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Diary - South Africa - ABC - week 4
Before I get into the diary, I would like to let you who are reading this know that I had the fully composed diary for all te days finished but somehow I hve managed to lose it on my phone, the exact reason how I do not know so as I do not have the time and a photographic memory, I shall briefly mention what has happened through the week.
Thursday 3rd - We went to sentinel but they weren't ready for us, so went back to the house and started finishing off our booklet. Patrick went to checkers for lunch as we finished off the booklet, still not getting it done! We went with Cheryl for tea at La Cuccina and after Cheryl spoke with the manager, he offered us free cake and drink every Monday. We had to go back to Marsh in the evening for our first workshop, it was a moaning session from everyone, I think we sounded the most positive of the groups!
Friday 4th - Nothing in the morning so we went to walk around our neighbourhood that we were in, as well as hunting for wifi, there was so much uphill walking, I'd love to ride a bike down it all, that'd be cool! We found one unlocked wifi source from
about 20 different ones. We walked back and still had a few hours to burn so we walked through the township. There were loads of convenience stores and hair salons! There were a lot of built houses but around them, many shacks. There was or view which I got a picture of, the township and a few miles away in the distance, the plush community of Ruyteplaats. The epitome of inequality in one picture. We saw a coach that we'd met before and he gave us a quick tour on his way to a school. We got back and we had a massive job to do. Take pictures, get names and schools of the children of the local teams for SAFA. It was manic, there were loads of teams and children were there having photos taken, others when waiting around were wrestling, it was actually like wrestlemania, it was funny to watch whilst doing this. After this session which was manic. We went with Marquerithe for dinner. We went to a place called Rafikis for a drink and met her husband, from there we went to a place called Cafe Paradiso. The experience was amazing, great food and even better company, brilliant evening. We came back and I spoke with Gerry or an hour or so.
Saturday 5th - All the volunteers came down to Hout bay for the first time since the placement tutorial and we went to the beach, the place we were jumping off of a week or so ago. We chilled there for a few hours, playing games like football, tennis, volleyball ad stuff, it was a very nice day. From there we went back to Rondebosch, we got ready to go to watch the FA cup final and everyone left leaving me, Daniel and craig so we thought we knew the way, nope! We ended up at a bar with just is 3 as the customers, the beers were only 16 rand a pint and I also poured my own pint in their, fun stuff! We went back to Rondebosch and from there, we all went out to Long street, after 2 litres of wine and about 4 pints of beer, the night was a blur, fun though!
Sunday 6th - Got up relatively late and paid some money to Patrick along with others for a fry up, it was amazing, one of the only times I've felt full here. We played some football and while others went to watch Newcastle play manchester city, a few stayed at marsh, me and craig played football for a while, when he went in, I stayed out and played with some of the girls that stayed at the marsh children's home, I was knackered after this! I went in, chilled and when the guys got back. We played a bit more football and came back to play the game that everyone plays at Marsh. It involves a circle of people and one ball and it is literally keeping the ball up by all means of touches. When people mess up, they sit out. That is literally it but it is so fun! We headed back to Hout Bay and I had a brief period where I felt rather ill, around 30 minutes, it went though.
Monday 7th - woke up to a text from Cheryl about meeting the headmaster at Oranjekloof. She was great, exactly what a headmistress should be like, inspirational. We planned to be there Tuesdays and Fridays. From there we met Kenny at the field for what was meant to be coaching with the jobless, they didn't come, so we joined in a match with a restaurant group who weren't working Monday's. After this we ate at the flat and then went to La Cuccina for the freebie, it was awesome, Amaretti Cheesecake and strawberry juice, Mmm! From there we went straight to Mariner's wharf for the session with the boys of the drug rehab programme, it was fun, we met Lindsay there who did have our money for the week. Went to the training with Young Eagles. After this we had chicken and tomato pasta and I went up and sat with Gerry for a few hours and came back upstairs for an hour or so and went to bed
Tuesday 8th - went to Merovian for our first day and took a few groups for adapted games and football, there was a lot of trial and error but overall, a successful day there, spoke to a few people and got to k ow a few teachers, didn't get our schedule though. we also did a session with their under 11 football team. We went back, dropped our stuff off and went to checkers for the weekly shop, came to just under our budget, skills. We came back to eat a bit and headed up to Cheryl's to do some more on the booklet as well as use the internet. Came back to get ready for the mighty reds training session, as Liam and Patrick did this, I went to collect the goalposts I enquired about, the man didn't turn up. I came back and Patrick and Liam were finishing with the session. Came back to eat and I spent some more time talking with Gerry. After that I spent a few hours writing the diary and went to bed.
