So I'm off! Well I will be later today, but I thought it might be a bit hectic so I'm writing this now in case I can't later. I don't fly until tomorrow but my friend in Nottingham is giving me a lift to London so I'm getting the train there today :)
So thank you all for all your support-and reading my blog! And I'll try my heardest to blog from South Africa! :)
1 Day!
Wednesday, 29 August 2012
Sunday, 26 August 2012
Goodbye meals.
I actually managed to get BOTH brothers to come out with me for a meal! And it was really nice :) It was a little awkward at times, me and my youngest brother usually get on really well and talk lots but the other brother doesn't get on with either of us. He's usually polite to us when other people are around but he doesn't talk, he just glares or gives us monosylablle answers so I thought this meal might be really difficult but once we got there it was quite nice...almost 'normal'!. And we had an actual conversation that he started! Hopefully when I get back from Africa we'll be able to talk more because I really want to get to know him and be friends with him!
I'm going out for ANOTHER meal with a close friend, I've know her since we were about 5, tommorrow in Didsbury which will be really nice, then my other friend is staying over on Tuesday night, I hope and then I'm off! I'm getting a bit nervous now!
4 Days!
I'm going out for ANOTHER meal with a close friend, I've know her since we were about 5, tommorrow in Didsbury which will be really nice, then my other friend is staying over on Tuesday night, I hope and then I'm off! I'm getting a bit nervous now!
4 Days!
Friday, 24 August 2012
No Time Left
This time next week, I'll be in Jo'burg! Which leaves me thinking: ARGH! How has this year gone so fast?! I'm nearly packed, I have my passort and visa, I have a plug adaptor and I've had all my vaccinations. I'm slightly ashamed to say I haven't even thought about money and how I'm going to get it out of my bank-there's a charge everytime you take money out so I'm trying to find a way to avoid it. However I might have found a solution so I'm calling my bank in a minute to find out more :)
I'm taking my little brother out for a meal tomorrow. It was supposed to be me and both brothers, but the 15yr old is having a mid-teen crisis and refuses to be associated with our family in any way, so walking through the middle of Manchester with his "nerdy big sister and chavvy little brother" is too much for the kid's brain to handle!
6 Days!!!!
I'm taking my little brother out for a meal tomorrow. It was supposed to be me and both brothers, but the 15yr old is having a mid-teen crisis and refuses to be associated with our family in any way, so walking through the middle of Manchester with his "nerdy big sister and chavvy little brother" is too much for the kid's brain to handle!
6 Days!!!!
Sunday, 19 August 2012
A Poem:
I recently re-discovered this poem when it was read to us at the end of our training on Coll by one of the desk officers. It is called "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost and I think it fits in quite well with the year ahead:
11 Days.
11 Days.
Saturday, 18 August 2012
Completely backtracking.
Yup, after speaking to a parent, she pointed out that I would be able to write about the day-to-day aspects of living in South Africa, even if I didn't write about the kids and what I was doing in the home. So I have decided (as long as internet isn't too expensive) that I WILL keep posting in my blog and if I can write about the kids then I will and if not then I'll just write about what it's like to live in South Africa from an English point of veiw!
I have also decided to take my laptop (that is now about 3/4 years old) despite warnings of thefts and what-not. The crime rate is S.A is quite high so we've been told not to take anything precious in case it gets stolen or just lost or damaged. One of the returned volunteers I spoke to said she'd had all her stuff of any value nicked, but it meant that she learnt to live on a rubbish phone and that was it, so she had nothing worth nicking (I should point out I currently use a nokia 3310 and swear by it!). So bearing all this in mind, I wasn't going to take any electronics out, except for my brick of an English phone for keeping in touch and very possibly my ancient Ipod classic (which is also beginning to give up the ghost). But recently, I've noticed how knackerd my laptop is and I've come to the decision that I'll back up all my pictures and files and leave copies at home, and I'll take my beautiful laptop to experience the world with me...and if it gets stolen, it can do some exploring by its self. And now everybody know I'm crazy ;)
