Day 44 - Drommedaris Girls & Boys

Another trip to coach Drommedaris, another late start.

We were told to be at the Learning Centre for 1:30, where we spent a couple of hours hanging around, helping people that wanted it. Although it's quiet quite a lot of the time, so it's often just a chance for us to chill out on the computers, which is alright.

We headed to Atlantic Football Club at around 4, to have a little kick around before the Drommedaris lot turned up. Adnaan wanted us to take both the boys and the girls today, even though we had the boys yesterday. We were happy taking them, though.

We started with a simple follow the leader exercise, where the group is split into pairs, with one ball for each pair. One person dribbles around, the other follows. When "Switch" is called, the follower takes over and dribbles, with the other person dropping back and following,

It was really odd though because, as we had 5 boys and 5 girls, there had to be a boy-girl partnership. But the 2 players that were going to be this partnership refused to even look at eachother. Luckily another boy turned up, and I became partners with a girl. It was strange though.

After follow the leader, we played a numbers game. This got the girls and boys working together which we were pleased to see. They all seemed to love playing it too which was nice, and was a fresh difference to ending the session on just a normal match.

After that, it was over. Martin and I headed to the Africa household where we met Jodi and Yonick to head over to GrandWest and watch a movie. American Sniper was the chosen film, and I'm so glad we went. It was quality. Bit of a shock to see right at the end that it was a true story, too. Would definitely recommend it to anyone that can watch it. Top film.

Harry

Day 43 - Drommedaris Boys

Today we had a late start, as we weren't coaching until around 5, where we had an afternoon session with the Drommedaris boys, at Atlantic Football Club.

After an early call from Joe, saying we didn't have to come in at 10, but come in at 2 instead, I extended my lie in for a few hours which was much appreciated.

We had lunch and headed to the Learning Centre where we would spend a couple of hours there, helping those that needed help on the computers, before heading to Atlantic Football Club at 4 for a quick kick around before our session.

2 lads joined us as we arrived so we had a 2v2 game, which was decent. Then along came Adnaan and the rest of the Drommedaris kids too.

We had 2 older lads, from the under 19's joined in our session too which was alright, but meant we had a pretty vast range in ages and abilities, which made it hard to make it worthwhile to everyone, but I think we did well

We did a shooting session with them, similar to what we did with the girls team, but we made it a bit more challenging. They still managed to miss quite a few of their shots. Something Martin and I have discovered since coming out here is that the ball control of the kids is exceptional, they can control the ball incredibly. Shooting on the other hand, they couldn't hit a barn door from 5 yards. It's odd, the one major areas for improvement that the kids need is shooting. Very rarely out here you see a kid who can score loads of goals, and takes loads of shots. It's strange.

After the shooting session was over, a few of the kids departed to start their Atlantic training session. With the remainder of the players we had, we decided to have a match. Martin and I would join in, and it was a chance for me to claw it back to 4-3.

Nope

5-2. This is bad now. It's starting to get more and more competitive. Martin was wasting time like there was no tomorrow, and I was getting more and more frustrated. Ahh well.

Headed home, and went out for dinner. We tried the Slug & Lettuce today, to see if it was anything like back home. I had (you guessed it) the ribs, and they were the thickest, juiciest ribs you'll ever see. Beautiful.

After that we headed back home, where we're just going to chill out and watch movies. Another lie in tomorrow, and another late afternoon session, which should be good!

Harry

Day 42 - Ysterplaat Crèche (1&2), Goodwood College & Drommedaris

Day 42, and officially 6 weeks into the trip. It's weird thinking that around 5 months ago we found out that Martin and I were the chosen ones to make the trip to Cape Town. It feels like last week. Time has flown by.

We started the day off with the 2 Ysterplaat Crèche's. The first crèche were, like last week, relatively quiet. It took a while for them to get into it, but in the end we got them shouting Arsenal, which is what we like to see!

In the second class of the first Ysterplaat crèche, there were a few problem children, nothing major just very energetic and disruptive. While picking teams, Martin (somehow!) managed to put most of these excited, disruptive bunch in the group I had, meaning while I could look over and see him having a decent last 10 minutes, I had to constantly encourage them to listen and keep to the task. Before to long, though the session was over, and I was already exhausted.

We went into the second Ysterplaat crèche with high hopes, as they seemed a lot more mature, focused, and generally more fun to coach than most of the other Crèche's we've visited. Sadly, 5 minutes in our hopes were dashed, after we asked them all to gather round they literally bundled in, every time. One time they managed to floor me, as I had about 20 kids grabbing my legs! Luckily I managed to not crush anyone. Oddly enough though, when Martin blew his whistle to try and get their attention, they all ran to a cone, as if we were playing the game we played last week with them. We were both completely surprised, but made the most of it, and played that game again with them.

Around 20 minutes in, the rain started to pour, and the kids went crazy, it was like they've never seen rain before. The teachers hurried them in, and that pretty much ended our session with them. Odd.