Wednesday 9th - we went to Sentinel again and it was a similar story, they needed to finish the schedule and they promised to have it done by the next say so we agreed and went home. We chilled at the flat and then went to Cheryl's again to do some more work on the booklet, it's nearly done now! From there we went to mariner's wharf for the girls session, we did a session with two girls that turned up but that session is to be moved to Fridays now. That was a good session and from there we went back home and got ready for a session with the African brothers, the coach didn't turn up but his team did, I got a meeting organises again like the week before and we went up to the same place, we said what we had to say and they agreed, listened and went on talking in Afrikaans. The electricity cut out and luckily I had my phone, I used the torch, as we were just sat there listening to them talking in a different language, we were bored and being the mature people we are, started doing rude shadow shapes in inappropriate areas on the guys talking, they were none the wiser and we were crying in laughter, how very sad but it was such a be there moment, I even let out a whimper trying to keep quiet and that left the laughter to go on for longer! They were too busy in their discussion to focus on us but I was just crying in laughter, literally streaming down my face. The fact it was so silly and pathetic made it all the more funnier. From the meeting we went back to
Rondebosch to meet the new volunteers that have come out as well as play the game that everyone is playing there. How fun, it's gotten a lot more competitive now though! We left late back to Hout bay.
Thursday 10th - This was our first day at sentinel and it went well. We got the schedule and took the children out for games and football, we have realised that tunnel tag is our go to move as it's fun for them to play, easy to understand and you can probably play it with a group of 30 of them. There was a lot that happened but we have photos and videos to explain that so I won't go
Into detail as such, a problem that kept happening was children falling over, as it was on tarmac, they were crying or wincing and a few other reactions, it was interesting to see the different reactions with the different students. We stayed there till around 2. From there we came back to the flat and chilled as we waited to go to the training with the Destroyers, we had to cut it short with our part as we had a meal at Cheryl's. We went to hers and one of her neighbours and good friends, Michaela Strachan was there, she was quite interesting and spoke about her last job doing some programme about ghosts and said that everyone in the business hated Derek Acorah in that bit as it was all
made up, I thought that was very hypocritical as I think it's all made up. The dinner was great, we were given a lot of red wine and people were going into detail about them, I didn't care for that, one out of the 4 on my scale was 'alright' as opposed to 'not alright' like most wines. Cheryl's son and girlfriend were there too as was her Husband, Peter, a man me and Liam saw a few weeks back. We had great discussions and Michaela left but we had a photo with her which was pretty cool, bit weird doing it in the house after talking with her but it was all cool. We had a good chat with Cheryl and Peter afterwards and he drove us back in an amazing Land Rover. It was a great evening. From that we literally crashed out straight away.
- comments
Steve Powell Karen you are living the dream! Hope you and the rest of the group are enjoying every minute. I look forward to your next entry mate. Look after yourself and we'll see you soon. p.s it's finally stopped raining here, rained for two weeks non-stop.
Kareem Elbaloula Yeah Steven, it's amazing. Literally every day is another adventure, when I write the diary, looking back at the start of the week, it feels like a month ago, the days go so long because every day is so long! We all are, I am glad you are tuning in with them! Don't you worry about me mate, I feel like a local now haha! has it? I heard the weather is bad over there! It's winter over here and I think I am getting darker, let's hope that you get some of the same!
Barbara élbaloula Lovely to read your having a laugh, wish I could of seen it. Love you, mum xxXxxxxxx