Yeah, I can't believe it either. I'm not really sure where the time is going, but I suppose I've just been chilling on the bandwagon this whole time holding on as time flies by me. Emily, get a move on it already!... which is what I'm going to do.
This past weekend was rather exciting! Every Saturday morning Terrez and I get our butts out of bed around 6:30 for our long, morning run. Thats... AM. So we try to leave the house by 7ish so we can beat the heat and get a nice, long, relaxing run in and not feeling rushed. So, Terrez and I were downstairs getting ready and he says to me, "Let's run to Wendy's school." Mind you, we have only trained up to about 9K (equivalent to roughly 6 miles or so). I'm thinking, "Okay, I will totally do it." My host mom is the principal for one of the primary schools in the area and it's about 8K to her school (you do the math... okay... yes, 16K there and back). So we head off to her school around 7:45 or so. Ladies and gents, we arrived at her school around 8:50... wam bam thank you ma'am. The run there was actually really great. I felt really confident that I could run 8K solid. Once we arrived at her school, we hung out for about ten minutes and then started our journey home. Suprisingly we made it back! We ran 16K... well, ran a majority of the way, walking occasionally. I felt so good after the run and pretty confident that this race is going to be a good one. Now, the only thing I'm worried about are the hills on the route. We haven't done any hill training yet, but I'm convinced if I can run the hills in good ole' Athens, Ohio, then these should be fine. Actually, I'm convinced if I can walk up the hills in Athens, then the half really won't be that bad. Am I right OU gang or am I right? I am getting really excited for this race! :-) Less than a month of training to go!
Since my procrastination is catching up with me and kicking my butt, I asked my host parents if they would take me to the Waterfront so I could look into some touristy attractions. So, that's what I spent my Sunday doing. Terrez and I were dropped off at the Waterfront around noon and stayed there until 5 or so. I actually went on a mini-shopping spree. HA. oops. I needed to buy new running shoes because my other ones are starting to become torn and I've trained for two half marathons on them so I thought I'd retire them and start brand new. I bought some beadwork, a purse, etc. My favorite purchase was "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela. Terrez, Patrick, and I are heading to Robben Island next Friday and although it's not enough time to get through the book, I thought it would be great to start it. I'm really going to get to see a piece of history... not that I don't see it when driving (i.e. townships, homeless people, etc), I'll see a piece of history that marks meaning and honor to men who stood up for their country.
Terrez and I got some information on a "game" park (Safari trip) which we are thinking of doing as our final trip. We are starting to book our weekends. This coming weekend, my host rents are taking me to a couple of wineries (watch out!!!). Next week is just busy busy busy... I'm actually going to be spending two days observing schools set up through my advisor. She would like for us to see a township school and for us to see a coloured school. So we'll be doing that either Monday/Tuesday or Tuesday/Wednesday. She's trying to set it up where we can stay with one of the teachers and then ride with them to school. On Thursday, I'm heading out on a geography field trip with some of the girls. One of the geography teachers wanted to include me and needs the help. And then, Friday is Robben Island. We don't have any plans as of yet for the weekend of March 8 and March 15, but hopefully we do! I've had suggestions to visit the ostrich farm (which I really want to do!) or maybe a weekend trip somewhere (not sure). And then finally, our last weekend will be the Two Oceans Half Marathon and probably a cookout at our house for all of the people who have helped us out during our stay such as the ladies I ride to school with everyday, my advisor, friends, etc. I thought that would be a really great gesture and a semi-final way to say goodbye to some :( And then that Monday, 24th, I think we might do a day tour of Cape Town. They have a bus called "City Sight Seeing" in which they take you all over Cape Town and you can choose to get off at certain stops. And then finally, would be our Aquila Safari Trip on that Tuesday. We wanted to chill out around the house for my birthday so we could say more goodbyes to people and then we leave on Thursday.
That's the rest of my trip in a nutshell. I really can't believe I only have 4 weeks left. It may seem like a lot, but my days go by so quickly and then I'm busy on the weekends. It just goes way too fast.
Thanks for reading this far and for the e-mails and comments daily. Being so far from home really makes me take a look at the people who matter so much in my life. I'm blessed to have such wonderful people in my life. :)
Love Always!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Busy. Busy. Busy.
