Day 69

This is our final week of coaching and we are winding down a bit. But today we had a new crèche. We only have 1 session with them but it was 1 Joe wanted to do as it was in his old area and had fond memories of. We had 2 groups a 4-5 year olds and a 5-6. The first group was slightly smaller as it's the start of the holidays so some parents have taken their kids away. Both groups we did our usual movement game followed by passing the ball around a circle and finished with our hello friend game we came up with. The 2nd group were louder and more active and whilst passing the ball in a circle I found a few would intentionally drop it and start kicking it. After them continually asking for soccer I gave in and let them kick the ball and pass it to me etc. Joe and Harry decided they'd copy me and it worked for all 3 groups, which was nice. Lots of shouts and high 5s and that was us done. We sat in the sun drinking some juice the teachers had given us whe we saw a few little 1s wondering out. The baby class had come out to have a look around and me and Harry were more than pleased to play, pick up and give the little 1s a cuddle. They were 2-3 year olds and were so cute, it was really nice, the teachers pointed out 1 of the girls, apparently she isn't sociable at all and they were shocked that she came to me and wanted to play ball. Kids obviously just love me.

After lots of photos with various members of staff we were off, we dropped Joe off and headed back to Berghof. Joe phoned to say we needed to get to our last session of the day for 6 and not 5 as 1st thought. So we had a few hours to kill, Harry had lunch while I rested my eyes for half hour. Then after checking emails and doing a few bits and pieces as well as getting the room cleaned we left. We had a rough idea of how to get there as we had been a few weeks ago but we weren't 100% sure. It was All Stars, the club we coached a few weeks ago. The under 15s that we had before were our favourites so far and we were looking forward to testing them with some more difficult drills. Unfortunately we had the under 12s, still a good group of boys and were of a good standard but they weren't advanced enough to do what we had planned. Oh well, we did a skills corridor type activity which worked well which was good. We finished with a game and that was it another day over with. We ending up talking to 1 of the coaches for half an hour and we had a good chat about English and South African football which was nice.

Tonight we had planned to go back to Yindees the Thai place we went a few weeks ago. We were supposed to go on Saturday but didn't because of my ankle. It was amazing again, and reasonably priced. I had a nice chicken curry and Thai noodles. We finished our food and headed back to catch the 2nd half of the England v Italy game, we look awful and Italy are basically playing a B team. I don't know how you can start with a midfield 3 of Jones, Delph and Henderson, I'm slowly going off Roy Hodgson. We managed a 1-1 draw but it wasn't a match to remember.

Tomorrow we have our last crèche session in Cape Town, it's quite sad really. In 2 weeks time we'll be up in the air, I'm going to miss this place, but I can't wait to get home. Tomorrow we are also handing out kit that's been donated to kids in a township we have worked with so I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. Joe worked it out that we have met or interacted with at least 2000 kids during our time here, that's crazy. The countdown continues.

Day 68

In 2 weeks time we will be saying all are goodbyes and packing are bags ready to leave. These last 10 weeks have flown by, and as much as I'm looking forward to going home and seeing everyone again I will miss Cape Town. Today was our day off and we were invited by Lourens to go on a little trip, we haven't spent much time with him or Wasima and it was their way of making sure they spent some quality time with us before we leave.

We met them at 9am inside Cape Town station where we would find our train and take the long journey to Simons Town. Now we had an excuse for looking slightly confused by the station and the train times etc, we may have been here a while but we aren't locals yet, after some discussion between the 3 of them they decided on which train we needed to take. The train to about 90minutes, it took us past Newlands cricket and rugby stadiums and then past some other places that had great views. We got off the train and started walking into the town. We a hotel called the British hotel which made us think of home, for some reason we started talking about tea and scones and it was decided that we would find a nice cafe to have a traditional English scones. We found a nice place that did different cakes and pastries, all five of us went for scones with jam and cream and a nice cuppa. I do miss a good cuppa, I don't know if it's the teabags, the milk or the water but it's just not right out here. Anyway it was really nice and the scones were huge and really filling. We then walked on a bit and found Arsenal street so we felt even more at home. Lourens and Wasima had decided we would go to Muizenberg (think that's how you spell it) for some lunch. Simons town is a really nice area and there is a British feel to the place, I don't know why, maybe it was just the hotel and scones but to me minus the mountain you could easily have been walking through an old town back home. Simons town also has a museum, a navy base and is home to the penguins that we visited before so I can see why it might attract the tourists.

We got to the station and our train was waiting for us, you think the London Underground is unreliable then you should try the Cape Town metro rail. I think the locals would agree. So it was nice to see the train there. We made the short trip down the coast where we then got off and went for lunch. Wasima chose a nice place by the beach. Lots of surfers and people going in the sea. Apparently sharks swim these waters so I'll give that a miss. We all had a nice meal, I think Lourens was disappointed there was no fish and chips on the menu but we enjoyed the food. We finished up and headed back. 

After waiting half an hour for a train we found a seat and got comfortable, some more than others, Harry took the opportunity to have a little nap. The residents at Berghof are rubbing off on him. We arrived back in Cape Town an hour later where we found the car and Lourens dropped us off back at Berghof. It had been a nice day and nice to see Joe, Lourens and Wasima outside of the office. I'd definitely recommend taking the train down that way if you were in Cape Town. Some great views and beaches. A return ticket only costs £1.50 as well so not bad.

Back to work tomorrow and we have our 2nd from last crèche session. I've really enjoyed the crèches and after Wednesday they'll all be over. The count down is really on now.

Day 67

As I said yesterday today has been our lazy day. A day of recovery, a day to rest my ankle. We didn't go out last night, I could barely walk and to be honest after a nap and some painkillers I wasn't up for the pub and didn't fancy a sit down meal. Harry was tired as well so I think he was happy with that decision. 

With not much happening today I thought I'd take this opportunity to have a look back over the last 9 weeks. The coaching and the work side has been great on the whole, the times round Joe's will also be memories we will keep. But yesterday we completed our 'must do in Cape Town' list. We still have a few touristy things planned but our list, we did actually write out a list, has all been crossed off.

From the top left clockwise:

*Hout Bay

*The Waterfront 

*2 Oceans Aquarium 

*Sea Point 

*Boulders beach

*Aquila Safari

*Red Bus Tour

*Robben Island

*Cape Point/Cape of Good Hope

*Cape Town Stadium

*Lions Head mountain 

*Signal Hill - Noon gun

*Table Mountain 

Day 66

I'll quickly start with last night. We went round to Joe's had a really good evening playing games and talking to some of the guys from the local community and generally had a real good laugh. Joe then decided to bring out the karaoke, I don't do karaoke for 1 simple reason, I can't sing. Some of the girls and Vinolia were really good, and even Joe sang a bit. It was a nice chilled out end to the week.

Today, I was up early to check on the mountain, because today would be the day we were walking up table mountain. The last few mornings have been really cloudy and we were both already making other plans as to when we could do it. But to our surprise a nice clear day. Azille had offered to show us the way and she picked us up just after 9, unfortunately her husband couldn't make it as he was busy with work.

