A Letter Home

Hola Mamita! 

I hope that you're having a great week. It was really lovely to speak to you and hear all about the matric dance. I feel like we could have spoken for much longer, if only we had the time! I feel more settled this week and I haven't been feeling as homesick as before. Now just to get my sleeping patterns in check!

I've taken your advice and have been putting my feet up in between our morning and afternoon community service sessions. Yesterday, after lunch, we were all so exhausted that we just collapsed on the floor of the balcony and most of us fell asleep. It looked like we were doing one of our First Aid drills - eight corpses spread out on the floor, face down, waiting for the rescuers.

Wilderness First Aid Training

WFA Training: V giving a thumbs up
 after saving her patient

I do have cashews in my snack bag. So, will start eating those for protein. One of the big problems with the food here is that the Dominicans love to fry it. So, for breakfast three of the mornings we've been here, they've served us a tray of french fries and a 2 litre bottle of Coke! (Insert emoji of monkey covering his eyes!) ¡Que malo! Fortunately, I've been able to stick to the fried eggs and tropical fruit: delicious, juicy pineapple, watermelon and mango. 

We're off to explore some caves tomorrow and then off to the beach - it's a much needed break! Today I put in my 5th concrete floor and started building a latrine...

Mixing cement for a concrete floor

Abrazos y besos

Tu Hija

Ps. Check out this sunset!

Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho, it's off to work we go!

After driving for one hour up the mountain, on an open-top truck, the clouds which threatened to burst at every turn, did so when we got to Manabao on our first day of community service. Soaking wet, we managed to take a quick tour of our work-site for the next few days. Our job is to dig trenches and lay down pipes to give fresh water to the village of Manabao. However, thunder and lightning drove us back down the mountain!

On the way down from the mountain

When we got back to the ranch, naturally, there was a long line for the girls' showers and people calling dibs for shower number two (apparently, the one with the best pressure). As I said in my last blog, you're lucky if you can get hot water.

Manabao

The next day, we were welcomed by the mayor and a few members of the community. At first, we were a bit confused about where to go and how to help the locals we would be working with, but we soon slotted into place, side by side, like Snow White's seven dwarfs.

After day one, followed by white water rafting, I can feel muscles popping up where I forgot I had any! Got to go...more later!

Who needs hot water when you have Wi-Fi?

I'm currently in la Republica Dominica doing community service and Spanish immersion (see my last blog post).

The streets of Santa Domingo

On arrival in the DR, we were told two things: we cannot drink the tap water and our toilet paper goes in the bin, and not in the toilet bowel, so that we don't clog the toilets. This last one has been quite an adjustment.

Rooftop view of Santo Domingo

Other changes for me have included sharing a room with 12 girls and sleeping on a bunk bed. There are only 4 showers, so, we have to fight over hot water, but at least we have Wi-Fi! In fact, I think that having internet access, while everything else around us has changed, has helped us to ease into things.

Here are a few pictures of our home, Rancho Baiguate, for the next week.

There are horses, cows, Shetland 
ponies and a butterfly house.

My view on the way to Spanish class.

Spot the horse!

Trading in my Purple Carry-on

So, today I traded in my purple pull-along for a pair of purple sneakers, and my matte red lipstick is tucked away in my backpack. I won't be having much use for them where I'm going.

I am about to embark on a three-month-long adventure to Central and South America (Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Peru), where I will be teaching English in schools, learning about sustainable farming, how to surf, and building toilets - to name a few of the many activities.

Thailand 2010

If you've read my previous blog, Saving the World Two Tanks at a Time, you'll know that I spent a month in the north of Thailand, when I was 17 years old, mixing concrete and building water storage tanks... generally roughing it. Well, after reading this programme itinerary, I think this trip is going to be like Thailand on steroids! 

