Weekend, Finally

If I’d ever move to Cape Town, I’d go live in Llandudno. I’ll explain later.

Tuesday I worked out my time-table. Time-tables here are odd; they’re for ten days, so one Monday you have different subjects than the next. The following Monday you have the same as on the first Monday, though. Anyway, the subjects I’m taking here are Maths, English, Science, Biology and French. I’ve got 1-3 frees each day to do my own homework. During Maths and Biology I also do my own work. The annoying thing is that we’ve got each subject every day.

Anyway, I signed up for “JUMP,” that’s basically teaching Maths to young Afrikaans (I think) children, or at least “underprivileged” children. I’m starting Tuesday, well, we have a lesson about how to teach Maths to children then. The actual teaching starts the Tuesday after that.

Last Tuesday I went to Cavendish again, this time with Gail, to buy shoes. I didn’t have any for the Met yet. I also tried to get my laptop connected to the internet, but it doesn’t work. Up until now I’ve had to use other people’s computers to get access to the internet. Also, here the internet is extremely slow. It’s really starting to get on my nerves…

Thursday I started “lifesaving” together with Kirsten and Katherine. Most people (including me) thought it would just be having fun in the school’s swimming pool, while learning how to drag someone out of the water. Wrong. We started with swimming 400 metres in eight minutes. No one managed to finish in time. That’s when the trainers decided that we needed to do some serious work. It was exhausting! Especially after half dying that day because of the heat (38 degrees!)…

Something else I noticed Thursday: Many girls at Herschel have a “long lost twin” walking around at home. It’s really weird how similar some of them look to some people at home…

By the way, Monday isn’t the only day there’s assembly. There’s also assembly on Friday, only this one’s led by the prefects. In the afternoon I went to Cavendish again. I do seem to spend a lot of time there. This time I went there with Kirsten, Kath, Pascale (who went to America) and Megan (one of the American exchange girls). We split up quite quickly, though. Kirs, Kath and I went to the MacDonalds. I was pleasantly shocked to find that they have Oreo (!!!) McFlurries there… Delicious!

After Cavendish I went out for an early dinner with the Thompsons in Hout Bay. On the way there, Murray (Kath’s dad) decided to drive through Llandudno. Seriously, the beach and the houses there are absolutely stunning! Anyway, when we were at the restaurant, which was at the harbour, we spotted a seal. Shame I’d left my glasses in the car, though. I could only see a vague grey blur…

After dinner we went back to Herschel, to watch a show by someone named Allen Committee. Or at least, that’s what his name sounds like, I might have got the spelling wrong. Anyway he’s a stand-up-comedian. He was brilliant! At one point he asked if there were any foreigners around. I surprised myself by actually raising my hand. What was really funny was that when I told him I was Dutch he started talking Afrikaans to me. It’s really weird to hear people speak Afrikaans, because it’s so easy to understand and yet so completely different from Dutch. Anyway, he said things to the “Hollandse meisje” sporadically during the show. Many of the things he said to me made the crowd laugh, but when he spoke Afrikaans half of the crowd didn’t, though, because they could hardly understand him. The funniest part of the whole show was when he asked this guy in the front what his name was: Ed. However, Ed had a very low voice, so Allen Committee started walking around on the stage as if he were a Neanderthal, grunting “Ed, Ed! ED!” He repeated this a few times throughout the show. It was really funny.

Saturday was the big day everyone had been looking forward to; the J&B Met. First Ash did my make-up (she really needs to teach me to do it myself) and then we went to Bronwyn’s house, to get dressed and do our hair and stuff. One of the girls (ok, I’m getting really annoyed about my inability to learn names) did my hair for me. She managed to make curls into it by using a hair straightener… It looked pretty good. Then we managed to fit nine of us plus Bronwyn’s mum into one car (and some more people in another car) and we drove to the Met. The Met is a big horserace, and it’s apparently one of THE social events of the year. It’s for eighteen and up, though… We were kind of scared that we wouldn’t get in, because we’d heard that they were very strict, but it turned out to be very easy. We just took one of the side gates. Only at the main gate did they really check age.

