So I know that I should have been writing blog posts all along, but to be honest I kind of forgot and I’ve been busy. So here is a list of things that I’ve done
- I’ve introduced myself to the school, At Assembly. So I got up on stage, in front of the 1000 and some students at Northcliff High. I remember standing up from my chair, and then I remember sitting back down. What happened in between, is pretty blurry in memory. I do remember what I said though, but only because I practiced it before I went up there. I said “Hi, my name is Emily, I’m from Canada which is just north of America (because no one knows where Canada is). I've been here for 3 weeks and I will be studying at Northcliff for a year. Thank you”. I consider it a near death experience.
- I’ve gone on holiday with my family to a resort in Bella Bella called Warmbaths. It is a waterpark with camping as well as cottages. Oh ya- they also have warthogs!! Surprisingly they looked exactly like Pumba from the Lion King, but a lot smaller.
Wart hog @ Warmbaths Matthew, Trent and I at the wave pool
- I went paintballing with my friend Alexa and my host sister Haley. I still have 3 bruises from where I got hit, but it was a lot of fun!
- I’ve had several Braai’s, which are bbq’s, but to the max. There is so much food its ridiculous, but there is always a lot of food here! You start with snacks, then chicken wings, then ribs, then steaks, then sausages (or that was the menu for one of them). As you can imagine I was full after the chicken wings.
- I’ve gone to a car racing event with my host Dad, Brother Matthew and Sister Haley. It wasn’t a special event but it was a lot of fun spending the day at the track (where I saw two Lotus’)
- I attended “Inter-high” which was a track meet for all the “A” athletes. There were 4 schools that attended, but we had the most students there for support as well as the most athletes. We won with 250 points, and school in second had 177 points, so we did very well. This was actually my schools 14th year winning “Inter-high”.
Cheerleaders at Inter-high and Me and my friends Alexa, Taylor and Megan at Inter-high
- I have attended Rotary Meetings, and presented my Power Point on Canada. Everyone was very impressed with the presentation but I was criticised for saying “Torono” and “Oddawa” instead of fully pronouncing the t’s. But other than that they were very interested about Canada, especially how huge it is compared to South Africa. They loved the pictures of the scenery and asked a lot of questions about the Great Lakes.
- I ate curry at an Authentic Indian Restaurant in the Indian District in down town Johannesburg. It was quite honestly one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten. The naan was covered in garlic and was to die for.
- I attended a talent show at a children’s clinic with the Interact club in my school. The clinic is just a facility in which the children go to to use the library or do crafts. They are also fed breakfasts lunch and sometimes dinner. It really is just a place for the children to go. The talent show was great, and the kids were adorable. There was a group of girls who did about 6 diferent kinds of traditional dances as well as “waka waka”. After the show we did facepainting for the kids, and then after that my friend Alexa and myself got our faces painted like the South African Flag- which was perfect because there was a rugby game on that day.
Dancers at the Talent show Me and Alexa with our facepaint
I’ve made a lot of friends, and at school my classes are English, Math, Afrikaans, Computer and Technologies, Business and History. I go ice skating with my host brother at least once a week, and have made dinner for my host family a few times. I’ve met the other exchange student who is in my school- his name is Pun and he is from Thailand. I will be meeting all the other Inbounds and Outbounds on the weekend of September 18th for a Bushveld weekend (which I am very excited for!!!!!). I’m also trying to get onto the Capetown Trip and am planning on going on the Kruger National Park Trip. I’ve also been invited by the wives of the Rotarians (the Rotary Ann’s) to go to a cottage just outside Kruger on the weekend of the 24th of September which I also plan to go on.
For those of you wondering about the puppies- there is only one left !
I know because I don’t write that many blog posts that you may have some questions! So feel free to email me at emyy.darling@hotmail.com ! Hope everything is going well in Thornbury and with the other exchange students around the world!!
xoxo
Emily !
