Nineteen! In South Africa and Mozambique

Last Wednesday I celebrated my nineteenth birthday in South Africa! I have never had my birthday away from home but it has had to have been one of the best ever! 

Being a Wednesday, I spent my birthday at school and it was a really lovely day. As I walked into school, heard two girls screaming “Miss Donald!” as they ran down the bridge from the high school and flung their arms around me. Noncedo and Nobuhle from grade eight wished me Happy Birthday and then we went up to assembly where I was greeted by more of my students, receiving a beautiful hand made card from Sletho from grade nine. We had assembly which consisted of nothing much more than the usual few announcements, a song and the Lords Prayer and then back to the staffroom to catch up on marking and lesson planning. I walked up to the science block at the start of the second lesson to take my grade eights for English as they were ending their lesson with Katie. As I walked into the room they all sang Happy Birthday to me- from nearly fifty children! We then had a short English lesson before I asked them to sing traditional Zulu songs for the video on my camera, which they happily agreed to! After break, I had another lesson with the grade eights, this time for Social Science and it was a really great lesson as we were starting the Industrial Revolution. They wrote notes and then I used an activity that I did in year eight when learning the Industrial Revolution from Ms Barrall, whereby she made us pretend to be child factory workers by bending down to the floor and straightening up as if we were working a machine. I did this for TWENTY MINUTES with my class who loved it! Of course, I couldn't see if forty seven children were cheating or not by resting as I joined in with them otherwise they thought they had to stop. In the end I picked about six who I think had been consistent and took them outside. It had become very hot but they carried on and in the end it was between two girls! Noxolo, who didn't use her hands on her knees or back once I forbade it was the one that won and I rewarded her with sweets which made her very happy! My legs felt like jelly afterwards and I actually suffered for a few days after with that sudden onset of exercise! Back in the office I was happy to receive several birthday cards in the post from home and the office staff admired the pinkness and prettiness of them all! The two teachers from Zimbabwe, Abel and Mr Raf, gave me a personal song of Happy Birthday and then the principal called an urgent meeting at lunchtime. It turned out to be a surprise party for me which I thought was so lovely! He had bought a cake and quite a few of the staff had turned up so they sang to me, exclaimed at how young I was then we all shared drinks and cakes. Then it back up to the high school to teach nine B who also sang to me and I took photos of them all as I had not yet. They had written me some lovely birthday messages on the blackboard too. Some of them begged me to do a 'fun lesson' but I was mean and said no yet we ended up having a really successful and productive lesson. After school, Katie had organised to go to Fancy Stitch, the tearoom in Ingwavuma which we sometimes visit. Minky and Miss G joined us and I received some pink slippers from Miss G and when Patrick joined us, a wooden hair piece and comb which was identical to the one I had wanted to buy in Swaziland. He brought a cake with him too, so after our lunch I had candles to blow out and a wish to make! In the evening, Patrick stayed and Jacques from Manguzi also came round which was good as we hadn't seen him in months! We chilled out with a few drinks and just chatted for hours before I skyped my parents. In some ways it didn't really feel like my birthday as I was not at home, but I couldn't have asked for a better day in my home here!

Cards from home, Patrick and learner's.

Cake at Fancy Stich!

With my 9B's

The real celebration took place that weekend as we managed to get Friday off from school, so Katie, Patrick and I left Manguzi on Friday morning for Mozambique! We didn't have far to travel as the border post is just outside of Manguzi in Kosi Bay so we got a willing man at the shops with a bukkie to take us to the border for just fifteen rand each! We spent a lot of time at the border post haggling with the guards over the price of our visa. As you can imagine, our money situations are not as good as they used to be, so we were not happy to pay the equivalent of £60 for a visa into the country when we were only staying two nights. After much persuasion, the head guy let us have it for 300 rand each- more than half the original price, yay! At the border, two english guys were also heading to the backpackers we were staying at and they happened to be livign in Manguzi too! They were nearly at the end of their month of working at the hospital and so we all got the same shuttle to the backpackers. The way to Ponta D'Ouro, just fifteen or so kilometres from the border was spent on the back of another bukkie and the roads were all sand. We finally got into Ponta, which I expected to be heavily touristy and maybe a bit spoilt like we had found with elzulwini in Swaziland, but it wasn't. Their were people holding small Mozambique flags as the President of Mozambique was visiting the town. We saw a number of tourists, mostly South Africans, but there was no divide between the locals and the visitors which was really refreshing. We dumped our bags at our dorm at Kaya Kweru and then headed off over the sand into town to get some lunch. We found a rooftop place overlooking the beautiful view of the beach and settled for R &R's and fish and chips! Rum and raspberry's are the local drink and are very pink and also very lethal! We saw the president's cars all heading down the road below us into a building we were looking down on. Patrick and I rushed down (I was still suffering from that SS competition so I hobbled!) in an attempt to meet the President of Mozambique. (not that we knew anything about him) A guard let us through the gates and we walked with some of the smartly dressed guards up to the building where it appeared the President had just gone into the building. Unfortunately we needed a named pass but no one could speak English (which shows the difference between the country and SA just down the road!) but they were happy to let us stand outside and listen to his speech. Later that day, I saw all the cars come out as we were walking along the street and saw everyone in those cars so I must have seen him at some point! Would have been nice to meet him though....maybe.

