Hi there.
I know I haven't written in ages. This was mainly due my feeling that I wrote about the 'holiday' part of my stay here, because there just isn't that much to say about the everyday life. I felt that this was not a good representatio of what I've been doing all this time.
But since I've been asked again and again to get back writting again I dedided to try to get a post back up every now and then.
Since October there is obviously so much that happend that I can't get into every detail.
Some of the main events though:
17th of November I turned 20. I got used to being that old by now though ;-)
In December I went on a holiday trip along the garden route from Cape Town to PE (Port Elizabeth) with my Hostfamily. It was great fun, the two "little" ones were with as well and we had a lot of fun. I did some bungy jumping at bloukrans bridge, which is with 216m officially the highest bungy jumping site in the world. That was nothing short of amazing. Besides that I saw some parts of this beautiful country.
In January I started to work at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in the HIV/AIDS Unit. Even though some days the work is kind of dull (like today)I do enjoy working here and most of coleges are nice. Besides the normal every day office work the is a lot of extra activities and workshops and those days are always good fun.
Febuary was the half way mark. Therefor we had our middle seminar in Pietermeritzberg near Durban. I met a lot of other volunteers from all over South Africa and 3 from Namibia and we had a good time. Afterwards I spend a few days in Durban itself which were nice as well. The Bluebottle incident was quite hectic though.
Then my Dad (including spouse) came to visit for nearly 3 weeks. So I met them up in Jo'burg and from there we went straight to the Kruger National Park. We saw the Big 5 and a whole lot of other beautiful animals. It is kind of scary though to drive past an elephant in a car the size and stability of an japenese rice bowl. We drove through Swaziland, since we only stayed one night all we saw was landscape out of the car window but that was beautiful. We then flew from Durban to Cape Town and spend about 2 weeks here. Good Times!
And now my Hosts have finally decided to build two extra rooms, but it seems I won't have the pleasure of those for two long. At least the next weltwaerts volunteer will have his own room for a year.
So that was the quick update for now.
Oh and one last thing. It is winter here now. That means I have to cope with freezing tempratures of 18° Celsius and above. At night it gets kind of cold though.
and enjoy the pics, the lion as a cub at his feet there ;-)

It has again been a while. So first things first: just in case you've been desperately searching for new photos, even though I made them, they won't appear together with this post. We will come to the why later.
Since I made my last entry I did actually see quite a few things, as those of you who keep up with Facebook as well will have read.
First though I didn't go to S.P. High the next day, it did eventually happen this Wednesday, so two weeks later.
Which basically was because last week I traveled around with a history class from the Shetland Islands, Scotland. They've come down here in association with the Global Classroom Project in order to some research about the South African history. But besides that research they've had quite a bit of sight seeing on their program, so it was suggested I go with them. The first thing we did together, last weeks Sunday, was a journey to Cape Point, which of course is a must-do when visiting South Africa. So now I can but a "done" behind that one. It was a fairly nice day and I and all of us had a good time. The next day we went to Stellenbosch University. On the way you come past Kaylisha, where one to four million people live in shags, at some parts right up to the street and then as far as the eye can see, a shocking view really. At uni one of the history professors talked to us about Africanerdem. I not having the background of having done that at school understood only half of it, but it still was quite interesting. After that and a short break in the uni mall (don't ask me why they have a mall at the campus) we went to Spier, a local wine farm, of the massive kind though. They had some lovely food and we did some wine tasting, after which I brought 12 bottles home. 6 lovely Souvignon Blancs and 6 nice roses. Tuesday we went to the National Library for the pupils to research, which was quite boring for me. On Wednesday though we first went to Robben Island, another must-do. Quite a nice trip, a beautiful island, the history is of course not to pleasant. The tour on the island could have been a little less touristy though. After Robben Island we went to Hout Bay, where we met Mr. Denis Goldberg. Denis Goldberg was a political activist opposing the apartheid regime. He fought together with Nelson Mandela and those other big names. He was also sentenced to life imprisonment in the same process with them. He then spent 22 years in prison before he was let out in 1985. So now this men was talking to us for nearly 3 hours about his life, his experience, and his view on things and all that in his living room. That was an experience of a life time and probably some of the most interesting hours for me so far. Then on Thursday we went to South Peninsula High School, where we first got to witness a lesson to see if there are differences to our own and then the principal and two of the teachers told us about OBE, the South African grading system. It comes from the quite good basic idea of having a developing grade during the whole of the year rather then having exams. But realization isn't really convincing. Afterwards we went for a drive through Langa, one of the poor parts of Cape Town. There were people there who cooked in the streets, for safety reasons. It is not uncommon that they live in a one family flat with 3 families and there are shags to. It was never that quite in the minibus before or after. Ironically we went to the Waterfront afterwards, on of the fanciest and most expensive malls in Cape Town. I think the students enjoyed it though.
On Friday the Scots again went to the library in the morning. So I decided to use public transport in order to join them later. After I got to them we went to see the South African Parliament which is right next to the library. The building is really nice and the main chamber is similar to the one in the UK. But there is a second chamber which is like in Germany formed by representatives of the regions and has a half round build-up. Afterwards we visited the Slave Lodge and the District 6 Museum, of which I liked the first one better.
And finally on Saturday the whole group climbed Table Mountain, and we did it! Even though many of us struggled in the beginning, including me. I must admit my legs got a bit rusty. It got better quite quickly though and then we were really able to enjoy the climb and the view. And what a view that was! Just as my sandwich (you don't need to get this one people). Saturday night we then had a braai, which was nice. Then came the point to say goodbye to the Scots.
On the rest of the weekend I again was able to see how big families here are when some of my hosts family met just to have a get together. Was nice though.
On Tuesday I got my new phone, with which I'm writing this now. Which is why you don't get to see any photos in this post, I've send a friend one picture per mail the other day it nearly took 25min. My phone does do the internet job for me though so I'm really happy about it.
Wednesday it finally happened and I went so S.P. High to work there. It was a nice day, which I spend in the IT department but it is not clear yet whether there will be a regular job for me there.
And that is that for this post pretty much.
Just a final thing, as I get mail to my phone now, mail now officially is the easiest and cheapest way to reach me.
Have a good one everybody.

