The Okavango Delta

Elephants From Cruise

Me With Elephants In Background

Giraffe

Me with Zebra

Vic Falls (only pictures I could get since it was so wet)

Springbok (2 Females and 1 Male- notice birds on back)

Elephants

Hippos

Elephant Family

Elephants On Game Walk

Elephant on Game Walk (not zoomed)

In Mocoro

Plane Into Delta (Dad: It was a 6 seater)

Week 1: Okavango Delta (South Africa, Botswana and Zambia)

My trip started off with a very successful flight to Joburg. My luggage arrived, I was on time and I easily met up with Gail, Trilby’s (who I work with in Prep) stepmum who generously allowed me to stay with her and her family during my stay over in Johannesburg. I had a fantastic day and night in Joburg with Gail and Jeremy. I met some of their family (including a very new grandson!) and was able to Skype mum and dad (including webcam) which was very exciting given it is the first time they have been able to “see” me since I have been away. That night we went out to a traditional African restaurant where we ate from the buffet- my favourite being some of the shrimp starters, the ribs and the shrimp chicken curry. I also got my face painted and had Melva pudding for dessert, a very traditional cape Malay dish. Overall a very good visit to Joburg- Gail showed me tons of pictures of where I was going and got me very excited to go although the nice big bed, bathtub and amazing hospitality made it very difficult to leave. Luckily I am able to stay in touch with Gail as she is Tilby’s stepmum- tomorrow I am joining them for lunch!

Day one we met up at a backpackers in Joburg and headed for Palapye in Botswana. The first day was pretty uneventful (thank god for my ipod!!). As we drove it did get increasingly hotter and more barren. We crossed the boarder without any problem and arrived at our campsite by dark where we pitched tents had spaghetti for dinner, a quick pre-trip chat and then off to bed due to a very early departure the next day.

The next day we woke up early (for a shot period of time- I think everyone was asleep in the truck within 10 min of leaving). We drove all the way to the Maun airport where we had lunch in the parking lot and then hopped on 5-seater planes that flew us into the delta. The flight lasted about 20 min and really was amazing. We saw some game from the plane (hippos, elephants and giraffes) and it was especially incredible to see the delta stretching out under us and watching as the scenery below changed. The flight was over way too soon and we landed on a sandy landing strip seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Then we took a boat ride along the delta to our campsite. It was very cool being on the water of the delta but since it has rained so much the grass is really high so you can’t see too much. We arrived at our “home” for the next 2 days called Gunns Camp. We spent more of the afternoon sitting on the front porch looking over the delta and had an absolutely amazing dinner of ribs (the best I have ever had… better than baton rouge.)

Another early wake up on Day 3 in order to go on our morning Game walk. We were poled in macoros by our guides to another island where we started out walk. At first we didn’t see too much, a few springbok and a kadoo but then we started tracking this elephant (by its footprints and many droppings) and eventually came upon it. We were able to get really close and take tons of pictures. It even turned towards us because it could smell us but luckily didn’t feel threatened and eventually wandered off. That was pretty much the highlight of the game walk. We also saw a black mamba which I did not consider a highlight. After the 3 hour walk we headed back to camp for showers and reading. At 4 we headed back out in the macoros to look for hippos and eventually found some but they were pretty far off. Many people don’t know but hippos are actually the most dangerous and aggressive animals in the Okavango so we weren’t able to get too close. The afternoon was followed by another great dinner and some star gazing on the porch.

Day 4 we had another morning game walk. The biggest part of this walk was coming upon a mother elephant and her baby. They were quite far away (which was good!) and we were able to get some nice pictures. Then, all of a sudden, our guides start freaking out and grabbing us and running since they just realized the father elephant was less than 2 m behind us and starting to get very aggressive. Unfortunately I have no pictures of that elephant since I was running. After getting safely away we realized we had come upon the herd of elephants and were pretty much surrounded. It was cool though we saw lots of families and little baby elephants with their trunks in the air. We watched them for a bit and followed for awhile before heading back to camp for some relaxing, a cooked breakfast and our flight out. The rest of the day wasn’t too exciting. Another beautiful flight with lots of hippos and then a fairly short drive to Gweta where we stayed at a really nice campsite with a huge pool.

