South Africa Exchange: Tasting a Different Culture

Posted on February 11, 2013 by admin

So far, I have nothing bad to say about SA. I have made tons of friends, I love the food and I can’t complain about the weather. It’s been warm and sunny for the most part. We’ve had a couple of thunderstorms, but nothing compared to the 45cm of snow we got back home!

Coming from Canada, I had really no idea what to expect concerning food. My mom tried to convince me they would feed me monkey brains! Nice try! My mom’s perception of SA was very different from what it truly is. … Anyways, the food is quite different from Canada’s, but very good. I’ve eaten ox tail, which is sweet, and much better than I thought it would be. I also noticed that South Africans eat pumpkin a lot more than we do. I’ve eaten pumpkin fritters, which are sweet, crunchy on the outside and smooth on the inside. I’ve also been watching Master Chef Australia, so I have bee thinking about food A LOT!!! Another thing we don’t eat is boerewors. It’s a typical South African sausage normally used for braais (barbecues). But, the best thing here is the fruit. I’ve had strawberry juice, papaya, prickly pears and other fruits we get. At first, I was quite scared I’d starve because I am one of the most picky eaters you will meet. My mom has tried to get me to eat so many different things, but it’s never worked. I have probably tried more foods here than in the past five years of my life! –Andrea Naday ’15

South Africa: Subtle Differences

Posted on February 7, 2013 by admin

Grade 9 student Andrea Naday ’15 is on a student exchange in South Africa, attending St. Stithians Girls School. Here are some reflections on her experience to date:

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I find it very interesting how South Africans speak the same language as us but use different terms and expressions. For example, if a person was annoyed by someone, they’d say “she’s such a rash.” They also say “shame” a lot. If I said someone was sad, they’d say “shame.” They also have an accent similar to someone British. But, South Africans don’t think they sound British at all. When I was talking to Carmen about it, she realized how she was speaking, and how some things they say don’t make sense. For example, South Africans say “tomato” as someone British would say it, but “potato” as we say it (i.e., they pronounce the “a” differently).

Another major difference I noticed was the currency. South African currency is called Rand, but about 8.5 Rand would equal $1. So, you can’t buy much with R10. Basically, anytime you would go out you spend around R150-R1000. It is weird to be spending R350 on some souvenirs: 350 sounds like a big number! So I always have to divide everything by 8 to figure out the approximate value in dollars! But, I have been able to adjust.

Cars are different too. The driver is on the right side of the car, and South Africans drive on the left side of the road. At first, I thought it was very weird, but I have gotten used to it.

Duke of Ed Silver Trip: Long-Lasting Memories

Posted on February 6, 2013 by admin

Note: This blog was written some time ago and was never published. The content remains relevant. Enjoy!

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Friday, November 2 kicked off the Duke of Edinburgh Silver trip at Camp Nominingue for 15 grade ten students and three accompanying staff. Though there were a few bumps along the way (literally, considering two bags fell off the bus and went missing on the way up) altogether it was an unforgettable experience. The two and a half hour bus ride up to the camp gave us a great opportunity to bond with the people we were to be spending four days and three nights in the woods with. Other than the cold weather forecast, the fact that we were to sleep in tents and prepare our own meals, we had no idea what to expect.

When we first arrived, we were faced with a giant field in the middle of the woods which was where we were to camp out. We got our bags and tents and began to assemble our living spaces in our groups of two or three. We had a great meal of pasta and salad sitting around our first fire that we made with a little difficulty. Our first activity of the trip consisted of a long walk in the dark around the Camp Nominingue grounds. We ended our night by individually listing the high and low point of our day. Despite shivering in our sleeping bags at night and waking up to frost around our tents, it was a great way to start off the trip.

The two full days that followed were filled with multiple activities that kept us entertained throughout the day. Alongside three course meals that were prepared by each tent group, hot chocolate and snacks, we were ready to go on our excursions. Our second day adventure consisted of an hour and a half long hike through the woods. We came across a bear skeleton, a carnivorous plant and walked on marshland. That night we ate pirogies and enjoyed another walk across the campground.

Our third day activity was a canoe ride along the lake to another island where we hiked up to a peak with an absolutely phenomenal view. We ate lunch on the island and spent most of our day singing songs on the boat and getting a great bicep and triceps workout along the way. That night, we ate and preformed our entertaining skits for the talent show we had been “preparing for” since the very beginning. We finished our night off with another walk in the woods, but this time, in single file and in complete silence. At the end of the walk, we lay dispersed throughout another open field and watch the stars above us. The walk overall didn’t go exactly as planned with a few kids getting lost along the way, but when we were all reunited we shared a long laugh and more hot chocolate.

We participated in many smaller activities throughout the trip such as building lean-tos, splitting wood, making fires, and a few team management activities on the last day.

By the fourth and final day, we were all excited to take a warm shower and be home to our families, but at the same time, sad to be leaving. We left our campground with long-lasting memories and a better appreciation of our privileged lives. I highly recommend all students in younger grades take a bigger interest in the Duke of Ed program and definitely partake on the Silver trip.

Thank you very much to Mrs. Wall, Mr. Weiland and M. Maurice for making this “dreaded” trip fun-filled and enjoyable. – Vikki Van Ryswyk ‘14

South Africa Exchange: Experiences & Perspectives

Posted on February 2, 2013 by admin

I made the U-15 St Stithians’ basketball team, which means that I can spend my afternoons playing basketball in the sun. There are really worse ways to spend one’s afternoons.