The Met is extremely overrated. It was nice, yes, but it’s far from as special as everyone makes it out to be. I heard more people say that. I think everyone talked so highly about it, because none of the people I’d talked to had actually been there before (and all were under eighteen). It was pretty funny to see what people wore, though. The dress code was black/white and many people really do anything to stand out. I’ve seen some beautiful outfits, but also really weird ones. There was for example this one guy dressed like a zebra and someone else wore bright pink hot pants with pink fishnet stockings and a really weird wig (this was also a guy, by the way). I also met many of the boys from Bishop’s, but once again, I don’t remember names…

At the Met, this one guy, Jason, invited many people (including Ash and via her, me) to his house for a party that evening, so after the Met we went to Bronwyn’s house again and around nine we were off to Jason’s (don’t ask me to pick him out of a crowd, though, I’ve really no idea who he is). This time it was eleven people plus Bron’s mum in the car. I met even more people there. Some remembered me as the “Hollandse meisje” from Friday. What was weird, was that at one point, when I was talking to Bron, this one guy came up to hug me goodbye (everyone hugs each other all the time here). It took me a good ten minutes before I remembered talking to him earlier that evening… Anyway, when Bron had to go home I sat down with Ash, Kyle and Lloyd (yay! Someone whose name I remember!). Lloyd is really nice and pretty damn funny, so it was nice talking to him. It was odd, though, because when I went over to them there were some twenty people still there, but when I turned around at one point there were only five others left. We left there around 12:15, I think. I had fun there, but according to most people I talked to it was really small and boring compared to most other house parties… Of course, that got me curious to the other parties.

Sunday I went to Smitswinkel Bay, together with Kirsten and Kath’s mother and grandmother. Smitswinkel Bay is impossible to find if you don’t know where to go. You can’t get there by car, so at one point we had to park the car at one of those parking spaces along the road, which are there for tourists to admire the view. Nothing there leads you to think that there are houses and one of the most beautiful bays in the world only 200 metres down. Even the path down is hard to find. Anyway, I took a lot of pictures. It was absolutely stunning there. There are about 25 houses in the bay. Apparently the plots of land were sold in 1916 and Kath’s great-grandfather bought one of those plots. The people who bought those plots had to build the houses themselves, so no stone was used. The houses are completely built of wood, because stone is just too hard to get down along the path. There’s also no electricity there, but that’s part of the charm.

The water in the bay is freezing cold! However, if you’ve been in it for a while it’s really nice. Kirs and I must have spent a good fifteen minutes in the water. The water is really clear. There’s no litter anywhere. Smitswinkel Bay is extremely beautiful, and yet very little people know of its existence. We also watched the few people there haul a large batch of yellowtails (a kind of fish) up onto the land. What was really sweet and yet really cruel was that there was this little girl getting seawater with a bucket and then pouring the water over some of the fish lying a bit to the side, unintentially she made the fish’s death take even longer, though.

Anyway, the fishing there is all done by hand. One man stands on top of one of the mountains, spotting fish. When he sees a large school of fish, he blows on a whistle. Then two men row onto the sea with a large net and catch as many fish as possible. Then everyone on the beach helps to haul the fish op onto the land, even the little children. Then the fish die, while everyone’s cooling off in the sea. Eventually, when all fish are dead, they are loaded into the small boat and then rowed to a ship, which takes the fish to wherever they go.

We lunched there and then Kirs and I slept for a bit on the beach. After that we drove back to Kath’s house. On the way there I saw many roads with names like “Ou Kaapseweg” and “Lekkerwater Weg.” It was really funny to see those nameplates.

Anyway, I’m exhausted. Last week was really busy and while I have to get up at 6:30 here instead of 7:30 like at home, I don’t go to bed an hour earlier, so I’m having some trouble with lack of sleep.


