I've caught the 24-48 hour sick bug

Yes... I am ill. :( It seems that there is something going around the staff and it's causing me to feel sick. I mean sick. I went to bed last night after my not so good tasting meal (which you'll hear about later) and woke up at 2:00 AM. I kept thinking about my dinner and so I went and had to throw up to make myself feel better. Get it out of my system, right? Not so much. About 2 hours later, I was up again getting sick. Shame. It appears it's going around in the staff here so please pray it goes away quickly. Today was my first day with the students and I'm absolutely NOT feeling 100%. Get me better QUICKLY!

So since I can't write everyday on my blog, I have decided to write at night through Microsoft Word and then just copy and paste. So happy reading! Please hope that the next time I post, when I let you know about my school and my first day!, that I'll be feeling better.

January 12, 2008

My luggage arrived! I have never been so happy to receive my things – I finally feel complete. After hearing that my luggage had not arrived after my 11-hour flight Thursday night, I mentally broke down. I was emotionally and physically tired. I “phoned” my mom once I got in and of course, after hearing her voice and knowing my luggage was wandering around in Amsterdam somewhere, I just had to let out a cry. I cried in front of my host parents and felt completely embarrassed because I had just met them 20 minutes prior. But alas, I am rested and adapting VERY well! The culture here is so similar to what I am used to. The only exception is they drive on the left side of the road and talk in British accents. I absolutely am in love with Cape Town and am so thankful I followed my heart to come here. I really wasn’t sure what to expect from this country, but it isn’t your typical “African” country some might think of. They accept all major credit cards, they chat on cell phones, and they love SMS (text messaging). Sounds like America, eh?

The main point of this posting was to share what an incredible feeling I had today while I was running in my neighbourhood. I set out for a run around 19:00 (7:00 PM) and the temperature was about 65 degrees, which is about 10 degrees cooler than it was earlier today. It starts to cool down around 18:00 (6 PM). So Wendy and Ron live in a part of Cape Town where the mountain is in the background. It is quite beautiful. As I was running, I wanted to get closer to get a better view of the distance mountain and I did just that. After about a mile out, I couldn’t help but to stop and stand in awe of the mountain. It was so surreal to me. The clouds just kept moving right through the mountain and it presented the image of the clouds lying on top of the mountain (which they call “table cloth” because the clouds cover the top of the mountain like a table cloth). That moment in time tops every feeling I have ever had after finishing a half marathon. I know that might sound crazy, but it was so moving. It is by far my favorite place to run to. I hope to remember this feeling in my running and races in the future because it is that image that will get me through to the finish line.

January 15, 2008

There has been much happening in my South African life on a daily basis. The staff of my school started school on Monday, January 14. Jean dropped me off at my school and introduced me to the principal (head mistress) and secretary (pronounced sec-re-tree in SA). I was then taken to the staff room for a general “Welcome Back!” meeting. I was introduced to the entire faculty which was nerve-wrecking, but I managed. There are quite a number of new teachers at Rustenburg so I don’t feel like the odd ball. There is also an exchange teacher who is from Oregon which is nice to connect with someone from the States. I do believe I am the first student teacher ever at my school. Jean mentioned that she has never placed someone in the school and I believe the principal mentioned I was the first one. So I must set the bar high, eh? Anyway, everyone seems very pleasant at my school and I hope that continues once school starts and the madness settles. I have arranged for someone to pick me up at 6:45 every morning, but as far as a ride home, I hope it’s with the same. That has been an issue for me. I don’t mind getting rides with others, but I feel like I’m being needy by asking all the time. I suppose I better toughen up and get over it because I have no other choice. So by far, that is something I do miss from America (DRIVING!!!!). So today, Tuesday, was the second day for teachers and it was a little bit more hectic. I don’t really understand the daily routine and what not (Forms, Day 1, Day 2, etc). I know that sounds confusing, believe me I know, but I know it will eventually come together. At this point, I have no idea who I am teaching with or when. All I have currently is a Grade 8, Grade 9, and Grade 10 textbook. They use the term “Grade 8,” for example, instead of saying 8^th grade. I’m starting to see many differences and I think the changes are good. I thought today about how I do miss teaching at my old high school and as much as I dislike change, viewing a different education system will broaden my knowledge. I made the comment to my host Mom today about how I was so confused in the staff meetings because I have no idea what some of the stuff they are talking about. This is my first time viewing a staff meeting and seeing what the first few days are like before the students come and with that said, it’s quite all new to me and I have nothing to compare it to. So, I won’t really see differences again until I begin a teaching job in the States. A difference I do notice is they call students “learners” and the teachers are “educators.”

Living with host parents has been wonderful so far. Every evening dinner is prepared for us which has been an experience. I have tried a variety of foods. Although tonight, an Indian dish was prepared and it did not taste good to me. I do have to say, I have been very good about trying an assortment of new food. For example, over the weekend I tried prawn, mussles, calamari, baby calamari, and perch. Way to go, Emily! You aren’t a picky eater anymore!

This past Sunday, the 13^th, Terrez and I decided to attend a church service at the local Methodist Church. I would say the average age in the morning service was about 68. Not kidding. They loved us, though! The message was also very nice. It related to HIV/AIDS and the moral of the story was that a nun went to a clinic to get tested for HIV because she was going to prove that not everyone that goes to the clinic is HIV positive. There were some locals that believed in this. So she went and they asked her questions such as “Have you been sexually active?” “Have you used drugs before?” “Do you use protection?” … that sort of thing. So of course she tested negative because she answered no to all of the questions. The point of the message was that someone has to make a difference and a change. I found it very relevant to my life. Being in South Africa has definitely increased my faith in God. I often get sad when I think of home, but I put trust and faith in God because I know he’ll get me through anything. So new years resolution… CHEERS!

Wendy and Ron also took us to Hout Bay to walk the beach and to stick our feet in the cold Atlantic ocean. I hope to have pictures posted soon! It was beautiful and everytime I see the mountains, it’s breath taking. We also took a drive through Camps Bay which consists of houses costing R20,000,000-R30,000,000. Divide those numbers by 7 and that will give you a rough estimate of what it would be in USD. The prices are so high mainly because of their location. They have a view of the ocean and are mountainside. Very beautiful.

Sorry I am jumping around so much, but I wanted to make sure I wrote about this. Tonight at dinner, we talked about similarities and differences between America and South Africa. In particular, food, our accents, tv shows, etc. We had a pretty extensive conversation about food and tried to think of a dish in America that we claimed. Patrick came up with fried chicken! I think he’s right. I also notice a difference with the accents. Although Wendy and Ron sound British, I do hear the South African accent when they speak. Words like “yeah” are “Yaaa” and when Wendy pronounces my last name, it’s the funniest thing because their a’s tend to sound more like an “o”. so like “dowters.” So when she pronounces the “a” in my name like an “a,” she sounds America. We got a good laugh out of it. Lastly, Wendy talked about how many of the tv shows here are our shows, i.e. Cartoon Network, E!, etc so they hear our accent. Terrez asked if they have our shows such as “Judge Judy” aired here. They do. HA! And the best part of the conversation was Wendy, in her accent, saying, “What about Jerry Springer?” That was quite amusing! We talked about the rubbish on that show as well.

Love always! Cheers!