Yep... it doesn't matter what country I'm in, I find myself being busy in some way. I've been really busy with school (lesson planning, teaching, running club, etc). I typically find myself really exhausted at the end of the day and I'm not even teaching a full load yet. For my observations/teaching, I actually float around to different classrooms throughout the day. It's as if I'm a floating teacher so atleast I'm getting the feel for what it's like to be a "traveling teacher" within the school. Everyday I am finding this experience to be so worthwhile. Typically I would find in a school in America that a teacher would teach maybe 2-3 Algebra I classes for 9th grade and maybe like 2 Algebra II classes for 10th/11th grade, just as an example. Here at my school, all of the Maths teachers teach different grade levels. There is one teacher who teaches like 2 or 3 Grade 9 classes, but the rest see all of the grades throughout the day. For instance, I am in a Grade 8, Grade 9, Grade 10, and Grade 11 class. I like the variety, although I am busy having to write lesson plans for teach Grade level since none overlap (i.e. I'm not teaching two Grade 8 classes and can use the same materials for each... catch my drift?) So I really think it's great that I'm getting experience with all of the different Grade levels. It's different types of Maths which actually forces me to have to relearn some things, especially since I have to teach it. I actually am finding that as a bit of a challenge. Some of this Maths material I haven't really looked at since high school so I'm trying to relearn it.
This week (on Wednesday), I started teaching the Grade 10s. I was actually REALLY nervous to teach this class because the teacher has told me they are the top set of the Grade 10s and the cooperating teacher in the class has been teaching for 45 years. So, needless to say, I was a bit intimidated. I'm teaching them about length, area, and volume. On Wednesday, I taught them about perimeter and area of squares and rectangles which led us into talking about proportions and ratios. The lesson wasn't too bad, but I definitely did a lot of reflection after it. There were several factors that made me nervous (as I mentioned earlier) and I wasn't sure what to expect. I suppose I didn't plan as well as I should have and really assumed too much about the class. Actually during the lesson, I asked the cooperating teacher where I was going wrong and he said, "No no, everything is fine. Give them some exercises to try." So, I did just that and I had made a worksheet for them to take home for homework. After the lesson, he sympathetized with me and told me not to worry because the text book (which I was deriving some examples from) really wasn't that great. He told me it's a pity that a book could be so awful. Lesson learned... seek other resources as well. Anyway, the girls were asking me all sorts of questions that I tried to answer as best as possible and felt like I was really just confusing them even more. Oy. But, that was fine as well because my cooperating teacher again said not to worry and that some of the girls were asking me pointless questions (i.e. How would this look on a test?)... Ay! I don't know! I haven't written any tests. But, nonetheless, I tried to answer as best as possible. Overall it really wasn't that bad and mostly I was nervous because I know I don't have that much experience teaching length, area, and volume (like my cooperating teacher), but that's all part of the experience. I was really happy that at no point he never chimed in to say, "well, let's look at it like this." He let me handle the entire class and it forced me to answer questions, to teach, to explain, etc. All of the teachers here have been that way and I am so thankful for that. I really hope I remember later down the road how good it felt to have that freedom as a student teacher and I hope I can do the same for another student teacher someday.
Later during the day, in the staff room, I was sitting next to the Grade 10 teacher and I asked him why he decided to become a teacher. He had told me that he was always interested in helping others (i.e. coaching). He always had an interest in teaching in some way. So, he thought he would give teaching a try. He turned 23 his first year of teaching. He taught for 20 years. After 20 years, he wanted to go into administration so he became a principal at one school for 8 years and 12 years at another school. After that, he decided he missed teaching and went back into teaching Maths and that's where he's been ever since (at my school). The man will be 68 years old next month and I have really noticed he has this passion for teaching. He's been such a great mentor teacher for me to observe. The girls love him. My favorite quote by him from our conversation about why he teaches was, "Well, really, I can't think of a better way to spend my day."
