I have had a very busy couple of weekends and have had barely any time to write a blog entry. Two weekends ago was the Round Square African Regional Conference, which was an awesome experience. I want to tell everyone now that if you have a chance to go to a conference take it. It was so cool meeting all of these people and seeing the area around Bridge House School.
The first day was cool because it was the opening ceremony and I got to see all the different schools. Helen Thompson and I met up and talked about our exchanges. It was nice to hear an American accent.
The second day started early with a speech from a man that had survived the Rwandan genocide, and then later made his way through Africa until he ended up in South Africa. He started work as a car guard and petitioned the South African government to give him financial aid, even though he was a refugee. Due to his high grades in high school he was accepted and majored in Physics. After listening to him, all the delegates broke up into small groups to discuss his speech. Then these groups went to various service projects. I went to one of the local townships and played with the kids and then gave them a meal. After this we returned to school for an open mic night.
The next day we went to a local winery and did a five kilometer walk. After this my group went to a water treatment plant and learned how water is purified. It was very boring. Later we heard Lewis Pugh, the man who swam one kilometer over the North Pole, speak to us about following our goals. Later in the evening we had a night market, with food from around the world. The final event that evening was a disco which was very cool.
On Sunday we went on a hike and then returned for a series of presentations from people involved in conservation work. One was a women working on reducing the trapping of leopards by farmers, one was working to reduce the poaching of Rhinos, and the final person was Ella Bella, who is the youth environmental ambassador to the United Nations. Later we had the closing ceremony and then the next day we had a brief meeting then said our good-byes.
After a few days of school it was the weekend. On Friday night there was a big hockey match. Unfortunately Bridge House lost 1-0 but it was well fought against a very good team. On Saturday I saw the Avengers but on Sunday my exchange partner, some friends, and me went up to the top of Table Mountain. The view was amazing and I had a good time exploring up there. I don’t know what I am doing next weekend, but I will keep updating you.
The Athenian School Exchange Blog 