Seaview with Scott!

Hey all,

We are so happy to officially be on holiday! Alice's boyfriend Scott arrived Sunday night, we taught a workshop on To Kill a Mockingbird to grade 12 learners on Monday and Tuesday and now we can finally relax for the next 2 weeks on holiday! Today Alice, Scott, and I drove to Seaview Lion Park to see some of the game in the park and pet the baby lions.. although they weren't really babies- they were 5 months old! See photos below (click to view them as a slideshow)

Awesome half day trip! Tomorrow I am off to Joburg for the weekend. Sunday morning I will be driving with 4 other Fulbrighters from Jozi to Durban and Lesotho (the tiny country inside of RSA) for a few days. I'm looking forward to getting out of PE and seeing more of the country! Many more photos to come following that trip I'm certain! xx

Projects galore

I realized I haven't posted much about Alice and I's school projects lately so thought I would give a quick update in that regard. This is our last week before holiday (we have the next two weeks off) and we have spent a great amount of time finalizing the projects we have planned for term 2.

• Grade 8: 
• Will spend term two focusing on health literacy and creating their own cookbook 
• They will divide into different teams (recipe writing, nutrition, art and design, business, etc) to produce the cookbook as a class and determine how much it will cost to print/how much to sell them for
• Community health fair- a culminating event in July where the learners can showcase/sell their cookbooks. Will also invite local community health organizations to come set up booths, do HIV screenings, and other health related activities. I'm also really excited about the idea of planning a 5k fun run through the township to start the day that will end at the health fair. 
• Grade 9
• Creating their own business! 
• Each class will be a restaurant, and like grade 8s, will break into different committees to create a successful business
• Teams will decide the restaurant's name, menu, architecture, security measures, social responsibility, and business plan. 
• Each of the grade 9 classes will participate in a business competition at the end of the term (Mom, Dad, Jack, MK, and Sarah- you'll be here to see this one!) 
• After school/extras: 
• We've begun a university club after school to help the grade 12 learners better understand the college/bursary application process. It's a bit tricky because Alice and I are still learning this process as well, but they don't have any sort of college counselor or access to the internet/university websites, so we are trying to help them stay on pace to apply on time. The application process is a bit confusing, and we don't want tertiary education to be inaccessible to them because they didn't understand the app process. 
• We're also preparing for a workshop on To Kill a Mockingbird for the grade 12s as it will be on their matric exam.

So we've been staying quite busy and have a lot on our plate, yet a lot to look forward to for next term! 

Otherwise, all is well here. We didn't have school today because it is Human Rights Day. This morning I ran an 8k, or what was supposed to be an 8k, at a stone quarry nearby with some South African friends. However, there was some confusion on the course (which was literally inside the quarry) and everyone who was supposed to run the 8k ended up running a 5k. Oh well. I've been enjoying the running club I joined and love that I have met people who like to race regularly on the weekends! (We're hoping for a better organized 10k this weekend). It's been a great way to meet people and see parts of the city/country that I wouldn't have otherwise (since I can bum rides with them to races)! 

Time to power through the last two school days and get excited for some much anticipated travel next week! 

xx

Fun and frustration

Last weekend was a great one! One of Alice's best friend from high school, Trevor, who is living in Kimberly SA came to visit for the weekend and we made the most of it. Went to another City Lads (the women's soccer team here) game, had a braii with a bunch of the grassroots soccer interns we are friends with/some South Africans, and then went out dancing. We had a slow Sunday morning and spent the rest of the day lounging on the beach with the same group.

