tak in South-Africa

2006-07-20T07:58:00.000+01:00

Back to Pearson

I started working at Pearson again this week, the holidays are over so I decided to go back for this week only. I’ll be going back to E.P. Children’s home next week. Can’t wait to go back!
A new term has started at Pearson so a new fresh start for the kids and the teachers as well. Last Monday we were introduced to a new exchange student, his name is Jason, 22 years old and from America. It’s was really funny when Kim and I first saw him and he introduced himself to us, we were both like: uuhm well hello JASON!!he's cute hahah, couldn't help noticing that! so kim and i decided that we had to organise something, like showing him a few nice spots in PE! we have something on for tonight, we are all gonna hang out in the super sportscafe, some other collegas might come as well.

anyway i just got back from the hall, we had to take all the kids there to teach them the National Anthem of South-Africa...was quite fun. the first time i heard it actually.

this friday i'm going to Martijns place cause Ellen(his wife) is having her birthday party and she organised a 70es party for all her friends. nice to know that she counted me in as a friend haha! so that will be fun. we're probabely gonna braai again, must not forget to take my veggie burgers with me:-)

this Saturday i'm going out for dinner with Sanel, some flatmes and her friends. She's leaving for Glasgow, Schotland next Saturday that's why she organized a goodbye party this week. i promised her that i'll come to Schotland to visit her after i go back to Holland, we get along quite well!! i must say that i get along well with every1...which is good i guess.
you know it looks like every1 is going overseas this year and next year cause, Ammi is going to Holland, JP and Roger are going to England, Rudolph wants to go to Germany and Sanel is leaving for Schotland...cool..i could visit them all haha! ow boy busy schedule!

Rudolph popped in the other day to complain about the high petrol prizes, cause of the war in the Middle-east all the petrol prizes here and i guess all over the world went up. hmm, i must say that i felt sad to hear about it, not the thing about the petrol but the war. hope that it will come to an end soon!

ow guys something else i wanted to tell u is, that I'm going to volunteer next wednesday (it's seems like that's the only thing i do in SA, volunteer!)in the Walmer Townships. i went there before at the beginning of my stay here, you know that township tour i told u about? that was in the Walmer townships. anyway i'm going back again next week with the church minister to feed the people in the townships. Starting to feel like Angie more and more every day hahah!

i'll let u know how it all went. gotta go know cause it's break-time!!jihaa!

chat to u later...cheers buddies!

2006-07-17T09:56:00.000+01:00

Monday 10th till 16th of July

This week was quite hectic. We took the kids to the boardwalk and to Seaview, the last one is a game and lion park in the Eastern Cape, PE. I think I enjoyed it more then the kids, cause I never went there before. It’s really nice for tourists. It’s good that I can experience those trips through my work, it brings you closer to the country and the people.
Seaview was amazing, I got much closer to the animals then in Addo!

Afterwards we went to Mac Donald’s to buy the kids some ice cream!

The billabong pro also started this week..it’s that big sufers competition I told you about a few weeks ago. The best surfers from all over the world will come to Jeffrey’s bay to compete with each other. And of course Vicky and I had to go there to watch these hot bodies haha:-p
So Fransoir and Neill(Fransoirs flatmates) fetched us this Friday and we went there together. We actually didn’t see much of the billabong pro cause it was raining all day…shame man, so we just went shopping!

I had a good time with Neill, it was the first time that I met him but it felt like we had know each other for years. Had so much fun!

We also went to see Peter(one of Fransoirs friends), his parents life in J-Bay but he studies in Stellenbosch, he came home for the holidays. I was quite amazed when I saw his house…ow man..it was huge!! It’s a common thing in J-Bay..most of the houses there are king size…and trust me..not like the king size houses in Holland..but two times bigger! J-Bay is a place where most of the South-Africans have their second house. It’s more like a place you go to during your holiday.

Anyway we watched a few movies at Peters place and left at six o’clock to the PlanetShakers (an Australian Christian Rock band) concert. Also saw some of my Pearson High colleges and pupils at this concert. Christianity is really alive in SA.
I definitely enjoyed the concert.

On Saturday I didn’t do much actually, I just relaxed a bit until Rudolph popped in to take us for a ride in his fathers new Audi. So Vicky, Rudolph and I had a short ride through P.E in this fast car. It felt like we were driving the Formule- 1 guys hahaha!
Vicky and I have been hanging out a lot with the guys( Rudolph, Fransoir and Joubert), they are quite relaxing and nice. They take us wherever we want to go to.
We have so much in common and enjoy the same things, like smoking hubly together!
On Sunday Vicky and I went to church where we met all our friends again. After church we went for coffee together at Friends. My church visit worked out really inspiring, last Sundays topic was about immigrants. I must say that I enjoy going to church, more then I did in Holland. Over here it’s more like a social thing. But it also has strengthened my beliefs in Christianity.

In the evening we went to Lindy, Candy, Karen and Darnej(Vicky’s friends), to watch a movie. Had a splendid evening with the chicks, we spoke about typical girly stuff ahah…guys, love, losing weight etc. I must get used to hanging around with girls, cause I just to go out a lot with boys. Anyway it should be good. I sometimes believe that I have more in common with boys then girls, girls are nagging most of the time…which I think is quite boring. Even in SA I get along better with guys. But I must say that I’ve never been around so many girls as here. I live with 8 girls, so imagine!

Anyway I really like Vicky’s friends, they’re different.

We’ll go camping together pretty soon, cool ha?!

So guys don’t worry about me..i’m definitely enjoying myself! Don’t ever doubt that haha!

Cheeeeers guys…see u later!

Ah my sister is coming to SA in August coool ha? I will meet her in Capetown probably. And one of my friends is coming to SA as well, at the 8th of August…we will travel together for two weeks. So it’s gonna be hectic but really niceee!

2006-07-17T08:37:00.000+01:00

my address in P.E SA, for those people who feel like sending me something:

8 Bradley Road

Summerstrand

Port Elizabeth

6001

the first time that i received post was two weeks ago...when i got a postcard from Ammi! so guys who wants to be the second one???!

2006-07-17T08:30:00.000+01:00

Tuesday 4th till the 9th of July

I spent this whole week working at E.P. Children’s Home. Played with the kids and did some educational activities with them. We really bounded a lot this week, I’m starting to realize that they feel more and more comfortable having me around.
We took them to Sardiniabay this week, cause they were all quite bored the whole week. They really needed to go out and experience new sights and people. They really enjoyed the beach, we stayed there the whole day and had a braai.

On Sunday I went to the Dutch students for a Bring & Braai, had a little get together which was really cool! I also met the other new Dutch interns.

The rest of the week I just spent lots of time with Vicky, cause we’re actually the only ones who are home at the moment. Most of our flatmates left for the holidays.

On Thursday we went to Zoe’s Coffeeshop to help Senel with her Art exhibition. Senel is my flatmate and she owns the coffeeshop, she asked us this week to help her during the Art exhibition…so we dressed up quite elegant and served some snacks and wine! I tasted the best semi-sweet white wine ever guys! I did more drinking then serving hahaha!

Afterwards we went to the Super Sports Café together where I also saw JP…cause he works there.

I’m still enjoying my stay here…more and more each day. I get so much inspired by all these new places I’ve seen and all the new people I met…and will meet during the upcoming weeks.
You know I must thank my flatmates for introducing me to all these people, I met so many through them, through church, ballroom dancing etc. besides that I can also be proud of myself, cause of course I also met so many people through work, going out and actually by just being me. I’m glad that I’m that open minded and out going. Always interested in meeting new people, cause every person has his own story that deserves some hearing. You know u get so much further in life by communicating a lot with people from different cultures. I feel rich and hungry to get richer by traveling and experience life through different eyes and perspectives.

don't want to go back to Holland anymore, i fell in love with everything this country has to offer. Oww boy..

cheers guys...take care

2006-07-17T07:47:00.000+01:00

this is the National arts festival site:

http://www.nafest.co.za/

for all the culture freaks out there...check this site out!

2006-07-17T07:45:00.000+01:00

Sunday 2nd July

Last Saturday I went to Grahamstown to see the Grahamstown Arts festival with the Dutch students. We left Saturday and stayed over for the night and came back on Sunday. Grahamstown is Africa’s festival Capital, also called the City of Saints. I haven’t noticed much from the last part but definitely experienced a great festival mood!
If you want to get to know the South-African culture you must visit this festival. You will learn a lot about SA traditions, food, clothing, dance, theatre..it’s awesome! But I do think that you have to be an artie person if you want to able to enjoy it for 100%. The festival reminded me of a festival we have in Holland: Lowlands!
I met lots of people spoke to many artists which was fun! I really enjoyed myself, I consider myself an Artie person hahah! Ah and by the way, we even met some Dutch people, they were also staying in the same hostel.
Later that evening we went out to a club, but before we went out we had some drinks in our dorm and danced on the balcony. Had so much fun, everyone joined us…so we basically partied with all the people that were staying in our hostel. It’s funny that it doesn’t really matter where you’re from, you can always have a good time together…the more the merrier!
I don’t think I’ve had that much alcohol here in SA as last weekend. Anyway still don’t regret it, cause it was wicked!!

