South-Africa Exchange 2013: Week #4

This Monday was just another day of experiencing the Herschel school system, and when we got back home we had to get dressed for the House Braai! All the Herschel students are divided into three houses: Rolt, Merriman and Jagger, my house. Between these houses there is a lot of competition; each house even has its own ‘war cries’ in some funky African language. When we arrived at a Jagger girl’s house, we had a lovely evening of chatting and having dinner, seated on the grass. The grade eight’s initiation also took place here, they had to drink some gross, gooey green stuff (Jagger’s colour is green), sing songs, dance, scream out the war cries and jump into the pool with their clothes on. I was glad I didn’t have to participate; it was great fun to watch!

The next day, Mr Osboon (Bishops) took all the Herschel and Bishops exchange students on an outing to Robben Island. We assembled in front of the main Chapel again, but because I was half an hour too early (logistic problems…) Matthew (Emma’s brother) took me for a tour around Bishops. In comparison with Herschel, Bishops is huge! The houses aren’t just a group of students that are competing against each other, but are actually buildings. While we were walking around, more and more boys arrived; all staring at me since a girl at a boy’s school isn’t something they can see everyday. After meeting up with all the others, we were taken to the Waterfront, where we had a nice coffee at Vida (no Frio’s this time!) and bought our tickets for the ferry. Unfortunately, the upper deck of the boat was already full so we had to sit downstairs, inside. After a forty-minute boat ride, we arrived at Robben Island where we were taken on a bus tour around the island. We went past the lime quarry where the prisoners had to work, the Church of the Good Shepherd, the post office and many more historical sites. Next, we were dropped off at the prison where we saw the cell where Nelson_Mandela had spent over 27 years of his life. It was an impressive tour and experience, with one exception: our tour guide, an ex-prisoner himself, had a heavy accent and talked quickly, making it hard to understand.

At 12 o’clock, we got back on the ferry again and headed towards the mainland, approaching the massive Table Mountain. At the Waterfront, we had a great lunch (Mediterranean pesto wrap and lemon breeze smoothie J) and walked and shopped around for another hour. Mr Osboon took us back to Bishops again, and everyone got more and more excited since the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert was planned for that night!

As soon as we parked the car that evening, we walked to the Green Point stadium, where the 2010 Soccer World Cup took place, in the glory days of the Netherlands. Hundreds of people streamed slowly into the stadium; it was getting busier and busier. Luckily, we were able to find our friends in the huge mass of people, and we chatted and laughed until ‘Die Antwoord’ (a South-African band) was opening up for the RHCP. ‘Die Antwoord’ is a very rough and rude band, the lyrics of their songs were almost a hundred per cent swearing in Afrikaans, so the Dutchies could understand every single thing they said. However, their music was quite catchy! At around 9, the actual concert began, and continued until late. The concert was awesome! Feeling exhausted after all the dancing and singing, I fell asleep in the car back home, only to rise again the next morning at 5.45…

Yesterday and today were again ordinary school days, where I had lots of fun again, while we were, and are, all looking forward to the weekend: Tessa’s birthday party! Unfortunately, I have to study now for my tests that the Dutch teachers sent us, tomorrow our first one- how exciting!