After a bit of a rough night which included my lovely roommate drinking too much, being sick on my bag and forgetting to pay her bar tab we left bright and early for Chobe National Park. Mid-Afternoon we went on a game drive through the park. It was pretty amazing- we saw literally about 200 elephants, a couple giraffe, lots of springbok/kudoo, buffalo, crocodiles, monkeys and hippos. It was awesome to see the animals that close- especially the baby elephants. No lions, leopards or rhinos though- will have to save those for Mum and Dad’s visit. After our drive we got on a big barge for our sunset cruise. We saw possibly even more animals on this. It was really nice because all the elephants we by the water at this point (happy hour?) so we got to see them swimming and splashing. We also got really close to groups of hippos which was cool but they are quite aggressive so a big scary. As the cruise ended we needed to sign out at the National Park Office (small building by the water). We pulled up at the dock and found the office being completely trashed by a group of monkeys as everyone else had already gone home for the day. When we got back to the campsite we all rugged up and had dinner and went to bed fairly early (luckily a more low-keyed night).

Day 6 we woke up and drove to the ferry crossing from Botswana to Zambia. Boarder crossing was pretty uneventful although expensive! (more so for Americans- 130$ US) The day was incredibly hot (maybe because we were getting more northern) and after a very sandy drive we arrived at our final campsite- a pretty fancy place in fact with many pools and a really nice restaurant overlooking the Zambezi river. In the afternoon we gathered out plastic bags and headed to Vic Falls. It was actually one of the most amazing and beautiful things I have ever seen. The falls are massive and the spray is so huge that you aren’t even able to see the falls at times let alone the bottom or the river. We had a great time running around although a little perilous at times when we were out very unsubstantial bridges that were covered in water and very slippery. We spent some time watching people bungee jump off the Zambian-Zimbabwe bridge and eventually headed back to the craft market completely soaked. Our guides were meant to pick us up at 4:30 but didn’t arrive until 5:30 in taxis since the truck had gotten stuck between the Zam and Zim boarders and could not be moved. (Including ALL our stuff). So we got back to camp with nothing, completely soaked. What else is there to do but sit at the bar? Eventually the bar turned into a yummy dinner and by the end they had delivered all our stuff in a pick up. Some people had wallets and purses stolen so it was a bit of a subdued night.

The next morning- as we still had no truck and therefore no food- Nomad bought as breakfast at the restaurant which everyone was quite psyched about. We had a chilled out morning and then headed to town and to the airport. I was originally a bit sad I had no time to do the extra activities but the water was too high for white water rafting so in the end it worked out well. I arrived at the airport a good 2 hours before my flight and managed to check in without any problems. About half an hour before my flight is due to leave I can see that there still is no airplane. They announce about 15 min before my departure time that my flight is an hour and a half late. This seriously jeopardizes my connecting flight from Joburg to Cape Town. When we finally do take off from Livingston we are running 2 hours late. The flight was very nice though- since I had checked in so early I got the exit and therefore had tons of leg room. We landed in Joburg with exactly 1 hour until my next flight. Joburg airport is so massive we had to bus from where we landed to the baggage pick up, wait for baggage, go through customs, and RUN all the way to domestic departures with my huge bag on my back and my small bag on my front. It was quite embarrassing really since a bunch of people (who wanted a tip) started running with me and clearing the way. I really didn’t know where I was going plus it was really far and 3 floors up so when I arrived at the check in it was only 25 min till my departure. I cried valiantly but he wouldn’t let me on so then I had to go on standby for the next flight which put me into major stress mode. Basically there was a 50/50 chance of me getting on the 6pm flight and if it was full I would have to wait till the 7:15 flight the next morning (my trip started the next day at 8). There were many panicked phone calls to marina in the GAP wing and Mum and Dad at home and much pacing. I waited at the gate so I would be first in line and was actually very aggressive about the whole matter. Luckily I got on and had a pretty uneventful flight (although I was so happy I was super friendly and made best friends with the lady beside me). Marina and Jaqui came to pick meet me at the airport- a silver lining to being on standby, your luggage comes out first! And I returned home for some serious fast laundry and catch up with marina.

All in all an amazing trip- but definitely made me extra grateful to be traveling with marina next (and that she is normal!)

It's Almost Holidays!!

Goldfish DJ... with the cool Dj-ing thing (read on to understand)

Goldfish Concert at Kirsenbosch

Table Moutain

The City Bowl- You can see school in this picture it is just down (left i guess) of the big field of grass- you can see the smaller field and the red roofs/ white buildings and maybe even the swimming pool if you zoom in.

Me on Table mountain Looking down on the city

Heather + Marina (our backs is facing the range of table mountain)

Camps bay side of Table mountain- an excellent run-in photo if I may say!

