Internet is down at Esangweni..

I'm writing this from an internet cafe .. When we arrived at school Friday morning, the Internet was not working. Nobody had any idea what had happened.. and we couldn't fix it either. Something must be wrong with the Linux server..
Hopefully the connection will be restored next week..

Otherwise, Friday was a great day - we had the movie group in the afternoon and we really had a great time with the children.. They were really excited about the video cameras.. We'll start shooting a movie about the school on Monday.

I'm really exhausted today - we went out last night and had some drinks in a bar at Long Street..

School life..

Some of you might be more interested in what we are doing in the Esangweni school. So, I'll write a few words about that.

It's now our second week at Esangweni school. (On the picture, there's one part of the school, seen from the parking lot - can you see our Beetle there?)

By now, we have met with all of the groups - photography, newsletter, webpage and the new one we started - the movie group. On the first meetings there have been quite many students in each group - more than 20. But many of them didn't come to the 2nd meeting.
We've set up a plan of what we are doing with them and we are trying to stick to it. Of course, we also have to be flexible and prepared for unexpected situations. For example, at the moment it is quite difficult to do anything with the photography group, because the school's digital camera (the only one they have) is broken. Also, we are having a similar problem with the movie group - the sound card of the multimedia computer is not working...

At first it was really difficult to understand the students, because their mother tongue is not English, but Xhosa and it was difficult to get used to their accent. (We are trying to learn some Xhosa, but we are not doing very well - I still can't do any of those click sounds...)
Also, it is very difficult to remember the names of all students..
But it seems that once we get their attention in the groups, they seem to be really interested in what we are telling them and they really want to learn.

Besides teaching the students and teachers, we are also repairing computers (at least trying to) and installing software in the computer lab.
The school also has a webpage, which we started updating: http://esangweni.wizzy.org.za/webpage/index.html

Right now I feel that I'm getting used to it here and I'm really enjoying it, although during the first week it was quite difficult to settle in.

Cape of Good Hope ..

The weather was just perfect on the weekend, so we decided to go to the Cape of Good Hope. Actually, the plan was to rent bikes from Simon's Town and cycle to the Cape Point, but because we didn't find any bike rental there, we went by car.
The views from the road were magnificent. Because the Cape of Good Hope is in a nature reserve, we had to pay the entrance fee 35 rands each. But it was well worth it! The landscape was unique and the views to the sea were magnificent! And we saw ostriches!
Tiina, I've got some more stones & shells for you!
The Cape Point is the most southwestern point in Africa. The air is really fresh there, as it comes straight from the Arctic.

We spent the whole day there - there were 5 of us - Tobi, I, Karen (a German girl studying here) and a Dutch couple. On our way back we stopped at a beach to view the sunset and had dinner in a fish restaurant in a small town called Kommetjie (luckily, I found a vegetarian pizza in the menu!). I was driving back to Cape Town - it was really difficult - the road was narrow, very curvy and going downhill all the time.. and it was on the edge of a mountain! Besides, it was dark.. Luckily, we survived.

I forgot ... on our way to the Cape of Good Hope we stopped at Simon's Town and went to see the penguins! There is a colony of African penguins there. They were cute, but they smelled!

Sunday was a day for relaxing. We went to the Camps Bay Beach and spent the whole day there. And I went swimming! Actually, you can't really call it swimming, because the waves are too high to be able to swim. A couple of times I was knocked over by the waves.. The water was cold, but after a while I got used to it and didn't want to come out! :o)
At the beach, there are some guys who want to sell stuff to people - it's mostly crafts (small figures, keyholders, drums..) - at least 10 of them passed us and wanted us to buy their stuff. In the end, a woman came to us and started playing some musical instrument and wanted us to give her money for that...

Now some bad news... On Saturday my camera broke! :(((( The lens got stuck - it doesn't come out and doesn't go in either.. I'm really sad about this... It looks like this is something which happens quite often to Canon cameras. Well, nothing has happened to mine for 3 years and now, just when I need the camera the most... Now I'll have to see how much they charge for repairing it and if it's too much, I'll have to buy a new one..
Tobi and I have tried to repair the camera on our own, but unsuccessfully so far..
While trying to fix it, we both almost got ourselves killed!! Since we don't have a screwdriver, I used Tobi's pocket knife to get the screws loose... but the knife somehow slipped in my hand and it almost cut half of my finger off.. it was bleeding really bad and I was thinking of going to the hospital even, but then luckily it stopped... I was really in panic! Tobi, thanks again for your support!
Yesterday, we tried to fix the camera again... and Tobi got two electric shocks from the flash battery!!!
It's kind of strange - so far nothing has happened to us in the township or on the road, but this small camera almost killed us! :o)

***
I saw a huge bug in my room the other day - it was at least 3 cm long!! Really scary... and it can climb vertically.. that means it can climb to my bed!
***
To Karin & Adam - I made apple burgers!! Although I couldn't find any dark bread here, the burgers were still delicious!!
***

Check out my gallery for new photos.

