Day 82 - Farewells & Ajax Cape Town Training Ground

Well this is it. 82 days completed. 82 days done. 82 days ago we started out little journey here in South Africa. It's been absolutely incredible. The fact that we've been able to say something about every day in this blog shows how amazing the experience has been, and how much we've enjoyed ourselves.

We started the day at the Head Office, in town, to say goodbye to all the staff that were there. We hadn't really spent much time with any of the staff at the Head Office, except for Wasima and Danielle, so they were the 2 hardest goodbyes. Everyone else it was more of a thank you for helping set up for our time out here, instead of an emotional goodbye. So it wasn't too bad. But as we were leaving, Danielle asked for a hug, and started to tear up, so it got a bit emotional, but I managed to keep it together.

After that was done, we grabbed some lunch with Lourens, Joe and Wasima, we stopped by this salady place in town, and I filled up my bowl to the brim, so as to eat as much as possible. It was beautiful. 

When we were done, Joe drove us to the Ajax Cape Town training ground. They're the only professional club in Cape Town, and have a direct link with Ajax Amsterdam. So to go and visit their training ground was pretty cool. Our tour guide took the 3 of us round all the different parts of the training ground, reeling off facts and info about Ajax Cape Town, which was all quite interesting. On the way to the pitches, Ajax Cape Town striker, Nathan Paulse, walked past us, and once he heard we were from Arsenal, gave us a big hello and shook our hands. He's an Arsena fan apparently, but was nice to be appreciated by a professional player, even if I had no idea who he was before then. He was a lanky guy though, and towered over all of us. 

The tour didn't take long, as it was only a relatively small facility, but the best in South Africa. So after we were done, Joe took us to the Learning Centre, where we chilled for a bit, before seeing Densel, at the Ruyterwacht training. It was quality to see him, and as we were saying our goodbyes, he offered to take Joe, Martin, Yonick and I out to grab a burger, as a farewell treat. As it was the last time seeing him we couldn't turn him down, and happily accepted. So we headed home, got ready, and came back out to meet them. 

We went to a place called Ashley's, which had a special deal on burgers that night, so we all had a burger. It was a decent burger, except it had butter on. What kind of restaurant puts butter on a burger?! I was mortified. If you know me, you'll know that there's 2 things I can't stand eating. Butter and cheese. So to see butter on a burger, I was distraught. Couldn't waste Densels money though, so I threw a heap load of tomato sauce on the burger, stuffed it with chips, and scoffed it. Kept thinking about the butter inside, but I managed to do it before I rinsed my mouth out with water. What an achievement, I'd survived.

Densel thought it'd be a right laugh to get all the staff to sing happy birthday for me, too. I wasn't impressed. I'm not a fan for big birthday things, and restaurant staff singing at you just isn't my thing. So I was a tad embarrassed when they came up, sang their song and handed me a tiny lolly pop. Oh well, the lolly pop tasted good.

We stayed at the restaurant a bit longer, just chatting, before heading back to Joe's. We stopped off at McDonald's on the way to grab some ice cream for Vinolia, Jodi and Jaden. When we got there, they were all still awake, to say goodbye to us. This was the last time we'd see the Africa family, barring Joe, so it got a bit emotional as we said our goodbyes. It was sad. They'd been there for us all through the 3 months, and knowing it would be a very long time, if ever,that we'd see them again, it was hard to take. They're such a lovely family, and they're all such a laugh to be around, so I honestly wish them all the best in their future. To the 2 gappers going there next year, if you're reading this, you'll love them. They're brilliant. Was a sad moment when we drove off, but we knew that day had to come.

This is my last official post, as our days are over. However I will post a couple more times, just to let you all know how the journey home was, and a bit more info for if the next lot of gappers read this. Luke's blog last year certainly helped us, so hopefully I can give some sort of help to the next gappers! I'll be traveling to Singapore in just over a weeks time, so if you want to know how that's going, head over to www.agpsingapore.blogspot.com, and from the 25th April, I'll be posting the daily events from mine and Dan Openshaw's experience in Singapore!

Harry

Day 81 - Cheetah Farm

Today was our last day where we could go full tourist before we headed home, and we decided to spend the day at Cheetah Outreach, an enclosure for endangered, ill and under-cared-for cheetah's.

We started off the day clearing everything out of the company car we were given, so it was ready to be taken away tomorrow, before getting almost everything packed, with just clothes for the last 2 days and wash stuff being left out. Our rooms look so bare, its so weird. After 3 months of stuffing everything into a tiny room, it's strange to see it almost empty, with a full up suitcase in the corner. It's a good feeling, though, as we know that home is just around the corner.

After we were packed, we got in the car and headed off. We made a quick stop at the Italian Club, to see if Selwyn was there so we could say goodbye to him, but he wasn't. It's a shame, because Selwyn was probably my favourite out of all of the coaches we worked with. He was always available, reliable, and was such a laugh, too. He gave us a call later on to say goodbye, which was nice. But I do hope to keep in contact with him, cause he was a good laugh. As he wasn't there, though, we headed straight to the Cheetah Outreach park.

The Cheetah Outreach park was based in Somerset West, literally the road after the turnoff we took to get to De Beers on Friday. So we were fairly confident getting there by ourselves, despite the fact that its a good 45 minute drive away from where we were staying.  We got there in good time, though, and paid the fiver it costs to get into the park.

It wasn't a big park. It had quite a few enclosures with meerkats, these big earred cat things, and some other animals. But we were done looking at those 10 minutes after getting in. The main attraction? Getting up close and personal with a big cheetah!

With our tickets, we paid the extra to be able to go into the cheetah enclosure and stroke a cheetah. So when we were done looking at all the other animals, we spoke to one of the keepers, and she took us straight in. Quick and simple.

We followed her down a couple of enclosures, and she took us into one where a big cheetah was laying, looking nice and cosy and ready to doze off any second. This was one of the oldest cheetah's in the park, aged 13 years old. Cheetahs only live til around 14-16 years old so this was a golden oldie. The keeper that took us in said that the cheetah we were with is one of the ambassadors for the park, and has been in quite a few South African movies, though their name I forget. She then reeled off some other facts about cheetah's, like how they sleep for 18 hours a day, and can reach top speeds of up to 120km/h (around 60mph), but only for 30 seconds, before needing a 40 minute rest, as it goes all out for that fast sprint.

After having plenty of photos taken with the cheetah, time was up, and we headed out. It was pretty cool seeing the cheetah up close and being able to stroke it, while it lay there, so I'm glad we came and did this.

We then headed to Somerset beach to see if there were any cafe's to grab some lunch. But as soon as we started to drive past the beach, the weather got horrible and foggy, plus there was no cafe's, so we turned round and left. Oddly enough when we got away from the beach, the weather picked up again. Spooky.

We headed to Somerset West mall, where we grabbed a Burger King for lunch, and had a little look around, before heading home. Had a whopper meal. It was lush, of course. Love a whopper meal.

We decided to watch the Chelsea-QPR game at Berghof, but after George unplugged the wifi box to plug it into an extension lead, going to another plug, as a way of stopping the load-shedding affecting the TV, the wifi wouldn't work, so we headed to Mixas to watch the Manchester Derby.