Camps Bay/ Lions head

Proud

Hello Snowy Ottawa (and other parts of Canada),

I am hearing about and seeing lots of pictures of all the snow you guys are having at home and am kinda glad I am missing the shovelling. Hope you are enjoying it and remembering not to hold your breath while lifting those heavy shovel-fulls!

We had pretty much the opposite weather here in cape town. We had 5 extremely hot days- hot enough that afternoon sport was cancelled and everyone just went swimming, followed by 3 days of overcast/ drizzle which everyone takes as a nice break and gets all exciting about wearing closed toed shoes and jumpers.

We had a fantastic weekend that was jam-packed. On Friday Kady, Franzi and I went over to one of the PE teacher’s house to hang out and chat for a bit. She is living with her 21 year old cousin and we all got on very well. We ended up sitting and chatting for most of the night and then heading out to town. Saturday was a beautiful day but very hot! Since it was perfectly clear Marina and I decided it would be the day to go up table mountain in the cable car. Instead of cabbing to the cableway we decided to walk because “it looked quite close” and we are cheap. Needless to say it looked MUCH closer than it was. We ended up climbing up there on somewhat of a back country route and when we finally got to the cable car we needed to sit and rest for a bit. (But it was free- so totally worth it!) The cable car ride is amazingly beautiful. It is a round cable car and the floor spins so everyone has the same amount of view. My only complaint was that the trip must have only taken 5 min which really downplayed the pain we went through climbing it.

Once we got to the top it was even more amazing. Since it is so narrow at that part you can walk from either side or to the end. On one side you have a view of lion’s head and camps bay, the other direction there is town, the waterfront and devils peak. If you look further along the mountain you can see the ridges stretching along the coast. It really was so beautiful and as marina says I did get a little camera happy. (I have many pictures- too many to post here!) We ended up sitting on a rock overlooking the city of cape town eating our picnic and trying not to roast in the sun. We spent about 2 hours wandering around up there and then headed back down and feeling rejuvenated decided to walk home! After our hike back to school (we tried to take a direct route- terrible idea and extremely embarrassing, we felt like we were going to be on the 6 o’clock news) we lay facedown in the swimming pool until dinner.

On Sunday Marina and I joined Sara (the PE teacher’s cousin I met on Friday) and went to a concert with her and her friends in Kirstenbosch (a beautiful botanical garden that features afternoon concerts all summer). It was a really cool vibe- everyone sitting around on picnic blankets and you get to bring your own food/drinks so it was pretty much like everyone sharing and getting a bit of everything. The band we ended up seeing was Goldfish- the one we saw for my birthday except they were even better this time because they had a full band and a couple different singers. It’s a different style that usual but quite big here and was soo much fun. Once the music started everyone got up and we ended up being quite close to the front since the bishops boys went and they are big fans so quite intense about being as close as possible. I have many pictures! The coolest part is that the DJ guy has a new mixer that shoots beams of light up so instead of moving the record around all he has to do is move his hands above it and it manipulates the light which changes the sounds. very cool! They are touring in the states soon so you all may be hearing of them!

Monday we went to a braai at Bishops since one of the stooges- George is going home to England for the week (yes… the week) to look at Unis. It was good fun and we made the most fantastic lamb. Everyone MUST try a braai- much better than bbqs but a lot more work. We are planning on having a big one at St Cyps since we have a braai right beside our pool. A lot of other Gaps were there so it was nice to catch up with everyone. (I was the only person not from England, Australia or South Africa- very much the minority)

Tuesday we worked at the Jr. Interschools Gala- a BIG deal with was pretty cute since some of the kids are tiny and we know them quite well now. Unfortunately we came last (NOT a very athletic school) but the girls had fun and did a really cute cheer at the end. Plus the head of the Prep school- mrs. Woolley cam to watch them and they were all very excited about that!
Tonight Marina and I are going out with Nicole Uys’ mum- Charlene who is taking us around town and then having us over for dinner- steak is on the menu- wahoooooo!!! And then tomorrow Uncle Eric and Auntie Marlene are swinging by for a quick visit and then we are all heading up to a beach cottage up north. It is supposed to be beautiful and we are really looking forward to a relaxing weekend with good food and being able to sleep past nine and still be able to eat. Also the cottage that we are going to is situated on the warm coast so we will be able to lie in the sun and actually get in the water without getting a brainfreeze! SO excited to see someone from home- they are coming a little early too so we will be able to take them on a quick tour of the school, but obviously no where near the gap wing since there is a man with us.