I'm going to end on that note because it really just left me smiling. Teaching is exactly what I'm supposed to do and all I can say to his comment is Amen. :)
This week (on Wednesday), I started teaching the Grade 10s. I was actually REALLY nervous to teach this class because the teacher has told me they are the top set of the Grade 10s and the cooperating teacher in the class has been teaching for 45 years. So, needless to say, I was a bit intimidated. I'm teaching them about length, area, and volume. On Wednesday, I taught them about perimeter and area of squares and rectangles which led us into talking about proportions and ratios. The lesson wasn't too bad, but I definitely did a lot of reflection after it. There were several factors that made me nervous (as I mentioned earlier) and I wasn't sure what to expect. I suppose I didn't plan as well as I should have and really assumed too much about the class. Actually during the lesson, I asked the cooperating teacher where I was going wrong and he said, "No no, everything is fine. Give them some exercises to try." So, I did just that and I had made a worksheet for them to take home for homework. After the lesson, he sympathetized with me and told me not to worry because the text book (which I was deriving some examples from) really wasn't that great. He told me it's a pity that a book could be so awful. Lesson learned... seek other resources as well. Anyway, the girls were asking me all sorts of questions that I tried to answer as best as possible and felt like I was really just confusing them even more. Oy. But, that was fine as well because my cooperating teacher again said not to worry and that some of the girls were asking me pointless questions (i.e. How would this look on a test?)... Ay! I don't know! I haven't written any tests. But, nonetheless, I tried to answer as best as possible. Overall it really wasn't that bad and mostly I was nervous because I know I don't have that much experience teaching length, area, and volume (like my cooperating teacher), but that's all part of the experience. I was really happy that at no point he never chimed in to say, "well, let's look at it like this." He let me handle the entire class and it forced me to answer questions, to teach, to explain, etc. All of the teachers here have been that way and I am so thankful for that. I really hope I remember later down the road how good it felt to have that freedom as a student teacher and I hope I can do the same for another student teacher someday.
Later during the day, in the staff room, I was sitting next to the Grade 10 teacher and I asked him why he decided to become a teacher. He had told me that he was always interested in helping others (i.e. coaching). He always had an interest in teaching in some way. So, he thought he would give teaching a try. He turned 23 his first year of teaching. He taught for 20 years. After 20 years, he wanted to go into administration so he became a principal at one school for 8 years and 12 years at another school. After that, he decided he missed teaching and went back into teaching Maths and that's where he's been ever since (at my school). The man will be 68 years old next month and I have really noticed he has this passion for teaching. He's been such a great mentor teacher for me to observe. The girls love him. My favorite quote by him from our conversation about why he teaches was, "Well, really, I can't think of a better way to spend my day."
I'm going to end on that note because it really just left me smiling. Teaching is exactly what I'm supposed to do and all I can say to his comment is Amen. :)
Friday, February 15, 2008
Happy Valentines Day!
I couldn’t have asked for a better Valentine’s Day! And I was even Valentine-less. Well, sort of.
Before I left for South Africa, I stopped to by some valentine’s (Madagascar valentines if you were wondering; tattoos included) before I left because I knew that I would obviously be in South Africa for the big day. :) I also made sure to buy some of the sweet candy hearts. You know, the ones that have particular phrases that say, “Go girl” and “Fax me.” HA! So you’re following. Okay, good. I brought 3 bags. One of which I brought for the staff to have and then the rest of the girls I teach/observe. I knew it might have been kind of corny, especially for the older girls, but whatever, they can get over it. It’s the thought that counts. Well, let’s just say they LOVEEEEEED them! And for this I was so happy. The first class I had today was a double Maths period. I distributed the valentines out to the Grade 10s and they were SO thankful and quite enjoyed the candy. Also during this period was a Grade 10 Investigation of which they took a tennis racket and a squash ball. The object of the investigation was to hit this squash ball straight up in the air and to attempt to reach 5 seconds before it touched the ground. We didn’t reach the 5 seconds, but we were close. I won’t go into detail with that because the focus of this entry is Valentine’s Day of course :) Ok, so… moving onwards. During my break, I received an SMS from my Host Mom that she picked up a package from my MOM! YESSS!!! Even though the package was sent 3 weeks ago and was only supposed to take 2 weeks to get here, it ended up coming on a perfect day! I’ll talk about that later. So throughout the day I distributed my valentines and the candy and in particular, my Grade 8s were looooooving the candy. So after class I told them they could come up and grab some more of the hearts and they were all over the opportunity. I ended up distributing them to all of my classes (yes, I planned ahead and made sure I had plenty to go around :) … good thinking, Emily).