Hello there,

I'm sorry it's been a while since I've wrote here.

But since I still don't have Internet at home, whilst having the possibility to check my mails at work, I often don't feel like going to the Internet cafe.

I'm fine though. I'm in South Africa for nearly six weeks now, working at St. George's for 4. Even though I still don't know all the names (shame on me, it is getting better though), I feel I did start to bond with the girls; with some more, with some less.

The Computers I wrote about last time do get along quite nicely. A few drivers are still missing, something I will tackle today or during the next few days, depending on the other work that needs to be done at the Home.

What I've done since I last made an entry here:

I've been at a Church Function with my host parents. Twice actually. The first one was on a Friday night and was quite good. After having had some food and having played some of the games ( I won the “golf” competition), I played Domino with my host father and two other older Gents. I had fun, but I think I wasn't the best player. The next day was another Function, or part two, whatever. But it wasn't as good as part one.

One day I nearly did not get out of the house, because there were only four sets of keys for 5 people, so when my host mother went shopping in the early morning and my “Brother” taking a key as well, suddenly there was now key for me left, with all doors locked. But with a spare back door key and a bit of luck (on one of the gates was a look missing) I managed to get out. I've got my own set of keys now.

I've been to a 50^th Birthday, with apparently only half the Family there, the house where it was hold was absolutely packed. All of my Family doesn't add up to so many people. It was a nice evening though.

I was at the Clifton Beach, twice actually. Once during the day, and once just after sunset. Both time with my “Sister” and some of her friends. It is a really nice beach, quite protected, with ice white sand. The one time we went to the Waterfront afterwards. Also with my Sister and her friends I've been bowling. Only difference to bowling in Germany is, here you bowl in your own shoes.

With the Social Worker and Girls I've been to Kirstenbosch, the National Botanic Garden. Nice there. The Girls behaved as well. I made some pictures (as you can see) and went for a little walk alone. The next day we've been to Fish Hoek, a nice beach that is really windy though. The Spur there gave a free meal to the Girls. It was a nice day as well. The journey with the metro was nice as well. It takes you write along the coastline.

Just in case you wondered why I did not upload any pictures of the Girls here, I; not allowed to.

So long.

After the short entry from monday, here is a longer one. You will find some more pictures with this post as well. One of me with my hostmother and 2 of her grandchildren. The other 2 are of an baboon and a small brown thing of which I don't know the name.
Last week we had some rain here and I fell ill with a flu. So after having met my future boss for the first time last wensday I spent my time in bed till friday afternoon. On saturday my hostdad wanted to go for a ride so my hostmum, -brother and I came along. Fist we drove to the beach, where I made the picture with the stone. We then to the pinguins and then drove around, thats when we saw the baboons and and after a stop at a supermarket we had lunch in the mountains from where I took the pic down on Cape Town.
On monday I then had finallt my first day of work at the St. Georges Home. After sitting in a staff meeting for most of the morning I helped the driver to collect some donations and when we came back I met the first girls who where in school during the morning. After most Girls came from school at around 3pm they had lunch after which it was time for the girls to do their homework. After which the girls where informed about the news decided on the meeting, for example who is grounded from then on and who isn't anymore. Yesterday I was asked to come in around 1pm. After having done some necessary work for the Home, the Girls came home again. lunch again. homework again. But during homework I helped one girls with her maths, she is writing exams soon.
To get to the Home I use the so called taxis, which are minibuses who drive a certain route. In one of these buses you drive with up to 15passengers + driver. In germany you wouldn't be aloud in that kind of bus with more then 8 passengers. It only costs 5rand though.
Bye for now.