Blogs from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, Africa - page 50

In order to make me feel not so bummed about all the good skiing and snowboarding I’m missing out on, I’m going to let you all know that I’m writing this from our backyard next to the pool I was just reading a book in. I’m starting to get some sun so I don’t look as pasty as when I came down here. Friday after I got back from going around to the city schools with Douwie, Matt and I were the only ones in the office. Matt suggested we get a drink—he didn’t need to twist my arm. We drove down to the beach and sat at a bar in the sand….There’s nothing like putting your toes in the sand to instantly relieve whatever stress you’ve been under. We both ordered tall cold drinks and ... read more

Friday: We had a meeting at the house today. It was the "americans" and Laura (from Zimbabwe). It was a lot longer than I was thinking it would be, but then again---I'm new and didn't really know what it was going to entail. I did find out a lot more areas and duties that I will be in charge of. I will be doing the website updates and the newsletter articles. I will be in charge of the new "learning center" that is going to be in our new office. Our new office is 2 floors up from where we are now but in the opposite corner of the building so our view won't be as much of the ocean which will be a bummer but oh well--hopefully it wasn't flooded and won't smell all moldy. ... read more

The snorkelling from the beach was absolutely amazing, we had already checked the tides and the spring tide was just as we arrived which meant that the tides were very low and the timing was just right, in the middle of the day. There are some very sheltered inlets where you can snorkel most of the time and a great pool where the variety and numbers of fish was fantastic. We saw lots of moray eels, some of them too close for comfort, we saw leopard rays, an incredible variety of coloured fish, most of which we cannot name, we saw prawns and an octopus which was fascinating to watch. Even some of the very shallow pools have an amazing variety of fish. We spent hours just floating and looking. The weather was very hot but ... read more

Tuesday- Second day in the office. All of us packing into the one working car we have...a Toyota Tazz--not sure what the equivalent in the US would be. Raquel and I both "dressed up" since it was her first day back and I was going to be meeting a lot of the coaches/managers for the first time. Matt ran the meeting. It's interesting to be a white woman in the office-- I'm not 100% sure, but I think Raquel is the first woman that's worked down here and I think I'm the first white woman to work down here. When someone would talk or say somehting everyone would snap after...wasn't sure what that was but turns out it's something PPI people implemented instead of clapping....it's not South African. Then I just sort of talked with those ... read more

Hello. Well we have finally arrived in South Africa. I was thinking that this is probably as far away from home as physically possible. So, I looked up an online map and saw that the exact opposite of Calgary, Alberta on a world globe is just off the coast of South Africa. So I guess technically, if I were to swim off shore, I would be on the exact other side of the world, but for my sake, I think that we are close enough. After travelling 18,200 kilometers (that's like 11,300 miles for you 'old school' folks - namely my dad), spending 23 hours in the air, and another 20 hours wandering/sleeping in airports, we have finally arrived in Amanzimtoti, South Africa. The trip was uneventful, but still quite an adventure. I'm sure after a ... read more