Merry CHRISTmas to all!

Christmas…what does it look like for you?

For some it’s a time to be with family, opening present upon present.

Others a time to be with family and eat lots of food.

For others a time to celebrate the birth of a little baby boy many years ago and what he stood for.

Christmas in our family has slowly changed over the past few years as my siblings have gotten married (or are getting married) and have started families of their own.  And by doing that have started their own traditions.  This Christmas is different for us all.  As my parents spend Christmas day by themselves for the first time ever.  Both my younger sisters at their significant others houses for the holidays.  And my 3 older siblings spending Christmas days with either the other side of their family or with just their immediate family (which is pretty ‘normal’ now).  And then there is me who is on the other side of the world celebrating Christmas 8-9 hours before the rest of my family.  In 30+ weather.  With about 80 children who don’t have a biological family to call their own, and to celebrate Christmas with.  But here at Lily they have created their own family among them. 

Walking down to the beach

I have loved being here at Lily and would not change the fact that I get to be here and try to serve these kids as best as I can while I am here for this short time… but it is still really hard to be away from home, knowing that I am missing things with family and friends.  I could careless about the opening of gifts and stockings in the morning.  It’s things like not being able to give my Mom and Dad a hug and wish them a Merry Christmas when they get woken up at 7:00am because everyone else is already awake in the house…(Thank you Dallas!)  It’s not being able to play games with my siblings and watch us make fools of ourselves as we try to hum a song as everyone else tries to guess what song they are humming.

I am so very blessed to be here at Lily and to experience the community here!  I am thrilled to be a part of this culture here where the kids come up running up to me yelling “Ms. Rebecca!!!” like they have known me for a long time but really it has only been 2 weeks.  There are a few kids that I have connected with more than other kids but that is normal with large groups of kids.   And it’s not just the younger kids I have been able to get to know some of the teenagers too.  Within this Lily culture there is also some really great volunteers and employees.  They have been really great at just making us (Nikki and I) feel welcome.  Right off the bat they invited us to game nights on Friday.  And now with Christmas we have planned at Christmas dinner with all of us for Boxing day.  Just a time for us to have a bit of life back home together.

Me, Nikki, Grace (another SALTer),
Rebecca (a service worker) and
Sophie (Zambia Reps daughter)

Christmas Eve was great.  In the morning we played games and puzzles with who ever wanted to hangout with us.  Then in the afternoon we watched “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”  (the real one) with a bunch of kids, I was pretty happy with this because I usually watch this movie every Christmas but was not able to bring it here.  Than there was a “Christmas Eve Service”, but we just watched the movie “Nativity” and sang a few Christmas carols.  Which was great.  After that the volunteers went over to Bridge and Hilary’s house to snack on some food and just visit.

Christmas Day was great! There was a service in the morning, but before the service I got to open a few Christmas cards from Mom and Dad and Steve and Kirsten!  And than pretty much got ready for the dinner that was going to be for anyone who is at Lily (kids, staff and volunteers).  Spent a lot of time peeling potatoes.  Decorating the tent where we are all going to eat and be merry.  Also I was hoping to FaceTime or Skype with some family at some point, but my internet was not working :( so Mom and Dad called me instead.  It was still good to hear their voices and talk to them for a short while.

The kids at Lily listening for instructions of how supper was
going to work.  It was a great meal and so much food! :)

Over all I would not change this Christmas… (okay maybe I would have made the temperature a little more bearable! +39 is hot!!)  I know it will be one I always remember.  As difficult as it is to be away from home at this time, I am more than happy to be here with these kids!

Until next time… make sure to take in all of the things you are involved in right now.  (As Parker from season 8 of Friends would say “I must take a mental picture! Click!”)

P.S. I will try to get more pictures of the orphanage. But I can't post clear pictures of the kids faces. I can do bigger group shots. So I only have one from Christmas Day the rest are pictures from the retreat with the Southern Africa MCC workers.

Holidays

Now that school is over, the teachers have all dispersed to their homes or other jobs for the holidays, and I have also left the farm.  Though I did not go far…  I am now at Lily of the Valley where most of the high school students who attend Hope Valley live.  Originally I was just told I was coming here for the week after the school let out to practice my Zulu with the kids, but because Nikki (the other SALTer) is now placed here at the orphanage I will spend most of my holidays here.  Except when we are on retreat with MCC staff and our learning tour trip to Lesotho!