Next week is looking quite hectic- Monday is St. Paddys day so we are heading down the an irish pub in town that plays terrific live music- green beer is on the menu. (Kev, Em, Joan, Peter, Mum, Dad and Geoff- remember the days of green sprite? I feel like we should all be going to Jack Astors and the kids should be getting the nice booth.) Then Tuesday we are going out on a Gr 2 outing to Simon’s Town (to see the penguins, have a picnic etc) which should be fun and I am excited to see the penguins again (not to mention small children around penguins). Then Wednesday we are going back to the orphanage Mama Amelia’s to have a pre-holiday visit and then Marina leaves Thursday morning at 4am and I have a couple days here and then leave Saturday morning.

I will give a quick blurb about holidays:

I leave the 22nd a fly to Joburg where I am staying with Trilby’s parents (a great relief since Joburg is possibly one of the most dangerous cities in the world and is known as more dangerous than the rest of Africa). Luckily she has offered to pick me up and drive me where I need to go so I will be in very good hands. I leave the next Monday at 8 am on a overlander trip to the Okavango and the Delta. I am doing it by myself but it is Uni holiday time as well so there should be lots of people my age. The first day we cross into Botswana and spend that night camping on the bank of the Lotsane River. The second day we travel to the Maun where we board a plane that takes us into the delta. We spend 2 days in the Delta, traveling along the river, going on nature walks and camping under the stars. The next day we got to The Makgadikgadi Pans National Park which was once a lake and follow that by going to Chobe National Park (2nd biggest National Park in Africa and renowned for its high population of migratory elephants. We get to go on a boat cruise and game drives and hopefully see the big 5! The 6th Day we cross into Zambia by ferry and see Victoria Falls. I think I will opt to take the optional Zambezi Sunset cruise because it is supposed to be amazing (Unfortunately it is also paid in American dollars L ). The 7th Day is a free day where nothing is including so instead of digging further into my bank account I am going to spend the day traveling back home to Cape Town.

The following Day- 30th of March Marina and I start our overlander trip to Namibia. Luckily it starts in Cape Town fairly close to school so we will be on our on turf. This trip includes a day hiking and canoeing the orange river and 2 nights sleeping on the river bank. We also travel to the Fish River Canyon which is meant to be amazingly beautiful. The fourth day we continue north and arrive at the Sesriem Canyon where we set up camp and do a hike. The next morning we wake up early in order to hike Dune 45 for sunrise- supposed to be a life changing experience. On our way to Swakopmund we cross the Tropic of Capricorn and then are given a day for free activities- I think we are going to try Sandboarding! Luckily Namibia takes Rands so it will be much more economical. We finish off the trip with one extra night in the hostel and then a 19 hour bus trip back to Cape Town. (lucky I have the entire 3 seasons of Greys Anatomy on my ipod!) and arrive just in time for the beginning of term! **Mrs. Clouthier: on the last day of term we get to go see a wild like preserve of Flamingos!! I will be sure to take lots of pictures for you!

That’s all for now- Uncle Eric and Auntie Marlene arrive in one hour and I still have to pack/organize a couple things. Looking forward to a good last week before some amazing holidays. The jr. Marines are in town for the week so town has been pretty funny and I think my French is improving by the minute!

Love to you all

Xx Heather

The End of Feb and Beginning of March

Heather and Desmond Tutu

Before Matric Dance

A converted Canadian

Mungie and Heather at Global Breakthrough (He was slightly over dressed!)

DJs at Global Breakthrough

Marina and I before going out!

I am writing you all from a very sunny and muggy cape town today- March so far (yes, all three days of it) has been beautiful and they are predicting a whole month of sun and lovely temperatures :) :) Supposed to be an improvement over the EXTREME heat of Feb! Today is also the beginning of parent-teacher interviews- Horray! (just as bad for the teachers as the students I have now realized!) so everyone is very busy and we, as the Gaps, get to pick up the slack. I had my first experience running a grade 4 classroom this afternoon... very interesting to say the least and although they were supposed to be quietly working without interruptions for 2 hours I still read none of my book!

