artdabbler

Though we had spent our first weekend planning (and it was busy), Monday morning felt like the real beginning of my volunteer work with Education Beyond Borders - (http://www.educationbeyondborders.org/). With our borrowed car, we headed to the Manderson Hotel in Stutterheim (http://www.manderson.co.za/) early Monday morning for five days of workshops with teachers from all over the Eastern Cape province. Though some people were there when we arrived, we didn’t really start until mid-morning. (Some people had to travel many hours to get there.) We arrived with time to get organized and rearrange the conference room, find power strips and figure out the projector, which would be uncooperative later in the week whenever we changed computers. Lots of patience was required! I was forewarned about this. Africa is a very laid back place, the people are ... read more

I finally got my computer back and am going to try to update my blog to share information about my stay and volunteer work in South Africa. I’ll start with some observations: • Supermarkets have a good selection of products, but not a lot of hard candy, especially sugar free. • At Pick n Pay (supermarket we use) cashiers sit down, but the baggers stand. • You have to buy bags at many stores if you don’t bring your own. At the supermarket they cost 36 cents, which converts roughly to the same 5 cents that I get back if I bring my own bag to the supermarket in New Jersey. • Coca Cola signs are everywhere. The company provides them if you want to sell their products. A tour guide wanted to make sure we ... read more