31 August 2011 - New York! New York!

A tearful departure was somewhat delayed when Victor discovered he had left his camera at Nathan's house, but we set off bravely with tear- stained faces at around 10:30 under the cheerful protection of a bus driver called Jim.

A deadly silence fell over the the bus broken only by the gentle snoring of the sleepy inhabitants and the rattle of the windows as we sped our way inexorably down Highway 91, towards the city of New York. We saw very little sign of Irene apart from a few broken branches and most of our crew awoke as we crossed over the Hudson River and the silhouette of the Manhattan skyscrapers became visible against the rising sun. Our first sight of the city that never sleeps!

The Hotel Wellington strikes one as a gracious old lady slightly down on her luck with frayed underwear showing. We were kindly allowed to settle into our rooms and ate a hearty breakfast before being picked up by our tour guide, Doug and his mono-syllabic driver/friend Sanchez. Doug proved to be an unusual guide with a slightly quirky perspective. Our first stop was outside the apartment building where John Lennon met his end at the hands of a crazed fan. We walked from there to a quiet memorial in his honour. This area of Central Park has been named Strawberry fields in his memory.

The park is huge and forms a green lung for the inhabitants of the city. It is full of interesting places, carefully designed to delight the viewer.

We were then taken on a journey through places of interest around the city, many of which stand out because of familiar films and television episodes; the Friends apartment, the court steps from Law and Order, the boat pond from Stuart Little etc.

Under the watchful eye of the New York Police Department Sanchez stopped the bus, often to the blast of taxi horns, to allow us to see the Catholic Cathedral, the Statue of Liberty and the bomb site from 9/11. Doug made this stop especially poignant by telling us his personal experience of that day. There is a small 18th century church which miraculously survived the collapse of the towers in spite of being mere metres from the epicenter. It is a beautiful and humbling reminder of man's ability to rise above tragedy.

We then set off across town to our final destination; the Empire State Building. Although our knees felt jelly-like we were appropriately impressed by the magnificent 360 degree view. After this the kids were allowed to explore the delights of Broadway and Macey's and the numerous shops in the area. As we strolled home we were drawn to a gathering crowd at the back door of the theatre where Saturday Night Live was being filmed. We felt like paparazzi as it became evident that the centre of attraction was no one other than Alec Baldwin and we snapped away merrily with the numerous photographers. We are now seasoned New York travelers, but will be sad to leave a city only half explored with our limited time. So its J.F.K early tomorrow morning and then the long trip home.

30 August - Mopping up after Irene

The horrible news that all flights into New York had been cancelled struck us in our first period of school. The rest of the day was spent looking for alternative forms of transport to get us to New York on time. A sad compromise was the hiring of a tour bus which meant the kids leaving their hosts before the allotted time and caused much wailing and gnashing of teeth. But, hey, no use crying over spilled water. All things being equal this has been an experience of a lifetime. Good friendships were made in Chagrin Falls and if your children are sad, it is only because they cannot stand the thought of leaving all of this behind.

Thank you to all the Chagrin families and teachers especially Bill and Britt for making us feel so completely at home. We will miss you all. And now a new adventure awaits.

29 August 2011 - The farm, the ghost hunter, the big water fall and the sexy shoes

So...we bravely set off in the early hours of Sunday morning thundering towards our next adventure. We stopped at Murphy's farm and were given a tour of a century old apple orchard and fruit farm with a beautiful decaying manor house and barn. Here runaway slaves were hidden from the authorities on the underground railroad. A lady in period costume led us down to the creek/crick in which the escaping slaves waded on their journey to freedom in Canada. Just as the kids eyes began to glaze over at the long historical lecture our guide let slip earnestly that she was a ghost hunter. Sudden interest swept through the ranks and Darrel asked her if his inimitable way what ghosts looked like to which she replied: "Just like you, just dead" so now you know! A ghostly silence...

