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Hey Everyone,

I made it back today after a long couple of flights.  My parents were there waiting for with Steven.  Just thought I would let you all know.  Stop by sometime and we can talk some more.

Cheers,
Bobby

Last Week

Hey Everyone,

Well, this is it.  My last week is in the books.  Tomorrow I will board a plane and head back to American soil as a senior in college.  I don’t know where the time went.  It seems like I just got off the plane and am just getting accustom to South Africa.  Life moves on.  Once I get back I will have about two months of summer and work before heading up to Collegeville for football and my senior year.  My time here has been great.  This week has been a rush.  It is finally hitting me that I am leaving.  There first people out have started the parade of people leaving.  I finished all of my papers and tests, so I have a day to see South Africa guilt free. 

 In the classroom.

This last week volunteering was great.  On Monday, the school held Xhosa day for us.  They were so appreciative of our being there that on last Friday they planned the event.  It was a complete surprise to us.  They wanted to hold a day for us to remember them by because they appreciated us so much.  The day was filled with song and dance.  I will always remember the energy and passion that is accompanies each activity of the day.  Towards the end of our trip, the kids all sang and danced for us.  Along with that, the teachers cooked all kinds of traditional Xhosa food for us to eat.  Some of it was good, some of it wasn’t, but the gesture was incredible. 

 More pictures of the crew.

Tuesday was our last day at the school, so we hosted a Family Night for the school.  It was a big event.  We invited every kid along with two family members to the event at the end of the day.  It was a way for us to thank them for our time at the school because we learned so much from them.  We all became very attached to the students.  I know I will miss my kids.  We were at the school all day working on the event.  The kids carried on with their school, but then were let out at 2:00 to go home and get their families and come back at 3:00.  There was a student from my class who waited for his mom to walk him home, so I was able to have a nice talk with him.  There were two students who didn’t have any family at the event either, so I was able to spend some time with them at the end of the night as well.  Goodbyes are not my thing, but I think I was able to thank most of the students properly.  For those that have addresses, I was able to get a few.  I plan on sending a letter to them in a few weeks to check up on them and make sure they are doing well.

Shaz and I with our teacher, Ms. Tembsi.

The rest of the week has been filled with papers and essays, so I feel like there is not much else to talk about.  If you want to discuss things like the political rhetoric post-Polokwane, I will converse with you about the topic when I am back in the States.  I will leave tomorrow and head back with a stop in Johannesburg and New York before finally making it back to Minneapolis.  I have an eight hour layover in New York which I am excited about also because I have never been to the Big Apple.  I am hoping to stop and check out Time square.  I have to switch from JFK to La Guardia airports.  I am checking things out with the others I am travelling with, so hopefully we can at least see a little of the city before heading back home completely. 

Like I said before, things will get fast in a few days.  I am probably ready to go home, but I am actually feeling somber about leaving.  I’ll be busy working and getting ready for football this summer.  School will be even more hectic with classes, football, and the job search.  I will have to join the rest of the world in a year.  The time here has allowed me to grow greatly as a person.  I have made some great friends and I hope I am a much more well-rounded person.  I have grown to love South Africa.  There will always be a place in me for the country.  Living and studying here has permitted me to see all different aspects of the country.  The country is young by many standards.  There are growing pains, but I see a lot of good in the people that live here.  I have made some great connections that I will continue to stay in touch with.  Hopefully we will cross paths again. 

I want to thank you all one more time for reading.  It means a lot to have so many people that care.  I look forward to seeing you all once I return. 

The sun setting on South Africa one more time.

One last time, cheers!

Bobby

One Week Left

Howzit Everyone,

Hopefully everyone is enjoying the hot weather.  I noticed it has been in the 90’s a few times the past few days.  Port Elizabeth has been dealing with some cold 60 degree weather and a few days of rain in the past week.  That’s a South African winter for you.  This is the home stretch for me.  One week from this post I will be back in Minnesota. 

On Friday, we hosted a braai for the staff of our Apartment complex as a thank you for putting up with us for these past four months.  We had to deal with some rain and wind, but it was still a nice afternoon.  On Saturday the volunteers at House of Resurrection were having a family day for the kids, so our whole group went to help but mostly just partake in the fun. 

