This was my most athletic vacation of my time in South Africa so far, and possibly of my entire life so far. Every day Becky and I would go to bed with aches and pains from hiking, canoeing, riding on taxis, and other such physically taxing activities.
Here is a list (yay lists!) of the new things I tried or did on vacation:
*riding an ostrich
*eating ostrich meat
*sandboarding
*saw a whale up close
*went hiking in the rain (somehow it’d always been sunny in the past…)
*saw a blue duiker
*rode in a tuktuk
Things I haven’t done in twenty-one months:
*ate microwave popcorn
*got a hair cut by someone other than myself
*had a facial
*ate cheesecake that tasted like cheesecake (Fynbos Café in Knysna!)
Somehow I thought those lists would be longer…oh well.
We started in Knysna, which was my favorite town of the three, and it rained pretty much every day we were there. Not to be deterred, we went hiking, canoeing, and ferrying regardless, though I did not get to go snorkeling. We then made our way to Wilderness, which involved walking through a National Park for an hour with all our luggage in order to get to the backpackers, where we spent a day canoeing and hiking in the sun. Lastly, we went to Mossel Bay, a much larger town, where we were also blessed by sun.
One of our days there we actually spent on a day trip to Outshoorn, a bit to the north, which is kind of the ostrich capital of South Africa. There, I got to ride an ostrich (!!!!!), which I stayed on for about ten seconds before falling off. On my Picasa album, you can see a picture of me on the hooded (and thus calm) ostrich, and another of me falling off. If you’ll look closely, you may note that in the second picture, I have lost my shoes. I was the only one in the group to volunteer to ride an ostrich—they’re pretty ferocious creatures. That day, we also went to the beautiful Cango Caves and an animal reserve.
Our last day in Mossel Bay, we got quite close to some whales—one actually swam right underneath our boat. Afterwards we went sandboarding, which is like skiing but minus the ski lift, thus leaving the terrain pristine but making the biggest deterrent to going down the hill the idea that afterwards you have to go back up.
This entire vacation also involved being around lots of European tourists who will never see any part of South Africa besides the little vacation town with the pretty beaches, which was even more disheartening than walking back uphill after sandboarding down.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Pictures from the Garden Route
I returned from holiday on the Garden Route yesterday, and have managed to upload my pictures from the trip. I was hoping to do captions (and correctly spelled ones at that) for more of them, but have had more than the usual difficulty doing so. I'm not sure if it's the fault of the interweb or my computer. Anyway, here's the new album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Jade.Lamb/GardenRoute#
More descriptive post upcoming!
http://picasaweb.google.com/Jade.Lamb/GardenRoute#
More descriptive post upcoming!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
I Predict We Will Submit This Constitution in the Year 2011, Basically Unaltered
Today there was another board meeting for the nascent Rivoningo NGO Forum. It’s worth noting that the meeting started ten minutes early, which is practically unheard of in South Africa. On the other hand, this is probably undermined by the fact that there wasn’t a quorum, as three people had send their apologies, so technically it wasn’t a meeting. I think they are supposed to have another tomorrow, but it’s unclear that attendance will be any better.
The ostensible agenda for this meeting was to make alterations to the constitution, fill out the NPO application form to register with the government, and set up a time to get a bank account. We accomplished exactly zero of these. Here is an approximation of how the two hours were spent, instead:
10 minutes: writing agenda, passing around apology note, debating whether or not we can have the meeting without a quorum. I point out that technically, they haven’t ratified the rules about what a quorum is yet, so…
10 minutes: rapid discussion of all the different issues encountered so far with setting up the bank account. Numerous phone calls to people who might have more information are made, but no one picks up.
10 minutes: someone receives a phone call and the meeting stops while he takes it
20 minutes: discussion of whether there is money to buy bread for this meeting. Search for money. Everyone talks about how hungry they are. No one goes to buy bread.
10 minutes: gossip
40 minutes: look for receipt book. Look for cash belonging to the Forum. Total receipts of money received by hand on some scrap paper. Figure out how much money is missing. Scramble around for receipts of money spent. Find them. Total them. Make phone calls to confirm they are correct. Double check all numbers. (In other words, balance the bank book.)
20 minutes: I’m not sure. I had zoned out by then. They were talking about individual centres in serious tones of voice, so I think it was actual business, but it definitely wasn’t related to the constitution or their application for an NPO number.
Another productive day goes by…
The ostensible agenda for this meeting was to make alterations to the constitution, fill out the NPO application form to register with the government, and set up a time to get a bank account. We accomplished exactly zero of these. Here is an approximation of how the two hours were spent, instead:
10 minutes: writing agenda, passing around apology note, debating whether or not we can have the meeting without a quorum. I point out that technically, they haven’t ratified the rules about what a quorum is yet, so…
10 minutes: rapid discussion of all the different issues encountered so far with setting up the bank account. Numerous phone calls to people who might have more information are made, but no one picks up.
10 minutes: someone receives a phone call and the meeting stops while he takes it
20 minutes: discussion of whether there is money to buy bread for this meeting. Search for money. Everyone talks about how hungry they are. No one goes to buy bread.