I immediately went to bed when we got home, man what an exhausting weekend. I think my body needs two days two recover from alcohol!

Thanks guys for last weekend!!

Gotte go..i’ll catch up with u later!....bye bye….cheers hey!

2006-07-17T07:43:00.000+01:00

Friday 30 June

Today I went to Walmer Park with Vicky and Fransoir to have a delicious breakfast at Mugg and Bean! After that we went shopping, I felt quite sorry for Fransoir that he had to stick with us the whole day. You should have seen his face when we entered the first shop…he was like..ow man this is going to take long!! Really funny!
Anyway we spent a lovely day together. We also watched the soccer match together and made a bet that Argentinia would win from Germany. Unfortunately Vicky and I lost the bet…so we had to drink 6 shooters each hahah! It was really hectic! Vicky got drunk after drinking two haha!

We went to Tobies later where we also hanged out with some of our friends.
Danced the night away!!

2006-07-17T07:42:00.000+01:00

Thursday 29-June

The other week I phoned E.P. Children’s Home (orphanage) to ask them if they are interested in volunteers during the winter break. This week Monica (one of the employees that I had spoken too) phoned me back to make an appointment for this Thursday. So I actually went there today and explained to her that I want to volunteer for three weeks. In those three weeks I will organize some outside and inside activities for the kids, I’ll try to entertain them and focus on the educational and therapeutic part. I told her all about my experiences on Pearson High and about the internship company Khaya. To my surprise she knew Martijn, it’s such a small world. The funny thing is that Martijn also spoke with Monica about placing Dutch interns in E.P. Children’s Home. Jihaa and I’m the first Dutch student working at E.P.! I was quite proud of myself that I arranged it myself.
Anyway Monica and I made an agreement that I will spend time with the kids 4 days a week, at the end of my stay at E.P. I will write a short report about every child. Cause I will probably spend more time with them then anyone else, this gives me the chance to get to know them better. All these reports can be support material for other people who will work with these kids in the future.
After our conversation I went to the cottages to meet the kids. I introduced myself and immediately noticed that I had lots of work to do because, these kids weren’t really excited. I don’t blaim them, cause many people and volunteers come and go, in the end they will always be left behind. I had to do something to make them more excited and interested. So I just behaved like I was one of them, went down to their level of thinking and acting, we played the whole afternoon together, bounded and got to know each other. The most inspiring moment for me was at the end, when I was sitting on the grass talking to some kids one of the boys came to sit on my lap and hugged me. I was quite surprised about how quick these kids get attached to you. Once you spent time with them and give them attention they will feel comfortable and safe. They accept you and trust you. I must say that I immediately fell in love with these kids. Seeing these heart broken faces made me realize that I can mean and do so much for them. You know I think I’d rather do my internship at E.P. Children’s Home then Pearson High. It’s feels like I’m so much more needed here, every minute that I spent at this orphanage hasn’t been unsefull…and I can’t say that about PH. I told Monica that I will try to stay at the orphanage till the end of July but, I’ll first have to go back to PH to ask them if they’re fine with it.
She agreed and told me that I’m always welcome, she would love to see me come back cause, after the winterbreak they’ll need some teachers for these kids. It’s really challenging to try to educate them in English, the most common language is Afrikaans their English is really weak, so I’m actually looking forward to improve their lives on that part.
Now you’re probably wondering how I communicate with them, well I’ll tell yah. Most of them speak Afrikaans to me which I understand quite good cause it’s similar to the Dutch language. I just reply in English, all the kids understand English but not all of them speak it properly. And some of them do speak English but not really well. Besides these two languages, some of the kids also speak Xhosa.
I just try to communicate with them in English which has been working out pretty well so far. When they
don’t understand me I just try to use pictures, symbols and my hands to make myself clear.
My first day at work went quite well! I’ll go back again next Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

After work I went to Greenacres (shopping centre). It’s really close to the orphanage, it’s nice to go shopping after work cause, it helps me to clear my mind and focus on random things, not only serious issues.
In the evening I went to the beach with Ammi (yesyes she got back from Capetown), JP, Roger and Warren. Had some drinks and chats till 4 o’clock in the morning! I really enjoy going out with them, definitely going to miss this when I go back Holland!

2006-07-17T07:37:00.000+01:00

Wednesday 28 June

Just got back from Addo, man I must say that it was awesome! Rudolph and Fransoir fetched us (Vicky and me) this morning and we drove all the way to Addo with his fathers Volkswagen Jeep…I was glad that he took the jeep, the view was so much better…because your sitting higher then in a normal car. On our way to Addo Elephant Park we made a pit stop at a farm where we ate home made pies…which were yammie yammie!
Rudolph told me so much about SA and sightseeing spots, it was fun and interesting to have him with us as a friend but most of all a personal guide! He took care of us the whole day, made sure we were all rested with a proper binocolor, so that we could see the animals better. When we entered the park, I immediately spotted a ostrich. Later on we saw different birds, a lion which was amazing cause, you hardly see a lion during the day, an eland, zebras, warthogs, kudus, elephants and many more. I took many photos of the elephants but it’s so frustrating cause I still don’t know how to upload them.
Anyway while we were driving many elephants were crossing our road, ah man it was awesome to be that close to them. Driving through Addo reminded me of the movie: The Lion King, because of all the animals and the surroundings. This was definitely the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. You can’t be closer to nature then this.
Afterwards we had a little picknick (also in Addo) which was delicious! Rudolph didn’t leave anything out today haha, everything was well organized…quite shocking but also impressing cause I’m always messy in everything I do haha!
When we drove back to PE we passed some townships. You know I definitely enjoyed my day but when I see these townships it immediately takes me back to reality. Sometimes you just want to forget about it or ignore, but in the end you’ll notice that you just can’t cause you’re being exposed to them the whole time. You can see poverty wide and open, everywhere you go in SA. It’s a shame that we are looking at these people walking close to the highway while we are sitting in our VW Jeep. The contrast is so big and noticeable. Wherever you go in SA, you will always see people walking down the highways. In Holland you would probably get a big fine for doing that.
These people are going through a lot and still the thing I find amazing is that they don’t complain. They just except it, cause they know they don’t have a choice. Pff you know talking about this makes me sad, I’d rather do something about it. I will, I definitely will!

Anyway something else about SA animals: did you guys know that SA has more animal species than North and South America combined, or Europe and Asia together??!
They use the word The Big Five to view their pride, the big five stands for: elephant, lion, leopard, rhinoceros and buffalo. Another common word is The big Sea Five, this stand for: whale, great white shark, endangered bottlenosed dolphin, blue marlin and Tuna.
SA is home to:
- the world’s largest land mammal, African elephant
- the smallest mammal, a shrew the size of a human fingertip
- the tallest mammal, giraffe
- the fastest mammal, cheetah
- the heaviest reptile, leatherback turtle
- the largest antelope, eland
- the largest bird, ostrich (ostrich eggs are really poplar over here, they are huge man! I also bought 2 painted eggs, if you want to buy something typical South-African then you must buy these!)
- the heaviest flying bird, Kori Bustard
- 900 bird species-10% of the world’s variety on 1% of its land area
- 600 different spiders, 175 varieties of scorpion and 100 different snakes…hmm I’m not too happy about this haha!!

Well this was it for now guys!!
Speak to yah tomorrow!

2006-06-27T12:34:00.000+01:00

Addo Elephant National Park

I’m going to Addo Elephant Park tomorrow jihaaa!! Rudolf and Fransoir are taking me there and Vicky is coming with us as well so it should be fun! This will be my first visit to a game reserve here in SA, definitely not my last! These guys are the best, they enjoy bringing me a bit closer to SA and the Eastern Cape. I’ll let you know how my trip was and will take lots of photos, ah and must take a binocular with me!

Cheers hey!

http://www.addoelephantpark.com/

2006-06-27T12:20:00.000+01:00

ah and guys I also recorded a Xhosa conversation, I'll show this when i get back. I must say that this language sounds really funny with all the clicks. never heard something like this before. I might take some Xhosa lessons at Pearson.

cheers hey

2006-06-27T12:18:00.000+01:00

A bit more about the different languages in SA

South Africa’s official languages were once English and Afrikaans but nine others have been added. These are: Ndebele, South Sotho, North Sotho, Swati, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu. The most widely spoken are English, Afrikaans, South Soto, Xhosa and Zulu.

Besides my own great SA adventures I’m also trying to give you guys a better picture of how SA is. I’ll try to do this through my own view on different things but I’ll also try to give more facts and figures. So today the time has come to tell you some more about the different languages that are widely spoken in SA, like I wrote above this text.
I came to think of this after I heard Victoria (she works at Pearson and organizes tea and coffee for the staff members, during the breaks) speak Xhosa to one of her catering colleges. I’ll try to give you some more facts about the Xhosa language below. I choose to talk about Xhosa, because it’s spoken a lot here in PE by the colored communities.
Xhosa is the language of the people of the same name. it’s the dominant indigenous language in Eastern Cape in South-Africa, although you’ll meet Xhosa speakers throughout the region. Xhosa is one of the official languages of South Africa. It is spoken by approximately 7.9 million people, about 18% of the South African population. Click consonants feature prominently in the sounds of this language. Even the name, "Xhosa", begins with a click.
History
The name Xhosa refers to one of their legendary chieftains. The members of the ethnic group that speaks Xhosa refer to themselves as the amaXhosa and call their language isiXhosa. Almost all languages with clicks are Khoisan languages and the presence of clicks in Xhosa demonstrates the strong historical interaction with its Khoisan neighbors. The name Xhosa is Khoisan meaning "The angry men".