Love,

Ninks (as they call me here)

I'm In South Africa, hehe

Hi, this post is extremely long, so if you get bored easily, I suggest you don't read. Otherwise, enjoy.

Sunday, 20:42 (or that’s what my computer says, here it’s actually 21:42)

I’m typing this in word, because there is no wireless internet connection here and it’s a lot more comfortable to be typing in bed than sitting in front of a desk. Especially at this time, because when you’re finished you can just put the computer on the night stand next to you and immediately go to sleep, instead of having to walk to the bed first. Not that that’s such an effort, but if you don’t have to, then why should you?

Anyway, I spent practically the whole of yesterday in a plane. The flight was so incredibly long! There was one thing that made it less boring, though: Every chair had this little screen in its back and a handset which you could use to choose whatever movie/TV/music you wanted to see/hear. I ended up watching about five movies and making Sudokus while listening to the Kasabian CD. They’re quite good. I’d say go watch MTV/TMF in the hopes of seeing Shoot The Runner (one of their songs). I think they play it mostly in the morning, but I’m not quite sure of that.

When we got to the airport in Cape Town, Ashleigh, Lily and Katherine were of course waiting for us together with their parents. One of their friends – Natalie – was also there, as well as Kirsten’s aunt, who lives in Cape Town. We immediately went home, because all three of us were dead tired. Only halfway on the way to the house I noticed we were driving on the left and that the steering wheel was on the right. That really shows how tired I was. I mean, normally I would have noticed this the second I got into the car!

When I first saw Ash’s house I didn’t really think it was big. However, they only have one floor, so the entire house is hidden behind the front… When I got inside I was amazed, it looked really big. To the right of the hallway is a small hall with three (!) bathrooms attached to it on the right side, and three bedrooms on the left side. On the right side is also the computer room. Anyway, my room comes first, then Stuart’s, then Ashleigh’s. When Ash showed me my own (!) bathroom she apologised for it only having a shower and a toilet, but no bath and that I could always use hers. However, I don’t really get what she was apologising for, I mean, at home we have to share one bathroom with the five of us (and six when Ash was there)! At the end of the hallway there is even a gym! Then to the left there’s another (huge) bathroom and the gigantic master bedroom.

Then we walked back to the hall. From the hall to the left is the kitchen (which is also huge) and straight on is the official living/dining room (once again, gigantic). However, it isn’t really used much. Both the kitchen and the living room are attached to a second living room, which also has a bar with a huge wine rack behind it. Next to the bar is a door to a smaller room which has a pool table and a dart board. Through the second living room you can also get to the garage. Right now they have three cars. Gavin’s, Gail’s and Stuart’s.

The backyard is beautiful! It goes downhill a bit, and it’s overgrown with all sorts of plants. Above that you can see the mountains (Lion’s head and such). It is absolutely stunning. It looks like you step right into a painting! There is also a swimming pool and a big trampoline.

My own room is quite big. In the middle there’s a double bed, and I’ve got a huge closet. If I look out of the window I look out over the garden. After the tour of the house I went to bed. I couldn’t get to sleep though. I think it’s partly because of the crickets I’m hearing all the time, and partly because it’s so incredibly hot here. I slept on top of my blanket (and yet I woke up this morning all tucked in).

I dreamt about the garden. Yesterday I didn’t get to see the entire garden, because it was so dark. My dream was really weird, though. It was about me giving my dad and Chantal a tour of the garden here, and it was like ten times the size it actually is, and it looked kind of like the Canadian memorial site we went to on the Great War Trip earlier, only without all the shell holes…

This morning I met Stuart (yesterday he arrived home much later than we did). He’s nice. For breakfast there are three kinds of cereal. I tried some sort of powder stuff with banana flavour. I think it was some sort of porridge. I didn’t like it at all. Better luck tomorrow…

I tried on a uniform. It fits well, it’s only a bit too long, so we decided that I’ll just wear this one tomorrow and then get a new one. I also need to get shoes tomorrow (brown leather lace-ups).

