Rocket Maaaaaan!

A slightly earlier blog than usual and possibly slightly more rushed than usual as this evening I set out on what might just prove to be the adventure of a lifetime. At 5pm this evening Sebastian the Swede, Henning the German and Veronica the Mexican/American are heading off on a road trip that will take us 12 days, will encompass 5 countries and will take us to the legendary Victoria Falls! So you’ll excuse me if this blog lacks any because I still have quite a bit to do including changing money, picking up a car, buying spare batteries and a spare memory card for my camera, which is bound to see a lot of action over the next two weeks or so.

Focussing on the week which has been though, rather than the week to come, I’ve had a very enjoyable week spent in Port Elizabeth. It has been a weekend though that has already seen some things come to an end. Over the last week I have had my final classes in ‘Inclusive Education’ and in ‘Educational Thought’. Although I had covered aspects of these modules at home I feel that I have also learned a great deal and gained a far greater perspective of the subjects from studying in South Africa. If nothing else I have gained professional insight from fellow trainee teachers in another country and it has been fascinating to hear the views of my classmate in regard to different educational issues. I think we definitely have different ways of thinking and differing teaching philosophies in some respects but in others we are completely united in our realisation that our children are our future and that we are charged with a responsibility to provide them with an education which will stand them in good stead to be leaders in that future.

Friday night saw the visit of a rather famous person to Port Elizabeth. Elton John was in town as part of his ‘Under African Skies’ tour and he didn’t fail to disappoint. The weather threatened to put a dampener on the event and there was even speculation in the days before the show that it would have to be cancelled due to the thunder and lightning storms putting the audiences safety at risk. And true to the forecast, the storms began to hit Nelson Mandela Bay a couple of hours before the show and they hit hard. Lightning lit up the sky all around and the thunder roared angrily and then the rain…we were walking to the concert from the car when the rain started to lash down creating instant lakes in the road, much to our enjoyment as we splashed about in our bare feet, not even caring that we were getting soaked. Once inside the concert venue, which was actually on a campus sports field we made our way to the front of the crowd so that we were right on the front barrier in the very middle of the stage…excellent standing point. The rain let up at certain points throughout but the heavens also opened up at other points so there is a lack of photos for you to enjoy but it is safe to say that Elton and Ray Cooper, his percussionist, put on a fantastic show. Hits such as ‘Your Song’, ‘Candle in the Wind’ and ‘Crocodile Rock’ wowed the crowd and I was ecstatic when he played my favourite, the lesser known ‘Indian Sunset’. The show finished, almost inevitably, with ‘The Circle of Life’. So the African skies may have been dark and stormy but the mood of people afterwards was certainly the opposite.

My personal highlight of the week came on Sunday night when our Bible study group met on a moonlit King’s Beach to read the Easter story from the four gospels together, to pray together, listen to music and to share communion together. Hearing the story read by people with different accents, different colours of skin and from different places across the world brought home to me how universal God’s love is. When we broke bread and drank wine we weren’t bound by any religious rules but rather were united and freed by what Jesus has left for us, the Holy Spirit. Jesus died for everybody regardless of race, ethnicity, language, gender and we all were so undeserving of that perfect sacrifice, a sacrifice which wipes clean the slate of sin for every person who believes in it. And to rise again from the grave shows us that we have a God who is alive and reminds us that those who believe will also have life for eternity with their Saviour and Lord. I love Easter and although it wasn’t the Dawn Service at the Argory this was certainly an Easter celebration which I will cherish for the rest of my life. Afterward we came back to my flat and ate together and had fellowship together and I am so thankful that God has blessed me with Christian friends while I’ve been out here. A Sunday night spread in South Africa certainly reminded me of all my friends at home and how important fellowship is to Christian living.

This week I also played South African monopoly (and lost) and also swam a lot in the sea to cool down form the still exceptionally hot weather that we get here during the day. I hear things aren’t so hot at home right now and that you’ve been hit with a fresh round of snow and that people are actually starting to get annoyed with snow! Don’t get annoyed with snow, it’s beautiful! So as I said at the start, this probably wasn’t going to be my finest entry and so it has proven but rest assured that when I return to write in a couple of weeks time it will be full with adventures, stories and mishaps just like every other trip I’ve taken so far. Victoria Falls here I come….

Peace

God Bless

“Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Joshua 1:9

Ain't No Mountain High Enough

Well I hope that you’ll all be glad to hear that I’ve sort of recovered from my bout of the cold and am back on two feet again and continuing with the incredible adventure that is South Africa 2010!

