director Mama H made the most amazing meal. There was salad galore, and sausages drenched in what she called her “special sauce.” The next day, some people got up VERY early and went for a hike. We opted to spend the day at the beach instead (Stellenbosch mountain got the best of us). Around 4 we went to the Cederberg Winery. It is one of the top 5 wineries in South Africa. We got to try about 6 different wines—all of which could have constituted as the best wine I have every tasted. Everyone purchased a few bottles from the farm and then we headed back to camp and had another braai. This time we had some sort of African Stew that was absolutely to die for. The next morning we got up early and took about a 30 minute hike to a huge pool in the rocks. There we went cliff diving into the water. There were 3 different heights, about 15 ft, 30 ft, and another closer to 40. I could get myself together well enough to jump off the 30 ft cliff, but my knees were shaking a little too much to try the 40 ft one, although a couple of my friends did it and really enjoyed it. After that we went back to camp for lunch and then packed our stuff and got ready to get home. Before we did so, we went to see some KhoiKhoi drawings. The KhoiKhoi were indigenous to South Africa way before we were around. They had left drawings all over the rocks of the Cederberg Mountains, where they lived for a brief period of time. They were known for traveling and following the herds of animals, which was their source of food. After this we got to a huge cave, which was apparently used for secret government meetings back in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Each man had signed his name to the wall. The last signing was the men who were involved with the end of Apartheid. Unfortunately, visitors to the cave since then clearly had very strong feelings towards the ending of Apartheid and threw rocks at all of the names listed on the cave wall in at attempt to deface it. After this we jumped back on the buses and headed back to Stellenbosch.

The next week was pretty quiet. We went to classes, went out for dinner and drinks a few times, nothing too special. We spent the weekend in our home turf of downtown Stellenbosch and had a great time.

Every Thursday from 2 to 5 I have volunteered at the local town-ship of Kayamandi. I have yet to write about it because it is hard to explain, as well as be able to grasp the concept without being able to see it first hand.

The town-ship of Kayamandi has been around for years and years. The townships of this country all came about due to the rapid urbanization of the cities. The less fortunate people were forced to the outskirts of town, living in shantes no bigger than my bedroom. Often times there are up to 15 or 20 people living in each one of these 1-room houses. Before signing up for volunteer hours, we got to tour the township with a tour guide named Songo. He had been a part of Kayamandi since he was a young boy growing up in these conditions. He now had set up all sorts of resources for the children of the township. He got funding for a library, and also set up a BMX program for young boys.

When touring the township for the first time, it was a HUGE eye opener. This township was only about 5 to 8 minutes away from where I am staying in Stellenbosch. Here we are living like kings, and yet 5 minutes away there are people living in absolutely poverty. What struck me the most was the excitement from the children we saw passing through the township. They looked happy and excited and were holding onto our hands, arms, shirts, basically anything they could get a hold of. Songo took us around to various parts of the township, and we ended at the school where we would be volunteering.

So every Thursday at 2 o’clock, about 20 of us meet on campus and take a bus over to the Kayamandi School. We work with about 50 or 60 7^th  grade girls and boys. For the first 45 minutes, we take the children over to the snack area, where they are given a peanut butter sandwich and some milk. It’s hard to explain these first 45 minutes. It’s sort of awkward, the children are mostly speaking in Xhosa (even though they know English), probably laughing and making fun of us. Sometimes I wonder if they even want us there, and if what we are doing is actually making a difference.

After snack we head over to the classrooms and each volunteer sits with about 3 or 4 kids. We do various lessons such as math, geography, reading and comprehension, and writing. These children were picked from their class of about 200, as the kids with the most efficiency in English, making it easier for us to do our jobs. Since about 1^st grade these children have been subjected to English in the classrooms, but it is hard to know if what they are learning is being put to use since the second they leave school and go home, the only language they hear and use is Xhosa. From watching the nervousness of the children when I ask them a question, I can pretty much assume I am the first Native- English speaking person they have ever talked to. I can understand that this must be nerve-wracking and can lead to a lot of the children being shy and choosing to say nothing at all. Things go pretty smoothly in general, but the language barrier is definitely something that can hopefully be broken down by the end of the semester.

Although being able to aid the kids in the learning of our language, the most enjoyable part of volunteering comes at the last 45 minutes we are there. Each week we play a different game. Sometimes we teach them an American game, or they teach us a South African game. This week, I played soccer with about 50 South African children, can you imagine? As big as soccer was in Waltham—imagine that multiplied by 100. Every kid knows what it is, how to play, who their favorite team is. You could see their faces light up the second we took the balls out of the bag. It is during this 45 minutes of physical activity that we really get to see their personalities come out. They are laughing and joking and having so much fun. I must say—the smiles on their faces are the most rewarding aspect of the whole thing.

