This Part of the Osler Adventure Ends

The title post photo is of the day Jon and I spent in the long-term storage facility in Sterling, VA, claiming and identifying three years of our lives, which were packed away in 12 giant crates, stacked like the last scene of the movie, The Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Sadly, our adventure in South Africa has officially ended. We have settled in Reston, Virginia after a trans-Atlantic move, which included: having to travel without our kitty cat and collecting him at a later date from Customs; spending the summer in a corporate apartment while we navigated the crazy real estate rental market in the DC area; having Jonathan live with us for his summer internship in DC when we haven't all lived together for three years (woohoo!); and trying to re-adjust to life driving in the right-hand lane in the left-side seat of the car.

However, life is slowly returning to normal - I am back teaching at Williamsburg Middle School in Arlington, VA, where I worked for one semester before moving to SA. I was incredibly fortunate to be re-hired in such an excellent school system and wonderful school.  Jonathan is back for his second year of law school at William and Mary. Jon is back to his directorship of global accounts and has already returned to Africa twice since moving back. His first trip back in August found him stranded a day or so after the Nairobi, Kenya airport burned to the ground the day he was scheduled to fly in from Jo'burg. He made the trip back this week and reported that he cleared Immigration and Customs in tents erected on the site of the old burned-out terminal.

I say that life has returned to normal but honestly, my "normal" has been forever changed by an incredible 30 months in the Republic of South Africa. I am not eloquent enough to explain further but I hope all my previous posts hint at my meaning.

There is a huge part of me that will always belong to South Africa and its people, its animals, its beauty, its history, and its future. Even now, into September, South Africa still feels more like home to me than the US does, and I think I speak for Jon when I say that we would both have stayed longer if we could have.

People say you can never go home. But home isn't a place. It's a feeling. A feeling that comes from being a part of a community, a culture, a family. Right now - our address might be Reston, Virginia, but our home is still in South Africa.

All our best, Jon and Jody

A Second Trip Into The Bush

Our dining companions each night at camp.
I always tried to get a seat at the table with my
back to our little animal friends.
With a little more imagination, I could write
one excellent Goosebumps book!

It is hard to believe that March is almost over! As I pulled up my blog this afternoon to update it I saw my last post was two months ago. I’ve got some catching up to do.

After our family (Jon, Jody, Jonathan) trip to Mauritius for Christmas, we all returned to our jobs and school, a little more tanned and a lot more relaxed. You may remember last year's post about my middle school's trip to the bush for a 3-night team building adventure. We went again this year to the same camp, which the kids really enjoyed last year.  However, last year we went in March with just 27 students and 3 teachers. This year we went in February with 42 students and 6 teachers.  I mention the months because last year we were entering the fall season – very warm days but cool nights.  This year we went a month earlier and it was unbearably hot.

The bush is dotted with acacia trees which, while not big, offer the only shade on the veld. We would take turns huddling together under their small canopy waiting for instructions for the next activity, hoping to get just a moment to cool off. The photo at the top is exactly the landscape, not only at the camp but all over northern South Africa. This led to time spent with the first aid kit, cleaning scratches and punctures, as acacia trees are also covered in giant thorns.  Also because of the heat, we spent more time at the dammed pond using the zip-line and the rope swing, which the students absolutely loved.  But this resulted in slipping and falling, leech removal, an injured shoulder and on our last full day there, a trip into the closest town (45 minutes away) for a student who received seven stitches in the bottom of a foot. 

One of the workers at the camp loaded my student in the back seat of his car and drove us to, literally, the town doctor.  The doctor was a gray-haired Afrikaner who was so wonderful with Francesco.  When Francesco asked the doctor if he had done stitches before, he chuckled and reminded us that he was a country doctor in a farming community and had sewn up lots of people over the years.  Francesco was worried he would have to go home that day. He didn’t want to leave early because that night, our last night at camp, we were actually sleeping out in the bush.  Earlier in our trip our instructor Dirk had told us all to be very careful walking off the paths because of snakes and animals lurking in the bush.  He especially warned all of us to watch out for the Black Mamba, the most venomous snake in Africa.  Dirk’s advice if any of us got bit out there? “Drag yourself under the closest acacia tree, settle in the shade, light a cigarette, and enjoy the last ten minutes of your life.” One of my students actually asked Dirk, “what if you don’t smoke?” Dirk rolled his eyes and muttered something in Afrikans. Your guess is as good as mine as to what he said. But I bet we could all figure it out.

 After my return from the doctor, Dirk found me to tell me that a black mamba had been sighted by another instructor earlier that day, right in the area where we had planned to camp out. He felt we should not camp outside that night just to be safe.  The kids whined a bit. The adults were just fine with it. Instead, we did a night walk. The students were divided into small groups and set off on a very dark trail, no torches (flashlights) allowed. The teachers are bigger kids than the kids much of the time so you can probably guess that we hid just off the trail, scaring the kids as they each passed by us.  Each student fell into a category: the runner, the screamer, the statue, the disbeliever. 

We made it home the next day where Francesco debuted his badge of courage in the form of seven stitches, to all the younger students. And I went home and took a nap.

 

 

The Latest News from South Africa

There have been quite a few big news stories in South Africa over the last few months. Looking at the map above as reference, we live in the northern part of the Gauteng Province. To the north of Gauteng is the Limpopo Province.  The Limpopo River is known for having the biggest, most dangerous crocodiles in the world. And as of last week, there are about 15,000 more crocodiles in the river than normal.  Limpopo has has a very wet summer season, causing the river to overflow its banks. As the flood waters began to put pressure on the walls surrounding a crocodile farm, the owner eventually was forced to open the gates to ease the water pressure.  Needless to say, the crocodiles to advantage of the opportunity and swam away, into the river.  There are massive parties hunting the crocs and trying to get them safely back to their farm home.  It is reported that several  thousand have already been recaptured but that still leaves several thousand more unaccounted for. Hunting takes place mostly at night when you can see their eyes just above the water line.  As residents along the river spot the crocs, they call the local authorities to come out and remove them.

In the Western Cape Province there has been a farmers' strike for weeks now.  The farms in that area are mostly wineries.  The manual laborers on these farms are asking for a pay raise from their current daily wage of 69 Rand (US $7.72) to 150 Rand (US $16.78). 

In the Northwestern Province platinum miners began striking back in August of 2012 for similar reasons. This strike ended tragically with almost 40 people killed---miners, police, and picket-line-crossers.

Also in the Northwestern Province, another mining company is closing 4 shafts and laying off 14,000 workers.  With an unemployment rate of 25%, more strikes are likely.

On a happier note, South Africa is hosting the 2013 AFCON (Africa Cup of Nations) soccer tournament.  It is an exciting display of Africa's best soccer teams and the first time since the 2010 World Cup that many of these venues have been used.  South Africa has dedicated fans

In other news, it looks like we are heading back to the US in June of this year. We are not 100% sure of where we will be but as soon as we know we'll be letting you know.

Hope your 2013 is off to a good start.  Jody and Jon