The Final Week

It has been almost exactly a week now, since the end of my exchange. The last week in South-Africa had been tough. People signing flags, writing notes, making the last photos and videos, hugging, and, eventually, saying goodbyes. We had to say goodbye to our best friends from Chile and all other friends of the exchange group and at Herschel. I went to Cavendish almost every day. The second last evening, I went out for dinner with Loren's family, at a very nice restaurant with sea view. Loren's mom had organized a table at the window especially for the occasion. It was a lovely night.
 The day of my departure, Loren and her family gave me a huge card with pictures and a letter and a bag of Cape Town. It was so nice to receive those gifts. One of Loren's friends also came by to give me a present. After packing my bags, we had dinner and then we went to the airport and left South-Africa. It felt so weird leaving my home for two months behind to go back to 'normal' life again. I had mixed feelings about leaving, on the one hand sad to leave the people and the beautiful country behind, on the other hand happy to see my friends and family again... I had a wonderful experience in South-Africa. I learned new things, met new people, did things I had never done before. I will never forget this exchange and everything I experienced. I hope to keep in touch with my friends and visit again.

A Day at Bishops

On the Monday of our last week, all the exchange girls went to Bishops for a day. Bishops is the boys’ school that the exchange boys go to. We arrived at Bishops around 7:30 and we had to meet at Mr. Court’s office. Mr. Court is the exchange coordinator of Bishops and he was the one who took us up Table Mountain and went with us on the Cederberg camp. He told us that each of us had to follow a Bishops boy for the rest of the day and go to every class. A normal Bishops day starts with 15 minutes in chapel. A short service to place after which we went to tutor. For the boys it was very strange to see girls around in their school, so we were looked at all the time. My next lesson was Afrikaans. In Afrikaans, I was together with the Chilean exchange boy and one Chilean exchange girl. It was a nice lesson. For the rest of the day I didn’t really go to many classes, but I saw the whole school and the post-matric room were we stayed with the post-matrics during the break. It was a nice day. After school, we went to Cavendish with all the exchange people as a goodbye. We went out for dinner at an Italian restaurant. It was a lot of fun. During the whole day we were dreading the moment where we had to say goodbye to the boys. When the moment came, it was so sad. For now, we only had to say goodbye to the boys, but the girls would follow this week. It was a very sad goodbye and everyone almost cried. We walked back to Herschel where I had to wait for my host parents to pick me up.

The Last Weekend

The very last weekend of my exchange in South-Africa has arrived. I can’t believe how fast these last two months have gone by. How many things I have experienced and done and how many nice people I’ve met. The first goodbyes have to be said at the beginning of next week already and soon, I will have to start packing my bags.

I spent my last weekend with my mom, who was staying with her cousin in Cape Town. The brother of my grandpa moved to South-Africa when he was 17 years old and he lives in Johannesburg now. His daughter lives in Cape Town. She lives in a very nice house near the beach, with her husband and two kids. The whole family loves going to the beach, the children are training to become lifeguards and their dad surfs every day. On Friday night, we went out for supper to a typical South-African restaurant, called Moyo. There was live music and the whole atmosphere gave me this African feeling. The food was really nice and I got to know my family, whom I had never met before. I was very tired from the week so as soon as we got home I went to my bed.

On Saturday, I learned how to pedal board at Small Bay. The weather was good and the sea was quite calm. I got a few waves and loved the surfing experience. Afterwards, we went home and had a really nice braai. We ate outside, next to the fire, which was really nice. The food was lovely, and then I realized that this was my last braai in South-Africa...

Sunday morning was a very relaxed morning. We went to see the shop of my mom’s cousin and afterwards we went to the beach again. The children had their lifesaving class on the beach, while their dad took me pedal boarding again. The weather on Sunday was a whole different story. The sea was wild! As good as it went the day before, as bad did it go on Sunday. I didn’t catch a single wave. It was still a very fun day. Around 3 o’clock we went to the ‘Twelve Apostles’ for afternoon tea with Loren’s family. The Twelve Apostles is a beautiful hotel with a lovely sea view on Camps Bay. My mom and her sister got to know my host parents, enjoying a lovely cup of tea and delicious sweets and sandwiches. I went home with my exchange family and my mom and her sister went back to where they were staying. I said goodbye to them, because the next time I would see them was back in Holland.

Pipa was my best friend!!!!!! Is coolll i love that nerd!!!