Being here so far has been good. Nikki and I are staying in a house together and making our own meals. I am enjoying getting to eat more than just toast and something else for supper and having more variety in the food I eat.  Though I am finding it a challenge to decide what I actually what to eat. Good thing Nikki is here to help make decisions! :)

Because we are going on retreat on Sunday it feels like I will get some what settled in here and then leave. But I know I will be coming back.  It was funny to have kids I did not know my name come up to me and yell “Ms. Rebecca!” from across the compound.  I am glad they feel comfortable enough to come and talk to me already.  I have even been able to connect with some of the high school students which I like because I will be able to talk to most of them again when we get back to school in January.  My main project while I am here will be reading with the kids.  Bridge and Hilary (the managers of the Lily of the Valley Village) have asked me to take the time to sit with some of the kids who need practice reading.  Today Nikki and I made a list of the kids who were needing some extra help.  Once I have read with each of them I will be able to tell Nikki who needs the most improvement and then once I am gone she will work one-on-one with them.

Each morning at 8:00 the volunteers and staff are welcome to join in on prayer to start the day together.  And we did this at school but for some reason this just seemed more intentional and it has been a good thing to start the day.  It has also encouraged me to get up in the mornings and read my Bible.  It has been a really long time since I did this.  I think I thought that once I got to started on this trip I would just be natural to start reading my Bible all the time and that my relationship with God would just grow stronger.  But really it has not been that way.  I have not really been intentional with reading my Bible and spending time with God.  So the past few mornings I have been getting up a few minutes earlier and reading my Bible and just taking the time to pray about different things that come to mind, about my day, about home and about life in general.  I will let you know in a few weeks how it’s going and if I am still being intentional about getting up. 

I am looking forward to the retreat with everyone! Especially because there is lots of time for us to go to the beach and enjoy the sun!  There is also lots of time to just relax and do simple things like make crafts, watch movies and play games!  We also will have some sessions that different people will lead and I think these will be good!

Until next time go and enjoy some time at the beach!! …Oh wait!! You all have snow! Haha ;) Well go and enjoy the snow for me! Make a snowman or snow angel or go have a snowball fight for me!!

P.S. Sorry for no pictures will get some for you soon! :)

Changes

Philile, Alex, Jonas, Mzo and me

With December 1st here, it has brought on a bunch of changes.

First, in the morning one of the volunteers, Alex, left.  I had known it was going to happen for a while.  But it still sucks.  I don’t like saying good bye as you may know, and we had become good friends. 

Secondly, I found out that I am moving to a new bedroom.  I have been staying in Nigel and Trish’s house, but they have asked that I move to the cottage with the other female teachers, so that their son who is coming can have his room.  Which I think will be good, I am looking forward to getting to know them better.  I started packing up my things yesterday and am moving in there tomorrow.

Jonas, me and Alex after the wedding on Saturday

Thirdly, I had a visit from James and Nikki today at school.  I got some Christmas baking (Thank you Joan!!), a straightener (again thank you Joan!), and a Blackberry to use for internet and also for WhatApp.  Everyone here texts through this, because it is cheaper.  And on the plus side I get to text with friends and family back home for free!  Yeah!  If you want to text me let me know! :D

Finally, the other change would just be that it is the end of the school year so things are coming to a wrap.  There are 3 more days of school, and then Friday is registration for new kids in the morning and then the rest of the day the teachers are going to Durban to have a day at the beach.  That should be fun!  Also while the break is on I am going to be staying at an orphanage called Lily of the Valley.  This is a place where some of the high school students come from.  Because the school will be closed I will spend my days working there at the school, hanging out with the kids and Nikki!  (Nikki has just been moved placements and will be at Lily from now on! I am really pumped about this because then we are really close to each other!)

The Bride and Groom! :)

On a different note, this past weekend there was a wedding on the farm here!  It was so much fun to be apart of the day!  Alex and I were asked to take photos of the wedding so I was also kept pretty busy!  It was fun to have a reason to dress up again!  I will add some photos of the wedding!

Until next time, cherish the moments you are in, the people and the circumstances.