Last week was not too eventful. However Friday was a very exciting day! On Friday morning I had the honour of attending a service held by Desmond Tutu at St. George's Cathedral in Town. I was accompanied by my Boss, Jenn Wallace (thankfully! apart from not knowing where I was going in the church I also realized cape town is almost as dangerous early in the morning as it is at night- the logic being that people are more likely to be alone and have more money on them than at the end of the night). We were part of an intimate (and international!) group that gathered in the lady chapel where the service was held. Sitting in the front row (there only was one row) next to Archbishop Desmond Tutu as he performs a service was a pretty unreal experience. My favourite part was during the service when you get up and shake hands with everyone and he went to each person individually and spoke to them. I was lucky enough to talk to both him and his assistant, Mrs. Browne who were VERY kind and welcoming and of course I got a picture (Jenn took one by an accident before we were ready and it was QUITE frowned upon!). Also his granddaughter came on exchange to St. Cyps from her school in the states for a year so he is very affiliated with the school and spoke very highly of it which was nice. Jenn and I followed up our cultural morning with chocolate muffins and a much needed catch up on how work is going.

That morning was also the Gr 1-3 gala (AKA DANGEROUS!) so i got over there pretty fast to lifeguard.. some very close calls. It was really fun though and the kids loved it. Pretty cute to see 10 little gr 1s doing the "doggy paddle race" and having 27 parents video taping the event. We also finished off with an impromptu staff race which was me against the PE staff- all fully clothed. I am pretty proud to say I won- although I think it has something to do with me and marina's daily laps.

We had a fun and relaxing weekend with a couple trips to town and a night out at this big DI-ing event called global breakthrough- where up and coming djs get together and perform. It was pretty cool since they are becoming like world-renound and Marina and I felt we had been very cultured in house music by the end. It was also one of the boarding matron- Carmen's 23rd birthday so she had a pool party and braai on sunday which was a good time all around.

Tonight I am going out with Nicole Uys (Girl who goes to st cyps who did her exchange at sedbergh) and her family for her birthday dinner. I am quite excited to escape boarding house food and to see all her pictures of Canada. (i am giving her some mayple sugar candies for her birthday- she talks about how much she misses them all the time!)

This weekend is lookign pretty packed- we are hoping for a clear day one day so we can go up table mountain in the cable car. Also spending one day with the librarian who Marina works with and is going to show us some parts of town that are hard for us to see otherwise. We are trying to get some of the "warmer temperature" things in this weekend as Uncle Eric and Auntie Marlene are coming the next weekend and we will be busy with them and then its holidays!!! (VERY EXCITED!!)

Alright off for a swim- Hope you enjoy.. Thanks for the comments, not getting too many. perhaps only 5 people acctually read this blog??

xx Heather

Matric Dance

The famous tractor arrival

Matrics arriving on the back of a flower truck

A rather large dress

My favourite dress

This date stalled the car 3 times driving up

Hippy Van (and matching outfit)

.... A little over the top? NEVER

The hall... amazing

.. Again

Enterance

Marina and I dressed up

Back again, but not too much to report. Starting to feel a lot more home-y here and relaxed, less exciting new things to talk about. Last week we had a very low key time. Just hung out, watched lots of Grey's anatomy, read (I am trying my best with Wuthering Heights) had a couple nights out and did a lot of swimming. (Marina and I have a new laps routine we do every day- quite impressed with ourseleves!). Friday we weren't feeling too good (rather big night on wednesday we were still recovering from) so we ended up renting the 3rd CD of the Tudors season 1 and watching in on the HUGE tv in the matric tv room- a great series i reccomend it.

Saturday was the day of the Matric Dance (aka prom) which is HUGE here- so big in fact that they have it now (2 months into their matric year) because the girls are so excited about it they are unable to concentrate- therefore having it now gets it out of the way. The gr 11 year organizes it for the gr 12s so they don't have to worry about it but there is an incentive to do a good job. A huge pink tent was erected on the hockey field but it blew down over night sending everyone into panic mode. We ended up going down and lending a hand moving all the chairs/tables/decorations/lights etc etc from the field to the Hall (the tables were VERY heavy). Once they were back on their feet Marina and I headed out to long street for lunch (lunchs at school on sat. are rather grim) and had an awesome time and amazing food that we had been missing. (especially nachos!). Plus we found out that the resturant has 1/2 price apps. and 13.50R coctails during happy hour so it may be a new hang out! We had a nice relaxing afternoon- swimming, a trip to camps etc and then got ready for the dance as we had been invited to the coctail party before hand and it was a formal event.

