According to reports, today was the hottest day that Cape Town has seen in over 100 years, aswell as it being the hottest place to be in the world today.
People had air cons blasting, or sitting outside if they didn't have air con. Kids were standing in sprinklers to cool themselves down. 14 separate fires had started in the country, in the space of a couple of days, as a result of the hot and dry weather. Yet for me and Martin, it was another day at work.
We started off the day with a trip to Riverton crèche, where we had only one class for the morning. Riverton crèche was in the middle of a very poor, crime infested neighbourhood. So Martin and I were a little bit uneasy heading there. We were fine though, before the family and girlfriend start worrying!
As it was a hot day, we decided to go easy on the kids, and not make them run around too much. Luckily there were a couple of trees that made a decent shadowed area we could use, which was nice. We only had 11 kids which made it even easier to manage in a fairly small area.
All we did to start off with was get them doing different movements in a rectangle that we'd made with cones, then when Martin blew his whistle, they stopped. They seemed to enjoy it, plus with so many different movements that could be made, we managed to drag that out for a while.
Afterwards, we had planned to go into relays, but we could tell that the kids we were with would struggle to understand it, so we got them in a circle throwing and catching the ball around the circle, which seemed to take a while, but they enjoyed it which was the main thing.
We had a kid in the group called Kolo too, so as a little treat to ourselves (and Kolo), we got the kids singing the Kolo/Yaya Toure chant, but just for Kolo. He looked absolutely chuffed it was brilliant. Plus made me and Martin laugh too.
As the session ended, we all said goodbye, and Martin, Joe and I headed back to the Learning Centre. Where we spent for a while before our next session started. As we were leaving Joe said that at one of the traffic lights we passed, you don't stop when it's night time, even if there's a red light. Apparently beggars/muggers operate heavily there and it's safer to risk it and drive through the red light than stop. Fab. Thankfully we're not there in the evenings!
After spending a few hours at the Learning Centre, we headed for Gugulethu, who play at a place called Wes Bank soccer field, about half an hour away from Ruyterwacht.
We got there a bit early, got out the car and immediately decided to get back in and drive about for a bit (Joes idea of course!), as the temperature had risen to a solid 43 degrees where we were, and it was horrible. According to Joe, it gets even hotter as you go more and more inland, away from the coast. I can only imagine how hot it must be nearer the centre of South Africa!
When the kids arrived we gave in, and got out to suffer in the heat. As it was boiling we only did a light session, before going into a match. We had 30 kids so we used an 11 a side pitch, but had 15 a side game going! Even Martin and I got involved. We split it into shirts v skins. Martin decided he was on the shirts team, so I flashed the skin, which looked even more pale amongst the kids I was with!
The game had everything, action, drama, great shots, excellent saves, and even some cows who came over, had a munch on the grass right in front of our goal, then ran off before I could grab a selfie with them! It ended 1-0 to my team! Meaning the battle between Martin and I is heating up, as I've snatched a point back, making it 3-2 to him so far. 6 weeks left I can win this!
At 4:30ish, after a chat with the kids and coaches we headed back to the Learning Centre to drop Joe off. We managed to pass 3 seperate fires on the way. There had been 14 seperate fires in The country as a result of the hot weather, including a fire that's been going on for 3 consecutive days! Nightmare.
Joe mentioned again about starting up a football team in Cape Town, after reading about it in my blog. Itd be my dream to be involved in that. Sadly I'm currently unemployed, going into student life, and my dad isn't Richard Branson... Sadly ;) Jokessss. Maybe one day if I somehow earn a fortune.
Hot and tired, we arrived home. After a nice, cold bath, we've headed down to Mixas to watch the football, and finally use some decent wifi. Wifi at Berghof is so poor right now it's ridiculous. Thankfully Mixas is more reliable.
41 days down, 41 to go!
Harry
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