Normal November

Lately I have been struggling to figure out what to write.  The first few months I started blogging it was to keep everyone updated on my VISA situation.  Then getting to South Africa everything was new and I wanted to tell you guys everything that happened.  And now things seem normal, well as normal as being on a farm in South Africa can be, you know seeing monkeys all the time…  Most days are predictable, even the weather is becoming predictable, I know that the morning will be warmer than the afternoon and that there will most likely be rain.

It has been just over 3 months on the farm! I cannot believe how the time has flown by and looking ahead I know the next 2 months will fly by too!  There is 3 weeks left of school and then there is a month and a half off until the new year starts up again! 

I have most of the month and a half planned but there is a few weeks I am not sure what I am doing, but I am sure they will get filled up quickly!!

Things that have happened that are different are…

• 7 of us teachers went to a soccer game in Durban, Sudan vs. South Africa! (South Africa won!) Also happened to see Lydia while I was at the game! Get this it was a game to see who would qualify for a tournament (honestly can’t tell you which one!) and it only cost 80 rand, about 8 dollars!
• I tried making papa. Which is made from white corn. It is very hard to mix, as it is really thick and so one of the ladies took over after a while, she made it look so easy!
• I am trying to be more willing to say “Yes” to things and not worry about what people think of me. Its really hard to do. I have always been someone who will just sit back and let other people try things because I don’t like the idea of people laughing at me, but I need to just laugh at myself first and get over myself!
• Tyla called me on my cell over her Skype and we talked for about 3 hours. It was great to catch up even though I stood out in the rain and darkness to make sure I got a signal that worked well! I love being able to laugh and hear stories from home and news from home! I heard Kristen and Jordon are moving to Edmonton! Crazy but very excited for you guys!
• Last week we had a surprise birthday celebration for Skhumbuzo! It was fun! We bought chicken, sausage, chips and pop. And made a cake, and papa. It was great, he had no clue! 
• School wise, a difference is we are done school at 14:30 now rather than 15:30 because the high school is writing their exams.  And because it is getting to the end of the year I am trying to test my kids in different ways to figure out with ones are ready to go to grade one.  At this point I am not sure who will be going for sure. This next week I am going to talk to the grade one teacher, Ms. Zondi, and ask her who she thinks is ready to go to the next grade.

Until next time…try to enjoy the regularity in life, but in that try to see the good things that occur there!

Weekend with MCC Staff & Kids New Outfits!

So this past weekend was the SALT Spiritual Retreat and it was so good to re-connect with everyone in Pietermaritzburg! We spent lots of time talking and just having down time, but most importantly we had lots of food! Maybe too much! On the one night us three SALTers made Thanksgiving supper for all of the MCC SwaLeSA staff and it turned out great! Nikki had the biggest hand in making it, though she would deny it! We even made pumpkin pie! There was left over pumpkin so I brought it back to the farm to make some pie for them and it went over really well actually! I was surprised! Also pumpkin pie is super easy to make!


We also went to a cultural Zulu village with everyone and it was really interesting to learn more about the Zulu culture! Most of my kids from school are Zulu so nice to get to know little things about them that I would not necessarily know other wise.
Here are some pictures of the things we saw and experienced while at the Zulu village!


 Lots of pictures this week! After I got back from PMB (Pietermaritzburg) There was some clothes donated mostly soccer jerseys from a team that had come from England. They had donated a them all for the kids so we sorted them into sizes and then were able to fit the kids all with great new soccer outfits! I am adding a few pictures of my class with their new outfits! They are just super cute! Also us teachers got some to wear on Thursday's during sports day too.

Oh the English Language!

This week I was put to test on how well I know my own language.  I am tested often in my class and when the teachers will ask me a grammar question like, “In this situation would I use this word or that word?”  And those questions I can often answer quite easily.

But this week Ms. Offer (the secretary at the school) came and asked if I could fill in a English Diagnostic Test with all the answers so she had a score key when checking the actual tests of the kids.  Well I took her challenge, though I don’t think she intended it to be a challenge; it was just something she thought would be easy for me.  But growing up English was probably my worst subject.  Ha.

It starts out quite easy, grade one testing, like “Write in the small letters that are missing.”  As you go it gets in to higher grades and can become more challenging….well for me at least.  Asking what subject nouns are, that was my first stumper.  Sad I know.  I know what nouns are but subject nouns now you got me stuck!  It said, “Draw a line under the subject noun of each sentence.  1) The spider spins a web.”  I am sure it is obvious to people but for me I am a bit lost. But that’s okay. It’s not something I have to do everyday. And that was just the start to my confusion! Ha!

