Or should I say, my niece…. She is the most beautiful human being God created so far!
[Click on pictures for larger view
Yes, we went hiking again… it is an adventure walking over here, when in the middle of the jungle its hard to believe I am on a small small island… Anyways here is a small movie so you can see….
Other news is that I have been without internet for a week, and man do I have to go to some kind of rehab, because its just hard being without!! man …. bye for now
What is it these students actually do over at RVA and how does a normal day look like over there? Are they simply laying on the beach all day and stare at the beautiful palm trees?! These are but some of the many questions I was asking before coming here, so why not just come with a clear answer!
An ordinary morning we all hear the bell ring at 7 am. That is the signal for breakfast and initially we all where there a few seconds later. But now two months into the program one gets used and relaxed… well the right word would be that one feels more ‘home’ I guess, and so no one rushes around anymore, the Caribbean spirit of taking it easy is resting over all of us! Every morning one of us has to wake up at six o clock to make this breakfast… I know it’s early!
After breakfast there is what we call ‘morning action’, which means morning duties, but for some reason a lot is labeled with ‘action’ over here, don’t ask me why! The duties vary and we all get a different area to take care of every week. It can be cleaning the kitchen, halls or bathrooms, baking bread, gardening, taking out the trash or some other things. Obviously everything is what you make it and so the most daily routines can become a blast I you want it to… so fun!
Afterwards there is time for showers, Email-checking or a divine nap before the first lecture of the day. In my team most people has a tendency to be a bit late because why in the world would anyone want to have lecture without a nice cup of coffee?! … so a quick run into the kitchen, grabbing whatever comes to mind and the lessons starts. What we learn varies; it can be practical sessions, interactive discussions, classical deep going informative classes or even seeing documentaries. We cover a bunch of various topics, all to get as prepared as possible for our time in Africa later on. We even have language classes, some learn or better up their English, myself I am studying Portuguese… Why in the world Bob, of all languages? True there… well the reason is that in Mozambique where I am planning to go, this is believe it or not their actual language! So when going there I will in fact understand what in the world they are saying and hopefully talk back as well.
Afterwards it is time for lunch and then we either continue with more lectures, get time to study or going to community work. The community work is twice a week and for our team this means walking to a secondary school and teach the kids Spanish, Math’s, English, Computers, and helping out with sport activities. At first I thought this is a piece of cake… I am going to teach them computers… how hard can it be right! I mean I have been emailing for years now, can’t be much to it! Well little did I know, because first of all there is more preparation for one of these classes than I thought, then over here sometimes the students will just not show up and the complications can sometimes grow like there aint any working computers! Hurray I am teaching computers without any computers!
At 7 pm. We eat dinner and man am I usually hungry by now! After dinner there is time left for a meeting, maybe a documentary, or just hanging around the area playing ping pong, taking a late dip in the ocean, skyping with my folks back home, playing a game of poker, hanging around the Brazilians (they are quite a bunch of them here!) or just making a banana-shake in the kitchen.
Day is over…. Goodnight!
-Bob van den Eijkhof
An ant got under my computer screen ARGH!! I didnt know that was even possible… I felt mad and wanted to kill the little thing, but then it died right there under my screen… more ARGH! Its going to be there forever and ever… What a cruel world we are living in people!
After a minute into this video Bono starts preaching…
…among other things he says: “No matter if you belive or not God is with the poor”
Hi Guys, So How was my weekend?… well most probably better than yours!… hehe chick this out!
Just made a new video which is a presentation of our wonderful team… see what ya think
Look what we made…. wow… !!
Another movie… about our team cleaning a school at “Petit bordel- (dont translate this!! ) secondary school”. Yes, ladies and gents, I am not only laying at the beach all day you know… however this weekend we are having our first free weekend, which will be spent on one of the neighbouring islands… So on friday evening we will take the boat and head to another paradise … mmm…
Ok seriously, this is maybe not a good english teacher, but for us swedish people he is kind of funny!
… and no I have not made this movie… shiiii do you realy think I make everything!?!
Here is yet another movie I made for the Richmond Vale Academy´s homepage about our fundraising week. Bas I am totally hitting the movie-making industry !!
Well that was a great weekend… now its monday and back to work, here is a small video… I have to apologise for my hair, but I just came out of the water and it looks like WAAH… yeah… you know what I´m saing?!?
Here at Richmond Vale Academy (RVA… because its such a freakin long name!!) we do Garden work… mum you would be proud of me! So here is a little presentation from that department … It might be put out on the academies homepage so it’s a bit formal… I know … not my style but hey what the heck at least you are seeing a bit of our ordinary day =) just watch it will ya!
Coming all the way from a big city –suburb in Sweden, St Vincent and the rest of the Caribbean with its untouched nature, warm climate, warm hospitable people and tourist-free surroundings this island surely is an ideal place. This also includes the small but yet challenging difficulties that goes with coming over here, such as the mosquitoes, cold shower in the morning, the seven o clock breakfast, hard work and let’s not forget the absents of my favorite TV program… it’s all a part of the… adventure here at the Richmond Vale Academy. But then again these minor drawbacks are long forgotten when being at the beach, snorkeling among the colorful fishes, freely eating fruit from numerous different trees, hiking to the waterfalls and hanging out with the people over here.
Mmm!
