Day 1 - 4
Door: Danique Janssen
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Danique
16 Maart 2014 | Nederland, Elst
Day 1 - 2 (Friday, the 21st of February and Saturday, the 22nd of February)
We left on the 21st of February from Düsseldorf. Some people had a really hard time saying goodbye to their parents for two weeks so the goodbye was pretty emotional. In the plane there was a great variety of movies which you could watch so I knew what I would do to keep myself busy. We had a night flight so of course I also tried and sleep a little bit because I knew the coming two weeks would be pretty tiring. The flight from Düsseldorf to Dubai was supposed to be about 7 hours long but we couldn't land so we circled in the air for 1-2 hours until we could finally land. In Dubai we had to hurry up to catch our next flight because we only had about 1 hour left. Luckily we were in time and we could board the plane. In the plane we heard we had to wait for a long time, they just didn't know how long because 60 planes wanted to take off at the same time. Eventually we had to wait about 3 hours until we finally could take off. The flight went already further and we could safely land at Cape Town. We picked up our luggage and then we saw our buddies for the very first time. We were all linked to one person and we called them our buddy. We went in the school bus with the buddies and drove to Genadendal. When we were in Genadendal we said bye to our buddies and went to our hostel. We had a meeting in which we talked what we were going to do the next day and we heard we had to get up at 4.30 am while it was 1 am. After the meeting we went to our beds so we went to sleep at like 2 am. Nobody felt like getting up at 4.30 am.
Day 3 (Sunday, the 23rd of February)
So after like 3 hours sleep we had to get up. We left at 5.30 am while it was still dark outside so the people who didn't sleep saw the sun come up while we were on our way to the sea. When we arrived at the place to be we got an explanation on what exactly we were going to do that day because it was still a surprise for us. We heard we were going on a boat trip to spot sharks and penguins etc. On the boat there wasn't any room to sit on the top anymore which I first thought was a pity but when the people on the lower deck where allowed to move to the front of the boat I was happy there wasn't any room on top anymore. Sitting on the front of the boat was really fun because you really felt the waves of the ocean and it was very wild. We first came past the island where the penguins were but we couldn't really see them which was a pity. After that we went to the shark alley where there were hundreds of seals which was a very sight. Then the fun part came because we went to the place where you could spot sharks. People in cages were already waiting there for over an hour so we thought we would never be able to see one. We were already going back when the crew suddenly saw something. Me and another girl from the group were standing at the front of the boat and we saw a great white shark going under the boat which was amazing to see. The crew members threw a fake penguin in the water which attracted another 2-3 sharks. It was an amazing experience, now I was happy I got up at 4.30 am. After we got an explanation of all the amazing stuff they did for the animals there we went to Hermanus, a small city. First we went to the beach for a few hours. Everyone was really tired and a lot of people, including me, fell asleep and got sunburned badly. Afterwards we went into the city itself and we got time to have some dinner and to look around and maybe buy something. It was really fun afternoon as well. When we got back to our hostel we had the second meeting of the trip and we could give our opinion on what we did that day. Afterwards everyone went to bed but because our room was still very scared of all the bugs in our room we didn't sleep until late because we had a little bug expedition which was extremely funny.
Day 4 (Monday, the 24th of February)
We had to get up at 6 today because we were going to the school for the first time. The day started with an assembly because it was the first day we were there. It was really fun to experience because everyone was singing and dancing along with the songs. After the assembly we had breakfast with our buddies and we were able to get to know each other a bit better. Everyone was still a little quiet and shy. Afterwards we went to the lessons with our buddies. The first lesson I had was Afrikaans. It was really weird to experience because half of the lesson the teacher wasn't even there and when she was there wasn't happening much either. There were orals but they just read what they had on a paper out loud and the teacher wasn't really listening. The second lesson was life orientation and the students said what they wanted to become when they grew up. A lot of them mentioned doctor or actress which seems like child dreams to us but to them it was really their dream. We did get involved more in this lesson because the teacher translated most of the lesson. The third lesson was math which was really easy for the Dutch students because they got things we got like 3 years ago which was actually quite shocking. In this lesson you actually noticed how low the education level is in South Africa. The fourth lesson was again Afrikaans and they had a listening comprehension. We got a paper too so we could try and answer the questions as well. They had to fill in words and answer really easy questions about a song in Afrikaans while that is their first language. Even the Dutch students were able to answer most questions. This again showed the education level. What I also found weird was that they discussed the test while it hadn't even been checked yet, they had to check it for themselves. The fifth lesson was biology which was a complete chaos. The teacher couldn't keep order at all and the class just kept talking really loudly. During the day we got stared at quite a lot because we are white. We also got some comments thrown at us. This was quite annoying of course but I wasn't surprised because they're not used to having white people walking around the school. The school was finished at 1.30 pm and we went back to our hostel. Our hostel was in quite a historical square so we got a tour around the whole square and the museum. The man who gave us the tour spoke in a way that you kept on being interested in what he said so it was a very nice tour. We also saw some beautiful places around our hostel. That evening we had a meeting about the day again. Thankfully we didn't have an expedition that night so we went to bed quite early.
More to come (hopefully really soon)!