Cederberg Camp

Everyone was looking at our very last week of camp with mixed feelings. We were very excited, but also scared to see that our exchange was coming to a near end when this week would finish. Anyways, we left from Bishops again, with all the exchanges and Bishops post-matrics. The bus trip was very nice, talking to everyone on the bus and having lots of fun. We had to drive about two hours, until we arrived in an area called ‘the Cederberg’. It’s a fairly dry area, where not many people live. The people who do live in the Cederberg are mostly farmers. The bus stopped in the middle of the area and our mountain bikes were taken out. We had to mountain bike the last part to the camp. This last part was about 25 kilometres. It was very hot and tiring, but really nice. I’m not sure if I like the landscape of the Cederberg, with everything being so dry, but it was nice to cycle through nature. As soon as we arrived at the camp, we jumped in the water, with our clothes on. That’s how hot we were! That night, we had to make our own dinner, Dutch oven. It was fun to work together with everyone. When it became dark, we went to a little place where we watched the stars. One of the teachers had a laser light, and he showed us all the figures in the sky. We spent the night talking in our tents and slept not too late.

The next morning we were divided into two groups, each doing different activities for the day. Our activities were visiting a local farm school and going on a tour with the ‘Leopard Trust’. The local farm school was about five minutes from our camp. We were going to spend the morning with the kids, playing games with them. We each took a few kids with us to play games and draw pictures with. It was a really nice experience. The difficult thing was that the kids couldn’t speak English, their home language was Afrikaans. I tried to speak Dutch to them, but they didn’t seem to understand much of it. At the end of our visit, the kids sang some beautiful songs for us, and danced along. It was such a nice experience. We had lunch at the camp and around 4 o’clock we had a tour with the Leopard Trust. The Leopard Trust is an organization in the Cederberg, caring for the leopards. The head of this organization took us around the area, showing us the traps for catching leopards and trying to make us aware of life in the wild. He did this by showing us some tracks of animals, and making us listen to the sounds of nature. It was a long walk, and we didn’t see a single leopard. This wasn’t very surprising, because the Leopard Trust ranger himself had only seen seven leopards in the nine years he’s worked for the organization. We spent the night in the camp.

The next day, we were doing the activities that the other group had done the day before, and they were doing our activities of the day before. We spent the morning on top of a cliff, and abseiling from it, and afterwards we went to the Stadsaal caves to view the paintings that Bushmen had made. It was a really nice morning. We had lunch at the camp again and prepared ourselves for the solo night. We were going to spend the night ALONE in the wild. Each of us was dropped alongside a river, with a sleeping mat, a sleeping bag, a pillow, a gas fire, a pan with pasta, and warm clothes. I had the most beautiful spot. My bed was on a little hill under a tree, looking out at a little beach and a river with a small waterfall. I was very close to the other four people who were dropped in the same area, so we could walk to each other whenever. We had to cook our own dinner on a gas fire. It was such a good experience to be alone in the wild making your own dinner. It was actually quite nice. After dinner I went to see my Chilean friend, Pipa, and she was cooking her dinner with Lourents, whose gas fire broke. We spent the night talking on my little beach, also with another Chilean girl, Sofia, and a Colombian girl, Dania. It was a lovely night, with a very bright moon and stars. It was a little disappointing that one of the post-matric boys had to tell us that the animals were on the move in this kind of moonlight... But we survived.

The next morning when I woke up, I was so cold. My whole sleeping bag was wet from dew. Luckily, we were picked up soon and taken back to the camp. I was looking forward to a hot shower so much, and I was let down when I was in the shower and no water came out. We had a long day in front of us, hiking the highest mountain in the area. It would be a nine hour walk. It turned out to be not that bad, and actually quite fun, even though it was very hot. At five o’clock, we arrived back at the camp, and I was surprised that everyone, including myself, had a lot of energy left. We started a party around the camp fire, with singing, dancing, laughing and talking. It was a lovely night. We reviewed the week with our teachers, and everyone had to stand up, while people could say something nice about them, or something they learned about them during this week. We ended the week with many new friendships, a lot of new jokes and a good feeling. On this last night, I put my flag down for everyone to sign it. This was so sad, knowing that I was almost leaving... That night, some people stayed up until sunset the next morning, but I didn’t make it. I fell asleep around 4:30.