Geographic distribution
The language represents the most southwestern branch of the Nguni subfamily of the Bantu languages. As mentioned, Xhosa is natively spoken in South Africa, mostly in the Eastern Cape Province. The Zulu name for the Eastern Cape Province is in fact KwaXhosa, meaning 'place of the Xhosa' (KwaZulu of course has the same meaning - 'place of the Zulu'). Xhosa is also spoken in the Western Cape - including Cape Town - and in Johannesburg. Xhosa is the second most common home language in South Africa as a whole.

Dialects
In addition to being mostly mutually intelligible with Zulu and closely related Bantu languages, Xhosa has several dialects. There is debate among scholars as to what exactly the divisions between the dialects are. One such grouping is: (original) Xhosa, Ngqika (which is considered "standard"), Bhaca, Mpondo, Gcaleka, Mfengu, Thembu, Bomvana, and Mpondomise.

Sounds
Xhosa has a simple set of vowels, but it is rich in uncommon consonants. Besides normal pulmonic egressive sounds, as in English, it has twelve clicks, plus ejectives and an implosive. The four dental clicks are made with the tongue on the back of the teeth, and are similar to the sound represented in English by "tut-tut" or "tsk-tsk" to reprimand someone. The second four are lateral, made by the tongue at the sides of the mouth, and are similar to the sound used to call horses. The remaining four are alveolar, made with the tip of the tongue at the roof of the mouth, and sound something like a cork pulled from a bottle. Xhosa is also a tone language with two inherent tones, low and high, and has both long and short vowels. Vowels are murmured after some consonants.

An example of the written language is the first section of the national anthem of South Africa:

Nkosi, sikelel' iAfrika;
Malupakam'upondo lwayo;
Yiva imithandazo yethu
Usisikelele.
translation
Lord, bless Africa;
May her horn rise high up;
Hear Thou our prayers And bless us.

The Xhosa People

At the time of white settlement of the Cape, Xhosa groups were living far inland, into the area between Bushman's River and the Kei River. Since around 1770, they had been confronted with the Trek Boers who approached from the west. Both the Boers and the Xhosa were stock-farmers. The competition for grazing land led first to quarrels between the two groups, and eventually it came to a number of wars.

The politics of the colonial government attempted to enforce the separation of white and black settlement areas with the Fish River as the border. But the more the colony developed into a modern state with a strong military organization, the more the whites tended towards a policy of land annexing and the subjugation of the black population. In the middle of the 19th century, all the land formerly inhabited by Xhosa was in the hands of white settlers.

With the founding of the South African Union in 1910, the British colony and the independent Boer Republics were united. A modern "democratic" state was formed. in which only the white population could execute the right to vote.

The black people were subjected to a policy of concealed expatriation. Through the Native-Land Law of 1913, first 7.5 per cent, and later 13 per cent of the land in South Africa was declared reservations for blacks. No white person was allowed to purchase land there and, vice versa, no black was allowed to buy land in the remaining 87 per cent of the territory of the Union. So the foundation of the disastrous policy of Apartheid was laid. In the sixties, the black settlement areas were declared autonomous Homelands. For the Xhosa people these were the Homelands of Ciskei and Transkei. Only after the first really free elections in South Africa in 1994 was the Homeland policy abolished, after which the areas were integrated into the new provinces.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xhosa_language

2006-06-27T12:08:00.000+01:00

Last Thursday and Friday

Last Thursday was quite relaxing at Pearson High, because the pupils had finished writing their exams on Wednesday. Thursday was also the last opportunity for the teachers to hand in their marks. I left school pretty early because there wasn’t actually anything I could do for them. So I went shopping with Vicky in Warmer Park, this is about 20 minutes from our place, Summerstrand. Spent a lovely day there, talked a lot and we drank some coffee at Mugg and Bean! That’s the place where you can have the best flapjacks! Really enjoyed my day with Vicky, we seem to have the same interests, humor and ideas, we get along really well. When we came back home, most of our flatmates were packing and preparing to go home for the holidays. Marinthea went to her parents in Port Alfred (one hour from PE), same story with Rowena she went to her parents in Queenstown. Hanli was preparing herself to spend the rest of the week in church, she’s the leader of the youth activity club here in PE. And because the winter holidays have started most of the children spent their days in church playing with other children, Hanli makes sure that they’re in good hands.
Ammi is still in Capetown, she’ll be coming back at the 30th of June. So I must say that it’s quite empty at our place right now. Vix, Jystine, Yess, Sanel and I are the only ones left.

Last Thursday I went out with JP and Roger which was great fun. I’ve noticed that I always have more fun with guys then with girls. They don’t judge you or anything and they are open and honest(well maybe not all of them, but JP and Roger are!). these guys are the best, they always take good care of me when we go out.

When I got up the next morning after our party adventure I felt quite sick of the brandy from the night before. I stayed in bed for a couple of hours till I got my colour back. Then I received a message from Vicky that she was coming home to fetch me, cause we were gonna go to the movies with Rudolf, Fransoire, Joubert and three other girls. We went and had a wicked time watching Over the Hedge, an animation movie. Guys you really must go and see that movie, you won’t regret it. If you liked Shrek then you will definitely love this one!
After the movie we went for coffee together in Green Acres, you know the big shopping centre I told you about that’s GA. The cinema was inside Green acres, they basically have everything at this place. You know it, they’ve got it!

In the evening I went out for dinner at Gondwanas (the Jazzclub) with the Dutch students. Two of them, Jan-Willem and Rob were leaving on Sunday morning so this was actually their goodbye party. You know times flies when you’re having fun, in the beginning of my stay everything was taking ages, but at this moment I really have to find time to do stuff. Which is a good sign of course, cause it shows that I’m enjoying it.
After dinner we went out again, our group got bigger when we arrived in Toby Yoes cause Vicky, Sanel and some other South-African friends joined us.

We had the best time ever, drinking cocktails and smoking hubbly bubbly haha!
Vicky and I even got hooked up with three guys, I guess they were quite impressed by our appearance cause they were looking at us the whole evening haha! Then finally one of them had the courage to talk to us which was really nice cause we were really having a nice and interesting conversation. This guy that I was talking too really thought that I spoke like a queen hahahah! Don’t know what to think of that??! He probably drank to much alcohol hahah! I told him that I’m Dutch and doing my internship in SA. He really thought that my English was quite good, he told me about some of his Dutch friends who also tried to speak English but were unfortunately blessed with a strong accent. I was surprised by this compliment because I still feel insecure about my English, I do talk a lot English but I also know that I still have many errors in my speaking.
I’ve noticed that I pick up new words really quick, I’m copying South-African slang because it’s easier when you life with these people. Anyway in the end I just hope that my pronunciation and vocabulary will be a lot better then when I first arrived here. It feels a lot better compared to the beginning, at this moment I don’t have to think a lot about what I want to say and which words I want to use. My speaking is getting more natural and more fluent. Which is a good thing, I suppose!
Ah and you know what the funny thing is? Since I’m getting along so well with Vicky, we go out a lot and do things together. We spent quite some time with each other. The funny thing is that she’s copying the English words that I use a lot during conversations. So when she saw her friends again the other week, they were a like: Vicky what happened to you, where did you get these words from, what happened to your language girl hahah! I must say that most of the words contained swearing hahaha! I shall mind my tongue more!

Anyway guys I must go..see you later!! Till the next post!
Cheers sweetie pies!

xxx

2006-06-21T15:18:00.000+01:00

Exams are over!

Yeeeey guys, today was the last exam day, finally! All the kids went crazy and hectic, I don’t blame them because, this whole exam period seemed to never end. I must say that they’ve done a pretty good job…we must thank the school and the kids for this!
I’ll upload some more stuff tomorrow cause I’m in a hurry at the moment. Justine(she’s at the gym and I’m at an internetcafe) will fetch me in a few minutes so I must be ready.
I’m going to the sportscafe tonight with Roger, JP and probably the Dutch students as well. Gonna watch soccer, Holland is playing but have no idea who else? Will have a splendid time together, especially because the wine is only 5 rant at Wednesdays joehoee!

See you guys tomorrow!
Cheers mates! Love ya xxx

2006-06-19T08:57:00.000+01:00

Jeffrey’s Bay

Last weekend was a quite long weekend, because Friday was a public holiday so the whole school was off. I just relaxed and went out in the evening with my flat mates: Yess, Vicky and Senel. Spent a pleasant time at Toby Yoes and Tapas.
At the end of the night I met three Dutch guys in Tobies, they came all the way from Jo-burg to watch the Rugby match South-Africa versus Scotland on Saturday. I spoke to them for quite a long time, they were also students and doing their internship in SA. They even invited me to come to Jo-burg during the last two weeks of my stay in SA. We swapped phone numbers and told them that I’ll keep in touch as soon as I’m starting my travel adventure. It was nice and interesting to hear their opinions about SA, it gives you the chance to compare or share ideas and reflect on different views.

