So we just finished our first week of the new school year! It is so exciting to be IN the class with the leaners and such an amazing feeling to finally be working! We have truly enjoyed the Phase 2 part of our service (observing and helping.) We have had the rare opportunity to observe our working environment for 3 months before having to jump into the routine. We know our co-workers, we know where things are, we know what to do and what not to do. But it is sooo nice to finally have a job! and to be WITH the kids all day everyday! I thought I would break it down for you a bit, so you could learn a bit about where Eric and I are placed!
ERIC:
Eric is working at a Primary school located about 3 minutes walking distance from our house called Mokale Primary School. Mokale has appox 250 total students. Eric is teaching Grades 4 and 5. His class sizes are 24 for both classes. *they fluctuate a bit. Eric has been focusing a lot of his time on the computer lab and considers it one of his main goals to get the teachers and leaners to USE the computer lab on a regular basis. Learners start full time instruction in English in the 4th grade, so he is working with true beginners, meanwhile his grade 5 learners know a bit more (not a lot more) so its a big challenge!
LINDSEY:
I am working at Semashego Inclusive Primary School located about 1.5 km from our house. Semashego has 677 students leaving me with 76 in my Grade 5 class and 89 in my grade 6B class. As you can see I'm teaching grades 5 and 6 English. As you can also see, class sizes at my school are quite different than at Eric's School. My school was founded in 1861 and moved to its current location in 1900. So as a result of being such an old school, we have a reputation, but not enough buildings to keep up with that reputation. My principal (Malope, 65) has been the principal since 1981.
Sunday, January 19, 2014
VACAY!
Alrighty, Lets just dive in ! We started our vacation with a 17 hour stressful day of South African Public Taxi Travel (Mistake!) We definitely learned our lesson about renting a car for vacation, totally worth the money and makes going long distances a lot simpler. Since it was Dec. 24th the taxi ranks were even more crazy than usual and we spent way too much time crammed between everyone and their luggage. Luckily we made it in one day all the way to Underburg where our friends Marie and Aaron picked us up at 11:30pm! We checked into our hut and fell asleep immediately. The Sani Packers Lodge is located at the "start" of the Giants cup trail, so we literally walked off the porch of the lodge and out into wilderness! It was so amazing! The first day was approx 12 Km. Even though the Giants cup trail itself is 60km, that 60km doesn't include the 2-4 km it takes to get onto the trail and the 2-4km it takes to get off the trail at the end of the day to our cabins. Our first day we camped on a huge bolder for lunch and enjoyed the amazing views! Everywhere you look is picture worthy! Finally we got to our first accommodation, located at a public camping site. There were lots of families car camping and we had electricity and running water! We made some good backpacking dinner and enjoyed the sunset. The next day was about 12km and we found ourselves at a beautiful lodge located in the middle of nowhere! we were far away from civilization at this point and it was soo amazing! We were completely alone (besides all the baboons, bugs and birds) and it was serene! We enjoyed our cooking area (no water or electricity this time) and ate a delicious warm meal. We had hiked a couple hours in the rain that day so being warm and dry was pretty awesome with such a wonderful view! Day 3 was the best in my opinion. we did 13 km to find our little huts nestled in a valley. We camped under a huge tree for lunch and truly enjoyed every minute of the entire day! Waterfalls, mountains, baboon, bugs and even a black mamba! Day four was approx 14 km and it was a long one! We gained approx 1000 feet in the first 2km. I also may have made the idiotic decision to start my day with not only soaking boots but also damp socks. (oops) so my feet were pretty sore by the end of the day, not to mention the river that we walked in for the last 2km. haha! I think at the end of the day we each had our demons. Mine were my feet, Marie had a bumb knee, Aaron popped something out in his neck and Eric was just sore all over. It was a long long hike and sooo much fun! We're hoping to do it again at least one more time while we are here. The final day we arrived to a house, which had not only running water but HOT water which was just the best thing anyone could ask for! We enjoyed a nice hot meal and watched the sun set on our last day. We didn't do the 5th day of the hike (we never planned to) since we were to check into our hotel in Durban that day by 3 and it is 2 hours away from the end of the hike. A shuttle car came and picked us up at the end of the trail and took us back to the start where Marie and Aaron's car was waiting at the lodge. And off we drove to Durban. Durban was a nice 3 days of relaxation and doing nothing, we made delicious home made meals in the kitchen, enjoyed the sandy beach only 50 ft away from our hotel and swam in the fountain filled pool. It was luxurious and lovely and amazing. After Durban we headed off to meet up with a south African friend of ours (just Eric and I) so that her grandmother could teach me some traditional beading techniques. Unfortunately Eric was about 8 days into an stomach thing so he headed off to Pretoria to see the Doctor and I stayed and beaded. It was so cool to sit in this Gogo's house and learn traditional techniques. She gave me the ultimate compliment "you handle a needle like an African woman" so I guess I've earned my place! haha! After Petermaritzburg I took a bus up to join Eric in Pretoria where he was being treated for Giardia (he ate some cow stomach at the wedding that wasn't cleaned well enough.) He was on meds right away and was feeling good enough to take me out to European style pizza for dinner the night I got there! We enjoyed a few days in Pretoria and finally got to head home on Sunday. It was a long vacation and we enjoyed every second! I can't imagine a better way to have spent our vacation time! Hope you enjoy the photos!