This afternoon we have a river boat cruise as a group.  It will be kind of a closing activity, one last time to get together as a group for a nice occasion.  There are multiple papers due in the upcoming week, so all of the big adventures are done.  There have been a lot of statements like, “Oh, I’m going to miss that,” in the past week or so.  I expect that to grow even more in this last week.  I am not going to dwell on any of that right now.  I will save most of that for my post next week before I leave.  Right now, though, I’m sitting in the living room of our flat looking out over the Indian Ocean.  That is something I will miss a bit.  The ocean is like a bonfire.  There is something calming about it to the point where a person could sit and watch the waves crest over and over again and not have any thoughts. 

A short post this week, the end is in sight.  Supposedly, the culture shock of returning back home is just as bad or worse than when I first arrived.  I’m not sure how that works, but they have studies.  It’s science.  I also noticed the Twins are on a win streak.  I guess they are struggling this season.  Thanks for reading everyone!  My flight out leaves on Saturday, so look for a post on Friday.

Cheers,

Bobby

Hey Everyone,

Volunteering at Pendla this week was especially rewarding.  It is great to go there every Monday and Tuesday, but something about this week was a little extra special.  I have mentioned before that I have become fond of my students in class.  I hope they are learning from me as much as I am learning from them.  As my time here is limited, I have looked back at the experience going into these last two weeks.  We meet quite regularly to discuss ways that we can maximize our time at our volunteer site.  This week we discussed different parts of volunteering like what we found frustrating, what worked, what didn’t work.  I want to write about two instances that I will remember for a long time because they were particularly special.

First, the past couple weeks the Department of Education has brought in a group of people to teach the students how to play sports like rugby, soccer, field hockey, and other sports that are popular here.  It is a way of giving the students a gym class once a week basically since they don’t have that regularly.  They come during the students break conveniently.  When the group arrives midday on Tuesday, their bus is swarmed by the all the kids, all but the students in my class.  The students in my class could care less.  During recess I play soccer with them.  Them being Busisa, Zuko, Liyema, Liyema S., Ayabonga, Hlmelo, Sisababwe, Sive, and Likhane.  I figured I should give them recognition finally on the blog.  They acknowledge that they are there, but would rather play soccer with me. 

The second came this past Tuesday.  One of the grade 1 teachers is retiring, so there is going to be some shifting of students.  The class that I teach in will be doubling in size to hold about 60 students.  It will be a challenge as I expect it to be mayhem in class.  The room is not particularly big, so we worked on Tuesday moving out the teacher’s desk and getting more desks and chairs in the room.  While this was going on, I happened to just be sitting around talking with the students.  I was not going to be able to control them with the room in such a clutter, or so I thought.  As we were sitting there, Busisa and Liyema took out English books that I had been teaching an English lesson out of before we started moving the room around.  They asked me to read with them.  This was amazing, so I grabbed a book myself and went over to read with them.  After we started, more students came over to join.  In the midst of the mess of the room, I ended up being able to still teach the students.  I must say that this has been the most rewarding part of the trip for me.  I think that this also can symbolize the current situation South Africa finds itself today.  The country may be a mess because of the past, but there are great people here that have big aspirations and strides being made to improve the country.

I have been looking at the weather reports for Minneapolis, and they look very similar to Port Elizabeth right now.  Highs in the low 70’s with lows in the mid 50’s.  It is getting dark here earlier and earlier every day since it is fall here.  It is dark at around 6 o’clock now.  It is weird since the days are getting longer in Minnesota and that is what I am used to.  The nursing department from CSB-SJU will be arriving here Sunday.  It will be interesting to see their reactions to being in South Africa.  I am sure our group looked the same way back on February 2.  Our group has adjusted to living here, so we will be able to show them the ropes about SA.

I want to wish a Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there!  Happy Mother’s Day Mom!  Thanks for everything; I hope you have a great day.  I would not be having this great adventure without you. 

Thanks to everyone for reading.  Cheers,

Bobby

Reading to the kids at Pendla. 

Central Port Elizabeth.

Sunset at our beach.

Johannesburg-Soweto-Pretoria

Hey Everyone,

Well, I did not jump off any bridges or climb any mountains this past week.  I did visit Johannesburg though.  A couple weeks ago I was talking with a roommate, and we decided that we have to see Joburg to truly have seen the country.  Many people recommended going to the city, but I was never sure if I could fit it in to my weekends which are numbered.  After learning so much about this country and living here for the past three months, I realized I had to take the pilgrimage to “Gold City.”

View of the Johannesburg skyline.