The tables groaned under the weight of fresh produce, salads, meat, cheese and rolls placed before our hungry mob and was quickly devoured before we continued toward our appointment with sogginess. We visited two significant places: "the cave of winds" and "the maid of the mist". The cave of winds meant walking though a hurricane of wetness with a plastic wind breaker between us and the elements. The elements won! Without exception we came back soaked to the skin yet exhilarated by the adrenalin rush of 400 tons of water per cubic metre per second pummeling down on us. Part of the deal was a set of very stylish foam sandals which would no doubt double as flotation devices should we be washed overboard. We boarded the maid of the mist in an already slightly sodden state and were thoroughly saturated by the time we returned. The falls were beyond description. Powerful, majestic, awe-inspiring are some of the inadequate descriptions that spring to mind.

The journey back was one of silence as exhausted bodies sprawled around the bus and we retired to our beds late at night.

27 August 2011 - Watching the storm!

We woke up to news of the imminent arrival of hurricane Irene onto the east coast just south of North Carolina. By all accounts it will bring strong winds but will not have the devastation of Katrina. We are confident that our flights will go ahead as planned, but we're watching closely.

We were allowed a much needed sleep-in this morning and met Bill to go and visit his hometown, Berkshire. It the centre of the town square their is an old sagging log cabin. Inside we were given a tour of the maple syrup making machinery by a well-fed lumber-jack looking man. We bought kettle popcorn at the local market made by another large man with a stick and a copper kettle. We walked along the main street and popped into an antique shop. The owner was a doctor of genetics and was most excited to tell us that he had recently given a lecture on genetic mutation in the Afrikaner community. We offered to leave Paul Venter as a live specimen, but the good doctor felt that his mutation had gone too far. Back at the market an Amish woman sold fresh produce - our first sighting! We were warned not to take photographs of the Amish people as they believe that the photograph may capture a piece of their soul. We visited a replica of a 19th Century town where a wedding was being prepared with popcorn on every table. We drove into Amish country carefully avoiding the buggies and horse manure. We stopped at an Amish road side store and saw some of the beautiful quilts for which they are so famous. The dolls and teddy bears have no faces as this would be making graven images - a bit creepy to the unschooled eye. They are charming people who live simple lives and eke a living from the soil and their handy craft. It was quite amusing to see a line of buggies parked outside the local Wallmart and we clandestinely took a snapshot. Also worth mentioning is the drive-through window for buggies at the Mary Yoders Amish kitchen where we had lunch.

Tomorrow we visit the Niagra Falls so it is up early once more.

26 August - so....the late edition written by Paul

Went to our first football game yesterday, with the students and faculty of Chagrin falls. Go tigers!!

As we got to school early in the morning we were greeted by an air of excitement as cheerleaders were handing out stickers that showed their support for the tigers. From floor to wall every thing was covered by orange and black banners.

The excitement wasn't long lived as our learners had to first do a presentation in the filled to the brim auditorium. We were very proud of the manner in which our country and school where promoted by them, especially Michel and Dillon in their " help my sterk lyk" shirts, well done , you have made us all very proud.

Before we could go to the game we had a field trip to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum and the Science Centre in Cleveland on the banks of the great lake Erie.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum was a wonder to behold. A place where we saw an abundance of guitars, the history of rock and roll music and rock memorabilia including the Lady Gaga dress made out of beef, yes that's right beef! We had a wonderful time playing around in the science centre. We made tornadoes out of smoke, played with bubbles, landed shuttles on the moon and did a lot more. Then it was time for the big game, Tigers vs Revere HS. Now in South Africa we have rugby but here they have football, cheerleaders and a 100 member band playing at any given time. I find the game rather exciting, the thought of taking somebody down like they owe you money is epic! Our boys took some time in teaching the cheering zoo, some of our school's cheers and may I say, in the language of the young folk, that it was "sick".

25 August 2011

So ... (all sentences in Ohio begin with ‘so’)... so the day began with an early breakfast and Bill Kline kindly fetched us from our hotel. We arrived at school fairly early to see various trees and branches blown down by the previous night’s storm – which we all slept through. It must have been a humdinger as the lights when out in a good portion of the student’s houses. As a result Nathan (who houses Joshua and who, it should be said, is late for everything anyway) was late, as was Joshua. It is also the birthday of Dylan and Victor. Apparently there is a surprise being planned for them by the Chagrin students, but we have not been let in on it. We shall find out tomorrow when we all travel to the Rock and Roll Hall of fame. I asked the Chagrin students if they could name any famous Rock and Rollers from Cleveland but they were a bit vague on this point. So it seems that the term Rock and Roll was coined in Cleveland but no Rock and Rollers actually come from here. The school day was fascinating. The Cornwall students mostly followed their partners around the school for a full school day. We bumped into them from time to time. At one stage I met Michael in passing and asked if his accent was scoring him any credit with the American girls. He said yes, but he was not acting upon it. I continue to wonder what this means, exactly.

