A couple of weeks ago I attended IST (In-Service Training) at Marapyane College; this is where our initial training took place from July to September last year. It was strange to revisit the place that held the initial emotions, memories, and impressions of this country. Not to mention the college looked like a jungle. When last there is was winter; summer has turned the brick walkways into fields of reeds. It looked ridiculously abandoned, which in a way it is. In short, the week was informative about HIV/AIDS, or as they like to say “healthy living” because HIV/AIDS is a phrase that makes people turn their listening ears off. We also met our new country director (who was a CD in Lesotho, and Ghana previously), had a session on mental health (which I loved and needed), a session on trees and gardens, and a few sessions run by PCV’s on successful programs they have created. The week also allowed catching up with the 33 volunteers who remain from the 44 that flew into Jo’burg in July. Each night was a drinking adventure- there was a bonfire, séance (well mostly a nice session of sharing while sitting cross-legged in candlelight), beer pong tournament, and a showing of The Dark Knight on a projector.
I have continued with my teaching of Natural Science and each day I enjoy it a bit more. The learners have begun to understand my expectation that they answer questions when called on and that they mustn’t fear me. Since critical thinking is severally lacking learners are not usd to coming up with their own ideas. They expect each question to have one correct (memorized) answer. Which reminds me that yesterday Karabo came into my room looked at my computer and in unison with her friend said a school-given definition of what a computer is and does. I have also begun working with Reneilwe, a foundation phase teacher, on the Eco-School Student Council. This is a group of 12 learners in grades 4-7 who will be the leaders in the coming year regarding the environmental initiatives and projects that the school takes on. We began today by addressing the issue of rubbish (and nutrition in a round about way). You see kids here eat cheese snaks/ zimbas (essentially cheetos in a variety of colors and flavors) for breakfast, snack, and dinner. When finished the wrappers are tossed onto the ground. They’re cheap and they’re sold on school grounds. So the ESSC made a box and collected all the wrappers of zimbas/snaks during their short break. They plan on using these wrappers as a shocking visual for an upcoming program and then using them in a to-be-determined art project. Please let me know if you have ideas. I say multiple times a day “The world is not your rubbish bin” and then insist the children pick up their garbage.
This past Friday my principal asked if I wanted to go to a workshop in Jo’burg. In a morning haze I agreed. Only after agreeing did he tell me he would pick me up from my home at 4:30am the next morning. So with the sun still sleeping I arrived at his home. 14 educators, 1 principal, and one sleepy volunteer climbed into a coombi at 5am. I took one for the team and sat in the far back seat, right hand side. Anyone who has ridden a coombi knows that this seat has an easily accessibly window (YAY!) and also a wheel indention that forces you to crunch up your legs (:BOO!). This particular coombi also had an unattached back seat which means that we leaned forward for the entirety of our 3.5 hour drive to Jo’burg. Luckily I slept for an hour or so. **SIDENOTE: I have never been to Jo’burg because we are not allowed there as PCV’s, it has over 100 murders a day. I had to receive special permission for this day trip. I figured I would get a small tour of the city maybe. . . ** I woke up only to find that the workshop was being held in a clearly affluent suburb of Jo’burg and a tour of the city was out of the question. St. Stithian’s College, a school for grades R-12, was the venue. The tuition for the school is R7000 a month!! That is far more than any teacher or average S. African could afford to pay! So the children of the rich attend this school and Africaaner teachers led the sessions. We began the day in true South African fashion with tea and biscuits followed by a prayer and gospel reading. From there we had a 1.5 talk on OBE (Outcomes Based Education) which is the current educational curriculum. Then a half hour tea and sandwich break. Finally we had an hour talk on how a classroom should be decorated to motivate students. Yes, that is it. 2.5 hours of lecture and back into the coombi we went. When I found out that this was the first of 10 Saturday workshops I knew I couldn’t justify attending another one. 8 hours of travel for less than 3 hours of lecture. Can you believe that not one other person complained about the travel time? And even more shocking- not one person brought a single reading material or activity along to occupy them during the hours of travel. They simply slept or looked out the window for 8 hours. I was in complete disbelief.