12 Days!
I have also decided to take my laptop (that is now about 3/4 years old) despite warnings of thefts and what-not. The crime rate is S.A is quite high so we've been told not to take anything precious in case it gets stolen or just lost or damaged. One of the returned volunteers I spoke to said she'd had all her stuff of any value nicked, but it meant that she learnt to live on a rubbish phone and that was it, so she had nothing worth nicking (I should point out I currently use a nokia 3310 and swear by it!). So bearing all this in mind, I wasn't going to take any electronics out, except for my brick of an English phone for keeping in touch and very possibly my ancient Ipod classic (which is also beginning to give up the ghost). But recently, I've noticed how knackerd my laptop is and I've come to the decision that I'll back up all my pictures and files and leave copies at home, and I'll take my beautiful laptop to experience the world with me...and if it gets stolen, it can do some exploring by its self. And now everybody know I'm crazy ;)
12 Days!
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
OK OK so I might have changed my mind!
Now I'm not so sure I want to close down the blog! I quite like having the option to ramble about all stuff African!
Last night, I couln't sleep and for some reason (the "3am what if" brain) I couldn't help but think about some really silly stuff such as what if I don't like it or can't do my job etc. After a year of people telling me at first that I wouldn't be able to raise the money or that I wouldn't follow through with it and I'd get bored with fundraising and give up, then when I did raise the money, to hear that some people thought I'd be back in England before Xmas, I never thought I'd begin to doubt myself and my abilities. I never even thought about the what if I didn't make the £5000 (I am so thankful for the opportunities that I was given through out the year to help my fundraising) but I also never really thought of the what happens when I've got 23 days left in the UK and I'm beginning to say goodbye to friends and then I'll be pushed in at the deep end. ARGH!! I'm so nervous!
On a note of saying goodbye to friends, I have my last concert with the Halle Youth Choir on Friday :'( I've been on the choir for 5 years and I've made some truley awesome (if a little crazy-musicians, what can I say!) friends. They've spent the last year being persuaded to part with their money through neumerous cake sales and such, I'm so grateful to each and every one of them, everybody's been so supportive and put up with my crazed excitement and my one conversation topic (Africa). So if you can, listed to BBC R3 at 6.45pm (British time) to hear us singing Elgar's Apostles. See if you can hear the 'Jaws' moment in the Double Basses (I think!).
I don't know if I've mentioned this here before, but my Granny lives with us and has done for the last 9 months or so. She has mid/advanced alzheimers so she doesn't know who we are anymore but she is, as my friend puts it, a happy alzheimers rather than an angry alzheimers. The last 2/3 weeks I haven't really been home what with training in Scotland and a holiday in Cornwall, so I'd gone from being one of one of her carers to feeling like I don't really know her or connect with her anymore. She has good days and bad days, like anyone else but I feel like I can see how much she's dropped over the last 2 weeks, and it really worries me. When I see her every day, I don't notice as much. I realised I've prepared myself mentally for the possibility of her passing away when I'm in Africa, and I know if that happens in all likelihood, I won't be able to come home for a funeral. But I haven't prepared for if she's around physically but if she'd gone completely mentally. And I'm not so sure about how I'd react to that. It's hard, becasue when you live with someone and spend lots of time with them, you don't notice the small and gradual changes, but if I'm gone for a year I'll be so aware of those changes when I get back. So many happy thoughts to keep me occupied at night.
On a happier note, I've been learning some Xhosa. It won't be the language I'll be speaking, but I find it such and amazing language so I've learnt as much as I can! When I'm at my project, I'll be able to speak Africaans, which I've discovered is fairly similar to German (As Africaans derives mainly from Dutch, with a few 'forign' words from other languages) so I feel slightly more equipped with my German GCSE (Who knew that thing would ever come in useful?!).
Last night, I couln't sleep and for some reason (the "3am what if" brain) I couldn't help but think about some really silly stuff such as what if I don't like it or can't do my job etc. After a year of people telling me at first that I wouldn't be able to raise the money or that I wouldn't follow through with it and I'd get bored with fundraising and give up, then when I did raise the money, to hear that some people thought I'd be back in England before Xmas, I never thought I'd begin to doubt myself and my abilities. I never even thought about the what if I didn't make the £5000 (I am so thankful for the opportunities that I was given through out the year to help my fundraising) but I also never really thought of the what happens when I've got 23 days left in the UK and I'm beginning to say goodbye to friends and then I'll be pushed in at the deep end. ARGH!! I'm so nervous!