Last Wednesday after blogging I made a bit of a snap decision to join a group of fellow international students on their trip to Lesotho, the country within a country. I needed to get out of PE for the weekend and this trip offered me the perfect opportunity to do so but little did I know that it was going to be so incredible! So with no class on Friday and a public holiday on the Monday we began our venture to a new country on the Thursday afternoon. Our original plan was to make it to Maseru, the capital of Lesotho, by the end of the day, but we soon realised that that wasn’t going to be possible and so we booked a place to camp at a hostel in Bloemfontein. It was an 8-hour drive from PE to Bloem and we were all very tired by the time we made it. Our group comprised of American, Swedes, a Norwegian, a German and of course an Irish/British (delete according to your political preference) man.

We left very early the next morning in order to maximise our time within Lesotho and within two hours we had reached the border crossing at Maseru, which is where things began to get interesting. We actually managed to drive our car into Lesotho without getting checked once or getting a single stamp on our passport, either out of SA or into Lesotho. Only when we were in the country we realised this and so parked up the car, walked out of the country and walked back in again to get a stamp on our passport. I actually officially never left SA all weekend as I never got stamped out of or back into the country, however I did officially enter and leave Lesotho, which I am sire is going to look rather interesting to some customs officer somewhere down the line. In other words I think it’s going to come back to kick me in the teeth but hey, T.I.A (This is Africa). I’ll claim that this made me an illegal immigrant for a weekend because that sounds like a really cool thing to say. Border control in general was pretty lax. When we were leaving Lesotho the guy asked to see our passports, literally just see them, he didn’t even open them to see if they were ours. As well as that we also managed to send one of the girls in with all our passports to get them stamped out which I can’t imagine happening anywhere else in the world with a passport-controlled border!

Anyway, back to the journey to the centre of the earth, or at least Lesotho. A few interesting facts about this mountainous kingdom-

1. Lesotho is the southernmost land locked country in the world
2. I think, besides the Vatican City, it is the only other country to be entirely within a country (any alternative suggestions welcome
3. Lesotho holds only one of two ski resorts in southern Africa
4. And finally, and this will have you confused, the lowest point in Lesotho (in terms of altitude) is the highest lowest point of any country in the world.

My preconceptions prior to the trip were that Lesotho would be a seriously under developed country with really poor roads and extremely indigenous people. Driving through Maseru I very quickly realised that I was slightly off the mark. Yes the countryside areas are pretty underdeveloped but the capital is certainly far from underdeveloped. New buildings and roads made this ‘small town’ look a lot more attractive to the state that PE is currently in. We were only 5 minutes into Maseru when we had our first encounter with the Lesothan police. Both our cars made illegal U-turns when parking in the street but it was the girl’s car which got pulled up for it by the cops, although thankfully with a bit of fluttering of the eyelashes and puppy dog eyes, they got their fine reduced to a warning. After a quick stock up on instant noodles we legally moved our cars and set of on the road to nowhere. I say the road to nowhere because we actually had no plan as to what we were going to do in Lesotho, so we just drove.

After about a 2-hour drive east we cut south and into the Central Highlands. This was everything I had expected from Lesotho and much, much more. Now I’ve had the privilege of driving through the Alps as a passenger and to a lesser extent the Mournes as a driver but to actually drive on mountain passes, as a driver, is I think the most incredible and exhilarating driving experience I have ever had. The road twisted upward and upward and upward on very steep climbs and very tight corners and the scenery was just spectacular, absolutely spectacular. As well, unlike in developed countries, I had to negotiate rocks, sometimes boulders, which had fallen on the road, herds of sheep, donkeys carrying goods and of course people just wandering about. About half way up the first pass we stopped for around ten minutes to admire the scenery and we were instantly surrounded by kids coming from all over. I don’t know where they came from but they were soon enjoying having their pictures taken and laughing at themselves in their photos. As we took off they chased after us but even though the car struggled up the steep climb they couldn’t quite keep up. The view from the top was sensational as was the decent on the other side. I think going down was harder than going up as we had to keep a check on our speed and breaks which were seriously smoking by the time we got to the bottom.

We continued through several other mountain passes until we came to a spot where the tarred road turned into gravel, putting an end to our ambitions to reach a campsite we had intended on getting to. We were stuck in the middle of Lesotho, with night falling and nowhere to stay. It was going to take too long to go back the way we came and we couldn’t risk our 2-wheel drive on a dirt road. Thankfully, we discovered that we were actually only a 5-minute drive from Katse village where there was a lodge that we could stay the night. We took in a beautiful sunset over the reservoir and headed for an early night after trying to make plans for the next day.

