Arrival in South Africa

13 hours and 15 minutes. That's how long I was in the air until I finally landed in South Africa - more specifically East London.

But who am I and what am I doing here?!

My name is Lara, I'm 19 years old, just graduated from high school, and have no idea what I want to become. That's why I decided to do a voluntary social year in South Africa - and here I am, sitting together with Finja, Merle, and Lu, the other volunteers from Germany, watching the African sunset (yes, it's only half past 5, but the sun sets a bit earlier here).

But now let's go back to East London: after the four of us landed, we were picked up by Josh at the airport. Josh is (along with Tonja) the director of the 3 Outdoor Education Hobbiton Centers, which are located in Hogsback, Grahamstown, and Port Elizabeth, and where we will be working for the next year.

After we did a whole bunch of shopping in East London (including about 15 kg of dead chicks to feed the baby owls at the Hobbiton Center in Grahamstown), we drove for about 2 hours to Grahamstown and fell into bed, completely exhausted, and slept our first night in South Africa. (P.S. the first nights were so cold that I was afraid of freezing!!!)