I found table mountain a lot easier to climb than lions head, it's basically steps the whole way up and quite simple. We finally made it up in around 90 minutes, great time I thought. When you get to the very top there's a shop selling food and drinks and other bits. I thought this was quite cool, you don't expect a shop at the top of a mountain. We got something to drink and headed across the top of the mountain for about 45minutes to the highest point. It was so calm and peaceful and I could have sat there for hours. It has some amazing views and it was worth every last drop of sweat and bit of pain walking up the mountain. We then headed back to find our way down we agreed to walk it and not get the cable car.

Whilst walking along quite a flat bit of the mountain I managed to trip and fall, twisting my ankle. Quite painful but luckily I had a strap in my bag to add support. I was determined to make it down by foot. The walk down felt like it took forever but was roughly the same length of time. Unfortunately my ankle gave way half way and it feels as though I may have sprained my ankle just what I need with 2 weeks left.

We made it down and back to the car, what an amazing experience. You really get a sense of achievement on completion, specially when you walk past everyone going up by cable car. Proud of myself today, was 1 of those moments that'll stay with me for a long time.

Back we came, bath and get ready. We were planning on going back to Yindees for food then onto Mixas but all depends on whether I can walk. 

Tomorrow is a lazy day which is nice, a whole day of nothing.

Thank you Azille for today, and thank you Cape Town for having a mountain with such an amazing view.

Day 65

Today we started with our intensive computer workshop. We had put our 4 day course into 1 long day. It lasted from 9 to half 2 with a few breaks throughout. It went quite well, better than our 4 day course. Unlike our Thursday course everyone seemed to get the hang of what we were showing them it just took them a little while. 1 guy was really good and understood it all, he just couldn't control the mouse and couldn't find the letters on the keyboard, he was in his 60s and had never used a computer before. I was quite impressed, also this class had a bit more character, they were a lot more chatty than on a Thursday.

We finished the class and everyone was really greatful which was nice and it was good to do something that could impact on people's lives. We were then joined by Selwyn and Densel, together with Joe we traveled to Parrow. There is a football league set up here on a Friday evening by 1 of Joe's old friends and Joe had asked us to go a long and do a session. We did a nice shooting session followed by very speedy speed ball. South Africans don't shoot, we've found that out, so we decided that each speed ball game would be 1 minute long, we then increased it to 90seconds and it was no surprise that we only saw 2 goals. 

Tonight we are off to spot night at Joe's. His monthly community get together. Which is why I'm writing a bit earlier today. It should be good and I'll tell you about it tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow we are hiking up Table Mountain, but we have said if the weather is poor we will go up in the cable car later in the day.

Harry Selwyn Ricky Me

                Densel

Day 64 week 10 26th March

Today we started with our 3rd of 4 computer classes. Again we had to start with hardly any of the class, I'll never get used to African time. This weeks lesson was using the internet. In our class we have a girl that quite easily gets through our classes and we think she is only there to put it on her cv, and then we have an old lady that just doesn't have a clue about computers. We were supposed to get into depth about how the internet works and what it all means, but we thought we would be more practical and show them how to navigate themselves around the internet, how to use a search engine and how to use YouTube. Pretty basic stuff. To be honest it was quite a short class today and we really just gave out the basics and let them explore. All of them seemed to manage it quite well and we wrapped it up around half 10. After a quick discussion with Lourens and helping him enter a Twitter competition we head to Harry's favourite place in the whole of a Cape Town, a little cafe around the corner that sells koeksisters, the little doughnutty type thing I was telling you about last week. I have to admit they are nice but Harry is slightly obsessed. 

After returning to the learning centre more discussions with Lourens about social media and helping Joe with some work we head to Trafalgar high. We enjoyed our session here last week and was looking forward to today's training. When we arrived the teacher told us that half the boys left because they had to study for exams. We were left with a mix of boys and girls so we decided just to start a game, me and Harry joined in to make it 6v6. Long story short Harry won and it is now 5-4. If the match was won on most step overs, most attempts at beating an opposing player or most shots to go miles over the bar we would have won by loads. Disappointing result. Considering that girls football isn't that big over here it was surprising that the 2 best players on the pitch were both girls. They were miles better than some of the boys. It's quite easy to see why as well, the girls play simple football, work hard and get it right, where as the boys in Cape Town as a whole try to be too flash and ignore the basics, they also aren't too keen on working hard for the team either. I had coaches the girls last week and they were some of the best footballers I've seen in 10 weeks out here. It's amazing what you can do when you work on the basics. No fancy tricks just a simple pass and move, then try and win the ball back if you lose it.

That was us done for the day, tomorrow we have an intensive computer workshop, in other words we didn't have time to fit in 4 days so we are dragging it out over 1 day. Then we are off to see 1 of Joe's friends who runs an action soccer league just outside Ruyterwacht. We might be putting on a small session but are mainly there to get the kids excited we've been told. We then have spot night round 2 at Joe's in the evening.

Looking at our schedule there isn't much left to go. We have 2 crèches Greenlands and Silvertree, we have a session with All Stars, Drommedaris and Ruyterwacht and we have an all day soccer clinic with De Beers. We have trips to the Drommedaris and Bothasig complexes for Easter activities and we have a day with Maja and Sunflower crèches doing Easter activities as well. Saturday we hope to go up Table Mountain, Monday we are going out with Joe and Lourens for a trip to Simons town so they can spend some time with us before we leave and we also have an opportunity to go to the Ajax Cape Town training ground. Also next week we are back to Wesbank to had out some boots and kit to the boys down there. Where has the time gone 9 weeks down 2 and a bit to go.

Day 63

I'm going to quickly start today with a few photos that have been taken recently or I've just found. Also a chance for you to put faces to names.

From left to right Lena, Joe, Azile, Harry and myself 

Harry, Joe, Jayden, Vinolia and me

Jodi Yonick Harry and me again 

I'd also like to mention I've now had 1200 views on my blog!! I can't believe it, but I hope it's been a good read so far.

Onto today. Apparently summer over here is coming to an end and it'll be getting cooler, but today it wasn't far off 30 degrees and the weekend will be just as warm. These guys are worried about it dropping below 20, they don't know what a real winter is. 

This morning we quickly picked Joe up and headed to Silvertree crèche, 1 of our favourite places to visit. Again they were singing and dancing and even remembered our names. We taught them Arsenal chants this week which they enjoyed and then we went on with our movement game. I know you're thinking we do it far too much but it's important at this age, specially when they have difficulties understanding us to not confuse them with too many activities. The movement game is a great starter, they are learning and they are getting used to us at the same time. All was going well, until I sat down with the kids, I sat on what looked like some sort of ants nest, with little nippy ants and flying ants, they got everywhere and I've been biten to pieces and am still itchy now even after a shower. Oh well. The kids were great and the school gave us some cake which was really nice. We then finished up and headed back to the office.

We had 1 afternoon session today at Harold Cressey which is just around the corner from where we are staying. Joe didn't seem too positive about this school and even after phoning them up he didn't fill us with confidence. Over here it is exam time and the teacher had canceled last weeks session, this week we go along and 8 boys turned up. We understand that it's exam time but every school has the same issue and they make the most of the opportunity. Some of the boys mentioned they thought it was tomorrow and I got the impression and I think Joe did as well that maybe the school didn't really do enough to give the information to the kids. It's frustrating, you can do a session with 8 boys and we still did, but when you see guys like Wes Bank that are so excited and overly appreciative, or Mondale high that send there boys along on time and that want to learn, to be at a school where they didn't seem as interested and the boys didn't even really know we were coming is just disappointing. Obviously it's not the boys fault but I feel they didn't benefit as much as others might have, and because of that they are likely to miss out on this opportunity next time around. I'm not saying we are anything special but we come wearing the Arsenal badge and is a chance for schools to generate interest for their kids and they missed out on that today. But you can't fault their hospitality, lots of cool drink and food after for us and the boys which was appreciated.