Photos!!

So, here comes what you've all been waiting for - photos! We've taken lots of photos, especially during the first week. I've selected just some of them - the choice was really difficult! The sequence of the photos is a bit messed up, but
you will also find comments: http://www.kadri10.pri.ee/gallery.php - you are welcome to check this gallery for updates once in a while!

Otherwise, it has been more or less the same for the last 4 days. We are spending all of our time in the computer lab. There's quite a lot to do here - we need to fix some computers, find drivers etc. Next week we will start with our classes. I can't wait!
Yesterday, we spent almost 10 hours in the computer lab! In the end I felt a bit tired and stressed.. But it's just the beginning and hopefully it will be better next week.

We have the Internet!!

So, we managed to get Internet today! Tobi discovered that there wasn't any major problem - just some wires weren't properly connected! The connection is not too fast, but it's ok for now.

I forgot to write about our car yesterday. We called the car rental company and they came and towed the car. Then they called us a couple of hours later and said that the problem was that we had put too much oil in the car! They had to drain about a litre of oil! Luckily they didn't charge us for that!

First day at school!

We had a lazy day yesterday, didn't do much during the day, just rested because we had to get up at 6.30 today. In the evening we went to the Independent Armchair Theatre near our house and watched a South African movie called "Forgiveness" - I don't have time now to describe it here, but it was a really good (and very sad) movie.

Today we had our first day at school! We had to be there at 8 am. It took us about 40 minutes to drive there. The weather is very cold and rainy today...
The principal introduced us to the teachers, we also met some students, but we'll see all of them on Friday at a school meeting. Then, we were taken to the computer lab where we spent the whole day. It was a chaos there - nobody knew where to find CDs with software, passwords were missing, some computers broken etc. There is a new computer lab with good computers, but because some small parts are still missing, it cannot be used. And it has been like this for 3 months.
It came as a bit of a surprise to us that there was no Internet! But they said that they will have it by the end of this week.. Let's hope so..
Today we spent the day installing Windows in some of the computers and repairing a computer which broke down just today (it was the best one!!).
Tomorrow we'll set up a schedule of classes we will be teaching. We also need to give some classes to teachers.

It is very cold inside the school - there is no heating. People are wearing hats and coats all the time. I had my warmest clothes on and I was still cold.. even in the server room, where it's usually warm..

Probably the best experience today was hearing the school choir sing!! This was amazing! There were about 16 kids, both boys and girls.. and they really sounded like a professional choir! Their voices were really strong! Tiina, you would have loved to hear them sing! We are planning to record them.. They'll be practicing a lot because there will be a competion in September.

Right now I'm quite tired, but luckily tomorrow we can sleep a bit longer...
I really feel that I would like to go somewhere out, take a walk alone, run, do sports, anything... but here you cannot go out alone in the dark.. and it gets dark at about 6 pm..

SA National Gallery...

Today has been just a quiet Sunday. The weather is quite cold... now we finally felt the wind they were all talking about.. and it's raining. There's a "tablecloth" on Table Mountain (this is how they call the clouds covering the mountain).

We went to the South African National Gallery and saw some really impressive works of art there. The entrance to the museum is free on Saturdays, so I will definitely go back another time and take some pictures.

Afterwards, we went to the Waterfront and had some rooibos tea there (a typical South African drink).

When we returned home we saw that our landlady, a Muslim woman called Ielhaam had cleamed our rooms! I was so embarrassed, because my room was such a mess... She is really so nice to us! Also, she gave both of us 2 necklaces she had made herself...

In South Africa, Muslims are very different from what we typically think of them; no strict codes for behaviour, clothing etc.

Table Mountain!!