So that’s pretty much all for now! There is an arts festival this weekend in Cape Town and we will be heading there in a few hours. I’m sure I’ll have lots to say next time!

Xo Jill

Jool and then some...

Hey guys!

So this past week was absolutely ridiculous. I don’t think words will ever be able to accurately describe the events of Jool. On Tuesday there were “trolley races.” I’m not sure what I was expecting but it definitely was completely absurd. The main street in campus, Victoria St., was blocked off for about 6 hours. Each group, which are kind of like frats and sororities except they don’t call them that, created a trolley, which was just a decked out shopping cart. Everyone was dressed up and cheering for their team. There would be one person in the cart and two people running and pushing from behind. The street had obstacle courses as well and there were a bunch of collisions. I took some pictures but they cant even do justice to how many people were there. Think about all of the people at May Weekend concert and multiply it by 4, absurd.

On Thursday we decided to get up early and take the train to a vineyard on the other side of Stellenbosch. There was about 15 or so of us that decided to go. When we got there we realized it was a lot more than just wine tasting. We started with a cheetah encounter. Only a few of us did it but for R100, less than 20 dollars, we got to go into the cage and pet the cheetahs. It was so cool, but probably one of the scariest things I’ve ever done. The cheetahs were HUGE and purring so loud. We had to stay on one knee incase the cheetah decided to get up and walk around, which made it even more nerve wracking. After that a few people went and played with some owls, then we had lunch and head over to the wine tasting. We got to try 5 different kinds of wine, all from a list of some pretty expensive ones.

After this we headed back to campus for a power nap to rest up for the night ahead of us. This was “performance night” for all of the 1^st years. They had been practicing all week these different skits and dances to perform in front of the school. Each group was set up on a stage in front of one of the academic buildings. Each group danced every 10 minutes or so for a couple of hours. You could walk around from building to building and see all the different groups. We only saw a few but they were pretty hysterical. Again, they love American music, and it was hard to hold back from dancing when they played you can’t stop the beat from hairspray.

That night we went out to a local pub downtown and the amount of people walking around was literally insane. Every bar was packed with people and all of the streets were flooded with people walking around. Apparently this is one of their biggest nights out of the whole year, we absolutely had no idea what we were getting ourselves into but it was very very fun.

On Friday we bought 1-dollar train tickets and went into Cape Town. We had bought some soccer tickets for that evening and decided to head in early for some food and drinks beforehand. We got in around 2 or 3 and had lunch and made our way towards the stadium. We stopped at a bar close to the stadium and got some drinks and even made friends with the bartenders, Clarence and Bob. We went to the game around 7:30 and met up with a few other kids that had taken a later train into town. The game was nuts, the vuvuzuelas never stopped honking. It ended up being a double header, and the team we were rooting for won both times! After the game was over, we promised the two bartenders that we would come back and bring them more service with more people. They were very excited to see us and gave us all a round of free drinks. After that we checked into a hostel on Long St. and got ready to go out for the evening. Our friend Dave brought us to a club where one of his friends was, and as I was sitting down at a table I looked up and realized I was sitting directly across from Michelle Piedrahita! The two of us just died laughing and couldn’t believe it. The night ended up being pretty wild, and we didn’t get back to the hostel until about 4 am. I am convinced that people here DON’T sleep because they party until all hours of the night and then wake up in the morning bright and early, ready to go. I genuinely don’t understand how they do it!

We got up in the morning, checked out of the hostel and headed for the train. When we got back we napped and showered and then decided to go into town for dinner because there was an outdoor music festival in the center of town. There ended up being an extremely long line to get into the festival, but luckily you could hear most of the music from the street.

I don’t think I can say enough good things about this place. I’m so incredibly happy with my decision to come here, and am reinforced every single day. Classes will be starting this week and next week and I’m kind of excited to actually have a schedule of things to do, we were getting a little out of hand with going out on weeknights. I’ll be sure to update you again soon!

xo Jill 

First week

So I figured the best way to tell all of you about my adventures in Africa would be by writing a blog.

Let me start by saying, South Africa is the most gorgeous country in the world. After flying for about 17 total hours, dozing in and out of consciousness, we prepare for landing and get a view of the beautiful landscape below us. There is a gorgeous chain of mountains surrounding the area, completely breath taking.

