Week 2 :)

I’m happy to report that Grahamstown, South Africa has kept me busy this week!  Now that I’ve finished week 2 of school, I have much more responsibilities in the classroom.  Mrs. Arnold said this week I should anticipate teaching 75% by the end of Friday!  

I started ‘assistant coaching’ hockey in grade one.  It started this week and I am absolutely dreadful!  I feel like I’m losing respect from the girls when I do hockey because I’m not confident in it.  I’ll be working this week on more research for it.

Stef and I have been making loads of friends and learning more about Grahamstown every day!  We’ve been to a few places that are so rich with culture!  Everything here is so old and the structures have integrity. This one spot is an old house that you enter from an ally (with a green light above the door to tell people it’s a restaurant) that has two fire pits and an outside and inside bar as well. The outside part has trees growing all around and they’re massive It’s really something!! The local university kids go there, so we’ve been able to meet loads of people and learn more and more.

I also went to Bathurst and Port Alfred this weekend.  Friday I stuck my feet in the Indian Ocean in Port Alfred.  The sand went on for miles!  On Saturday we went to Port Alfred again, but we stopped in this little town Bathurst beforehand.  It’s a town of about 200 people and it’s mostly white, elderly hippies. We stopped for a bite, and past the restaurant there was a macadamia nut tree. Stef and I collected some and once they split we can crack them open. We walked up to this old Baptist church with a graveyard in the back.  The oldest grave died in 1827! The eerie thing about all of the houses here is that because they’re so old, there has to be ghosts.  But like my mom always says, ‘the dead can’t hurt you; only the living.’ I’m not sure about all the houses, but I definitely felt some crazy energy in the graveyard!

When we were in Port Alfred we decided to have a braai on the beach.  A braai is similar to a BBQ.  We didn’t prepare well for it, and ended up at the bottom of a massive sand dune with all this meat and wood, but nothing to cook it on!  We ended up making marinated chicken, boerewor (sausage), and steak on a rock with some fire!  It was absolutely hectic (their term for crazy)! I didn’t get sick and we ended up having a great time leaving with full bellies. The walk up and down the dunes was quite entertaining.  I was very exhausted by the end of it, however.

We’re heading to Cape Town on Saturday this holiday weekend.  Friday is Freedom Day, and we don’t have school until Wednesday!

I’ll talk with you all just now.

(that means I’ll talk to you later…different, right?)

Oh! Happy Earth Day!

What I've Learned After 9 Days

So I haven't been here very long in the scheme of things, but after having time to get settled and acclimated, I have new additions of the things I've learned so far:

1. Things close at 1Pm on Saturdays, and are usually closed Sundays.  The only things that are open are restaurants, bars, gas stations and grocery stores.
2. Most people have maid services here, including at my school and even college students have cleaning services
3. There are a lot of freaking bugs here, despite the fact it's Autumn.
4. I'm officially the American who hula hoops.  That's how parents have heard of me and the kids love it.  I get applause every time and it's very cute.
5. There’s plenty of American TV here
6. The Disney Channel and its music is the universal language to children in building relationships.
7.  Calling children ‘friends’ as a teacher has the potential for students to lose authority for you.  You just don’t do it, but you can call them something else…’sweeties,’ ‘darlings’ ‘ladies,’ etc…I’ve used, ‘jellybeans,’ ‘munchkins,’ ‘lovebugs.’
8. Prayer in schools is okay, as long as it’s addressed in an appropriate way. In fact, my student’s parents asked to address it more. I have two Muslim girls in my class.  The parents of the girls at VP are primarily from affluent families.
9. Some of the girls at VP live in hostels just near school.  We don’t know a lot about hostels yet. I will get back to you on that
10. These girls are only in their first half of their grade, whereas in the States are in their last half of their grade, about to be in the next grade. They advance in January.
11. Gatorade comes in concentrated form and you mix it with water (1 pt. Gatorade and 4 pt. water)
12. Don’t order nachos at restaurants. Just don’t.
13. Pizza is the best food here so far.  Healthy and organic
14. The juice here is amazing and very good for you.
15. Most of the drinking water I’ve had has been from a spring that we take jugs to refill.
16.   Green bananas are better than dark yellow ones
17. There aren’t any dishwashers.
18. The government asks people to classify themselves as precise race/ethnicity.  It’s usually among ‘white,’ ‘Afrikaan,’ ‘Coloured,’ ‘other.’ The difference between Afrikaan and Coloured is very murky. 
19. This is Africa, cars wont stop if you walk in front of them.  If they’re bigger than you, chances are they wont hesitate.
20.   This town was one of the first towns in South Africa.  The buildings are incredibly old and are rich in culture.
21.   Grahamstown is a small college town.  I ran into two of my students yesterday afternoon with their families.
    
    And finally...
22. We are sterotyped as Americans. Stef and I are working on making sure America has a better reputation in their eyes.
    
