Happy new year... :D

Happy new year to everybody :)

Yes, we celebrated New Year’s Eve not in Greytown. We went to Durban, stayed there for one night with coach surfers and rent a car to drive to the Wildcoast. We stayed in Mdumbi for five nights.

 But at first let me tell you about our night in Durban. Our surfers, an older couple, hosted us and showed us the University of Kwa Zulu Natal while we took their dogs for a walk there. Afterwards we cooked dinner together and at the night they drove us to “Amsterdam” where Charly, Leonie and I had a huge cocktail.

Merle, ich musste an dich denken :*

The next morning we picked up our car, a VW polo, and managed to fit all in there (we are six girls).

After a long and rough drive we finally arrived in the middle of nowhere. Out hostel was beautiful and we slept again in a hut, but this time it was a bigger one. The following days we were at the beach and just relaxed in the hostel’s living room. We were able to play cards with some other guys.

On New Year’s Eve there was a party organized from the backpackers.  Sadly it rained all day so the bonfire took place on the beach the day after.

But we had some snacks and danced to some music. Even though it didn’t feel like a new year is coming it was a nice evening.

On the hottest day, 2^nd of January, we decided to watch the beautiful sunrise. 

Afterwards we planned to go to Hole in the Wall. On our way to coffee bay some of the township children threw a wooden stick in front of our car to claim some sweeties, we were shocked how rude those boys were since the townships there are in good conditions.It is a nine kilometer walk through the Xhosa land to get there. But we decided to walk along the coast, which was supposed to be a really beautiful trail. But it took us sooo long, that we were not able to make our way back before it would get dark. So a pick up stopped and we could hop on its back.  Back in the hostel, two guys from the hostel gave a little concert and it was really nice to listen to. Afterward the other girls had to “kill” almost five liters of wine with our new friends and I just say that it was a nice evening ;)

And yes they all had a hangover, so I was able to make fun of them: D

Later that day we went to the beach for a walk and as a highlight for the last day we saw dolphins :)

They were really close and just beautiful to look at. Another highlight was the seafood meal in the evening in out hostel.

Our way back was also interesting because we were just off the gravel road and were stopped in a police control since we were one person to much in our car. We should pay 300 rands but after long discussions we paid “give me something that makes me smile “100 rands, which the police woman put in her own wallet. We were shocked how corrupted the police is. As breakfast we bought Scones, which are little rolls you normally eat with jam and cream, but mine had raisin in it.

Back in the Children’s Home a new girl was waiting for us. Her name is Helena and she is from Ravensburg.

Since the holidays are still going on, we have a holiday program.

Two days ago we went to Durban beach with the smaller children. For them it was really a nice thing to see the ocean, but for us it was a hard time since we went to a beach where only in small area it was allowed to go swimming.

 In this area only colored people went swimming. The lifeguards runned around and advised the people strictly, aside they were permanently blowing in a whistle, how annoying. We all had to take care of four children which were really hard to find in this big crowed.

After having a burger as lunch we made our way back home.

In the evenig we had to say goodbye to Klara and had as usual when someone leaves us a nice dinner together...

Yesterday we played a running game with the children. They all had so much fun and this caused that we had to play it again today. But today we had the theme “Hobo”. As the big final we were supposed to have a bonfire with bread on wooden stocks but then there came up a thunder storm…

I think we will just do it tomorrow than. 

I will tell you about it. 

Love Fredo

Making the "Stockbrot" for the kids

P.S Leonie and I could finally move into our room :)

Merry Christmas :)

And another week just went by…and I know I am posting a lot lately…

It is one week ago since we came back from our big journey and we often talk about it!

So actually it’s not much to tell since we have the big holidays over here and only about 35 children are staying here over this Christmas break, all the others went back home to their families.

We have a really relaxed time and can get up later than usually ;)

One day before Christmas we decorated with four of our children Toevlug really “beautiful” for Christmas. 

Sadly we also had a really rough night because we thought that some strangers were running around our house and try to break into it. We were really scared and also the housemothers tried to protect themselves with wooden sticks. Luckily only some boys from the home stole a key and flied out of their house.

On Christmas day we had a little pool party with some fun games for the kids and in the early evening we went to an English- German Lutheran Church and got to know Carsten. Afterwards he drove us home and we had a bray with lots of nice vegetarian food.J Shortly after we were finished eating two of our housemothers and two former boys and two of the older girls came to celebrate with us. Late in the evening we had our present opening. I got a traditional necklace in blue, black and white. I am wondering when it’ll be the first time I can wear it :)

delicious christmascookies

The following day the Children were supposed to have a Christmas dinner in the hall and they also got some more presents. But this time it seemed like they really liked their gifts and immediately started to play with them.

