Me At School

Here is a picture of me outside of my school. Only about 3 months left!

Sports Day

Today was Sports Day at Durban Girls' High. The students had a standardized test for the first hour of school, a 30 min break, and then we started sports day.

Here is a picture of the track. A nice turfed track, 212 meter long.

The field events took place yesterday after school, only running events were today. Notice the straight lanes.

Here is a picture of the entire student body, with the students are separated by houses. There are 5 houses, Selborne, Connaught, Milner, Buxton, and Athlone. All competitors had to wear their house color, purple, blue, yellow, green, or red.

My house is Connaught, not to be confused with cannot (even though they sound the same with an english accent.) Our cheerleaders are in front, we won the spirit award this year.

Here are the competitiors for the 1500 m race. Most runners don't wear any shoes...for any event.

Here are the Drum Majorettes or 'Drummies.' They took 1st place in South Africa in 2008 and 1st place in KwaZulu Natal (our province) in 2009.

Ha-Di-Da's

There are these awesome birds over here in South Africa called Ha-Di-Da's. Formally an Ibis, they get their nickname from the noise they make. They are the loudest birds that I have ever heard in my entire life. They like to camp outside my window and give me my very own personal wake up call.

I don't mind the rude awakening in winter time which is usually around 6:00 am, but when summer time rolls around and it starts to get light at 4:30 am...that is a different story. Take a listen for yourself!

Africa Cold

When the weather is really hot we sometimes say that it is 'Africa Hot.' Well, not too many people have ever really heard of Africa Cold. It doesn't snow or even frost in Durban, but it does snow about an hour away towards the Drakensberg Mountains. Africa cold is when it gets to about 40 degrees and there are no heaters anywhere in the entire province. It is when your house is made of brick and cement (to keep it cool) and it is that same temp inside as it is outside. Try going to sleep when your house is about 40 degrees and your entire body feels like ice.

I was told that the weather is tropical and that everyday gets to about 80 degrees. That is close to true, but they left out the fact that it can get to 40 degrees at night. The warmest piece of clothing that I brought was a hoodie. I had to buy a beanie and my mom brought me a scarf from home. I have resorted to sleeping with two shirts, socks, pants, and a donated electric blanket. I never thought that I would say it, but I hope that it warms up soon!