The next morning Yess and I woke up pretty late, we had planned to leave at 8…we eventually left at 9. The funny thing is that the only one who was on time…was Sly, normally he’s the one who arrives late and behaves lazy. Too our big surprise he even did some groceries, especially four our J-Bay trip…so sweet! He definitely knows how to win a woman’s heart hahaha! Uhm not mine of course I think he has definitely won Yess’s heart! Sorry Yess…I’m not blind :-p
Anyway we enjoyed our J-bay trip, unfortunately we didn’t see many surfers, because there weren’t any high waves. We did buy lots of Billabong (an Australian surfers brand) clothes and had lunch at Steers!
After that we made our way to the beach and relaxed in the sand. Jeffrey’s Bay is by the way a small city/village, the SA people call it the Billabong village because of all the Billabong factories and the surfers. The city has a friendly atmosphere, the people are social and open minded. A nice place to spend your holiday!

On our way back from J-Bay to PE we drove trough a chaotic and hectic crowd, because the rugby match had just ended and SA had won the match! Cool ha? They’ve beaten the Scots! So everyone was quite happy and many cars were on the road with South-African flags hanging outside their windows. Quite a party for our national hero’s: the Springboks! Good work guys :-))

Later that evening we watched a DVD at our place with the guys.
Yesterday evening I went to church with the girls which was very nice cause I saw our friends again, I think most of the students and youth go to church over here. It’s not like going to church in Holland, in SA it’s more like a social occasion. People drink coffee together afterwards sit down and chat. There is much more interaction between the people during the worship services. Music plays an important role in the whole service.

This afternoon I’ll go to Green Acers again, but this time I’ll go with Vicky and her friend. I try to go out alot and experience many things, I’m really happy that I’ve chosen to live with South-African people because this offers me enough opportunities to get to know the South-African culture properly. It feels like I’m totally integrated at this moment because of that…
I’ve adapted their language, food, culture and I'm hoping to adapt a lot more!

cheers eh!
xxxxxx

2006-06-15T12:59:00.000+01:00

Hectic times at Pearson

Just got back from individualizing. This morning I had to work in the long writers venue, where the pupils were making their last exams for this week. Everything went pretty well, it sometimes still amazes me what kinda questions the pupils ask me during exams. Questions like: ma’am can I just get a tissue out of my pocket so that I can wipe my nose? I really couldn’t hold myself not to laugh! Oh boy I love these children, they are everything a teacher could have wished for! I know that it’s going to be hard for me to say goodbye at the end of July, I really wouldn’t mind staying here till next year. They’ve accepted me completely as a teacher and I’m still surprised how quick the whole process went. Everyone over here treats me as if I’m one of the locals, like I’ve always been living here and it has never been different. Even my housemates don’t want me to go back to Holland, since I came to live with them they say that I’ve brought a warm and comfortable breeze to their home. It feels good to hear them say that! But I must remember that everything comes to an end someday, even the pleasant experiences.
Anyway don’t want to think of that right now. I’ll enjoy my time here while I still can!

When I came to work this Monday I was immediately confronted with two horrible happenings. The first announcement was that: Mr. Kingsley’s (one of the teacher at Pearson) mother had passed away during the weekend. The second announcement was that: two people got killed in a car accident and a few were taken to the hospital some are in coma and some not, this had also happened during the weekend when Pearson high was on its way to an excursion (including parents). The victims in this car accident were relatives of one of the pupils.
Both tragedies caught my attention immediately just like it did to the rest of the Pearson crew. During the morning the principal arranged an assembly for the whole school to make sure that everyone in the school would know about last weekends happenings. Even a priest was invited to say a little prayer for the victims and the related families. He made me realize again, that there is no chance you can experience life, without experiencing it through pain every now and then. Tragedies like these make us realize again that we’re all mortal in the end…sometimes the thought of being immortal crosses our minds…but times like these let us remember that we’re just like everyone else.
We all prayed and held a moment of silence, to let them rest in peace.

Beside all the sad things at Pearson this week I tried to do my best and help other teachers out, while they were going to the funerals.

This week I also went to Green Acers with Marinthea, this is a big shopping center in PE. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a big shopping center in my life as big as Green Acers. We shopped till we dropped man!! I took 1000 rant with me and came back with 10 hahah! It’s good to see that everything is really cheap compared to Holland, well most of the things!

We also went to church yesterday, my housemates all go to church…(I think I already told you this before)…like three times a week. Every Wednesday the church offers the youth or other people who are interested in Christianity, a Christianity course. So we went and socialized. I think it’s quite nice to go to church, I should try to do it more often when I go back to Holland. Besides the religious part it also allows me to meet South-African people and talk to them about their country or do stuff together.

This Saturday I’ll be going to J-bay (Jeffrey’s Bay) with Sly and Jess..we’re going with Silvesters car so it should be about one hour from PE!! J-Bay is considered to be Surfers Paradise in South-Africa. Surfing is the main reason most people go there and a few would disagree that J-Bay has the best waves in Southern Africa and among the best in the world!
But anyway we’re not going there because we want to surf, I’ve never tried surfing before and maybe better that I won’t…haha we all know how clumsy I can be! We’re going because we want to shop and enjoy ourselves during a walk on the beach, enjoy the water of the Indian Ocean and of course for the girls among us…enjoy the lovely Surfers hahah…don’t worry I’m only watching and not touching hahah!

Did I already tell you that my friends over here call me Taz instead of Tarzo? It’s so funny…everywhere I go people seem to give me different names…I think it’s ok..as long as they don’t come up with bad names haha!
Taz reminds me of Tasmanian devil…hmmm…not really nice ha?? I think many will see similarities between me and the Tasmanian devil hahaha…he lin??

I think this was all for today people…I’m getting a bit hungry right now and I want to go home! Home hmm that sounds good!
Also have to prepare myself for tonight cause I’m going out with JP and Roger, Ami is still in Cape Town and not able to come with us unfortunately. But I’ll have a few drinks for her as well tonight haha! I might see Alice (gap student form England) and Kim (biology teacher) as well at Barnies tonight (pub).

Ah and guys baja dankie (Afrikaans for: thanks a lot) for all your comments, man I don’t think I’ve got time to read all of them…cause that’s how much comments I’ve received from you eh :-p

So do your homework..hehe!!

cheers mates!
xx

2006-06-14T11:18:00.000+01:00

Rainbow Nation: Food & Drink

I finished quite early today, more time to tell you guys some facts about South-African food and drinks.
South-Africa’s many nationalities and cultures are reflected in its cuisine. While meat and chicken form the basis of many dishes( too bad for veggie tak), a wide variety of seafood is available at affordable prices. A few specialties are: bobotie (minced meat topped with baked egg), sosaties (spicy kebabs), smoorvis (a fish kedgeree) and breyani (lamb or chicken with baked rice or lentils) and in KwaZulu-Natal, hot and spicy curries and delicacies such as samoosas (deep fried doughy triangles filled with meat or vegetables. Roti, a flat bread which is really jammie!

Traditional Afrikaner food includes bredie (a meat stew), potjiekos ( a slowly cooked meat and vegetable stew), boerewors (spiced sausage), biltong (strips of dried meat), melktert (milk tart) and koeksisters (sweet, plaited dough) I’ve tasted these yesterday and they were really sweet but so delicious!! And then we have Putu, a stiff, dry corn meal, is a staple of African diets, together with amasi, (a sour milk).

Weekend fare for South Africans of all races is the outdoor braaivleis I told you about this earlier (bbq) consisting of chops, sosaties, chicken, boerewors and putu.

When it comes to drinks, we must not forget that South Africa is a famous wine country. Wine has been made in the Western Cape for three centuries now. Two local specialties are Muscat d’Alexandrie (made from hanepoot) a sweet dessert wine and Pinotage developed from pinot and cinsaut (hermitage) grapes.

South Africans are prolific beer drinkers, especially when eating outdoors or watching sport. Maheu, a sorghum-based beer, is widely drunk in shebeens ( a shebeen is: an illicit bar or cub where excisable alcoholic beverages are sold without a licence) and beer halls.

2006-06-14T09:45:00.000+01:00

Wicked weekend!!

I’m sorry for uploading my stuff that late, it’s because I’ve been so busy lately (don’t ask me with what haha!)…and couldn’t make time to do it sooner. I’m at work at the moment and finally found some time to keep my blog up to date.
Last weekend was the best guys! On Friday I went to a sports café, which was inside the casino here in PE, and had the best time ever! I was supposed to stay at home but then my flatmate Ami (South-African girl) asked me to go out with her, Roger and JP. Roger is Marcelles son, Marcelle owns the house we live in I think I’ve already told you that earlier. Anyway, JP (Jean-Pierre) is Ami’s boyfriend. I think I’ve pronounced that name more then a 100 times last Friday because, Ami just loved the way I said: Jean-Pierre!! She was like: say it again, say it again please!!! I loved saying it because, every time I called JP it reminded me of my own Pierre or pjeertje!! So I had to pronounce the name with a rather sensual tone hahaha! How do you guys think I seduce pjeertje hehe?!