Half way through the derby, Joe gave us a text and invited us over for tea, cakes and a movie. As wifi was down, I couldn't skype the family, so thought why not. So after getting back from Mixas we headed straight to theirs, to chill out with the Africa family. It was a really nice evening. Despite Yonick putting on one of his gangster movies (Get Rich or Die Young), chilling out with them, eating cakes and drinking tea, while having a laugh was quite nice. I've said it before, but the Africa family have really made it easier for me (and I'm sure Martin too) being out here and away from my family for so long. So it'll be sad to say goodbye to them. Hopefully not for long as they plan to come to England in a few years, so hopefully a reunion is on the cards. We'll see.

After the film was over, we headed home. Got a day of saying goodbye's tomorrow, before visiting the Ajax Cape Town training ground, which should be a busy, and emotional day. Had to come some time, though. Not a big fan of goodbyes, me. One full day left, though, before we come back home!

Harry

Day 80 - Wine Tasting With Azille

Today we started our final weekend out here in Cape Town, and Azille had booked us for today, so we could join her, along with her husband and friends, on a wine tasting trip. Not being a big drinker of wine, wine tasting wasn't on my list of things to do. But, as it barely cost a fiver for both Martin and I to go, and as there was biltong available, as well as spending a decent day out with Azille, I was more than happy to come along.

It was a really good day. Really good. We met Azille at a garden centre near her house so we could follow her car to her house, where we met her husband, Ernie, and they're friends, Chantel and Fritz, who were another couple that they knew. When everything was all parked up, we all jumped in Ernie's bukkie, and headed for the wine tasting. After a short drive we stopped off at a place called Marianne Wine Estate, which was a small, hidden vineyard, with a tiny building, where we went into and sat at our table. Sun was shining, views were incredible, and the waitress started bringing out the wines. We tried 5 in total there, 4 reds, 1 white. The white wine was probably my favourite out of all of them. Although I'm not a big wine drinker, all the wines we tasted were really nice. They were only small samples which I guess made it easier, as I felt comfortable only taking small sips. The last 3 wines we had, we tried with biltong too, which was nice.

After we were done, we headed over to Dulheim, another little vineyard. This time we were indoors, sat down at a table, and were given a list of wines, where we could choose 6 to try. I cant remember which ones I had, but they were all really nice. A little bit tipsy, everyone started having more of a laugh, and there was less awkwardness than the first wine tasting, so that made it really nice and relaxed. After drinking our wines, and paying for everything, we headed to the final place, which was the place where Azille and Ernie got married. It was a beautiful little vineyard with a nice, country feel to it, and lots of outside area. After drinking 11 samples of wine, and knowing I had to drive home later, I sobered up with a can of coke and a cheeky BLT, which was absolutely amazing. After everyone finished eating, we headed back to Azilles.

At Azilles, we all chilled out infront of her indoor braai, which was quite nice. Her and Ernie made this South African dish, called a Potjie, pronounce Poikie. It's like a stew, with Springbok meat, with potatoes and veg, all put in an iron pot and cooked over a fire for 3 hours. Took a long time, but when it was served with rice it was really nice. It was nice to eat and just chill out with Azille and Chantel's 5 dogs. Azille and Ernie have 2, and Chantel and Fritz have 3. Safe to say it was an evening for dogs. They were cute though so it's okay.

After eating the stew, it was getting late, so we said our thanks to Azille and Ernie, and our farewells to Fritz and Chantel and headed home. More of a chilled out day tomorrow, saying goodbye to Selwyn, then going to see some Cheetahs!

Harry

Day 79 - De Beers Football Club & Cape Town Childrens Hospital

Today was our last day of work out here in Cape Town! It's been extremely busy, and we've worked with so many different clubs, schools, creches and townships. Joe did the maths and adding up and worked out that we've coached and seen over 2000 kids. That was a few weeks ago, that figures probably reached around 2,500 kids now. Crazy! We've been really happy to be so busy, but it's nice that we're finally finished, and can look forward to a quality weekend, before we fly back home.

We had an early start today, as we had a long trip to Somerset West, where we were meeting the De Beers coaches, and putting on a little soccer clinic for 2 groups of their players, to give them some ideas for when they coach. 2 hours, 2 groups, an hour with each group, completely different sessions with both. I live for this stuff. Happy days.

Our first session was with the Under 8's, 9's and 10's. As they were quite a young bunch, we decided to do a couple of games of tag, followed by Domes and Dishes. They seemed to love it, and it went really well. They got really into it, and when we split them into teams, they got even more competitive, which made it even more fun. So that was nice to see. For the final 15 minutes, we got them into a match. At the end of every session its nice to get them into a match, so they can practice the skills they've developed from the session in a real match scenario. As we had 2 groups, Martin and I agreed that we'd do matches with them both, and the aggregate score winner will win the overall bet between us both as it was currently 5-5.
First game with the younger group ended 0-0. Good football, but no goals, so it was all on the second game with the older lot.

The second group we had were the older lot, under 11's, 12's and 13's. Instead of doing Domes and Dishes, we did Skills Corridor. Very similar to what we did with All Stars. Although I enjoyed doing Skills Corridor with this group a lot more, as they seemed a lot more focused, and did everything first time and did it well. We even got to the point where Martin and I were trying to hit their ball as they went across, and they'd lose their ball if we hit it. It was quite fun!
We then had the deciding match. I had 10 players, Martin had 9. Martin did have the better strikeforce though. We were both short of defenders. With me having to put 3 midfielders in defence and 1 midfielder in goal, and Martin having 2 keepers, 1 in goal 1 outfield, and 3 midfielders in defence, too. It was a really good game, with both teams having chances to score. Martins team were far more clinical though, and won 2-0. Which means I lost 6-5 overall. Gutted. Absolutely gutted.

After we wrapped everything up, we met Charles (one of the coaches) who took us to a local brewery. This brewery had a clever idea, where you can either buy 1 big pint of 1 beer, or have a pallet of 4 smaller beers, of 4 different types. Martin and I both did the latter, and selected our 4 options. Can't even remember what they were called but they were nice. We at some chicken nuggets and chips and had a bit of a chat before saying our goodbyes and parting.

We headed back to the Learning Centre to meet Joe and Azille, and headed to the Childrens Hospital of Cape Town, in Rondebosch. After talking to Vinolia last Sunday, and her mentioning that there was a burns ward, I pestered Joe to get us to visit them. Being a burns victim myself, it would've meant a lot to see the kids there, and try and put a smile on their faces. We got their and met with the lady that would take us round. We brought chocolates and sweets for the kids too, and every kid we saw seemed to cheer up a bit with the sweets.
It was tough. To see all these kids, most younger than 5, wrapped up in bandages as a result of serious burns  hit me hard. After having countless operations, I was always the one in the bed seeing people walk around seeing the patients, but to be on the opposite side of it was quite difficult. One of the kids was the exact same age as I was when I got burnt, and had his whole right side of his body affected from scalding, similar to me. So it was quite nice to have a little chat with his dad, and hopefully I cheered him up a bit. A few of the children we saw had really serious burns, too, covering most of their body, including their face. It made me feel so lucky that it was just my arms that were affected, and felt horrible that they had to suffer while I was the one to only have arms affected.
Sadly, because the lady we were with had to get to meetings, we didnt stay long. Seeing the work that the hospital were doing was amazing. So it was nice to see them.

After that, we were done for the day, and we headed home. Got a busy weekend coming up, so keep posted on this blog, as it's not over yet!

Harry

Day 78 - Computer Workshop & Diep River Complex

Today we had our final computer workshop, and it was such a quick lesson. Today's lesson, setting up an email address and knowing how to use it.