However, the next day whatever plans were made the night before soon disappeared. The group split up with one car heading to a National Park, and the other, which included myself, staying behind to explore Katse. Our first mission was to try and find fuel for the car which was starting to run low. On the advice of some locals we headed into the local village which is built on a steep hillside with no roads, just dirt, potholes and a lot of deep trenches. To add to the treacherous terrain, I drove up into the village the wrong way, instead of taking the tarred slip road I managed to take the ‘road’ with two large trenches up the middle of it and a lot of loose stones. Nevertheless, I triumphed over my foe and kept heading up the mountain side through the town to find the fuel which we were told continuously was just around the corner. After about the third or fourth corner we though enough was enough, performed a pretty dicey 10-point turn and came back down with nothing to show put a dusty car!

 We spent the rest of the morning taking a tour of Katse Dam, Africa’s 2^nd highest after the Aswan Dam in Egypt. The water held by the dam is used to generate electricity for Lesotho and to supply water to all of Johannesburg, Pretoria and the surrounding areas. Completed in 1997, the dam wall stands at 165m and is an extremely impressive sight, with the reservoir behind stretching for 54km through mountain valleys, which puts Spelga slightly to shame. After our tour inside an along the top we returned to the lodge for lunch when the rain started, and it didn’t rain but it poured and poured and poured. The lightning and the thunder in the mountains added to the spectacle as the entire landscape lit up with sound and light, God’s creation at it’s absolute finest! Whilst waiting for the rains to subside we decided in our wisdom to engage in a game of Uno which as I’m sure those who have played the game know has several different interpretations of the rules and those who played in the dressing room during panto will know that I like to stick very stringently to my interpretation of the rules, so needless to say a few of us got needlessly stressed! Thankfully the storm broke outside before it started inside and we headed out to meet our guide for our pony trek.

At least I thought it was going to be a pony trek. It turned out we were going on full on horses, something which I hadn’t been on since I was about 10 for 5 hair-raising minutes in my lane at home! To make matters worse my horse seemed to have a mind of its own and nothing I could do would persuade it otherwise! I mean how do you tell a Lesothan horse to stop or to turn? It doesn’t know English! Neither did our guide for that matter which led to some very interesting conversation which I think involved a man with 6 wives coming over the mountain to settle in the area in the 40’s and a helicopter crashing into the reservoir in 2000, but you’re guess is as good as mine. Although I was always slightly on edge on my horse it was a fantastic way to see the landscape and an experience which I thoroughly enjoyed, even if I’m not in a rush to do it again!

We spent that night camping on an outcrop overlooking the dam, which was opened to release water, as were the heavens! A very wet night pursued and my poor little tent was unable to hold off the rain, leaving me having to sleep in a rather uncomfortable position to avoid lying in puddles. So after a pretty rough night, we woke up packed up and headed back the way we had came with very littler fuel and a lot of mountain passes to travail. The first petrol station we came to didn’t serve unleaded petrol. The second petrol station did server unleaded petrol, but they were all out. At this point we were freewheeling down the mountain sides in order to save fuel in a tank which had very little left. Knowing the next town was only about half an hour away we pressed on, Kate and myself deep in prayer! When we arrived in Lerebi the first station told us they were out and to try the next one. The next one’s power was out and so they weren’t pumping and we were thinking we were going to have to push the car home. Thankfully the last station before leaving the town had unleaded fuel and filled our tank for only R180, approximately £15…a double blessing from God!

From Lerebi we travelled to meet up with the rest of our group in the National Park which was situated about 30km off the main road. Again, in our attempts to find our companions we were left driving on a ridiculous ‘road’ which probably wasn’t suitable for our car but we pressed on nonetheless! Eventually we found them and after having lunch we headed off on a short hike into the forest where we found a small rock pool and waterfall in which I was able to wash for the first time since we left and boy did it feel good! After swimming, splashing and jumping we headed back to the car and made haste to Bloemfontein where we would stay the night before heading home again. The drive home from Bloem was very enjoyable as the roads are so straight across the flat expanses of the Free State and and the northern parts of the Eastern Cape. I really enjoyed driving on this trip as it was a completely different experience to anything at home. Anyone who has been to Kenya will know about crazy overtaking manoeuvres which actually don’t seem so crazy anymore. Drivers here seem to be more alert of each other than they are at home and I think the dangerous conditions actually make driving safer…if that’s actually possible!