The last class I was in for the day was quite a bit talkative and it was rather annoying because they can be a bit disrespectful to the teacher. This same class, yesterday, one of the girls I’ve been noticing who can’t seem to leave her cell phone alone during class, I confronted. She had asked me for help during the class and then at the end, she thanked me for helping her. And this was the time I said, “Hmm… well I’m pretty sure you won’t be learning any Maths on your cell phone.” And she replied, “So yes, I do understand that particular problem.” She put it back onto me which is a known habit she has. So I nicely touched her arm and said, “You need to be careful with your cell phone.” Having their cell phones out during class or during school in general is an absolute no-no and they will be confiscated. Supposedly once they are confiscated, the parents can get the cell phone back after paying a fine. Anyway, the same girl decided to pull out her cell phone today and started to SMS. So I watched and she definitely was so I immediately jumped up from my seat, looked over her shoulder, and shook my head. The girl next to her elbowed her that she needed to pay attention. I sat back down, gathered my thoughts and stated to her, “… I’m NOT telling you again.” From then on, I didn’t see her using it, but it really aggravated me for some reason. I have learned that I don’t want to be a strict teacher, but when rules are spelled out for you in the school handbook, I have absolutely no sympathy to nail you for violating the rule. I actually ended up mentioning to the teacher during class (in private) that she had her cell phone out. The teacher ended up confronting her after class. Listen, I’m not out to get girls in trouble when I’m observing, but when you’re in Grade 11, you should know better which is why I actually was proud of myself for standing up and saying something to her. That’s all part of the job. I’ve really been trying to have a dividing line between being a friend to them and being a teacher. I actually found myself struggling with this in the beginning of my experience. I’m starting to have more confidence in myself with this. I’ve also been really focusing on not trying to bring my school matters home into my social/home life. Once I leave school, I need to leave the problems at school.
So sorry, I was a little sidetracked! Back to Valentine’s Day! So after school, I received an SMS from one of my staff friends that he had something for me. I met up with him and he gave me a rose! I thought it was so sweet! He told me that he knew I was a long way from home and didn’t want me to be entirely alone on Valentine’s Day. It really was a nice gesture!
The best part of the day… once I got home I was finally able to open the package from my MOM!!!! So I didn’t know what to expect, but I knew it was going to be good. Well, let me just tell you the card she sent said, “I thought you might like a “taste” of home.” Well taste of home is right. Here’s what was in my package: Skittles, Peanut Butter M&Ms, Chips Ahoy chocolate chip cookies, two original Pringles cans, Dutch Cocoa cookies, Tootsie Rolls, and Nutter Butter bars. Hot damn! All of my favorite bad foods! Definitely not in the half marathon training diet, but I’m not complaining. It was so good to have junk food. Ha! I never thought I’d say that. I’ve been eating nothing but healthy food here (aka salads like woah during dinner and for lunch at school I eat half of a cheese sandwich with a tomato… yes tomato and I’m LOVING them! I never thought I’d say that). So needless to say, I’ll be gaining all the weight I have lost back this week as I stuff my face with the junk food. Thanks MOM!!!! And I don’t mean that sarcastically! LOVE YOU!!
Well, I hope you enjoyed this post. I certainly enjoyed my day so I hope you can felt the joy as you read through!
Love Always!!!
PS. I wanted to comment on a culture thing:
*Typically people here will kiss each other on the cheek (yes, ladies kissing guys/guys kissing ladies, and ladies kissing other ladies… I think guys just shake other guys hands… I’m not sure. I’ve never really seen that one! Sorry!). It’s like a sign of saying thank you and that the gesture was really appreciated. It’s such a unique expression of joy and happiness to each other. I don’t mind it really. :) I saw that a couple times today amongst the girls and their friends. They all are so compassionate and caring about their friends and even the staff. It’s so neat.
There is so much I want to bring back to the States with me, but I know as soon as I do, I’ll get some rather weird looks. I’m going to start saying SMS (for texting because it’s so much easier than saying the word text/texting! Ha!) and words like “divine” and “rubbish” are definitely going to be in my vocab. There are many others I will bring back with me so prepare yourselves.
Hope everyone had a good day!