Having learnt some rudimentary Arabic (Saba!) and the ‘SoapsTone’ method of analysing non-fictional literature, I bumped into our group outside, planning for tomorrow’s assembly. Samantha has taken this task in hand and they seem ready to show off our school a bit. A general consensus was that the school work is easy – Roxy was especially pleased with her ability to handle Maths and Science and the small SATS test that the class she attended wrote. The teachers then bunked the last class of the day and snuck into town for some Starbucks coffee. We walked back and saw a local mum (and kids) being pulled over by a patrol car, clearly for violating the code of the road – serious patrolman with Raybans, checks his on- board computer for previous violations, before he gets out and approaches the suspect with hand on holster. Lynette pointed out that in SA the crime finding laptop would have been stolen from his vehicle while he was speaking to the offender – given that it was still running, maybe the vehicle would have gone missing too!

Tomorrow we become experts on the history of Rock and Roll – watch this space.

24 August 2011

As the Chagrin Falls High School students moved to their classrooms for the first day of school, the Cornwall students piled onto a yellow school bus for a day trip to the Case Western Reserve University, the Cleveland Museum of Art and one of the University Hospitals.

The Case Western Reserve University is seen as one of the top universities in America. This university offers over 75 different fields of study and 4000 students are currently enrolled here. What makes this university quite unique is that once a student is accepted by the university they can switch between courses as they like. If you want to drop engineering to switch to dance, that would be accepted. Their lecture-student ration is 1 to 9, but can also be much higher depending on your field of study. With a motto like: "think beyond the impossible" one can imagine that researching a car paint that would "heal" itself after the car is scratched is not far fetched after all. We were taken on a tour of the beautiful campus and given the opportunity to look at a typical dorm, that a freshman (1st year), would stay in. Our tour guide Kate, is a pre-med and also takes classes in music and psychology - her goal is to move onto researching the influence of music on the brain. Fees are $54 000 per year and international assistance is available. Cars and trailers with students and furniture started arriving as we were getting ready to move on to our next destination.

The Cleveland Museum of Art was a short walk from the university campus and lectures often take place at the museum. After being treated to lunch by Mr. Kline it was time to start exploring the museum. There were so many awe-inspiring works of art to admire, but not enough time to see all of it. It was a privilege to admire the painting by artists such as Picasso, Monet, Renoir and Vincent van Gogh. All too soon it was time to move back to the bus to be transported to the newest addition to the group of University Hospitals.

We were taken on a tour of the impressive University Hospital. Here they cater for obese patients with bigger room, beds and wider doors so that the big wheel chairs can be pushed into the rooms. We met a South African doctor who after 19 years of living in the US still maintains his South African Accent. We appreciated him taking time out of his busy schedule to meet us.

...and so we come to the end of another wonderful day in Chagrin Falls. Tomorrow we're all attending classes...

23 August 2011

Cleveland Indians vs Seattle Mariners

We made use of public transport for the first time today as we took the Rapid Transit to the impressive Progressive stadium to watch the Cleveland Indians take on the Seattle Mariners.

It was with great excitement that we gathered in front of the stadium to meet some of the mascots. To our surprise we were met at the gate by an official, each given a goodie bag and promptly taken to walk out onto the field. This was a rare treat which we enjoyed very much. Unfortunately we could not linger as the game was about to begin. To attend a game like this is about a lot more than just watching baseball. The spectators are encouraged to become involved in the cheering and Shaun and I were both lucky enough to catch t-shirts that were thrown into the crowds. When a ball is hit into the stand and you catch it, you get to keep it. Maddie caught 3 balls and gave them to some of the CHC kids.

