The land is the gold at the end of the rainbow

So much to tell you all about!

Ok so for our “holiday”, as the South Africans say. My four friends and I took a road trip to Cape Town. Mary and I made friends in the beginning of September with three other student teachers from Minnesota. Meg, Nicole, and Laura are special education teachers who are also finishing their student teaching in Port Elizabeth. We met them on our safari and we decided on that very trip that we would make our way to Cape Town some way, some how, as soon as possible. So we decided to rent a car, the foxy lady as she became known as. She’s a 90’s model hunter green Volkswagen Fox, a real beaut. During the week of September 24-October 4th all schools were closed for Spring Break, so we decided to take off.

Meg, who really is a great driver, started our trip with a few missed exits on the freeway as we made our way out of town, but we laughed and had a good time along the way. I remembered to bring my ipod charger as well as my ipod tape player from America and low and behold the Fox did in fact have a tape player. We jammed out to all our favorite road trippy songs as we headed along the N60 to our first stop, Tsitsikamma.

We checked into our hostel, Dijembe, about 4pm and decided to do a quick hike through the woods near where we were staying. Dijembe was a nice clean hostel but somewhat expensive. I actually ended up having my glasses stolen which was strange because they are prescription glasses, but oh well. Our second day was one of the most beautiful hiking days we had the pleasure to enjoy. We got up early that morning and ate a quick breakfast with black coffee and Nicole and I hit the trails. Meg, Mary, and Laura decided they wanted to do the zip-line through the forest so they dropped Nicole and I off at the Tsitsikamma National Park, the second most visited park in South Africa. Since it’s the beginning of spring here the park had very little visitors and Nicole and I had the entire trail to ourselves. This hike was by far the most beautiful hike I have ever done. It took us along the Indian ocean, over huge boulders and ended at a picture perfect waterfall. So perfect that Nicole and I decided to do a little bit of yoga, just to set ourselves in with the scenery. We then hiked back and met up with the other girls for a picnic lunch by the ocean. We decided to do another hike, up a mountain this time, and we ended up encountering two baboons along the trail. So cool!
After our hikes we headed back to the hostel for dinner and drinks around the campfire. My favorite drink here is called a Savannah Dry. It’s a cider beer and it’s usually served with a lemon, really nice.

The next day was bungee day. We woke up early to the sound of a Japanese guy falling of the bunk bed above me, he was fine, and we laughed about it for the rest of the trip. Sorry little Japanese guy your pain became our pleasure. We then pumped ourselves up in the car to a song with the lyrics “shock me like and electric eel” some of you may know this tune. It’s quite a good one. We arrived at our bungee location, strapped on our gear, and decided to take the long walk through wire caging to get to the jumping spot, Bloukrans River Bridge. Bloukrans River Bridge is the highest bridge to bungee jump from in the entire world. It’s a 709 foot jump from the bridge to where you hang upside down for about 2 minutes until they come and fetch you and pull you back up to the top. I was a little frightened that I might die but you really do only live once and when you’re in South Africa with great friends and you’re feeling like you can take on the world, then ya just got to do the bungee. So we did, and it was unbelievable. I really can’t describe to you what it felt like. I remember the initial falling feeling, where your stomach feels like it’s going above your head but then after that my mind just kind of went blank. The free fall really only lasted about 5 seconds. You are attached to the bungee cord at your ankles, so once you stop bouncing you just swing back and forth with an amazing view all around you. The scariest part about the entire thing was that as I was hanging upside down, it felt like I could just wiggle my feet out from the harness. But I just tried to focus on how quiet it was to be hanging upside down in a breathtakingly beautiful valley, very surreal and spiritual. Then they pulled me back up to the top and all is well. I have a DVD of the entire jump, just come over when I get home and we’ll watch it.

