Tag Archives: Flexibility

Discovering the Garden Route

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Saturday we set off bright and early for our Garden Route Tour. I, for one, was excited to get out of the city for a few days and explore some new areas. We enjoyed our first “comfort stop” as our guide Gerhard calls them, at the Oumeul Bakery in a cute town called Riviersonderend. Gerard surprised us at our second comfort stop with a treat of “milk tart” that he secretly purchased at the bakery! It was like a warm custard pie in a phyllo dough crust. Yum.

We ventured on, driving some five hours, and we were delighted to view the Indian Ocean at Mossel Bay (notice the township too). We arrived around 12:30 for lunch at the Botlierskop Private Game Reserve. After our lovely lunch in the beautifully decorated lodge, we set out for our 2.5 hour safari. The sun was out and so were the animals! We saw giraffe, rhinos, elephants, lions, and many kinds of antelope. A couple of highlights included the lions sunning themselves on the road after a big meal (check out her belly!). Also was our guide squeezing fresh elephant poo and drinking the “water” from it. I’m not even kidding. It was one of the grossest things I’ve ever seen. One of our students’ phones slid right out of the truck, but amazingly we recovered it using “find iPhone.” It truly felt like some kind of South African miracle!

We said goodbye to the animals and journeyed on to Sedgefield, a little surf town right on Myoli Beach and the Indian Ocean. We got a peek of the sunset before we settled into our rooms at Afrovibe Adventure Lodge (no Wi-Fi hence no blog post). Then we enjoyed a beachside / fireside dinner and colorful welcome drinks, courtesy of Gerard. It was a good day on the Garden Route!

Sunday we awoke to rain. So, we got our Gumbies on and made a new plan for the day. No beach time or canoeing / hiking (we’ll save that for Monday), but instead we began with visiting a scenic viewpoint in Knysna. Not unlike the Eagle Creek Fire last fall, Knysna suffered a huge arson fire last June, so we could see the evidence both in scorched hillsides as well as lost homes. Sadly relatable.

Next we crossed the Outeniqua Mountains toward Oudtshoorn. Along the way we saw “hop valley” (yes, where hops were harvested a couple of months ago!) and lots of ostriches. Oudtshoorn is the ostrich capital of South Africa, and some of us will enjoy it tonight at our fireside braai (barbecue). We also had a good time singing “Africa” by Toto as we drove in the rain. 🙂

Gerard planned to take us to lunch at a winery, but it was closed being Sunday. So, he instead took us to a very unique lodge / restaurant with a big inside fire / braai. It was incredible! The owner (seen in the photo in a khaki shirt by Gerard, who’s wearing black) cooked lamb chops and beef sausages right in front of us. Different kinds of salads, veggies, and pickles – along with some delicious warm rolls – accompanied the meat. We departed with full bellies, perfect for a little spelunking (not!).

We traveled a short distance to Cango Caves, 20 million year old, spectacular limestone caverns. Some students did the adventure tour where you slide through something called the “letterbox” and climb “devil’s chimney,” among other feats. I went with a student on the heritage tour, which goes through six of the “halls.” Unfortunately, one student is not feeling well and rested in the bus for both the caves and lunch. Hoping the rest helped and the evening is much better!

We just settled in at Backpackers Paradise in Oudtshoorn. Our fireside braai will be at 7:00 tonight. Monday we plan to dip our toes in the Indian Ocean (finally) when we travel back to the canoeing / hiking area we missed today due to the rain. The weather report looks better, so hopefully that works out! We then will make the long drive back to Cape Town, arriving after dark I should think.

Reed and the kids are at PDX now as I write this, so I can hardly wait for them to arrive, along with my sister’s family! When we return to Cape Town tomorrow, I need to move to our family accommodations, so I may not get to blog. For your patience and for following along, I say “baie dankie!” (Afrikaans for “thank you,” and pronounced, “buy a donkey!”)

Baby Gumby Monday

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Brenda texted while we were in class that she forgot that the District Six Museum closes early on Mondays. So we rescheduled our outing till Tuesday, reminding us once again of Gumby (can you find him in this picture?). Hopefully Kelsey and Kjersten will be feeling better and can join us then.

