The Surf Today....

Hello all from Sunny South Africa!

Things are going well here - I have been quickly entrenched into the work at the surf shop, answering phones, renting boards and wetsuits, observing the lessons, although I have not had to give any lessons yet - and I am completely fine with that!

I was here in Muizenberg for two days before the start of my project, just hanging around, napping, and attempting to adjust to the time change. I met a bunch of the people in the lodge - volunteers from i-to-i and a few other organizations. We're all here in a good sized house right on the beach that could probably be cleaner, but isn't too bad. I don't have high expectations for a place where everyone is responsible for their own cooking and cleaning. It's just asking for a mess in the kitchen! At the moment, I have a room to myself, but that should end by the end of this week. I'm enjoying it for the moment though!

On Monday, we had our orientation for i-to-i. That was a lot of fun - Most of the crew there were headed off on a tour around the Garden Route here in South Africa, but one other guy, Steve, is traveling Africa for his gap year and he's come to work at the orphanage for the next two months, so he is settled into the beach lodge as well. [On a side note - the other i-to-i volunteer at the surf school with me is Jamie (James). This is a bizarre coincidence since last year when I was in India, the two other i-to-i volunteers were also James and Steve. Weird... Once again I am surrounded by Brits. I swear I am going to adopt the accent soon without meaning to. I think I might be already, to be honest! :) ]

Our orientation was at a different (and nicer) guesthouse. It was just the new i-to-i folks and Kat and Easter from the i-to-i office here. We got the whole safety and culture briefing, then we played African drums for a looooong time with an instructor who comes specifically to teach the volunteers. Which was a blast, although my arms are a bit tired from that! Made me want to buy a drum! After that, we had some South African wine and beer, ate dinner, and generally hung around before going to sleep.

The next day was my first day of work at the shop. It was thankfully quiet that day, so I got to know the rest of the crew at the shop. Clement is Gary's steady and reliable worker - He keeps us volunteers in line as much as possible. He's great - I think I'll have some good stories about him. We have 3-4 volunteers working every day, but if the surf is good (or wicked like yesterday and today), that number drops rapidly. There is also a consistant gathering of surfing grads from the school who hang around. The shop has become a sort of second home for many of them, some come just to surf and hang out, some help teach the lessons. They're all just part of the surfing family that Gary has gathered here with his surf school.

I've been out surfing a few times and let's just say that I need a lot of improvement. I'm hoping to get some tips from either Gary or Kwezi, who has been dubbed the "Tiger Woods" of surfing by ESPN magazine. He's incredible - keep an eye out for him in all of the international surf competitions this summer!

That's a short update! I'm enjoying it so far, and I've only been here for 5 days or so, so it'll only get better, I know!

Keep in touch! I have easy access to email!
-Katie