After we all had jumped we got back in the car and continued on our way. That afternoon we decided to just kick it on one of the beaches in Plettenburg Bay. We laid out in the sun and ate some lunch once again by the ocean. Bungee jumping and ocean picnics became just normal day activity for us. Yes, you should be jealous. South Africa is the most awesome place to travel and discover. I hope you all get a chance to come here someday and see how wonderful this country is.

That evening we checked into our second hostel “Island Vibes” in Knsyna. Cute place with so many activities to do and just a little bit of time to enjoy it all. I do hope Mary and I can make it back to Knsyna sometime soon. That night we walked around the downtown area and lucked up on a really cool art sale. I took some neat pictures of a hippie kid lighting candles around this old tree in the city center. We later went dancing in what we think might have been a gay bar and had blast. We requested oldies and they played songs from Grease over and over again.
The next day Mary and I went on a tour of the township in Knsyna. Townships are basically the slums of South Africa. During the Apartheid era millions of black and mixed racial South Africans were forced out of their homes to live in these segregated areas called townships. It wasn’t until 1994 that desegregation occurred and all people became free to live and go as they please. It’s really a sad situation because every average size town in South Africa has a township and they are all, for the most part, very poor. But just as it is in Nicaragua, the poorest part of town is often where people really do understand how important family is and it truly means something to call someone your neighbor. As soon as we arrived the kids came running up to us wanting to hold our hands and play with our hair. They loved our cameras and wanted us to take their pictures and pictures of their families. We stopped along the way and bought some candy from one of the local township grocery stores and we handed out little candies to all the children. I couldn’t help myself from the tears that started to run down my face. It reminded me so much of the little ones in Nicaragua. When the girl I was holding in my arms wouldn’t let me put her down, she began wiping the tears from my face with her t-shirt. Children are so special. We then walked along until we eventually came to the part of the township where the largest group of Rastafarians live in all of Africa. I didn’t know much about the Rastafarian belief’s until we were given a tour by this middle aged man who gave us great information about their way of life and how they see the world. So interesting. We also got to see where they have huge reggae parties every Saturday night with everyone in dread locks, even the little kids. I want so badly to go back and join them sometime. It would be a blast I’m sure.

From Knysna we then drove to Mossel Bay. It rained along the way, but the countryside in that areas is just beautiful. I really enjoyed the backpackers we stayed in that night. We hadn’t had a really nice shower since we left so to have a warm shower was such a delight. We went to dinner and watched a little rugby. When we got back to the backpackers we met up with some of the coolest people who were also staying there. One guy, Calvin, from England drove his motorcycle from Great Britain down through Spain into Africa and all the way down to South Africa via the Eastern Coast. I loved hearing his traveling stories and it really made me want to try this little trip someday. I’m thinking sweet honeymoon adventure. We had a Savannah Dry on the house and chatted with some guys from Estonia too. I love staying in hostels. You get to meet people from all over the world who also love to travel and can share such fascinating stories about living and seeing life for what it is. The good and the bad is all meaningful if you’re willing to reflect on everything you’ve experienced.

Our fifth day, it was quite rainy and cold but my four friends were determined to go shark diving. Don’t get me wrong I do love an adventure, but any of you that know me know that by day 5 of being with people all day long I really needed some independent alone time. So I dropped my friends off at the dock where they went diving, and I took the car for a little coffee run and caught up on writing postcards while the rain fell. I watched the ocean for a while and once the rain had stopped I went walking into town. It was Sunday so most of the shops were closed but it was so nice just to be by myself and to walk around and people watch for a bit. I picked the girls back up about four hours later and they went back to the hostel for showers and a bite to eat. We then headed on our way for our last day of traveling before reaching Cape Town that evening.