Thursday, November 21, 2013
11.21.13
Hey guys! I'm trying to keep you updated as often as possible, but with the slow pace of life around here, sometimes theres just not much to report on! Eric and I have been working hard to finish our Phase 2 portfolio's (the projects and interviews and such we had to do since PST) since they are due at IST. I just printed mine... a ridiculous 27 pages! Mostly it consists of interviews with teachers, community members, and learners, but it also includes baseline asseessment scores from our future classes along with our analysis of resources within our community. So.. yeah.. its not fun. But its been a good way for us to integrate more into our community and ask questions that we would have otherwise not asked. Not to mention it has given us something to do when we are bored at school! ;-)
Life here has been pretty normal. Just going about our business. I've made good friends out of the neighbor kids and even pulled out one of our kites this week! Kay Lee and Dave gave us a couple of really nice kites as part of our wedding gift! It was so fun to see them playing with it! It only took us 45 minutes, a flashlight, and a torch to get it untangled from the power lines and well... i'm still working on the string but it was so much fun! The kids often come over and want to play so I'm taking it slowly as many cohort members complain that its a very slippery slope.
I spent the morning making my principal some mexican food. My mom was nice enough to send me some seasoning packs and I finally got around to making some enchilladas today for him. He spent 9 months in Ann Harbor Michigan back in 1987 (he won a scholarship to study at the University) and grew a love for Mexican food. He's been begging me to make him some! I sat on the floor of his office and made some tortillas and enchilladas. He was so impressed and loved them! He even bragged to a few of his closest friends at school and let them try some! Everyone was in love with the flavors of Mexico! (guess i'll be needing some more seasoning packs mom!) Malope is such a kind man and has done so much for Eric and I, I was glad to be able to do something for him! I was nervous about how they were going to turn out since I've never made my own tortillas before but they turned out fantastic! I was impressed with myself! haha! Of course I think I've started down yet another slippery slope here with showing them I can cook food that they don't know, now they want me to cook them everything I know how! haha! its a fun way to bond and have a good time with them though so i'm happy to do it! They by the ingredients and I put them together! (not a bad deal if I do say so myself!)
We are gearing up for IST this week-end ( we leave the 24th and come back the 4th of December.) I'm sure I've mentioned it but I'm pretty excited to see our cohort. I've been working really hard on a new workout program since I started to get a bit bored with running every day. I started the Insanity workout DVD's and woo! buddy! let...me..tell..you... they are a killer! But I'm absolutely loving it! I just finished the first two weeks yesterday and was able to do the "fit test" again along with my measurements! I lost 6.75 inches all over in just two weeks! Its supe insane and there just isn't any other word that explains it well enough! I thought I was going to die just doing the warm-up when I first started but I'm doing a lot better now and really enjoying it! I joke with Eric everyday, when I'm about to start, I don't want to do it, cuz I know I'm going to want to die, but then as soon as I'm finished I'm excited to do it again the next day! haha! funny how endorphins work like that! If only it was the other way around, it sure would be a lot easier! ;-) Either way, I've really been enjoyint the INSANE workouts that are on these DVD's. The second month sets make the first month sets look like baby's play. So I'm a bit nervous, however I'm sure it will be just like the month 1 sets where I thought I was going to die but then it gets easier and easier! Looking forward to seeing the progress after the 60 days are up! I will be taking a 6 day break however, for our hiking trip since I can't bring our laptop with us! but I think the 60K of hiking will make up for it! (or at least count for something!) Haha!
