Rotary GSE to South Africa 2009

 

We spent about four days in George, though we spent as much of that time in surrounding areas as we did in George itself. We did visit some Rotary projects there and a primary school, pictured here. The typical class size is about 45, and it does go even higher than that. These kids were able to name a few places in the U.S. and knew the name of our president. I doubt the reverse would be true in a classroom at home.

The Knysna Rotary Club hosted us for a day and took us to Plattenberg Bay for lunch, of which this gigantic oyster was a part. Great with tabasco.

On May 5, we were driven to our next stop: Beaufort West. Here we are in the van. Amazingly, our group is still getting along marvelously.

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Hermanus 05/02/2009
 

We just arrived in George after several days in Hermanus. Our first couple of days in Hermanus were rest days, and we were strangely excited about cooking for ourselves and doing our own laundry. The Pick n' Pay grocery store was similar to stores at home, but with labels in Afrikaans, a whole section of braai (barbeque) meat, and lots of instant coffee, which is the norm here. Here are Barb and I picking out spaghetti sauce.

On our most recent vocational day, Randy, Jenny, and I spent all day visiting projects of the Rainbow Trust. I figure it's mandatory that I include at least one photo of cute, underpriviledged children. These kids are at a preschool that has been helped out by Rotary funds, and the difference from some of the other preschools we visited is evident: these kids have much nicer facilities.

In Hermanus, BJ was being hosted by Jaco, who works as a veternarian. He took us to visit the cattery, a cat shelter adjacent to his practice. It was well maintained and relatively small, with about 25 cats and 5 kittens, who had their own room. It was nice to hang out with the cats, who were very social and let me pick them up, unlike my cat at home. A shout out to Forrest for taking care of Sinbad while I'm gone.

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Heldeberg Basin 04/24/2009
 

We arrived in the Heldeberg Basin a couple of days ago, and we've been having a great time.

One of the first things we saw was a game of bowls. It appears to be a lot like bocci ball, only you must wear white.

The golf estate where Barb and I are being hosted by Lynette and Koos has a lot of birds, including the guinea fowl that I'm feeding above.

Today was another vocational day, and I visited the International English School. They do TEFL training here, and also offer ESL courses for foreigners, many of whom are Korean. These students pay tuition, but there are free classes in the afternoon that are available to people living locally who need English language instruction.

Barb and I took a walk on the beach this afternoon. The water is very cold, but as we go further east and it transitions from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, it should get warmer.

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