The coctail party ended up being more like "watch the arrivals" which are the BIGGEST part of the dance here. The majority of girls arrived in REALLY nice cars, one of the best being a pink thunderbird, but some went all out. There was a horse and carriage, a horse box (not sure if it was a compliment), A tractor (couple sitting in couch on forklift), matching harley davidsons, plenty of old fashioned cars, a hippy van, the hot white st. cyprians van (cough cough), an old fashioned bug etc etc. One girl arrived in a shopping cart with her date pushing her. The dresses we mostly beautiful- very big and fancy and in some cases quite low considering they had to introduce their dates and look their headmisstress in the eye- akward. The theme was an indian type thing- beatiful, as you can see by the pictures (dosen't even capture it!). roses everywhere and beautiful rugs and pillows etc etc. From what I hear the food was amazing and the after party (at this fancy club in camps) amazing.

We headed out into town since we were all dressed up and had a fun night that ended with us all sharing some delicious thai noodles! :)

Sunday we went to the beach with some friends we met through the bishops boys. It was a beautifully hot day and really nice to be out on the beach while it is NOT windy. Hung out and read on the beach and then headed back to bishops for hanging out and swimming and watching mtv because they have it there.

Back working today- felt like the weekend went too fast, but very nice to be out of the school for so much of it. Not too much going on this wee k except it is the head of prep's birthday so a party for that and I am very lucky (and greatful to Firdaus) to be attending a service held by Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Friday morning. Should be a life changing experience.

Marina and I celebrated because we fully booked our march holidays today- after all the stress flights are booked and buses are organized etc etc. (my bank account did not celebrate) just gotta work out my 12 hours in joburg... anyone know anyone?

Hope all is well in Ottawa- love to you all!

xx Heather

<-- Mama Amelia's kids waving/singing us goodbye-- soooo amazing

<-- cutest kids probably ever.

<-- Bo-Kaap houses

<-- Waza Cape Town Show

<-- The krew at WCT

<-- Athletics Day (notice no sunrise)

<-- Before the fancy club!

<-- 6 months old!!! awwww

Happy Valentines Day!!!!!!! Hope everyone had a very good Feb. 14th!

So much has happened since I last wrote which means a large entery is coming up! First of all I was informed that I was not talking about the actual work enough so here is the deal on that.....

We work 5 days a week- Monday to Friday starting at 8 am. A normal day would be: waking up at 7am, getting dressed/ viewable by the public by 7:15 and then going down to breakfast. I almost always have the same thing- yogurt, and a toast with jam and peanut butter and pineapple if it is a good day. Then we head back upstairs and do whatever for half an hour. On Monday's we have assembly which we have to be at by (we think 7:55 but we always seem to be late...) In that we sing a song, do the prayer for africa, SING the lord's prayer (have NOT gotten the hang of that!) and then the head talks and makes announcements. On Tuesday we have chapel which usually involved some sort of singing and talking. After those I head to the prep school where i work admin from 8ish-10:30. I work with two ladies- Trilby and Feroza who are awesome. It ends being a lot of answering the phone, doing some paperwork (including sorting through people who are applying to the school up to 2015!!!) and doing little jobs for them. Right now I am entering parents SMS numbers on the giant system (they SMS parents in order to inform them on stuff- cell phones are HUGE here). It can be a little dull but the time goes fast because I am always so busy and they are so nice it is always good.

At 10:30 we have a break for tea and sandwhiches. (i am conditioned to be so hungry at 10 which is a habit I am trying to break. ) Then after break I work in the Sport department. It usually entails running jobs for them, helping in class, dome admin etc. (i prefer prep) Then lunch at 12:30 and then from tuesday-thursday I continue to work in sport after lunch and on Monday's and Friday's i have started helping out in classes in the prep. Just helping kids with extra work, organizing more complicated classes like science and art and some marking. This is very new so i don't have too much of a status on it yet. After school I usually end up doing after school sport.... everyone still in high school appreciate your teachers!!!!!!!!! I like watchign tennis the best because i often convince marina to join me and we play a bit. I have also done soccer and swimming and I am goign to surfing next week which should be interesting. My day ends around 5 and I am free after that. Dinner is at 6 and we either go out or call it an earl-ish night and read. (marina works in the library so she is always brining good books back). So yeah.. thats it- we basically just help the teachers in whatever they need to do.