I have had the German guys teaching me about my own language! I blame it on the fact that I am 5.5 years out of high school, and they have just gotten out of high school! Haha!

Until next time take learn something new about your language!

What do I Say?

Its been almost two weeks what do I say? 

Well I don’t have internet so you now have to be patient with me. I have it now because I am in Pietermaritzburg for a Spiritual Retreat with the other SALTers and other MCC staff!

My week at the farm alone was alright. I was happy to have all the teachers back.  Though with having to clean the store room I felt productive and it felt really good to actually see a difference in the room! I spent a lot of that time listening to music and to Vinyl Cafe.  

Also it has been chilly here. Now you have to understand they do not have central heating here so when I say I am cold it has been getting to a low of 14 maybe 10, but I can’t go into my room and warm up unless I am sitting right next to the little heater I have in my room.  The other night I slept with socks, sweat pants, and a hoodie (or bunny hug), two blankets and kept my heater on as long as I could.

School with the kids has been fun! We made glasses with pipe cleaner! It was so cute walking out of my class that day and watching all the other teachers just smiling because they were wearing their glasses so proudly!  I have been able to find things that are more fun for the kids to do, like playing with play dough. I have been asking them to make different letters with the play dough, and even spelling some basic words. Telling them to listen the the sounds of the letters. And they are making me proud!

This past week we have also had a new student join us. She was in the Grade 1 class but should have been in Grade R but there was only boys in the class so she did not want to be in there.  It has been both good for the students to have her there because she speaks English all the time. But it is a challenge for me because she knows me from outside of school so it makes her think she has some extra privileges. Which we have been working on.

I was able to go on Sunday for a walk around the farm.  Alex and I went on Sunday morning and wondered around. He had gone for a walk with some girls a few weeks before hand and they showed him some great views so, he asked if I wanted to go and see them. It was mostly up hill but once we got to the top of the hill it was worth it! It was gorgeous! As you can see from the pictures!  And the morning was so nice and warm I hope it gets warm like that again soon!

Until next time, make a fun craft (even if you don't have any kids to do it with!)

Giving Thanks

There are so many things to be thankful for!  Sunshine. A comfortable bed. New friends. Old friends. Letters from home. A heater for a cold day. Internet. Pets. Food. Smiles. Seeing and talking to family. These are just a few of the things I am thankful for today on this Canadian Thanksgiving weekend.

Last night I got the opportunity to Skype with my whole family, except the Court’s.  Thank you Nikki for the idea!  I had to figure out timing of when they where getting together their time and then after that I needed to make sure I was going to have internet. My host family turns the internet off at night and the time that was going to work the best was about 11pm my time.  So they kindly left the internet on just so I could talk with my family and be a part of their Thanksgiving weekend.  I don’t know if they really understand how much they blessed me by allowing me to do that.

I am a family person and when I am home I usually spend most or all of my time with family.  I was trying to remember if this was one of the first times I have missed a family Thanksgiving meal. There might have been one year during my Bethany time that I went else where, but I can’t remember.

Other than the connection not being great, it was so nice to talk to them all, or make funny faces at them. I got the chance to say hi to all of them and then chat with a few of them.  At one point I was just talking with Mikaela, she was sitting on the stairs and had Katie and Jakob with her.  She had asked me if I was sad I was not there.  And I said, “Yeah it’s hard sometimes but I know, that if I was there I would probably just be sitting there listening to all the conversation anyway.”  And she said, “Yeah, you and I would probably just be sitting on the stairs talking like this anyway too!”  And she was right, we probably would have been. 

I miss them all a lot. But I am also thankful for this experience. I knew coming here would be hard but I know it’s also a good thing.  But I have to take it one day at a time.  When I sit and think about missing them it’s harder, but when I am distracted and have things to do or people around I am usually fine.  There are going to be days when it is harder than others, but I know I have a family that is 100% behind me to support me.  I love you guys!

