Tuesday, 12 March 2013

Picture post.

A friend of my Dad's sent me a very nice email saying how much she liked my blog, but that it could do with more pictures. This is going to use up so much of my internet, but hey, here you go!

One of the elephants at Knysna
Chaka, the elephant I got to ride!

Bloukrans Bridge



216m of Pure Fear
Sunset at Blouberg Beach

'The Gang' at Blouberg
Me and Sarah at the Volunteer x-mas party.



Table Mountain from Blouberg
Volunteer Leavers Party




Actually, on the note of internet, I thought I'd be extra cheeky and say that although I am in South Africa and all my fundraising for the charity has finished, if you would like to donate any money (or send me a parcel *hint hint*!) I will gladly receive! All money will almost certainly go to general living things for me, but will mean I will have more money to decorate my room, or go to Robben Island or travelling or what ever. Just putting it out there!

Tuesday, 5 March 2013

Laptop Chargers:

Me and my room-mate were discussing our laptop woes yesterday at work when the child-care worker comes in and says her brother is an IT specialist and usually has laptop chargers lying around that he doesn't need. She promptly texts him to see if he has one I could borrow for the rest of my stay only for him to text back to say he has one I can keep! YAY And he doesn't want any money for it! I'm so happy!

Saturday, 2 March 2013

Desk Officers.

This is typed as my laptop charger dies slowly. It's duct-taped together and then duct-taped to my computer so it stays at the right angle then it's resting in my knee so it has the right height. (it's a standard 19.5v dell charger just in case anyone has more money than me!).

My organisation is here visiting us at the moment which is odd. I know all over my blog screams “I'm with Project Trust” but really I need to change that. I see PT now as less of what my whole year is about and more of just a provider of what I needed to get out here and now that I'm here, they're just a bit of a nuisance. There are so many volunteers here-about 40-that I don't ever hang out with anyone else from PT other than Sarah. They're just not my kind of people. They're very nice and I can spend time with them, I just have nothing in common with them. But my project is unusual in that there are so many other volunteers here, so I don't need to be with PT people all the time. Also, my manager is amazing so if I have any problems I go to her instead of PT. So the fact that there's a guy here asking me all about my year and how it's going and my goals for the next 6 months etc. etc. etc. is bizarre. Especially since we've never met him before now! He's a nice guy, a bit awkward, I think he's trying really hard to get us to like him. And he's buying us lots of food and drinks and things which is baie lekker!

Project Trust has a selection course which is compulsory, a training course also compulsory and a debriefing course, optional. The debriefing course is only 2 days long but is on the isle of Coll (at least 1.5 days travel from where I live) and something like 3 trains and a ferry away. When I mentioned to my desk officer that I almost certainly wasn't going on debriefing, he seemed a little disappointed but undeterred from trying to persuade me from coming. I think of debriefing as a massive pissing contest. It's all the SA volunteers and volunteers from I think 3 other countries and as much as he's being trying to sell it to me, it still seems like a glorified pissing match. Basically from what I've gathered is the volunteers all meet up and exchange stories from their year, and what they've learnt and all sorts. It's also your closure for the year away. But my year away has become more than Project Trust. My year has become the Home and all the volunteers and kids here. It will be the end of my year when I have to leave the Home and go back to England.

I'm so grateful to PT for giving me the training and sorting everything out for my year and getting me out here, but now the only thing that makes me think I'm with PT is that they have my flight ticket back.

And if anyone wants to send me one of them there dell chargers it'll be much appreciated!

Tuesday, 26 February 2013

Monday, 25 February 2013

Boredom, Cats and Parrots.

I have tonsillitis and so, am super duper bored. I've made a 3D spinning cat out of card and a tree full of parrots. My mum sent a book of cut out animals that you glue together and they move in different ways. I was in so much pain yesterday I could barely swallow. I woke up at about 4am this morning with my throat so sore I think I was crying in my sleep. I got up and went to the kitchen for some ice water and Sarah left some of her amazing pain killers in there for me. My throat was so swollen I had to cut them up so small they were nearly powder and every time I swallowed it was excruciating. It is my long week this week, obviously, I wouldn't get sick on a short week, that would be considered helpful. So at about 4.30am I texted the shift leader (thank god for night-shift!) to say I was really sorry but I wouldn't be able to work that morning. The volunteer manager has what I would class a phobia of sick volunteers. She's not scared of germs so much as all the volunteers all getting sick at the same time which is fair enough I suppose. But because we all live so close and there's no way of getting away from sick people, if one of us gets sick, often quite a few folk go down with. For example, I share a room with 3 other people, a bathroom with 7 others and a kitchen with maybe 14 people. And there are 150 kids. So our manager has installed a new rule: You may have one day off sick. If you need to take any more off you have to go to the doctor. I think it's half to discourage people being 'sick' because they were out drinking the night before and can't face work and half so that people who are actually sick get medication. If you don't go to the doctor, the extra time you take off get taken off your leave.

So I went to the medi-center today. Being sick here really makes you appreciate what an amazing thing the NHS is. Yes it has it's flaws but they'll treat anyone any time-even if you do have to wait a bit! Anyway, I went to the doctors. The doctor checks my temperature and I have a fever, he then gets his light and one of those little wooden sticks they use to press down your tongue. I open my mouth and he takes one look, puts back the little stick and goes “Well I'm not going to need that and I think I don't even need my light”. He pokes my definitely swollen lymph nodes and announces that I definitely have tonsillitis.

Now I have some MASSIVE antibiotics (seriously, you'd think if it was for tonsils so swollen and painful you can't swallow, they wouldn't give you pills so insanely huge you contemplate not taking them cause it looks too painful) painkillers that take me from unable to swallow my own spit, to barely a sore throat. And a spray that tastes so alcoholic I think I get drunk off one squirt and it burns when I hits my throat. And I'm off work until Wednesday (but because it's my long week I would only work Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday) and cause I've not been 100% for a couple of weeks my boss says she might as well just give me the whole week off.

My organisation is coming on Thursday so if I get the whole weekend off, it might be nice cause then I might be the person that gets the free trip up Table Mountain or whatever because everyone else is working this weekend but I;d be so bored if I couldn't work and I miss my kids already!

Right I'm going to make a spinning frog!

Infections.

I has tonsilitis...YAY

Friday, 22 February 2013

The Last Roomie...

My Japanese room-mate leaves tomorrow morning and it makes me want to cry.

But as a surprise for her, we've made a leaving video for her and hidden it in her luggage.

On the plus side, Sarah's moving into our room on Wednesday. Yay.