So since I last wrote we have done tons of stuff. We ended up going to that fancy club i mentioned and had a really good time. It was on the 31st floor of a HUGE building in the waterfront- so an amazing view of the whole city. Plus they were doing a free promotion thing so they had free beverages which was quite nice! and the bathrooms were amazing- hot towels etc. We met up with the bishops boys (it was Mungie's friends party) and had a really good night- although a little late! On Saturday we got up at 5:30 AM to get ready for the athletics gala that day. Lucky for us it was a cool morning! The gala was tons of fun- lots of work running around (It got blisteringly hot too!) but really nice to see all the girls and their spirit. There are three houses here- Darke(mine), Verinder and Anderson and they each had their own enterances/cheers etc. It was especially funny to see all the boyfriends lurking around- the ONLY time they are allowed on school campus since they can be passed off as brothers etc. Verinder won but it was ok because we won the swimming gala on thursday. It finished around 1230 so we had lunch and slept for most of the afternoon. That evening we went out in an area called Claremont which we hadn't been before and that was really fun but quite hectic! Sunday night was raining which was a HUGE relief!! Kady, Marina and I walked down to waterfront and tried mini-taxing (joint taxis eekk) and ended up seeing a movie- 27 dresses VERY cute.

On Monday we wen to see a show called Waza Cape Town- put on by kids our age whoa re part of this dance company for kids in difficult areas. It was in district 6- famous for being destroyed during apartheid and moving all the residence to the cape flats in one of the churches that was not destoryed (district 6 is still just bare fields as they do not know what to do with it- shows how recent everything was) We started off by having a traditional meal- rice, haddock, minced meat thing, salad, potatoes and a pudding (they call cake pudding here). Our table was right on the floor where they performed so we had front row seats. First they showed us how to "gumpa??" dance which we thought was hilarious until Jenn (our boss) forced us to get up and do it- akward can't refuse your boss so well. Needless to see i was awful and marina and i have bruises from kicking eachother. The show was really well done- a combo of dancing, singing and poems made into a story about the three lifestyles in cape town (black, white and coloured). They were amazingly talented. It felt very mascish- Jennifer C I would recommend a visit over to see it!

Wednesday we also had another cultural experience- we did a township tour with Jenn wallace our boss. It started off in this famous church in the middle of town that was Desmond Tutu's original church. Beautiful stained glass! Next we headed off to Bo-Kaap a coloured area in the cities- with very colourful buildings and cobbled streets. From there we drove around some of the aread of town comparing some of the nicer areas to the townships and seeing the huge walls they put on between them to distact the rich people from realizing what was going on. It is horrible to see the one road leading into the townships and how they are "strategically" built behind hills. We stayed mostly on the outskirts since Jenn says the gangs in there are more notorious than the gangs of New york. We also went to this orphanage in the townhips called Mama Amelia's (the woman who runs it) she is paid to keep 7 kids by the SA gouvernment and at our visit she had 140 kids ranging from new borns to 18 year olds. It was shocking to see the piles of laundry- the 7 pillows on one small bed and all the toys. The children co-habitate AMAZINGLY well and are so sweet and well taken care of. Those who do not have birth certificates are named with her last name so many of them are her adopted children. We played and sang songs well them- they LOVED digital cameras and it was not easy to leave them behind. After that we went to a townships that is expanding due to all the apprentice work they are doing. we ate lunch there and went and looked at their work/ bought stuff (Jenn recommended it since she knew it was going directly to the community) All in all an amazing day- we are keeping our fingers crossed that we will be able to do it again!

I had a very good valentines day- although feeling a little lonely now that everyone is out with their boys and I am writing on my blog.... We made brownies for everyone which were much appreciated and Feroza and Trilby gave me specialy treats. Marina and I exchanged delicious/hilarious gifts and cards and Kady and Franzi who work in the pre-school made very cute cards. We had a fancy dinner in the boarding house tonight- wine glasses, fancy food and cheesecake for desert- awesome!

We are looking ahead at holidays- more info coming up but Marina and I have booked a trip for the 2nd week to Namibia. It includes: guided walk to bushman paintings, Orange river camping and canoeing, Canoyns, a national park and crossing the tropic of capricorn (7days). Also you do this amazing hike up dune 45 at sunrise which is supposed to be unreal. THe link is: http://www.nomadtours.co.za/desert_explorer_camp_2.html#galleryheader

feel free to go check it out

I am still figuring stuff out but i think I am going to do an overland by myself the first week (they ar with a group and guides so VERY SAFE!!! and yes i am avoiding kenya and zim) I will update when i figure it out!

Alright this is sufficiently long- if anyone reads this far- good on yea! Big plans for this weekend- trip to a cheap student travel place and some shopping :), going to a frosh party at UCT, a v-day picnic at bishops and doing to famous camps bay to waterfront walk on sunday!! Love you all

xxx Heather

Happy Shrove Tuesday from our shrunken room!

Marina and I at the top of table mountain

The Gaps on table mountain

View of Camps Bay and Lions Head

This is how we felt hiking....

Braai.....