At 8 o’clock, we were woken up and I immediately ran for the shower, before the water was finished. We had a quick breakfast and put all our stuff into the bus. On our way back to Bishops, we had lunch at Spur with everyone. Spur is a very well-known restaurant in South-Africa, serving typical food. We made our way back and everyone started to get very tired and boring on the bus. When I got to Herschel, a big surprise was waiting for me... My MOM! I knew she was coming to South-Africa, but I wasn’t sure if she would be at Bishops. It was so nice to see her again, and she got to meet all my friends.

Camping

Time is flying and I can’t even believe that this was our second last weekend. Only two weeks left in South-Africa before going back to my normal life again. Loren’s family, Elise and I spent this weekend camping, about two hours from Cape Town in a beautiful area of South-Africa, Slanghoek. The camping was located in a valley, with a few on mountains and vineyards. It reminded me of Italy in a way, which was really nice. Loren’s dad had already set everything up when we arrived, so Elise and I went for a walk around the camping. It was a beautiful place, with a pool, horses, a trampoline, and more. That night we had a braai on the camp fire and played cards. Loren, Elise and I shared a tent and had a lot of fun that night, talking and laughing. The next morning we had a nice breakfast. We sat at the pool and played some cards at the tents for the whole day. It was a very relaxed day. We met two boys, who were Afrikaans. It was very funny to hear them talk to each other and being able to understand almost everything. The boys had brought a guitar so we had music for the rest of the night. We had dinner and talked on the trampoline until late at night. The next morning we had to leave the camping at 10 o’clock, so we didn’t do much before. It was a nice weekend, and we spent some good family time.

Vrygrond Township

The second last trip had arrived: a visit to the Vrygrond townships. The Herschel bus took all the exchange girls, with cookies, stationary and a good mood, to the other side of Cape Town. The other side of life. Situated near Muizenburg, Vrygrond is home to about 10,000 men, women and children. Up until this moment, we had only seen one side of life in South-Africa, really. The life of the more privileged South-Africans, who are able to afford a good education for their children, enough food to eat and a nice house to live in. My visit to the township changed my entire point of view on life. Seeing what I have seen that day, made me realize how fortunate I am with what I have. When we arrived at the township, we saw many shacks, a few containers and a lot of dirt on the ground. People were walking around in very old and dirty clothes, some with babies on their arms. We visited the crèche first, where we found about 40 children in one container, having breakfast. Breakfast was served in a plastic bowl, and it looked like a white substance, I wasn’t sure what it was. As soon as they finished eating their food, they started running towards us and hugging us, not willing to let go. There was some competition between the kids, all wanting the same amount of love. Some kids even started fighting when they couldn’t give a hug to the person they wanted to get to. Everyone tried to give them as much love as they could, considering the fact that they didn’t get much at home. We left the crèche for a tour around the township, guided by one of the inhabitants. He told us a lot about how things worked in the township and we learned many things about life in a township. In Vrygrond, there are many volunteers trying to create opportunities for the people and trying to make life a little bit better. We met a Dutch guy, teaching about 40 adults how to use a computer. His computer lessons took place in a small container, and included teaching people how to use simple things, such as Word and the internet. After talking to some of the inhabitants, we learned that it was one big community living together in the township. One big family. Even if people got the opportunity to move out of the township and live in a better place, they wouldn’t do it. Around 1 o’clock, we went back to the crèche to play with the kids and give them cookies. It was really nice, even though they were a bit aggressive sometimes. We left the township with a new point of view on South-Africa and on life.

The rest of the week would be spent at Herschel, with the boys visiting us for a day on Friday. This will be a whole new experience for them, for the fact that the Herschel girls are not used to having boys around in school.

Beach House

The weekend after the Garden Route, we spent at the beach house of Elise's exchange partner, Lauren. Along with two Chilean girls, Pipa and Sofia, my exchange partner, and Lauren's mom, we drove to Hermanus, where the house was located. On our way, we stopped for brunch at 'Wimpy', a typical South-African fast food restaurant. We had delicious wraps, club sandwiches and burgers. The drive took us about two hours. As soon as we arrived, we put on some sunscreen and left for the beach. At the beach, we sand boarded in the dunes, which was really nice. It was a very windy day, which caused the sand to blow in my eyes all the time. This was annoying, and most of all, painfull. The beach was on walking distance of the house, so we could go back whenever we wanted. We went back to the house after about an hour. At the house, we had a drink, watched a movie and played some card games. We had lovely chicken for dinner and watched another movie afterwards. Then, we went outside to the balcony, where we watched the most beautiful starts I've ever seen. There were no streetlight in the area of the beach house, which made the stars so bright! We chatted, laughed and stared, lying in our sleeping bags. It was very cozy.

