Arrived!!!

Finally I found time to write a post on the blog. I'm here for already one week now and I really start feeling like home. But let's start at the beginning:

Thursday evening I met with the other five AFS participants from Switzerland in Zurich at the airport. Althought it was not easy to say goodbye we all were very happy when we entered the airplane. We flew with the Emirates and the flight was quite comfortable. After 14 hours flight and 4 hours waiting in Dubai we finally arrived at the airport in Johannesburg where two AFS workers already were waiting for us. They drove us to a beautiful Lodge where we the first time really felt like being in Africa. A woman from AFS introduced us this evening to the culture and also the difficult and dangerous sides of South Africa. After this speech, we all were a little confused because suddenly we weren't sure anymore whether South Africa really was a dream destination. All of us were now convinced that this year was not gonna be only fun.

The first night in South Africa was cold. Icecold. We slept in real African huts so there was no heating at all.

 Clouds over Kenya

 Where we passed our first night

View from our Lodge in Pretoria

A few of the exchange students

What I had not expected was that our families would pick us up already the next morning. We were told to keep our luggage ready because our families would come between 10am and 2pm. With each student being picked up by his family, we became more excited. At half past 12 we ate lunch (hotdogs with a very strange kind of sausage in it). But before I could even bite into my hotdog, I was told that I had to speak to one of the AFS aides. He told me that I would not come to the person I had been told but that AFS had found a definitif family for me and that they were on the way to pick me up. I couldn't believe how lucky I was! But now the waiting begun. Now it was even harder because I knew nothing about my family, nothing at all. Except that they live in Pretoria. One after the other participant went to his new home and finally, at half past 3 it was only me and another boy left. And than, after another 20 minutes I met my family for the first time.

 Bonolo

 Khumo

Khumos drawings hanging over my bed <3

You can't believe how lucky I was! On our way to my new home for one year, I learned that I have a five year old sister called Bonolo (she tried to make me believe she was 8), a nine year old brother called Khumo and an eighteen year old sister called Neo. My hostmums name is Lerato and she's sooo nice! When we arrived at home, I was completly overhelmed. Althought the house is much smaller than my house in Switzerland I already love it here! When we arrived, the family didn't stop saying that I belong to the family and by now I'm absolutely convinced by it!

My family lives in a secured complex with a pool and a tennis court in its middle. Everyone can use it and Khumo told me that mostly do Braais there. In the beginning it was hard for me to live in a complex where you can't see into your neighbours garden and where you always have to pass a gate before you are on the street. I am used to live in a country where nearly no one has a wall around the garden or an alarm system. But it's already becoming easier and we also live in a quite safe quarter so we can walk on the street without being in danger. Also the plants here are very diffrent from the plants in Switzerland. Firstly the grass is mostly brown here. Secondly there are so many palms and foreign trees. And in the morning I often wake up because of a bird which sounds like a mixture of a parrot and a crying child.

I share my room with Neo who is always in a good mood. The family speaks Tswana as a second language and Neo will teach me this language while I will teach her German because she really wants to learn it.

Khumo is a really cool guy and sometimes I can't believe he's only nine. He loves fast cars and his dream is to possess a Bugatti. He also drew some pictures for me and hanged them up over my bed.

And Bonolo is just cute! On the first days I could barely take a step without Bonolo being around me. Althought she's only five she knows exactly what she wants and how to get it.

In the first evening with my family we ate Pizza in front of the TV. Yes, in front of the TV. I only realized after one day, that this is normal here and by now I've also asked a few people at school and it seems that this is absolutly normal for every South African family.

Sunday we bought a South African SIM-Card for me and than we went to the Zoo. Therefor we drove through Pretoria and I came to see a lot of things and I already started to feel how this country works. It's a huge difference to my well organised and structured Switzerland, but you know what? I love it!

 Neo and me

 Lerato

 Beautiful Pretoria

Only three days after my arrival, I went to school for the first time. Lerato drove me there and there I also met Pascal from AFS for the second time after our Arrival Camp. He is from Austria and has a hostbrother attending our school.

I already told you in a previous post that I attend a Sport High School. By now, I have found out that this school takes sports even more serious than I thought it does. Most of the kids are sponsered and are on the way to a very big career. They train twice a day every single day of the week!

Pascal and I could choose our subjects on the first day and the Principle told us that she had to find out whether we also could join one of the sport clubs. By now we know that we won't be allowed to do that because the kids here train really on a high level. That still leaves the question what we are gonna do all the afternoons because both of us will have to wait for our mothers to pick us up at the HPC.

The HPC is the place where most of the kids stay and where they also train. It's a huge area with many sport fields where also a few professional sportler train. For example stayed the Argentinian soccer team there during the world cup.

I love my school. It's much easier than it used to be in Switzerland althought most of the teachers seem to have no respect of the students at all. But to be fair I also have to admit that the students don't have a lot of respect of the teachers... Most of my subjects are the same as Pascals, which made the start in the school a lot easier, I think. I have English, Afrikaans, Sport Science, Life Science, Geography, Life Orientation and Maths. My favourite subject is English, because I like the teacher and we are reading Q.A. (Slumdog Millionaire) at the moment. Afrikaans is also cool, althought the other students are already on a very high level, while Pascal and me have to start in the very beginning. Life Science is also ok and I like Geography but the teacher is horrible. She uses to shout at students and to act as if she was a lot better than the rest of us. My class is really cool, there's also a lot to laugh because regularly there are students who (try to) fall asleep during the lessons. No wonder with five hours training a day...

Everyone is so nice at school and people are also very intrested if you tell them that you are an exchange student.

Until now I have written down mostly the positive and exciting things but there are also a lot of things which are very diffrent, difficult or I first must get used to it. Here a list of them:

• I already mentioned the feeling of being locked in. You just don't leave the house (or in my case the complex) alone. And I am droven to school everyday whereas in Switzerland I used to take the train. I felt a lot more free in Switzerland.
• In the beginning it was quite hard to understand the English here. Most people have a strong accent because they use to speak an African language at home. First, I had even difficulties to hear when my family changed between English and Tswana. I just wonder what my English will be like when I come back...
• The temperatures are really not as I expected them to be. It's so cold here, especially in night. There are no heatings and most of the time I where scarfs and thick pullovers. I'm really looking forward to the summer, which is supposed to be very hot.
• The hardest thing for me to deal with is the food. But I think this has not only to do with the country, but mainly with my family. I love them, really, but the food here is not as I like it. Mostly we eat Fast Food or Instant meals and in the morning, for lunch and sometimes even for supper we eat toast. Fruits and vegetables are rare and we eat always in front of the TV. In Switzerland I usually had two warm meals a day and in my family we used to invest a lot of time to prepare our meals. I really miss that! But today, Neo told me that her grandma loves to cook and when we visit her, I will have the opportunity to try out a lot of traditional Tswana dishes. Maybe she will even teach me how to prepare them. I'm looking forward to it!!!

Ok, that was it for the moment, I hope that I will be able to post pictures of my school and the HPC in the next few posts.

Greetings from South Africa

Your Swiss Girl