Just chillin'

I did wake up in time for church and made it on the free bus that goes around picking up people for church. There I found out the pastor's reason why he wanted me there. I had to hold a speech, to greet everyone and let them know who I am. It came from the bushes so I had no speech prepared. In my opinion I did well improvising the whole thing and actually got some ooud laughs out of the audience.

On Monday I went to visit downtown Joburg with two guys I met at the fellowship , Rocko and Remano (I met them before but that's when I talked to them). We walked around, went shopping and just fooled around. I still have lots of parts to see in the city and lots of people want to take me to different spots so they'll have to figure out who takes me where.
I also went to get a haircut, and got a head massage which hasn't definitely happened to me in a barbershop in Finland. The barber also trimmed the edges with razorblade and the whole thing took around 10 minutes and cost 35 rand, which is just over 2 euros.

Work has been mostly office stuff this week, easter holiday started and not many kids show up at the centre. We planned the sport's day, tried to get sponsors for the prizes, lunch etc; cleaned the centre and organised the library. On Wednesday night when I was watching TV alone in Sydney's house, security guards showed up at the door and told me there was an alarm at the centre and I had to accompany them to check it. Luckily it was a false alarm.

Today I went to the church because Rocko asked me to have easter lunch with his family, because it's Good Friday. There were 2 kinds of fish, and lots of different salads. For dessert we had custard and jelly and cake because there was a surprise birthday party for one guy named Able.

Afterwards we drove around meeting new people and just walked around on the street. Rocko and others went to dance in some house and I didn't bother that much because I can't dance. Rocko promised to teach me to dance though.

Now I'm sitting at his home, where I'll stay the night because in the morning we'll leave to Soweto.

BBQ etc.

I've set myself on certain routines. I wake up at 9am, take a bath, eat breakfast and just go lay in the sun because work usually starts at 1pm for me. I apply a thick layer of sun screen first though; I burned myself once and I'm not thrilled to do that again. Sometimes I go to the local shop and buy soda, which is really, really cold in the fridge there.

Easter holidays started on Friday and we thought Thursday and Friday will be slow at the centre. We were wrong.

Sydney had to go run some errands on Thursday morning so I was left to open the centre all by myself. Soon as I unlocked the doors and turned off the alarm, a woman in distress came in and told me his son uses drugs and is geared up on something right now. She said he agreed to go to rehab though but doesn't know how long he thinks that way so we need to act fast. I didn't know where to send him, I thought of clinics or the rehab center ran by Sydney's wife's brother. In the end I just tried to calm her down and informed Sydney so he can come and sort it out.

It'd take Sydney 1 hour to get back so I told the woman to go home and come back in a bit. After she was gone, a horde of little kids showed up at the centre even though it was raining and then I remembered. They're supposed to get a snack, but we didn't do shopping the previous day. I ran to the shop in something that could be classed as a tsunami but made it back alive.

Friday was calm at work, some kids proud of themselves showed up but mostly to just show their report cards. We planned the sport's event a bit more, settled on a date for it and I made the posters.

Saturday I accompanied Sydney and Joshua to a fellowship of men meeting at the church. We sat around the table drinking coffee and tea, singing and talking. The men were interested in what Finland is like so I told them everything from the nature to politics, which led us on a discussion of South African politics. The priest had lots of strong opinions and in my opinion really good ones too. He told me he is going to take me fishing someday.

We also went to visit Sydney's wife's, Zipporah's, brother again. I rode there on the open back of a pickup truck which I think is pretty illegal in Finland.  There were lots of people again and I introduced them to the Finnish board game "Star of Africa", which I brought with me from Finland as a gift. Afterwards I played soccer and hide and seek while waiting for the men to grill us some steaks and chops. It felt really good to eat lots of meat again because the daily diet here doesn't include the amount of meat what a Finnish man is used to.

Tomorrow I'm going to the church in the morning because I promised the priest I'll be there, a decision I somewhat regret now because I'm pretty tired after all that running earlier. We'll see if I manage to force myself up in the morning.

