Tag Archives: experience trip

Abby’s Idayari: the Adventures of a Canadian-Zulu Girl in South Africa – Week One

Posted on by
Reply
School at St. Stithians (My New Friends)

School at St. Stithians (My New Friends)

Let’s begin with the obvious question: what is an Idayari? It is the Zulu translation for“diary”. My name is Abby Shine and I am a grade 9 student currently on exchange at St. Stithians Girls’ College in Johannesburg.  Over the course of the next six weeks, I will share my diary entries detailing my adventures while living in South Africa.

Off to Joburg!

Saturday morning, January 10, 2015: I am at the salon getting my nails painted at precisely 11:00 am. I am happy with my decision to have gone with the pale pink Essie color. I close my eyes and lean back on the massage chair; I am entirely relaxed as my plane only leaves at midnight and therefore have all day to pack. That is, until my mom comes running into the salon with eyes as big Kanye West’s ego. My connecting flight in Amsterdam has been cancelled and I have been re-routed to Atlanta. I need to be at the airport in one hour! I run out of the salon, pack my bags and say my goodbyes. From that point on, I then embark on a painstaking 21 hours of travel to South Africa. After all the stress (I am terrified of flying) and stomach-turning airport food, I am exhausted. Yet, I would do it all over again. This experience is well worth it!

Meeting the Ayayas

In Johannesburg, my host family, the Ayayas, greeted me with open arms. I was thrilled to meet Rodina with whom I have been corresponding for months. The next day, I was woken up with the Joburg’s signature sunrise and called into the kitchen. There, I was as surprised as Tom will be the day he catches Jerry as fifteen strangers emerged from their selective hiding spots and all wished me a happy birthday. I was glad that this was set up since I got to meet some of Rodina’s friends ahead of school.

On Tuesday, I visited Sandton City with Camilla, another exchange, where we shopped in the most spectacular stores. It was a little hard to shop at first, given the money currency. For example, a good price for a pair of pants is 200 rands, which seems a lot but is only around 20 dollars. Several rands later, we went to the Nelson Mandela Square where we stood, along many others, with the iconic statue.

School at St. Stithians

My first day at school! Although I should have been nervous, I wasn’t; I had met close to thirty of Rodina’s friends before school due to our outings and was therefore already considered a “Saints Girl.” (Even though these girls are seven feet taller than I am, I blended right in with them since our uniforms are extremely similar.)

I spent the week trying different classes such as music, history and my new favorite language: Zulu! I also became accustomed to their college. Class start at 7:30 and the students have two breaks where they are allowed to roam around their impressive campus. Alert to LCC! They are allowed to have their phones out in class!

Zulu word of the week

Ukwenza: Adventure!

Weekend Ukwenza

I visited the Cradle of Humankind where I learned about the evolution of the world and took an underground boat ride that featured the four elements of the world. The spectacular architecture of the building is nothing compared to what is inside! After that, I found myself 60 feet under the ground, crawling and climbing nearly 220 steps in a cave called Sterkfontein. With each step I took, I learned more and more about this world heritage site, known for its limestone and discovery of “Little Foot.”

What a week! Next up, sports and food! – Abby Shine ’17

Échange en Afrique du Sud: Safari!

Posted on by
Reply

Le 9 janvier, j’ai quitté Joburg pour aller en safari au parc national Kruger dans l’est du pays sud-africain.

Après cinq heures de conduite, on est arrivé à l’entrée du parc nommée Phabeni Gate. Là, on a commencé notre voyage lent à travers le parc avec nos jumelles dans une main et nos caméras dans l’autre. Pas un kilomètre de la porte était-on arrêté par un troupeau de vaches qui traversaient la rue! Quelques minutes plus tard, on a repéré des centaines d’impalas, une troupe de minuscules singes, un oiseau à plumes de couleurs vives, appelée un rollier à longs brins, et un seul waterbuck. On était très chanceux!

Le soir, on est arrivé à notre premier camping, à Skukuza. Après le coucher du soleil, on est embarqué dans un camion pour une conduite dans la nuit. Tout était sombre et c’était très difficile d’apercevoir des animaux sans une lampe de poche puissante. Un membre de notre groupe a détecté un mouvement près de la lisière du maquis. C’était une hyène! On la suivit pendant quelques minutes et il nous a apporté à sa famille!

Vers 4 h le lendemain matin, on s’est levé pour aller en randonnée dans le parc. On n’a pas vu grand-chose, mais en retournant de celle-ci, on a aperçu des éléphants et des girafes traversant la rue ! C’était comme aller au zoo … mais sans les enclos!

Dans l’après-midi, on est retourné en route pour notre destination finale, Crocodile Bridge. On a repéré beaucoup plus de mêmes animaux, mais en ajoutant aussi deux rhinocéros blancs et de jolis pique-bœufs à bec rouge.

À chaque jour qui suivait, on quittait notre condo avec le but de repérer un léopard, l’animal le plus difficile d’apercevoir parmi le Big 5 (les animaux africains qui était les plus difficiles de chasser il était une fois, composé léopard, du lion, de l’éléphant, du rhinocéros et du buffle). Cependant, on n’était jamais capable d’en retrouver. On a quand même vu des zèbres, des sangliers, des babouins, des buffles, des gnous, des hippopotames, des lions et un guépard, ce qui  est loin d’être pire!