Anyway, we first went to the sports café, JP works there so we had to meet him there, we sat there for a while, had some free drinks and listened to a fantastic live band. After that we went to buy some bottles of brandy and made our way to the beach, where we emptied our bottles during nice and funny conversations. Ami and I wanted to go for a swim, but unfortunately the water was too cold! Too bad for the boys haha!

We spent the rest of the night dancing at Toby Yoes and Tapas, had the best time ever… took lots of photos…even learnt Ami some crazy dance moves…so you can probably imagine how lost we were haha! Anyway as long as we’ve had fun!

At the end of our night we drove back to the beach again, where I wrote Tak and Pjeer in the sand…aaah so romantic!! I wanted to take some pics but, unfortunately it was too dark…sorry pjeer.
When we got in the car I fell asleep immediately, that night had really sucked all the energy out of me. Well to be honest, it was definitely worth it!

Ah I almost forgot to tell you that Ami is studying Dutch and Afrikaans, both languages show lots of similarities. The cool thing about her studying Dutch is that she’ll be going to Holland next year to finish her language study at the university…and do you know which one??? The University of Utrecht jihaaa!! It’s such a coincidence that of all cities she picked out Utrecht. She was really happy to hear about me studying there, asked me tons of questions…so we’ll definitely meet again next year. Gonna have a wicked time together even in Holland!!
JP and Roger are going London together during that year so that will be fun as well, we’ll go to visit them and them will come to Holland for a few days.

Last Saturday was nice as well, I went to Anne’s birthday party (the Dutch girl) where I met all the Dutchies again…had a splendid time! And the next day Anne came to pick me up and we drove to Kraga Kamma (a suburb in PE) this is where Martijn lives. We all watched the soccer match together which was really hectic because, everyone was screaming, cursing etc...Pretty good that we won guys…Good work Robben! You know what? Even the Pearson pupils love Robben! When I arrived at work this Monday they were all like: Ma’am, ma’am did you see what Robben pulled off yesterday ma’am?! He’s the best ma’am! Hahaha..
I’m starting to feel the world cup soccer atmosphere more then my first two weeks in SA. They are quite into soccer these days, which is obvious of course….
After the soccer match we had a braai with the whole group in Martijns big garden, I’ll give you a specific definition of a braai:

The braaivleis or braai (Afrikaans for "roasted meat") is a social custom in South Africa. It originated with the Afrikaner people, but since has been adopted by South Africans of many ethnic backgrounds
The word has been adopted by English-speaking South Africans and can be regarded as another word for barbecue, in that it serves as a verb when describing how food is cooked and a noun when describing the cooking equipment, such as a grill.
A braai is a social occasion and often there are specific social norms. Women rarely braai meat. This is normally the preserve of men and they gather round the braai, or braaistand (the fire or grill) and cook the food while women prepare the salads, desserts, and vegetables for the meal.

A Braai (pronounced br-eye) is the South African version of a barbecue. Almost anything can be cooked on a braai - though meats like steak, lamb and chicken are particularly popular. The Braai is a tradition founded on a laid-back outdoor lifestyle and good weather and is passed down from generation to generation with great enthusiasm. This national institution for cooking and eating large quantities of meat outdoors is well loved by South Africans – especially South African men.

Some other PE sports news: the South-Africa national rugby union team ( they’re also called Springboks or Bokke) arrived in PE this Sunday. The cool thing about this is, that Stephan (Anne’s boyfriend) works at the same hotel and he’s been picked out to be their personal assistant during their week trip. Hopefully we’ll get the chance to go out together! You know the national rugby team gets the same treatment as the national soccer team gets in Holland. Rugby is pretty hot over here I even think it’s the biggest leading sport in SA. It’s funny to see that the rugby players get so much attention and respect from the SA population. They’re being treated as stars!
You can click on this link below if you want to have some more info about SA rugby:

http://www.sarugby.net/

I'm going to get myself a cup of coffee now! speak to you later...

cheers

2006-06-09T13:11:00.000+01:00

Happy Friday

I just finished observing the pupils during their maths exam, today I was doing it by myself most of the time. Which was quite nice because it gave me a feeling of responsibility.
This morning I experienced my second assembly (reminds of Harry Potter…so I started calling it a HP ritual haha) at Pearson, the last one only took for 15 minutes because the principal thought it was more useful to let the pupils spent their time on studying for their exams. Good idea! So he only made some official announcements and gave the pupils a pep talk.

The students receive school information and special announcements through these assemblies and through speakers (you can find these in every classroom). So basically after every lesson you hear the supervisor speaking to the students. No message boards are used.
You know if I would say this to the Dutch people they would probably consider it as something old fashioned…this is what the Dutch people would do back in the old days. I think it definitely has charm and style. Nothing is wrong with going back to basics.

The thing I love about SA is that you get the chance to experience what really matters in life and go back to basics, health (main issue), having a roof above your head and happiness, try to do those things that make you feel happy.
Life over here is not based on material stuff and luxury goods. Many people are driving old cars and don’t pay much attention to fashion and modern things….because those are not the most important things that will make you live healthy in the end. These people are happy with every small gift they receive in life(well most of them). They take nothing for granted.
In Holland most people live with a material ideal…which I think is getting more and more of an issue over there. (we all know Leen van lenen.nl hahah) it’s time for us to think: what makes our life valuable?

Anyway I was talking about Pearson high, just wanted to make clear that it doesn’t matter what you have…but it matters what you do with it in life.
Another thing that I’ve noticed at Pearson is that the older students, who are doing their last year at Pearson, wear white sweaters instead of black ones. These last year students are called Matrics, I’ll give you the definition of this word below:
Matric is used in both the noun and adjectival form in South Africa to indicate a High School student's last year of school - Grade 12.
Matric is not compulsory, although it is required for university application.
Students are required to take a minimum of six subjects for matric, including two languages, although some take many more.

Oh shit, I just received a message so I've got to be going right now. I’m going to an orphanage this weekend with the Dutch student’s, gonna spent some time there doing nice things with the kids. I’m keen!
I’ll let you know next Monday…!

Yo guys the world cup soccer kicks off this Sunday in Germany, so you better be watching! I’m going over to the Dutchies to watch the match: Holland-Servia Montenegro …wicked!!

See yah!

Xx:-)

2006-06-08T10:59:00.000+01:00

Hillsong United Concert

Yesterday the church group and I went to see a Hillsong concert at the PE Arena. Hillsong is a Christian band from (Sydney) Australia, they play church music with a rock flavor. I had never heard of this band before, it’s not a well-know group in Holland...well maybe it is for those Christians among us. I’m a Christian as well and still it didn’t sound familiar in my ears. But anyway the concert was awesome!! Great music and beautiful lyrics as well.
The whole concert was really inspiring…physically as spiritually. It really brought me back and closer to my faith in God, can’t think of any other way then being that connected with Him as last night. I was surprised by the crowd, there were people from all over South-Africa that came to see the concert. I really had no idea that South-African people were that religious, their religion fills up 50% of their lives.
Yesterday was a pleasant evening! It was remarkable to see that people from different backgrounds, black and white, rich and poor, South-Africans or other people who made their way to South-Africa through work, college, holiday…or whatever. For the first time I noticed that they were treating each other as equals, there was no crowd divided in groups…they were all one. Because they had one thing in common, their faith in God.
So we spent the whole evening listening to their music and worshipping with the crowd. I even saw some Pearson High pupils, which is not weird because Pearson is a Christian High School.
After the concert we went for a drink at Steers, this is something like MC Donalds…but in South-Africa more popular then MC Donalds…well at least in PE!

I had to work at Pearson again this morning, I’m getting a bit bored here lately because I don’t have much to do over here. The exams still haven’t reached their end, two more weeks to go…oh boy! This morning I had to observe the pupils again during their exams and answering their questions…not exam questions of course hahah!

I’ve asked Kim (one of the teachers) if she happened to know an orphanage in PE where they can use some volunteers. To my surprise she did, her mother owns one, so I told her that I would be happy and thankful if she could arrange something for me during the winter break of three weeks. I want to make myself useful while I’m here, you know people over here are so much in need for help from overseas, I just couldn’t and wouldn’t be able to sit and do nothing.
So I gave Kim my phone number, which she’s going to give to her mom, and hope and pray that she will call me. I spoke to Kim this morning and she told me that it will be ok, she had already told her mother about me and they are looking forward to see me. Cool ha? You know what…if everything works out well over there, I might just stay there and not go back to Pearson. We’ll see how everything goes…

My stay abroad in South-Africa is getting much more better and exciting every week….as I already told you, It starts to feel like home. I do my shopping, go to work, to the beach and to friends…still am amazed by the progress I’ve made in two weeks time. Starting your life all over in another country and all by yourself is hard but definitely challenging! It shows what your capable off, I came to realize then I ca do more then I had dared to imagine. At the end of this adventure I hope to be a step further in life and hope to feel more complete and satisfied. I finally have the feeling that the emptiness inside of me somewhere, has started to decrease. Emptiness has changed into inspiration, goals and new visions. My next step will be: to give this inspiration, these goals and visions a meaning and shape…only have to figure out how...