Just a quick mention Harry's team won, it's now 5-3, less said about that the better.

We were going out tonight for food but after cakes at Silvertree, coming back to find we had been bought a steers burger (Harry had 2) at the learning centre and then having food at Harold Cressey we were full up. We may go out later but this heat has taken it out of me. Early start tomorrow for part 3 of our computer workshop, how to use the Internet, this is going to be interesting.

Day 62

Today we were back at Greenlands crèche for our 2nd visit. Last week they were a bit all over the place, we had loud kids, we had quiet kids and we had disruptive kids. Quite challenging. Add in the fact that again the majority of kids either didn't understand our accents or English at all it wasn't our most successful crèche. However the 1st class are in the running for cutest group of kids. As they walked out every kid gave me a big hug and then Harry. Then when we were giving out high 5s at the end they wanted hugs instead. So nice and makes up for how difficult some of them were. We did the same with all 3 groups. The movement game followed by relays. Some got it really well and managed to dribble the ball, others struggled running backwards and forwards in a straight line. We had a bit of fun with these groups getting them to sing Arsenal chants and get them to stand like numbers. Just different things that are simple enough but that they can understand and concentrate on.

We then had a slow drive back to the learning centre, me and Harry aren't big cricket fans, but today we joined in with the country listening to the cricket World Cup semi final between South Africa and New Zealand. In a tense game South Africa lost with the 2nd from last ball. Like I said we aren't big fans of cricket but it would have been interesting to see the atmosphere on Sunday had they reached the final.

After stopping for lunch and sorting some bits for Azille we headed over to Mitchell's Plain. We were back at Mondale high. We were really impressed last week and decided we'd do the session we used at All Stars, quite difficult but we thought they'd get it, we also just wanted to go through it again and iron out a few issues we had with it. Unfortunately the Ajax boys and a few of the better players couldn't make training this week and we could have done with them to help the others. Another issue was they were all kitted out in navy blue and sky blue, difficult to distinguish between teams. We did a pressing drill followed by the transition drill. They did okay but bibs or different colours were needed. We learn from it and move on. Great group of boys, not bad footballers and alright equipment.they all wanted photos with us which was nice.

I'll definitely miss the photos with the older kids and hugs from the little 1s when I go home. Moments like that I'll keep with me. To these boys and girls we are probably the closest they will get to somebody from Arsenal and I hope we have had a positive impact. If you had told me this time last year I'd have 30 5 year old South African children giving me a giant group hug I'd have laughed it off. It's been a great experience for moments like those.

Tomorrow we are back at Silvertree crèche, 1 of our favourites followed by a new high school. It's an early start but I'm looking forward to it.

Day 61

2 blogs today. The wifi was so poor last night, my iPad that hardly fails me couldn't even connect. To anyone coming here get a sim and data package. It cost just over R150 for sim and 1GB data. That's about £8. EE offered me 25mb for something like £6. So much cheaper over here and lots of stores to get it from, I'd recommend Vodacom, Vodafone, Cell C apparently has poor signal.

After last night I went and got myself a sim today. I had put off getting 1 as the wifi has been ok, but after the frustration of last night and last week I've given in. It cost R160 for 1GB.

Anyway onto today, today we became tourists again. We had planned for a while that today we would go over and see Robben Island. It was 1 of the must do things of our trip. We woke up, got ready and headed to the bus stop. We arrived at the waterfront where we would catch the ferry. We bought our tickets which cost R280/£14 which we didn't think was too bad. We slowly made our way through security then onto the boat. 

If you haven't read Harry's blog from yesterday he didn't manage to get in the cage with the Sharks as he was seasick and was feeling too rough. I was slightly worried about getting on a boat with him after yesterday. He assured me he would be ok, but as precaution I made him sit down stairs. The last time I was on a boat I was with Tina and she spent the whole trip hiding away not feeling well and I didn't fancy that again. Luckily everything was fine and we arrived in 1 piece after and hour from the waterfront to Robben Island. As we approached we both said we didn't realise how big it was. 

We got off the ferry and walked down to a coach that would be driving us around. We drove past a church, a burial site, the homes of the wardens, a rugby pitch and a school. Our tour guide was very friendly and gave us lots of information. She explained that around 150 people still live on the island and it was only in 2011 that the school was closed. The island looks as though it hasn't been touch in 20 years which is nice because we really got a feel of what the place looked like and it hadn't just been done up and made into a tourist site. It's crazy to think what actually happened on this island and in South Africa as a whole. People being locked away for years for not carrying an ID card or for being in groups of more than 5 people. We stopped off to look at the view of Cape Town from the Island and then went around to the quarry. 

We finished our tour with a stop off at the high security prison, we were taken around by 1 of the ex prisoners here. It was a little hard to understand him but he gave a nice little tour. He had stayed here for 5 years for protesting against Afrikaans being the main language being used at his University. He took us to his cell where he shared the room with up to 60 people at 1 time. 2 showers a week and with only cold water. He told us he slept on the floor and showed us the food they were given. Apparently the black and coloured prisoners were treated differently to try and cause unrest between the 2 groups. The coloureds were given better food and extra clothing. We both said how difficult it must have been for him to come back here but he said for him it was part of the healing process.

Apparently Nelson Mandela who's cell we visited, and other leaders told the prisoners to forgive the wardens that were beating them and starving them. It really is unbelievable some of the stories you hear. Everybody speaks highly of Mr Mandela and he seemed like an inspirational man. People have different views on what has happened and what has been left. It's not for me really to give an opinion, I've been here for less than 9 weeks, I can only base opinion on what people say. It seems like people are happy with the freedom that Mr Mandela helped fight for, but maybe things haven't quite turned out the way they'd hoped or as quickly as they would have liked.

We finished up or tour and headed back to Cape Town. We had a nice day and it's definitely something I'm pleased I've done. It doesn't quite have the wow factor in the sense of wow this is a nice place, but it does make you think.

Day 60

I'm really sorry but today's blog is going to be a bit boring. But like I've said before if I miss a day people worry. I will say though that you are probably better off reading Harry's blog.

By the time I woke up this morning Harry was nowhere to be seen. He had left at around 8 to go catch his ride to Hans bay. Today was the day he was going shark cage diving. It is supposed to be amazing over here and I'll get some of his photos and show you. With his GoPro camera it'll be as though I was there anyway. I would have loved to have gone, and I'm not making excuses but the Sharks were the least of my worries. Not many people know this but I have 2 real fears, some people fear spiders and snakes or other little creatures or even heights or flying, I fear being in small enclosed spaces, I'll annoy Tina by walking up 100s of stairs instead of taking a lift. Yes you may have seen me in a lift but notice how quiet I go and how still I stand. My second fear, it's not really a fear but I'm not a big fan of water, you'll never catch me holding my breath and swimming under water. So being stuck in a cage under water for 20minutes at a time minus the shark would be enough to get my heart racing. I'm actually gutted I'd love to do it as it is supposed to be an experience. I did consider just paying for it and going and then I'd have to face it, but at over a £100 it's very expensive if I then bottled it. Apparently the road trip was a nice 1 and Hans bay is a nice area but I think you needed to be on the trip to get the transfer and it was expensive again so I left Harry to it.