After having our lunch break at the Learning Centre, we headed for Goodwood college. Joe wasn't joining us as he had to be elsewhere, so it was us, and Densel. Not as many boys turned up for this weeks though, as Densel turned most away for not having their kit. We had enough for an 11-a-side game though, which is what the school wanted as they had games coming up, and wanted Densel to see what he was working with for the rest of the year. Martin and I saw an opportunity. He joined one side, I joined another. It was an awful game. Awful pitch, awful play, awful all round. My team lost 2-0, which means Martin is now beating me 4-2 on games. But I tell you what, we had so many opportunities to score and win that game. One of our strikers missed an absolute sitter from 2 yards out too! Unbelievable. I've got a lot of work to do now to claw it back! 

After Goodwood College we headed straight to Drommedaris to do our life skills session. My, these kids were so clingy! After teaching them about compliments, we went outside to play, and Martin and I were literally a climbing frame for these kids. It was a nightmare. I managed to get head butted by some girl who tried jumping on me, and was luckily not to have a bleeding lip. As soon as Joe said we could, we headed home, completely exhausted from a tiring day, and ready to settle down in front of the TV for the night.

Tonight's schedule - School Of Rock, Hangover 3, Arsenal game. Hopefully all 3 will be good. I know the first 2 are. Expecting nothing less than 3 points today.

Harry

Day 41 - Riverton Crèche & Gugulethu Soccer Club

Day 41! We are exactly half way through our trip here in Cape Town, and what a day to have it!

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

Day 40 - Lazy Day

Again, I'm sorry this post is coming late. The wifi at Berghof has been dreadful recently, so I am currently writing this from the Learning Centre!

Another lazy day today, this time it was my bad though. Martin had wanted to go out and do something today, but while we were upstairs deciding what to do, I managed to fall asleep, and didn't wake up until around 5pm! Oops.

While I was asleep, Martin went outside for a bit, and apparently temperatures reached 41 degrees! No wonder I fell asleep in a room with no air con!

After I woke up, we attempted to use the wifi for a bit, but gave up. So we headed for the shops to grab a few bits before we settle down and watch movies on the TV. The schedule was The Purge, followed by Dallas Buyers Club. Happy days!
I grabbed some popcorn, sweets and coke, while Martin got his bits and bobs, then we headed back and settled down for the movie.

After watching the 2 quality films, I attempted to again use the wifi, but again had no luck. Was meant to Skype the family, but I knew it was going to end in frustration, so told them i'll call them when wifi picks up.

Not much to say for day 40, so sorry for the dullish blog. Day 41 is our halfway point, so will hopefully be a bit better.

Harry

Day 39 - Jason Mraz!

Sorry I didn't post yesterday. When Martin and I got back from Jason Mraz, the wifi at Berghof was just unbelievably awful, so I thought it'd be best to just post this morning.

Today was the day! Finally getting to see Jason Mraz. I'd been wanting to go to one of his shows for ages, but never had the time or money. Finally I managed to get tickets. Out here in Cape Town of all places.

The day started off with a nice lie in, sleeping in to about 10. After going downstairs and using the wifi for various things, we had lunch with all the residents in the dining room. Roast Gammon. The gammon was nice, but they put some weird mustard sauce on it which tasted gross. Plus the vegetables was this spinach in cream thing that they seem to love cooking, which is also gross. So I just had the gammon and potatoes for lunch. Not much but oh well.

We had 3 big games on today, so the day was spent watching the football. Liverpool-Man City to start, which was a quality game that ended 2-1 Liverpool. Arsenal-Everton next, which wasn't as quality a game, but I was happy with a 2-0 win. We left to go to Grandwest for Jason Mraz before the Chelsea game started, but was happy to see that Spurs have been put back in their place, losing 2-0.

We agreed with Joe that we could drive the car to his house, and walk from his to Grandwest, which saved us a crazy long journey by train. So we drove there, said hello to the family, and headed off to Grandwest, which was only a 5 minute walk away.

We got there a bit early, so we got a quick dinner. I opted for the corn dog and chips, while Martin just had chips. We ate this while watching the last of the Chelsea game, before having our tickets scanned and heading into the arena.

The arena was amazing. It wasn't too big, or too small, and it seemed like that wherever you sat, you got a great view of the stage. Martin and I were sat in the upper tier, as it was the cheapest, but still managed a quality view, which I was happy with.

Then on came Jason Mraz, along with his opening act, and the group that he'd been working closely with for almost 10 years, Raining Jane. I hadn't heard much of Raining Jane before that night, but I thought they were amazing. They play similar sort of stuff to Jason Mraz, which is my kind of music, so I'm hopefully going to download some of their stuff today.

As Raining Jane collaborated with Jason Mraz on his new album, Yes!, they stayed on for pretty much the whole set, playing with Jason Mraz. It was incredible. I absolutely loved it, it was amazing. Even a couple of the songs I wasn't that big a fan of from the album sounded incredible live. He's an amazing performer, and was quite funny, too. I'd definitely recommend seeing him to anyone who's a fan of music, even if you're not Jason Mraz's biggest fan, because he's just amazing live.

Before too long, the show was over, and we headed home. Joe was kind enough to pick us up from Grandwest, so we didn't have to walk back to his, which we were thankful for. We managed to get home at just gone 11, but the wifi was so poor that I went to bed not long after we got home.

Harry