On Saturday, January 26, I play my first basketball game for St Stithians, against St. Peters. Saints win. Later on that day, Dirk, Rickus, Jessica, and I go camping and 4x4ing. It is amazing! We set up camp in a gorgeous site, and then, South African-style, I am handed a pellet gun, a .22, a shotgun, and a 234 hunting gun. We shoot cans, targets, and clay pigeons, known to us as clay disks. The Canadian in me cannot help but think of NRA debates. I am forced to reflect on the dangers of giving a gun to any boy. It is heady stuff, and I shamefully admit that it is regretfully easy to forget all my previous reservations about holding real guns when I hit my first clay pigeon with my first shot. If, as I suspect, my career in basketball is cut short, I’m going to the Olympics for shooting discs.

Later that night, we make a campfire and barbecue for supper. It is so cool. I cannot believe I’m on this exchange. The next day, we go to the stream and swim.

And then tomorrow back to school. –David Elbaz ’15

South Africa & Boarding: Feels Like Home

Posted on February 2, 2013 by admin

Hello again from beautiful South Africa. I say “beautiful” because it is astoundingly beautiful. I cannot get used to the beauty of the place. It makes me stop in my tracks and a dozen times a day, I have the urge to take out my- especially-bought-for-this-trip-camera. I don’t of course, partly because I’m lazy like that, and partly because I know that there is no way I can hope to reproduce in a picture what I see.

So I’m off to public school. Rickus and I have attended the welcoming tea for students and parents. We are the only two in uniform, and I hope that this is not a sign. People at the school are, extremely welcoming. We sit outside, and it looks more like botanical gardens than a school. I think I’m going to like it here.

I ‘m not going to lie. I’m a little nervous. Benjamin, exercising his right as older brother to torture me, has insisted that I watch, before my departure, every movie ever made about life in boarding school. I have watched them, a little like one watches horror movies, with a sick fascination. So really, I’m just a little apprehensive about this next stage of my South African experience. I really have wasted my time worrying however. Boarding school is so much better than I even hoped for. I hate calling it an experience (which of course it is), because it is so much more enjoyable than what the word “experience ”brings to mind.

In boarding school, there is not a moment in the day that is wasted. Lights are out at 9:30 but the day is so full that I don’t even mind. Of course, we are also woken up at what is for me the crack of dawn (6 am by a bell that makes me feel that I am in the army and that scares me every single time. It is nothing like the army (at least, what I imagine army life is).

Life at St. Stithians is structured, which I love, but it is also warm and relaxed, and I feel at home. There are two boarding houses. Mine is Mount Stephens, and I surprisingly feel an immediate propriety pride. There are sports in the afternoon, and a full 1.75 hours for prep, which just means that for a full hour and forty-five minutes, I have to do homework. No Facebook minutes allowed, no emails, no phones. It’s amazing what one can do with a little less than two hours of concentrated work. I have finished, in less than a week of school, six French and English books. In other words, I realize that back home, I am totally inefficient and less focused than I claim to be.

I am put in several grade 10 AP classes, which fills me with totally undeserved pride. I mean, I am taking AP Afrikaans and AP Accounting, as well as AP Physics, of course only courtesy of my overachiever friend, Rickus. I definitely feel some pressure to keep LCC’s side up. It’s enough that as a somewhat short Canadian in a land of giant and unbelievably athletic South Africans; I will have to work doubly hard on any athletic field. I really don’t want to embarrass LCC in the academic fields. I hold my own in math (thanks Ms. Saunders and Mr. George), but I am going to have to switch out of accounting. I have to choose between IT and French: either another class where I will once again be faced with my ignorance and a class which will no doubt be too easy, but where I can raise my stock a little. OK then, French it is.

Being in a foreign country really means feeling ignorant a dozen times a day. I know very little about SA history or geography. On the other hand, I have just realized that Canadian history is NOT the history of the world, as I had somewhat vaguely thought. Here, no one “se souvient de la conquête,” and no one is familiar with the PQ, the language police, or even –imagine that- our 10 day war with the US back in 1812. It is all very humbling.

St. Stithians is FUN. There are competitions between houses, and games, war cries, and “kidnappings” of lowly grade 8s. There are friends, lots of friends, and St. Stithians is more diverse than I had thought. I made friends with two Columbian students.

Friday afternoon, Rickus and I go back home- and yes, that was a slip of the tongue, but really, it says it all. On Saturday, January 19, we visit the Maropeng and Sterfontein caves in Gauteng, which are called the cradle of Humankind and which are classified as World Heritage Sites. There are hominid and animal fossils, which date back more than 4-million years. I feel totally insignificant, and young. They force me to rethink my importance in the world. (I will have to call my parents very soon to restore my feeling that I matter tremendously). It is all very wonderful. Unfortunately, there will be no pictures to document my visit for posterity. Hannelie’s pictures got erased when uploading, and I, well, I did not take pictures.

Sunday. January 20. Rainy, and homework. Lots and lots and lots of homework. LCC and Saints homework. More homework. I have to tell you that homework in any country is just homework.

And so ends my first week at Saints. –David Elbaz ’15