That night we checked into our hostel, Long Street Backpackers. It’s a fun happening place but I wouldn’t recommend it. There are much nicer, quieter, cleaner hostels to say in while in Cape Town if you’re ever thinking of going. And it had turned really cold from the rain so we froze to death that night. I kept waking up from my whole body shivering until finally it was day light enough to get up and get ready. Every night the girls said I would talk in my sleep. They said it sounded like a mix of Spanish and English gibberish. I must have been so tired. I’ve read you sleep talk when you’re really really tired. The next morning we had to fix a little problem that had occurred the day before. One of the little back window’s of our Foxy Lady had busted right as we got into Cape Town, so Laura and Meg took the car to get the window fixed. Mary, Nicole, and I walked around Long Street, which is very similar to Bourbon Street in New Orleans. The good news is that from our little broken window ordeal, Meg and Laura made a huge discovery. They found the most delicious bakery and café I have ever had the pleasure to set foot in. With endless coffee!!! I must confess, South African food is much better than our American stuff but they haven’t got it right when it comes to coffee. Most South Africans drink instant coffee, which seams so crazy to me because just like Nicaragua, they grow coffee here in their mountains. But I guess since they export so much of it, no one here drinks much “real” coffee. So I greatly miss my shade grown, bird friendly, 100% organically grown Earth Fare coffee. But all this to say that this café had the right idea, not only did they have “real” coffee they also had FREE refills. So we each had about 5 cups. Seriously.
But all this happened the next day that we hiked Table Mountain, so let me back up a bit. Ok so the day that we got the car fixed we did a lot of walking around and shopping for gifts and souvenirs. Cape Town is huge and I don’t think from our three days staying there that we got to see even half of it. That night we heard that there was a comedy club right down the way from our hostel so we went in later to check it out. It was a really good show and after a few drinks Mary blew our cover and we were called out in the club as being the Americans. So they picked on us a little bit and it was all good fun. Finally the comedian quite picking us American’s and started in on the South African people. And as funny as this may sound I learned the most about South African cultural stereotypes that night. There are so many different groups of people here in South Africa and I always feel that I might offend someone by using the wrong term or asking an inappropriate question that I usually just don’t ask, but my friends and I all agreed that we learned more about the South African culture from that stand-up comedian than any travel book could offer. The room wasn’t as cold that night but we decided that tomorrow we were going to find a better hostel than the Long Street deep freezer.

And boy did we! We really lucked up and found the best hostel we had seen yet. Warm clean showers, nice beds, super hottie roommates, and free internet. We really hit the jackpot with Big Blue Backpackers. After checking into the hostel we headed over to the café I was just telling you about. Once we had our caffeine fix for all the lost time we’ve had since we left America, we decided to hike Table Mountain. I was a gorgeous blue sky day and we hoofed it up that mountain. Meg and Nicole are real overachievers so that went on ahead while the three of us stayed at a nice steady semi-slow pace. The hike was tough but we had great conversation on the way up and the weather was really perfect. Once we were at the top it was extremely windy and really cold. We took a few pictures and decided to head down the quickest way possible, the cable cars. On the way up Meg and Nicole met a group of people from Israel. They were super nice and once of the guys is actually a tour guide to several of the famous sites in and around Jerusalem. Hopefully I have found a free tour guide and couch to sleep on in Israel. Anyone else want to go?

The next morning we got up and decided to see a few museums. We visited a terribly biased South African military museums that sucked for the most part, except for the coffee and muffins we woofed down in the little cafe. We decided to ditch that place and head toward the District 6 museum, which was fantastic. District 6 is the area where a large group of black South Africans were forcefully removed from their homes and placed into the townships. It was as gloomy as Ann Frank’s home in Amsterdam. You get the feeling that an immense amount of dark sadness is surrounding you as you walk through the museum halls and see all the faces of so many people who have been struggling their entire lives to gain freedom. I do feel that I learned a great deal that day about freedom and what a powerful message Nelson Mandela sent to the world through his efforts and trials. We as American citizens take freedom for granted every single day, and most of the time you have no idea that your are even doing it.

