This past week since I wrote my
first blog has been very eventful. What Rocky Road
has its group of volunteers do for the first week or so is to work on
refurbishing houses, so that’s what we have been doing. We have been working on
two houses that are connected, kind of like a duplex. They were in pretty bad
shape before we started, with the walls and the flooring. So what we did Monday
through Friday of last week, and yesterday and today, has been to chip loose
paint off the walls on the outside and inside, sand down the walls, clean the
walls (which is a difficult task because the walls are pretty dirty, as well as
greasy from cooking), putty spots that need to be filled in, paint cement on
the ceilings so they don’t leak, put primer on the walls and the ceiling, paint
the walls, paint the window frames, and finally, put in flooring. There are
three rooms in each house, so this has been no easy task. As of right now, the
houses are still not done, but they are almost there! They look so awesome and
a lot brighter inside with our cream and yellow paints, and the outside is
red/brown and looks very clean and sophisticated. It should just be a day or
two more that we will need to be working on the houses. Working on the houses
has been a really cool thing to do because our group has had the chance to all
work together and bond, we’ve gotten to know the workers Glenrick and Daniel,
and we’ve really brightened up people’s lives. My favorite part about the
houses has been the painting because painting is just fun in general, and you
can really see the result of your work when you are done.
While we
are only working on the houses from about 9:30-4 each weekday, in the evenings
we’ve had the time to relax, journal, read, and spend time together. Every
night I am amazed by the deliciousness of the dinner that is made for us, and
we are told that nothing will be repeated for 6 weeks! By the time we are done
with dinner, which is usually about 8:30, most of us are pretty tired and
usually stay up for about an hour more and then go to bed. We’re not used to
such early nights but we’ve been working hard!
As some of
you know, last Wednesday was my 21st birthday! It was pretty stormy
that day, with pouring rain and wind (its winter here), so about half of us
didn’t need to go into work because there was only so much we could do on the
inside. So I stayed behind with a group of people and we just played cards and
hung out until the other group got back! Then I was told I needed to start
celebrating so quite a few people had a shot with me pretty early, and the fun
started there. It was both my 21st and the 4th of July,
so things got a little crazy and there was a lot of dancing. The guys at Rocky Road made us
homemade burgers and fries in honor of the 4th, which were
absolutely amazing! And they even made an apple pie for my birthday! Although
it was difficult not being home for my birthday, everyone here made it really
great. :)
Every
Saturday we will have a free day to do what we want. So all of us decided to go
into Plettenberg Bay,
which is a small city near Kurland where lots of people from Kurland
go to work. They say that it is a big place to retire in South Africa,
and that was clear as it was along a beautiful coastline and it was filled with
expensive houses and condos. We started out by going to a pie place that was
recommended, which sells savory pies, and they were freaking delicious. We all
wanted more when we were done! We then walked down Main Street and did a bit of
shopping, then got some lunch, and then went down to the beach and hung out
there for awhile. When we got home everyone was exhausted so people took naps
and I read for a long time, and took some much needed alone time. Then on
Sunday we went on another hike! But this was no ordinary hike. We went back to
Plett to do it, and it was at the Robberg Nature Reserve. We were right on the
coastline in the mountains, so we had a spectacular view of the coastline the
whole entire time. The hike lasted about 4 hours, so it was really tiring, but
it was definitely worth it. In the middle of it, we stopped to eat lunch on
huge rocks that were right on the water with huge waves going past us. Then
after lunch we walked/climbed on some pretty scary, sometimes slippery and wet,
rocks and our confidence was definitely tested. As much as it was scary though,
I felt really awesome for doing it and it was totally worth it as we were right
up close and personal with beautiful views of the ocean.
As I have
said, we have probably a couple more days working on the house. Right now, my
professor and guys from Rocky Road
are working to match us up with our NGOs that we will be working with. We are
also all trying to figure out our research questions for our research papers at
the end of the class. I am hoping to work at the preschool in Kurland
and find out a bit about the lives of the children who live there. I would like
to research how to help children who grow up in an impoverished community to
strive to do better with their lives, and to strive to break the cycle of
poverty and violence. I am so excited to start working in my NGO and to
hopefully get to know the children in the preschool, if I am placed there!
For the
past few days, I have been feeling pretty homesick. I am torn between loving it
here and not wanting to leave, and hoping it will go fast so I can see everyone
back at home. I think we are all still getting used to the routine here, and
once we get into that, it will be easier to acknowledge that we’ll be here for
awhile longer. I am sure that once I start my research, it will be hard to take
myself away from it though! I’ll try to blog again soon, probably in about a
week or so. Until then, I miss you all at home and I hope summer is going well! :)
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