So, we finally did it! We climbed the Table Mountain today!! In case you haven't heard about the Table Mountain - it's a mountain in Cape Town with a flat top, a bit more than 1000 m high. Here is a photo of the mountain: http://darkroom.com.au/darkroom/catalog/images/IMG_1379.jpg
That's the highest mountain I've climbed so far! :o) (in Estonia, the highest "peak" is 318 m :o)

We didn't start at the very bottom, but drove up to the cable car station where we chose one of the many hiking routes up the mountain (I guess the easiest one). Still, it was quite hard. It took us 2 hours to climb the mountain. The sun was shining all the time, it was really hot and at some point (during the most difficult sections) I started wondering why I chose to do this on foot instead of taking the cable car! :o)
But once I reached to top, I was really glad that I had climbed! It was very windy at the top and the land was not as barren as I had expected - there was low vegetation, no trees, only some bushes. Tiina, I wish you had been there - you would have loved to see the plants there (I had never seen any of those in Europe!) - I picked a stone from the top and a couple of flowers.
We walked at the top (as I said, the mountain is flat), took lots of pictures, had a picnic and then climbed down - for me, coming down was more difficult than going up - you had to be really careful not to slip on the stones. I guess my legs will really hurt tomorrow..
Afterwards, we drove to Signal Hill (next to Table Mountain) and again took some pictures there. On our way back, we drove to Camps Bay beach and relaxed there for a couple of hours.
We've discovered a great eating place a few minutes from our house - a cafe/restaurant called Diva (it's supposed to be Italian food) - the vegetarian lasagne is delicious there!

We are having some trouble with our car - it takes too much oil, like about 1 litre per day!! (it uses oil instead of water to cool the engine). On Monday we will go to the car rental to have it checked! Meanwhile, if anyone reading this knows what the problem might be (why it takes so much oil), please let me know!! The car is Volkswagen Beetle, quite old, I think made at the beginning of the 80s.

Yesterday night we got home really late, so there was no time to come to the internet cafe to write the blog. We had a great day - the weather was perfect, so in the morning we went to the Kirstenbosch botanical gardens. It's one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen in my life... I won't even attempt to describe it here, you have to see the photos!
I've taken lots of photos, so that both of my memory cards are full and I had to buy an extra one (which after today is full too!) - I can't wait to share the photos with you, but I can do it only next week when we start our project.

After the botanical gardens we met with our friends from Khayelitsha who took us to townships. We started with Nyanga, then went to Guguletu and finally, Khayelitsha. It's just such a huge contrast... the rich white people living in their villas along the beachers and poor black people in shacks in the townships... The worst are the informal settlements, the squatter camps...
We also drove past the school where we'll be working starting from next week. We went to a couple of bars in the townships. In the first one, they sold only meat!! You could buy the meat and then they would cook it for you and you'd eat it there. So, for me there was nothing to eat there. Then, we went to another bar (in Khayelitsha, near our school) - it was really crowded there.. we danced, played pool and enjoyed ourselves. Afterwards, a teacher from Esangweni (Tups) invited us to his place - there the party continued (again dancing, eating (meat) - it seems that the black people here don't eat much else than meat!)..
We got home really late and I felt that I was tired - there were too many emotions for one day. While driving back, we saw an accident on the highway - 2 cars had crashed and a person was lying on the road.... This was quite shocking to me. Quite close to our place I almost turned to the opposite lane (for a moment I forgot about the left side driving...)...

While in the townships, I felt really safe because our friends were sort of protecting us. Otherwise it would have been impossible for us as white people to go there on our own..

Some of you back in Europe have been checking the weather forecast for Cape Town - don't believe it when it says 13 degrees!! It's much warmer. So far, only one day has been cloudy, otherwise really warm and sunny. The sun is so strong that I've had to use sunblock every day and despite that, I've become quite tanned...

Exploring Cape Town ..

Yesterday we went to the South African Museum - it was much smaller than I expected. The exibition of South African culture & peoples was really interesting, although it was quite small. The rest of the museum was mostly about fish & birds & dinosaurs, which wasn't as interesting.

Yesterday evening we went to dinner at George's place (our project partner). He lives in Parow - it's about 20 km outside Cape Town... we had some trouble finding the place.
It turned out to be party rather than a dinner. George had invited some of his friends and teachers from the Esangweni school. The music was great, we danced a lot and really enjoyed ourselves.

We had planned to climb Table Mountain today, but as it was cloudy in the morning we had to postpone it again. So, we went to the city instead and visited 2 museums. First, the District Six museum - I think it's the best museum in Cape Town, really worth seeing. In the 60s, the white minority forcibly removed the black and coloured inhabitants of the District Six from their homes and relocated them to the Cape Flats. The museum has lots of personal stories & experiences from that time...
The other museum was a really small one - the Bo-Kaap museum in the Malay quarter.

If anyone wants to read some South African literature, I can recommend 'An Instant In the Wind' by Andre Brink - really good.. I'm just finishing it now and today I bought another book by him...