After that Gail brought me and Ash to the mall (Cavendish), because I needed to get a Sim-card. Back home I couldn’t find my own phone, so now I’m using Ashleigh’s old one (she got a new one for Christmas). Ash showed me some of the shops. Everything is so cheap! T-shirts for example are about 50 Rand (about €5) and those from brand shops 200R! CD’s are about 110R. I’m going to have a lot of fun shopping…

After that we went to Kath’s house. Hers is even bigger than Ashleigh’s! They’ve got two floors, a huge backyard with a pool and a trampoline, and even their own tennis court! We had a braai (barbecue) there. I think braai comes from the word “braden,” but I’m not sure about that. Quite a lot of people were there: Kirsten, Sandra, Lily, Kath, their parents, Ash and her parents of course, some of Kath’s cousins with their parents, some friends of Robin (Kath’s sister), and Kyle (Ashleigh’s boyfriend). It was lots of fun. At one point I even tried playing tennis. It was Kyle against Ash, and me against Kath on the same court. I really sucked at it, so after a while Kath and I sort of started playing badminton with the tennis gear. I had a lot of fun.

We went home after dinner (leftovers of the braai). I took a shower, and then I dived into bed together with my dear laptop to write this wonderful blogpost. I really have to go to sleep now, though. It’s 22.33 and I have to get out of bed at 6.30 for school tomorrow. I’m really curious about Herschel, so I can’t wait. Also, the earlier I’m asleep, the shorter I’ll have to wait for morning.


Monday

Today was my first day of school! The uniform actually isn't as bad as it seems on pictures. I love the shoes (except for my left shoe, because it cuts in my heel). I'll post a picture later. First we had assembly. That basically means that the whole school comes together in the theatre. It starts off with everyone greeting the headmistress. That sounds so surreal! I mean, with so many voices saying the same thing at the same time… After that “we” are supposed to sing a hymn, but I didn’t have one of those books with hymns in it, so I had to read along with Kirsten. It’s weird, everyone at assembly knows the melody of practically every song, I guess. Also the pitch of those voices… The hymn we sang this morning had some really high parts in it and it sounded absolutely beautiful. Sure, there must be some girls who can’t reach that pitch, but the majority did! Anyway, after the hymn one of the girls that were sitting on stage (I think those were prefects) read a verse from the Bible. I’ve got no idea what it was though. I really couldn’t concentrate… After that the chaplain held this long speech about how everyone must work together and help each other and he underlined this by making two teachers break a little stick and then letting another teacher try to break a bundle of sticks at the same time. After that came a lot of announcements and all the matrics (the girls who are in their last year) were called on stage to accept a badge or something. The Herschel girls have badges which they pin to their jackets that show what they do. Ash, for example, has a badge saying hockey, and Kath – who got appointed foreign coordinator (whatever that may be) today – has a pin with a flag-thingy made of beads.

Anyway, assembly took about an hour, and to me it was very boring, but it’s only on Mondays, so I’ll survive.

After assembly Kirsten and I went to the library, because Ash and Kath had a maths test, and Sandra was told to shadow Lily. We made some chemistry homework, but while Kirsten completed the paragraph, I barely managed to concentrate. I think it was because of the heat. I’ve had problems with it all day. Right now (17.44) it’s really nice, but during the day it must have been over 30 degrees!

We had two free periods then. After that we went to French, while Ash had Xhosa. It was pretty interesting. The girls in that class were having a debate. They had been divided in two groups last lesson, and one group had to argue why living in the countryside is nicer, and the other was for living in the city. It was pretty interesting, because the vocabulary of these girls was a bit different than ours. I mean, I learned some new words, while they didn’t know some of the words we had back in first year. It’s also different, because they really focus on speaking, while we focus on reading and listening.

