Evacuations, Tents and a lot of canoes.

Good evening from South Africa! It's been very hectic here (and at Graubow) the past three weeks so I've not found the time to uploaded a blog each Sunday. I was determined to not let another Sunday pass without posting anything so here's the past three weeks...

Week 27 (Monday 11th - Sunday 17th March) - Maintenance, Greenwood and Graubow.

So for the start of this week I spent a lot of time doing jobs around base such as cleaning the bathrooms the groups use, prepping the A-frame (the house where teachers sleep) and digging a MASSIVE hole (nearly the height of me) for all the organic waste from the kitchen to be put in. Wednesday was equally as busy as it was 'prep' day for course. We had the course brief in the morning and spent the rest of the day putting up four big watch tents and moving mattresses into them for the participants to sleep on.

Thursday was the day the course started - four groups of kids from grades four and five. I spent most of the day as water support doing float tests, canoeing, swimming and raft building. In the evening the groups all went on a night hike in an attempt to try and tire out the kids. This however did not work, and the instructors spent a lot of time that night trying to get the groups to sleep. Shirley even went as far as to take a group of boys that wouldn't sleep on a walk up the hill at 2am. For the final challenge the next morning I ran relay races with them for nearly an hour but still they had so much energy!! I think all the instructors were glad they were staying for one night only - but it was a really great and fun course to be on.

Five hours away in Grabouw, Scott, Talitha and the other instrucors were having a completely different course. A seven day course for the local high schools grade tens started well until the rain arrived... On the second day all groups had to be evacuated and taken back to their school as the rain was so bad. One group had to be rescued by the nature reserves rescue team as the river they were camping next to was impossible to cross after only one night of rain. Being taken back to school gave the groups a space to dry out their gear (and themselves!) and get given new dry clothes by their parents. After spending the night at school, the rain thankfully cleared so they all headed back into the mountains to finish their course.

Everyone arrived back on Friday night and it was good to hear all the stories from their course and share ones from ours. We had Saturday off so we spent the whole afternoon in the kayaks then we also had Sunday morning off before prepping base for the next course.

I also saw two different snakes this week -  a green boomslang and what I think was was a puff adder.

Week 28 (Monday 18th - Sunday 24th March) - I observed a course!

Bright and early on Monday morning the kids started arriving for course. This time it was grade eights from a high school in George. For this course I got to observe Zack which meant I stayed with his group throughout the whole course and got to pick up tips on how to instruct. So on the first day we did spiders web, canoeing and also a loop hike to the campsite we'd be camping at that night. The second day we did swimming, some more canoeing, raft building and jacobs ladder. It was really great to get to see the different participants push themselves out their comfort zones on different activities and watch thew also grow in confidence. The last day was spent doing the trapeeze then cleaning the gear they had used. The weather wasn't that great with it raining then staying dry for an hour or so before raining again, making it impossible for the gear to dry out. 

On Thursday we mainly spent the day cleaning up and packing away the pods after the gear had dried out. Me and Scott had Friday off (Talitha was supporting a different course that was running here so she was still working) so we went swimming for a bit. Saturday morning saw us three walk to the market where we had a pizza for breakfast! We also went for a swim when we got back but the water was quite cold and since summer is over now, it's only going to get colder. Sunday was spent prepping for the two DSD courses that would be happening from Monday, then more swimming. 

Week 29 (Monday 25th - Sunday 31st March) - DSD (department of social development)

So we're finally onto this week... dsd. Since Monday there have been two dsd courses running here so it's been a very busy week. Me and Talitha got to be support here at base while Scott got the chance to observe the groups out in the field. While on base the groups did jacobs ladder, trapeeze and raft building. They also spent time out of base doing a beach hike, abseiling and an overnight solo. The solo is almost always an issue with some of the dsd participants and this time two of them decided that they had had enough and thought the best way about it was running away. They didn't get far - they ran to a dead end. After the final challenge of a run this morning they all left before lunchtime.

While we've been at base, me and Talitha have been super busy doing safety checks, working on different projects and also painting inside the dining hall. We created a 'words of the week' wall, where there will be different words each week in the languages of OB - Xohsa, Afrikaans, Tswana and English (the first language's of some of the OB staff). Talitha also painted exit signs (and wanted them featured in this blog) and she's also been making water polo goals for us all to use! I also found a praying mantis in our room and in some cultures here finding one in your house is a symbol of good luck or an indication of your ancestors being present.

Tonight we are all having a braai to celebrate the fact that March is finished... seven courses in four weeks... HECTIC.