I spent my day tidying up, reading my book and watching football. Can't really compete with Harry's day can I. After sleeping on the sofa the night before I was pleased to have a lay in and catch up on some sleep. I was happy to just relax anyway. 

It's the first time me and Harry have spent much time apart this past 9 weeks which was nice. Not because we don't get on but because we spend every waking moment together the conversation has become a bit repetitive. So it was nice to do our own thing and then talk about it when we were back together. 

Ended the day back in Mixas surrounded by Man U and Liverpool fans, great atmosphere and good food.

Day 59

I'll start with last night. No call from Theo just a text saying no tickets to the game, disappointing but we weren't too bothered, like I said it would have been nice but doesn't make or break our trip. Harry then went up to bed while I sat downstairs messaging Tina and some friends from back home. As I had a late start today and because of the time difference back home I headed up to bed about 2. Harry had locked the door from the inside with our only key. Great. I went to security to ask for our spare, we had been offered 2 keys but we turned 1 down just incase we lost 1, left it somewhere or someone had been locked in or out, and it meant we could quickly go to security and get it. makes sense. However she had no idea where the spare was. I spent the next half hour banging on the door and wall, texting Harry and security was phoning the room phone. He was sound asleep. I had 2 options either go wake up 1 of the residents at 3 in the morning or sleep on a very uncomfortable sofa. Sofa it was, I set an alarm for 6 as I didn't really want to be still asleep when all the staff came in and walked past and thought that Harry might be more awake as we are usually up at 7 so hopefully he's in a routine of waking up then. I came up at 6 and the door was unlocked, time to get some sleep. 

Advice to anyone coming here next year, take the spare key, the sofa is not comfortable. Last year Jeff locked Luke in the room this year Harry locked me out so it must be something about this place.

My bed for last night.

After finally getting some sleep it was time to get up. Harry had planned to make an old family dish for lunch, it sounds awful but apparently it's amazing, I'm willing to give it a go. Unfortunately the electric in the area was off so no food. 

With a really bad day/night already I was ready to call it a day. We then had a phone call from Joe, his transport for the day had let him down and Densel was at a funeral. We headed to Ruyterwacht with 45 minutes till kick off. We were going to be late but Joe had phoned ahead to let them know. We arrived at Joe's and the junior team started getting into the car. They told Joe they were senior players but they were all 14 years old. Me and Harry looked at each other, an easy game today just got made more difficult. The car journey to the Italian club didn't help boost our confidence either, all 3 boys saying they weren't really fancying playing against men and they were a bit scared, great.

We arrived 10 minutes and the team we were playing were already half way through a friendly. They are the B team and aren't that great. Hopefully they would be tired, finally a bit of luck. Final whistle went and the Woodstock coach came up to me, apparently he thought we weren't coming so our league game would now be against a mix of their better A team players and the B team players that were still fit to play. Luck definitely not with me today.

The game started. Me and Harry the only seniors alongside Eric who was a junior but played with the seniors, and then 4 juniors. We started really well and found ourselves 1-nil up early on. Route 1 football, Harry played a long ball from near enough our goal line, I knocked it down into the path of Cecil who was left with an easy finish. They equalised straight away, they ran straight past Eric and Cecil and finished past our keeper. The half went on and as the younger players carried on you could see they were nervous and weren't up for it. Leaving me and Harry to work extra hard. 6-1 down at half time, probably a fair score line. 2nd half went much the same way, I'm not going to pick anyone out specifically as nobody had a great game, but the keeper shouldn't have been playing, and with a few older players we would have stood a much better chance. I think the final score was something like 13-3. Very disappointed with that game, but more disappointed that 1 of the other coaches picked out my fitness as an issue. I ran box to box for over 3 quarters of the game, I may have looked frustrated but felt fine. Didn't have a great game but felt that was unfair criticism, pick up on a mistake I made but I think that out of the 8 guys that played I covered more distance than most.

Our boys then went on to play a junior game and if I'm honest were outplayed from the off. The other team were doing all sorts of tricks and kick ups in the second half. They lost 10-3. Just shows that they weren't ready for the senior game in my opinion.

We came back and watched Arsenal hold on to a 2-1 win. Then we headed to Mixas we managed to get them to turn the England rugby game on to watch England win by 20 points against the French. Usually a great result but today we needed to win by 26 points to win the Six Nations, oh well great result none the less and on we go to the World Cup. 

Harry is off to go shark cage diving tomorrow, hopefully he doesn't lock me in or out and I'll be able to chill out around Berghof or head out to watch the football.

Day 58

After yesterday being so busy it was nice to have a lay in this morning. We had an early knock on the door from the cleaner. Luckily Harry answered and I rolled over back to sleep, thankfully I heard him say 'no he's sleeping' so she didn't do my room. When I eventually got up we went down for lunch, fish and chips, it was one of the better meals we have had which was good, until one of the last mouthfuls of fish where there were more bones than actual fish, which was a shame but can't blame the cook for that.

We headed to the learning centre  just after one. We didn't have much to do today so we spent an hour talking to Joe, Lourens and Robocop (Robocop is an old lady that still rides a motorbike, is signed up to a modelling agency and generally has more energy and life in her than most of the Berghof residents put together even though she is their age). I don't know why they call her Robocop but she says she'll bring in a newspaper that will explain all. I then sat down to right a little paragraph for Joe on our time here, he'd asked for it to be done so it can be sent off to be put in the work newsletter. 

We then had the Ruyterwacht girls training, after driving around for 10/15 minutes we found 3 girls that wanted to train, after a short kick about we called it a day. We were hoping to go to the game tonight with Theo, we said we would go anyway but it would be nice to go with him. Harry spoke to him earlier and apparently it's being played somewhere else, we can't get there ourselves and as I'm writing this we are waiting for a phone call from Theo to let us know if he's going. With just over an hour till kick off I'm guessing not which is a shame but who knows. 

Tomorrow we are again playing for Ruyterwacht against Woodstock B this week 12:45 kick off. Hopefully get a win, with time running out they need to win before we leave, we saw Woodstock B play last week and to be honest they weren't great, they are quite a physical team so hopefully the younger players have learnt their lessons from the last few weeks where they have let the physical players from the other team put them off their game.

We have also been invited to a jazz festival by Joe in the Company Garden, it should be good, not sure if we are going yet though.

Well I told you today's would be shorter, after the longest blog ever yesterday.

Day 57 Week 9 19th March

We are now it to the home straight and the finish line is in sight. The middle section of our time out here was definitely harder than the 1st. Our sessions had become very similar and progression was difficult as there were issues with equipment or the kids generally being more difficult. The fact we were missing home also made it harder. The first few weeks we were on a high as everything was all new, as soon as we became comfortable and got into a routine the high was replaced by home sickness and we weren't enjoying our work as much.

This week Mr Joe has done well, he has freshened up our schedule and we have had the best sessions to date. I think the fact we are close to leaving has also helped as we know we will soon be back which has taken away our bit of a downer. I spoke yesterday of Silvertree crèche, by far our favourite, Mondale high I think it was called on Tuesday saw some of the most talented boys we've worked with, and then today we had Trafalgar high which was great and I'll tell you all about it in a bit and then we had All Stars which was our best session out of all 8 weeks to date, we end the coaching  week tomorrow with the Ruyterwacht girls which are always good to train. A win on Saturday and a good performance will make it even better. I'm definitely enjoying myself a lot more again.