There are some themes that come up when people speak of Joburg.  Among those themes are that it is a tough and dangerous city.  Those reasons were initially the main reason for not planning on making it to the city.  It really is not a tourist city either because of those reasons.  The city has such a strong history, and it has played such a huge role in the development on the country.  We got a group together and went over our long weekend this past weekend.  Last Friday, April 27^th, was Freedom Day which is the anniversary of the elections in 1994.  This past Tuesday was international employee appreciation day.  America has a separate labor day.  That gave us the opportunity, so we took it. 

Johannesburg was built on the gold mines.  Thousands of people would ride the train and work in the mines to provide for their families.  Part of the reasoning of Apartheid was to keep a cheap labor force to work in the mines.  Many of the men in the family would take the train and live at the mines on contract for about six months at a time.  We decided to take the train, because it was cheap and symbolic.  I had never ridden a train before, and why not in Africa.  The train from PE to Joburg is an 18 hour trip, so long.  It was cramped, hot, loud, and difficult to sleep.  I had a good time though.  Our group took up the time by reading and playing games with each other, but that is not what the other travelers did.  Many times, there would be spontaneous gospel singing which was very cool.  Yes, there were some interesting characters, and some heated situations amongst other riders which caused for some worrisome situations.  We made it fine; the ride back was actually a full 24 hours because the train broke down, so we were stuck in Bloemfontein for a few extra hours.  That’s Africa for you.

The train we rode.

A good friend of ours, Anga, which we met on our second day here, accompanied us on the trip.  This proved to be beneficial in countless ways.  His mother tongue is Xhosa, so he was able to do the talking and interpret for us in sticky situations.  He saved us peace of mind and probably money many times. 

We took a tour of Johannesburg and Soweto (South West Township) one day.  We were able to see the whole area which has so much history and life to it.  Soweto is the largest township in South Africa, and because of this there have been many historical protests and events that have taken place there.  We got the chance to see Nelson Mandela’s current house in a Suburb of Johannesburg along with his past home in Soweto.  His past home is a small museum, situated on Vilakazi Street which is the only street in the world that has had two Nobel Peace prize recipients live on the street.  Archbishop Desmond Tutu who won the award in 1984 still lives about a block away from Mandela’s old home.  The hospital in Soweto boasts that it is the biggest in the Southern hemisphere.  It holds 5,000 beds, so it is quite large.  While driving through Soweto we were able to see some of the barracks that use to house miners.  There was also some drag racing that we got to see by chance.  There was just so much going on while we were driving through.  Unlike in Soweto, we were able to walk around a bit in downtown Johannesburg. 

Soweto

We also toured Pretoria one day which is a short 40 minutes from Johannesburg.  Pretoria is an interesting city because it is about 67% white where South Africa is only about 10% white.  The Union building where the executive offices are held was very cool to see.  There have been some big speeches that have taken place in front of the building, so finally seeing that was amazing. 

Union Building

There were some hectic situations during our trip.  One day we were in downtown, we were looking to go back to our hostile.  Our main transportation here is by using the Kombi system that is used in South Africa.  We are almost always the only white people that use them.  We decided to walk a couple blocks to the ‘rack’ where the kombis congregate.  The kombis, which everyone call taxis, where in a big parking ramp that smelled like urine.  A smell that is all too familiar to many areas in SA.  This was probably the most on edge I was during the trip because there was gambling, selling of things that were clearly stolen and loud music blaring while people search for the taxi that will take them the direction they want.  The nine of us stuck out as usual, but Anga was able to do the negotiating for us and we were able to find a kombi that took us our way.  The train ride back also provided a tense situation.  Late in the night there was an argument in our cart.  There was an extended family in the cart with us, and particularly a young man that was intoxicated.  There was lots of yelling in Afrikaans, so we couldn’t understand what was being yelled.  Anga can understand Afrikaans a little, so he was able to get the main subject of the fight.  The main thing I got was that the man was angry at his wife/girlfriend and tried taking his son.  He actually threw many of their belongs out the window.  The most tense the fight got was when the man went out of the cart for a while.  When he returned, he had a broken bottle in his hand.  He only got a couple rows in when one of the mamas pushed and punched him to leave.  He did and the situation cooled shortly after.  Don’t worry mom, our group was ignored the entire time, and the fight never escalated to put us in danger.

View in front of Union building.