To lift our spirits we decided to drive out to Boulder’s Beach, where there are said to be tons of penguin sightings and then on to the Cape of Good Hope, the southern most tip of Africa. The day was very windy but the penguins were just too cute not to get out and enjoy. We snapped and few pictures and kept on truckin’. On the way to the Cape of Good Hope we saw a whole family of Baboons by the side of the road. They were the cutest wild animals I have ever seen in my whole life. There was even a baby baboon. I immediately thought of the all the kids I babysit back home. First off because I do believe children and baboons are very similar but mostly because I know the kids would have so much enjoyed seeing these little guys. Especially my sweet animal lover Gabrielle! Once we got to the Cape it was so windy that we decided to eat our picnic inside the car due to the fact that food would have literally blown out of our hands if we had tried to sit down and eat. The Cape of Good Hope was one of the most beautiful places we visited on our trip. Standing on the edge of the land with the wind blowing off the ocean, you really do get the feeling that you are standing on the end of the earth. It was wild. We encountered, with much serendipity, our Israeli friends again and decided that we would have some drinks at a jazz bar later that evening. We had great conversation with them and we all promised to reunite in Israel sometime soon.

The next day we had to say goodbye to our lovely hostel, loaded our car, and headed to Stellenbosch for an all-day wine tour. The wine tour started at 11am and at our first winery we tasted nine glasses of wine. I felt great but I really didn’t know if I was going to make it through to the last winery still sitting straight up in my chair. I did manage, but by the last winery I started to get a terrible headache. Mary called me a Wino. That evening we had a fantastic dinner at a traditional African restaurant that included face painting and an awesome performance with dancers and drums and Malva pudding. So fun. I had a pretty bad headache that night and I swore that next time that I go on a wine tour I will only drink the wines that I really like and the rest, no matter how expensive they are, I am going to spit out!

The last full day of our trip we spent going to a little town called Calitzdorp in the mountains. I drove almost four of the six hours of the trip and I now feel very confident in my South African driving abilities. We stayed in these beautiful rustic chalets in the mountains. There were also several natural hot spring pools around where we staying so we definitely enjoyed ourselves the rest of the evening in the “hot tubs”. We had such a good time. It was bittersweet to see our holiday come to an end. The saddest part of the trip was that it was our Minnesota friends last few days in South Africa. I really hated to see them go. We sat out under the stars with the bright southern hemisphere stars and a full moon. We had gotten chocolate cake to-go from the café we had dinner in, so we ate cake and re-told all our funny stories and memories from our week of traveling. I really miss those girls and I can’t wait to make my way up to Minnesota hopefully sometime this coming winter to enjoy the snow with them.

That’s all for now. We started back school this week, so I have been teaching my 10th grade classes about diseases stemming from nutrient deficiencies (goiter, rickets, anemia, etc) and my 11th graders about managing the stock rooms in a restaurant. I do love my life.

School days and driving the Honda girl

I absolutely love my job as the American student teacher. Collegiate High School for Girls, where I am completing my student teaching, is a 10 minute drive from my home. For the month of September the teacher I am observing has been picking me up for school in the mornings at 6:45am. Yes, I get to see the sun rise every morning. It’s glorious. The Botha’s have a car specifically for Mary and I to use; however, we have just been allowing ourselves to adjust to the roads a bit. In South Africa they drive on the left-hand side of the road and there are quite a few road signs that are different from ours. So this combined with the fact that we live in a fairly busy city, we have only driven short distances near our home. The blinker and windshield wipers are swapped too. I am sure you can imagine the roars of laughter when you try to turn your signal on and the wipers come on instead. Riaan has been teaching Mary and I to drive, he is such a nice friend to us. We have a cute little PURPLE Honda that we are eventually going to name.