Cape Town & Dolphin Beach

We went to the German embassy today to let them know that we are in South Africa. They didn't really care about us, just as we expected... Didn't even make copies of our passports..
Afterwards we just walked around in Cape Town, went to Bo Kaap - the Cape Malay district... really nice and colourful houses there. Too bad I forgot to take the batteries of my camera... We had lunch in a vegetarian Cafe called Lola's (Lola, next time when I'm there I'll take a picture and send it to you!).

Then, afterwards we took our lovely Beetle and drove out of Cape Town to Dolphin Beach (the plan was to go to Bloubergstrand, but since there were no signs anywhere on the road, we didn't find it). I'm really getting used to the car and driving on the left side is not a problem any more...
There is a magnificent view from Dolphin Beach to Cape Town and Table Mountain!! And a great view to the ocean.. We stayed until sunset - it was one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen..
We took lots of great pictures - still haven't had the chance to get them in the computer..

Afterwards we went to a bar and had cheap South African wine (5 rands a glass! - that's 10 EEK!)

We were planning to go to the Cape of Good Hope tomorrow, but according to the weather forecast it will be cloudy - in that case we'll postpone it. Then it's going to be a day of museums (South African Museum, National Gallery).
Hopefully we'll manage to climb Table Mountain this week..

It's really difficult to get used to the sun setting so early - about 6 pm. It gets dark early and the sun rises as late as 8 am. So, I'm always confused about the time and I get sleepy early in the evening....

We have a car!!

The major event today: we rented a Beetle!! The car rental was about 30 minutes drive from Cape Town- I drove back the whole way ... and we survived (so did the Beetle)!!! Driving on the left side took some time to get used to, but after 15 minutes I was fine.
The Beetle is so cute! Only you have to press the brake pedal really hard if you want to stop and changing the gears is a bit tough... but well, at least we have the car now! Although, when we got home, some smoke was coming from the engine..
The car takes about 10 litres of gas per 100 km, I think it's quite a lot..

I was a bit annoyed by the attitude of the people at the car rental company, they were Afrikaans, all men and it seemed to me that when they were telling us about the car, they addressed only Tobi and they ignored me (because I am a woman)! I kind of felt excluded from the conversation.. Anyway, I bet those guys were really surprised when they saw that I was driving back to Cape Town! :o)

In the afternoon we went to the most beautiful beach in Cape Town - Clifton Beach. Since it's winter now, the beach was quite empty. I've never seen so big waves in my life - just amazing! The water was quite cold, but despite that we went in - can't really call it swimming, because the waves were just too big!

I think this sounds a bit crazy but I realized today that I really like those minibus taxis....they are packed with people, the drivers are crazy (no speed limit for them), but somehow I feel safe there and I don't mind the crowd.

We are starting our project next Monday, so there's still time to do other stuff.
The plan is to climb Table Mountain and go to the Cape of Good Hope in the next days...

day 3 in Cape Town

So, today we moved to the place which (hopefully) is going to be our home for the next 3 months! It's a really nice place - both of us have a room of our own, everything is included in the price (electricity, washing machine, fridge...). I guess we got really lucky!

Afterwards we (Tobi, Karen (a German girl studying in Cape Town) and I)) went to an African crafts market in Green Point. They sold amazing stuff there - I just bought a few things - I'll have plenty of time for that later.
I realized that I'm really bad at bargaining - and this is what you really need to do here! I could only get 5 rands off the price! I, so why not give them a decent sum.

After that we did the typical tourist sightseeing and walked along the coastline where rich white people live. The view to the sea was nice and there were huge waves. Some people were even swimming. The water wasn't too cold.
There were some really beautiful shells on the beach - but most of them broken. I'll definitely pick some later. And Tiina, I haven't forgotten about the stone you wanted - I think I'll get it from the Cape of Good Hope where we are planning to go this week... but just a small stone, ok? :o)

I've never seen this many people in a minibus taxi than today - there were 20 of us! Apparently, for the drivers it wasn't too full still! :o)

Tomorrow morning we'll try to rent the car. The left side traffic is still very confusing and we are discovering unfamiliar traffic signs every day. Maybe it would be a good idea to buy a booklet of traffic signs before we start driving... :o)

Still can't believe this is winter here! Today I had to use the sunblock - the African sun is just too strong for my skin it seems..

And one more thing.. please add your name if you write a comment! Thanks.

in South Africa!

I'm in South Africa!! It's just incredible! Somehow, it's still hard to believe...
It is just my second day here and there have been so many impressions and so many experiences that it's impossible to describe everything here...