Well, 3 out of the 4 people that turned up already had email addresses, and were fairly confident in using them, the last person, Martin sat with while I did the lesson, and he got her set up and caught up quite quickly. We got through all the other bits really quickly, and the lesson was over after only 45 minutes. Simples.

When we finished at the Learning Centre, we went to grab some Koeksisters. To my horror, they had none in stock, and would take 20 minutes to brew up a new batch. As good as they are, I was in no mood to wait another 20 minutes for a Koeksister, so decided to give them a miss for the day. We then headed back to the Learning Centre, had lunch, and went out to go to the Diep River complex to say our goodbyes! Last time we went to visit them, one of the residents got a little bit handsy with me. You can read all about it from Day 23 of my blog.

Thankfully, the same woman wasn't there today, so my bum cheek remained innocent. Diep River are such a lively bunch, though, and we kept asking Joe why we weren't put into that complex instead of staying at Berghof, where the residents go to be after lunch, and aren't seen again until lunch the next day. This lot were so funny, it was brilliant. After we greeted, them, we had a sit down and a chat with all the residents, one woman wanted Martin and I to give her the tops we were wearing, and asking us to pretty much strip off! This lot seemed to enjoy having young men around it seems! After having a chat, we played pool. Martin and I formed a pair, and Joe paired up with one of the residents. It was England vs South Africa. Thankfully, we won after Joe potted the black, with the white falling into a hole almost straight after.

After that, we said our goodbyes, and headed back to the Learning Centre, then onto Joe's. We had planned to go see Fast & Furious 7 with Yonick and Jodi. Jodi managed to get a free ticket from her mum, but Yonick couldn't. As its near the end of our journey, we're a bit low on cash, so couldn't pay for Yonick too, so it was only me, Martin and Jodi that went to see it. Yonick saw it on Wednesday to be fair, so we didn't feel as bad going without him.

It was a top film. Absolutely amazing. The tribute to Paul Walker was really touching, too. Jodi was left in tears and I was close, too. Really good film.

After dropping Jodi back we headed for home, have an early start tomorrow so don't intend on going to bed too late.

Before I end this post, I would just like to mention that on the way to the Diep River complex, I got an email from Steve, who manages all our placements and the course itself, saying that I would be going to Singapore with my good mate Dan Openshaw from 25th April. It won't be as long, only just over 3 weeks, but I will be doing a blog for that trip too, and will put up the website on Facebook, Twitter and here soon, so keep posted!

Harry

Day 77 - Drommedaris Easter Activity Morning & Drommedaris Girls

11 weeks done and completed! Blimey, only 5 days to go. Everytime I think about it, it feels stranger and stranger how quick time has flown by out here.

We started the day with our final Easter Activity session with the Drommedaris complex. After the nightmare that was Bothasig yesterday, we were hoping for the ever reliable Drommedaris group to put us in a better mood.

Nope.

We thought Bothasig were bad. They were angels compared to Drommedaris. After 10 minutes I was done. They just wouldn't listen to anything we said, and seemed to be so fidgety and restless, it was a nightmare. Joe managed to get the kids under control though, and stamped his authority on them. It was something to admire.

We quickly told the Easter story then got underway with activities. Same as before, Martin had games outside, I controlled egg painting, and Jodi assisted with colouring in.

The actual activities went quite well, it was just what happened but the kids just didn't want to do JUST the activity. At the painting station, kids were painiting eachothers faces, so I had to take their brushes of them, at the colouring station the kids were colouring in everything, not just their paper, and somehow a few of the kids absolutely destroyed the bathroom, leaving it in a terrible state. Safe to say it wasn't the best group of kids we've had.

Thankfully, after clearing everything up and feeding them, it was over, and the kids went off home. We were all tired, so drowned our sorrows eating the left over jelly tot sweets that we had.

Azille and Jodi headed off, and Joe went to get a few bits from the library so Martin and I played a bit of table tennis, using a small, square table as the court. It was a fun little game we played when we had some free time at Drommedaris, so it was a nice way to chill out as we waited for the others.

When Joe returned, we headed off. I headed to Berghof to have my haircut, and Martin dropped Joe off.

After my haircut, which resulted in a very stylish trim by the way, we headed over to the Italian Club, where we had our last session with Drommedaris girls.

We arrived there, and we had a mixture of boys and girls, so we got straight into a match, boys vs girls. Girls were a man down so I pitched in and helped. Couldn't stop the boys winning 3-0 though, they were all over us to be fair and could've scored more, so 3-0 wasn't a bad result.

After saying our last goodbyes to Drommedaris and AD their coach, we headed home, got changed, and headed straight out to meet Vinolia and Joe, who we were taking for dinner.

They had chosen a seafood place called Bluefin, which was actually a really nice place. Joe and Vinolia both had this fish stir fry which looked quite nice. The restaurant also did Chinese so Martin had crispy duck with chow mein, while I had sweet and sour pork with egg fried rice. After finishing mine, I had to help Martin out and eat some of his because he was struggling, and then finished off Joe and Vinolias chips, as they were a tad too full too. 3 meals? Easy ;-)

We finished with hot chocolates and coffee, before dropping Joe and Vinolia back to their house. It was nice to take them out, as they've been so nice, welcoming and generous to us during our stay here, so it was only right to take them out at least once for a nice meal. They deserved it. It'll be hard saying goodbye to the Africa family. Although Vinolia wants to visit in 3 years time, so hopefully we can see them again, and show them round our country this time.

Harry

Day 76 - Bothasig Gardens Easter Activity Morning

Today we entered our final 7 days of Cape Town life. Next Tuesday we start the long, 22 hour journey home. It's gone by unbelievably quick. I say it often in my blogs but it really has.

Today we just had one thing scheduled today, it was the Bothasig Gardens Easter Activity Morning.

Thankfully, the car was working, so we didn't have to get a train in, so we were allowed to leave a little bit later this morning. We got the Learning Centre, said our hellos, and started packing up the car with bits and bobs we had to take to the complex to do the Easter activities.

We had the same sort of thing as with Sunflower last week. Martin was outside doing ball games, I was inside doing the egg painting, and Azille assisted with the colouring in, with the groups rotating to a different area after a certain time period.

It went well, kids weren't as well behaved as maybe we'd have liked, but we got by. Most of my time was spent trying to clear up spilled food colouring, which was an absolute chore, as there was so much of it spilled, and it's so annoying to get out. My hands, despite plenty of attempts washing them, are still blue from the food colouring stains.

When everything was done, we packed it all up, gave the kids sandwiches, sweets, and chocolates, and said our goodbyes. To be fair, that was probably the most difficult it's going to get for this week. As its our final week, all it really is is winding things down, visiting places for the final time and just getting things sorted to go home, so it's nice and chilled out, not too hectic.

We grabbed some lunch and headed back to the Learning Centre. That was us done for the day! By 2pm we were finished, it was a strange feeling. We were thinking of going to see Fast and Furious with Yonick and Jodi, but they had Youth Group so couldn't. Shame. We headed to Mike's Sports to pay for the kit that my girlfriends mum kindly donated money towards. We were told it will arrive in 2-4 weeks so hopefully should be able to get some pictures for you nearer then.

