final words in this blog

With this 50th post i'm finishig this blog. The purpose of the blog was to write about my experiences in South Africa. Now I'm back home (still haven't recovered!) and there's no point in continuing the blog - I'm not doing anything interesting and worth describing here. However, this blog still remains online, so those who are interested can still read it.

Who knows, maybe someday I'll go back to South Africa or somewhere else and then I'll start writing the blog again. Thank's everyone who visited my blog! Until next time!

back home..

Exactly this time last week I was in Cape Town airport, waiting for my flight. Now I've been home for almost a week. I have a few thoughts and feelings i'd like to express.

It is extremely difficult to readjust to the life here in Estonia again. I got so used to South Africa, driving to school every morning with the Beetle, spending time with the students and giving them a lift every evening (and them fighting for a place in the Beetle!). I miss all of that and I miss the sun and the warmth, the blue sky, the mountains and the huge wide open landscape. Here in Europe it's almost winter, I don't even mind the cold so much as the absence of the sun, which is really getting me down. I miss the warm and open people, always smiling, laughing, dancing and feeling so free, despite their problems - they have much less than we do in terms of material things, but they are so much more happy.. I'm trying very hard to retain inside me the warmth and happiness that South Africa gave me, but it is incredibly difficult - I feel that already with the first few days here I've become more serious again. Not seeing these people any more and not experiencing the things we did togehter every day in South Africa makes me feel like I've been deprived of something essential, as if I've suffered some great loss...

I can say one thing for sure- the 4 months I spent in South Africa has probably been the best time of my life, it's unlike anything I've ever experienced.
You'll find the last pictures I took in South Africa here.

My dear friends in South Africa, I miss you so much!

last days in South Africa :o(

Only 4 days left and I'll be coming home...
It will be difficult to leave because I've become so used to the life here. I've become friends with many people here and the thought of not seeing them again makes me incredibly sad...

***
We had a great weekend! On Saturday we went hiking with the kids! There were about 20 people - most of them were kids from the school but also some teachers. Originally we had planned to go hiking in a nature reserve near Stellenbosch, but as we found out that they are charging an entrance fee, we had to change our plans. So, George, our project partner, proposed that we climb the Table Mountain. We were supposed to start climbing at 8 am, but because George had to pick up everyone from Khayelitsha, they arrived about 1,5 hours later. By that time the weather had become very hot already! There were no clouds in the sky and the sun was almost no shelter from the sun during the whole climb! It was incredibly hot. Climbing the mountain this time was so much more difficult compared to the first time during our first week here! Some kids were really fast, they basically ran up and were singing the whole time! It took us 1,5 hours to reach the top. There, we had to wait quite a while for some people. Coming down was easier, but quite hard for the knees. Afterwards, we drove to Muizenberg to have a braai.
It was a great day and we all enjoyed it! I'm really glad that we spent our last weekend with the people from Khayelitsha!

almost had a car accident this morning...

We were driving to school as usual. We had already reached Khayelitsha and were standing at the traffic lights, waiting for the green light. As the light went green, I started to cross the intersection, but then suddenly, a car came from the left (driving on the right side of the road!!) . Luckily I managed to break in time!! But we were really close to crashing with that car! Apparently, the red light doesn't mean anything to some people! The drivers here are crazy!

***
Yesterday we had members of the advanced web page group teach the beginners! The guys did really well, I was impressed! They were explaining in Xhosa, so we didn't understand everything, but what we saw from the board and from the computer screen was all correct! Today, a guy from the advanced webpage group, Khanyiso, has volunteered to teach the advanced group! This will be interesting!

about this blog & why I haven't been too creative lately

Lately I've been receiving information that my blog is being read by more people than just family/friends. On the one hand this is good news, but from the other hand, I'm a bit concerned about the style of my blog. Since it was originally planned as a sort of journal recording my stay here (including all activites, both personal and project-related), I didn't bother much about the style and content, therefore, it's not too 'official'. It was intended as a convenient alternative to writing emails to each friend and family member separately.
As of now, I only have 2 more weeks here, so I think it's a bit too late to change anything. Instead, I have the plan of creating a website about my experiences here in South Africa after I've returned. The website will contain photos, stories, video clips etc..

Now the other thing - maybe some of you have been wondering why I haven't been updating the blog as often as I did in the beginning of my stay. First of all, lately there hasn't been much time to do that, since all nearly of my time at school is devoted to activities directly related to the project.
Second, when I look at the entries I made in the blog at the very beginning, many of them are more in the style of a daily journal, like "today i woke up at 8, ate breakfast, went to bed at 10 etc.." - and this is not really how I intended the blog to be.
Another thing is that in the beginning I was extremely amazed at the things happening here and of the life of the local people in general. I guess it was something like a cultural shock, which is natural when you get in close contact with a culture different from your own. By now, I'm used to the life here and the things which surprised me in the beginning, are natural in my eyes now and therefore I fail to see them as something phenomenal and thus I'm not mentioning them in the blog.

yesterday..

was definitely one of my best days I've had here in South Africa..
One of the students, Mandisi, had his birthday yesterday. We gave him a cake which he shared with all of us! After eating the cake, we played music and danced in the server room! Afterwards, we (Mandisi, Thandile, Sizwe, Khanyiso, Tobi and I) went to Monwabisi beach (the beach in Khayelitsha). We had lots of fun!
But the best part of it was when the guys started singing in the car!
More pictures here.

only 3 weeks left :((((

As of tomorrow, we only have 3 weeks left here. I don't even want to think about it... it's too sad....
One thing is for sure - the time I've spent here has been one of the best times in my life.