The next morning, we went to the beach again, just for tanning. Afterwards, we went into town where we did some shopping and had drinks at a nice cafe, where we had a beautiful sea view. We had lunch at home, Boerewors, and left the beach house around 13:30.

Garden Route

The Garden Route is the trip that I’ve been looking forward to since the beginning of this exchange. On Monday, February 13^th, it finally started. We left from Bishops with the whole exchange group, except the Colombian girls. With the ‘Bokbus’ we were going to travel through the Western and Eastern Cape for the rest of the week. Our first stop was at a penguin beach. Before I came to South-Africa, I didn’t even know that the penguins lived here, but at this beach there were many. We drove to the southernmost part of Africa, Cape Aghulas. We spent about 15 minutes here before moving on to our final destination, the game lodge. We arrived at the game lodge around 5 o’clock and immediately, we went on our first game drive. We were divided among five vehicles that took us around the whole game farm, showing us many animals, including the Big Five. I think I took about 100 pictures on this drive only. The game lodge was beautiful, and it had a nice swimming pool.  After the game drive, we had supper at the restaurant. It was delicious. After supper, we swam and chilled in the swimming pool of the lodge. We were paired up in our own little houses for the night. Elise and I shared a room. The view from the room was beautiful, we could see the whole game farm and beyond.

The next morning, we had another game drive in the morning. We saw elephants, lions and all the animals we had seen the day before. The ranger we had on this drive was less interesting, for he didn’t say much about what we saw and the other ranger stopped at every animal to tell us about it. After the game drive we had breakfast at the restaurant, which was delicious. Then we packed our stuff and went on to our next activity, visiting an ostrich farm. On our way to the farm, we stopped at the reptile reserve, where we could hold snakes and see crocodiles. Our visit to the ostrich farm existed of a short introduction about ostriches, seeing small ostriches and ostrich eggs, and in the end we could ride the ostriches. Our tour guide said that only five out of our group of twelve people could ride the ostriches, which meant that we had to do a lucky draw. I didn’t win. I was so disappointed, because I really wanted to ride the ostrich. Then the tour guide said he could have two more people to ride the ostriches. Again, I lost this draw. Luckily, in the end everyone got the opportunity to ride on the ostrich. It was so much fun. We also got an ostrich ‘hug’ and the boys got an ostrich ‘kiss’. After the ostrich farm, we moved on to visit the Cango Caves. We went on the adventure tour, which took us through the whole cave. We had to climb through small opening in the caves and climb stairs through very narrow spaces. It was a very interesting tour. We learned how the first man who discovered the cave went in with only one candle to light his way. It was very impressing. We spent the night at a backpackers, where we had a typical South-African ‘braai’. We sat at the fire for a while and then played some pool in the bar.

The next day was a very important and exciting day for most of us, because we were going to bungy jump from the world’s highest bungy jump bridge! Before the bungy jump, we went to the coast, where we paddled on the Wilderness lagoon. The view was nice, but the canoeing wasn’t that special, seeing as the water was very quiet and it was only a ten minute tour. We were all very nervous about the bungy jumping, and when we got to the bungy bridge, everyone got even more scared. We looked down into a depth of 216 metres, and realized we had to jump off. After registration and paying, we walked through a corridor under the bridge to the middle. There was loud music on the bridge, which really helped us relax before the jump. I was not that scared anymore when I jumped, and it was AMAZING. The best experience in my life. The bungy jump was definitely the highlight of my exchange so far! After bungy jumping, we went to Storms River Mouth, where we walked through ancient trees to a hanging bridge over the river. It was very windy, and the waves were very high, it was a beautiful view. We spent the night at a nice backpackers in Storms River Village, where we played cards and chatted for the rest of the night, after enjoying a nice braai.

On Thursday morning we went to a nearby forest for a Canopy Gliding Tour. We had a funny tour guide, and the gliding was not very special, after having jumped the world’s highest bungy jump, but the view was lovely. We had lunch at the restaurant and afterwards we drove to a private guest farm to spend our last night there. When we arrived, the sun was shining on the lake, colouring it pink. The cows and horses were out on the fields and the grass was beautifully green. We had a braai at the dining house, which consisted of two tables, each with a candle, and a bar. It was quite a romantic sight. After dinner, we hang out with the whole group at the girls’ house, where we had the fright of our lives later that night when a HUGE spider was found on the ceiling of one of the girls’ rooms. Loud screams and shouts followed, and eventually one of the girls managed to get it out of the house. We slept quite early.

