Wow! I really am bad at this whole blog writing thing. There is literally no excuse now I have Internet access. I guess I'm just living the experience too much ... or I'm just lazy.
Anyway, first I guess I should briefly talk about my last travels (which was Easter) it feels so long ago. Myself, Linsey, Phil and Lisa hired a car and road tripped to some beautiful places in the eastern cape of South Africa. The famous coffee bay was our first stop, we had a great time surfing and relaxing on the beach (I got horrificly sunburnt). Then on to Wild Lubanzi which is one of the most amazing backpackers in the middle of nowhere. Met up with two fellow PT volunteers who live nearby. We then drove to Chintsa where we stayed on our travels after New Years. It's a lovely place and we got the chance to meet some very beautiful elephants. Our next stop was a place just outside East London (the SA version) the place we stayed was really cool and we could see zebra, wildebeest and antelope from the swimming pool. Hogsback was our last stop where we stayed in two backpackers. Away with the fairies was amazing, we hiked, saw some beautiful waterfalls, went wild swimming, relaxed by the fire, watched the sunrise and had a bath on the edge of the cliff looking out over the hogsback mountains. The second place was very secluded, it was absolutely stunning. Definitely bought out my inner scout. Everything was completely back to basics with no proper toilets and wild showers which also had an amazing view. I could go into more detail about the trip but it was so long ago now and there's so much more to say. But we definitely had the most amazing 10 days traveling around some incredible places and meeting some wonderful people.
Since being back at Bethany we have celebrated Linsey's 20th birthday. Lisa who taught with us in pre-school has moved to a different project in Durban so myself and Linsey now share the teaching of maths. I have taught the children days of the week, months of the year, seasons and types of transport. Olivia has moved to Mthatha (anther fellow project trust volunteer) she is working at another children's home for older kids. We love having her here with us and we're never short of a laugh when she's around!
We've had a few outings with the children to the farm, the nature reserve and the fair. Myself and Linsey have also started taking out a few of the pre-school kids for ice cream. They absolutely love it and so do we.
The two German volunteers organised an Ikhwezi Lokusa festival (that's where I live) it was an opportunity for all of the us to meet our neighbours, the sisters from the convent came and so did the brothers, along with over 40 kids from Bethany and many of the residents from Ikhwezi Lokusa. It was such a lovely day getting to know everyone, we braaied, played games and did face painting for the kids. One of our neighbours invited us to dirt track that he built for his motor bike, we had a lovely day but I proved that saying 'yes' to everything isn't always the best plan. I also proved I'm not very good at riding motor bikes. Luckily I wasn't too badly injured and after a quick visit to the doctor who also sorted out my ear infection I was fine.
Teaching is still great and the children are amazing. Extremely cheeky and at times pretty naughty but amazing none the less. I still teach life skills but as I mentioned before I'm sharing maths with Linsey. We've managed to get pre-school kids to add (only a few but still) we were so proud!! I wouldn't say our Xhosa is fluent yet but we're definitely learning and getting better.
The babies in nursery are as adorable as ever as I'm sure lots of you will have seen in my recent photos. We call it baby therapy as its impossible to leave the room upset because they're just too cute.
A few weeks ago myself Linsey and Olivia completed our Global Citzenship Day which is something we do as part of project trust. We were slightly refrained as the children are 6 at the oldest. We decided on 'World Day Of Cultural Diversity' and it was a huge success. We made lots of different food from around the world which they all enjoyed trying, they coloured in lots of flags and learnt how to say hello in various languages.
Since being back at Bethany we have celebrated Linsey's 20th birthday. Lisa who taught with us in pre-school has moved to a different project in Durban so myself and Linsey now share the teaching of maths. I have taught the children days of the week, months of the year, seasons and types of transport. Olivia has moved to Mthatha (anther fellow project trust volunteer) she is working at another children's home for older kids. We love having her here with us and we're never short of a laugh when she's around!
We've had a few outings with the children to the farm, the nature reserve and the fair. Myself and Linsey have also started taking out a few of the pre-school kids for ice cream. They absolutely love it and so do we.
The two German volunteers organised an Ikhwezi Lokusa festival (that's where I live) it was an opportunity for all of the us to meet our neighbours, the sisters from the convent came and so did the brothers, along with over 40 kids from Bethany and many of the residents from Ikhwezi Lokusa. It was such a lovely day getting to know everyone, we braaied, played games and did face painting for the kids. One of our neighbours invited us to dirt track that he built for his motor bike, we had a lovely day but I proved that saying 'yes' to everything isn't always the best plan. I also proved I'm not very good at riding motor bikes. Luckily I wasn't too badly injured and after a quick visit to the doctor who also sorted out my ear infection I was fine.
Teaching is still great and the children are amazing. Extremely cheeky and at times pretty naughty but amazing none the less. I still teach life skills but as I mentioned before I'm sharing maths with Linsey. We've managed to get pre-school kids to add (only a few but still) we were so proud!! I wouldn't say our Xhosa is fluent yet but we're definitely learning and getting better.
The babies in nursery are as adorable as ever as I'm sure lots of you will have seen in my recent photos. We call it baby therapy as its impossible to leave the room upset because they're just too cute.
A few weeks ago myself Linsey and Olivia completed our Global Citzenship Day which is something we do as part of project trust. We were slightly refrained as the children are 6 at the oldest. We decided on 'World Day Of Cultural Diversity' and it was a huge success. We made lots of different food from around the world which they all enjoyed trying, they coloured in lots of flags and learnt how to say hello in various languages.
Our two friends Sean and George came to stay with us at our project this week. They helped us out in pre-school and loved getting to know the children. It was so nice to see them again and we all had a great week catching up.
I could go on for hours about how brilliant it is here and how happy I am every day but then I'll have nothing to talk about when I'm home. I can't believe it's now less than 2 months till I'm back in the UK. We have less than 4 weeks of teaching left and 3 weeks of holiday. We have a few plans for our last travels but due to lack of visa and lack money we won't be going out of South Africa. No doubt it will still be amazing just like all our other travels so far. I really can't get my head around the fact that I'll be home so soon. As much as I'm looking forward to being back to see all my wonderful friends and family I don't want to begin to think about leaving SA.
As always thank you to everyone who is still reading my blog. I apologise that its so late but better late than never I guess.
As always thank you to everyone who is still reading my blog. I apologise that its so late but better late than never I guess.