Until next time, take time to be thankful for the little things, like internet working! (Sorry this is so cliche, especially for this time of year, but here is just one more reminder just incase you did not get it from anyone else) :)

Break From the Regular Noises of the Farm

Term three just ended, and now the kids and teachers are on holidays for this next week. Because MCC wants to make it fair for all SALTers we are only given 10 holiday days. So when there are days that the kids have off I have to find other work that will keep me busy.  Unless I want to take a holiday of course. But this week just seemed too early to use up 5 of my holiday days.  So I had decided to stick around the farm and work at the school while everyone is gone. 

A nice start to the week was Nikki (one of the other SALTers) came and hung out with me for the weekend!  It was nice to be able to show someone where I work and what I have been up to. It was also nice to talk to someone about life, not worrying if they understand what I am saying. Ha. I think the most disappointing part was she only got to meet a few of the teachers and did not really experience the full amount of energy that occurs on the farm on a regular basis. But that will be another time maybe!  While Nikki was here we went for a few walks around the farm, went to a brie (not sure of the spelling) its just like a BBQ, went to church, watched some movies, talked a lot, ate cheese, drank milk and on our way to drop her off back in Pietermaritzburg we actually saw 2 rhinos! And some other animals but the rhinos were the new and exciting ones!

Now I embark on the week on the farm alone.  Well kind of alone. There are a few teachers around during the week, but I won’t see much of them.  While I am here I am going to be cleaning up my classroom and also cleaning up the storage room.  There is a room where all the extra booklets are kept and they want some kind of system put in to keep inventory of how many of each things they have. Which I feel is right up my alley but, we will see how it turns out!

Until next time, take the time to enjoy the noises of the things around you.

Back Home

There have been a few times where I have wished I was back home.  A few of those times have been when I got an e-mail from my sister, she had sent me two pictures of my niece and nephew embracing after she got home from school.  Another time is when my sister texted me and told me she was engaged! And this morning, I got an email from Tyla telling me that there was accident with a 15 passenger van with some Bethany students in it.  All these are very different reasons for wanting to be home.

When I think about my nieces and nephews and the things I am missing in their lives it is hard.  Though one would think I am used to it now. I have not really been in Calgary or Canmore for 5 years. Yes I go home for weekends or for parts of the summer, but I have not really been part of their lives regularly.  But being here in a different country is just different there is not really the option for me to go home and see them for the weekend if I wanted.  But it is part of the price I pay. For now I settle for pictures of their embraces, videos they left on my computer and emails from them or their parents.

Getting the text from Reilly saying her and Phil were engaged was so exciting! I am so very excited that they are engaged. I was pretty sure that while I was here they would get engaged, but knowing that I won’t be there to help Reilly with any of the planning and I think that is what I am going to have the most trouble with.  She also asked me to be one of her bridesmaids, which of course I told her yes!  They will be getting married on July 25th!  Lots of time to adjust to the time difference again! ;)

And finally the accident with the students at Bethany, I know there is nothing I could physically do, I think if I were home I would try to see if there was anything I could help with but I really don’t know what that would look like.  I was at school last time there was a car accident with other students in a 15 passenger van, and it was really hard on the community.  So I can only imagine what the community is like right now.  From here all I can do is pray.  Bethany community I hope you know I am praying for you guys, those who were involved and those who are friends and family and the staff.

What am I learning from all this, well that I can always wish I was else where, but I do need to learn to live and be happy where I am.  To love the people I am around not just the ones who are back home.

Until next time, love those people who surround you.

A Day in the Life of Ms. Rebecca

For a disclaimer this is what a weekday would look like.

6:30 my alarm goes off and I get up out of bed around 6:45. I then head to the Common Room, where the teachers gather in the morning to eat breakfast. Breakfast is usually bread with something like jam, butter, peanut butter or a hard boiled egg. There is sometimes muffins and then always fruit. I usually bring my fruit to eat at a break.

At about 7:20 I start walking down to the school. To get to school I walk through a garden, down a path, through a campsite, down a steep hill and then through a field of sugar cane. (Okay so this may be a little exaggerated. But it is actually all true.) It takes less than 10 minutes to walk by myself but if I walk with others it is closer to 15 minutes.

Once I am at school I go and unlock the door to the classroom. I do somethings in the class to get it ready for the day.  There is usually some kind of devotion in the mornings before the kids come.  Some mornings at 8:00 there is an assembly but only on Tuesdays and Fridays. At 8:00 school starts and the kids come in. In the mornings I will ask them questions in English about their day.  Then we usually sing some songs, a few in English and a few in Zulu. Then we go sit at the table. There we work on things together.  Right now we have been working on simple math problems in addition and subtraction. They are doing great!