After French we had a break. I met about twenty of Ash’s friends. I only remember the names of three, though… After the break we had double English. Sandra took two frees, while Kirsten and I went to Kath’s class, because of what we’ve heard about Ashleigh’s teacher… Apparently she’s the scariest teacher in the whole school. According to Ash she even carries a whip around! The other English teacher is really nice. She’d been reading an interpretation of Macbeth to the class, and they’d almost finished it last week, so we only heard the last part of the story. We then got a twenty-question-test on the story. I got a total of two correct. The first one (write down the missing word from a passage – something something again, something something thunder lightning and …. – that was of course rain) and the last one (because that was in the part the teacher read today). I have to start remembering the teachers’ names… We also started watching a movie adaptation of Macbeth.

After English we had another break. During that break we went to the second hand shop. I needed shoes (I stood out like a sore thumb on my All-Stars) and a Herschel school rucksack (ditto). Ash also got me a school jersey (though why I’d need that in this weather…?) and gym clothes. I’m thinking about starting tennis in the beginners group. I mean, I need to have something to do after school. I might go for lifesaving instead of tennis though… I also met Melissa and Tarryn (last year’s exchange students). They’re really nice.

After the break another free (library again – I found a book about Irish mythology and started reading that) and then Kirsten and I went along with Ash and Kath to biology. I don’t think I’m going to the other biology lessons though, because right now they are busy with cells and we had that last year already.

Biology was our last lesson of the day and because Ash still had hockey training, I walked with Kath and Kirsten to Cavendish. I bought a really nice dress there for Saturday. Saturday we’re going to the Metz (I probably spelled that wrong, but that’s what it sounds like to me). It’s a horse race, but we’re going there to socialise. Apparently everyone dresses up for it really nicely. Anyway, we also went to this shop called Kauai. It sells really good smoothies and sandwiches. I got a “ripping raspberry” smoothie. It was absolutely delicious! If you buy something there you get these small stickers and if you have twelve of them (and if you’ve put them on this special card) you get a free smoothie! I’ve got one sticker now.

Kath’s mum picked us up from Cavendish, and while driving she told us that there’s a teacher at Bishop’s (the boys school) who organised three trips (hiking up Table Mountain, visiting Robben Island, and going to the townships) for their exchange students, but the Herschel exchange students can come along too. I’m definitely going to all three, but Kirsten isn’t doing the hike (it takes two hours) and I don’t think Sandra is either. So that would be the two American girls, two boys, and me.

When I got home (around 5), the first thing I did was jump into the pool! It’s so nice to be able to cool off after such a hot day. Since then I’ve been typing this, making some pictures of the garden (it is sooooo beautiful!) and helping Ash a bit with her maths and Afrikaans.

Just so you know, I don’t think I’m going to write many more of these detailed posts. I just did it right now, because these were only the first two days, and if I had to do these for a whole week every time you’d probably take over an hour to read a post… Unless you want posts these long… Hmmm… Just tell me what you think, okay?

Love,

Nienke

8 Days To Go

Welcome! Welcome to my new blog!

This blog is where I will keep everyone updated about everything that happens to me in South Africa. It's much easier than having to write the same story in ten different e-mails/letters/MSN-conversations. I will also post pictures here.

The first day of the testweek is over. That means that tomorrow in exactly one week I will be on a plane heading for South Africa together with Sandra and Kirsten. I'm very excited about it. The fact that I'll be all the way in the south of the Southern Hemisphere hasn't really gotten through to me, though. Maybe it will when I'm high up in the air flying above the Sahara.

Preparations have already started, of course. I guess you could say they started over half a year ago when I signed up for the exchange programme, but right now preparing means making sure I have enough clothes, shoes and planners => It wouldn't do to fall behind on all my homework, not to mention the grades that would plummet if I just saw this exchange as an extra holiday. That does not mean that I'm not going to have the best time ever, of course!

Well, that's it for my first post.

Nienke