Tomorrow, off to Drommedaris for our final Easter Activity session, followed by a haircut for yours truly, then our final session with Drommedaris girls, then rounding off the night taking Joe and Vinolia out for dinner to say thank you for taking care of us and being so welcoming to us during our time out here. They're the nicest, most generous and caring couple I know, and have made life out here in South Africa so much easier for us, being pretty much like parents and good friends to us, without asking for anything in return, so they deserve to be treated!

Harry

Day 75 - Souvenir Shopping at Waterfront

After a very busy weekend, we made sure that today was kept as a nice, chilled day off, with a little trip down to the Waterfront shopping centre to grab some souvenirs before flying home early next week.

After waking up, I decided it was finally time to treat Martin to my family dish of Tuna Fish Crunch, that I explained about in a previous post. So after having a bath and getting ready, I headed downstairs, spoke to Anna (one of the main chefs) who said I could use the kitchen. I grabbed the ingredients and got underway. It took a while as it was a kitchen made for making large amounts of food, not a meal for 2, so it took a little longer than I thought, but soon enough, it was done. Didn't look too great, but then again, Tuna Fish Crunch generally doesn't. It's all about the taste. Now, I love Tuna Fish Crunch, and I thought I did a pretty decent job, and it tasted nice. Martin seemed a bit hesitant, though. He said that there was so many different flavours in there which was the only real criticism, other than the appearance, but overall it was a decent dish. Happy days.

After eating, we walked down to the Waterfront, where we spent a few hours walking round the shops, getting various Africanny goods to take home. I managed to get all my souvenir shopping done, so I'm a happy bunny. Just need to find a way to pack it all in my suitcase, now. Shouldn't be too hard, though.

After finishing our shopping trip, we headed on home. Again, walking back. As it was a bank holiday, we couldn't be bothered to deal with the hassle that the buses out here will cause. It wasn't too far a walk either, and it was a nice day too, which made it even more appealing.

After getting back we ended the evening just chilling out, watching Man City crumble against Palace, and leave us in 2nd in the league! Happy days again!

Midway through the evening, Joe called up saying that he managed to get our car working. He drove it here, and Martin drove him home to try and help recharge the battery. Apparently so far so good. That saves us getting up at the crack of dawn tomorrow, which is nice. So thank you so much Joe!

Tomorrow back to work, with another Easter activity day, this time with the Bothasig complex. Should be good!

Harry

Day 74 - Easter Service at Victory Outreach Church

Happy Easter!!!

Joe had invited us to his church, to see the Easter Sunday service, which Martin and I both thought would be really good to see. Christianity and other forms of religion seem to be really big in South Africa, a lot bigger than in the UK, so it would be cool to see what their church services are like.

After our car broke down last night, we had to drive Densels car to his house, where we had a cup of tea, and waited for them to get ready. When everyone was ready we all fit into Densels car. There was 8 of us, stuffed into a 5 seater car. Martin was the only passenger not to have a kid on their lap it was that full.

We got there, and all emptied out the car. We entered the church room and it was packed. There was so many people there it was crazy. Music was blasting out, you could hear it from the car park. We saw Joe near the front and headed towards him, he saved us 2 seats which was nice. We got there and started to watch the service.

It was really good. There were a few songs, then a long drama about the effects of drug abuse and why you shouldn't argue and fall out with your parents and other various life lessons, before ending on showing that the Victory Outreach group is there to help you get your life together, which was pretty cool. We saw first hand the work Victory Outreach do on our first working day out here, so it was nice to finally see what kind of stuff they do outside of the recovery home.

After the service was over, we said our hellos to various reverends and church-goers, and headed out with Joe. The church is right above that cafe that sells the Koeksisters, so between us, me and Joe bought 20 of them, to be shared out between us and the rest of the family.

When we got back to Joes, after a quick game of cards, Jaden and I headed to the shops to grab some bits for a braai, while Martin and Joe set up the barbecue for the meat. When we get back they were already cooking. Knowing that i'd just get in the way of the 2 of them, I headed inside and chatted to Vinolia while she cooked a cheesecake, which was nice and chilled out.

When the food was all cooked, salad was ready, we packed our bags and headed out in Densels bukkie to go down to Greenpoint Park, where Victory Outreach invited everyone down to have a big picnic. A bukkie is basically like a mini van, and with Joe and Vinolia sat in in the front seats, 10 of us filled up the back of it, which was a different experience to sitting in a car seat!

There were so many people at Greenpoint Park it was amazing. People were chilling out, playing football, American football, cricket, dodgeball, bubble football. Whatever you can think of that you can play at the park, there was someone doing it. It was a really fun day. I started off playing football with Martin, Jodi, Cassidy and Jordyn, with Martin and Jodi on a team against us, in a possession game. Then we moved on to cricket for a bit, before I took Cassidy and Chloe (Densels daughters, aged 9&11) to the park. They completely wore me out. They wanted to play on EVERYTHING. It was so tiring. Before I knew it, Martin came and found us to tell us we were heading home now. Saved by Martin. We all jumped into the back of the bukkie, and Joe dropped us off at Berghof.

I was so tired I managed a nap when we got in, which was quite nice to be honest. Then I went downstairs and skyped the family, and relaxed for a chilled evening in.

Tomorrow, after 2 days of very early starts, I'm aiming for a good lie in tomorrow, before we head down to the Waterfront to finish our souvenir shopping!

Harry

Day 73 - The Metropolitan Under 19's Tournament

Today Densel offered to take us to the annual Metropolitan Under 19's football tournament in Belhar. It's the biggest under 19's tournament in South Africa, and teams come from all over the place just to play there. Even Swansea City's under 19's flew over just to play in that tournament. So we were pretty keen on seeing what it was like.

Had to be up early though, as Densel wanted us round his place for 8:30. Thanks to Martin waking me up, I managed to get up in time to go. When we arrived at Densels, his wife made us a really nice breakfast, and had some more of that herbal tea that we tried yesterday. Still tasty though. We got everything packed in to our car, and went to drive off.

Car wouldn't start.

Uh oh. There'd been a couple of times before where the cars taken a couple of attempts to get going. Today it wasn't starting at all. Not wanting to miss the matches, we unpacked our car, packed up Densels car and set off.

We made a stop at a local Spar supermarket to pick up some refreshments for the day, and some hot cross buns for tomorrow. They were nice and soft. Happy days.

We then headed to Belhar, which was about a 10 minute drive from Densels. It was packed already, it was only 9:30. We managed to find a parking spot, and we headed in.

Now, I would just like to publicly thank Martin for being a lot more alert than me this morning. Many a time in South Africa, we've woken up to overcast skies, and ended up having really hot weather. I assumed this after waking up. but after Martin said he was taking a jacket, I decided to do the same, and pack a jacket and jumper.
I don't know what I would've done if he hadn't have reminded me. It was so cold and rainy. I wore shorts which was a big mistake, and was freezing the whole time. So thank you Martin for saving me from freezing up. See, he takes care of me out here, mum. Someone has to.

Swansea was the first game we saw. They played well, but didn't manage to beat a fairly solid South African team, drawing the game 1-1. Conditions were terrible, which was probably what the Swansea players were used to as well.

Second game was Ajax Cape Town against their local rivals Vasco. Ajax Cape Town are pretty much the kings of Cape Town when it comes to football. They're the only professional team out here. So they were expected to win. However, after the Ajax keeper went walkabouts, Vasco managed to grab a quality, yet surprising winning goal. The game ended 1-0. Good stuff.

