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