We started today at the learning centre with our 2nd of our computer workshops, we start at 9 and at 9:05 we had 2 of the expected 8 people, not a great start and had me thinking surely last week couldn't have been that bad. Luckily 5 more turned up, you have to understand that out here people go on African time, it basically means 10minutes late is in fact early and half an hour late can still be classed as on time. Frustrating but you get used to the laid back attitude, 1 of my closest friends back home is African so I've had many years to get use to it, you tell him to get somewhere an hour before everyone else just to make sure he is there on time, and he still strolls up like he has all the time in the world. Today we were teaching them how to use Microsoft Word. We had 1 girl that flew through everything and I'm not too sure why she is on the course, and then we had an older lady that was really struggling with the basics, it's difficult to do a class like that, I understand it can be difficult if you've never been in front of a computer before but we simplified everything and it was frustrating. Not that she couldn't do it but because we were running out of ideas to make it even easier, even typing her own name was a challenge. But she stuck with it and left the class with a smile on her face because she had achieved something, it was quite rewarding actually, I'd be lying if I said she had done exactly what we had set her but she managed to do something and she was pleased with her achievements and pleased that we were pleased with her. 

After a quick stop off at the shop for a koeksisters and some lunch we were off to Joe's old school. He took us on a history tour of where he used to live, where he played with his friends, where he met Vinolia and also took us to see district six, an area that was bulldozed to the ground around 30years ago when the government made their forced evictions. Hardly anything has been built on this area since. Joe quickly showed us where we would be coaching later on and then took us to Trafalgar high, he had to get back for a meeting and left us to it. We met Theo who was a really friendly Everton fan, he helped with the running of a club down the road and it was his field we were using and he also helps with the school. I took 12 girls while Harry took a group of boys, you'll have to check Harry's blog to see how his went but mine was great. Helped by seeing a familiar face, 1 of the Drommedaris girls was at the school and training with us. These girls were really good and a few of them had some real talent, it's surprising because girls football isn't big out here at all but most of these girls are at a club in a good level league. I did a passing and moving drill to start with, I had 4 girls in a diamond shape, with the rest lined up waiting to join in,  1 girl from the line would pass to another on a cone and follow the pass, the girl on the cone would pass to another and follow her pass, same with the third and then the 4th would pass back to the front of the line and the move would start again. The better girls moved the ball really well and the less talented girls seemed to up their game in order to keep up with them. I then got them doing a end zone type game and finished with a match. Pleased with our sessions we headed into the club house where Theo gave us drinks and buffet type food with hot dogs, samosas, bahjees and some other stuff. We sat talking for a while and he has even offered to take us to an Ajax game if he can get hold of some tickets, fingers crossed.

We finished our day with a short drive down to Woodstock where we met some of the All Star coaches. We talked football, Cape Town and London, then loaded the car with balls, bibs and cones. Yes you read that right, balls, bibs and cones and lots of each. We had been asked by 1 of the coaches to put on a session for the under 15s, they had asked if we could do some sessions that their coaches could use and help improve their boys. It's quite a common request some coaches watch and take notes, some ask lots of questions and some chose to walk away and it felt quite pointless. With All Stars we had 4 or 5 coaches watching and would ask some good questions as well. Today was the first session we had loads of equipment and felt we could do a good quality session for the coaches. We had 90 minutes and were asked to do a pressing drill, both Harry and myself had a drill in mind so we decided to do 45 minutes of each. Harry is a very attack minded player and his drill was an overload drill where the focus was on winning the ball back by pressing and going on to attack. I'm a defensive player so mine was focusing on winning the ball back after losing it and just generally on winning the ball back. I did mine first and it was quite and advanced drill, the boys got stuck in and it went really well. Harry took over the coaching of mine whilst I spoke and explained it to the coaches. While we were talking they asked if we could add in a 3rd session based around transitional play which I agreed to. Harry had a simpler layout to his activity but with the same intensity and difficulty, again the boys got stuck in and it went well. The coaches were impressed and we were really enjoying our coaching. The last drill was 1 the Dean had done with us, I've never used it on a group as it is quite complicated and I've never had a group I felt would cope. It fitted with what they wanted though, so I explained that it might not work but if they worked with it then it would be really useful. After a slow and confusing start it took shape and looked somewhat like it was supposed to. I'll try and explain it but this might get confusing....working on a square, 1 team stands on each side, each team send a player to go in goal to the side on the right. Still with me, 4 teams, 4 goals, 4 keepers. Working on 1 v 1s to start with, a player comes out and attacks the goal in front of them, after he has shot he becomes a defender for his goalkeeper, the team opposite his goalkeeper send a player out as soon as the last player has made a shot, they take their shot and then become defender for their goalkeeper and so on. The coaches really liked it and agreed that given time it would do exactly what they were looking for. 1 coach said he would introduce all 3 drills to his team which was confidence boosting in itself.

I was really pleased with how today went, it's a shame we are only coaching these places now as it would have been great to get them extra sessions but we are simply running out of time. We look forward to returning though. We both walked away happy and saying this was our best session to date.

It has been a long and tiring day and I've done an extra long blog to make up for a few quiet days now. I can't see tomorrow being as busy which is fine by me, late start as well which means we can catch up on some much needed sleep.

Day 56

Last night we were both exhausted so we stayed in and watched Arsenal play Monaco in the second leg of the champions league quarter finals. We needed to win by 3 clear goals. I predicted a 2-0 win and to go out on away goals, Harry predicted a comfortable 3-0 win at least and that we would ease into the next round. We had a little R10 bet, it was a bet I'd be happy to lose as I'd rather we went through instead of winning 50p. As predicted we won 2-0 and went out. It was disappointing and Harry decided to drown his sorrows with nearly a whole bottle of Baileys. 

We both didn't go to bed till late and with an early start it was very difficult to get up. I can't wait for the weekend to catch up on some sleep. Harry woke up feeling slightly fragile, probably wasn't the best idea to go into a crèche and play games with a hangover, but credit to him he got on with it and forced out a smile to make sure the children had a good time. We were at Silvertree crèche today, we decided that as it was a new crèche and with Harry not at his best we would keep to our normal routine and then over the next 2 weeks we can work on something more advanced if it was appropriate. We had 2 classes both did the movement activity which they both really got into and enjoyed. We then did the passing of the ball around the circle and our rolling of the ball game. Again both went down well. Our 2nd group mid way through the session broke into song and we had a good 5-10 minutes of them singing various crèche songs. It was great to see and it was a shame we had to stop them and get on with what we had planned. At the end we asked if they would sing us 1 more song, they sang about 4, it was great, so much energy and big smiles from the kids, teachers and us. I caught a few on video that I need to transfer over. We ended the session with our usual high 5s but as they were leaving we were mobbed and hugged by most of them as well. It was such a nice crèche and it's moments like today that make me greatful for the opportunity I've had, to come out here and see these kids and all their happy faces. The area was quite a poor area and most of the kids travelled in from some of the even poorer areas, and to see these kids laughing, smiling and having such a great time was so nice to see. With all the troubles they face at the end of the day they are kids, and they just want to have fun and play, I hope that with the good teachers they have they are given all the opportunities possible and stay on the right track.