On an unrelated note: I received 3 FABULOUS care packages from my mom and sisters:-) In addition to many self-indulgent treats (jewelry, clothes, perfume, snacks, burst bees, etc) they gave me a soccer ball- which has already been worn in and punctured by barbed wire (about 15 boys play on a nearby football field each day after school now, thanks to this gift.) For the tiny boys I received 10 matchbox cars. I gave one to each boy and immediately they held races, built tracks in the sand, again after 2 days the cars looked as if they had been here for years. Then for the older girls I received earring hooks and beads. So we have made earrings out of beads, rocks wrapped in wire, and even from the feathers that the neighborhood boys bring me after slingshot birds. Also I received random toys (stuffed zebra, coloring books, fun hair ties, etc) and whenever I hand out these things I know I am really making the child feel special. So thanks a lot mom, Ab, Morg, these small things make the children ridiculously happy (and me too!).
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Twenty Five
Saturday I took a 3.5 hour coombi ride to and from Jo’burg so I decided to take the time to indulge in reading the “25 things” lists on facebook. I loved it! So if you have written one, chances are I read it while crammed between 3 women and a window (with my feet crunched up on the ledge of the tire indent). I thought it was interesting and decided to post it here as well.
1. My facial expressions speak far more words than I can.
2. I love road trips: organizing directions, seeing the countryside, hanging my toes out the window, singing terribly, and going into gas stations.
3. I have a serious roach problem in my bedroom- but it may be better than the roach problem at my last apartment in Chicago, gross.
4. I had my ear pierced 3 days ago and it is hurting like hell! That brings my body hole count to 6.
5. I miss toilets. I miss hearing the flush, I miss the confidence that flies and rats will not touch my body, but most of all I miss checking the fruits of my labor.
6. I love picking, popping, and tweezing- anything on anyone.
7. I love and miss my mom, Ab, Morg, Jer, dad, and animals everyday.
8. I have not attended church regularly since high school. I experience Catholic guilt every time that I sleep in when at my parent’s house on a Sunday, even though my mom has never gone to church. I hate it.
9. My perfect home would have a claw foot tub, a porch swing, a winding staircase, a firepole (i.e. Vandenbergs!), a loft, a room to mess up (throw spaghetti, paint, wax on the walls/floors, etc.) and acres of space for love to blossom.
10. I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. But I am looking into Master’s programs all the time. Ideally I will become an artist of some sort.
11. I love (and miss) family dinners which are inevitably full of laughter, ridicule, and love. Plus there’s the food: cedar plank grilled salmon/pork tenderloin, bacon bacon dip with crackers, baked potatoes, asparagus, salad, red wine.
12. Anything that is made of recycled materials excites and inspires me, I hope to one day live on recycled pieces alone.
13. I dream I’m flying nearly every week (Last night included).
14. I am so happy. Ever since arriving in South Africa I have reclaimed myself- my dancing, sporadic, free spirited self.
15. I have not stepped on the middle step at my parent’s house since I was 10 or so (avoid it even with boxes/laundry piled high, even when washing the steps).
16. I really love hearing my mom tell me random stories that have happened when we talk on Sundays. (ex: Our obese dog Emma had to have a toe amputated; now she wears a bootie and needs to be lifted up the steps. One late night Emma sat at the bottom of the stairs and cried because she wanted to be in my parent’s room. Jerry woke from a sound sleep walked downstairs picked Emma up and dropped her at the top of the stairs and without a sound went back to bed.)
17. Out of boredom I spend too much time at my computer in this country, I need to change this.
18. I love Chicago- the El, the winter, the neighborhoods, the summer festivals, the free adventures, the museums, the lakefront, the people, parks, random encounters, the music venues, the art on every corner.
19. I love the connection, motion and emotion of live music.
20. I don’t like mayo-based salads or the hodge podge salads where you don’t know what you’re eating. I also don’t like cilantro, spicy foods, or ricotta cheese.