I can honestly say that I love school. My students are the sweetest, most well behaved teenage girls I have ever met in my life. So far I have taught a 10th grade nutrition course, two 11th grade cooking courses, and an 8th grade sewing class. Everyday when they come into my class they stand at their desks until I say “Good morning girls” then they reply “Good morning Ms. Vickery”. I then ask them to be seated and we begin our lesson. It is so nice to be respected as the real teacher, even though I am only a few years older than my students. They love to ask tons of questions about America and American culture. A good many of the television shows that South Africans watch are actually American shows and of course the girls watch American movies. So the majority of what they know about us is through the media, which usually dictates the hilarious questions the girls love to ask me. My students have asked questions like, “Ms. Vickery, did you have a 16th birthday party like they have on “My Sweet Sixteen”, “Ms. Vickery, how many movies stars do you know?”, “Ms. Vickery, How come Americans are so obese?” “Ms. Vickery, Did you think before you came to Africa that we rode Lions and Elephants to school?” One class, my most talkative and social group, always begs me to talk about boys. They are very VERY interested in my love life as well as the love lives of my two brothers. I showed them pictures of Lake and Isaac and I couldn’t get several of them to focus back on our lesson! But my favorite question by far came today from the Kindergarten class I observed. The sweet little darling raised her hand to inform that Mr. Jackson had died. When I looked at her teacher for better understanding of who Mr. Jackson was, her teacher says “Alice means Michael Jackson”. I died laughing, it was just too cute! Alice then tells me that she watches the news sometimes with her mummy.

Today I realized from observing the primary grades that I really hope to someday teach this age group. I really enjoy teaching the high school girls, but the little ones are my most favorite. This just means when I get back to the states I must start immediately working on my reading endorsement so that I can become a candidate for teaching ESOL to elementary age students. And then more schooling to obtain a master’s in Early Childhood Education, someday, blah.

I am leaving today to go with Mary and three other American girls from Minnesota to Cape Town for 10 days. Tomorrow I am bungee jumping off the tallest bridge in the world! We are also going to hike Table Mountain and go on a few wine tours through the wine country! I wish you all could see how beautiful this county is.

Much more to come when I return from Cape Town.

Feel free to shoot me an email with any questions about South Africa at jenmivickery@gmail.com

As they say in South Africa, Cheers!

Pictures, whoop whoop.

ok so click on this link and you'll be able to see my South Africa pictures! Cheers!
http://picasaweb.google.com/jenmivickery

More to come too!

I love South Africa

This place is amazing! I love being here. This is by far the best trip I have ever taken. I loved Nicaragua, and always will, but South Africa has stolen my heart.

I left Atlanta on September 1st at 7:55pm. Fifteen LONG hours later I arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa to the local time of 5:25pm. The plane ride was pretty intense but I did meet a really great guy named Charlie who sat in the seat directly behind me. Through our little airplane windows we shared a beautiful view of the plane wing, haha. He and his uncle, dad, brother, and friend were going to the northern part of South Africa to travel and do some adventuring. We ended up talking most of the flight and I was really thankful to have his company.
From Johannesburg I took a connecting flight to Port Elizabeth. This flight was only two hours and I’m pretty sure I slept sitting straight up the entire time. I was exhausted to say the least! When we arrived at the P.E. airport the current temperature was 63°F and we walked straight from the plane into the windy cool air. I recognized Brendon in the lobby from his facebook pictures. Brendon and Jeanine Botha are the host parents that are allowing me to stay with them while I teach. Also with Brendon was the other American girl that is living with us at 36 Nobbs Rd. Her name is Mary and we immediately hit it off. She is from Ohio and she’s teaching History and English at a high school right down the street from our home. We have already starting planning our next teaching adventure! Maybe Germany!
Port Elizabeth is breathtaking. Our home is a 10 minute walk to the Indian Ocean and it is as beautiful as the Gulf of Mexico. The water is clear and green and the sand is white. Also Jeanine told me that where we are there are no sharks, so you don’t have worry about that anymore Aunt Lisa!  But there are beautiful whales and dolphin you can see from the beach. More to come about hopefully seeing these animals up close.