Before I left for South Africa, I stopped to by some valentine’s (Madagascar valentines if you were wondering; tattoos included) before I left because I knew that I would obviously be in South Africa for the big day. :) I also made sure to buy some of the sweet candy hearts. You know, the ones that have particular phrases that say, “Go girl” and “Fax me.” HA! So you’re following. Okay, good. I brought 3 bags. One of which I brought for the staff to have and then the rest of the girls I teach/observe. I knew it might have been kind of corny, especially for the older girls, but whatever, they can get over it. It’s the thought that counts. Well, let’s just say they LOVEEEEEED them! And for this I was so happy. The first class I had today was a double Maths period. I distributed the valentines out to the Grade 10s and they were SO thankful and quite enjoyed the candy. Also during this period was a Grade 10 Investigation of which they took a tennis racket and a squash ball. The object of the investigation was to hit this squash ball straight up in the air and to attempt to reach 5 seconds before it touched the ground. We didn’t reach the 5 seconds, but we were close. I won’t go into detail with that because the focus of this entry is Valentine’s Day of course :) Ok, so… moving onwards. During my break, I received an SMS from my Host Mom that she picked up a package from my MOM! YESSS!!! Even though the package was sent 3 weeks ago and was only supposed to take 2 weeks to get here, it ended up coming on a perfect day! I’ll talk about that later. So throughout the day I distributed my valentines and the candy and in particular, my Grade 8s were looooooving the candy. So after class I told them they could come up and grab some more of the hearts and they were all over the opportunity. I ended up distributing them to all of my classes (yes, I planned ahead and made sure I had plenty to go around :) … good thinking, Emily).
The last class I was in for the day was quite a bit talkative and it was rather annoying because they can be a bit disrespectful to the teacher. This same class, yesterday, one of the girls I’ve been noticing who can’t seem to leave her cell phone alone during class, I confronted. She had asked me for help during the class and then at the end, she thanked me for helping her. And this was the time I said, “Hmm… well I’m pretty sure you won’t be learning any Maths on your cell phone.” And she replied, “So yes, I do understand that particular problem.” She put it back onto me which is a known habit she has. So I nicely touched her arm and said, “You need to be careful with your cell phone.” Having their cell phones out during class or during school in general is an absolute no-no and they will be confiscated. Supposedly once they are confiscated, the parents can get the cell phone back after paying a fine. Anyway, the same girl decided to pull out her cell phone today and started to SMS. So I watched and she definitely was so I immediately jumped up from my seat, looked over her shoulder, and shook my head. The girl next to her elbowed her that she needed to pay attention. I sat back down, gathered my thoughts and stated to her, “… I’m NOT telling you again.” From then on, I didn’t see her using it, but it really aggravated me for some reason. I have learned that I don’t want to be a strict teacher, but when rules are spelled out for you in the school handbook, I have absolutely no sympathy to nail you for violating the rule. I actually ended up mentioning to the teacher during class (in private) that she had her cell phone out. The teacher ended up confronting her after class. Listen, I’m not out to get girls in trouble when I’m observing, but when you’re in Grade 11, you should know better which is why I actually was proud of myself for standing up and saying something to her. That’s all part of the job. I’ve really been trying to have a dividing line between being a friend to them and being a teacher. I actually found myself struggling with this in the beginning of my experience. I’m starting to have more confidence in myself with this. I’ve also been really focusing on not trying to bring my school matters home into my social/home life. Once I leave school, I need to leave the problems at school.
So sorry, I was a little sidetracked! Back to Valentine’s Day! So after school, I received an SMS from one of my staff friends that he had something for me. I met up with him and he gave me a rose! I thought it was so sweet! He told me that he knew I was a long way from home and didn’t want me to be entirely alone on Valentine’s Day. It really was a nice gesture!
The best part of the day… once I got home I was finally able to open the package from my MOM!!!! So I didn’t know what to expect, but I knew it was going to be good. Well, let me just tell you the card she sent said, “I thought you might like a “taste” of home.” Well taste of home is right. Here’s what was in my package: Skittles, Peanut Butter M&Ms, Chips Ahoy chocolate chip cookies, two original Pringles cans, Dutch Cocoa cookies, Tootsie Rolls, and Nutter Butter bars. Hot damn! All of my favorite bad foods! Definitely not in the half marathon training diet, but I’m not complaining. It was so good to have junk food. Ha! I never thought I’d say that. I’ve been eating nothing but healthy food here (aka salads like woah during dinner and for lunch at school I eat half of a cheese sandwich with a tomato… yes tomato and I’m LOVING them! I never thought I’d say that). So needless to say, I’ll be gaining all the weight I have lost back this week as I stuff my face with the junk food. Thanks MOM!!!! And I don’t mean that sarcastically! LOVE YOU!!
Well, I hope you enjoyed this post. I certainly enjoyed my day so I hope you can felt the joy as you read through!
Love Always!!!