The next morning, we went for a run with a few people and had breakfast afterwards. We packed our stuff and took the bus to Hermanus, a harbour town which is the best place for whale watching. In winter. So we didn’t see any whales. We did see many souvenir shops and markets, and I bought my friends and family some presents. Around 3 o’clock we left Hermanus and went back to Bishops, where we arrived around 5. It was a lovely week, with many new experiences and loads of fun!

Table Mountain

Looking up at the mountain, we would never have predicted that we would hike all the way up. Friday morning was the start of our trip up Table Mountain. Walking shoes, hats, sunscreen and sunglasses were compulsory and our hike could begin. The view from the mountain was beautiful, also during our way up. The first half was very tiring, it wasn’t a difficult part to hike, but it was so hot and my legs were so sore. On the second half we had to do more rock climbing, which was fun. I climbed through a cliff with a width of less than a meter. Some parts of the hike were quite scary, especially after the teacher told us that six people die each year in a specific part of the hike. When we arrived on top of the mountain the view was just amazing. It was a good feeling to have climbed all the way up. We got a nice view of the entire city and all the bays and beaches. We could even point out some of our houses. Luckily, we took the cable car back down. On Friday night, Elise and I went to a valentine’s concert/picnic at Bishops, the boys’ school. After the concert, Elise slept over at my house. It was a nice night. 

Robben Island

Robben Island. The island where the great Nelson Mandela spent fourteen years of his life, along with many other political prisoners. On Thursday the exchange group took the ferry from the Waterfront to Robben Island to take a look at the conditions in which all these prisoners lived. We took a bus through the whole of the island, with a tour guide telling us about the island. He asked people on the bus, including me, where they were from and then talked about the influence of their country on the freedom, or the opposite, of South-Africa. Holland was presented as both a good influence and a bad influence on South-Africa. I notice that a lot of people blame the Dutch for some bad things that happened in the past, and when I tell people I’m from Holland, this subject is brought up very often. When the bus arrived at the prison precinct, the bus stopped and we went into the prison area. A fellow ex-prisoner of Nelson Mandela told us his shocking stories about his time at Robben Island. Ten years to be precise… His stories were very impressing. In a bad way. He told us that the security guards had broken his ribs, beat him up too often and used his private parts as an ash tray. He told us more about the way things worked in the prison. The prisoners weren’t allowed to write anything about the conditions in the prison, so they used their lawyers to get letters with this information through to their families and friends. Also, the black people didn’t get prison uniforms or warm jerseys for in winter. These clothes were given to the colored and Indian prisoners. Many more interesting stories were told. From the island, we got a lovely view of Table Mountain. On the ferry back I got very sea sick, because there was a lot of wind, which caused the ferry to shake very badly. As soon as we arrived at the Waterfront, I was fine. We had lunch at the Waterfront and looked around for a bit. We went back to school with the Herschel bus, which we always use for trips. After school Elise, Pipa (Chilean exchange girl) and I went to Cavendish. Cavendish is the mall where we usually go after school when we have to wait for our host parents to pick us up. Cavendish is on walking distance from school. At Cavendish, Elise and I had a second earring pierced, which was very exciting… Tomorrow we are going to hike up Table Mountain.

House Braai and Interhouse Swimming Gala

This week was the week that the houses of Herschel became active. Herschel is divided into three houses: Jagger, Merriman and Rolt. Jagger's colour is green, Merriman's colour is red and Rolt's colour is yellow. Loren is in Merriman, which means I was in Merriman as well. On Monday there were house braais where the grade eights were intitiated and the cheers for the upcoming interhouse swimming gala were practised. On Tuesday this swimming gala would take place. The members of all houses wore their colour shirt and face paint and there was some loud cheering and dancing. Rolt came first in the swimming competition, Merriman came second and Jagger came third. We won the 'Spirit Cup', which is the price for the best house spirit. Also, there was an intergrade swimming competition, and my grade, grade 11, won this competition. It was a very nice experience.