Settling in

Everything is different here and in the start life here felt surreal. I've travelled around Europe and seen many different counties but you can really notice that I'm on the other side of the globe.

Biggest difference to Finland is the crime. Everyone are so careful when it comes to security. There are fences, gates and locks everywhere. Windows are barred and some fences are lined with barbed wire.

It's understandable when you hear the stories. I was talking to the lady next door and she was robbed the previous week while walking back home from the shop, and the shop is just 100 meters away. She also told me that she has to take the long way around when visiting her father because the straight route goes through a shacktown, in which some old lady was strangled last week.

Other less grim differences are the people,  who say hi and ask how you're doing even if you don't know them. I sat on the sofa the other day and some guy saw me through the open door so he shouted "hey boss, how're you?".

One thing I also had to get used to is eating with hands. I still use a fork sometimes but I want to act like the locals do so I try to manage. One thing that scares me though is the amount of bread served, it's used as a helper when eating with hands. People drink lots of coffee and tea, but the coffee is nowhere as strong as in Finland, and as far as I've seen, always instant and not brewed.

At work we're planning activities for the centre because at the moment it acts as a homework club for most part. So far these plans include cooking nights, sports day, parent's day and hands and crafts to spruce up the place.

First church

After I finished the last blog update couple days ago, more kids showed up and I had to try and explain where Finland is. Wisened by this,  when we set up a library in the youth centre the next day, I searched for an atlas with a map of Earth. I don't think I've ever seen such big reaction of amazement and surprise when I showed how far away I come from.

Most of my days at work I help kids with their homework, mostly english and maths. The skill level varies a lot, and there are 12 grades but for example there can be a 15 year old and 21 year old on the same grade.

I gave suggestions to Sydney about having different days and more activities for the centre, like board games and cooking nights etc. and we started planning them for the future weeks.

I'm not a religious person, but I just got back from my first African church and it couldn't be any different than Finnish. There are electric quitars, drums and back singers and the whole church participates with lots of passion. The whole service in general has lots of interaction with everyone. I probably had to greet around 40 people 5 times each.

Arrival

I finally arrived 17 hours later in Johannesburg through a connection in London. I was instantly greeted with warm weather which was a nice change from the sleet rain in Finland.

I met with my host and employer Sydney and abandoned my traveling companions,  Anni and Jenna who are going to work at a different place.  After a relatively long and dangerous drive (South Africans drive almost in the same way as Italians) we arrived at Lenasia which to a Finnish middle class looks like slums, and I can't be much wrong since there is a shack town.

After getting coffee with Sydney and his wife we went to see the youth centre Sydney runs, Joshua's Haven. We talked about what usually goes on there and what Sydney would like for me to bring to the place. After a short while a 9 year old girl shows up to do her homework and I am greeted by the fact that not everyone has English as their first language.

Hot day changes to hot and humid when it starts raining. Sydney says it's a good thing since there's been a drought but on the flipside it means less kids coming to the centre,  and only 2 more have shown up at the time of writing this. Which I'm doing in absence of anything else to do.

Welcome to my blog, where I try my best to describe my life and events for the next 10 weeks when I'll be in Johannesburg, South Africa. The reason why I'm going there are my current studies. I'm studying to become a youth and leisure instructor in Haapavesi Folk High School in Finland. My education is heavily influenced by practical lessons and learning by doing so we have lots of work practices to complete if we ever want to graduate.

I knew from the start that I want to do a work placement period abroad, but wasn't really set on where until last November and at the time of writing this I have around 20 hours till my flight leaves Helsinki. So I guess it's too late to back off or change my mind now.

It's hard for me to describe how I feel at the moment, I rarely get nervous and even right now I don't feel that anxious, just happy and excited. I've never been outside Europe though so we'll see if I freak out at the airport tomorrow so keep an eye on the news for live coverage of me doing stupid stuff.