Je suis super chanceux d’avoir eu la chance de rencontrer des animaux sauvages dans un magnifique parc national comme Kruger. J’ai été très impressionné avec la beauté de la nature qu’on peut y trouver. C’était une expérience fantastique!

Adam Vandenbussche ’17, Exchange Student at St Stithians College

Student Exchange: Discovering the Golden Age of Colombia

Posted on by
Reply

Gold_Museum_1This weekend, we went to a Halloween party (one week after Halloween) hosted by the school seniors. It was a huge party. Even though I had no idea what the songs were saying (because they were in Spanish) they were still awesome. I had tons of fun, and some of the costumes were hilarious.

After that, on Saturday, we went to the Gold Museum. There, I learned just how much gold Colombia once had. Before the Spaniards came, the natives would make everything out of gold. They would do this not because gold was expensive and rare for them but because it was the easiest metal to find. All of the kings had gold decorations, jewelry and armour, etc. They would make instruments out of gold, weapons, helmets, anything you could think of, they made out of gold.

At the museum, you could really see how skilled the natives were at crafting the gold. They made tiny items with so much detail! It was incredible! I cannot believe that I had no idea that Colombia had so much gold and could make such wonderful things.

Gold is so important to Colombians that half of their flag, which is yellow, represents the gold that they had before the Spaniards came.

I am having so much fun in Colombia and I can’t believe that it’s almost over! –
Paul Virally ’17, Exchange Student @ Colegia Anglo Colombiano

Student Exchange Australia: Thrilling Water-Sports!

Posted on by
Reply

Over the weekend, I went to the country town of Yarrawonga. It’s right on Lake Mulwala, which is a man-made lake. It’s kind of like going up to the Laurentians for us. Every family has a boat, you know just about everyone on the lake, and almost everyone knows how to waterski. Since  the summer months have just started, the water was nice and refreshing. I was the only one who did not complain about the cold temperature of the water. I think it has something to do with being Canadian…

I relished the opportunity to get back on a wakeboard, since I only get to do that at summer camp. I also went tubing with Connor and his younger siblings, and drove the boat a few times. To cap it all off, I went on a jet-ski ride with a neighbour, during which Connor was thrown off and I somehow managed to stay on! The most exciting part was when we first took off. That jetski can go from idle to 100 km/h in four seconds!

All in all, it was a great weekend. I had an amazing time experiencing Australian water-sports, and I can’t wait until this weekend, as I get to go to Sydney. – Sam Freder ‘17, ExchangeStudent @ Carey Grammar, Australia

Student Exchange: Discovering Bogotá

Posted on by
Reply

Arriving in the city of Bogotá was amazing. The whole city is surrounded by mountains making it nice and cozy. All of the buildings were inside this little box made by the mountains. It vas very weird to see all of that green land, and right next to it, a series of buildings. That got me really excited to visit this interesting city.

Also, since Bogotá is 2600m high, it became a little difficult to do normal tasks like walking or going up stairs. So, when my host family picked me up, I was already out of breath just from walking around the airport. But thankfully, they were very kind and helped me with everything that I needed.

On the way to my new home for the next month and a half, I was able to see what happens when you squeeze 8 million people in a relatively small city. It took about two hours to get to the house (which was not very far away) because of all of the traffic. It wasn’t even a busy day! Apparently, from what my exchange, Camilo, said, the traffic is one of the worst in the world.

Once we got home, I was shown the love of soccer that Colombian’s (yes, Colombia, not Columbia. It’s practically a crime to call a Colombian, a Columbian…) have. Even a family like the family that I am staying with who are not very big fans of soccer love that sport. The night I was home, I was watching a soccer game. It was Colombia vs. El Salvador. Colombia, as one of the best teams in the world, won 3-1. The whole family screamed and we had a very good time that night.

On Tuesday, my first day of school, I was shown eight huge buildings. Apparently all of those belong to the school. It was very easy to get lost, but thankfully all of the wonderful new friends that I made helped me navigate my way around the school. Only three courses are in Spanish so I can actually understand what the teachers are saying most of the time. But during the Spanish classes, I try to understand as much as I can to build up a vocabulary to be able to talk with my exchange family only in Spanish.

On the weekend, we visited the older part of Bogotá, where you could see all of the ancient Spanish architecture. It was beautiful and we had lunch at a very typical Colombian restaurant. So far, I have tried at least a dozen new foods, especially fruits. They have many exotic fruits in Colombia.

I also had the opportunity to go to a Colombian party. We danced to some very different music (they call it reggaeton), and I had lots of fun there.

The following Tuesday, there was another exciting soccer game. Although, this time, it was Colombia vs. Canada! I was very excited to see how it would turn out, and I was happy to see that we only lost 1-0 to one of the best teams in the world.

I am now getting ready to go to Villa de Leyva which is a very old and small town. It dates back to the Spanish invasion. I know that it will be awesome. I know that Colombia has a lot more to show me and I hope to be able to tell you all about it in my future blogs.

Espero que todos ustedes tengan la oportunidad de visitar Bogotá un día, ya que es uno de los lugares más interesantes que he visitado. Chao! – Paul Virally ’17 – Exchange Student @ Colegia Anglo Colombiano