Birthday Flowers!!! thanks Mum and Dad :)

Hi,

I am sorry I have been kinda blog drop out but I am finding it quite difficult to find the time to update it- we however just got a new computer in our wing so maybe that will make things easier (although as i upload these pictures I am thinking it is a little slower than the teachers computers.. hmmm...) I updated the blog last Wednesday so since then it hasn't been to hectic. Friday night as I said we went to our first Braai which was quite the experience. We went to Bishops Prep for it- sooo different than here! They had about 30 people (boys and girls) and we were allowed to stay there late and drink and make noise (vs here where no boys are allowed on campus and e

verything else has to be kept very hush hush). We ate chicken and beef and pork that was dipped in really good sauce and seasoning and then "braaied" on an open grill (with coals etc). The boys organzied it though so there was no cutlery, plates, veggies etc- only beer and meat (apparently- according to them, the perfect combo) Around 8:30 we had another power cut (hmm on a friday night right when it gets dark... the country of South Africa is very sneaky) which ment lots of standing around talking to people you couldn't see. We planned on going home early any how as we were climbing table mountain the next morning at 8. The only dissapointing part of the night was that marina and I made brownies on a poor excuse for a stove (aka easy-bake oven) for the night and then forgot them.... (which acctually worked out well because we ate them for strength the next day). So we woke up bright and early the next day- put on our sneakers (the first time i have worn shoes in 3 weeks) and filled up LOTS of water bottles and took off (marina dragging her heels). We started at the base of table mountain on the waterfront side (one side of table mountain is waterfront/city and the other side is Camps bay) and then walked all the way around to the far side of the mountain on the camps bay side (approx 45min-1 hour of constant uphill) then we all of a sudden turned the corner and were facing a rock face that we proceded to scale- using hands etc. It was very rough... and sooo hot. Luckily we had super packed lunches from the kitchen with lots of snack food to intice us up the mountain. Marina who had been dreading this climb decided to be quite obnoxious when the rest of us changed our minds half way up and was very eager and excited about continuing up- "come on guys- i have such a good rhythm going" etc etc. We finally got to the top which made the whole thing worth while- the whole trip had amazing views (joan- you would have hated it!) and it was cool and windy at the top. The walk down was rough for many but I much prefer that direction. We all made it up and down (even the gr 9s!) and no one broke any ankles- suprising since climbing down that rock face felt very unsafe. I decided to wear my sens shirt on the hike- not realizing that my hat was also senators (thanks derek- you have decked me out) and along with my backpack and canadian flag i looked like a patriotic freak. After our hike we each had long cool showers and everyone went in different directions that night. I ended up joining Nicole Uys (St Cyps girl who did exchange to Sedbergh earlier this year) at a fmaily party she was going to- we have been trying to get together for awhile so it was nice that it finally worked out. It was also really nice to acctually get out of the boarding house and into someones home and meet some more people. Marina and I met out later that night and went out for a bit. Our new claim to fame is that we met a guy who makes the clay figures for the movie Wallace and Gromet. (soo cool). Sunday ended up being a lazy morning and then Marina and I WALKED down to the waterfront to watch a movie at the cinema and then WALKED back (we are so active- and too cheap for taxis!) We saw Elizabeth- the golden age. Very good- and Marina got all patriotic and started whispering historical facts to me through out the movie. We made it back just in time for dinner and then went out again to Camps Bay to meet up with the guys and watch Goldfish perform. They were done early so we headed back to school and made it a not-too-late-night. Monday and Tuesday have both been very lax days- Happy Shrove Tuesday! The school sold pancakes and we celebrated ourseleves by making our own. Today I had my first Ash Wednesday ceremony..... it was long... and interesting. This afternoon we are going to watch/play some tennis and then heading down to Gardens Center to get some phots developed. Also we have been invited to a fancy party at this club that is in the highest builing on the waterfront- supposed to be the best view ever. But it is supposed to be very formal and if we are not on the guest list very expensive- so we will see. If I end up going I will be sure to get some pictures.

In terms of school it is athletics week so a swimming gala tomorrow and the running gala saturday morning at 6am!!! (before it gets hot) so should be a bit of a quieter weekend.

Love to all at home- hope you are enjoying the snow and good luck with the marathon this weekend (hehe suckers.. but i felt the table mountain hike was somewhat comparable- it is going to be sweet taking the cable car up and down!)

xxxx Heather

Ps. My legs hurt for 3 weeks following the hike- and all i could think is i will probably have to do this twice more!!! :S