After the crèche we went to the learning centre where we caught up with Azille and Lourens, Azille has asked us to do another computer class along with the 1 we already have, of course we agreed but a few peach biscuits and the offer of going for a drink when we go out next weekend sweetened the deal. We then spoke to Lourens about our planned tourist trips, he has decided against taking us to a cheetah farm and instead offered to take us out to see some of the nicer areas and to take us out for lunch. We were slightly disappointed by not going to the cheetah farm as it looked quite cool but Lourens has assured us this trip will be full of nice views, some great places to visit and some good food so we are looking forward to it. We also discussed Robben Island, it's a place me and Harry have wanted to go and see, it's supposed to be an 'experience' and I dont think I could come all this way and not go over there. Lourens is hoping to make it happen and I hope it does, I think we would both be gutted if we missed out.

We then headed to Drommedaris, we were supposed to be setting up space for a library, unfortunately the books hadn't arrived but we cleared out the room anyway. Just as we were leaving Harry's little girlfriend arrived, by that I mean the 8 year old Inam, the girl that had sent him a Valentine's Day card. He hadn't seen her for a few weeks so it was an emotional reunion. 

We then headed back to Ruyterwacht where we trained with Densel and the other boys, after being disappointed with Saturday's short cameo I was out to prove a point. I really want to get involved on a Saturday and as the teams that would need us for coaching or refereeing haven't been turning up the only other thing I can do is play. I know I'm not the best but it'd be nice to get involved. Me and Harry were on different teams in training and even with a player less his team was far better, I ran and I ran, I was exhausted by the end, it was a great workout but hard work. Bring on Saturday.

Day 55

Back to work.

The last few days have been good but it was time to get back to the coaching. This week is mainly new schools, crèches and clubs. Today we started with a crèche near to Riverton where we had been the last few weeks. This area is a mostly coloured community but the teacher told us that the majority of children at this crèche are coming from mainly black areas like Khayelitsha, also a few of the children are from other countries. They are taken to this crèche just before they start school in order to learn English, the teacher said it is a struggle, the kids from other countries speak mainly French and the type of Afrikaans they speak is not spoken by any of the teachers. Good luck to us then.

We had 3 classes of 25 kids ranging from 4-6 year olds. As they were young and weren't great with English or our accents we decided to stick to our simple activities and games. Firstly the movement game followed by the passing of a ball around the circle. All groups were quite shy and it was hard work getting them involved but we did it. To add to our difficulties a few of the boys were quite disruptive. We got there in the end. Hopefully like most of the crèches given time they will get used to us.

We returned to the learning centre briefly sorted a few things, had lunch and checked emails. Then we were off again. This time to Mitchell's Plain, an area we had been through but not coached in. We were at a new school, we were given the under 14s/15s/17s/19s all mixed together with around 32 kids in total. We started off with rondos, moved onto team possession in an area then matches. All the boys had kit, had boots and were of a good standard which was nice. Probably 1 of our better sessions. Football in this area is quite big and apparently they have a good league and matches set up. 3 of the boys were Ajax academy players so that was the sort of player we were coaching today.

We then head back, Arsenal vs Monaco tonight, we need to win by 3 goals. We've never lost to a French team away, Wenger going back to his old club, and Monaco having 1 of the best defences in Europe means it should be a good game.

Day 54

Today was a day I had been looking forward to for some time. There's a few things you just have to do when you come to Africa and Cape Town, be a real tourist, you have to climb table mountain, you have to visit Robben island and you have to go on an African Safari. I know a few Capetonians reading this will be saying what about.....? And how about.....? But from a tourist point of you they are probably up there as top 3 for a lot of people.

Today was the turn of the African Safari. Unfortunately Cape Town doesn't offer a safari as such but 2 hours outside of Cape Town there is a game reserve that offers 'the next best thing'. We booked up to go to Aquila game reserve, it was quite pricey but was as close to a safari we were going to get and offered an opportunity to see the big 5 South African Animals. We were slightly nervous as we had booked online separately but after a few emails to the company were assured we would be on the same transfer to Aquila and same safari. We were supposed to get a call yesterday before 8 to tell us what time we were being picked up, dead on 8 he phoned to say we would be picked up at a hotel around the corner at 6:10am. A nice early start, alarms were set for 5 and we managed to drag ourselves out of bed, we were tired but told ourselves it would all be worth it. 

After a short walk we waited outside the hotel. 6:10 came and no pick up, he arrived at 6:20 but drove straight past us and went to the other side of the hotel. Harry greeted the driver with a "hello, are you alright?", he didn't understand and after a few confused looks and Harry repeating himself a few times Harry gave up and the driver walked into the hotel. Good start. After waiting for him to return for some time Harry went and spoke to him to check that this was our mini bus, well it was mine, I was on the list, Harry wasn't. After I had emailed and checked a few times with the company they had still managed to mess up. Morning getting better. The driver wasn't happy but agreed to let us both on as he had 2 spare seats anyway so there would be space for Harry. We then continue to pick up other people and finally started our journey at 7:10. We were off on our 2 and a half hour journey. Both of us spent most of the journey asleep. When I was awake we were driving through some really nice areas and there were some amazing views, but I told myself I'd see them on the way back and sleep was of more importance at this stage of the morning.

We arrived and was welcomed by a lady serving drinks, grape juice or a glass of wine, we both agreed it was too early for wine so settled for grape juice in a champagne flute, we looked the part. We headed for reception, more bad news for Harry, he wasn't on the list, luckily he had his booking confirmation with him. But for the 2nd time there was no real check and they just took our word for it luckily for them we were genuine. We walked through and were seated and told we could help ourselves to the buffet breakfast, fried breakfast, cereals, pastries and a European style breakfast were on offer with teas, coffees and juices all available. All included in what we had already paid. We piled up our plates and enjoyed our biggest and best breakfast for 8 weeks. 

We made our way to the waiting area, I checked in and got my truck number and again Harry's name was nowhere in sight. 'No worries just follow those people' we were told, I'm guessing he thought you're here now you must be on the Safari. After waiting around for 10ish minutes we were off. We had hardly been driving for 5minutes and we were a few metres from 5 white rhinos. It didn't matter anymore about the bad start to the day the safari had started well. Our guide was full of information and humour and managed to get us really close. We then moved on to where the hippos were, 7 hippos just lying in the water, you read reviews saying that the animals weren't doing anything but if a hippo spends the majority of the day just laying down in water what do you expect? Got some great photos. Next up were the giraffes and Springboks and a little further down were zebra and ostrich. The place was huge but our guide seemed to know exactly where to find the animals, I know they probably don't wonder too far and you have people letting him know where to go but he found them all and got us as close as possible. After an hour and a half we stopped to stretch our legs and to enjoy a refreshment. Harry stuck with the grape juice and I went for a glass of wine. I thought as we had driven past so many vineyards I'd better try the wine, not bad. Back in the truck we went and there were 2 elephants in sight, they were a bit far away and thankfully our guid decided that we would get a closer look late and instead head to where the lions were. The reserve had fenced off the lions from the other animals for obvious reasons. It was disappointing that the lions were so far away, we could make out where they were but because they were near the top of their mountain we couldn't get any closer, it was a shame but we can say we saw 5 lions. We then found the elephants again and they were near enough within touching distance playing around trying to break a tree down. We then went to see the an area where they had a tame cheetah they couldn't let into the reserve for its own safety and 2 lions that were being treated because of some type of injury. It did mean we finally saw a lion up close though. With that our time was up and we headed back, another buffet meal, this time not as great, but I managed to get some chicken and potatoes which weren't too bad. We had an hour to sit in the sun and go for a swim. Unfortunately the weather had turned slightly cloudy so we gave the swim a miss and instead just sat around enjoying the views.