On our way to Ponta D'ouro, Mozambique

During the course of Friday we visited the stunning beach of Ponta. I wanted to go in the sea but the waves were really big and someone had warned us of rip currents. We all seemed to fall asleep, probably from the rum and the sun! Of course, the weather was absolutely stunning. We returned to the backpackers where we spent the evening with the two doctors, Andrew and Micheal, comparing our experiences of South Africa and having dinner. We then went to the bar with them plus two South African guys who bought us all more R & R's and that was that! Definitely feeling a bit delicate the next morning even though most of us hadn't made it out of the backpackers! There was a really good vibe there as loads of people were staying over the weekend and all the staff were lovely. Due to trying to keep to a budget, Saturday was spent relaxing (recovering) and going into town several times to get things we needed. It was the first place I have been to where my card didn't work but luckily Johno brought money to lend with him when he came to join us for Saturday night. We went out for dinner in the evening, avoiding the rum and had a much quieter time- somehow Patrick and I ended up watching the football when neither of us were particularly interested!

Our first R&R's!

On Sunday morning we were up at half past five to go swimming with dolphins! Just a short walk down the road, the Somente dolphin centre greeted a group of twelve of us, including Katie and I and Andrew and Michael. We were briefed at the centre on the different behaviours of the dolphins and what we should and should not do. Then it was time to go down to the beach, hop on the boat and it wasn't long before we came across a pod of social dolphins. We slipped into the water quietly, which was fortunately warm! In the first minute, my snorkel broke and I lost the pipe which was so annoying! But I could still see them through my mask. The only downside was that there was so many people that they sometimes got in the way. The first pod moved away fairly quickly, but the second or third time we were more successful with apparently twenty five or more dolphins appearing around us! Below me I could see about three all twisting and turning around and it looked like they were having so much fun. You could also hear the little clicks and other funny noises they were making which was a brilliant experience! They put on a show for us, as we headed down towards the South African coast (we could even see the Kosi Mouth!), leaping out of the water alongside the boat and nearer to the shore. Being so early in the morning, there were no people to be seen, apart from Patrick who got some photo's of us on the boat as it was about to land on the beach. It was the best experience of the weekend and I am so glad we did it! Katie went home that morning with Johno but Patrick and I decided to stay until the late afternoon when we would get a shuttle back to the border with Andrew and Micheal. We went out to this cute little shop for breakfast then explored the market for hours, yes, I did buy a few things but they are strictly for presents for people when I get home! They seemed to sell so many items of clothing with Mozambique written on them and we even came across some Nelson Mandela trousers! The ride back to the border in a mini bus was a bit scary as we seemed to drive down huge sand dunes which looked terrifying from the top! Quickly being advised by our driver to hide my souvenirs from the border people ( I think they might have charged me), we got back through into South Africa and the doctors gave us a lift into Manguzi.

Swimming with dolphins

And that was our weekend in Mozambique! Even though it was just the other side of the border, I still felt like we had experienced a different country and culture, especially hearing Portuguese which is the first language and using the Metical instead of the rand for the currency. What a lovely way to remember my nineteenth birthday.

Life being nineteen in South Africa:

So what's been happening in good old Ingwavuma? Not a lot to tell you the truth...the things that seemed novel or strange at the beginning to us at the start are now normal! The weather has become a bit cooler, but most chilly mornings turn out to be beautiful and sunny days! Teaching at school has become a little stressful just recently as June exams are looming and I am trying to finish the social science course with the grade nine's and start revision for their exams. Naturally, there is no sign of an exam timetable and we have been advised to write our own exams as it sometimes happens that the educational board do not send the papers in time! I have begun writing a paper for grade eight English and it struck me that it actually has been quite a challenge doing this all by myself (I am sure that I have mentioned before that my English H.O.D hasn't shown much of a will to help me this whole time!) but hopefully I have been of good use. I know that Mr Rafamoyo is really grateful towards me for taking on most of his grade eight and nine SS lessons as he has a hectic timetable with the upper high school and it has given him extra time to focus on them and catch up with marking. With the primary school, I have started my second chart. The first one I drew was on the world and solar system for the grade fours. This one is for the pre grade R's about farm animals (thank you Linden for all the stickers!). I seem to be having mostly good lessons, but there is an odd lesson where the class, or certain members, will really play up and make it exhausting for me! I have a new Zulu name that has caught on in both the grade nine classes which is Miss Fikile. 'Fikile' (pronounced like fikeelay) means “arrive” in Zulu and I'm not exactly sure why Mvelo from 9A invented it for me but now I'm stuck with it! Could have been something a lot worse I suppose! (Or maybe it is and they are not telling me the real meaning!) Last weekend was spent in Manguzi not doing much but it was great to be with friends watching films and chatting. This weekend I am desperate to get away so Patrick and I might be heading down to Richards Bay in search of something to do. Hopefully we can stay with friends there.

Of course, it has dawned on me that in three and a half weeks I will be leaving Ingwavuma and Nansindlela. Some days I really can't wait as I am looking forward to travelling again and seeing other parts of the country. Also, I am so fed up of washing in a washing up bowl, not having a proper cooker and now a broken microwave, no running water and hand washing my clothes! (I think this is because I know I am leaving soon) However, most days it just makes me feel sad when I think about the fact I will have to say goodbye to the people here. Especially Minky and Mr Magagula who have become our family, to the principal who has been so lovely to us and to all my learners who I will miss so much. But, anyway, there is still three weeks to enjoy after this one so that is what I am focusing on.

Plans for the three weeks holiday after our placement finishes are slowly coming together...firstly, a week hiring a car and doing some travelling with Patrick up the top part of the country- maybe Swaziland again and exploring some of provinces we haven't visited inland from here. Then I plan to fly or catch a bus down to Cape Town to spend a week and a half with Sonia which I'm really looking forward to, and then a flight back to Jo'burg to spend a few days in Pretoria with our old house mate Rose. Can't wait! 

Miss everyone at home, can't wait to see you in seven weeks! xx