- Danique
We left on the 21st of February from Düsseldorf. Some people had a really hard time saying goodbye to their parents for two weeks so the goodbye was pretty emotional. In the plane there was a great variety of movies which you could watch so I knew what I would do to keep myself busy. We had a night flight so of course I also tried and sleep a little bit because I knew the coming two weeks would be pretty tiring. The flight from Düsseldorf to Dubai was supposed to be about 7 hours long but we couldn't land so we circled in the air for 1-2 hours until we could finally land. In Dubai we had to hurry up to catch our next flight because we only had about 1 hour left. Luckily we were in time and we could board the plane. In the plane we heard we had to wait for a long time, they just didn't know how long because 60 planes wanted to take off at the same time. Eventually we had to wait about 3 hours until we finally could take off. The flight went already further and we could safely land at Cape Town. We picked up our luggage and then we saw our buddies for the very first time. We were all linked to one person and we called them our buddy. We went in the school bus with the buddies and drove to Genadendal. When we were in Genadendal we said bye to our buddies and went to our hostel. We had a meeting in which we talked what we were going to do the next day and we heard we had to get up at 4.30 am while it was 1 am. After the meeting we went to our beds so we went to sleep at like 2 am. Nobody felt like getting up at 4.30 am.
Day 3 (Sunday, the 23rd of February)
So after like 3 hours sleep we had to get up. We left at 5.30 am while it was still dark outside so the people who didn't sleep saw the sun come up while we were on our way to the sea. When we arrived at the place to be we got an explanation on what exactly we were going to do that day because it was still a surprise for us. We heard we were going on a boat trip to spot sharks and penguins etc. On the boat there wasn't any room to sit on the top anymore which I first thought was a pity but when the people on the lower deck where allowed to move to the front of the boat I was happy there wasn't any room on top anymore. Sitting on the front of the boat was really fun because you really felt the waves of the ocean and it was very wild. We first came past the island where the penguins were but we couldn't really see them which was a pity. After that we went to the shark alley where there were hundreds of seals which was a very sight. Then the fun part came because we went to the place where you could spot sharks. People in cages were already waiting there for over an hour so we thought we would never be able to see one. We were already going back when the crew suddenly saw something. Me and another girl from the group were standing at the front of the boat and we saw a great white shark going under the boat which was amazing to see. The crew members threw a fake penguin in the water which attracted another 2-3 sharks. It was an amazing experience, now I was happy I got up at 4.30 am. After we got an explanation of all the amazing stuff they did for the animals there we went to Hermanus, a small city. First we went to the beach for a few hours. Everyone was really tired and a lot of people, including me, fell asleep and got sunburned badly. Afterwards we went into the city itself and we got time to have some dinner and to look around and maybe buy something. It was really fun afternoon as well. When we got back to our hostel we had the second meeting of the trip and we could give our opinion on what we did that day. Afterwards everyone went to bed but because our room was still very scared of all the bugs in our room we didn't sleep until late because we had a little bug expedition which was extremely funny.
Day 4 (Monday, the 24th of February)
We had to get up at 6 today because we were going to the school for the first time. The day started with an assembly because it was the first day we were there. It was really fun to experience because everyone was singing and dancing along with the songs. After the assembly we had breakfast with our buddies and we were able to get to know each other a bit better. Everyone was still a little quiet and shy. Afterwards we went to the lessons with our buddies. The first lesson I had was Afrikaans. It was really weird to experience because half of the lesson the teacher wasn't even there and when she was there wasn't happening much either. There were orals but they just read what they had on a paper out loud and the teacher wasn't really listening. The second lesson was life orientation and the students said what they wanted to become when they grew up. A lot of them mentioned doctor or actress which seems like child dreams to us but to them it was really their dream. We did get involved more in this lesson because the teacher translated most of the lesson. The third lesson was math which was really easy for the Dutch students because they got things we got like 3 years ago which was actually quite shocking. In this lesson you actually noticed how low the education level is in South Africa. The fourth lesson was again Afrikaans and they had a listening comprehension. We got a paper too so we could try and answer the questions as well. They had to fill in words and answer really easy questions about a song in Afrikaans while that is their first language. Even the Dutch students were able to answer most questions. This again showed the education level. What I also found weird was that they discussed the test while it hadn't even been checked yet, they had to check it for themselves. The fifth lesson was biology which was a complete chaos. The teacher couldn't keep order at all and the class just kept talking really loudly. During the day we got stared at quite a lot because we are white. We also got some comments thrown at us. This was quite annoying of course but I wasn't surprised because they're not used to having white people walking around the school. The school was finished at 1.30 pm and we went back to our hostel. Our hostel was in quite a historical square so we got a tour around the whole square and the museum. The man who gave us the tour spoke in a way that you kept on being interested in what he said so it was a very nice tour. We also saw some beautiful places around our hostel. That evening we had a meeting about the day again. Thankfully we didn't have an expedition that night so we went to bed quite early.
More to come (hopefully really soon)!
- Danique
-
20 Maart 2014 - 20:41
Dory IJsselstein:
Wat een ervaringen heb je opgedaan hè. Ten eerste al die reis er naartoe. Jammer dat het geen rechtstreeks vlucht kon zijn. Want dat scheelt een heleboel tijd en vermoeidheid. Maar je hebt waarschijnlijk een onvergetelijke tijd gehad. Had je nog meer teksten geschreven!? Ik zou ze dan graag lezen.
Hartelijke groet van Dory.
Reageer op dit reisverslag
Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