We were then picked up and then spent nearly 3 hours on the road getting us back to Berghof. It was a great day and I know it wasn't quite an African Safari but to me it was the closest I'll probably ever get.

Day 53

Sunday's are always our lazy days, you need a day in the week where you do nothing.

Harry wanted to go out and get some data for his phone and I wanted to have a quick look for some souvenirs. We had decided we would go back to the waterfront as there are some very nice souvenir shops and also a Vodacom where Harry could get his data. Last night Joe had text to ask if we would like to come round to his for lunch, we thought it would be a nice idea and accepted. We quickly sorted some bits out got some souvenirs and headed to Joe's for about 1. We had 1 of the best Sunday meals we've had since we came out here so thank you to the Africa family for the invite. After lunch Yonick, Vinolia and Jodi went for a nap and left me, Joe, Harry and Jaydon to watch a film. Joe chose Schindler's list which is roughly a 3 hour film about the Second World War and how a man saved a large group of Jews by offering them work. We watched the whole film then headed home. 

Today is Mother's Day back home, so I'd like to wish my mum a happy Mother's Day. I hope she had a great day and liked her card and present. It's the 1st year I've not seen my mum on Mother's Day, whether I've been working or busy, I've always managed to get home and see her, so I feel bad that I'm not there today. But she knows that I'll make it up to her when I get home. 

With it being Mother's Day I skyped home, and then sat down for the evening. Tomorrow is going to be a long day. We are up and out early but hopefully it'll be worth it. Expect lots of photos and stories tomorrow.

Day 52

Today was the 3rd round of the Communicare Action Soccer League, after going to training we were both hoping to get a game for Ruyterwacht. We were there to ref, coach or play but because some teams hadn't turned up we weren't need to ref or coach again. Harry started for Ruyterwacht and I got a disappointing 5 minutes in the 2nd half. As I left the pitch we were 3 goals up and in control but ended the match losing 6-5. A disappointing day all around, and Ruyterwacht are still without a win. We headed back and after getting ready tried to find a pub showing the Arsenal game, unfortunately the rugby was on and nowhere was showing football. Mixas had 5 TVs and we asked if the small 1 could be turned over but no all 5 must show the same rugby game. We walked out and it was a shame we was about to order food and have a few drinks. Instead we bought a few beers and headed to Berghof. A poor first half but a great goal from Giroud meant we were 1-0 up at half time.

It ended 3-0 and to celebrate we went back out to get food. We went to a Thai restaurant which had been recommended by Azille. It was so nice. I've never been to a Thai restaurant and I've never sat on the floor to eat before but I really enjoyed it. And again food out here is so reasonably priced. We can now tick that off the list of places to go. 

Tomorrow we plan to quickly go to the Waterfront to pick up souvenirs and a data package for our phones and then we've been invited around to Joe's for lunch and then we might go out to watch rugby/football in the afternoon. Quite looking forward to tomorrow now.

Day 51

Another quiet day to end a quiet week. We only had half a session today. We were supposed to coach Drommedaris girls but Joe had arranged for them to play Ruyterwacht instead. So we did a quick 20minute session and then they played 3 15minute halves. Drommedaris ended up winning 4-1.

After that we headed to Joe's to pick up Jayden and Jodi and went to GrandWest again, Harry took Jayden to the arcade while me Jodi and Yonick went to watch 'focus'. Not the best film but it was alright.

Sorry it's a short blog today, not a lot happened, hopefully the next few days will be eventful.

Day 50 Week 8 12th March

Into our 8th week and the start of our computer course. As the learning centre has been really quiet and with the computer course over subscribed Azille had asked us to do a basic computer course. 7 people turned up and we started with week 1, basic hardware and using the computer. What seems simple to us is very difficult to others that have never been in front of a computer before so it was quite difficult for us to try and simplify this particular session. But we managed well and by the end they were all typing up sentences on word, opening the internet and comfortable with using the mouse. Next week is slightly more difficult and includes using Microsoft Word again. Some of the people couldn't believe we were doing it for free and I think they were really greatful which was nice.

We finished up and headed back to Berghof as we were having our locks changed on our door and we needed to collect a key before the manager left. We stopped off at a cafe to pick up a koeksister, it's like a doughnut cooked in syrup with coconut, really nice, Harry can't get enough and has even asked for the recipe. We then got some lunch and headed to Berghof, our door hadn't been done, so we just chilled out abit as we didn't have to be back at work till 4. 

After sitting in traffic for nearly an hour we arrived in Ruyterwacht and picked up Joe. We went down to Bonteheuwel where we would be taking a session. We were given 25 kids, a few balls and a few cones. We had a decent sized pitch with goals, we were worried at first as 1 of the pitches had horses walking on it but luckily they were fenced in. We started by getting the boys into groups and just getting them passing and moving, there was little moving as the boys just wanted to stand still and pass. We then moved onto rondos which is the possession/ball retention drill we like to do. We noticed that a lot of the boys pass with their heads down and take far to long to release the ball. I decided that we would play 2 matches on 1 pitch, 1 would go vertically the other horizontally. This would mean that you have to keep looking up as there were 3 other teams on the same pitch. From the side it looks messy, and I'll happily admit that if I was sitting watching this from the side I'd think what is going on here. But it works it has a purpose and is part of what we like to call organised chaos. We finished up with a chat with 1 of the coaches, he wants to put in place a soccer development programme at the club, he said he tried but when he spoke to the chairmen his demands weren't met. He had asked for 60 footballs, I fully understand why he wants so much equipment and support the idea of helping out the kids, but realistically he went in too high with his demands. I hope he finds some support he needs. We were just leaving when 1 of the coaches mentioned they had been sponsored by Southend United, they had even been given Southend kits, Southend is a 4th division team back home that is quite local to me and I didn't expect them to be sponsoring a team in a small town in South Africa.

We quickly packed up and headed back, Harry had to rush back as he had booked onto an online FA Coaches course tonight. Apparently it was really good but I didn't stick around to watch. Late start tomorrow and an end to another week closes in.

Day 49

We started today with our third and final sessions with Ysterplaat 1 & 2. The first 2 sessions were a little bit tricky, the kids were a lot more lively but we had a few that were disruptive and a few that to put it politely were a bit slower than the rest. Both groups we did the stop start movement game as we felt that with the mood they were in continuity was better than trying to do something new. They fully understood the game and even told me the rules, but as soon as we said stop/freeze they wanted to get as close to us as possible. We then split the groups into 4 circles and did the passing the ball around the circles activity. We then went from four groups to two and then eventually had everyone involved, it worked so much better than starting with 1 big group and also meant they were constantly active and not standing around getting distracted. 