Last week was a bit challenging as I found out my Uncle Tim was being taken off of life support. Unfortunately he was in a horrible motor cycle accident about 3 months ago and his brain just never recovered. I've been thinking of him a lot and had a hard time when I found out the news, for those of you that don't know we lost his wife (my dad's sister) only 5 years ago, also in a tragic way. For those of you that did know of this situation I appreciate all your positive thoughts, happy vibes and prayers that you have shared with my family.
A 4th member of our cohort left us yesterday. It is so sad/hard to see our group seperate like that. But each person has to do what is best for them and I wish them the best. Sometimes it is by choice and others are forced to be medically seperated. Peace Corps keeps a watchful eye on us at all times and they are not afraid to send us home if we are in need of mental/physical/medical help. I am so thankful for all their support and help all of the time. It will be interesting to see how many/who there is left of our cohort in septemeber of 2015 at our COS (close of service.) I hope we stay a large group and that everyone can finish their service! I'm sure that medical will have a few things we have to do coming up at IST; at least a few shots or something! Our medical team is top notch! We have Arlene (American) and Mike (American) along with Hildegard (South African) as our main medical Officers (PCMO's) and nobody can forget our head of safety and security Gert (South African.) He is so great! He has every base covered for any possible scenario. Its always nice to know you have a team like them behind you when your in rural Africa!
Life here has been pretty normal. Just going about our business. I've made good friends out of the neighbor kids and even pulled out one of our kites this week! Kay Lee and Dave gave us a couple of really nice kites as part of our wedding gift! It was so fun to see them playing with it! It only took us 45 minutes, a flashlight, and a torch to get it untangled from the power lines and well... i'm still working on the string but it was so much fun! The kids often come over and want to play so I'm taking it slowly as many cohort members complain that its a very slippery slope.
I spent the morning making my principal some mexican food. My mom was nice enough to send me some seasoning packs and I finally got around to making some enchilladas today for him. He spent 9 months in Ann Harbor Michigan back in 1987 (he won a scholarship to study at the University) and grew a love for Mexican food. He's been begging me to make him some! I sat on the floor of his office and made some tortillas and enchilladas. He was so impressed and loved them! He even bragged to a few of his closest friends at school and let them try some! Everyone was in love with the flavors of Mexico! (guess i'll be needing some more seasoning packs mom!) Malope is such a kind man and has done so much for Eric and I, I was glad to be able to do something for him! I was nervous about how they were going to turn out since I've never made my own tortillas before but they turned out fantastic! I was impressed with myself! haha! Of course I think I've started down yet another slippery slope here with showing them I can cook food that they don't know, now they want me to cook them everything I know how! haha! its a fun way to bond and have a good time with them though so i'm happy to do it! They by the ingredients and I put them together! (not a bad deal if I do say so myself!)
We are gearing up for IST this week-end ( we leave the 24th and come back the 4th of December.) I'm sure I've mentioned it but I'm pretty excited to see our cohort. I've been working really hard on a new workout program since I started to get a bit bored with running every day. I started the Insanity workout DVD's and woo! buddy! let...me..tell..you... they are a killer! But I'm absolutely loving it! I just finished the first two weeks yesterday and was able to do the "fit test" again along with my measurements! I lost 6.75 inches all over in just two weeks! Its supe insane and there just isn't any other word that explains it well enough! I thought I was going to die just doing the warm-up when I first started but I'm doing a lot better now and really enjoying it! I joke with Eric everyday, when I'm about to start, I don't want to do it, cuz I know I'm going to want to die, but then as soon as I'm finished I'm excited to do it again the next day! haha! funny how endorphins work like that! If only it was the other way around, it sure would be a lot easier! ;-) Either way, I've really been enjoyint the INSANE workouts that are on these DVD's. The second month sets make the first month sets look like baby's play. So I'm a bit nervous, however I'm sure it will be just like the month 1 sets where I thought I was going to die but then it gets easier and easier! Looking forward to seeing the progress after the 60 days are up! I will be taking a 6 day break however, for our hiking trip since I can't bring our laptop with us! but I think the 60K of hiking will make up for it! (or at least count for something!) Haha!