Anyway I did enough serious talking for today hehe!
I got some work to finish over here…

I’ll be off pretty early today…thank God! Will go out with Justine and later in the evening I’m going over to Mikies place…he’s gonna cook me some veggie supper! yammie yammie! The best thing about his apartment is that is has an amazing view of the sea! Can’t wait to watch the sunset over there…

I’ll keep you guys posted….take care every1
Cheers!

Thought of this week: Even if you try you’re a winner …so keep on trying!

Ps. I wrote the Hillsong website down below, if you have time go and have a look…it’s definitely worth your time!

http://www2.hillsong.com/college/default.asp?pid=160

http://www.hillsong.com/hma/bin/view.pl?sitename=hma&page=index

2006-06-06T08:07:00.000+01:00

Good morning all!

I’m at work right now and almost falling asleep…! Had a busy weekend, spent lots of time on getting to know the South-African way of living.
We (the Dutch students and Martijns family) started this Friday with a guided tour through the Walmer township in PE. Well that was our plan until it started to rain, the bad weather continued for hours so we weren’t really able to walk through the townships to get a glimpse of the area. Instead of that we went to a pub, which was in the townships as well and spent some time there talking to people who lived in those areas.
Ah and for those of you who don’t know what townships are I searched on the internet for a specific and clear explanation, you can read this below:
In South Africa, the term township usually refers to the (often underdeveloped) urban residential areas that, under Apartheid, were reserved for non-whites (Africans, Coloureds and Indians) who lived near or worked in areas that were designated "white-only". Soweto (actually a group of townships) and Alexandra are two of the most well-known of these.

Although formal racial segregation ended with Apartheid in 1994, new township-like areas for low-income persons were developed subsequently, including Ekangala, Olievenhoutbosch and Diepsloot in Gauteng. Other townships have seen rapid development since 1994, with wealthy, and middle-income areas growing up in parts of Soweto.

Townships for non-whites were also called locations or lokasie (Afrikaans translation), and are often still referred to by that name in smaller towns. The term "Kasie", a popular short version of "Lokasie" is also used sometimes to refer to townships.
Townships sometimes have large informal settlements nearby.

Ok so… one hour later we were taken to a township community center, where we ate traditional South-African supper (delicious by the way!) and watched to a South-African dance performance. I was impressed by all the things I had seen, never experienced so much poverty at once, the thing that left an everlasting impression was that these poor people enjoyed life so much through other things….the money case was left aside they tried to make the best out of it! It gave me a realistic picture of what’s going on in South-Africa…and I’m only talking about PE…there are over a million places who suffer so much more then PE.

You know, at first the idea of taking a tour of a township bothered me. I wondered how I would feel if tourists came to my home and photographed my poverty. But then Martijn found a tour that puts the money back into the township (still think less went in than he actually said). So I decided to go as well.
Walmer Township in PE is the oldest and the only one to successfully resist the group area act. The area itself is 4 km and holds nearly 60,000 people. Most residents live in run down shacks and conditions that make Dutch homeless people look like millionaires.
The area is turning around but at the moment it still holds an 80% unemployment rate.The highlight of the tour was with out a doubt Xolelanani Youth Project. It was designed to help Walmers youth learn life skills and keep them away from drugs, sex and crime. Because of the high HIV/AIDS rate in South Africa there are hundreds of orphans that can not feed or look after them selves.
Xolelanani is a sanctuary for children to come eat, play and learn in a safe environment. Currently there are 80 kinder garden students involved that receive care on a daily basis. 12 of which are on full scholarships to receive an education out side the center.
The project itself is struggling to make ends meet and relies on donations from tourists and people that visit the center. I have posted the address for anyone that cared to become more involved.

xyp@mail.co.za

After spending a serious evening at the townships, we decided to have a taste of the South-African nightlife. We went to Toby Joes and Tapas, both clubs were awesome! Spoke with many people and even bumped in to some friends, which amazed me… cause I’ve only been staying here for one week and already made so many friends! So guys you don’t need to worry about my social life…it’s all good!

Last Saturday I was invited to come to a party, I already told you about Klaas (the Dutch guy) leaving PE, so the other students had organized a goodbye party for him. I went as well, had a wicked time and stayed at their place for the night. Never knew that people could drink that much alcohol…damn!!

Sunday was a relaxing day for us cause we (the Dutch girls) went on a three hour boat trip and enjoyed the water of the Indian ocean splashing up against our faces. The waves gave us a peaceful feeling and a feeling of freedom. Being on the water makes you sort of a king of the world (Titanic hahaha)! It’s just you and the ocean.

Later that night we ordered some supper and watched two movies together. We were all sitting nice and cosy next to each other, which made half of the group fall asleep hahaha!

Last night I went out with the Christian church group to a coffee bar called Friends. Later on Mikie took me on an adventurous motorbike tour through PE…it was so amazing to see PE in the dark. He took me to this place where you could see the whole city from the top of a mountain. Such a lovely and romantic place, you could see the city lights burning like candles.
Will definitely go on a motorbike tour more often…Mikie left his helmed at my place hahaha! Good work Mikie!!

Ok guys I got some work to do over here…must watch the hall during the exams…which will start in 30 minutes.
This afternoon I’m going to shop with Justine, she’s taking me to some second hand shops here in PE, so that should be good! Gonna go for coffee after that..
And this evening I’ll be spending my time with Sly, we’re going to the movies together. I’ll speak to you guys tomorrow…
You know, you only pay 5 (:8 and you will get the price in euros) rant if you want to go and see a movie here…really cheap!
Well, I’ll speak to you all later…really really have to go know!

Cheers…..a kiss and a hug for each and every one of you hehe!

2006-06-02T08:16:00.000+01:00

Exams kick off- good luck everyone!!!

Today the pupils will start making their first exams. There are many more to follow these upcoming two weeks. So busy times for the children as for the teachers.
This morning the principal did his daily speech again, but only this time he pointed out some exam rules to the teachers. Note the teachers what pupils are allowed to do and what they’re not allowed to do during exams. Every teacher took his exams and went off to his/her classroom. I did the same, one teacher guided me to a classroom and gave me instructions about how to work during an exam. So I handed out everything, made sure every one received his exam and told them to start working without making noise. I signed off every pupil after they handed in their work.
The last exam ended at 12:00 after that I was free to go.
I had a quick look at next weeks schedule, cause I’ll be watching the pupils again during the exams.

Yesterday my feet met the Indian ocean for the first time, which was amazing! I went to the beach with Bethany (American intern at Pearson) had a long walk and collected shells. You know, it’s such a good feeling to feel the sand beneath your feet…it gives the feeling that you’re closer to nature and mother earth. For a moment I wished that time could stand still, the ocean freshens up your mind and gives you a feeling of freedom.
We walked up to the pier and made a pit stop at the Boardwalk to have a smoothie (which turned out to be ice cream, I had hoped that it would be the same as in Holland). I also bought some souvenirs at the boardwalk!
Later on Bethany’s host mom came to pick us up cause we were to tired to walk back :-p

In the evening I went out for dinner at Dulce’s (the place we always go to) with Marinthea, had a delicious veggie pasta salad and a fat free (of course!) coffee drink. Later on I received a message from Justine, she was gonna go to the city with her friends, there was this live band playing at a pub…which they were anxious to see, and she was wondering if I wanted to come. I didn’t have any plans that evening so I went to the city with them and spent a nice evening, listening to live music and meeting new people!

Today we’ll do our township guided tour…with Martijn and all the Dutch students. So I think that it’s going to be really interesting and shocking. I’ll let you know how the trip was.

Gotte go now…I’ve got another class that I have to watch.

See ya :-)
Love tak

By the way: when does the World Cup starts??

2006-06-01T11:30:00.000+01:00

Veggie burgers

yo guys...I went to do some groceries yesterday and you know what???
I found lots of veggie food at the Kwikspar supermarket...so I bought three boxes of sausages, burgers and hotdogs hahah!! it's unique man to find so much veggie stuff over here...cause all they eat is meat! so you guys don't have to worry anymore(like u were ??) i'll be just fine!!

anyway...gotte go again..haha...bye bye

2006-06-01T11:21:00.000+01:00

Failure to launch….

Yesterday...I planned to go with the Dutch students to a restaurant in the city, a pity that they phoned to late cause I wasn’t able to arrange a car, so I went to see Failure to Launch starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew McConaughey. A very funny and romantic comedy with of course a happy ending…love happy endings…cause my own live doesn’t experience those hehe!
Marinthea (housemate) and I went to drink a cup of coffee first at Dulce’s(a typical British coffeeshop) where I also got the chance to taste a heavenly brownie with vanilla ice cream on top yammieyammie! My tummy has been growing a lot over the last few days hahah:-p..
Also went to the church yesterday to do some weekend preparations for the children, we’ve made candy bags for them! This is especially for those children who are underprivileged. I met lots of people during our church trip, which was quite nice…spoke lots of English and had a great time. Also received lots of advice about where I should go to in South-Africa, places I really should go and see. So I came to the conclusion that I must do the Garden route to Cape Town and see Robben Island(Nelson Mandela was held in prison here).