PS. I wanted to comment on a culture thing:
*Typically people here will kiss each other on the cheek (yes, ladies kissing guys/guys kissing ladies, and ladies kissing other ladies… I think guys just shake other guys hands… I’m not sure. I’ve never really seen that one! Sorry!). It’s like a sign of saying thank you and that the gesture was really appreciated. It’s such a unique expression of joy and happiness to each other. I don’t mind it really. :) I saw that a couple times today amongst the girls and their friends. They all are so compassionate and caring about their friends and even the staff. It’s so neat.
There is so much I want to bring back to the States with me, but I know as soon as I do, I’ll get some rather weird looks. I’m going to start saying SMS (for texting because it’s so much easier than saying the word text/texting! Ha!) and words like “divine” and “rubbish” are definitely going to be in my vocab. There are many others I will bring back with me so prepare yourselves.
Hope everyone had a good day!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Table Mountain, Paarl, Gala, and Bowling
Well... I survived. This past Sunday I went hiking up Table Mountain. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but I’ll spell out what I really thought: H-E-L-L. I’m not even kidding. I almost died like nine times. Here’s the low down: I went hiking with one of the Maths teachers at my school. Here husband also went along. Pretty much the two of them out hiked me. I’m talking like the two of them are 55+ (her husband is over 60, FYI). So, they came to pick me up around 8:45 and the weather in the morning was rather gloomy. It was also pretty humid and had been raining in the morning. When I had woken up, I debated whether we were going to go or not, but we persevered anyway. We started at Kirstenbosch Gardens and hiked up a trail called something along the lines of “Skeleton Gorge” trail. Hmm. I wonder how it got its name. We started the hike around 9:00. We hiked (actually I should say we climbed up huge boulders) until about 11:45 am and then I pretty much decided we needed a break. I needed to eat something to have some sort of energy. I was dying. I win the idiot award for only bringing one Nalgene water bottle with me. Needless to say, I was pretty thirsty throughout the hike. Way to go, Emily. Anyway, after the break, we hiked some more for about an hour or so and pretty much decided that we shouldn’t hike up anymore because the weather wasn’t too good. It definitely started raining pretty hard while hiking and being the smart one that I am I wore cotton clothing and my clothes got extremely wet which later led to extreme chafing on my legs. MISERABLE. We stopped for lunch around 1:30 and then started our adventure back down the mountain around 2:00. We finally got back to the car around 4:00 pm. A fun-filled day of soggy wet clothes, socks, chafing, slipping on rocks, falling on my ass onto the rocks (bruises to prove it), hiking down 34324242 steps and dehydration. Now where’s my t-shirt that says, “I hiked up Table Mountain and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.” HA. That’s all I kept thinking. I am thankful I did go with people that know the trails because I can see how one can easily astray from the not-so-well marked trails and fall off the mountain. It does happen believe it or not. We also had to be careful because many people get mugged along the mountain trails. I do have to say the highlight of the hike was the awesome view I did get to see of Cape Town AND the fact that on my hike down from the mountain, they were playing Toto’s “Africa” from Kirstenbosch stadium (a band was between rehearsals for their Sunday night concert). MY THEME SONG! I kid you not. That has been the second time I’ve heard it while here. The first time was when I went shopping for clothes (because my luggage didn’t arrive with me) and they were playing it in one of the stores I was in.
Anyway, on Saturday (sorry I know I went backwards), I went with the Oregon lady and her family (she’s teaching here for a year) to Fairview Vineyards, a wine estate. LOVED IT. My food was fantastic and the wine was devine (as they say here J). I actually bought 3 bottles to take home (not USA home, SA home). After lunch, we went to Paarl and climbed up some enormous steep hills. That was pretty fun. I was able to see the entire city from atop a huge mountain. Looks like that seemed to be my theme for the weekend! We also drove through Stellenbosch and Franschoek (sp?) – both were quite nice. It was a really great weekend… tiring and sore, but good!
Oh, I never mentioned the swimming gala that was on Friday. It ended up going really well and was definitely interesting. Each of the form classes are divided into a particular house: Cambridge, Marchand, Bleby, Michael Vos, and Innes. The different houses each had their own theme. My form class is part of the Marchand house and their colors are yellow so they decided to be The Simpsons. It was rather cute. Girls were dressed in dresses with pearls like Marge and then others had pillows stuffed under their shirts to be like Homer. Each house competed by swimming. There were like 24 different types of swimming races for the girls. I took some videos so it’ll be a while before I can put them online because they take so long to upload. I do have plenty of pictures though! Keep watching for those.