At 10:00 is first break. This is when the kids usually eat lunch, not sure why its this early but it works for them.  During the breaks me and the two other volunteers from Germany (Jonas and Alex) supervise to make sure the kids stay out of trouble.  After break the 3 of us get our own break, we usually all sit on our ‘volunteer bench’ as they guys call it and chat. At 11:00 we go back to our classes.

During the time I am on break the kids do a Zulu lesson with Ms. Gabela, the other teacher in my class. When I get back we work on the ACE booklet we are to work through with the kids. It is the curriculum that the school runs with. It is a American based system, so I often have to change the way I we work through the book because of level of English and the cultural differences. But it all works out. We then do either some kind of craft or colouring until our next break at 12:30.

1:30 I come back to class after my break and the kids are done their second part of their Zulu lessons of the day.  From there I will often try to get the kids to teach me some Zulu and then I teach them the same words in English.  This way we are both learning. This happens for about 15 minutes and then the grade one class comes and joins us for a movie. So far they have watched Toy Story and Cars.  They love it. 2:30 is usually out door time where the kids can then run around and learn motor skills. But right now the high school is doing exams so everyone is done at 2:30.

Alex, Jonas and I are also on supervision with the kids that wait for the buses to come a get them. We wait until the two buses come and get them, sometimes it takes 30 minutes some times an hour. Once the kids all leave we head to the Common Room for lunch. After lunch everyone goes their own ways.

Supper is usually around 6:00 but most people come later. After supper we will sometimes play a game or watch a movie together. But often we all go back to our rooms. And then bed time is often around 8:30 or 9:00. Or thats what seems to happen anyway.

Until next time…keep reading! I promise they will start to get shorter! Or at least I will try! It is just so hard to keep them shorter when I want to share everything with you!

Cultural Observations

• Don’t show up right away at 6:00 for supper you will most likely be the only one.
• Even the females eat large portions.
• It’s weird that I spend so much time by myself (mostly it is because I have my own room separate from the other girls).
• People go to bed early (which I am used to by this point and love, I am getting over 9 hours of sleep each night! and I am getting up at 6:30).
• When people say “Just Now” That means it will happen anytime from now to who knows when. “Now, Now” means it will happen right then.
• Most people go off of the 24 hour clock.
• -25c is not just cold it is really really cold for people here!  They can't even fathom -15c.
• Most people like tea and enjoy instant coffee. (not that there is not coffee grounds they are just too expensive for many people and it is not as accessible.)
• South Africans say “sorry” more than Canadians do!
• One must ask where the toilet is rather than asking where the washroom or bathroom is, other wise you get looked at like you have two heads.
• Everyone walks slow or saunters.
• Food is all relative.

This food is from the Heritage Day that happened this past week. I did not eat it all. There is Chicken feet, cow stomach, sweet potatoes, yams and beans. This is not a normal meal that I eat. This was just special for that day. 

The other picture is of one of the teachers Philile the grade one teacher. She is dressed in a traditional skirt. She is a doll!

I am sure there are many many things these are just a few that I have noticed in the past few weeks.

Until next time, take time to noticed the different quirks about your own culture.

Being a Teacher

On Friday September 12th I went to the school with all the other teachers.  I was greeted by many of the people I had met on Thursday and more.  One that I met Friday was the other teacher who is in the Grade R class (kindergarten) with me.  Her name is Ms. Gabela, she is a sweet older lady who only speaks very little English but understands more, other wise she speaks Zulu.  When we met and I introduced myself as Rebecca, she looked like she was going to cry.  She squealed and said “I am so tired”.  She was so thankful that I was finally there to help her in the class.  With 4 little boys she had her hands full!  I was sad to tell her that I was going to be in the grade one class in the morning and then I would start teaching on Monday.

I started that day in the grade one class with Philile (the grade one teacher) and then moved to grade R to get to know the kids a little bit.  I spent most of the afternoon listening to them recite all the things they had memorized, days of the week, months, counting by 10s, 5s, songs in Zulu and some in English that Mr. Russell (the other SALTer who was there before me) had taught them.  Than Ms. Gabela looked at me and said “Now you teach.” And I had no clue what I was supposed to do.  I had not even gotten the curriculum 30 min before. So I told her I could not, so instead I read them some stories, than she did a Zulu lesson with them.