Christmas day was a really hot day here and it did not really feel like Christmas at all. In the evening we all had a delicious chocolate fondue together and this time the chocolate did taste better ;)

 

For the 26^th of December Carsten invited us to some along to a Christmas party from the German community. The party took place in Braunschweig and every single one who was there could speak German, even though it was Springbockgerman. Their ancestor emigrated from Germany to South Africa and through all the generations they continued to speak German at home. Today they speak German mixed with English, Afrikaans and Zulu. It was weird to speak German all the time.

This party was really different than a party in Germany because they played German Schlager and all persons danced traditional dancing.

Today it was Signes lsat day. We had a nice breakfast in the Tranquili Tea and as a suprise we will have a avocadocake and a beer tonight. I hope she likes it!

Tomorrow we will bring her to the airport and sleep for one night in Durban before we will go on our New Years trip to Coffebay again.

Have a happy new year!

Fredo

more beaches, sun and travel...

…

The next day, yes it is Christmas time we went to a mall in Port Elizabeth, our next stop, and honestly I never saw this before, the mall was soooo crowded. You couldn’t even walk properly, so we decided to go to bed early and to the beach, which was surrounded by harbor and industry, the next day. For us it was not a really nice city!

Although we were excited for our next stop! ADDO ELEFANT PARK…

We had some trouble with the booking but finally they gave us their additional room and we could go on our own Safari. The entrance to the park was really high, but since we are working for South Africa we got it cheaper :)

We drove and drove and drove and drove, but couldn’t see a single elephant, but Kudos, turtles, Zebras and many birds.

 

 We even saw a lion, what is a really not often to see. After almost two hours of driving we finally saw him:

We were a little disappointed because we only saw one out of 600 elephants, but the good thing was we saw 1 out of 6 lions :)

We had to get up really really early the following morning because we had long drive before us and wanted to spend at least half a day in Chintsa. And this was a good decision! Not only we were able to see a giraffe looking over a fence next to the road we drive on but also we had our own house in like a holiday camp and shared it with some other volunteers from Cape Town.

 

We walked through a little forest and some dunes to get to the beach. The water was so warm and to clear so Signe and I (Nordseekinder ;)) spent quite a long time playing in the waves in there. Afterwards we wanted to go to the supermarket but there would it be easier to buy some ice cream than noodles, so we decided to drive to the next bigger supermarket for 20 min on a grabble road with thousands of potholes…what a fun! But at least we had ice with Amerula for desert :)

 

Our last accommodation would be in Coffee Bay. We were supposed to drive about 2 to 4 hours but it took us about 7 hours to get there and also a lot of nerves because the roads were bad and went through all the slums, what was a unpleasant feeling from time to time.

But as we arrived we immediately fall in love with this place. Such a beautiful and nice hostel. We slept in a little hut like this:

 

For a long time we sat on a rock, looking at the ocean, listening to the waves and talking about our tour! It had been so good until this moment, even though we were on such a small room together for 24 hours and almost three weeks we all came along perfectly and got to know each other better. I really hope I can keep up some contacts with the girls here :)

We decided to eat the meal prepared at our hostel and this was such a good decision that we did the same the following day. As desert we had planned for a long time to do Chocolate fondue at the beach. Even though the chocolate basically existed of sugar it was a nice thing to do. 

Afterwards we sat at the cocktail bar and small talked.

On our last day we booked a beach day inclusive surfing lessons and lunch! Surfing was so much fun even though it was hard at the beginning.

I think the best thing was to spend the last day at a beautiful beach. In the evening we decided to make some new contacts and to have fun. At the bar there was a rule called “Buffalo” which means you are only allowed to drink with your left hand, otherwise you have to ex your drink. I think we should do this at home too, since it was fun watching the guys who forgot about the rule: D

We had nice three hours or less of sleep until we made our way back to PNB.

Sadly that our trip was over, we told the other girls, whose had been in Lesotho on a ponytrakkingtour meanwhile, about our trip.

I only can say we had a beautiful time and South Africa is really a beautiful country! But when you go on vocation and really want to see an “African lifestyle” you need to do more than the Gardenroute because no doubt it is really beautiful, it is really touristic and European! But anyway I can only recommend doing it!

So, this was everything about my, I guess, biggest trip while I am here. I hope you can understand why I like it so much here and maybe you are all a little bit jealous!

Lots of love!

Fredo