DAY 8: SATURDAY, 8 APRIL 2017 – TYRON JOOSTE: HISTORICAL TOUR TO STELLENBOSCH

Our camp site is situated in Stellenbosch, the second oldest town in Cape Town.  We were dropped off at the University of Stellenbosch sport grounds and our tour guide showed us the statue of The Father of Rugby, Danie Craven and his famous dog, Bliksem.  As we walked along the Eerste River, named because this was the first river that the first settlers saw.  Eersterivier is also the name of the area where the learners from my school and I live because the river runs through our area.  It was nice to see where the river sprung from.

Mr Markram, our tour guide, a History teacher, knows the history of every historic building in Stellenbosch.  He focussed his presentation on how Stellenbosch was shaped by the German settlers and I think our German friends appreciated it very much.  We were shown the slave quarters, a very old shop, Oom Samie se Winkel and the communal open-air market square, Die Braak where the first inhabitants of Stellenbosch would sell their goods to each other.  Stellenbosch is really a charming old village and I enjoyed the excursion very much.

We had free time to browse through the many interesting tourist shops, each of us paired off with a German friend so that they could buy souvenirs for their family members. Although the day was extremely hot, it was a very relaxing day.

When we arrived back at the camp, we prepared for our braai as we wanted to show our friends what a South African braai entails.  We waited in anticipation for the

arrival of Mrs Blum and her two children, Anna and Lukas.  Through-out the entire week of rehearsals and classes, we were told to work hard as Mrs Blum won’t tolerate any mistakes.  What a pleasant surprise when she arrived, she is a kind-hearted person and became a second mother for me on the camp.

The evening of the braai was the best ever.  It was a beautiful evening, we sat around the fire, sang songs, accompanied by Dominiques, and entertained by the dance moves of Tasmin and Shane. I never felt so happy.  The food was out of this world too.

I have never experienced anything like this camp in my entire life.  The two weeks that I have spent with the German learners from Carl Orff were the best two weeks of my life.  From the bottom of my heart, I want to say to Mrs Markram thank you very much for giving me this opportunity, planning every day so carefully and to the Blum family for all your help and support that you have given to us to make this camp possible.

Thank you.