One of the museums we visited was the Apartheid museum in Johannesburg.  It was truly one of the best museums I have ever been to.  We ended up spending a few hours just looking through all that was there.  Throughout our time here, I have learned so much about Apartheid, but the vast compilations of artifacts and videos was absolutely astounding.  I was able to gain an even greater amount of what went on during that time, and everyone was shocked from the museum.  One of the nights we watched the movie District 9.  If any of you have seen it before, you know that it is set in Johannesburg.  The movie is a science-fiction movie where there are aliens that live in the townships of Johannesburg.  I had seen the movie before, but watching I was shocked to see the similarities between the movie and Apartheid.  There are forced removals, laws that segregate the aliens and humans, and township life.  The director did a great job of emulating that era of South Africa.  It is a Hollywood production, so there is an obvious cinematic touch to it.  I would recommend watching it because I think it gives the best look into what it was like during Apartheid through a modern lens. 

The trip was one of my favorite adventures I have had during my time here.  Thanks for reading.  I appreciate all the support.  I am on the home stretch as there are three weeks left for me in South Africa.  I plan to make the best of them, and look forward to seeing you all when I return.

Cheers,

Bobby 

Musical Week

Hey Everyone,

I was back in PE this week for classes and volunteering, so no jumping off bridges or climbing any mountains.  One thing that I did notice was how good it felt to be back in the flat after the trip from Cape Town.  The trip was amazing, and I was able to get some great experiences, many of which will be once in a lifetime.  It was comforting being back in PE and my flat, and I noticed how much I have gotten used to the area and my flat.  I have also talked with some others about this and they expressed a similar opinion. 

On Saturday, Matt and I went to campus to get a good lift in and do some running.  We used the kombis or taxis like we do every day for school and getting around town.  There is always some loud music blaring with a packed car that always makes for a great time.  I actually enjoy riding on the kombis because each ride is different and you can learn a lot just from listing and watching those riding.  We have gotten used to riding these large vans; however, and know the routes, prices, how to call for a stop, and just interact with the driver and caller.  On our way to campus there was a large group of white students walking down the street that looked foreign to South Africa.  The driver gave a couple of honks toward them to get their attention while the caller yelled in their direction as usual.  They looked excited that they were able to catch a kombi and waved for it to stop.  They were excited, but hesitated to get on and questioned where it was going. 

The driver answered their questions and they loaded up.  As they were getting on, one of the guys in the group told them all to get out seven Rand to pay for the ride.  Gas prices jumped up about two weeks ago, so the price of the ride was now eight Rand.  Matt and I both chimed in and told them of the change.  Eventually we talked and they were from New York, and getting here to do a few weeks of volunteering out on some farms.  After we got dropped off, Matt and I both laughed about the ride.  That is probably how our group must have looked early in the trip, and it was funny to see it from another perspective.  We have been able to assimilate into the culture fairly well in the past two and a half months.  In short conversations with people we can appear to be South Africa, and even trick a few Americans such as those on the kombi that we are from PE. 

We have become so accustom to many of the things that we see and do every day.  I notice things today that I wouldn’t have early in the semester because I am able to see it differently.  There are always eye-opening moments that I am shocked to see though.  Yesterday, on Monday, those of us that volunteer at Pendla Primary were able to look at a couple of the homes that the students live in from our school.  This was just an incredible experience.  The students live in shacks.  They have no running water, no toilets, no oven… nothing.  We have seen many townships since coming here, but this neighborhood was particularly tough to see.  I think it is because we know the students living in them.  It is just hard to believe that the happy faces and students that we work with live in those kinds of conditions.  This area is some of the poorest conditions. 

Before school, the students need to go to the well to get the families water for the day to wash up and use for cooking.  The area uses the bucket system for bathroom purposes.  That means they do their business in a bucket, and supposedly once a week the buckets are taken away because there is no plumbing.  The shacks are in terrible condition, and it is not uncommon to see trash on the roof to patch up a hole.  One of the teachers that was with us explained about the area to us.  She talked about how hard it is when they know the families have no money.  For myself, I envy the energy and passion my students are able to have each day.  They value their families and friends.  It is not uncommon to see a student in class without a lunch.  All of the other students share with that student to the point where that student usually has more than the rest.  The community which we were able to see while walking through the area also, is something that I think they are all passionate about, and it is a great opportunity for everyone to learn from.

Later in the day, we visited the house of Dudley Tito in the townships who is a jazz legend in the PE area.  He is the only living member left from his original band, but he has recruited new members and they play a handful of songs for us in their yard.  They were very talented and many of the neighbors stopped by once they realized the show going on.  The energy was amazing. 