Monday has come and gone. It was my first day of teaching and it went as well as it could.  Josh or Mr. Russell had given me a rough schedule that he went off of with the kids and that has saved me! Thank you Josh!  This week has been getting an understanding of where the kids English is at.  A lot of what I noticed was that the kids had forgotten a lot of what Josh had taught them because they were not using English everyday other than the things that they had memorized (there was about 3 months gap between Josh leaving and me getting there).  But it has been fun getting to know them and making the schedule more of my own thing.  This week has also been a cleaning week too.  There were many piles around the class of papers and old work books, so because of the person I am I have been cleaning them all up and going through each pile trying to get rid of the things we don't need any more.

Here are some pictures of my kids and my class room.  Their names are Unathi, Aphelele, Ayanda and Lefanelo.  Until next time remember that it is okay to be silly sometimes!

My New Home

Being here finally is kind of surreal. When James and Joan were dropping me off on last Thursday we drove past a game park and there a giraffe right by the fence! Of course we stopped at took a picture!

Driving to the farm reminded me a lot of driving to Bethany College for the first time (minus the giraffe part!). The half hour drive to a small town with a school, not knowing anyone there. Watching for signs of how much farther until we got to our destination. Having butterflies in my stomach. When we got to the farm and walked in the gate of where I was going to be staying Joan turned and said to me “Welcome to your garden of Eden” And wow! Its beautiful!

I was ushered to my new room by one of the ladies who work here, Esnath.  But not before two dogs came to greet me!  I am not sure why but this made it a little easier to be okay to settle in to a new place.  I was quite amazed at my room when I walked in.  I have a double size bed with two dressers, my own bathroom to use, a closet, a crib (not that I will need it!) and a rocking chair.  Also I have a separate entrance to my room so I don’t have to talk though the whole house and disturb my new hosts, Trish and Nigel.

After putting my stuff down in my room we were ushered into the living room where Trish and Nigel met us.  We had tea with them and talked for a little while.  They are great people and I am looking forward to getting to know them better.  When James and Joan left it was kind of hard for me because it was like Bethany again where the only people I knew were leaving me in this place I was not quite sure about.

Though quickly after I was whisked away by some of the teachers who had just come up from the school.  They were heading to have lunch (at 3:30), I jumped right in because otherwise I might have lost it and went to my room and just cried.  So overwhelmed by just the new surroundings I did not know what I was getting into when I walked into the ‘Common Room’! (This is where they teachers who live on the farm eat their meals together and will hangout during times when we are not working.) There were at least 15 people in this common room all talking, and loudly I might add, introducing themselves to me and asking me why I was not eating.  Haha. Well I was not really given a choice because someone ended up scooping some food out for me and gave me a large portion on pap and sauce and then 3 things of meat! Oh gee! I had just eaten  lunch at 1:00 I was not hungry!  Needless to say I did eat some of it but then put the meat back.  I was really worried about this because we were told culturally you always take what you were given and eat it all.  

After a week of getting to get used to everyone I have become a lot more comfortable!  There are still people I do not call by name because I either can’t pronounce them or I can’r remember it! Oops!  But the people I interact with the most I have all their names down!

Until next time go and talk to someone new and get to know them, whether it be someone in your work place you have seen for years or a person at church or even a stranger on your path.

 
 

Learning Zulu

Sanibonani!! Over the past 5 days I have been learning different things from history, to a new language, to keeping track of finances, to safety.

I have been spending a bunch of time with a new friend, she is Zulu and works here in the MCC office with James and Joan. Her name is Nontobeko, or Nonto for short.  She has been lots of fun to work with.  She started me out on language lessons.  Zulu is the local language most people speak, especially in the community I will be working in.  This has been difficult but has been good too; I have been able to see each morning that I am getting better. I have been mostly working on greetings and a few basic words here any there. "Sanibonani" means "Hello" but only when you are speaking to two or more people (so lets hope more than one person reads this! ;)  "Hello" to one person would be "Sawubona!" Some other phrases I have learned are "How are you?", "What is your name?", "Stay well and Go well", "Did you sleep well?", "Good" , "Thank you" and "Sorry" (important for any Canadian to know!).  These are just a few of the words or phrases I have learned. Some thing that has been tricky to catch is there are a few words with clicks in them.  The letters q, c, and x all make different kinds of clicking sounds. Maybe in a few weeks I will be a bit better, especially if my kindergarten class wants to teach me.