Part of our group out Saturday night

After an enjoyable weekend, it was back to school Monday only to be met by a large handful of frustrations. I'll try to hit the highlights:

• Some background info: there was a national labour strike last Wednesday which meant we had no school, teachers were a large part of this strike- many of them are not getting paid so they either don't show up to school or only teach when we want to. 
• I very much understand their frustration, but it is so difficult to see many of the teachers relaxing in the teachers lounge while their students run around all day without an instructor. The other day a teacher forgot her key to her classroom and basically dumped her classes into our library any period we weren't scheduled to teach. She told us she would come back to "babysit" them if we needed it. It was more than frustrating to hear her describe her job as "babysitting". 
• That same day, two of our senior boy prefects began explaining to me their "plan". They explained that they haven't had a history teacher in 3 weeks so they have been doing their best to teach themselves out of their book. When I asked if none of the grade 12s had a history teacher, they responded none of the grade 11s did either. Their plan is to start an after school club to teach the grade 11s some of the material they learned last year. They explained that the grade 11s not only had no teacher, but no books either, and so they could at least help teach them what they learned last year so that when a new teacher came they wouldn't be too far behind. It was moving and heartbreaking at the same time to learn about these boys who not only had to teach themselves history, but were trying to help their younger peers as well. 

Today was the icing on the cake. A few of the teachers/department heads have made it clear they have no trust in their students to handle anything of value. As I have mentioned before, our prefects run the entire library. They check out books, collect fines, oversee laptop use, enforce rules, and as a result in our eyes, have a great amount of trust and responsibility. However, much of the staff does not see the dedication they put into the library on a day to day basis. Yesterday, the staff decided to have an unannounced meeting in our office despite the fact we had promised the grade 12s (mostly of which were our prefects) that we would stay after school to help them with an assignment on the laptops. Long story short, we moved next door, the key to that room went missing, and as of this morning it was immediately blamed on the prefects (despite the fact that Alice and I said it was very much our fault). One administrator proceeded to rip into them for their lack of responsibility, claimed they are only prefects to "show off" but what they do isn't actually important, that yes, they painted/rebuilt the library with the ETAs last year, but anyone could do that (these kids were there for every step of the renovations last year), and that they shouldn't be wasting their time in the library when they should be studying for the matric exam. They came into the office, took off their badges, and many began crying. At this point, Alice and I were unaware of what exactly had happened, but seeing these kids who have given their life to this library over the last year and half and wouldn't take a thing from it so upset hurt us pretty deep. Alice and I spent the next hour chasing down various administrators trying to get the stories straight, defending the prefects, and trying get communication on the same page. We ended up back in our office with a desk full of prefect badges, including Melissa's "Head Prefect" badge that I don't think I've ever seen her not wearing, weekends and school days alike, and just started crying. We felt so helpless in a situation where all we wanted to do was stand for up them, but don't have the power to change the perceptions of the administration. The day ended when the after school program came to unlock the classroom we had been using yesterday (the one that the prefects "stole" the key from), and the key was hanging on the inside of the door. It had gotten locked in the classroom. We were jubilant and angry at the same time. The day was a roller coaster of emotions, but certainly brought us (the prefects, Alice, and I) closer as a group. This week has revealed to us some of the larger systemic issues we will be facing this year  and has got us thinking quickly about how to work productively with a system and cultural mindset that works quite differently than our own.

Here's to getting over the Wednesday hump and hopes for a more glass-half-full Thursday, cheers! 

Power weekend.

The last few days here have been full ones so I am going to try to highlight them in bullets- easier for me to get to the point and easier for you to read.

Friday:

• After school- grade 8 fashion show of sorts. Students and community members packed the school hall to listen to house music (party music of sorts), dance, watch the grade 8 students model a variety of outfits (including school uniforms which we thought was odd), and sing a long to R&B. Sweaty, loud, fun. See the video Alice took of some of the dancing:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCNpJf450jo&feature=youtu.be

The school hall

Saturday:

•  Ran a 5k at a beach near my house- so unorganized compared to races in the US!! No organized start line, a large majority of people who pushed to the front of the ‘start’ ended up being walkers (huh??), poorly marked course- but overall very fun! Finished 3^rd for the women, but didn’t have much running competition… the overweight women walkers category was the most competitive by far. Hopefully found a club I can run with here- will meet them tomorrow for the first time.
• All the prefects came over for lunch/beach- AWESOME! 

Snapping photos from our flat as they arrived

• They ate every bite of lasagna we prepared, hung out, danced in our apartment before the beach.