Today I’m working at Pearson again. The children will be off pretty early today (12:00) because the exams are starting tomorrow and the school offers them a chance to make their day more useful and study at home. The exam period for this term will take two weeks and after that they’ll have a winter break of three weeks. You know it hasn’t been such a convenient time for me at Pearson High, I arrived just in the middle of the exams and winter break. So my activities are far more less then I had imagined before I came here. Anyway the positive thing about it is, that I have the chance to get to know more about South-African education, I get to meet teachers and talk a lot of English…which was of course my purpose too of this whole trip. I’m able to compare it to the Dutch system and develop myself more as a teacher trough experiencing different subjects and lessons.
Today I spoke with the Art teacher, she was really nice…showed me here classroom with all the beautiful paintings her students had made. Good work! Man I’ve seen real masterpieces! I think some of those students have great potential to grow into something big and to become real professionals!

The Art teacher came up with an idea, to do a project together after the winterbreak...because then we’ll definitely have more time and a new term will be about to start too. The exam period will be over and all the students will be able to focus more on new things. So the idea was, that I produce something and present this to the students during one week, in the Art classes. She came up with an idea to do something with poetry. Which I think is a good idea, the next few weeks I’m going to search the Internet for a theme and a proper poem, which fits their level of competence. I want the students to do something visual with the poem, they’ll have to read it and give their own interpretation to it by painting something. I haven’t figured everything out yet, but I’m working on it. I’ll keep you posted on my blog.
I was quite pleased that she came up with this idea to work together even though Art isn’t my subject…I do believe that we can mean a lot to each other, I can work on poetry and she can work on the Art part. Poetry wasn’t really my biggest quality at college…so I think I’ve got lots of homework to do hahah! Plenty of time!!

Anyway something else, Bethany (the American intern) is leaving tomorrow or actually tomorrow will be her last day. She’s going back to the U.S.A on Tuesday, too bad cause I really like her. I got to know her a bit more the last few days cause we spent lots of time together during the breaks…chatting about SA, Holland, the U.S.A, our personal lives and of course love and boyfriends! I’ll miss you Bethany, don’t goooooo!!! hehe..

So how’s life over there guys? The weather is still going downwards ha?
When does the summer holiday starts??
Ah and D…sorry I thought you went off to New York instead of Chicago…the last one must be cool too! Man I’m jealous!! Whished that I could come to see you guys all, Iloon in New Zealand, Antonio, Aziz, Roger and Heliana in the UK, D and Sanne in the US… and me of course in SA…! Wanted to go to Pretoria (it’s in the northern part of SA) to meet Gitte and Marthe too, but I don’t think I’ll have the time nor the money hahaha since I’m not sitting on millions and they’re still not growing on my back!

Ok guys I’m off now…there is going to be a staff meeting and I’m not quite sure Ii I’m obligated to go. So I’ll see you tomorrow…and will let you know all my wild adventures :-p

You know here at Pearson High they have thoughts and successes of the week hanging on the wall….it’s a nice way of introducing a new week, every week has a different spiritual line to motivate and activate pupils. So I thought it would be cool to write every thought of the week on my blog.

This weeks thought: if you do not have much, do much with what you can!
You know this line is really made for the South-African people.

I’ll try to tell you some more about sports and assemblies tomorrow…cause I’m running out of time right now.

See ya,
A South-African kiss from tak

2006-05-31T11:57:00.000+01:00

Pearson High

This week I started working at Pearson High. Martijn dropped me off on Monday and made sure that I was in good hands. It’s good that Pearson is just around the block, it won’t cost me much trouble much trouble getting there. The last few days I walked to my work which is really unique here..most of the time you need a car or public transport.
As soon as I arrived the secretary took me to the common room where all the teachers were drinking their coffee and tea. The principal welcomed and introduced me to the rest of the teachers during his morning speech...I felt a bit like a famous professor from the middle east after he introduced me, all eyes were on me hahah! Their morning get together is a bit different compared to Holland. Over here the principal stands behind a high table (all the teachers sit in their chair) and opens the day with a agenda, he discusses all the important issues of the week and gives the teachers a pep-talk (don’t know the English word). He clarifies problems that may occur and how to solve them. It was quite interesting to listen too! Even I had gotten more motivated to work!

After my warm welcome, everyone went off to their classes. One of the teachers came to pick me up to give me a guided tour through the school. Went to see the library, assembly room, lunch hall, different classes. The first day at Pearson I observed three lessons, one geography lesson and two English lessons. During all three lessons I introduced myself to the students and gave them the chance to ask me questions..which of course everyone did..everything is better then paying attention to Englis classes haha:-p…most of the students were asking me questions about Amsterdam, smoking weed..they were asking me about it while they all knew the answers hehe! We also talked about the World cup soccer, about Van the Man haha..even in SA he’s a famous and beloved person. I think he’s to arrogant…of course I didn’t say that…they would have kicked my ass hahaha!
Made lots of friends after I talked to them about soccer, it’s the best way to get to know new people…put yourself in their area of interest. Always good!
You know the funny thing about the relationship between student and teacher here in SA is the way the students give their teachers respect. Everytime they speak to their teacher they end their sentence with the word Ma’am. So much respect is given to the teachers, no one dares to put on a big mouth. Everyone minds his tongue.
Another thing I’ve noticed during the lessons here is that when the children enter the classroom they sit down..which I think is normal. But when the teacher enters they all stand up and say hello. So different then in Holland, you know…I came to realize that I like this way more.

Aah and of course the uniforms, they are so lovely! It reminds me of England and Scotland. Their way of teaching here is similar to those two countries. I made some pics of the students and the school..but still don’t know how to upload these. Those can give you a good impression of my whole story.
During the day the children have only two breaks…in Holland we have three breaks…it also depends on your schedule of course. You know I’ve got so much stuff too write about that I don’t even know where to start…I’ve seen a lot and noticed lots of differences. Another important thing, which I consider the most important one is the language they speak over here.
I thought that everyone was only speaking English or more English then African in PE. But to be honest, I’ve been here for about 5 days now and from what I’ve heard and seen I can say that both languages are spoken just as often. Most of the time they are mixing English and African words…so you get funny sentences. I haven’t had a hard time understanding it, because African sounds and looks like the Dutch language…which is not really strange if you look back in history. Here in South-Africa they call their language Afrikaans…just like we say it in Dutch. Even when they speak English to each other they keep calling the language Afrikaans and not the English word African.
I sometimes speak Dutch to my colleges because they are so fond of our language hehe!

At Pearson High they offer their students bilingual education…so both languages. I really had to get used to this during classes, sometimes a teacher asks a question in English and the student replies in Afrikaans.

Oh damn the bell is ringing to I gotte go…meet up with the other teachers.
I’ll try to upload more posts this week…if I get the time!

Going out for dinner tonight with the Dutch students from the Khaya organization, probably to a restaurant with some live music so it should be good!!

I’ll tell you some more about the South-African food later…
Ah and I went to see MEMOIRS of a GEISHA yesterday with my housemate Justine(she’s from England) and some artie friends of her:-p…Great film! I’ll tell you more about that later too!

Sun is shining jihaaaa!!!
Byeeeebyeeeee…miss you all…and if you get the chance go and see Memoirs of a…..

Lin you wanted to see it, right??
And D…how’s New York?? Let me know when you’re getting back to Holland!
I heard that the weather has been awful in Holland hihihihaha….think I’m going to drink my cocktail in the sun right now…

2006-05-31T07:36:00.001+01:00

A great weekend after all

My first weekend here in South-Africa has been just great! I was feeling a bit lonely Friday and Saturday, couldn’t help but think of Holland, my family and friends. In the beginning I really had a hard time with getting used to everything and everyone over here. But I’m doing much better right now! Saturday evening I went out with the girls, Marinthea, Vicky and Hanli..Vicky also took three other guys with her that she knew from college. We first went to a bowling center which was really fun and everyone who knows me well also knows that I’m really terrible in playing bowl, I’ve done it a few times in Holland and I hated it. Here in South-Africa my bowling qualities seem to be much betterJ
We later went to a coffeeshop at the Boardwalk, this is a huge complex including shops, pubs, restaurants, a casino etc. Sat there for a while, chatting, laughing and eating (pancake with caramel, ice cream and banana in it,yammie yammie!) which was fantastic!
The guys dropped us off later that evening, had a drink at our place and went back home after that.

My Sunday seemed to be boring at first, until I received a message from Elizabeth, she’s a Dutch student also staying here in PE. So after speaking to each other on the phone she and Clyde (also a Dutch student) came to pick me up and we went to a small market next to the beach. A market were they sold typical South-African stuff, it was impressing to see the products that they were selling but also the people all of them were black..they seem to lead a poor life here.
I bought a souvenir at this market, I felt so much pity for these people…but was also amazed by their attitude..even when they are poor they still can find the strength or energy to be happy and enjoy life, accept their life the way it is.