    
    Warm Regards

First Day of Student Teaching

Things I learned at Victoria Girls Primary in Grade 1:

• Trash cans aren't trashcans, they're bins.
• I'm in first grade, but it's not called first grade, it's grade 1
• Just because it's a public school, doesn't mean you don't pray.  They say the Lord's Prayer every day.
• If it's your birthday, expect to get three lipstick kisses: two on your cheek and one on your forehead.
• I will be relearning how to say most phonetic sounds. 
• "Must we stick it?" means "Should we glue the worksheet in our workbooks?"
• Nought means zero
  
  And my personal favourite... (yes that's spelled right)
• An eraser isn't an eraser; it's a rubber.  And you don't erase something; you 'rub one out'

The Eve before Student Teaching

With jetlag a thing of the past, Stephanie and I decided to venture out of the house and go grocery shopping!  Dr. Baxen graciously showed us where the local grocery store was and we stocked up on food for the week. We spent 300R each, which is only about $50 each.  The store was somewhat confusing and tight isles.  People were pushy and didn't take the time to look at prices; they just wanted to get in and out.  The food was very similar to the products we have in the states.  They had Dole, Head and Shoulders, and Lays, to name just a few.  But of course, Stephanie and I tried to expand ourselves to the Americanized brands.  Also, the American brands were more expensive.  I saw Lindt chocolate (YUMM!!) for almost 10 bucks!!! SO not worth it, although every time I see the commercials I am almost convinced it is.

Well it’s cold here, about 11 degrees Celsius, add 32 for Fahrenheit, for a chilly 43 degrees…brr.  My last entry said it was low 70’s…I didn’t convert it right. It’s cold. And it’s only going to get colder.  But as Emily Silverberg’s optimism says: ‘it’s just an opportunity to immerse yourself in the South African fashion earlier!’ which I ended up doing today. I bought a jacket, which was about $30 and I admit, it is warm.  With my trepidations on the jacket while in line, two ladies complimented me on my purchase.  Also, the woman in front of me was also buying it, as Dr. Baxen referred to her as Miss Grahamstown. (picture will be shown later; too much bandwidth to upload)

Well after we bought food, Stephanie and I had leftover beans and tortillas.  I burnt the tortillas, but the beans that Dr. Baxen made were still very good with it.  There isn’t a dishwasher, but thankfully Stephanie doesn’t mind doing the dishes if I cook.  Then for dinner I made pasta with marinara while Stephanie made the Ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch tomorrow.

So tomorrow I start school and Stephanie and I have been doing our research, with what we can find, about Victoria Girls Primary.  It’s a public school, but only girls.  The school goes until 7^th grade.  1^st and 2^nd grade goes from 7:30-12:30 on all days but Wednesday where they go until 1:40, and the 3^rd grade goes from 7:30-1:00 except on Wednesdays when they go until 2.  Yes, that means I will only be in school at most 5 hours a day… what a life.  I plan on taking on some extra-curricular activities, though.

Tomorrow after school Stephanie and I are going to find some wi-fi and I will put up pictures.  There is low bandwidth, so uploading takes a long time.  But! I did put up one for your viewing pleasure… it’s not of the house, but I thought the currency was cool and I know that in the US they do a unit of currency, so I thought it was important to take note.

Chao for now!

-South Africa Student Teacher

Easter Sunday

Sorry Grandma and Grandpa, I did not end up going to a South African church for Easter.  I was far too jetlagged.   Nonetheless it has been a very casual day here.  It was chilly here, low 70’s.  The home I’m staying in was built in the late 1800’s, so many renovations have been made by Professor Baxen.  But because the house is so old, it isn’t insulated.  I don’t think I packed enough layers.

Stephanie arrived today, and we are staying in her home with her 19 year old son, A.Jun.  She made us dinner tonight, but told us not to get used to it.  I’m glad that she doesn’t expect to make us dinner all the time because I want to be independent here.  For dinner we had fish with a white sauce, potatoes, broccoli, butternut squash…yumm!

But Stephanie and I are going to watch the first Harry Potter. I think we’re going to get along just fine!

Peace, Love, and Freedom,

South Africa Student Teacher

The beginning of my adventure!

Greetings from J’burg (Johannesburg).  I’m sitting in my three hour layover in anticipation to get onto my plane to get to Port Elizabeth.  The flight wasn’t too bad.  I had a seven hour flight to Dakar (I watched New Years Eve) and then stayed on the airplane as others exited and new people entered.  From Dakar I had another seven hours to J’Burg, where I slept a majority of the time, minus the two hours where I watched the newest Twilight.

Getting off the aircraft and trying to figure out where I was supposed to go next was very stressful.  I couldn’t rely on others because I didn’t know anyone going to PE.  I had to wait in line to get my passport stamped, get my bags, RE-check my bags (didn’t really understand that part) and then find my gate.  Thankfully, I must have had the ‘I’ve never been here before and am confused’ look because a kind gentleman who worked at the airport helped me with my checked bags and led me to the right place.  I gave him $10, which in Ran (South Africa currency) is a little more than a dollar.  I should have given him more… :/

After determining my gate, I went to grab food at Wimpys.  I asked the employees what is customary gratuity and here it is 10%.  With a bill of 45.50R, so I gave him 5R.  Here are the pictures of my first South African meal!

Also, it’s not 8:15 at night here; they use military time.  I’ve found myself counting on my fingers more than I really should be.  Trying to figure out not only what time it is here in military time, as well as what time it is back in America, AS well as figuring out currency is really stressful.  I must be on my A-Game.

About to board my plane when to the wildest thing happened: I met a famous actress from South Africa!  I couldn’t understand what show she was on, but she’s been on the show since 2003, and the show’s on every day.  When I was talking to her, I could see people all around her pointing, mouthing ‘isn’t that…?’ The show is in Afrikkan, but with English subtitles, so I made a note to look for her on channel 2.

I must admit the language barrier isn’t too bad, but it’s enough to make me anxious.  They talk so fast, but I’ve made the conscious decision not to be ashamed to ask them to slow down because I want to understand them!

Tomorrow I will give you a tour of the house I will be staying in for the next two months!

One Love,

South Africa Student Teacher