The gang

• At the beach- they went running into the water in excitement and minutes later came running back screaming- they had all been stung by jelly fish (which we realized later was why everyone was swimming at the beach next to ours). The lifeguards smothered them in vinegar and they were good to go.

Divas beach bound

Running along the beach before anyone realized the jellies (you can see a string of the washed up one on the bottom right frame of the pic- click to enlarge!) 

• Spent the afternoon at the jellyfish-free beach, played games on the shore- felt like we were running a summer camp- but had a blast! Went back to the flat for ice cream and sent them back home.

• Greek food and lots of sleep for us Saturday night.

Sunday:

• Early start to the morning- showered and spent a good bit of time dressing ourselves for church
• Walking out of the apartment, just about everyone we passed (people in the elevator, security guards, and window washers) told us we looked nice and asked if we were going church. A testament to how disheveled we must normally look leaving the flat in athletic clothes, bike helmets, and all our school stuff piled in our backpacks.
• 9am: Taxi to the township to meet Melissa’s family for church (her dad is the pastor). Phoned Melissa's mom and she told us to wait, we would be fetched shortly. By whom, we had not a clue, but we waited nonetheless (and spoke with the many curious people in passing about why two white girls dressed for church were standing lost in the township Sunday am).

The township, or 'location' as they call it

• At last, one of our students who lives across the street from Melissa's family fetched us and walked us to church. Arrived around 10:15am. Were told to wait until the congregation returned from baptisms at the ocean. 

St. Johns Church

• 11:15- people arrive. 11:30 church begins. The next 3 hours were full of beautiful music in both Xhosa and Sotho (as if Xhosa wasn’t hard enough) and bible readings/sermons by various people (in Xhosa). They were so kind to select a gentleman to translate the various readings/sermons into English for the two of us. Small congregation- 30ish people, but you wouldn’t believe how much music could come from so few people.
•  Melissa's mom said in her part of the sermon that she would sew us church uniforms to bring back to the states to show our friends/family… we’re still not sure if she was kidding or not. 
• 2:30- church ends. We were served a plate of holy bread (4 small rolls) and cokes and chatted with her family/friends for some time. We returned to Melissa’s house to continue conversation and then went home around 3:30, exhausted but so happy we went- they were very kind to welcome us in and cater the entire service to us with translations and small explanations.

Melissa's family, Alice, and I. Melissa came straight from a school event, but all the women typically dress in the same outfit Melissa's mom is wearing here. We obviously didn't pack such attire, but were told we did a great job wrapping our heads (which is essential for women of her church)

•  Al and I are used to drinking a whole camelback of water (3 Liters) before school ends at 2:00pm each day- but we didn’t bring much water to church because we didn’t know the bathroom situation= dehydration.

The church kiddos with Alice and I. Their church uniforms are a bit different. 

•  Our neighbor downstairs, Scott, an American who does research for a program called Grassroots soccer texted us that afternoon to tell us he had gone shopping with us in mind and was making us dinner because we’d had such a long weekend- salad, lamb, potatoes, fresh bread, a bottle of pinotage (South African red wine)- SO NICE OF HIM! And such a great way to end the weekend.

Monday: pretty standard, but I must add a quick story. We appreciate the times that we are reminded that we are indeed in Africa, and this afternoon was one of them. Our stove has been pretty finicky and our landlord told us we should be expecting a new one ‘soon’ (Africa time). Today we came home and the apartment smelled super weird. It smelled like burning and we looked to find it was coming from our new stove! A new stove had been installed and they accidentally left it on… or so we thought. What really happened is someone put a bunch of black materials on the surface of our old stove to make it look new, messed up the dials so when the oven knob said “off” it was actually turned on. I’m not sure if the repair folks actually thought we would believe resurfacing the stove would trick us into thinking we got a new one, but it was pretty comical. And now we’re even worse off stuck with a stove we can’t control the heat on so its power is cut off until someone can come truly repair it. A comical end to our day and well wishes for a good start to yours- happy Monday!