Last week was a bit challenging as I found out my Uncle Tim was being taken off of life support. Unfortunately he was in a horrible motor cycle accident about 3 months ago and his brain just never recovered. I've been thinking of him a lot and had a hard time when I found out the news, for those of you that don't know we lost his wife (my dad's sister) only 5 years ago, also in a tragic way. For those of you that did know of this situation I appreciate all your positive thoughts, happy vibes and prayers that you have shared with my family.
A 4th member of our cohort left us yesterday. It is so sad/hard to see our group seperate like that. But each person has to do what is best for them and I wish them the best. Sometimes it is by choice and others are forced to be medically seperated. Peace Corps keeps a watchful eye on us at all times and they are not afraid to send us home if we are in need of mental/physical/medical help. I am so thankful for all their support and help all of the time. It will be interesting to see how many/who there is left of our cohort in septemeber of 2015 at our COS (close of service.) I hope we stay a large group and that everyone can finish their service! I'm sure that medical will have a few things we have to do coming up at IST; at least a few shots or something! Our medical team is top notch! We have Arlene (American) and Mike (American) along with Hildegard (South African) as our main medical Officers (PCMO's) and nobody can forget our head of safety and security Gert (South African.) He is so great! He has every base covered for any possible scenario. Its always nice to know you have a team like them behind you when your in rural Africa!
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Challenges and Fun.
Hello All!
Eric and I are really settling in at our jobs/site now a days... Its going really well. We have wonderful experiences every day and meet new best friends every other moment. Its almost impossible to go/walk anywhere without meeting someone who wants to make you their new best friend. Yesterday I made 4 new best friends! Haha! People often just confront you on the street (sometimes from across the street, or down the road) and start up a conversations. As I'm sure you can imagine, some days this is really fun, and others its the most annoying thing in the world! Usually its fun though! Everyone is so interested to know who we are and where we are from... then of course when they find out we aren't Afrikaaners they freak out and want to know everything about us! Haha! People in the village don't see white people unless they go to a big city so they are always shocked to see us in the village. In fact the Afrikaaners are just as shocked to see us here. A car full of Afrikaaner men drove through the other day (as a small highway/back highway runs through our village) and then turned around when they saw me, convinced I was lost and in need of help. It took me a good 20 minutes to convince them that I do in fact live here and I don't need help.
Its moments like these where it becomes awkwardly apparent that racism is still a part of every decision that every person makes here. As much as Nelson Mandela and the end of Apartheid re-shaped this country, everything here is still based on race. Every comment, every story, every decision. Its heartbreaking and so frustrating sometimes. We have learned to re-phrase our sentences and leave certain details out so that people don't associate our decisions with race. For example: Eric told our host brother that we didn't bring our expensive camera to SA because we didn't want to lose it or have it stolen. His response was: "So you think all black men are thieves?" or another example: I was about to kill some chickens for diner one evening and a friend was explaining the difference between the farm chickens that you buy and the wild ones that roam around. (South Africans like the white chickens because the bones are softer) but to further her explanation she said "this one(The wild one) is like a black man, and this one (the farm chicken) is like a white man. The wild one has had a hard life, and has to work while the farm one has it easy and doesn't have to do anything." The hardest part to come to terms with is the fact that there is no explaining that its not really like that. They don't believe you no matter what you say. No matter how hard you try to show them that there are in fact poor white people, or that Yes, I do wash my own laundry, cook my own food and clean my own house. South Africans still don't believe you. I guess this is one of the challenges that we will continue to face every day and that is part of why we are here. To help break down those barriers and grow together. I learn so much from our family and the community around us and I look forward to sharing my knowledge as well.