We watched one more game, with a couple of unknown teams, which was a really good game, then Densel asked us if we wanted to watch the Arsenal-Liverpool game round his mates house. Ofcourse we agreed. So we headed off, grabbed a huge chicken tikka gatsby, and went to his friend's (Gary's) house.

Martin and I were the only 2 Arsenal fans in a house filled with Liverpool supporters. So naturally, when we started playing exceptionally, we rubbed it in completely. Every goal was pure class, though, which made it even easier to rub in. 4-1 victory, 9 points ahead of 5th, 7 behind 1st, and sitting in second place (for now!). Happy days all round.

After the game, we headed for a cheeky curry. However, after eating part of a huge gatsby, I wasnt too hungry, so didn't finish it. We then headed to Densels to pick up our car and head home.

Car still wouldn't start.

Uh oh.

We tried for so long, but the car just wouldn't start. We tried connecting the battery up to Densel's car and jump starting it. No luck. In the end, we had to get Joe to tow the car to his, and Densel was nice enough to let us use his car to drive home in. So big up to coach Densel for letting us do that. Hopefully we can fix the car for this week, as we don't fancy going by train to places, after news stories of robbings and muggings happening at rush hour on the trains has been circling. Public transport in general seems to be a no-go around here. So we're pretty bummed that the car has failed us. Hopefully tomorrow it'll work though.

Up early again tomorrow, to go to Joes church for their Easter service. Vinolia is performing in the drama play, so it'll be good to see her act out the Easter story. Plus we get to have some Koeksisters, so its all happy days.

We're now into single figures for days left. Crazy.

Harry

Day 72 - Danielle's Family Lunch

Hello folks.

Huge apologies that this blog is coming so late, after getting back from Danielle's last night I pretty much crashed in my room, and have only just gotten back from the day out with Densel! So many apologies. But here's the blog for yesterday!

While we were on our Simons Town trip with Joe, Lourens and Wasima, Danielle (another lady who works for Communicare, but in the main Support Office in Town) called us, and asked us if we wanted to spend Good Friday round her sisters for a big family lunch. Of course, we agreed. She gave us an address, and told us to be around at noon for a 12:30pm lunch.

We left at around 11:30, to make sure we got there on time, which we did quite well in and arrive just after 12. Knocked on the door, they seemed surprised. Apparently they didnt expect us so soon. We forgot about African time, which basically means that Africans arrive later than said time, always. So obviously, they were surprised when we turned up near enough on time.

We sat outside, in the back yard, with a cold coke in our hands, and looking over their pool. It was a breezy day, but a nice one nonetheless. We just sat chatting to Danielle's mum, who was very lively for a woman who's surpassed 70 years old, while waiting for others to arrive. Slowly, one by one, they began flocking into the house.

It was so funny. There were about 9 of us on the table. 5 Women, 4 lads. Me, Martin, Chrissie (An adorable 3 year old, who I managed to befriend), and Jonte (Chrissie's dad, i think) made up the men. The women, however, seemed so lively and hilarious. It was like being with the Loose Women ladies. It was hilarious. 2 of the sisters were planning to travel to Croatia via London early next year, Jonte wanted to go Thailand in June. They were so full of life it was quality.

We had lunch of pickled fish, Hake, and hot cross buns. Apparently its a classical South African Easter meal. To be fair it was proper nice. After having some of the pickled stuff at Berghof, we were a bit hesitant, but it was really nice! The hot cross buns were amazing too.

After lunch, I promised Chrissie that i'd watch The Amazing Spiderman with him. It ended up being the main event of the rest of the day. Everyone was pretty sleepy after a big meal, so we all jsut gathered round and watch the movie. Chrissie fell asleep about 10 minutes in, so after choosing the film, he left it for all the adults to watch. I didn't care, I love those films.

After the first one was over, we made a unanimous decision to watch the sequel too, much to Martins disgust. We HAD watched the sequel twice before at Berghof. Shame, I wanted to see it again!
It was really nice, they cut up this amazing chocolate cake, as well as giving us tea, it was really nice and chilled out. As it was quite windy outside no one really fancied jumping in the pool.

After the second one finished, everyone was pretty much exhausted. So Martin and I made a move for the car, and Danielle said we can follow her car home, as she was heading to town with her mum and daughter. We said our goodbyes, hopped in the car and set off.

10 minutes in, Danielle pulled over. We did too, very confused. She got out the car, and told us we're heading to her sisters house for tea. Always being in the mood for a cheeky cuppa tea we agreed. Danielle said she had to just nip to her house quickly, so her mum and daughter jumped in our car and directed us back to Danielle's sisters house.

Got there, sat down, chilled out for a bit. Danielle's mum made me some soup, and Martin some lasagna which was really nice, and she made us some of this South African herbal tea, which actually tasted really nice. Happy Days. When Danielle got back, she put on the movie Blended, with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. It was actually a really good, funny film. It also had Terry Crews in, who's one of my favourite actors. So it made it even better.

After the movie was done, it was gone 11, so Martin and I said our goodbyes to Danielle, her mum and her daughter, and headed home. I was exhausted so headed straight to the room, while Martin went downstairs to use the wifi for a little bit.

Exhausting day done. Onto the next blog post!

Harry

Day 71 - Sunflower Creche Easter Activities & Drommedaris Boys

Today was our last bit of working before a long Easter weekend break, and it went really well in my opinion.

We had an Easter activity morning for Sunflower creche, where we had about 60 kids, split into 3 different groups. We had 3 different activities set up in the main hall at the Learning Centre. We had colouring in, egg painting, and Martin squared off a little area where he was going to take a group for various activities. I helped Azille with egg painting, and the creche teachers watched over the colouring in. After a short period of time, the groups moved round, and did another activity.

We started off with a classic Martin and Harry introduction, where we got the kids shouting and lively ahead of the day. But instead of getting them to shout Arsenal, we got them to shout Easter instead, which went really well. After that, I read out the Easter story that Azille wrote out for us, before splitting the groups up and getting them into their activities.

Egg painting went really well, except it got really messy. We used food colouring to colour the eggs, as it dries quicker. But its so difficult to get off your hands. I've washed my hands so many times, and you can still see a bit of blue food colouring on my palms. It's a nightmare! It was really fun though, and the kids really enjoyed it too, which was the main thing. Plus it was a bit of a chilled out activity, before they went straight to Martins lively session.

After all the activities were over and done with, we got them sat down and handed them bowls of goodies, which they chewed on, before walking them back to their creche. The teachers were really grateful for our sessions, and it was really nice to see how much it meant to them and the kids being out here and getting them active. Its been a pleasure working with every creche we've been at, and it's been really nice to see the smiles on the kids faces as we get them up, about and playing.

We had a bit of a break before our last session, so we chilled out for a bit. Martin put up the pictures of today, while me and Joe sorted out the Ruyterwacht notice board with photos from the circle opening, which was decent.

At around 3, we headed to the Drommedaris complex, and sorted out all the books that had been donated to help start a small library there, in order to help the kids learn and relax. So we spent a couple of hours sorting the books out with Joe and Jodi, getting it in a decent state so it can actually be used. We managed to get it all done, which was nice, but it still looks really bare, with Joe even saying that they need more books for it.

When it got to 5, Martin and I parted with Joe and Jodi, and headed to Atlantic Club, where A-D was waiting with us with his Drommedaris boys. Most of them were on holiday for Easter, and we only had 8 boys. So we decided to have a match. it gave me the perfect opportunity to level things up between me and Martin, with the scores at 5-4.

