Day 13

Thankfully the wifi is back today so I've been able to Skype the family, I haven't really been homesick yet, I've been missing home and everyone but I wouldn't call it homesickness. But I think that's because I know everyone is just a Skype away, so the wifi being down really does get to you because it's your link to home. On that note if anyway wants a chat feel free to Skype, but be prepared for me sitting in the sun while you are sitting there freezing with snow on the way. 

Onto today we were back at Goodwood crèche today, last week we felt we tried to fit a lot in so we simplified stuff this week. We had the same 4 groups as last week and the first 2 were 5/6 years olds the second 2 were 4/5 years old, the ability levels between the older and younger groups are considerably different. We started with traffic lights, a classic coach ed warm up game, 1 cone means walk another means run and the whistle means freeze, with only 3 instructions all kids managed to understand what to do even the ones that spoke no English at all. Every now and again we would count to 3 and the kids would shout Arsenal as loud as they could, it gets everyone involved and also gets them interacting with us. From traffic lights we moved onto relay races, varying difficulty from group to group, some would run some would run with the ball in their hands others ran backwards and some dribbled the ball. You might be thinking we've come here to play football why aren't we coaching football? Well the crèche sessions are all about introducing the kids to a ball and having fun and just getting them moving and learning about different movements they can do. Once we finished, it was lunch time, now if you've read previous blogs you would have seen food hasn't been great recently so the food at the crèche went down nicely. Both of us went back for a second plate, and even had jelly for desert, they apologised it was only crèche food but we couldn't be happier.

From the crèche we went to Khayelitsha, Harry and I didn't know much about the area but were told on the way that it was the biggest black township in the Western Cape, we were also told that not that long ago a white man would never walk into this area. A township for those that don't know (correct me if I'm wrong) is an area usually on the edge of town that was given for non whites. So as we are driving along and are being told this we drive down a road and on either side were metal containers made into shops, and lots of houses made out of what you can only describe as anything these people can get their hands on. At this point we are getting deeper into Khayelitsha and are told that Joe and Lourens are a little lost and don't quite know where they are going, so we pull into a petrol garage and ask for directions. I don't know if I was being paranoid but I could definitely feel eyes on me, and after what we had been told it was quite uncomfortable. I didn't take a camera so didn't get a photo to show you what it was like, but it definitely opens your eyes and makers you realise how lucky you are. Anyway after finally getting some directions we arrived at the place we were looking for. We arrived at the GrassRoots Soccer Centre, GRS is a non profit organisation that teaches important life lessons, primarily about HIV and Aids using football to try and get their messages across, we met a great bunch of guys that are working hard to improve their communitie. That is definitely 1 thing I can say about all the groups we've met, they are all working hard to help improve the situations they find themselves in. There's a real sense of community spirit everywhere we go and people are working towards change. We were invited to play a quick 5 a side game which of course we accepted. Just before going onto the pitch we were introduced to 2 American interns that are working here for a year. Now as we haven't had a proper kick about for a while in our hurry to get onto the pitch we didn't hear Lourens mention they were staying a few roads from us and we didn't get to exchange numbers etc, it's a shame we could have met up and gone out but hopefully we will be back there before we leave.

Home time, we returned to find the gate had broken so getting cars in and out will be interesting. We were going to go out and watch the United game but by the time all the skyping was done Harry had settled into his chair, feet up, cup of tea, football on, definitely turning into 1 of the residents. 

Sorry for the long blog today I'm making up for the shorter 1s last few days. Late start tomorrow, nice lay one!!!