South-Africa Exchange 2013: Week #1

At this very moment, I am writing this in my Math class while others are busy with breaking their heads over difficult quadratic equations. I can hear the sound of birds tweeting and bees buzzing and can feel the heat of the sun through the open window burning on my face, thinking about the great memories of the amazing week that passed so quickly.

I will start my story where I left off, on Thursday. After a lovely day at school, where we did everything except for schoolwork, Di Brooks (my host mom) took me and a few other exchange students to Groot Constantia. Yes, you’re right, that is a Dutch name! In South Africa, you can clearly see what great influence the Dutch East Indian Company had on the cultural, architectural and lingual development of this country. Groot Constantia is a huge vineyard, complete with a Manor house in so-called Dutch-cape style, where you can even find some lovely Delfts Blauw artefacts.

However, our day didn’t end here yet, as we went to an awesome animal-themed birthday party. Tiger and Penguin had loads of fun here; see the picture provided.

Something that we should really consider on installing in our school as well is the fact that you’re off at two o’clock every Friday. Since this gave us a long afternoon, Emma, Di and I went to Bishops, the boys’ school, where we picked up Emma’s brother and made a nice tour around the school. On Friday night we had a lovely pizza-and-chill evening, with almost every exchange student and host, while we made our plans for the rest of the busy weekend.

Oh my word I love weekends! I could finally sleep in for a bit, for we have to wake up every school day at around six in the morning (!). After a delicious breakfast with loads of fresh fruit, Em and I met the other exchange students at the Waterfront. We bought tickets and got onto the hop-on, hop-off bus that took us first to Long Street (which literally is a long street with shops), where we had a refreshing drink since it was already boiling hot outside. When we cooled down a bit, we walked to the Green Market Square and visited a market with all kinds of cool African souvenirs made out of beads, tin cans, recycled plastic and wood- you name it. I bought a few presents for my friends back home, and we continued our tour to Table Mountain, while passing areas with incredible views. However, the most stunning view I have ever seen in my life was the one from the top of Table Mountain, which we escalated with the Cable Car. Decide for yourself whether you agree with me or not (see pictures provided)!

Our day was coming to an end when we went passed Camps Bay, ‘hopped off’ the bus and touched the freezing cold seawater. The beach was so nice though, even in the evening the white sand was burning hot, and the clear blue water came rushing in huge waves onto the shore. When we realised it was getting late, we got on the bus again that took us to Clifton, another bay, where we had drinks in a place called ‘The Bungalow’. This fabulous day ended late in the evening, when we got home and immediately went to sleep.

On Sunday, we slept in again and went to the coolest restaurant you could ever imagine. It’s called Moyo and basically is a restaurant made in the trees. If you would like to enjoy ‘the real African experience’, you can get your face painted, which Emma and I obviously did. The lunch was an all-you-can-eat buffet, and because I can never control myself with those types of buffets, I felt like I could explode after lunch. To get a better idea of how this amazing place looked, you can take a look at the pictures.

Our day continued with an absolutely spectacular bird show. As you can see in the pictures, you could touch and hold fluffy owls, heavy predators and see some exclusive foreign birds. On our way there, in the countryside, we passed large areas with thousands of shacks. This was the first time in my life I ever saw those in reality, and I must say that this really made an impression on me. On Sunday night we had a braai again, prepared for the coming school week and went to bed.

Yesterday started off with the inauguration of the new head master, Mr Stuart West. The whole school assembled in the school theatre, where we had hymnal practice and got the instructions for the rest of the day.

Hymnal practice is, as the words say, practising church songs with the whole school. I was really impressed by the discipline of the students as everyone rose, sat down, and sung as one man.

Grade by grade, everyone stood up and left to go to Saint Saviours church, where the inauguration took place. The service was so long though, more than 1 ½ hours! Since everyone is crammed up in a small church, in the heat, some girls actually fainted and had to be carried out…(everyone is still alive though ;) )

The rest of the day was just like every other school day, and when I finished school I went to Cavendish again for a yummy chocolate ‘Frio’ (kind of a milkshake, but then better).

Today, Tuesday, we got some information about the coming outing; the exchange students (from Chile, Columbia, Brazil and Argentina if I haven’t told you already) will be away the whole of this Friday for we are going to Elandspad River (yes, another Dutch word but you have to pronounce this like Yeellandspath River…). I’m very excited about what the rest of the week will hold, and I will keep you informed!