The flight from Frankfurt to Cape Town lasted 12 hours. I got no sleep on the plane - I guess I was too excited.. The plane arrived earlier, and since the weather was perfect, the pilot flew us around the Cape of Good Hope - magnificent view! Too bad I couldn't get the window seat...
At the airport there were about 10 black people who had come to meet me - most of them children from the Esangweni school where I'm going to do my project.
They had made a sign with my name on it!
Unfortunately, I hadn't booked a hostel before - I had assumed that there would be enough places in hostels since it's not the high season now (winter). And that was a big mistake - most hostels were full. We managed to find one finally, although not too cheap...
Tobi (my project partner) arrived today. We were really lucky - we found a place to live for 3 months already!! It's in a house near to our hostel (in Observatory, a student area, more alternative, mixed) - a lady is renting two rooms of her house. We decided to take the offer - i guess we cannot get anything cheaper. We will pay 1500 rand per month, everything included.

So, now my impressions of Cape Town... We haven't really been around much until now... I've explored the Observatory area - at first we were really scared for our safety here, but now we see that there's nothing to be afraid of (right now it's 11 pm and walked across the street to an internet cafe where i'm writing this). The atmosphere here is really vibrant and lively!! South Africans are really warm and open people!

We really did our best trying not to look like tourists on the streets (kept our map and cameras in the bag all the time).. but I guess we failed. Today, when walking around in Cape Town city centre, we were approached by some guys asking for money. We stopped and told them that we don't have any..
At first they were polite, but then became agressive and didn't let us go - they grabbed Tobi by his arm and threatened us - they said that they had a gun. Then we gave them some coins. Later, we talked to some white South Africans who said that we shouldn't have stopped, we should just have ignored them...
Anyway, this was a really scary moment for me.. I hope we'll be wiser next time..

On Monday we are planning to rent a car, a Beetle. Hopefully we get something which won't break down too soon. The traffic is just crazy here! It's really difficult to get used to driving on the left side! We've almost been hit by a car a couple of times while looking at the wrong side of the road to see if cars are coming..
Today, I had the experience of being in a minibus taxi - the main transport here in Cape Town. It's something I can't describe in words - you'd have to experience it yourself.. The taxi is packed with people, all windows upen, the drivers are speeding (I doubt that they actually have drivers licence), they are shouting to the street to collect more people on the taxi... Well, we survived the trip (twice!)

I've taken some photos, but can't get them from the camera now. We haven't been to our project location yet - the Khayelitsha township. There's school break right now - until the 19th, so we still have a week to explore Cape Town and the surroundings!!
We'll climb Table Mountain soon (it's a huge mountain right in the middle of Cape Town).

About the weather. Well, I thought it would be really cold here and so I took lots of warm clothes. But.. it's very warm - I think like 25 degrees C!! Can't believe that this is really winter here!! For those 2 days I've been here, it has been really nice and sunny the whole time.

The local languages are very interesting. South African English sounds kind of funny - a bit like British English, but they have a special pronunciation and some different words. I haven't heard much Afrikaans yet. The black people speak the Xhosa language.

Tomorrow, there's going to be an African crafts market at Green Point - I really want to go there. And we are moving tomorrow!!!

Greetings to everyone & waiting for your comments!

kadri's blog, vol. 1 ;o)

So, just a few days left and I'll be in South Africa! Still can't believe it...
I thought I'd start this blog to keep you all updated about my adventures during the next 3 months. Hopefully I'll have enough time to write about my experiences.

Please, feel free to post your comments at any time! You can write your comments in English, Estonian, French... ;o)
For Estonians - I'm really sorry for writing the blog in English.. I probably won't have time to write it in both English and Estonian.

Right now I'm really starting to feel nervous about my trip.. There are still some things I'm concerned about...like some practical issues.. I'm not really sure whether someone will actually pick me up at the airport.. I've heard there's no public transport from the airport to Cape Town. And I still have no clue about accommodation. I guess I'll stay in a hostel for the first couple of days.
My major concern is safety.. I really hope I'll be ok.

Today I got some South African money - the rand. It's really cool... normally, you'd expect to have portraits of some important men on the notes, but the rand has animals instead - rhinos, tigers etc. Nice!

In case my explanations have been too brief or vague and some of you are still wondering what I will be doing in South Africa, here are some links which will hopefully explain more:

- ASA, network of development education. Lots of information on their website: http://www.asa-programm.de/site/index.php

My project description is here (2nd from the bottom, titled "Internet for Township Kids"): http://www.asa-programm.de/site/index.php?menuNav=3&sprache=en&kontinent=1&list=themen&land=44

- GLEN - Global Education Network for Young Europeans, co-ordinating all the projects: http://www.glen-europe.org/