We had a good class and a meaningful discussion of some of the issues we are observing, e.g., poverty, racism, sexual violence, HIV/AIDS. There is so much to learn, and so many ways to make an impact. We must continue to ask ourselves, “what can we do at this point in time for this one?” I have no doubt that these students will continue to make a difference because of this experience.

Gumby moments

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I shared with my students how our World Vision U.S. coordinator, Ruth, gives out little Gumby bendable characters each time our teams travel to Swaziland. This is to have a tangible reminder of the need to be flexible throughout our time. Schedules change, tires go flat, people get migraines, etc., and we need to go with the flow. Well, I had my Gumby out in the table in our classroom this morning, and it ended up be very appropriate for the day’s events.

First, it was rainy & breezy. This makes a 15- to 20-minute walk a very different experience, and it seems to slow down the trains too. Second, combine that with a bit of disorientation when coming out of the train station and heavier rains, and you’ve got six very wet and rather late students. I was fine with them being late…I was relieved to see them waiting at the gate and thankful they weren’t lost for too long.

We collected ourselves, got some coffee and tea, and then had our first class. The discussion was good and already a lot was contributed based on experiences had so far in Cape Town. The home stay families are great sources of information, and we were able to discuss how world views (both ours and other people’s) impact us. I can tell that a lot of learning has already occurred, which is just why these types of experiences are so great!

You’ll see in the photos the guest house where our classroom currently meets (Abbadale), as well as towel-clad students, hoping for dry pants by the end of class. 🙂 Thankfully, we’re all girls and it worked fine, though without much heat inside, the pants (& socks & shoes & jackets) weren’t exactly dry by the time we left for Robben Island. A bit of microwaving of socks occurred, and then Rashied collected us and made a quick stop for some (dry!) pants, etc. to be purchased on the way to the waterfront.

Brenda had been checking in all morning about the ferry to make sure it was still running with the iffy weather. All signs were go until 6 minutes before departure. It was cancelled. “Disappointing” doesn’t quite capture the feeling. While waiting to hear from Brenda on the rebooking process, we toured the exhibit in the ferry hall. It focused on Apartheid and those who have fought it. Nelson Mandela was highlighted, of course, but so were Fred & Sarah Carson. I want to learn more about them. You will see some pictures from the exhibit, as well as the lovely waterfront.

The cancellation was puzzling as the weather had cleared. Here’s how Rashied interpreted the situation: the main (large) ferry was not in use, perhaps due to a maintenance issue. So, a smaller ferry was being used. With the questionable weather, the ferry staff probably thought not everyone who had booked would show up. So when we all did, there was not enough room for us all on the smaller ferry (basically, it was oversold). Now Brenda is left with the task of rebooking us…

So, Rashied delivered the students home and me to GHS for some emailing/blogging, but ongoing Internet problems plague this place. The tech guys are here now as I type; they’ve actually been here quite a lot since my arrival a week ago. Hope it’s fixed before I have to leave for the afternoon.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) the students go to their practicum/volunteer placements. I think they’ve enjoyed the tourist role, but are ready to become servants. Courtney and Crystal will be at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital, Kym and Jen will be at the Sarah Fox Recovery Hospital, and Kelsey and Kjersten will be at the Little Angels Day Care Center. I will rotate through all sites over the next three weeks, in the order listed here. It is likely that they will experience some tough stuff through these placements, so please say an extra prayer for the students.

All in all, it was still a good day, despite the Gumby moments…maybe even because of the Gumby moments. (I assured the students that in a few days, this will be a funny story, worthy of a laugh.) It is good to be flexible…it always seems to come in handy. (Like now when the wifi remains down and it’s time to go…)

The last picture is a bit of happiness in a cup…a fairly decent latte I picked up on my walk home for R14 (~$1.75; the exchange rate is improving). Who needs Starbucks?! Haven’t seen one since I left PDX…I like that.

P.S. The colorful Muslim neighborhood is called Bo-Kapp (the name escaped me on my last post). Also, Brenda successfully rebooked our Robben Island tour for Thursday morning, thus shifting our class to the afternoon. Here’s hoping for brighter skies (& no overbooked ferry!).