Weekend 3

The third weekend has already arrived and I realize I'm almost halfway. Time flies! This weekend was very busy and very nice. On Friday night, my host family and I visited Loren's godfather and his wife. They had four adorable children. We swam in the pool and had a nice dinner. I talked and played with the children, which was very nice. On Saturday we spent the day at Loren's grandfather's house. For lunch we had something typical South-African called a "pot". It was a pot that had been in a fire for a while, containing meat and vegetables. It was very nice. We had a 'braai' for dinner. It was very nice. After dinner, we went to the beach at Hout Bay and went for a drink and nacho's at a Mexican restaurant at the beach. While we were drinking our drinks and eating our nacho's, we could see the sunset. It was beautiful! On Sunday, Loren's mom took all the Dutch exchange students and all the South-African exchange students, exept Lauren, to Cape Point. We hiked up the mountain and we could see the two different oceans. It was a beautiful view. In the area of Cape Point, there were a lot of baboons. At first, I thought that they were cute monkeys, but after seeing a baboon attack someone to steal her food, I didn't find them that cute after all. We had a picnik at a beach nearby and went home around 5. It was a nice weekend, once again.

Hop On-Hop Off Bus Through Cape Town

On Wednesday, our second exchange trip took place. It was a hop-on hop-off bus through Cape Town. Our sightseeing tour started at the Waterfront. Our first stop was near the St. George's Cathedral, and before going into the cathedral, we walked through a typical South-African market where we could buy some souvenirs. The cathedral was beautiful, and me and a friend lit a candle. We went back on the bus to visit the District Six Museum. District Six was the area of Cape Town where the colored people were removed from when the Apartheid took place. The museum was very impressive, showing the map of the area with the colored houses and notes from these people. We moved on to the Castle of Good Hope. In this castle we found many pieces of 'Delfs Blauw' which reminded me of Holland. In South-Africa, there are many things that are from Dutch origin. During this trip, we saw streets named 'Heerengracht' and 'Buitenkant' and many Dutch words are found. After the Castle, we went to Camps Bay, which is a beach in Cape Town. We had lunch there and from there took the bus back to the Waterfront. With the Herschel bus, we were taken back to school. At school I found out that I had to play a hockey match within 30 minutes so I quickly borrowed clothes from people and played my match. We won by 3-2 and I scored two goals. It was a nice but busy day and when I got home I immediately fell asleep.

Kirstenbosch

On Tuesday afternoon, the host mom of one of the exchange girls from Hongkong took all the girls who wanted to come along out to Kirstenbosch after school. Kirstenbosch is one of the most beautiful and well-known botanical gardens in the world. When we arrived there was a ride ready for us to take us through the garden. The host mom had also organized a tour guide, who was very nice and funny. The garden was absolutely beautiful and I took a lot of pictures. We saw the oldest tree in South-Africa which was 350 years old. It was very impressive. From the garden there was a marvelous view on the mountains and the city. After seeing the entire garden, we went into the souvenir shop like real tourists.

The First Trip - Elandspad and Weekend 2

On Friday the day had finally come that we would visit the Elandspad. It was the first in a series of excursions that Herschel was organizing, together with the boys' school Bishops. We had to be present at Bishops at 7:15 and from there we went to the Elandspad by bus. We started a hike of about an hour until we reached a pool where we could cool down and refresh. We jumped off a 5 metres high cliff into the water, it was amazing. Our hike continued for about half an hour when we arrived at our tea break spot. We had a snack and a drink and then moved on to the next pool. We left our bags at the spot, because we were going to do some swimming. We jumped off an 8 metres high cliff to get into this pool and swam through a hole in a rock underwater. This experience was very impressive. The view during this trip was amazing, every minute of the day. We were in the middle of nowhere, climbing on rocks and swimming in little pools. After lunch we took another hike to a huge waterfall. It was a beautiful sight, and we swam under the waterfall, into a cave. It was the most exciting thing I'd ever done in my whole life, and after swimming back under the waterfall, I turned on my back and looked up to the waterfall. It was truly amazing, something you'd see in movies. The hike back was very tiring and in the full sun, so as soon as we went into the bus, I slept for an hour. On Friday night, I had a sleepover at Elise's house with one of the Chilean girls and the next morning we went to the beach with Lauren and a friend of hers. After the beach, Loren's father took Loren, her brother and me to eat a Gatsby. Gatsby is typical South-African food. It is a roll with literally EVERYTHING on it. French fries, meat, lettuce, tomato, onions and more. It was heavy on the stomach and I'm not sure if I really liked it.  The place where we got the Gatsby was in the area of Cape Town where, during Apartheid, the black and colored people were forced to live. Those people (their families) still live in this area. I didn't really feel comfortable there, because there was a fight on the street and I got scary looks. 

