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!