As for this week, I started teaching a new chapter to my Grade 8 class. It’s been really fun. I really love the class and the girls. They’re a great group!!
Yesterday, one of my new South African friends from school, Clement, invited me to go bowling (they call it 10-pin bowling) after school. We went to N1 city and played a couple games of pool (and won 1 out of 5 games… wah wah), but regardless, it was fun. We then bowled and I have to say I was quite impressed with my scores. My dad would be proud: 140 the first game and 131 the second game. I suppose starting to bowl at the age of 6 had something to do with that (I’m pretty sure my 6th birthday party was at a bowling alley). Anywho, after bowling we went to KFC… Yes, KFC. And I have to say it tastes just like an American KFC (Kyle you’d fit in really well here.) Overall, I had a really nice time going out (I stayed out past my bed time… ha! 9:30 pm… that’s what happens when you have nothing else to do).
Thanks for reading and keeping me in your thoughts.
By the way, Denise, here’s your shout out. I have to say it’s been rather hard not running with you as I train for the half marathon. Don’t worry though… we’ll make it up this summer right?
I miss everyone!
Love Always!
PS. Happy Early Valentine’s Day!
Anyway, on Saturday (sorry I know I went backwards), I went with the Oregon lady and her family (she’s teaching here for a year) to Fairview Vineyards, a wine estate. LOVED IT. My food was fantastic and the wine was devine (as they say here J). I actually bought 3 bottles to take home (not USA home, SA home). After lunch, we went to Paarl and climbed up some enormous steep hills. That was pretty fun. I was able to see the entire city from atop a huge mountain. Looks like that seemed to be my theme for the weekend! We also drove through Stellenbosch and Franschoek (sp?) – both were quite nice. It was a really great weekend… tiring and sore, but good!
Oh, I never mentioned the swimming gala that was on Friday. It ended up going really well and was definitely interesting. Each of the form classes are divided into a particular house: Cambridge, Marchand, Bleby, Michael Vos, and Innes. The different houses each had their own theme. My form class is part of the Marchand house and their colors are yellow so they decided to be The Simpsons. It was rather cute. Girls were dressed in dresses with pearls like Marge and then others had pillows stuffed under their shirts to be like Homer. Each house competed by swimming. There were like 24 different types of swimming races for the girls. I took some videos so it’ll be a while before I can put them online because they take so long to upload. I do have plenty of pictures though! Keep watching for those.
As for this week, I started teaching a new chapter to my Grade 8 class. It’s been really fun. I really love the class and the girls. They’re a great group!!
Yesterday, one of my new South African friends from school, Clement, invited me to go bowling (they call it 10-pin bowling) after school. We went to N1 city and played a couple games of pool (and won 1 out of 5 games… wah wah), but regardless, it was fun. We then bowled and I have to say I was quite impressed with my scores. My dad would be proud: 140 the first game and 131 the second game. I suppose starting to bowl at the age of 6 had something to do with that (I’m pretty sure my 6th birthday party was at a bowling alley). Anywho, after bowling we went to KFC… Yes, KFC. And I have to say it tastes just like an American KFC (Kyle you’d fit in really well here.) Overall, I had a really nice time going out (I stayed out past my bed time… ha! 9:30 pm… that’s what happens when you have nothing else to do).
Thanks for reading and keeping me in your thoughts.
By the way, Denise, here’s your shout out. I have to say it’s been rather hard not running with you as I train for the half marathon. Don’t worry though… we’ll make it up this summer right?
I miss everyone!
Love Always!
PS. Happy Early Valentine’s Day!
Thursday, February 7, 2008
It's official!
I am running in Cape Town's Two Oceans Half Marathon. I am so excited, yet nervous at the same time. I'm not really sure why I'm nervous, but I better get over that really fast! So if you ever wanted to come to South Africa, now you have an awesome reason to come... to travel around South Africa AND to see me run in a race! No really though... my last day of school is March 19. I have a lot of free time from then until March 27, besides the race on the 22nd. I've tried to convince my Mom to come during the time (I know you're reading this Mom!)
Everything has been fine. I've been enjoying my time at Rustenburg and have been helping out in the classes I am observing in. It's been such a pleasant experience. The girls I've been around have been very nice and respectful towards me. They love learning and are fun to have in my class. My favorite class teaching is my Grade 8s. They are so full of energy and love to talk! Some of the girls will comment about how they like my accent, my outfits, and even the way i smell (woo hoo Bath and Body Works Exotic Coconut! -ha!). Too cute.