Later that evening we went to a jazz-club which was near the beach, this was really amazing, if you looked out of the window you could experience a great view of the wild sea. An everlasting impression.

We sat there for a while, spent lots of time chatting and I drank lots of delicious cocktailsJ!! Two hours later we received company from the other Dutch students, they are all doing their internship here arranged by Khaya. We spent a great evening at the jazz club, had a delicious meal later on and listened to jazz. It was great fun to go out with them, was almost afraid that I would get bored during these next 3 months, but after this weekend I’m all positive again! We immediately made a plan for this week, this Wednesday we’re going out for dinner, Friday we’ll visit the townships with the whole Khaya group and on Saturday we’re having a goodbye party for Klaas(nl student), he’s going back to Holland next week. So busy busy!!

Gotte go now..speak to you guys soon! Kiss from tak!

I was waiting for lots of comments from you all...so do your homework!!! :-p

2006-05-30T08:56:00.000+01:00

hi guys...

I wanted to upload some photos..but I don't really know how that works..can anybody help me????iloontje..you used to do this for me..can you please tell me how to do it?
thanks!

2006-05-30T08:46:00.000+01:00

Some facts about Port Elizabeth-Eastern Cape

Port Elizabeth – commonly known as "PE" and bills itself as the “ the Friendly City - has over a million citizens and is - after Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town - the fourth-biggest city in South Africa. The seaport is the third-biggest, since PE has become an important container terminal. Otherwise PE lives largely from the car-manufacturing industry. Ford, Daimler Chrysler, General Motors and VW (Uitenhage) have their production plants here. The wool export is also important.

PE has a modern airport and is fully linked to the South African Airways network. In close proximity to the town centre there are very nice beaches, particularly Humewood and Summerstrand(where I live!!)
There are also some enormous townships around PE and Uitenhage, home to all the problems and violence associated with poverty and bad housing. This is far from the complete picture though, as the excellent township tours in PE will show..which I’m going to see this Friday!

The locals call Port Elizabeth ‘Ten-Minute-City’ — it’s 10 minutes by car from the airport to downtown; 10 minutes from downtown to the beach and to three out of four local golf courses; and 10 minutes from the hotels to the big shopping centres. Port Elizabeth (PE) is one of three cities in Nelson Mandela Metropole (est. pop. 1.5m). In PE itself, most live in north-eastern Port Elizabeth, an area of townships or suburbs and industrial plants outside the city centre with its busy port. South-western Port Elizabeth includes the main tourist hotel area, and is more like a small town than a big city — big parks, open spaces and a wide stretch of marvellous beach!

The area has great ethnic diversity. The surroundings on Eastern Cape have a rich legacy of ancient civilisations, pioneers, turmoil — and peace. The area was the first place where the Khoisan and Xhosa peoples met the British, Dutch and Germans. The first people to live in the Eastern Cape were the San. Early in the second millennium AD, the San were pushed into the mountains and semi-desert by the Khoi, also known as the Hottentots.
The Khoi-san tribes were the earliest group of people indigenous to Algoa Bay. The Nguni, forefathers of the Xhosa-speaking people, arrived in about 800AD. The first Europeans to visit the Eastern Cape came in 1488 (namely the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias). In the mid 1700s the Dutch Trekboers began moving in. And in 1820, four thousand British settlers landed in Algoa Bay to become the first permanent British residents of the area.

The parks, newspapers, hotels, churches and pubs they established are South Africa's oldest. In that first year of British settlement, Sir Rufane Donkin, the Governor of South Africa (then known as Cape Colony), named the township in memory of his late wife, Elizabeth.
As the landing place of the 1820 settlers it boasts some of South Africa’s finest Art Noveau style architecture.

Port Elizabeth was one of the earliest commercial cities in South Africa, trading in wool, mohair and ostrich feathers. Xhosa, Indians and Malaysians migrated to the city to work and trade. This ‘rainbow’ community lived together, divided along economic and social lines rather than ethnic group. However, when the Group Areas Act was legislated in 1960, this resulted in forced relocation under the "aphartheid law" among the non-white population.

The 3 languages most used in the area are Xhosa, English and Afrikaans. Xhosa, the ‘clicking’ language, is the most common. PE is fondly called "Ibhayi" by Xhosa speakers, "Die Baai" by Afrikaners and "The Bay" by English speakers. But as in most parts of South Africa, English is the business language.

Eastern Cape people were among the strongest opponents of Apartheid, and many of the country’s current political leaders come from these parts. Nelson Mandela was born and educated here. The current prime minister, Thabo Mbeki, also hails from the Eastern Cape. (The main avenue in the old Central part of Port Elizabeth, Govan Mbeki Avenue, is named after Thabo Mbeki's father, today buried in one of the city's townships.)

Port Elizabeth's rich cultural heritage guarantees history lovers a unique insight into the region's remarkable past. The city and its environs are an ethnic mosaic on the gateway to the Eastern Cape.

2006-05-27T12:35:00.000+01:00

by the way..this is where I'm going to work the next few weeks check this site out: http://www.pearsonhs.co.za/

2006-05-27T11:04:00.000+01:00

hi all!!

After having experienced a long journey with two pit-stops..one in London Heathrow and one in Johannesburg..I finally arrived in South-Africa yesterday..my plane landed in Port Elizabeth around 10:30. Marthijn (my contactperson from Khaya, a South-African internship organisation) and two other Dutch students came to pick me up from the airport..including videocamera..to record my arrival..hahaha for the first time in my life I had the feeling that i was a celeb!Anyway so I met Marthtijn..felt strange cause we have been mailing eachother for about 2 months and this was the first time that we met face to face..which was really fun and felt a bit like home..cause he's also Dutch.
I was immediately invited by the two other students to come to their party that evening, i decided later not to go cause I was so tired from the whole trip and i really felt like I needed my rest. So after Marthijn picked me up from the airport we did a bit sightseeing by car through Port Elizabeth, to give me a slight impression how everyhting looks like, the people, the differances and nice places to go too. We also went to the beach and sat their for a while to have a drink. the first thing that I noticed after parking the car was that, there are people waiting here at the parking line..to watch over your car while your away. How luxereous is that??!!
anyway..after a while he took me to my home where I'll be staying the next 3 months, which is in Summerstrand..a great place to live, it's known as one of the upper classes neighbourhoods of PE(Port Elizabeth)..if you don't feel rich at all..you will as soon as you drive through the streets of Summerstrand haha:-p...so after arriving their I met..Marcella(she owns the place and lives next door) and Roger(her son), both were really nice and friendly. They showed me my room and gave a short guide through their property..they have such a lovely place..a big garden..perfect location for parties, aah last but not least they also have a swimming pool in their backyard..how cool is that??!you don't have to suprised by this because everyone here hase one, it's more dodgy if you don't have one and you need too because of the high temperatures. I must say that the weather has been really nice during the day..but as soon as the dark comes..the temperatures rise immediately. so I received two extra blankets..to put them on my bed..and i can tell you that they were more then welcome haha! I was freezing my ass of during the night.

I also met all my flatmates (8)yesterday they're all from differant countries, Vicky (a chinese girl) and Marinthea (south-african girl) were the first two who showed me around a bit..they told me all the ins and outs about living here together and how everything is arranged for students. I was even updated about the latest gossip stories in our house haha!They really took me in as if they have known me for years..which was really nice..gives me a pleasant feeling and it's defenitaly a warm welcome.
Marinthea and I drove off to the local mall to buy some food for this week. even in the supermarket (pick 'n pay) the South-Africans offer their customers 200% service, I was busy with paying the bill and while I was doing that there was a woman putting my stuff in bags so I didn't have to do it myself. pretty new to me!
aah and I almost forgot to tell you that we also have a maid at our place..she works from monday till friday from 9:00 till 15:00 and she's responsible for all the cleaning in our house/rooms.

So I guess this was it for today, hope that this gives you all a slight impression of my life here!I'll try to keep my blog updated as much as i can..it's a pity that my flatmates don't have internet otherwise I could upload posts several times a day..too bad! Hopefully I'll have the chance to do it at Pearson High..I'm starting this monday at 7:45. Marthijn is coming to pick me up at 7:30, it's my first day that's why he's coming with me...I'm a bit nervous..don't know what to expect from everything..hope that all will go well! of course it will!

Ah and tonight Vicky, Marinthea, some other South-African friends and I are going out..we wanted to go to the cinema first to see The X-men!jihaa! maybe later we will have a few drinks at the pub..
I'll let you know how it was...

And tomorrow I'm going to the church with Vicky and Marinthea, they both are doing differant activities for the Christian Church..Marinthea has prepared some songs with the choir so since I have nothing to do on sunday..they asked me to come with them!Hope to meet some new people..and have a great time.

gotte go now, have to buy a phone card and do some other stuff...

talk to you soon!!bye byeee and miss you all!
lots of hugs and kisses:-)