The game moved on from the 1st innnings to the 9th faster than I thought it would. At the end of the 8th innings the Indians were behind with 1 run, but during the 9 innings they scored a home run with another player somewhere on a base that could also finish a run and won the game! In case you did not know, we all cheered for the Indians. All in all it was a great expierence and of course we all had a" leka big hot dog".

On our way home we were shown a set where a German film is being produced. Quite strange to see the flipped German police car in an Cleveland street. The first week of our exchange has flown by and everyone is tired, but very content.

22 August 2011

The start of the new academic year.

Today was the first day of the 2011-2012 academic year for the Chagrin Falls Schools. It kicked off with a continental breakfast at the High School and from there we went to the school auditorium for a district meeting. Staff from all 3 schools in the Chagrin District attended the meeting. Shaun, Paul and I were introduced to the staff and were made to feel welcome. Shaun then addressed the meeting and his sense of humour was appreciated by all. New staff members were introduced and looked quite intimidated on stage. The recipients of these awards were touched and became quite emotional as their families were also invited to attend and some even brought flowers. The chairperson of the board as well as the chairperson of the parent - teacher association also addressed the staff and expressed their appreciation and gratitude for all the work done by the educators. The Gurney (pre-school to Grade 3) and Intermediate School (Grade 4 - 6) staff then left as they are located on separate campuses. The High School is divided into a Middle School (Grade 7 and 8) and a High School (Grade 9 to 12).

The Superintendent, Dr. Bill Koons, who is the head of all the schools, invited us to the Gurney and Intermediate campuses where he addressed meetings. Issues such as the previous years results and curriculum changes were discussed. Read more on the success of the Chagrin Falls Schoosl at: www.chagrin-falls.k12.oh.

It was a very informative and interesting day and we realize once again that the issues and concers here at CFHS and CHC are not that different.

Our learners were taken to the Cedar Point Amusement Park for the day by Mr. Bill Kline, as students here only return to school on Wednesday.

21 August 2011

Chagrin Falls.......

Exchange students, parents and teachers met at the Wilson's house for a brunch. Simon's parents cooked pancakes for all of us, but not just any pancakes..... chocolate chip and banana pancakes. The rest of what was on offer at the brunch was just as delicious. The Wilson's are warm, welcoming, hospitable people and it was great to chat to them and to discover that we share the same problems, concerns and joys on both sides of the Atlantic.

Brittany then took us on a scenic drive to Hunting Valley and Russell, but we all agreed that Chagrin Falls stands out as a very special town where the community is very important. It was so refreshing to stroll along the avenues and wander in and out of shops that are located in age-old buildings and not in shopping malls. The council of Chagrin Falls does not encourage the chain type stores that we are so used to in South Africa, so the shops are very unique and beautiful. We went to the famous Popcorn store and saw the Chagrin Falls which are located in the centre of town. When you look at the photographs you will notice that no effort was spared to make this charming town attractive to visitors.

Shaun, Paul and I were treated to dinner at the Gamekeeper's Tavern which is in a building where rooms have been somewhat haphazardly added to over many decades. That in itself adds to instead of taking away from the charm of being able to order a food normally not seen on regular restaurant menus.

We then attended a "Meet the teams" evening at CFHS. All the sports teams of the next season were introduced to parents and supporters. The head coaches were given the opportunity to speak to the parents and give them some relevant information regarding the season ahead. It seemed a very worthwhile exercise and created a lovely atmosphere and spirit.

We look forward to our first official school day tomorrow as it is very comforting to know how friendly people are here.

20 August 2011

Today we went hiking in the South Chagrin Falls reserve. This reserve forms part of the Cleveland Metroparks. We walked along the Chagrin River to view the Squaw Rock Carving. http://www.clemetparks.com/ Renel, our guide pointed out interesting facts as we hiked and caught all kinds of creature to show us. We even saw a kind of freshwater crayfish. Although it was very muddy and slippery at times everyone enjoyed the hike. It certainly is breathtakingly beautiful here in Ohio.

This evening we were at a Cook Out at the Loomis family residence. They have a lovely home and made us all feel very comfortable and welcome. It was very different to braai a patty and not a huge steak and some boerewors, but the patties were huge and made delicious burgers. Many of the host parents attended this event and they are enjoying having South African living with them.