10 minutes: gossip
40 minutes: look for receipt book. Look for cash belonging to the Forum. Total receipts of money received by hand on some scrap paper. Figure out how much money is missing. Scramble around for receipts of money spent. Find them. Total them. Make phone calls to confirm they are correct. Double check all numbers. (In other words, balance the bank book.)
20 minutes: I’m not sure. I had zoned out by then. They were talking about individual centres in serious tones of voice, so I think it was actual business, but it definitely wasn’t related to the constitution or their application for an NPO number.
Another productive day goes by…
Monday, October 5, 2009
Steps to Deliver an Assertive Message
1. Explain your feelings and the problem.
“When no one asks or answers questions during class, I feel like no one cares about the class.”
2. Make your request.
“I would feel better if everyone participated.”
3. Ask how the other person feels about your request.
“Do you think you can tell me when you don’t understand, and answer questions when you do?”
Last week was the life skills training course for the carers, which covered material for teenagers about goal-setting, communication skills, self-esteem, early pregnancy, drugs and alcohol, etc.—and of course, how to deliver an assertive message.
As per usual, the biggest obstacle for the course running smoothly was everyone sitting there in silence. It’s daunting to try to present to twenty (I can’t believe I did this in classes of forty a few months ago!) people who just stare at you blankly without speaking. On day three as we hearken back to earlier lessons, building upon our foundations, there is the sinking realization that no one actually understood what you thought was a fairly straightforward lesson…and so a half-hour reprise of the material (on delivering an assertive message) becomes a two-hour review of the material. The example I used to illustrate it is above.
However, when the trainees did understand what was going on, things went very well. One game we played took half an hour to explain the rules of, but people got really competitive once we really began. There was arguing about the point allotment at the end, regardless of the fact that it was their tea break. And, wonder of wonders, on the third day some of the trainees finally submitted lesson plans that were correctly written! The next challenge will be to get them to incorporate the awesome games we played in class into the activities they do with their OVCs, instead of just delivering the lectures their lesson plans specify.
“When no one asks or answers questions during class, I feel like no one cares about the class.”
2. Make your request.
“I would feel better if everyone participated.”
3. Ask how the other person feels about your request.
“Do you think you can tell me when you don’t understand, and answer questions when you do?”
Last week was the life skills training course for the carers, which covered material for teenagers about goal-setting, communication skills, self-esteem, early pregnancy, drugs and alcohol, etc.—and of course, how to deliver an assertive message.
As per usual, the biggest obstacle for the course running smoothly was everyone sitting there in silence. It’s daunting to try to present to twenty (I can’t believe I did this in classes of forty a few months ago!) people who just stare at you blankly without speaking. On day three as we hearken back to earlier lessons, building upon our foundations, there is the sinking realization that no one actually understood what you thought was a fairly straightforward lesson…and so a half-hour reprise of the material (on delivering an assertive message) becomes a two-hour review of the material. The example I used to illustrate it is above.
However, when the trainees did understand what was going on, things went very well. One game we played took half an hour to explain the rules of, but people got really competitive once we really began. There was arguing about the point allotment at the end, regardless of the fact that it was their tea break. And, wonder of wonders, on the third day some of the trainees finally submitted lesson plans that were correctly written! The next challenge will be to get them to incorporate the awesome games we played in class into the activities they do with their OVCs, instead of just delivering the lectures their lesson plans specify.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Talk About the Weather
Winter in Giyani lasted for four days, sometime in mid-July. I was doing site visits those days, and bundled up in a heavy sweater and scarf. I even brought my gloves. On the fifth day, the sun was out and shining, it was hot, and the scarf, gloves, and sweater all went into my bag.
Winter is followed by a shoulder season that lasts until the rainy season begins. It begins with being really hot and sunny all the time, which is when I start to wonder (if this is just September!) how I will possibly make it through summer. Last year this lasted through October, though I think it may be ending for the year right now.
Hot and sunny is followed not by the rainy season, but by the prelude to the rainy season where it becomes really cloudy and cool for a few days and everyone gets excited about the idea that it might rain. After those few days, it’s sunny again, and we grumble because that set of clouds has passed us by and gone on to Tzaneen instead, to water their fertile valley. Last year, I would prevaricate about doing my laundry if it was cloudy outside. This year, I know better. At best, it will start raining and I will bring my clothes inside to dry. At worst, my clothes will be clean and dry normally.
And if the rainy season starts soon, there will be mangos this year!
Winter is followed by a shoulder season that lasts until the rainy season begins. It begins with being really hot and sunny all the time, which is when I start to wonder (if this is just September!) how I will possibly make it through summer. Last year this lasted through October, though I think it may be ending for the year right now.
Hot and sunny is followed not by the rainy season, but by the prelude to the rainy season where it becomes really cloudy and cool for a few days and everyone gets excited about the idea that it might rain. After those few days, it’s sunny again, and we grumble because that set of clouds has passed us by and gone on to Tzaneen instead, to water their fertile valley. Last year, I would prevaricate about doing my laundry if it was cloudy outside. This year, I know better. At best, it will start raining and I will bring my clothes inside to dry. At worst, my clothes will be clean and dry normally.
And if the rainy season starts soon, there will be mangos this year!
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