Hello everyone!
I’m sorry that I haven’t blogged in awhile, I have been
super busy and a little exhausted when I have time to blog. But the past few
weeks here have been very eventful. In my last blog I wrote about wanting to work
in the preschool in Kurland . I haven’t been doing that,
but I have been working in a daycare called Come to Learn Daycare, which is
like the preschool, but less teachers, fewer kids, and it is not registered by
the government. It is actually run by this woman named Patricia, and she runs
it out of her house. It is a pretty amazing place. Although the discipline and
other things are very different from in the U.S. ,
the kids there are learning so much, including three different languages,
English, Afrikaans, and Xhosa. So for the past three weeks, Monday through
Friday, I have been helping in the daycare from about 8am-2pm. The kids have
been adorable, but very naughty at times as well. But overall, I had a really
good experience at the daycare, and I will really miss the kids.
At the end of the first week at the daycare, we had a long
weekend and went to a town called Addo, which is about 2 hours away, to go on a
safari! We stayed at this place called Chrislin Bed and Breakfast, which was
super nice and fancy. We stayed in these luxurious mud huts which were really
awesome, and our breakfasts and dinners were both delicious and looked
beautiful. But the Friday that we got to Addo, we went to two different places.
The first was a place where we got to look at jaguars, pet a cheetah, and play
with lion cubs!!! It was really fun. Then we went to a place that had all kinds
of things, from snakes (which some people held), other reptiles, porcupines,
owls, meerkats (which I got to hold!!), and other things. Then on Saturday, we
went on a driving safari in Addo Elephant
National Park , and we saw
elephants, zebras, warthogs, meerkats, buffalo, kudu, and other things that I
don’t remember the names of. But basically it was awesome!! On Sunday, we went
on a hike within the national park, but where there weren’t any animals. It was
a good, easy hike and then we spent a few hours at a really nice river. It was
a nice relaxing day. Then on Sunday we went on a river safari, which was
basically canoeing down a river! It was super fun! The river was apparently the
fastest flowing river in Africa , but it wasn’t very fast
where we were (thankfully). But I think that was one of the most fun things on
the trip so far.
On the rest of the weekends, we have just been going to
different places on Saturdays and hiking on Sundays. Although I did actually go
zip lining about a week ago, which was really fun! We went zip lining at the Tsitsikamma
Falls , so it was beautiful, and it
was really fun as well. And a little calmer than bungee jumping! And yesterday
we went to a rugby game in Kurland and supported the
Crags Jaguars, which was really fun! But also a little confusing because I know
nothing about rugby.
Tonight is our last night at Rocky
Road , so this weekend we’ve been preparing to
leave and packing. It has been bittersweet for me, as I am really excited to
come home and see everyone, but this trip has gone by really fast and a part of
me isn’t quite ready to leave. But tomorrow morning we’re leaving for Cape
Town , where we will be until Friday. We will be
staying at another hostel, and we will be going to museums, doing touristy
things, and going clubbing at night! I am really excited. Then I’m on my way
back home, going on two 10-hour flights. I’m not so excited for that part, but
very excited for when I arrive! I will probably blog again when I get back home
to tell everyone about my last week! Until then, I hope everyone’s summers are
going great!