Saturday, May 12, 2012

March to April Pictures Part 2

Wrinkled Wanderers (WW) from Sabie

WW's favorite waterfalls


Potholes Falls near Blyde Canyon

near Blyde Canyon

Elephants in Kruger

Water buffaloes in Kruger

Baobob tree in Kruger

Wandering giraffe in Kruger


Warthog


Landscape near Kruger


Free State

At our Clarens B&B

Maluti Mountains from Clarens

Golden Gate hike


At the top of the Woodehouse Trail, Glen Reedan Rest Camp, Golden Gate Park


View from Woodenhouse Trail

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Friday, May 11, 2012

Blog Post #6 on May 12, 2012


March and April 2012, “And now a few words from Garideth”




After two months we figured it was time to update the blog.  Also we had taken a couple of trips that we wanted to write about.

The South Africa school year begins in January and the first quarter is over at the end of March so now we are into the second quarter.  Merideth has kept her teaching schedule where she spends time at three of the local primary schools.  This involves teaching Grade 7 English, introducing English in Foundation Level classrooms, conducting reading and library time, and visiting a village crèche (pre-school).  If that was not enough, she has just organized after-school English classes for her Grade 7 students.  She stays busy.

My schedule is more of a ‘floating’ plan split between one village primary and the high school as well as on my other projects.  Just recently we were able to get funding to replace the pit toilets at one of the primary schools and I will be busy with that for a few weeks.  In February I agreed to substitute for a Grade 4 and 7 English teacher while she was absent for health reasons.  It started as being for one week, but then expanded to six weeks.   I could somewhat manage the Grade 7 kids but when it came to the Grade 4 learners, it was a disaster.  Not all of them understand English so well and they know I won’t beat them, so they tend to talk a lot and get rowdy.  As the noise level in the room creeps up and up, the constant buss of voices make it impossible to instruct.  As soon as you get one group quieted, another group across the room starts chatting. I tried being threatening.  I tried taking them out on the soccer field to run until they were exhausted and calm.  I tried yelling.  I tried making some sit outside.  I went and got the principal. Nothing was completely successful.  Oh well……nobody told us this would be easy.  In spite of all their classroom antics, they are fun and lovable children.

Our life here in Mmakau has settled down into a routine.   We have most of the comforts of home except a car.  We were both reflecting recently that the longer we are here, the less we miss home.  When we first came to South Africa, I think we pined for what we left behind.  But now, we seem to be into a groove where the things we used to miss and wish for do not seem so important.  We are growing more and more accustomed to village life.  We still complain to each other about aspects of village living like litter and neglect.  We enjoy the warmth and friendliness of the people and can’t help but think they are growing very accustomed to seeing us around.  We know we will never fully blend in because we are the only white people in a village of thousands.  Whenever we go anywhere in the village, folks still check us out or have a double take when we appear.   As long as we can look forward to doing some travelling every so often, it‘s all good.

We are gradually beginning to piece together how life goes here.  The pace is slower so the stress levels are lower.  People do not usually have a car and tend to stroll slowly where they need to go.   Some just seem to sit around a lot.  Unemployment and poverty are high.  People commonly have what appear to us to be boisterous  conversations.  Although it seems like they might be angry, they tell us it is just their way of talking.  Most everyone can speak English but talk to one another in Setswana even when we are present.  We are still baffled by some things that do not happen and are trying to understand why.  It may be we are slowly becoming indoctrinated and assimilated into the culture.  Peace Corps warned us that South Africa would change us way more than we would change it.  That is becoming true.  But don’t worry, as much as we like it, we are not thinking to immigrate.

During the last two months we were able to take a couple of nice trips to two different South African areas.  One of our goals while here is to see all of the nine provinces of South Africa.  For our first six months, we were restricted to the North West Province for training and site orientation.  We live about 5 km from the Gauteng Province border and 45 km from Pretoria.  In December we became free to travel and during early January we visited the Wild Coast in the Eastern Cape Province where we got to enjoy some splendid ocean scenery.  This trip was described in our last blog.

At the end of March we were both busy giving term finals and compiling grades.  (Merideth and I spent one weekend grading over 400 term exams.)  We managed to finish up just in time to pick up a rental car in Pretoria (yahoo I can drive again but it’s on the left hand side of the road!!) and went east 5-6 hours to a town called Sabie in the Mpumalanga Province.  The next day we participated in the Longtom Marathon.  (We opted for the half marathon.)  A few years ago two Peace Corps Volunteers used Longtom as the platform for raising money to send deserving students to a very good middle and high school.  So along with about 50 other Peace Corps Volunteers, we found ourselves walking/trotting Longtom as we promised those that pledged money for the cause.  (Thank you again contributors)  The day proved to be a success on all accounts – we finished in a little over three hours and the funds raised by Peace Corps folks exceeded the goal.  Both of us had tender rear ends the next day since our training was minimal or none.  It was fun – the area has mountains covered with pine tree plantations and is somewhat reminiscent of North Idaho.  It was also fun to see some of our PC cohorts again and hear how they were managing life in ZA. 