 

So back In PE again where I’ve had my first experiences of things coming to an end already even though we’re only in March. Yesterday I had my last day of observation in Khwezi Lomso before beginning my teaching practise after Easter. I’m going to be teaching on religions within South Africa which will be exciting if not challenging. It will be interesting for me to learn about other religions but it’s also going to be challenging for me to teach something which I know isn’t true. How will I teach this subject in an unbiased way, or should I even teach it in an unbiased way? Should I make the children aware of my faith and spend more time focusing on Christianity or do I stick to a curriculum which encourages equality? A question which is just as applicable back home as it is here, with the introduction of PDMU and one which I battled with last year on placement, coming to the conclusion that it was absolutely OK to allow the children an insight into my faith but will I find the same here completely out of my comfort zone? It will be interesting and I’d appreciate your prayers on the matter!

Also, today I had my last class in my Inclusive Education module for the second time this year! This class has taught me a lot and actually turned out to be quite different from the module at Stranmillis. This module focussed more on strategies to deal with inclusive education, whereas at home the module was focused on identifying special needs such as autism, dyslexia and Down’s syndrome, and working with children with Special Educational Needs. I have learnt a lot through this module, particularly in regard to Universal Design for Learning which focuses on making every lesson accessible and applicable to every child and Functional Behavioural Assessments which set out stages in positively enforcing correct behaviour and setting right behavioural problems of children. These are good strategies and I hope to adopt at least some of the ideals and principles into my own teaching. My only concern with theses ideas is that they are taken as being good practise because they are used in American schools and I think everything has to be looked at in its own individual situation. Just because something works in America does not mean that it will work in South Africa or in Northern Ireland and so I have learnt to critically reflect on any information that is presented to me.

So, a much more eventful week than last, made possible mainly due to the fact that Monday was a public holiday for Human Rights Day, thus creating a long weekend. I’ll leave you this week with a link to some information on the reason that South Africa has a Human Rights Day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharpeville_massacre Certainly a sad tale and one which thankfully should never be repeated in this country. How things like that can be allowed to happen never ceases to amaze me, even though we know all to well in Northern Ireland that things like this do happen in the world. On a brighter note, it’s almost Easter, the most glorious time of the year, a time for reflection and for celebration as we recognise that even amongst all this darkness, we have a God of light, a God of love and a God who lives!

Peace

God Bless

“Christ died for us so that, whether we are dead or alive when He returns, we can live with Him forever.”

1 Thessalonians 5:10

Reach for the Stars

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I woke up this morning and I could have sworn I was back in Ireland. I looked out my window and it was cold, damp and miserable. With the sea in the background I thought I might have been in a caravan at Cranfield. Thankfully the day has warmed up a little but there is a definite change in seasons approaching. Whereas you guys at home are maybe experiencing some ‘nicer’ weather as summer approaches, I’ve found myself wearing my sweats in the evenings as the southern hemisphere winter approaches. Still, I don’t think it’s going to be much of a winter! One of the unfortunate side effects of this changing of season is that I have been struck down with a heavy cold for most of the last week so I apologise in advance if there’s not much of note within this entry. I’m on the verge of full recovery now though and just about ready to be let loose on South Africa again!

I’ll begin with my trip to Cape Recife High School last Friday as part of our alternative placement. The school, situated right beside the university, serves children in the entire Eastern Cape who suffer from cerebral palsy or specific learning difficulties. The students at this school are taught from the national curriculum and are given the opportunity to ‘matriculate’, that is to finish school, with the same qualifications as any mainstream child. My first impression of the school was that it was like a giant labyrinth as the corridors seemed to go on and on and on. I later found out that the corridors in the school stretched to 2.6km in total and were all on the one level to accommodate wheelchair usage. I guess that’s one way of making a place disability accessible. I observed a Biology, or Life Sciences, lesson where the children had to provide their own resources for the experiments and talk through every stage of the experiment so as to affirm understanding of the task. I have to say at this stage that I’m really missing teaching Primary School kids. I thought I would easily be able to interact with older kids but I genuinely am finding it something of a barrier. I’ve also found it difficult thinking of activities for secondary children which are exciting but not patronising as I am so used to using activities which are based at children of primary school age. Primary teaching is definitely more fun but I am prepared to work at improving my skills in working with older children and will hope to become more comfortable with teaching them as I progress through my teaching practise after Easter break.