21. I love bloody mary’s- must have celery salt, Worchester, pepper, salt, celery stick, pickle, olive, small amount of Tabasco, pickle juice and served over ice. (I miss Edgewater Lounge!)
22. Cliché but true: I love that even though my best friends and I have lived in different states/countries for the past 5 years we manage to communicate frequently and never miss a beat when we reunite.
23. I like giving and receiving surprises. I suffer when trying to delay gratification.
24. I hate American consumerism (but buying a new outfit every once in a while does make me happy).
25. I use less than 10L of water a day- this includes drinking, washing self, washing dishes, cooking, etc.
1. My facial expressions speak far more words than I can.
2. I love road trips: organizing directions, seeing the countryside, hanging my toes out the window, singing terribly, and going into gas stations.
3. I have a serious roach problem in my bedroom- but it may be better than the roach problem at my last apartment in Chicago, gross.
4. I had my ear pierced 3 days ago and it is hurting like hell! That brings my body hole count to 6.
5. I miss toilets. I miss hearing the flush, I miss the confidence that flies and rats will not touch my body, but most of all I miss checking the fruits of my labor.
6. I love picking, popping, and tweezing- anything on anyone.
7. I love and miss my mom, Ab, Morg, Jer, dad, and animals everyday.
8. I have not attended church regularly since high school. I experience Catholic guilt every time that I sleep in when at my parent’s house on a Sunday, even though my mom has never gone to church. I hate it.
9. My perfect home would have a claw foot tub, a porch swing, a winding staircase, a firepole (i.e. Vandenbergs!), a loft, a room to mess up (throw spaghetti, paint, wax on the walls/floors, etc.) and acres of space for love to blossom.
10. I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. But I am looking into Master’s programs all the time. Ideally I will become an artist of some sort.
11. I love (and miss) family dinners which are inevitably full of laughter, ridicule, and love. Plus there’s the food: cedar plank grilled salmon/pork tenderloin, bacon bacon dip with crackers, baked potatoes, asparagus, salad, red wine.
12. Anything that is made of recycled materials excites and inspires me, I hope to one day live on recycled pieces alone.
13. I dream I’m flying nearly every week (Last night included).
14. I am so happy. Ever since arriving in South Africa I have reclaimed myself- my dancing, sporadic, free spirited self.
15. I have not stepped on the middle step at my parent’s house since I was 10 or so (avoid it even with boxes/laundry piled high, even when washing the steps).
16. I really love hearing my mom tell me random stories that have happened when we talk on Sundays. (ex: Our obese dog Emma had to have a toe amputated; now she wears a bootie and needs to be lifted up the steps. One late night Emma sat at the bottom of the stairs and cried because she wanted to be in my parent’s room. Jerry woke from a sound sleep walked downstairs picked Emma up and dropped her at the top of the stairs and without a sound went back to bed.)
17. Out of boredom I spend too much time at my computer in this country, I need to change this.
18. I love Chicago- the El, the winter, the neighborhoods, the summer festivals, the free adventures, the museums, the lakefront, the people, parks, random encounters, the music venues, the art on every corner.
19. I love the connection, motion and emotion of live music.
20. I don’t like mayo-based salads or the hodge podge salads where you don’t know what you’re eating. I also don’t like cilantro, spicy foods, or ricotta cheese.
21. I love bloody mary’s- must have celery salt, Worchester, pepper, salt, celery stick, pickle, olive, small amount of Tabasco, pickle juice and served over ice. (I miss Edgewater Lounge!)
22. Cliché but true: I love that even though my best friends and I have lived in different states/countries for the past 5 years we manage to communicate frequently and never miss a beat when we reunite.
23. I like giving and receiving surprises. I suffer when trying to delay gratification.
24. I hate American consumerism (but buying a new outfit every once in a while does make me happy).
25. I use less than 10L of water a day- this includes drinking, washing self, washing dishes, cooking, etc.
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