When we got off the plane we were met by our director Hestea and her assistant Angelo. They took us on a bus, gave us some food, and we ventured about 30 minutes to Stellenbosch. The scenery on the ride was unbelievable. Right as we got on the highway there was miles upon miles on little shanties in different townships. Just seeing the way so many people lived in this country, while we were being pampered and spoiled, was definitely an eye opener. As we got closer to campus we saw more and more vineyards and a few gorgeous resorts.

When we arrived on campus and dragged our luggage from the bus, we were immediately sweating. The temperature was around 95 degrees and we were obviously not prepared for it. They took us to our “accommodation” which is their word for dorm or apartment. Hannah (fellow OT from UNH) and myself decided to share a flat. We each have our own room and bathroom and share a small kitchen area. Outside of our door is a large common room for us and the 6 other people on our floor. There are 2 boys and 1 girl from the US, 1 girl from Holland and another form Tanzania all living on our floor. There are boys upstairs and boys and girls downstairs that we have become fairly close with over the past few days. Our building is called Blok 5 of Academia.

After we got settled Angelo took us to the store to grab some things like extra towels and sheets, and some groceries. That night we went out for some food and drinks at a local pub called mystic where we met up with lots of other international students.

The next day we sat through an all day orientation where we learned about everything from safety to how to use the Internet. Unfortunately unlike in the states, Internet is paid for by usage and we are limited to about 4,000 MB per month. Although feeling limited isn’t great, I’m sure it can only make my experience that much better!

After the orientation, we were invited to what is called a braai. Which is basically the Afrikaans term for barbeque. The library is actually underground and located in the middle of campus. There is a huge cut out of stairs that lead down to it and there’s a small place for a performance with the stairs surrounding it, and this is where they held the braai for all of the international students. When we got there, there were four people holding bongo drums between their legs. On the steps were probably about 200 drums, there for everyone to use. We sat down and they incorporated us into their songs. It was so much fun. After this we got drinks and waiting in line for food. There was salad, beans, potatoes, pasta salad, and when we got to the grill at the end of the line the man was serving everyone ostrich. Apparently it is eaten here very commonly. It tasted like very lean red meat, and was delicious.

We had another orientation, only a half-day instead of a full day, the next night. We decided to have a little get together at Blok 5 and ended up going to a club called Springbok with probably 20 or so people. It is funny to hear the music they play at bars and clubs because 90% of it is American songs. They are actually pretty up to date with what is popular in the states too (except for one night when they only played 90s rock songs).

The next day, all of the international students got taken on a tour of Cape Town. We hopped on buses and drove down into town. We got off the buses and walked around for a while and saw a few landmarks. After that we got back on the buses and drove a few miles up a mountain. There was a place to stand and look over to take pictures. I, along with two others, decided to venture down a little bit to take better pictures. The view was incredible. We were overlooking the ocean and most of Cape Town, and could see the world cup stadium they used over the summer, so cool. We then got dropped off at what was called Victoria’s dock. There was a huge shopping mall and a bunch of restaurants that overlooked the harbor. We walked around for a while and took some touristy pictures and even saw a few seals laying on one of the docks. After a long day we headed back to campus and had a low-key night.

The view from our apartment is absolutely breathtaking. There is one mountain that faces us that is gorgeous and we heard that you were able to hike it. After asking around we figured out how to get there, and ventured out on Sunday morning at around 8am. We started hiking probably around 9 or so and let me tell you, this was no beginner’s hike. The terrain was mostly loose rock and pebbles. I felt like a legit rock climber. After getting to the first peak, we noticed there was another higher peak and figured if we already made it this far why not keep going…. This happened about 5 or 6 times. Finally after getting to about the 6^th peak around 2:30pm we heard that there was only one more peak but that it was very difficult to get up to and would take atleast another hour. The majority of the girls decided that our skin was frying (even after multiple sunscreen applications) and our legs were getting shaky. We decided to venture down while the boys kept on trekking. Unfortunately, the climb down was far worse than the climb up. It was hard to see which path was easiest or would take us where we wanted to go. It took almost 3 hours to get all the way down. Fortunately, the pictures we took from the top of the mountain were absolutely breathtaking, making all of the sweat and pain worthwhile!

Last night after we got back we showered and napped and found a place nearby that delivered pizza! We were far too exhausted and burnt to walk into town to eat so we were all pretty thrilled about the delivery service. A bunch of us hung out all night and our friend Ky from Germany suggested we play a game he used to play back home. Funny enough, the game was werewolf, which we were slightly obsessed with in high school, go figure.

This week is “jool” or rag week. It’s basically an initiation or orientation for the freshman, or 1^st years. There are lots of events like trolley races, a parade, and a concert on Saturday. So that’s what I’ve been up to for the past week! I’ll be sure to keep you all posted by the end of this week as well. : )