Still alive and kicking
Door: Angela
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Angela
07 Februari 2012 | Zuid-Afrika, Genadendal
Hello everyone,
Finally! Wireless internet is working and Margriet and I couldn´t have been more pleased!
Hope you are doing well... to all my Dutchies, hope you didn't have ur bum frozen off since I have left.... I heard it's pretty bad! At the moment my face is melting off because I dont think I should sleep with open windows (due to safety reasons), so unfortunately, I can't say this is very pleasant either...
This is my third day in South Africa and tonight it's the first time it rained... Before that, it was just boiling hot! Kind of odd though.... Friday I left with a huge coat on, all wrapped up in warm clothes but now I feel like I burning while wearing a summer dress.... No complaints though :)... At least it means that I can go to the pool or beach!
So far, the people I have met are very nice, especially our site coordinator, Lizelle, such a warm person... It's good to have her around since she is a local here, knows all the ins and outs but also, because she's such a sweety. Others call her their "African Mama" and I can really understand why.... She is there whenever you need her... We even got invited to go to her place for a "braai" (a BBQ) and it was lovely to meet her family too who are just about as sweet as she is herself :)
As mentioned before, the town where we got allocated, Genadendal, is 1,5 hour away from Cape Town and the drive is pretty scary since you have to pass so many mountains on the way... but the advantage of this is that I do get to polish up my driving skills!
Genadendal is quite remote... and even here you can easily feel/see the huge gap between rich and poor which is more or less based on race, needless to say most of the Westerners/Europeans are rich...
Our house is quite nice...nothing special, it's pretty small but it's big enough for us, my housemate (Margriet) and me... it's got a decent shower, a tiny kitchen and 2 bedrooms... Mustn't really expect to live in a huge mansion when you are a student and going to Africa to volunteer right?
The only bad thing about this town is,that there are soooo many dogs, it's almost annoying.... There are two dogs that "come with the house", they always follow the tenants of the house... and lucky us, now we get our turn.... As if that isn't enough, they tend to sniff and I really hate the touch of their wet noses on my legs.... yuck....but the worse part is that they bark at other dogs constantly.... Last night after our "marshmellow roast" the dogs were following us home again... Nothing to be worried about we thought, since we were walking home with 4 other girls who live down our street but then the dogs started a little fight with their barking and my poor house mate got bitten... you can imagine the chaos and panic among us.... but luckily Lizelle was there only like a minute after we phoned her.... She cleaned the wound for my housemate and this morning we went to see a doctor who told us not to worry since there have been no cases of rabies and she was vaccinated before she came here.
Anyway, now I dislike those dogs even more....I am not a dog hater but the fact that a bite or scratch means a visit to the DR's doesn't make having them around me very appealing....
Alright, it's way past bed time since I haven't had much sleep last night and tomorrow is going to be another long day.... On schedule: Afrikaans class in the morning, meeting people from the municipality of Genadendal and a "full moon hike" (wandering around the mountains to watch the full moon) with pupils from "Emil Weder High school".... Should be fun!
Will upload some pics soon and keep you updated....
Take care you guys and keep warm...! X
PS: due to heat and tireness some errors/spelling mistakes may occur... my sincere apologies! -_-'
Finally! Wireless internet is working and Margriet and I couldn´t have been more pleased!
Hope you are doing well... to all my Dutchies, hope you didn't have ur bum frozen off since I have left.... I heard it's pretty bad! At the moment my face is melting off because I dont think I should sleep with open windows (due to safety reasons), so unfortunately, I can't say this is very pleasant either...
This is my third day in South Africa and tonight it's the first time it rained... Before that, it was just boiling hot! Kind of odd though.... Friday I left with a huge coat on, all wrapped up in warm clothes but now I feel like I burning while wearing a summer dress.... No complaints though :)... At least it means that I can go to the pool or beach!
So far, the people I have met are very nice, especially our site coordinator, Lizelle, such a warm person... It's good to have her around since she is a local here, knows all the ins and outs but also, because she's such a sweety. Others call her their "African Mama" and I can really understand why.... She is there whenever you need her... We even got invited to go to her place for a "braai" (a BBQ) and it was lovely to meet her family too who are just about as sweet as she is herself :)
As mentioned before, the town where we got allocated, Genadendal, is 1,5 hour away from Cape Town and the drive is pretty scary since you have to pass so many mountains on the way... but the advantage of this is that I do get to polish up my driving skills!
Genadendal is quite remote... and even here you can easily feel/see the huge gap between rich and poor which is more or less based on race, needless to say most of the Westerners/Europeans are rich...
Our house is quite nice...nothing special, it's pretty small but it's big enough for us, my housemate (Margriet) and me... it's got a decent shower, a tiny kitchen and 2 bedrooms... Mustn't really expect to live in a huge mansion when you are a student and going to Africa to volunteer right?
The only bad thing about this town is,that there are soooo many dogs, it's almost annoying.... There are two dogs that "come with the house", they always follow the tenants of the house... and lucky us, now we get our turn.... As if that isn't enough, they tend to sniff and I really hate the touch of their wet noses on my legs.... yuck....but the worse part is that they bark at other dogs constantly.... Last night after our "marshmellow roast" the dogs were following us home again... Nothing to be worried about we thought, since we were walking home with 4 other girls who live down our street but then the dogs started a little fight with their barking and my poor house mate got bitten... you can imagine the chaos and panic among us.... but luckily Lizelle was there only like a minute after we phoned her.... She cleaned the wound for my housemate and this morning we went to see a doctor who told us not to worry since there have been no cases of rabies and she was vaccinated before she came here.
Anyway, now I dislike those dogs even more....I am not a dog hater but the fact that a bite or scratch means a visit to the DR's doesn't make having them around me very appealing....
Alright, it's way past bed time since I haven't had much sleep last night and tomorrow is going to be another long day.... On schedule: Afrikaans class in the morning, meeting people from the municipality of Genadendal and a "full moon hike" (wandering around the mountains to watch the full moon) with pupils from "Emil Weder High school".... Should be fun!
Will upload some pics soon and keep you updated....
Take care you guys and keep warm...! X
PS: due to heat and tireness some errors/spelling mistakes may occur... my sincere apologies! -_-'
-
07 Februari 2012 - 07:22
Merrill:
Nice! Keep up the good work. ;)
Take care and keep yourself safe. -
07 Februari 2012 - 10:13
Mauro:
Very nice Angela...take care!! CIAAAOO!! -
07 Februari 2012 - 15:01
Denice:
Hey Angie!
Leuk verhaal en ook eng met die honden!!! Ik zou niet goed kunnen functioneren met dat soort bijtende beesten om mij heen :S.
Laten we binnenkort een Skype sessie houden :)
Love u!
xxx -
07 Februari 2012 - 19:42
B:
Pas goed op jezelf en hou die doggies uit je buurt!! Love ya, xxx B -
07 Februari 2012 - 20:21
Ray:
Didn't you all buy a club? In case of facing some dogs or whatever creeping things. Anyway take care and enjoy the sunny weather, in the Netherlands it is freezing cold.
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