After arguably our most even game of the bet, Martins team crumbled with about 5 mins to go, and just flopped, enabling us to run rampant over the last few minutes and win 9-5. Which means its now 5-5 overall between Martin and I. In the car on the way home we agreed that it will all be settled at our soccer clinic with De Beers next week, where we're going to each coach a team, and whoever wins, wins the bet. Its on. I'm on a good run now, winning 3 in a row. Ready to win this!

Tomorrow off to Danielles house, she's kindly invited Martin and I round for lunch, so we're heading there, which I'm looking forward too! Easter weekend is shaping up to be a pretty decent one!

Harry

Day 70 - Silvertree Creche & Wesbank Football Club

Today was a good day. A really good day.

It started off with our final ever creche session, at our favourite creche, Sivertree. Granted, the Silvertree sessions didn't go as well as we'd hoped, with the kids seeming to be fully comfortable with us, therefore seeming to be completely disruptive and not listening at all. It was a nightmare, the second group were better than the first, but were still a pain. Oh well, no more creche coaching, which feels weird, as its all starting to wind down to us leaving, which is a nice feeling. As much as I've loved my experience out here, I'm starting to miss home more every day, so it's the right time to finish it all off.

Like I said in my blog a couple of days ago, Maddie's (the girlfriend) mum has been amazing, and has raised £100 for us to buy gear for the kids we coach out here. After we decided on giving the gear from my mum to Wesbank, we decided to use this money to try and boost girls football out here, which is progressing, but very very slowly. So we decided to use the money on the Ruyterwacht girls team, who don't actually have a kit to themselves for when they play matches. So after we finished at Silvertree, we headed down to a sports store called Mike's Sports. After having a look around, and seeing what we could get for our money. We managed to get 10 football tops, which was made of really nice material, with numbers, as well as the Communicare logo, along with Ruyterwacht FC written on the front, all for £100. Which is a bargain compared to prices back home. We were really happy.
The guy at the shop said the kit would take around 3-4 weeks to come through, so we wont be around to see it, but he'll send us mock up photos of the kit which I'll post when they come through. So thank you so much to Lucy Mcgill for that!

After that, we picked up Lourens from the Learning Centre, loaded up the car with the gear my amazing mum sent us, and headed to Wesbank. We got there, had a nice chat with the coaches, admired the surroundings, before getting down to business.
We started off with the boots. 35 pairs of boots. It was amazing. As we were unpacking them, they were in a state of shock, naming each pair of boots we brought out, and reeling off in delight. It was amazing to see their faces, it was really touching. We got quite a few pictures that both Martin and I have put on Facebook so take a look at those!
After dishing out the boots, we quickly distributed the rest of the kit, which they all went nuts for, it was quality. They were wanting everything! We had to stop them and leave the bigger stuff in the boxes though, as they were too big for the kids there, so the coaches said they'd save it for the Senior team, which is nice.

After that, our day was over. A pretty amazing day in my opinion. It felt really nice to be able to give something back to the kids. Luke and Jeff had a load of Nike Arsenal gear for last year, which Arsenal had to get rid of, and sadly we had nothing to bring. So it's really nice to be able to give the kids something before we go. So thank you to my amazing mum, Elli, and to Maddie's amazing mum, Lucy, for helping us give something back to the community out here!

Early night tonight as we have a very early start tomorrow. We're doing Easter egg hunting and painting with a big group of kids, which should be fun!

Harry

Day 69 - Tafelberg Creche & All Stars Football Club

Today we started our final full week of coaching, as next week is full of Easter activities, and coaching clinics. To think that this is our last full week of actual coaching is really weird, as it doesn't feel like long since we arrived here and got underway. Crazy.

We started off at Tafelberg creche, which is based pretty much at the foot of Table Mountain, and has great views over Cape Town, as well as a close up of the mountain really close next to it. We got there, introduced ourselves to the teachers and the kids, got ourselves set up, and started our session.
We had 2 classes today, and we did pretty much the same thing as we usually do, movement game followed by passing the ball around in a circle. With the second group, however, we managed to get the ball on the floor, and had them kicking the ball back to us. Credit to Martin for doing it, as we'll probably use it for Silvertree tomorrow. That's why he's the creche coach of the partnership while i'm the club coach.

After we finished both classes, the 2 year olds were unleashed onto the play area we were on. They were absolutely adorable. We finished at about 10:20, but stayed until 11 just playing with these babies that had appeared on our grass. It was so fun, and they were so cute, and after getting over that original hesitation at not knowing who you were, they got quite clingy which was cute.

We then had photos with the teachers, and waved them, and the babies, goodbye. We had a 6 hour break between then and our All Stars session, so after dropping Joe off, we headed home to chill out for a bit.

We were told to meet Dalla at the All Stars training field at 6, and we managed to get there a lot quicker than we thought, arriving 25 minutes early. We took a ball and had a bit of a kickaround, while waiting for group we were coaching to turn up. We had under 12's today, so a younger group than what we had last time.

Pretty much as soon as they turned up, we got underway. We did a session called "Skills Corridor", which Martin and I did for our Youth Module assessment, along with James, which got us a lot of praise from Ciara, our coach, so we thought we'd do it. We had 11 kids, so Martin volunteered to join in the training just to make it easier in terms of numbers, while I took the session. They did really well actually, for a group of 11 year olds I was really impressed. We got quite a lot done, and ended with a small match. We've enjoyed both sessions with All Stars, and it's a shame we started with them so late, as we could've done a lot more with them that would've been more beneficial than with other clubs. Oh well.

After getting home we headed out to Yindee's for a Thai meal, food was delicious, again.

Got our last ever creche session tomorrow, which feels even weirder to say, with Silvertree, followed by handing all the gear sent over from my amazing mum to Wesbank Football Club. Should be good!

Harry

Day 68 - Train Trip To Simons Town

After yesterdays lazy day, we were back to business and early starts today, but instead of working, we were meeting Joe, Lourens and Wasima for a train trip to Simons Town.

After a short walk, we met Joe and Lourens at the train station at 9, before we then met Wasima. We got our tickets, got some drinks and got on the train towards Simons Town.

About an hour and a half later, we arrived, and hopped off the train. We were here! To be honest, there wasn't really much in terms of big attractions, it was just a small, cosy town. After going for a short walk, and Martin and I having photos outside the British Hotel, we found a place that sold scones and had morning tea there.

It felt unbelievably British, and made me miss home a little bit, but it was nice to have scones with jam and cream, after 10 weeks without it!
The scones, to be fair, were huge! We got this decent sized saucer of jam, cream and butter. Being one of those that doesn't like butter, I didn't have that, but loaded my scone up with jam and cream. It was delicious. The scone was warm and spongey and the jam and cream just made it even better. Topped it all off with a nice sized pot of tea. Very British. It was fantastic.

When we were done, we jumped back on the train, and headed to Muizenburg, where Wasima wanted to go for lunch. It was only a few stops back down the line we came on, so we arrived after about a 10 minute train journey. It was a decent looking town, that was undergoing a fair amount of construction so still looked a little rough. The beach looked really nice though, shame its quite far away.

Being the gentlemen we are, we let Wasima chose the restaurant for lunch. She picked out this Italian place called Primi, which looked quite nice to be fair. I had a Peri Peri Pizza, with a beautiful chocolate brownie for dessert. Food was nice, but it took a while to get service, and for everything to arrive. Oh well.