We finished up and moved to the other building for the final group. Our 1st week with them was great they were so much fun, 2nd week they were difficult so we weren't sure what we were walking into. Fortunately they were really well behaved again and we had a real laugh. We had an advanced session we wanted to try out but the kids took over, they wanted to play the movement game, we usually just get walk, run, jump, hop and skip, this lot wanted to do robot walks, animals and even created their own which is the purpose of the activity, to get them learning about ways they can move. We then were just about to start our original planned session when we had 30 kids chanting 'duck, duck, goose' at us, we gave in and gave them what they wanted. To be fair though we did do duck,duck,goose back at Arsenal with Dean so it is an Arsenal in the Community session, kind of. They really got into it and I didn't really want to end the session. But after shouts of Arsenal and high 5s they made their way inside. I've managed to get hold of a video of them chanting Arsenal and the high 5s I just need to work out how to get them from a memory stick onto my iPad so I can show you. We then went inside for a quick drink and a biscuit, as we tried to sneak out the kids saw us and we spent 5 minutes saying goodbye and giving more high 5s.

Joe had phoned and had said don't worry about coming in and to take some time off before our afternoon session. We headed back to Berghof for a bit of lunch and to get ready for the afternoon session. We were at De Waveren who have been given the unfortunate title of our worst school we visited. Last time we ended up with 80kids and 8 balls, it was difficult but we managed, our issue was the kids were uncooperative with us, they made our job a lot harder than it already was, we had put on a good session that we had organised last minute and even though they could see us struggling they went off and did their own thing. Harry and myself along with Joe were reluctant to go back to the school again, but between the 3 of us we decided we would just organise a game, we were keeping our side of the deal by being there but the teacher and kids had broken their side of the deal last time so we weren't prepared to give them a full session. We turned up and was told by the teacher that he was expecting us last week even though Joe had reorganised the session with him and he said he had turned over 100 kids away. The original plan for this school was that we would do 3 sessions each with 30 kids and it was up to the teacher to decide which kids arrived, I know this is a problem a lot of the other guys have faced but common sense says 100 kids split them into 3 groups and have 1 group per week and then they get the benefit of having a good quality session. They've missed out on an opportunity in my opinion.

After De Waveren we quickly drove to the shops, stopped off at the Africa house to say hi to Jodi and Yonick and then headed for training. We want to get some game time this Saturday so we felt we should earn it by going to training with Densel. We took part and it ended up being a couple of minutes of suicides followed by a 4 v 4 game. Me and Harry were on the same side with Eric who we had met before and another guy, we played some good football but this heat and a tiring day was catching up on us. Hopefully done enough to get a game on Saturday.

We headed back to Berghof for the evening. Tomorrow we start our computer teaching and have a new club to go to, should be an interesting day.

Day 48

Before I start today's blog property, I told you yesterday that it was Arsenal v Man U, FA cup quarter final, we won 2-1 we are heading back to Wembley, and it's the weekend after we get back so hopefully get a few tickets!!!

We've spoken a lot about going home lately, not because we have had enough of Cape Town but because home is in sight and the closer it gets the more we seem to miss it. In exactly 5 weeks 1 hour from when I sat here and wrote this we will be landing in Doha airport. As much as we miss home we want to make the most of our time here. We have now booked up or been on or at least planned and set aside a day for every touristy thing we had planned on doing. There's a few other places we would like to do but the places we couldn't leave without doing have been taken care of. 

On to today, we had 2 sessions at either end of the day, Riverton Crèche at 9 and the Wes Bank Club at 4. We started with the drive to Riverton, again we had about 12 kids, it's a very small crèche with only 2 classes, 1 is 3-4 year olds and then the class we take that our 5-6. We started off with our start-stop movement game, it generally lets us judge what mood the kids are in. The kids seemed to remember our songs from last week which was good to hear. We then moved onto relays which included dribbling the ball. I know we are football coaches but we like to get the kids moving and exploring movement and the feel of the ball rather than football drills, they seem to like the activities as well. We finished with the passing the ball around the circle game which we use as well, we then said our goodbyes, shouted Arsenal and gave high 5s and was out of there. It was our last session there and you could start to see that in 2 sessions they had started to get use to us. I really enjoy going to lots of different crèches and totally agree that we need to reach as many kids as possible, just wonder what progress we could make with an extra few sessions. 

We then went shopping with Joe for a few bits for our apartment then went to the learning centre. We sat around for about 4 hours with not much to, I know we are there to help people but if there's nobody in the centre or the people don't need help there's little to do, which is why I'm looking forward to the course we are doing on Thursday for the local people on using a computer. 

We left Ruyterwacht at around 3 to head for Wes Bank, last week we had about 40 kids and they had 1 ball. The coaches seem eager to learn so we decided we would put on a session that would be helpful to them. Even though we had balls and cones we used their equipment just so they can get an idea of some ideas of session, we decided there's no point putting on a session with 6 balls 20 cones if next week and in the future they don't have that equipment. We started with 14 boys, nice and easy, we ended up with 40+ boys, not so nice and easy. Harry took 1 group I took the other, we did a drill called change, basically you have 2 separate activities going on you shout change and the 2 groups switch. Usually it's quite a quick paced change over but we dragged it out a bit to show off some ideas. Harry worked with no football and played tag games, explaining how the movement in these games can be used in football. I had 1 football and did some passing and possession activities. We then ended with 4 teams, 1 on each side of a square, with a goal each. 2 teams opposite each other would come onto the pitch and play each other till 1 of them scored, they would then both go back to their goals and the other 2 teams played each other and so on. 40 kids 1 ball 2 matches 4 teams. It worked, slightly chaotic but in a good way, from the outside it looked a mess, from within it worked. After a few photos and questions we were off.

A quiet night planned after we both had very little sleep last night. Last sessions with Ysterplaat tomorrow and a return to De Waveren, our least favourite place since arriving here.

Day 47

Today was the day we had booked our Cape Penisula tour for. We were picked up just after 1 and headed towards the waterfront to pick up the other people on the tour. We had Maxwell our tour guide, we had a couple from Madagascar, USA, we had a couple from Nigeria and a guy from Singapore and then Harry and myself.

We were told the normal route would be slightly disrupted as some of the roads were closed because of the fire. Oh well not a lot anybody could have done about that, fortunately the 2 places I wanted to visit were still easily accessible, Simons Town and Cape Point. After just over an hour on the road we arrived in Simons Town, here you find Boulders Beach which is where you find all the African Penguins walking around the beach. I'm pleased we didn't take a whoLd day to come visit this area as it didn't look like there was much there but I'm pleased we went. We only had half an hour here but we managed to take lots of photos and look at all the penguins. We then went back in the mini bus up to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. It's the most South Western point of the whole of the African continent. We were up in the mountains and up in the clouds. Great views of the mountains, Cape Town and you can see where the two currents meet each other. We went up to the lighthouse and had a look around. We then took a drive through the nature reserve where we saw ostrich and baboons just wondering around freely. Nice little drive and lots to see. We then headed down Chapman Peak Road which has been closed all week because of the fire, it was here we watched the sun setting over Cape Town and looked over Hout Bay, there really are some amazing views along that road.

We finished up with some photos and headed back, we were supposed to finish at 5:30 but Maxwell wanted to show us some extra sights and didn't get back till gone 7. Quick food and down to watch the Arsenal v Man U FA cup Semi Final. I'm writing this before the game as if we lose I definitely won't be in the mood to write a blog. I'll leave you with some photos of today.