Back to Cape Recife though, which really was the only thing of note to happen in my week! After break we were taken on a tour around the school by one of the teachers and a pupil. The school has facilities for physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech and language therapy. Although the facilities perhaps don’t look top of the range the staff who were using them seemed to be really passionate about improving the quality of the children’s lives and this was an attitude shared through the teachers in the school who seem to have a genuine passion for their kids. One teacher told us of how she takes one of the boarding kids to our house on some weekends and looks after him, which shows that a teacher’s job stretches way beyond the classroom. I would hope to develop this passion for the children I teach, not only at the beginning of my career but throughout it and until the day I retire. The school also houses a very large swimming pool and a hydrotherapy pool to aid the process of physiotherapy. I was touched by my short time at this school by the desire of the children to succeed, by the passion of the teachers to help their children and even more so by the stories of the children. One boy was placed in a wheelchair at the age of 5 after being struck by a car. He has prevailed against his perceived disability though and is about to matriculate and has gained provincial colours in tennis…a true inspiration in fighting against the odds. I noticed in a school publication that some of the children took inspiration from Natalie du Toit, the South African swimmer who lost her leg in a motorcycling accident in 2001. Not to be out done, Natalie went on to compete not only in the Paralympics but also in the Olympics without the use of a prosthetic leg. Du Toit quotes the following:

‘The tragedy of life does not lie in not reaching your goals;
The tragedy of life lies in not having goals to reach for.
It is not a disgrace not to reach for the stars,
But it is a disgrace not to have stars to reach for.’

The children in Cape Recife refuse to lie down and be branded as failures or as having no hope. They will set goals for themselves and they will work hard with their teachers to achieve those goals and more often than not they will achieve them because of their determination!

In terms of anything else happening in the last 7 days I honestly can’t think of much else that was of note beside my sickness. The Warriors won the Pro20 Cup on Friday night so the city went into jubilation but unfortunately due to the lack of tickets I had to watch from my sofa! I’ve also been selected to play for the NMMU ‘Bangers’ Hockey side which I’m not exactly sure entails. The word ‘Bangers’ doesn’t perhaps auger well but I’m looking forward to playing competitive hockey again no matter what the standard.

That’s about it for action in my life but I have used my time off to read some things and to educate myself. I never realised that wikipedia was such an amazing thing! It has so many interesting articles for reading, and although it may not all be 100% factual, it certainly offers an education. For example, I learnt about this week about who St. Patrick actually was. If anyone hasn’t read his ‘confession’ I suggest they do so because it gives an incredible insight into the man who is indeed our patron saint. (http://www.cin.org/patrick.html). I’ve also learnt a bit more about Unionism in Ireland in preparation for one of my assignments and about Victoria Falls where I hope to visit over Easter break. It’s actually really fun to learn new things and things which aren’t directly related to my prescribed course of study.

So, who would have thought that exactly a year on from my getting swept out to sea at the White Rocks in Portrush that I would be sitting at the other side of the world writing to you on the day when the rest of the world celebrates ‘Irish’ culture. It should be a fun night…I hope I can show them that not all Irish are alcoholics!

Catch A Wave

It’s incredible to think that we’re almost halfway through March already! Time really does fly when you’re having fun, and it seems like it will be no time until we will all be leaving PE to return to our respective homes! There’s still a lot of banter and adventures to be had between now and then though. The week that just passed was more relaxed and chilled than previous weeks which was nice as it’s given me a chance to recover some energy!

After writing my blog last week I decided to do something really Irish and make some potato bread. I’d never actually heard of anyone making their own potato bread before, I mean we just go out and buy it in Tesco’s right. Amazingly it wasn’t that difficult to make, just add a bit of flour to mashed potatoes and cook it on the pan…simple! I have to admit it wasn’t the greatest potato bread I’ve ever had but to those who had never experienced the culinary delights of Irwin’s and Ormo it seemed to pass. We even had a Costa Rican being introduced to the wonders of tatey bread! The main motive behind making it though was for our class culture day last Thursday! After finishing our lectures everyone provided some food from their own culture, so we had food from the Afrikaners, the Xhosa and the Irish…even Jason our American student brought in a bag of Doritos! It was fantastic to sample a bit of all the foods with the Afrikaans food tending to be a little bit sweeter, aside from the Springbok sausage, and the Xhosa food being more savoury, including chicken feet…yummy! Our lecturer, Mr McFarland, also came in attired in his family tartan, complete with kilt, and played some pipe music which I thoroughly enjoyed listening to! Some of the Xhosa students also showed some of their traditional songs and dances which were really fun to watch. It was great to see our class coming together so strongly.