On november 24 we will be heading to IST (In-Service Training) about 3 hours away from where we live. We will be going with a counterpart (a teacher from our school) and going to a great hotel half way between Tzaneed and Polokwane. I've heard its really beautiful where we are going so I'm pretty stoked about it! Not to mention being able to see my friends! Its amazing really, how quickly you can bond with your cohort out here. I really miss my girls and look forward to seeing them! We will participate in a 10 day workshop (the counterparts are only there for 4 days) where I'm sure we'll have the pleasure of having a few shots, a few tests and a few looooong lectures, but its always worth it in the end. :D
Overall, everything is amazing! We are in love with the culture, people, landscape and food. We both are really looking forward to starting our teaching schedules in January and our vacation in December. Day to day life is slow and relaxed (just the way we like it) and it basically couldn't get any better! Living the dream! loves to all back home! Enjoy some photos from my phone!
Eric and I are really settling in at our jobs/site now a days... Its going really well. We have wonderful experiences every day and meet new best friends every other moment. Its almost impossible to go/walk anywhere without meeting someone who wants to make you their new best friend. Yesterday I made 4 new best friends! Haha! People often just confront you on the street (sometimes from across the street, or down the road) and start up a conversations. As I'm sure you can imagine, some days this is really fun, and others its the most annoying thing in the world! Usually its fun though! Everyone is so interested to know who we are and where we are from... then of course when they find out we aren't Afrikaaners they freak out and want to know everything about us! Haha! People in the village don't see white people unless they go to a big city so they are always shocked to see us in the village. In fact the Afrikaaners are just as shocked to see us here. A car full of Afrikaaner men drove through the other day (as a small highway/back highway runs through our village) and then turned around when they saw me, convinced I was lost and in need of help. It took me a good 20 minutes to convince them that I do in fact live here and I don't need help.
Its moments like these where it becomes awkwardly apparent that racism is still a part of every decision that every person makes here. As much as Nelson Mandela and the end of Apartheid re-shaped this country, everything here is still based on race. Every comment, every story, every decision. Its heartbreaking and so frustrating sometimes. We have learned to re-phrase our sentences and leave certain details out so that people don't associate our decisions with race. For example: Eric told our host brother that we didn't bring our expensive camera to SA because we didn't want to lose it or have it stolen. His response was: "So you think all black men are thieves?" or another example: I was about to kill some chickens for diner one evening and a friend was explaining the difference between the farm chickens that you buy and the wild ones that roam around. (South Africans like the white chickens because the bones are softer) but to further her explanation she said "this one(The wild one) is like a black man, and this one (the farm chicken) is like a white man. The wild one has had a hard life, and has to work while the farm one has it easy and doesn't have to do anything." The hardest part to come to terms with is the fact that there is no explaining that its not really like that. They don't believe you no matter what you say. No matter how hard you try to show them that there are in fact poor white people, or that Yes, I do wash my own laundry, cook my own food and clean my own house. South Africans still don't believe you. I guess this is one of the challenges that we will continue to face every day and that is part of why we are here. To help break down those barriers and grow together. I learn so much from our family and the community around us and I look forward to sharing my knowledge as well.
On november 24 we will be heading to IST (In-Service Training) about 3 hours away from where we live. We will be going with a counterpart (a teacher from our school) and going to a great hotel half way between Tzaneed and Polokwane. I've heard its really beautiful where we are going so I'm pretty stoked about it! Not to mention being able to see my friends! Its amazing really, how quickly you can bond with your cohort out here. I really miss my girls and look forward to seeing them! We will participate in a 10 day workshop (the counterparts are only there for 4 days) where I'm sure we'll have the pleasure of having a few shots, a few tests and a few looooong lectures, but its always worth it in the end. :D
Overall, everything is amazing! We are in love with the culture, people, landscape and food. We both are really looking forward to starting our teaching schedules in January and our vacation in December. Day to day life is slow and relaxed (just the way we like it) and it basically couldn't get any better! Living the dream! loves to all back home! Enjoy some photos from my phone!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)