uShaka

Today I spent time at the uShaka Marine world. They have a Wet 'n Wild Park and an Aquarium. They have about 7 water slides and a lazy river. I supposedly went down the 'tallest water slide in Africa.' The aquarium was also very cool, they have a lot of tanks with all types of fish. They have a huge shark tank and I was able to see them feed the sharks. It was a little disappointing, as it was not like Shark Week on National Geographic. The sharks just swim up and eat the fish off of a skewer--there wasn't any bloody meat ripping fight for the food.

The park is right on the beach and there are tons of shops and restaurants there. You can even have drinks at the end of the pier. I hope to go back sometime and look in the shops and wander around.

Other Schools

Here are some pictures of what the schools look like in the towns. They are very different to the schools in the city, and especially to the US. They are quite small and can hold about 700+ students. They usually group a couple grades together in one room.

The Drakensburg Mountains

Here are some pics of the Drakensberg Mountains. They are not quite like our mountains, but pretty just the same. This area is more of a valley with a river flowing through the middle.

The Mondi paper company has purchased much of this land and planted pine trees all over to use for paper. Since the trees are not indigenous to the area, they drink up too much water and ruin the soil. Here, the trees were recently cut, the land burned, and new trees were planted. They will re-harvest these trees in about 12 years. There is a wasp that has been killing some of the pine trees, so most of the trees that were cut are not suitable for paper. They used most of the trees in this area to make pallets.

Off in the distance there is a small village. We got to go into the village and see what it was like…of course I didn’t bring my camera on that trip. There were quite a few people that lived in the village, even though it looked really small. There are about 700 1st-7th graders that attend the school. If the kids want to go to high school they must walk about 3 hours (one way) to where the nearest high school is. So, not many kids go to school beyond the 7th grade unless they are very determined. The grandparents usually farm and take care of the children during the week while the parents work in the cities and come home on the weekends. There would be about 4 houses/shacks in a row that were occupied by a family. Each family had some chickens or goats, some corn and other vegetables. They had to raise enough crops for the entire year to survive. It was very interesting to see.
Here is a picture of the National Flower of South Africa--the Protea. It grows on a tree.

Reminders of Home

I finally found some small reminders of home on our way up to the mountains. I saw a feed store, a chicken farm, and a dairy along with some corn fields and cattle. At the camp where we stayed, the owner has a herd of Nguni cattle. They are native to the Zulu area and have been bred to withstand certain diseases, they are low grazing, and they can survive on small amounts of water. There are three colors and their hides are symmetrical.

Midmar Dam

Here is a pic of the Midmar Dam. Every February (I think) there is a big swimming contest at the Midmar Dam. People come from all over to swim the Midmar Mile.

Howick Falls

Here are some pictures of Howick Falls. We stopped at there on the way up to the Drakensberg Mountains--I was with 2 other teachers and 64 11th grade girls. The falls were beautiful, and the town looked very charming. There were lots of little shops—I hope to drive back there soon and check out what they all have to offer.

Seula

I went away to Seula for the 8th grade retreat. Girls did team building activities such as rock climbing, building a raft (which they couldn’t sail because the river was too high), a ropes course, absailing (we call it rapelling) and some other activities.

These girls ended up having a huge mud fight...I am just glad that they didn't come and attack me! That mud smelled disgusting--they call the mud pit the hippo pond.

There was also a swimming pool that we used to cool off from the heat. It was great!

Here are girl is rapelling down the cliff. Below her is the river, some girls were too freaked out to do it.
This picture was taken on the morning we were leaving. Out of no where, a zebra is just chilling on the hill side. It wasn't a big deal to the girls, but I have never seen a zebra out in the wild. I guess that it would be similar to seeing deer or antelope on the side of the road. I can't wait to see more wildlife if the game parks!

Monkey Business

I finally got a picture of a monkey. I have seen them quite a few times (none this close to my house) but never had a camera. Here is a monkey that is contemplating whether or not to sneak into my house and see if there is any food to steal. Friends have had them open windows to come inside and eat bananas, fruit, bread, baby formula, and eggs. Here, people don’t put their eggs in the fridge, so the monkeys come and drop the eggs on the floor and eat the yokes that have spilled out. I guess they are quite messy and leave smashed bananas and broken eggs on the floor. To deter monkeys from coming inside, people keep plastic snakes near the windows and squirt them with water. This monkey must be female since the males of blue balls. (and I am not joking about this one...I’ll try and get a picture to prove it!)

Look at how sneaky...trying to hide behind the leaves...I think that my big muscles scared her away.

Not the most 'lady like' picture for a girl. Did her mom not teach her any manners?

Tea Time

Here is a picture of ‘tea time’ at school. We have it every day for 30 minutes. There are 4 different pots all covered with nicely crocheted covers. The tea pots are super hot so you need the covers to be able to pour. There are two pots with tea, one with hot water for instant coffee (no coffee pots here) and one with Rooibos tea. Rooibos has no caffeine and has lots of antioxidants (supposedly much better for you than regular tea.) There is also full cream milk and low fat milk and sugar all available to put into your coffee or tea. No one here drinks tea or coffee without milk and sugar!

Here are some of the teachers sitting at tea break. Each teacher has their own chair, and you are looked at funny if you sit in the wrong chair. People say they don't really care, but secretly they do. We are all creatures of habit and don't like change...we like our own chairs. They had to find a chair for me when I came since I was new and I didn't sit where Glenda usually sat.