Over the last week I’ve also used my time to pick up the level of activity in the sporting arena! I’ve started playing squash with the Swedish guys which has taken me back to my first year in Stran when we used to play quite regularly at the PEC before they inflated their prices. I had forgotten how sweaty one gets during a game of squash! (Note to self: play more squash next year when I get home). Hockey trials have also began this week and I’ve already completed one of the three sessions with the remaining two coming on Thursday and Saturday. I really just enjoy playing again and playing in goal which I’ve missed over the last couple of years. Trials simply consist of playing a couple of games which is a lot of fun due to the standard of the players I’m playing with. I’ve been informed that a few of them our SA U21’s and a lot of them are more than capable of pulling off the Shinty4Fun tricks which are available to watch on youtube @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAzbXbPyQog This is an example of how hockey IS the greatest sport in the world!

My third and fourth sporting activities to be stepped up this week are body boarding and skim boarding. OK so the skim boarding is not coming on so well but then it never does, even when I do it at home. It usually ends up with limbs in places where they’re not meant to be and pointing in directions they shouldn’t! The body boarding however is much more fun. On Monday afternoon I ventured downtown to find a bodyboard and managed to pick one up in a second hand store for R70, about 6 quid, which is a great deal considering that I’ll be selling it back to them when I’m finished! (The other incredible thing about my trip into town was that I saw a guy walking around in a Belfast Giants top…small world!). So the last couple of days have been spent in the water with Marco my fellow German body boarder. Last night in particular was so much fun as we took the boards out at sunset in some simply beautiful waves, although the water temperature was more like Portrush than Port Elizabeth! I think the wind has brought in the Atlantic Ocean and pushed out the Indian Ocean, at least that’s the only logical reason I can think of!

The wind and heat yesterday were incredible! School had to be let out early because it was too hot for the teachers to teach effectively and for the learners to learn effectively. Apparently the temperature had reached around 38C by lunch time and the strong Westerly wind meant that dust was flying around everywhere! I had just started to take my third class of the day when the bell (or air raid siren as it sounds more like) went to signal that school was out! As I walked out of school to get my comby into town I could barely move forward as the wind was blowing straight at me and firing dust, grit and sand at me like tiny pellets. I even found myself walking backwards at stages to try and move forward!

The weekend was very relaxed as I spent a lot of time just hanging out with people and, of course, braaing! We had a braai on Friday night at the Bantry and again on Saturday afternoon at Adrian’s house for his birthday! Adrian is a guy in my class who is also my hockey coach and who brings me to church as well as bringing me to class every morning which is much appreciated…this one’s for you bud! On Friday night we went to an International party which was great because it meant that I got to catch up with and meet a lot of people who I hadn’t seen in a while after we all went our own ways after the initial orientation week. The bar was situated in a really nice place by the beach, slightly out of town, but it was also ever so slightly congested as a lot of international students converged in the one place to begin their weekend ‘festivities’. My lack of drinking has also made me something of a self appointed designated driver which was really fun on Sunday night as I got to drive the Swede’s pick up truck with about 10 people in the back which was interesting…especially given that the majority of them were drunk!

The workload at varsity has been picking up a little bit as well as assignment due dates seem to be mounting up. We handed in a group assignment last Friday, have one due for this Friday, an individual assignment for Monday and I’ve just this morning completed an online test. It sounds like a lot of work but for some reason it doesn’t really feel like it, maybe it’s simply because of the surroundings that I’m in! As teaching practise begins back home I’ve been hearing talk of lesson plans and schemes of work, but take heart that you don’t have to write out lesson plans in the way which they do here! We were given a template lesson plan which was 3 pages long!!! Mine at home just about stretch to one page if it’s a particularly detailed lesson. It will be interesting to see how I find the workload come teaching practise after Easter, and whether I will be able to adapt to the lesson plans here or simply stick to my own design. I’m all for being flexible to other ways of thinking but when it involves doing extra work I’m not so sure how I feel! I’m going to visit a school for cerebral palsy kids on Friday which should be really interesting as I’ve never experienced a school which is solely specialised in SEN, so I look forward to reporting back on that and the experiences which I gain from it.

I don’t like to finish on a sad not but unfortunately this week I have to…the tickets to the T20 final on Friday night are sold out and I’m absolutely gutted! If anyone knows of any available tickets please let me know…….