After everyone was finished, that was the trip over, so we jumped on the train and headed home. I took the opportunity to have a quick nap, as I was a bit tired. Martin and Joe, the lovely fellas, took the opportunity by the hand, and took photos of me while sleeping, then started teasing me about it in the car after. Unbelievable. I have to spend another 2 weeks with these jokers!

Evenings plan is to chill out. We start our final coaching week tomorrow, which feels unbelievably weird as it doesn't feel like long since we started this whole trip. Its all starting to wind down though, and at the right time too, because the home sickness is starting to kick in, and I personally am missing home a fair bit now.

Before I wrap this up, I just want to make a special shout out to my girlfriends family, especially her mum. She's managed to raise an amazing £100, which she has sent over to us, so we can buy gear for some of the kids we coach. After a few chats with Joe and Martin. We've decided to put the money towards buying kit for the Ruyterwacht girls team we coach, who currently have nothing to play in, apart from the spare kit that the boys use. Hopefully we can use it to boost girls football out here, which is really lacking out here, which is a shame. But thank you so much to Lucy and the rest of the Mcgill family for raising that money for us. It's amazing how charitable everyone's being while we're out here.

Harry

Day 67 - Lazy Day

After the excitement of yesterday, there's really not much to say about today at all.

I had a lie in, as I was exhausted from yesterday, and got up around 11:30. I had spoken to Ian Williams (manager of Berghof) and one of the head chefs about using the kitchen to make a family dish, which has been heavily criticised by the Arsenal lot, as it sounds gross, but tastes amazing. It's called Tuna Fish Crunch, and contains a mixture of boiled egg, peas, tuna and curry sauce, topped by ready salted crisps. Sounds odd but tastes amazing.

Anyway, I'd asked Ian about using the kitchen to cook it, and he said it was fine, along with the head chef. So I went down to double check I could use it. Sadly, the head chef wasn't in, and one of the other chefs was. I already wasn't a fan of her, and disliked her even more when she said she couldn't let me in. I was gutted. I was about to prove to all the Arsenal chaps that my dish was delish, with evidence from Martin. I'll have to wait until next week!

We had a roast for lunch instead, then headed to Checkers to grab a few bits for the apartment. Got back, watched the Gerrard vs Carragher charity match, and just chilled out.

We got a bit hungry later on so went to Da Vinci's for dinner. It's our favourite restaurant, along with Yindees. Food was beautiful. I had a burger while Martin had a Pizza. After that we headed back to chill out some more.

Like I said not much to say about today. After a tiring day yesterday, and a trip out tomorrow with Lourens and Joe, it was nice to laze about and catch up on rest. Tomorrow should be good though, read about it same time tomorrow!

Harry

Photos From Day 66 - Table Mountain

Day 66 - Table Mountain

Well we did it! After 65 days of waiting I finally did the one thing I wanted to do ever since I knew I was coming over here. It was well worth it.

Azille was the one who wanted to take us up, and told us she'd give us a call at 7, to see if the mountain was clear enough to go up. Thankfully it was, so she was coming to pick us up at 8:30.

At 8:15 she phone again. Her husband was called into work so couldn't join us, and she'd be here at 9.

At 9 she came to reception, and we set off! It was already really sunny, and it was starting to get hotter, but we powered on. The actually climb isn't that hard, as its pretty much just steps. But there's so many of them, some a lot bigger than others, which made it tiring. With the sun beaming down on our backs too it made it even more exhausting. After about an hour and a half of constant climbing, we reached the top of the mountain. Finally. It was amazing. The views were incredible. You could see the whole of Cape Town from up there it was beautiful.

I had had barely any water on the way up so was really dehydrated, so we headed for the shops to get some water and some food. The shops were odd. It seemed like the only thing that was overpriced was the water. Pretty much everything else was decent price. I got water, pizza, a brownie and a Magnum ice lolly. Without the water it came to about a fiver. Not bad.

After we'd rested a bit, and got our energy back, we headed to Maclear's Beacon, which is the highest point of Table Mountain. It was about an hours walk to get there. But it was so well worth it. The views were even more amazing from over there. It was just brilliant. We checked out a few of the rocks on the edge, took loads of photos, and just sat down on one of the rocks. I could've sat there for the rest of the day it was just so amazing. Pictures don't do it justice at all, which is a shame.

Soon enough, we had to go. We headed back to the point at which we go down, which was roughly another hours walk. I nipped to the shops to grab another bottle of water, and we headed down. Going down felt longer than going up, but seemed easier.

2 hours later, and 6 legs aching, we finally made it to the bottom. We were exhausted. Martin and I had planned to go to Yindees, the Thai restaurant, but as soon as Azille dropped us off I pretty much fell straight asleep. Oops. I was exhausted. Martin managed a nap later on too, so at least it wasn't just me. We have nothing planned for tomorrow, so I'm going to use that day as a rest day, and upload all of the photos from today up!

Harry

Day 65 - Computer Workshop & Joe's Friend

Today we had our full day computer workshop, where we had to cram in 4 days worth of computer teaching into one. It was a challenge but we were ready.

We got the the Learning Centre at just before 9, said our hellos and got ourselves set up, ready to start.

We had around 5 people who came to the workshop. 4 girls and one guy. Thankfully, we didn't have a situation like our other class, where we had a couple of people who were really advanced, and a few that were really struggling. This group were all roughly the same level, which made it so much easier.

We took a break after each day we completed, which was roughly every hour. We managed to fly through it and completed it by 2:15. Decent. The class we had were really nice too, which made it better.

After we finished the workshop, Selwyn came and met us at the Learning Centre, and we all waited for Joe to return from his meeting before we set off. We were going to do a coaching session for one of his friends, who had transformed some dirty, unused tennis courts into 2 decent action soccer pitches, and we were there to run a session for the kids that went along.

When Joe arrived, we went to pick up Densel, and headed off to a place called Parrow Valley, which is where the session was.

Safe to say the session was a bit hectic. We started off with 20 boys, ended up with 40. We split the boys between me and Martin, so I took half and he took half, but they kept changing which group they were in, it was mad!

We did a short shooting exercise, before going into quickfire, winner stays on, matches.

After that was done, we had loads of photos taken, said our goodbyes and headed home.

Joe had invited us over for a little braai for the evening, so after we got home, got changed, and everything else, we set off.

It wasn't as busy as the last time, with only a handful of people there, but it was really nice and chilled. I played a few games of WWE on the PS2 with him, then felt bad when I beat him and he got stroppy, we somehow got to playing this boys v girls throwing and catching game, which was fun, but so tiring in jeans and jumper. Then Joe whacked out the karaoke machine and had that going on, which was a nice and chilled way to end the evening. All in all it was really good.

Getting an early night as tomorrow, TABLE MOUNTAIN. Finally getting to go up this beaut. Should be good.

Harry

Day 64 - Computer Workshop & Trafalgar High School

Today we had 3rd day of our 4 day computer workshop, followed by an afternoon trip to Trafalgar High School.

Fo the computer workshop today, our focus was the Internet. After looking at the PowerPoint, and knowing the people we run the workshop with, we decided to scrap most of it, and do it ourselves, as most of what was on the PowerPoint was pretty much useless. We have a couple of people who are really advanced, and don't really need to be there. and a few who struggle quite a lot. So telling them what "http" stood for was just pointless.