The pictures from this week are of the primary course I supported, the high school course I observed, the 'words of the week' board, the exit sign, water polo goals and me and the mantis.

Rachel :)

Week 26 - 6 months in!

Good afternoon from a cold, rainy and windy South Africa! Although it's summer here, the temperature at Willow Point today is a chilly 19°C, giving me a rare chance to wear a jumper all day and not overheat after five minutes. I'm loving it!

After two weeks off we were all back to work on Monday. We spent the morning doing maintenance around base before starting this month's safety checks. We had PT (physical training) at 6.30am on Tuesday morning which included a run and dip in the water. Once we had finished tidying up the water front, me, Scott, Charmoné and Talitha spent the day in the rox store finishing the safety checks in there. The rox store is filled with all the gear we use for the high ropes activities, abseiling and rock climbing. Each carabiner, rope, harness, helmet all needs individually checked for cracks, cuts or fraying. It's a long task but VERY important. We also went swimming after work was finished.

On Wednesday we spent the morning making visual aids that we and the instructors can use on course to engage groups with what we are talking about. I'm looking forward to being able to use the ones I made in the field with a group! After lunch I was safety checking the high ropes with Talitha and Zanza. I was belaying Zanza while she checked the Jacobs Ladder then Talitha belayed me while I went up the Trapeze to check that. Like yesterday, once everything was finished for the day we hit the water and did some more swimming. We had PT again on Thursday morning (it's now every Tuesday and Thursday morning while we are working!) which was mainly swimming which was great. The rest of the day was spent packing the trailers and bakkie for the course happening in Graubow.

Scott, Talitha and most of the instructors left Friday morning to go to Graubow for the course there. I didn't go as there's a course happening here at base that I'm supporting next week. I prepared some paperwork for that course and then didn't do much else on Friday! I took a walk to the market on Saturday morning which was nice to have a look around and then tydied up our room. I went a run this morning (before the rain began) and spent this afternoon reading and listening to music.

Wednesday marked me being in South Africa for six months! It's crazy to think I've spent half a year here already and even crazier to think I've only got five months left before I find myself on a plane flying back home.

It occurred to me yesterday that I didn't have any photos from this week to put here so when I saw a toad on my way to the showers last night I took the opportunity and snapped a picture of it!

Rachel :)

Week 25 - A lot of beaches

Good evening from South Africa! In a shocking turn of events I'm actually posting this blog update on time! Here's what we've been doing the past seven days...

Monday wasn't a very productive day but since we're on leave it was good to just chill out. We hired a car on Tuesday so we could go and body board but the weather wasn't looking promising so we ended up going to Sedgefield beach and had a walk/climb on the rocks before the rain started. I'm quite glad it did rain though as now the water tank outside the ghetto is full again so I can get my washing done! The next day the weather was much better so we headed to Buffalo Bay. The water was a nice temperature (unlike last time we went there - it was freezing!) and the waves were also pretty big making it perfect body boarding conditions. Me and Talitha have bodyboarding mastered now that we know what we're doing! After swimming, having lunch and doing more bodyboarding we ended up leaving just after 6pm - a day well spent.

Thursday was my favourite day this week. We drove along the road to Wilderness to do some canyoning! Our guide was called Greg and we found out that he actually worked for Outward Bound back in 2001 - 2004, so it was really cool to talk to him about his time at OB SA and hear the stories he had to tell and share some of our own. The actual canyoning was amazing too! While walking down to the river through the forest Greg was telling us all about the plants and animals that lived here and he pointed out signs that showed a leopard lived in the area. To get into the river we did a 30 meter abseil which was really cool before swimming/walking upstream to the jumping spots. It was such a good day!

Friday we went for a day trip to Mossel Bay and then Victoria Bay on the way back before having dinner in Wilderness. We were having dinner at a restaurant which had live music and Talitha lost a bet so she ended up going up on the stage and doing a bit of singing! Saturday we went to the market and had breakfast there (Talitha even met some of her fans from the restaurant while waiting in line for crepes) and then went to Jacobs (he's a freelance instructor for OB who we met the week we did first aid training) house for a braai and board games. Unfortunately I didn't end up eating the braai as I decided to bring back up what I had eaten for breakfast/lunch earlier. I'm blaming the food I ate at the market. But hey, I did win at anti-monopoly! Today hasn't been busy, mainly sleeping and playing cards but it's back to work tomorrow!

The photos I have from this week are from canyoning, Vic Bay, a photo of all the freckles I gained at Buffalo Bay and Scott's hair after some kids hair sprayed it for charity!

Enjoy the photos,

Rachel :)