On a note of saying goodbye to friends, I have my last concert with the Halle Youth Choir on Friday :'( I've been on the choir for 5 years and I've made some truley awesome (if a little crazy-musicians, what can I say!) friends. They've spent the last year being persuaded to part with their money through neumerous cake sales and such, I'm so grateful to each and every one of them, everybody's been so supportive and put up with my crazed excitement and my one conversation topic (Africa). So if you can, listed to BBC R3 at 6.45pm (British time) to hear us singing Elgar's Apostles. See if you can hear the 'Jaws' moment in the Double Basses (I think!).
I don't know if I've mentioned this here before, but my Granny lives with us and has done for the last 9 months or so. She has mid/advanced alzheimers so she doesn't know who we are anymore but she is, as my friend puts it, a happy alzheimers rather than an angry alzheimers. The last 2/3 weeks I haven't really been home what with training in Scotland and a holiday in Cornwall, so I'd gone from being one of one of her carers to feeling like I don't really know her or connect with her anymore. She has good days and bad days, like anyone else but I feel like I can see how much she's dropped over the last 2 weeks, and it really worries me. When I see her every day, I don't notice as much. I realised I've prepared myself mentally for the possibility of her passing away when I'm in Africa, and I know if that happens in all likelihood, I won't be able to come home for a funeral. But I haven't prepared for if she's around physically but if she'd gone completely mentally. And I'm not so sure about how I'd react to that. It's hard, becasue when you live with someone and spend lots of time with them, you don't notice the small and gradual changes, but if I'm gone for a year I'll be so aware of those changes when I get back. So many happy thoughts to keep me occupied at night.
On a happier note, I've been learning some Xhosa. It won't be the language I'll be speaking, but I find it such and amazing language so I've learnt as much as I can! When I'm at my project, I'll be able to speak Africaans, which I've discovered is fairly similar to German (As Africaans derives mainly from Dutch, with a few 'forign' words from other languages) so I feel slightly more equipped with my German GCSE (Who knew that thing would ever come in useful?!).
Saturday, 4 August 2012
Sorry it's late:
I've been super busy over the last two weeks, what with going to Cornwall, Coll and my friend paying a last minute visit from Spain! But here's your update at long last!
I have 3 partners: Isaac, Heather and Ashleigh. There are alos 2 volunteers down the road at Durbanville Creche: Georgia and Rebecca. When we go out, we spend 2/3 days in Jo'burg getting to know places and we get to go to the National Apartheid Museum as well as sorting out basics like getting an African phone. After that, we all seperate and go off to our projects where we spend all our time with our partner/s. At Xmas, there is a tradition of all the South African volunteers going to Cape Town and meeting up there, which I hope we'll be doing! And my friend Sarah who I met on selection (and spent a week in Cornwall with) has been moved last minute with her partner to SA! Which might mean we get to go travelling together which would be marvelous!
I've decided after some of the talks we had on Coll, to stop posting on my blog. I might start up again when I'm out there and I know more about the legal side of things and the confidentality of the kids/staff and what-not, but for now, I'm not going to post anymore so I don't break any rules or anything like that. Hopefully I'll do a last blog before I go :)
26 days.
I have 3 partners: Isaac, Heather and Ashleigh. There are alos 2 volunteers down the road at Durbanville Creche: Georgia and Rebecca. When we go out, we spend 2/3 days in Jo'burg getting to know places and we get to go to the National Apartheid Museum as well as sorting out basics like getting an African phone. After that, we all seperate and go off to our projects where we spend all our time with our partner/s. At Xmas, there is a tradition of all the South African volunteers going to Cape Town and meeting up there, which I hope we'll be doing! And my friend Sarah who I met on selection (and spent a week in Cornwall with) has been moved last minute with her partner to SA! Which might mean we get to go travelling together which would be marvelous!
I've decided after some of the talks we had on Coll, to stop posting on my blog. I might start up again when I'm out there and I know more about the legal side of things and the confidentality of the kids/staff and what-not, but for now, I'm not going to post anymore so I don't break any rules or anything like that. Hopefully I'll do a last blog before I go :)
26 days.
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