We got them working the Internet, searching for different websites, using YouTube, Google Chrome, and generally playing round with the Internet. It was really a long class, and we finished it all by 10:30, but they seem to be getting better and better, which is positive. We only have one more day with them, which is only a few days before we leave, where we get them all emailing eachother, which should be good.

After the workshop was over, we had a sit down and a chat with Joe and Lourens, and helped them enter a couple of Twitter competitions, before heading out to get some lunch. Today's food, burgers. Lush. I scoffed mine down, before starting on my beloved Koeksisters, which I told you about before. It's my little treat for myself after the computer classes.

We then headed to Trafalgar High School, which we were looking forward to, after a really good session last week. We got there, 10 kids were waiting for us. They seemed to have the same situation as Harold Cressy yesterday, with exams all concluding tomorrow. So many of the kids were studying for them, which we can't really argue with, as studying is more important than a kick around.

With the kids we did have, we played a match. 6v6. Another chance for me to get a point back.

Long story short, I managed it! 5-4! One more victory and we're level! Finally. Martins team couldn't hit a barn door from 3 foot away though, They just refused to shoot! It was crazy, they'd get close to goal, then try and take on the last defender again. Meanwhile, I had a Rachel Yankey-esque girl on my team, who scored a quality brace to give us the victory! Happy days! Girls Football isn't that big over here, but the girls we played with today were quality! Much better than the boys. Shows what you can do when you don't try and beat everyone on the pitch and just do the basic stuff, but well.

After the match ended, we said our goodbyes to the group and headed home. Day over. This heat always leaves me exhausted at the end of the day so I'm going to have an even earlier night, as I'm shattered. Tomorrow, Azilles booked us in for an all day computer workshop, followed by a small session for one of Joes mates, with a visit to the Africa household, for 'Spot Night', where they're having a braai, and want us to come along. Should be good.

Harry

Day 63 - Silvertree Crèche & Harold Cressy High School

Today we returned to our favourite crèche, Silvertree! Last week we had loads of fun with the kids, and it was a really nice crèche to go to.

We had an early start this morning, as we had to pick Joe up from the Learning Centre at 8, before heading to Silvertree.

We got there, and the kids remembered exactly who we were! It's amazing! They were polite, friendly, well behaved, and remembered our names. It was a dream!

We did our classic warm up of the movement game with both groups, followed by relay races, which they seemed to really enjoy. It seems that as long as the kids are running and moving about, they have a great time, which makes it easier for us!

However, between both classes, both Martin and I managed to get biting ants all over us! After a bit of searching, we found a flying ant nest right next to where we were sitting! Nightmare! We sat as far away from it for the second class, and thankfully only had to suffer the bites we got from the ants in the first session.

We wrapped our session up by playing some games that the class liked best. We had no idea what they wanted to do, they just wanted to show us their games! So we joined in, and it was really fun. We started with a duck-duck-goose game, followed by a musical statue-esque game. We then did our goodbye high fives, and left with Joe.

After having lunch at the Learning Centre, we then went on to Harold Cressy High School. They told us to expect around 40 kids. Got there, there was 8. They explained to us that they have big exams on Friday, so most of the kids were studying. Bit strange how they didn't figure this out when we called them a few hours before, though. Oh well. Match time.

It was a chance for me to make up some ground in mine and Martins battle, which I am currently losing 5-2. 

25 minutes into the match, my team we 4-1 down. Oops. Wasn't looking good. Thankfully, Martins team fell apart, and I scored a couple of beautiful long range goals, and we ended up winning 12-9! To be fair to Martin, his keeper hurt his wrist so sat out, so they were a couple of men down. We also had the better team, despite Martin having the best player. I don't care. We won. 5-3. I have 3 weeks to get 2 more wins to draw, or 3 to be victorious! It's going to be close though!

After that, we were done. Had the evening to ourselves. Going to be a chilled out one, as the heat today has made me so tired!

Harry

Day 62 - Greenland Crèche & Mondale High School 2.0

Day 62. Crazy. In exactly 3 weeks time we will be on the plane, flying home. How time has flown by.

We started off the day at the Learning Centre, where we had a package from the mother! She has been amazing over the last few weeks. After hearing about the kids we coach, and how most of them don't have enough equipment and boots to play properly in, she took it upon herself to collect as many boots, kit and gear as she could, to send it over to us so we could hand it out.

She did an absolutely amazing job. We had 4 big boxes, full of boots, equipment and kit, which we can hand out to the kids we coach. It's amazing. She also raised £200, which were going to go towards shipping costs, but DHL were very generous, and offered to ship the goods for free! So mum is even going to send the money over to us, so we can get EVEN MORE stuff for the kids out here. It's amazing, and I'm so proud of her for doing it. Everyone here is going nuts and can't wait to see the kids faces when we hand out the gear to them. I'm so excited.

She's still collecting money before sending it over, so if any of you lovely readers are feeling generous, please contact Elli Sherman on Facebook, or just simply send money, via PayPal, to sendbootsabroad@gmail.com, it would be really appreciated.

We then had our 2nd of 3 sessions at Greenland crèche, with next week being our last.

We got there, set up, and straight away the first group came out. They were a bit louder than last week, thankfully. Still a couple of disruptive kids but we made it work. We started off with our movement game, to get them up and about, before going into relay games, which they seemed to enjoy. By the end of it, they were screaming Arsenal and all seemed really happy, which was nice.

The second group were a bit better, in my opinion. They did really well, listened well, and did well on the relays. By the end of it they were up and about, shouting Arsenal, and being really happy. So same as the second group. For this group, however, when we were doing our normal high-five-goodbye thing. They all of a sudden gave us these massive hugs, aswell as high fives. It was so adorable. The first kid did it, and then everyone else seemed to follow, and just give us hugs, before high fiving us, then going inside. They were my favourite group of the day, by far.

The third group, however, seemed to just be distracted all the time. It was crazy. They were messing around, not listening and just generally being pains. I think we dealt with them quite well though, which is good. The one positive we got from the, was the fact that when we chanted something, they'd chant it back. So we managed to get them doing a few of the Arsenal chants, which made us laugh. Martin's put one of them on Facebook. So if you have him as a friend, go take a look. It's brilliant.

Joe stayed in the car while we coached. He was busy listening to the cricket. When we finished, though, we couldn't find him anywhere. Turns out he'd had a search of the crèche, and managed to find an old TV. So he wired it up, and had the cricket on. Brilliant. We spent our break after finishing just watching the cricket.

On the way back to the Learning Centre, we had it on the radio in the car, and unfortunately, South Africa lost. It was very close, but they just lost. Safe to say, Joe wasn't happy about it. One of the fielders dropped a ball, which could've changed the game. Oh well, I was never into cricket.

After chilling out at the Learning Centre, we headed over to Mondale High School, to do our final coaching session with them. We tried to do what we did at All Stars FC last Thursday. It worked quite well, but unfortunately we had no bibs for the final part, so it got a bit confusing. The kids were really good, though, and made it a privilege to coach them. After we wrapped everything up we had loads of photos taken, and chats with the kids. It was really nice.

That was it. Home for the evening. Going to get an early night, though, as we have to be at Ruyterwacht for 8 tomorrow, to pick Joe up. We have Silvertree though, which is my favourite crèche to visit. So it should be worth it.

Harry

Photos From Day 61 - Robben Island