Peace

God Bless

“God is our refuge and strength,

always ready to help in times of trouble”

Psalm 46:1

PS My room mate moved out this week so I have free room if anyone wants to come out to visit…

Free Falling

Week 6! Wow! Seems like a long time in the grand scheme of things and certainly a lot has happened in those 6 weeks with week 6 perhaps being the most eventful to date…

Thursday brought about some rain, and boy did it rain! Three times I got soaked on Thursday. Apparently it doesn’t rain but it pours! On the way home from a grocery shop at the Spar the heavens opened on us and within a matter of seconds the water was running off us, but this wasn’t like the rain at home, it was actually enjoyable! WE couldn’t walk in our flip flops because they got too slippery so we splashed barefooted through the puddles all the way back to the Bantry. It happened on a further two occasions during the course of the day but I was so thankful for the rain. The people here need it so badly and although I’m not sure what affect one days worth of proper rain will have, I know that it must have had some sort of positive impact on the city.

Needless to say it hasn’t rained again since but the hot and dry weather also has it’s benefits. I’ve been to the beach to play volleyball, remembering very carefully all the techniques which Madeline taught us last year in PE and then very quickly forgetting them as I got caught up in the action, preferring to kick or head the ball rather than use my hands! It’s strange to think that six weeks ago I could not have imagined myself playing volleyball on a beach with Americans, Swedes and Germans and yet there I was. That’s one of the things that I’ve really enjoyed about the whole international experience so far, getting to meet new people from all over the world and everybody being so open to hanging out and doing things together!

Friday night saw me return to St. Georges Park…yes I’ve caught cricket fever, although as anyone at home will tell you I think I already had it! To use the lyrics from the song, ‘I don’t like cricket…I love it!!!’ Friday was the first of a three legged semi final between the Warriors and the Cobras and the home side yet again emerged victorious! We spent the first innings in Castle Corner which was fun because they played rock music and it just felt like a party but the real excitement came when Sebastian, the Swede, and I moved round to the St. Georges Park Band for the second innings! The atmosphere more resembled that of a football match rather than a game of cricket. We bounced, danced and sang (although not always knowing what we were singing) right up to the last ball when the Warriors secured their victory. ‘Bye bye Cobras’ was the refrain that went up around the ground as a wave of euphoria swept across the stands when the Cobras failed to score a boundary off the final ball! I also came across a guy on Friday night who could change his accent from South African to Irish without even thinking about it, which was very funny and I broke my trying not to eat McDonalds promise to myself…but it was nice to eat it while lying on the bonnet of a car at midnight!!! Little did I know then what was to await me the following morning…

The drive to Bloukhran’s Bridge was beautiful. No Mystery Machine this time, just an old Golf, but the scenery on either side of the road was breathtaking! Bloukhran’s is the world’s highest bungee jump with a free fall of 216 metres! (http://www.faceadrenalin.com/) Watching the guys going before us I didn’t feel to anxious and with a Red Bull in me I thought I would be able to do it no sweat! How misguided was I? The whole experience started by having to walking out along a suspended gangway to the middle of the bridge! Now, anyone who has been with me on Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge will be able to testify to the fact that I don’t like heights and that I don’t like walking over heights on a bridge that has movement on it! I don’t know what height the rope bridge is but I know that this was about a million times higher so I was absolutely petrified. I would love to have a commentary of some of the things I was saying as I was walking out as I’m sure they were absolutely priceless, I think I definitely cried out for my Mummy at one stage! I eventually made it to the middle where the pumping big tunes made it easier for me to take my mind off the jump until my number was called. Well, I have never been so scared in my entire life, not while I was drowning in Castlewellan, getting swept out at White Rocks or even teaching in front of a class of P2’s! The video, which I hope to upload to Facebook soon, is hilarious to say the least. I told the guys I wasn’t going to do it but when they counted down 5,4,3,2,1,Bungee, I, for some reason unbeknown to me, decide to fling myself off the bridge. The river and forest below me was hurtling towards me but I all I can really remember doing was screaming! When suspended at 216m below the bridge and probably a lot further from the ground I realised the magnitude of what I had just done and I think if the blood hadn’t have been rushing to my head I would probably have completely panicked! When winched back up to the safety of the bridge I was super pumped and the adrenaline was rushing through me, although when one guy asked me if I would do it again soon, I told him not any time in the foreseeable future!

 

That could have been the end to a great day but in all honesty the day was only starting. One of the guys who we were with suggested that we go for a hike in Nature’s Valley, located in Tsitsikamma National Park (http://www.natures-valley.com/). I have never seen anywhere on the earth as beautiful as this place. It was simple perfect. To describe it in words would do it a great justice which is why I have pictures here and many more on Facebook. The powerful waves of the ocean crashed onto a beautiful white beach, which backed onto a perfectly still lake which was surrounded by mountains on all sides. Our hike took us across the beach, through the river and some undergrowth and out onto a headland which overlooked the entire scene. On our way we climbed down some vines into a little cove where we were told we would find sharks. After plucking up the courage to walk along a rock face I wasn’t disappointed to look down into the water and see in the water below me 20-30 sharks swimming. Maybe when you go on a hike you might see a rabbit or a squirrel but sharks, now that was a first. On our return the sun was starting to set over the beach creating an array of magnificent colours in the sky and at the same time the moon was rising over the mountains. It was simply outstanding!