I am doing this trip through, Rustic Pathways, an organisation which specialises in gap year programmes. You choose the countries you want to go to and the type of activities you want to do there, and they do the rest. My programme is aimed at young people who are interested in community service and Spanish immersion. I am excited and looking forward to getting fit, strong, tanned, useful... and, of course, dirty! I also hope to come back home speaking Spanish like a native.

The Rustic Pathways Starter-Kit

Hasta pronto! 

Service...with a frown?

I’ve been at home now for a few days, before my next adventure, which has given me an opportunity to look back on my time in Prague. Overall it was a positive learning experience, but I wouldn't be a good blogger if I didn't take off my rose-coloured glasses once in a while and give the people the truth... right? I also wouldn't be a good traveller if I didn't take the good with the bad.

After my delightful weekend in Dublin, I hit a bit of a slump and couldn’t wait to come home. Although Prague looks like something out of a fairy-tale, it isn't perfect (and of course, no city is)! 

So, what in particular is irking me? What’s up with that title?

Well, first of all, I think the best way to put it is to say that there is a certain warmth missing in the Czech psyche. I am speaking generally so don't take offence if you don't fit into the mould of the typical Czech. Or, maybe, South Africans are just extra friendly people and go out of their way to make you feel welcome. They may have just met you and they’ll already be inviting you to a braai.   

Fancy a braai? You bring the potato salad!

Not "What can I do for you?", but "What do you want?"

It seems that most waiters couldn't care less whether you were giving them service or not. I lingered for about 5 minutes in the door of a (fancy) restaurant, waiting for someone to say that I could have a seat or show me to my table. In those few minutes, at least three waiters passed and ignored me. When I went up to one and asked if I could have a seat anywhere, he answered "no, only where there aren't people"... No duh.  

No thank you, Grand Café Orient!

We, the customers, clearly aren't keeping them in business. They also don't pay you any attention until you want the bill! Since it’s rude to wave to the waiter, you have to contort yourself in order to make eye contact. Then they make sure to tell you that "tip is not included". This is directed at foreigners since most Czech people don't tip in restaurants, apart from rounding up the bill. 

Be warned: Nobody will tell you if a restaurant is cash-only or if they only take Koruna. So, best you check with them before you sit down and eat a whole meal. 

And it's not only the waiters. The shop assistants sigh heavily when you don't understand them and the beautician plainly refuses to help you because you are "Anglický" (English), even though you've learnt the Czech name of the treatment that you want. I know that I don't look like a Czech person at all, but that's no reason for people to openly stare in the streets... or to scowl at me for that matter (see my previous post). 

You try asking for a wax in Czech! 

And there's more! Poop all over the cobbled streets, because people can't be bothered to pick up their dog's business...  

And the cherry on top; the physical abuse in the streets. More than once during my stay, I saw well-dressed couples arguing and actually physically fighting in the middle of the road in broad daylight. One man even spat in a woman's face. Another time I watched, horrified, as a man tried to knock down a tram-stop post, because he was so mad at his girlfriend! 

I wonder what the tram stop ever did to him...

I decided to bring the matter up with one of my new Czech friends. She said that because the Czech people had been under a communist regime for so long, there is no culture of service. Czech people don't know how to serve others, perhaps because the previous government looked after them under communism. 

Anyway, it made me proud to be South African. There’s so much that goes on in the way of community service here. There is no shortage of places to volunteer at and so many people I know are engaged with community projects; you could build houses in the townships, read to children in hospital, or help them with their homework. 

Painting a children's playground in Cape Town.

I think that the Duke of Edinburgh's International Award could be pivotal in changing the attitudes of the Czech youth. The Award helps to grow a culture of service and social responsibility. Young people learn the importance of helping others, over themselves. And when we help others we learn to be grateful for what we have and I think that makes us happier people. 

40 Czech students were awarded their Gold Awards, by HRH the Countess of Wessex,
at the Duke of Edinburgh's International Award's Gold Award Ceremony on 20 May 2015.

Rant over.