On Saturday night, me and two of Loren's friends went to the Mardi Gras, which is a huge carnaval in Cape Town. There were performances of Idols participants and of course there were some rides. One of the rides was a pool with big bubbles in it, for people to go in and walk over the water. It was a lot of fun. The Mardi Gras was quite a culture shock though, for I was one of the very few white people in the carnaval. 
Sunday morning was very relaxed for me, I slept late because I didn't have to come along to church. When the family got home from church I made sushi to take with to the concert we would be going to that afternoon. It was a concert at Kirstenbosch, which is one of the most beautiful botanical gardens of the world. There was an open amfitheatre and there were two typical South-African artists performing. The first artist was called Claire Philips and she's a singer and guitar player. The second artist was the well-known Jimmy DluDlu. He's a guitar player. During the concert, we ate from our picnik and watched the sun go down behind the mountains. It was a beautiful sight and a lovely day.

Lemon Merengue Pie - Consumer Studies Project

Week 2

The second week of school has started, and his has been a nice week so far. On Monday, my first hockey practise took place with second squad. At Herschel, first squad includes team 1 through 3, second squad team 4 through 6 and third squad is team 7 and 8. Me, Elise and one of the girls from Chili practised with second squad. It was indoor hockey, which we don't take very seriously in Holland. Nevertheless, it went quite well. On Tuesday we would hear with what team we had to play a match. Tuesday was just another schoolday, and I found out that I was on third team. The match would be on Wednesday. Wednesday was very chilled, we had three free periods, consumers and a double art lesson. We met the exchange girls from Colombia and Hong Kong, who had arrived the night before. We spent our double free period with them. At four o'clock my first hockey match for Herschel began. Loren and a friend came to support me, which was very nice. Herschel won by 1-0, and I scored that goal! It was good to play again after so long. On Friday we will have our first trip, which I'm really looking forward to.

Weekend 1

My first real weekend in South-Africa was spent anywhere but home. On Saturday morning we went to the theme park Ratanga Junction with all the Dutch exchange students and Loren. The first attraction we went on was the Slingshot. The Slingshot is a human catapult, reaching a height of about 30 meters, swinging you around in the air and making you feel like you can fly. It was one of the most exciting things I've ever done in my life. We went on a few other rides, had a drink and then left the park. We went to a HUGE mall afterwards, called the Canal Walk. We had lunch there on the Food Court, which was a square in the mall, containing food restaurants and take-aways. It was designed as if it was located on Times Square, with many lights and advertisements. It was a lovely day. That evening, I was going to have a sleep-over with Elise, at Lauren's house. We had a nice dinner outside and watched a movie afterwards.

On Sunday morning we had breakfast and then Elise, Lauren and I went to Stellenbosch with Lauren's dad to take her sister's stuff to her residence at University. On our way to Stellenbosch we drove past many shanty towns and that really showed the other side of South-Africa. Being at Herschel and living with a good family, doesn't really make you think about this side, so it was impressing to see. While Lauren's sister and parents were arranging the room, Elise, Lauren and I went into town. We went into a few shops and then had a smoothie at a nice old-fashioned café. We had lunch with Lauren's family at a Lebanese restaurant in town. The cheetah outreach Spier was next on our planning. Spier is a place where you can see cheetahs and predatory birds. We could stroke the animals and we took a lot of pictures. After Spier, I was brought home by Lauren's dad and we had an easy supper. The weekend passed by very quickly, and tomorrow we have to go to school again, where I will be playing hockey for the first time.

First Week of School

Wednesday was the day that our adventure at Herschel Girls' School could begin. Dress code: blue dress with off-white sleeves, off-white socks and brown shoes. This uniform hasn't changed since 1922! Rules: no make-up, no nail polish, no jewellery, except small studs or a small necklace with a cross, hair tied back, and MANY more. Herschel is in many aspects very different from Rijnlands. At 6 o'clock in the morning, my alarm went off and I started getting ready for my very first day of school. When we arrived at Herschel, there was great assembly, which usually takes place every Monday. During assembly all the Herschel girls come together in the theatre and the teachers and sometimes also fellow students speak to the school. After assembly the lessons started and Elise and I decided to follow our own exchange partner for the day in their classes and do our own subjects for the rest of the week. On the one hand I immediately felt part of Herschel, because my uniform was connecting me to the rest of the school. But being at a school for the first time and not knowing where everything is, on the other hand, makes you feel like "the new girl". School ended at 15:00 and Loren's mom could only pick us up at 16:30, so we had to wait at school for a little bit before heading home.