Staying on the musical theme, today we went on a day trip to some parts of the Eastern Cape Province that we haven’t been to yet.  We started at Grahamstown where we stopped at Rhodes University which is the oldest university in South Africa.  We were given a lecture on a bit of story of Africa as a whole with attention paid to the musical aspects of the various regions.  After that, we travelled into a village near the coast.  Here we learned about some of the traditions of the Xhosa and Zulu people that make up the two major tribes in South Africa.  We had a traditional lunch of chicken with samp and beans.  The lunch gave us the energy to have enough energy to learn how to Zulu dance.  The Zulu culture was once a very strong tribe which had a militant approach to life.  Under the leader King Shaka the tribe advanced their area throughout most of the area pushing out many tribes and conquering many in the process.  Their fall came to be the British Empire in the 1800’s when Britain began to colonize the area.  The Zulu dancing has a manly aspect to it because of its war driven roots.  There are many powerful stomps and chants in the actions. 

Thanks for reading! 

Cheers,

Bobby

Greetings,

One last post here to finish up my adventures during my Cape Town Trip, there is still plenty to talk about though.  We took a wine tour as a group on Wednesday.  The land is so beautiful.  All you see when gazing across the landscape is the rolling valleys that are filled with vines of grapes, all enclosed by humbling mountains.  We were able to tour a couple estates and learn about the process it takes to make the wines.  I must admit that I had no idea it took so long to make wine.  Depending on the type, it can take over a year and a half to put out a finished product.  Also, a wine tour would not be complete without a tasting as well, so we were able to try some of the different varieties.  My tastes for wine are very young, so many of the differences that the leaders spoke of were lost on me. 

On Thursday, many of us went to an aquarium on the waterfront to check out what it had to offer.  A few from the group, Matt, Liz, and Emily, are certified in scuba diving, so they were able to dive at the aquarium.  The tank they dove in was full of all kinds of sea water fish.  It had everything from colorful schools to giant sea turtles to sharks.  Yeah, sharks.  They were not an aggressive breed of sharks, but they looked intimidating and I can tell you that I would not jump in that tank. Water sports just aren’t my thing.  The tank had glass on about 75% of it, so we were able to watch them scavenge around the bottom in search of lost teeth and swim around the giant rays.  After that, we walked around on the waterfront to check out all the vibrant life that goes on around that part of town.

On Friday I, along with a few others, decided to explore the city a little bit.  We walked all around to check out the various areas of the city.  We checked out the different markets and street sellers that are everywhere in the city because you can do some great people watching and check out some really cool paintings and sculptures.  On Saturday, some of the group had left to take a slow route back to PE and make a stop or two at different cities on the way.  I stayed with a group and we spent the day checking out various museums throughout the city.  There are all kinds of museums that are dedicated to Apartheid, but also some other cool things.  One of those things is a castle that was built by the Dutch East India Company that first settled on the Cape.  We toured the castle and were able to watch a loud and impressive cannon demonstration in the process.  On Sunday, we went to Easter Mass in one of the churches in the city.  We ended up walking around the city and looking around the city one last time.  We ended up spending most of the day at the SA Science Museum and Planetarium where we checked out the different exhibits and watched a movie on 2012 while it was raining. 

Cape Town has a life of its own.  If you ask anybody that has been to SA, they will tell you to check out Cape Town.  If they know the country, they will also tell you that the city is not a representative of Africa.  That means that the city showed a very different aspect to what I have already seen.  The city is very diverse with large amounts of all kinds of races which is great, and gives it a great culture.  Some things I noticed was that the crime is definitely a step up from PE.  Port Elizabeth is known as the ‘friendly city,’ and it is a small city despite its large population.  While down the street from our backpacker to get some food, we would be hounded by beggars and dealers of all sorts of stuff.  We have maybe become a bit lax in PE because we know everywhere that is safe and have gotten better at fitting in.  In Cape Town, we had to take extra precautions to make sure that girls did not walk alone and keep an eye on our belongings at all times. 

The last few days of the trip were somewhat rough.  On Thursday, one of the girls on the trip found out that her dad had past.  My heart and prayers go out to her along with everyone else on the trip, and we all have done what we can to rally around her.  Over the weekend, another girl lost her grandfather.  This was also a tough blow, and I will not comment more because those situations are personal.  I cannot even imagine being in their positions and I hope they can find support in our group which has really become close throughout the trip and last week especially. 

That should cap everything up.  I know I probably missed some things, but I think I got most of the trip well covered.  If you have any questions, feel free to try and get a hold of me to ask.  Thanks for reading as always!

Cheers,

Bobby

View of Cape Town 

Chapman Bay in route to Cape Point