Nonto also has taken me out in the community to take a combi which are vans that drive around and is the most popular way of getting around, especially for the black people in South Africa.  If I lived here I would take them everywhere it only cost 5 rand or .50c Canadian to take it! And I will be taking it regularly while I am here to get from town to town. Not sure how I feel about going around by myself on it yet, but eventually I will.

Also yesterday Nikki one of the other SALTers was here.  It was really good to see her and for the two of us to talk.  We had lots to talk about to catch up. She told me how her assignment is going and I was able to talk about how I am a little nervous about heading to the school today.  I am sure we will have even more to talk about on next Friday when we see each other after I have also been in my placement for a week.

I am heading to Hope Valley Farm School this afternoon. And I am looking forward to getting to know everyone there but also a bit worried too.  I have realized that since August 20th until now I have met over 150 people. A lot of people for two weeks and the number is just growing!  Today I will most likely meet the teachers, the family that lives on the farm and maybe some of the students.  It is more likely that tomorrow I will meet my students most of the kids.  Then I will have the weekend to get s bit settled in and work on a lesson plan to teach the kids on Monday! Yikes! It is coming fast! Ha.

Be prepared for most of my blogs to be not as often as they have been.  And might be a few short ones every once in awhile. The reason for this is I won't have great internet.
But until next time take the chance to try and learn and new language! And be very prepared to laugh at yourself and try again (I am still having trouble with it all but I am working on it too!)!

I made it, I actually made it!

I last left you off in Toronto after my visit to the embassy. Well guess what I have travelled a lot since than! Cause look what I got!

Okay so this is kinda cheating because I did not take this picture as soon as I got it like I planned....but it gives you the idea of how excited I was!

I ended up finding out that I got my visa on Wednesday, but we did not have time to pick it up.  So as soon as I found out I let Helen (who is in charge of all flight bookings) that I got it, along with many other people, and she found me a flight for Thursday evening! We than drove into Toronto on Thursday morning got my visa and then did some touring around and strait to the airport!

From the time of being dropped off at one airport and being picked up at the other end it took 40 hours! I am tired! But thats okay, because I am here!

My flight schedule was from Toronto, Canada to Frankfurt, Germany to Johannesburg, South Africa to Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. My time in Germany was 10 hours! It would have been great to go and explore but because I forced my self to stay awake during that time I was a zombie! I literally felt like I was just floating around with a dead expression on my face and I would not be surprised if I was not walking straight sometimes! There I found something to eat (McDonalds was my choice because I knew the menu well enough and knew what it was even if it was in German! (Ha! Don't judge me!) and a little corner to curl up in and sleep for a little while.
Needless to say I slept most of the flight from Frankfurt to Jo'burg. I had a window seat so I looked out the window a few times and oh my where the stars beautiful!!! I thought I would share them with you! ------->

Don't know if you can see that...hahah!! I laughed when I saw that there was nothing! Hope you did too!

Okay so I should know better than to try and take pictures of darkness but thats okay! I did get some great pictures of the sun rise! That was beautiful! You will have to just trust me that the stars were just as beautiful! I mean you could actually see the milky way!!

Once I got to Jo'burg I actually had a bit of a lay over there too, but instead of staying in the airport again, I had a great visit with Prosperity (Pros for short). She is the MCC Peoples Coordinator, which means she is in charge of helping getting things set up for SALTers and many other things! So we headed to the close mall and had coffee and visited! Which was great! Also I was glad she picked me out of the crowd because honestly there were soo many people and I had only seen a picture of her once! She is so great! I am looking forward to getting to know her better!

Finally I now sitting in James and Joan's house, showered, fed and relaxed! Their house is actually an old prison! Pretty cool! Actually when I was in South Africa 3 years ago they had brought us here and showed us this place! They did a great job cleaning it up! I added a few picture so you can see! Also just to rub it in (especially to all of you who have snow already ;) it was plus 30 here today! And guess what! Monday was their first day of spring! HA! :D

 

Until next time, go and take the time to look at the stars! Go take a drive out into the country if you have too, get away from the lights of the city!