I cannot tell you how great my home is here in P.E. The Botha’s are extremely nice and they have two BEAUTIFUL twin babies that I get to hold and play with all the time. Jeanine is also an amazing cook and was once a chef before they began hosting students in their home. One of the first nights I was here we had lamb chop stew with potatoes and carrots over rice that was the best rice I have ever eaten. It was sooooooo good! My roommates are fantastic as well. Mary from Ohio is in the room across the hall from mine. We share what the South African’s call a flat. It’s basically an apartment adjacent to the main house where Brendon and Jeanine live. Our home is beautiful and very roomy. Though I do love the babies, it is really nice to be in our own space at night. Jeanine’s mother also lives in the house with Jeanine and Brendon and she is very sweet as well. Her name is Eugenie. She and I talk often and I have come to really enjoy her sense of humor. She is also teaching me a little Afrikaans.

My other two roommates are Anna Marie and her brother Riaan, who are South African. They are studying at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in P.E. I really love all of my roommates and I know we are going to have so much fun traveling and living together. A few nights ago us girls sat together and watched the South African Soaps, which is what they call their Soap Operas. The Soaps are in Afrikaans. So we were all cracking up reading the English subtitles as the drama didn’t translate very well. Everyone in the house except for Mary and I speak Afrikaans and English.
We also have a housekeeper, Ms. Virginia, who takes care of washing our clothes and cleaning our home. I am so spoiled here! I won’t know what to do when I return home! Her first language is Xhosa, which is one of the native South African languages. It sounds so beautiful when she speaks and I have asked her to begin teaching me a few words in Xhosa. She also speaks English as well. I have been spending time helping her with the babies in the afternoons and I already love her and know that she is one of the many here that I am going to greatly miss when I return home.

Yesterday Mary and I went on the coolest day trip I have EVER in my WHOLE life taken! Get ready for this Niel and Cheryl….We went on a safari at Schotia Game Reserve, which is about a 30 minute drive from Port Elizabeth. We saw so many different kinds of animals including… Lions! At one point we were close enough to a full grown male lion that I could have reached out and touched him! We also saw Giraffe, Zebras, White Rhinoceros, Antelope, Vervet Monkeys, several different kinds birds, Blue Wildebeest, Eland, Impala, Red Hartebeest, and Warthogs. Our safari also included a fantastic dinner and drinks in this awesome outdoor ranch-style pavilion. We also met three other girls that are student teaching in P.E. at a school for disabled children. We all really enjoyed hanging out and decided that we are all going to rent a car and drive to Cape Town later this month. It is spring here in South Africa, so we’re going to take a road trip on our spring break.
I am going to post pictures soon of our safari and of Port Elizabeth. I’ll post the link to these pictures hopefully sometime this afternoon. The only downside to being here is that I have very little access to the internet and the telephone, but I am going to try my best to keep in contact as much as possible.

Tomorrow is my first day of school! I can’t wait to meet my students!

I miss you all and hope this note finds you all very well. I love and miss you mama!

I've been waiting three LONG years for this day to come

Tomorrow is the day! Goodbye USA

I'm leaving on a jet plane

Ok, It's now official! I have just purchased a plane ticket for South Africa. I leave Tuesday September 1st and return December 16th, 2009!!!! AHHH!!!

Just Waiting

Hi All - I created this blog for all of you to hear the stories and see pictures while I travel and teach in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. I am not quite sure of my departure date just yet, but hopefully I will be able to leave around the 1st of September! I can't wait!

A little background information:
I am currently studying Family and Consumer Science Education (Home Economics) at The University of Georgia. In order to complete my degree I will spend a total of 13 weeks student teaching in a middle or high school FACS Ed classroom. I have always loved reading and studying other cultures, so when one of my professors suggested The Consortium for Overseas Student Teaching (COST) Program I knew immediately that this was the perfect opportunity to gain experience teaching and living abroad. Both of which I think I would like to eventually do full-time. I will return in early December and graduate on December 18th, 2009.
I'll be updating this blog quite often, as I am required to keep a journal during my experience, as well as posting lots of pictures. Send me money!!