Did the day end there though? Not at all! After eating we travelled to our hostel which was situated in Storms River (http://www.dijembebackpackers.com/). On our arrival we were shown our room which housed triple decker bunk beds! When we came back down there was an African drummer playing in the living area and within about 10 seconds of me entering the room he had me in the middle of the floor telling me to shake it but not break it! So I found myself dancing around the room in front of a bunch of complete strangers, sounds like a night in the Union! After about an hour and a half of playing he invited us to go to a local tavern with him where he would continue to play. The day was going good so we decided to go with him and he, along with the hostel owners, brought us to a pub in the middle of the local township. Everything the visitors guides tell you not to do but it was so much fun actually getting to hang out and dance with local people. After are little excursion we were all exhausted an it wasn’t long before we were back in our beds!

The next day was a little bit of déjà vu as we returned to J-Bay and the waterfall, the infamous scene of the rolling van! Thankfully no rolling Golf’s on this occasion! The rest of my week has mainly been spent trying to catch up on some rest after such an eventful weekend and so after classes I’ve just been spending a lot of time chilling which is nice and finally getting some photos uploaded to Facebook so if you haven’t checked them out yet go and do that!

Class work is starting to get a little bit more intense. I have group assignments due for this Friday and next Friday, an online test at the start of next week and an individual assignment for the Monday after that. I think I’m going to learn the valuable skill of time management over the next few weeks as I try to balance all the different aspects of My South African Adventure! I’ve been learning about inclusion and inclusive practices in one of my modules and it’s interesting to see how this differs in South Africa as to Northern Ireland where I studied inclusive education last semester. I may be wrong but I don’t think that South Africans are perhaps as used to seeing children with special educational needs within their schools and so they place a lot of emphasis on the teaching Universal Design for Learning which sees that every school and every lesson is suitable for every kids needs. In Northern Ireland, I think we simply try to adapt our lessons using differentiation to include pupils and in many cases people are opposed to the idea of inclusion. I’m still not sure where I stand on the idea of inclusive education. Last semester I found myself feeling that children should be educated in a place which was best suited to their needs and so that would mean not trying to put every kid into mainstream education. Now I think I should open my mind a bit more to the idea that perhaps all children can be educated in the one place and at the one time although I still feel that it is not a good idea to force everyone together. It’s a complicated issue and one that I’m sure I will always have changing ideas on but then being flexible and adaptable is all part of being a good teacher and so if I learn to appreciate differing ideas this will only be a good thing.

Yesterday saw the start of the 100 day countdown to the World Cup. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts I did not manage to get my flights changed and so I will be home on the 1^st June as planned to watch from my living room! A lot of media attention has surrounded the issue of is South Africa ready for the World Cup, and so I thought I would add my own ideas on the matter as an outsider within South Africa. My head tells me that Port Elizabeth, at least, is going to experience some problems come World Cup time. Construction work continues as I speak and the roads around the stadium are currently being torn up and re-laid. They look a long way off being completed from what I could see although only time will tell and I hope the organisers prove me wrong. The water shortage in this area could also prove to be a problem as could the public transport system. The bus system seems to be unreliable but again this is something which can be remedied in time and I hope it is. The South Africans themselves don’t seem overly excited about the whole thing. I guess there town is going to be turned upside down for a whole month and they are wondering what is going to be left after it? None of the local sports teams are going to be able to fill the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium and so what legacy will it actually leave? Again, only time will tell. I think the outside world has to realise that it is going to be a ‘different’ World Cup and that they should embrace the African culture and way of life instead of trying to point out all the negatives, which I guess is what I have just done! When I asked one local if he thought they would be ready he simply said, ‘We have to be. There is no other option.’ That is why my heart tells me that it will be a success and that it will be a vibrant and colourful event because the South Africans will want to showcase to the world that they are capable and that they are ready. I know come the 11^th June I’ll be sitting in Mullavilly with my South African jersey on cheering not only the Bafana Bafana, but the nation as a whole, a nation which in six short weeks has captured my heart.

Peace

God Bless

“For I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength” Philippians 4:13