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Published: February 19th 2008
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View from the Hike
We were able to get some nice views on the hike before it started raining. Today was my first day actually teaching at Kayamundi. My teachers name is Nayufefe. My partner from last week, Barbara, could no longer participate in the morning Kayamundi. So, I have a new partner, Frederique. She is from Holland and is really fun to have in the classroom. This week was much calmer and interactive then last week. Maybe I was just more mentally prepared this week. Every week we are responsible for preparing an activity for about an hour. Since I didn’t meet up with Frederique, I had to plan the lesson myself. Don’t worry my flat mates helped me and we had an arts and crafts session. I made a model of the body and had both English and Xhosa words labeling the parts of the body. After we taught the kids the parts of the body, we sang songs to help them practice their English. We sang head, shoulders, knees, and toes, and the hokey pokey. They loved the songs and I loved watching them learn. Language is a little of a barrier, but the kids still listen to us (when their teacher is present). Frederique and I were left alone for five minutes without the teacher, and
Summerset West
The view from the house and the girls hanging out in the pool. the next thing I know I had six kids climbing all over me. They love grooming my hair, my freckles, and my sunglasses. They are all great kids, very affectionate and have the most beautiful smiles. I learned yesterday in my Xhosa class that Kayamundi means “sweet home”.
I also received a name in Xhosa, its Phumeza. Phumeza means one that achieves or something to that extent. My teacher didn’t have a direct translation for me. We are planning a trip to Kayamundi to have lunch and try to use our Xhosa. At this point I don’t think I will be ready. It has been a difficult language to learn, and the clicks are extremely hard for me. But I am excited for the trip, it will probably be in a couple of weeks.
Last week I went on a hike with ISOS (international students of Stellenbosch). We had a strenuous hike up botmans kleft. Towards the top we basically were rock climbing to the top. We thought it would be an amazing view and all be worth it. However, when we reached the top, the clouds had rolled in and it started to pour rain. Well, it was an
interesting climb back down the mountain. It was another adventure and we made it down safely. My roommate, Emilee, wasn’t very happy on the way down. She would be complaining and I would be cracking up at everything she said. After the hike, I treated my self to a drink and watched the African Cup of Nations. It was the finals, Egypt against Cameroon. Egypt won 1 to 0. I was cheering for Cameroon, since they were the underdogs.
The plans for this past weekend seemed pretty lame. Some of my friends and I went out to dinner at Beads and were trying to think of a fun adventure for the weekend. Then we remember that our friend Pierre told us that he would take us wakeboarding. We thought we would give him a call and see if he would take us. He was definitely in and picked us up the next day. Seven of us had to fit into this little car to drive out to Summerset West. We meet most of Pierre’s family, his mom, dad, uncles, aunts, and his brother. The family was incredible nice and had a beautiful house in the vineyards. We didn’t end up
going wakeboarding, so we just hung out at his friend’s house for the day. The house was amazing, with a beautiful view of course. He had the most amazing dog, Butch. We hung out at the pool and had a braai, and they provided us with endless amounts of food. Delicious!
The best part of my week is when we went into Cape Town for a reggae concert. It was at the botanical gardens and was an amazing concert. It was outdoors, tucked into the mountains with a view of the city. We walked around these beautiful gardens and had a picnic for dinner. The band was called The Rudimentals, they were sweet (don’t worry dad I got you a CD). The concert was short, maybe and hour and a half but we danced around the whole time. It was very laid back; people were getting on stage and crowd surfing. They have concerts here every Sunday, only 30 rand which is about $4. So we are already planning on going again.
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