The second day at school was very different. The boring subjects were replaced by subjects as art, drama and consumer studies. From then on I had every lesson together with Elise. We got to know the exchange girls from Chili a bit better, which was very nice. What really striked me was the drama classroom. An average classroom would exist of a table and a chair for each student and a desk for the teacher in the front of the classroom. The Herschel drama classroom, however, has four sofas filling the room with comfortable cushions.

The last day before the weekend - Friday. On Friday Herschel was hosting the National Debating Competition of 2012, and during most of our lessons we were allowed to watch the debates. The first debate was between Argentina and Japan and the second debate was between Argentina and Canada. I was fairly impressed by the speakers of Canada and Argentina. Also, the Scottish debating team was present, wearing their traditional kilts. Also, there was a grade meeting on Friday, in which two teachers and a student talked to the whole grade about their futures and about grade problems. On Fridays, we end earlier than usual, so after school Loren, Lauren, Elise and I went to Cavendish mall, together with a friend of Lauren and one of the Chilean exchange girls. We went for sushi at Salushi's and afterwards we had a smoothie at Kauai. It was a lovely day.

During my first week of school I realized that life at Herschel is so different from the life we know at Rijnlands. The uniforms are obviously a huge difference, but also the behavior of the students and teachers is very different. I get the feeling that it is more competitive here, because the teachers are already preparing the students mentally for their grade 12 exams and putting a lot of pressure on them.

On Friday night, Loren and I went to the youth gathering at Loren's church.

Days Before School

Since my arrival I've done quite a few things. On Sunday morning we went to church. The service took place in a school theatre. I met a lot of new people, whose names I already forgot. In the beginning of the service, the pastor introduced me to the whole church and welcomed me to South-Africa, which was very nice of him, but a bit awkward. After the service, there were donuts and drinks, and we talked with a few of Loren's friends. Also, I met a Dutch couple who had been living in Cape Town for 15 years. It felt weird speaking Dutch to someone again. After church, we went to Llandudno beach, with Loren's family. The weather was very good. In Cape Town there are two oceans coming together, a cold one and a warm one. Llandudno was located where the cold ocean was, and I swam in it. It was as cold as the North Sea, or maybe even colder. We had a picknick on the beach with African food, which was very good. I ate pies with chicken in it, which is a typical South-African dish. Around 3 o'clock we left the beach to go to the Waterfront, which is a big mall. We went to the iStore to see if my iPhone could be fixed and then we had frozen yoghurt. After the Waterfront we went to Lauren Lester's house for a get together with all the exchange families. We had dinner there, and then we went home. It was a busy, but nice day.

On Monday, Lauren Lester invited us to come to her house and hang out with a few of her friends. It was a lot of fun, and I met many nice people. Also, the exchange girls from Chile were there. We were picked up by Loren's mom around 15:30 and we had dinner at home for the first time.
Today, we went to school to pick up books for Loren. Herschel is a beautiful school and Loren and her friend showed me around. I'm actually excited to go to school, which is weird. I also got my uniform today.

The First Day

After a long flight, we arrived safely in Cape Town, around 12 o'clock at night. Of course, my goodbyes hadn't been easy, but with the support of my friends, boyfriend, and family, I got through it. The view from the airplane was beautiful, we could see the lights of Cape Town from far above, and when we crossed Northern Africa, we could even see the deserts. When we got out of the plane, we saw that our exchange families were waiting to welcome us with flags and banners. Loren didn't live far from the airport, and after meeting her family and being showed around in their home, I went to sleep. I was very tired from the flight, so I slept until 12 o'clock the next morning. I looked out of my window and saw a clear blue sky, a brightly shining sun, and I even had a view on the back of the Table Mountain. I had breakfast with Loren and in the afternoon we went to the mall. After doing some shopping and looking around, we went for sushi with a few of Loren's schoolfriends. It was a lot of fun. Loren's mom drove us to and from the mall, which was kind of weird, being used to cycling everywhere. Tomorrow, I will go to church with Loren and her family, which will probably be a whole new experience.