We stayed in Sabie a couple of days to relax and to do some hiking.  Sabie’s private pine plantations provide most of the wood products used in South Africa.  One day our B&B host matched us up with a local group of retirees called the Wrinkled Wanderers who invited us on their weekly hike which was to one of their favorite waterfall hikes.  It was a beautiful hike (see the pictures) and so nice to meet this group of local people who graciously invited us along for the hike and lunch.   This was an unexpected surprise.

We had a week off from school so from Sabie we went on to a place called Blyde Canyon for some hiking and sightseeing.  It was also interesting.   From there we drove further east to Kruger National Park which is South Africa’s largest and most famous nature park.  We arrived without reservations so we were unable to stay inside the park at one of the rest camps.  However, we did spend a day driving through the park where we were able to see just from the car plenty of the signature animals like elephants, zebras, springbok, and others many in a herd environment.  We will probably return later this year (this time with reservations at the rest camps) and arrange to go on some of the guided morning or evening game walks where one can see the animals more closely.

After Kruger we drove west to Tzaneen for Easter where we attended Mass given in English by the local bishop.  In our village, all the church services are given in Setswana so this service in Tzaneen was a treat.  In the church yard were avocado trees loaded with fruit and we were able to pick a bag of avocados.  This area is low veld terrain with more rain and a warmer climate than our village.  It is known for fruit growing and farming.   From Tzaneen we drove home and returned the rental car back to Pretoria.  It was definitely a plus to have a car for this trip.

At the end of March two South African holidays (Freedom Day and Workers Day) were so close we had a five day weekend.  So we rented another car and drove south from Pretoria through the Free State Province to a small resort town called Clarens.  Free State is a rolling farming and ranching area with wide open spaces and modest rainfall.  Free State butts up to Lesotho which is the small mountainous, land-locked country completely surrounded by South Africa.  Lesotho became its own country as early settlers found it hard to conquer because the tribes could hide and fight in the mountains.  Besides they saw it had limited agricultural potential and remains today a poor country.  Clarens is an arts center with many galleries, shops and restaurants as well as being close to Golden Gate National Park.  We drove from Pretoria  to Clarens the first day, visited Clarens the second day, took a great hike to the top of Golden Gate Park the third day, went west of Clarens the third day to explore and do some more hiking, and then returned home in time to return to school at the end of the weekend.  This trip gave us a chance to see Free State and look at another face of the South African landscape and experience.

So now we are in May.  The second school term ends the third week of June after which we will have the three week winter break.  In early July the third school term begins and by then we will have been in South Africa for one year.

We are eagerly anticipating our son Devon’s arrival here on May 17th, one day before his 23rd birthday.  We are thrilled that we will be able to celebrate his birthday with him in South Africa.  He is thoroughly excited about coming here and plans on staying in Africa until the end of his summer break from college in August.  We think he will divide up his time staying on and off with us, travelling on his own, travelling with us during our three week winter break (perhaps to the Drakensberg Mountains and the Indian Ocean near Durban), and whatever else he decides to undertake in the way of volunteer work.  He has told us he is looking forward to having some “adventures” during this visit and, being parents, we hope and pray that whatever they are, they are safe and legal.  It should be a blast for him as well as lots of fun for us, and we will report on what happened in future blogs.

We may have other visitors in December when Merideth’s sister visits and our other son Rowan visits.  Cape Town, the ocean, and Kruger trips are likely.  In the meanwhile we will busy ourselves with our work in the school and village. If you can, take a look at the pictures we plan to add to the blog and give us comments.

And that’s the way it was.

March and April 2012 Pictures from ZA


Mosmise teachers having lunch: hammon, Mpho, Modise, and Issac.
Alsom and Marshall - Tsogo HS teachers
Village boys up at the cross on the Mmakau mountain
Mmakau from the cross.
Village meeting on the mining problem.
Tsepho leading the village meeting.
Merideth and the water competition tean at Zeerust.
The Tlhophane group at Zeerust.
Sabie from Longtom Pass on the way to the half marathon.
PCVs Marie, Merideth, Kevin, Tara, and Asha during Longtom.
Jessie, Julie, Eve,merideth,Colin, Howell, Shawn, and Kyle at the Longtom finish.
Merideth with free visor and finish metal at Longtom finish.
Gary with Shawn, Kyle, and Colin at Longtom.
Susan Neel and Merideth at the mining town.
Longtom Pass
Bridal Veil Falls near Glaskop.
Falls