Tomorrow is Gala Day. I'll explain more in detail later, but it's going to be really fun. The girls swim and compete against each other all day and it's just loads of fun and excitement in the school. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and videos. They've been practicing songs for the spirit award... for example, the group of girls that I have are singing a theme song to Sean Kingston's "Me Love" and there is a remix within their song that actually breaks out into "Soldier Boy." Yooouuuuuuuu. It's really funny to watch these girls. I hope to get a video of that so you can see what I'm talking about.
This weekend I am hiking up Table Mountain (on Sunday). No set plans for Saturday yet so we'll see what crosses my path!
Love always!
Everything has been fine. I've been enjoying my time at Rustenburg and have been helping out in the classes I am observing in. It's been such a pleasant experience. The girls I've been around have been very nice and respectful towards me. They love learning and are fun to have in my class. My favorite class teaching is my Grade 8s. They are so full of energy and love to talk! Some of the girls will comment about how they like my accent, my outfits, and even the way i smell (woo hoo Bath and Body Works Exotic Coconut! -ha!). Too cute.
Tomorrow is Gala Day. I'll explain more in detail later, but it's going to be really fun. The girls swim and compete against each other all day and it's just loads of fun and excitement in the school. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and videos. They've been practicing songs for the spirit award... for example, the group of girls that I have are singing a theme song to Sean Kingston's "Me Love" and there is a remix within their song that actually breaks out into "Soldier Boy." Yooouuuuuuuu. It's really funny to watch these girls. I hope to get a video of that so you can see what I'm talking about.
This weekend I am hiking up Table Mountain (on Sunday). No set plans for Saturday yet so we'll see what crosses my path!
Love always!
Monday, February 4, 2008
Blood, Electricity, and Home
Friday, February 1-Sunday, February 3
So I shall begin with sharing that I donated blood for the first time. I was unsure if I would still be able to donate because I wasn’t from South Africa, but it didn’t matter. Let me just state that I have never given blood before in my life and I was influenced by some other first timers so I thought what the heck. My dad used to donated blood ALL the time (I believe he donated over 5 gallons at some point… obviously not all at one time). Okay, so I admit I was incredibly nervous! I just kept thinking if my dad could do it, I can too. So I sat down on the chair and they inserted the needle in my vein (I didn’t feel it at all… thank goodness. I didn’t want to see the needle to begin with). So I was doing alright for about the first five minutes. I kept squeezing that thing they give you to squeeze so the blood doesn’t coagulate (clot) and I’m sitting there and for some dumb reason, I looked down at my arm and I see the needle in my vein. Okay so that was mistake number 1. I sort of went into a panic thinking “Oh my gosh, how long is this going to take?” “I feel sick.” “Get this needle out of my vein.” So I told myself I needed to chill out and took deep breaths. At this point, I believe I started getting really pale because everyone around me kept asking, “Are you alright?” and of course I replied with “Yeah, I’m fine.” (WHAT? NO! I’m not fine… I have a needle in my arm... atleast that's what I was really thinking...). So finally the thing buzzed to let them know my bag was full. The lady came over to finish with the process and then said, “I’m going to lay you back for a little bit.” That’s when I knew I must have been REALLY pale. So after about 5 minutes of having my back parallel to the floor and my legs straight up in the air (literally, no joke), the lady came back over and sat me back up again. A guy came over and looked at me again and was like, “Are you sure you’re alright?” and I replied, “yes, I am fine. I’m just going to go sit down.” As I got up to walk, I felt woozy and went to sit down on a chair. As I sat there for about a minute eating my biscuits (cookies) and juice, I felt weak and dizzy. The lady gave me some of this smelly stuff on a cotton ball and made me sniff it to prevent the dizziness. I eventually had to move to the floor to lie down because I felt terrible. So here I am on the ground with a couple of other girls (including one that fainted). Needless to say, after about 25-30 minutes of finally regaining myself, I got up and headed to get my bag to go home. I was completely exhausted and ended up going home and sleeping for a couple of hours. Overall, I’m glad I did it... even if I do have to lie on the floor with some of my students!
Later that night, Terrez, Wendy, Ron, and I headed to the Waterfront. I was actually pretty excited about that because the girls from my school were trying to raise money for Habitat for Humanity by having a cyclethon. I went and supported the girls for a little bit and then Terrez and I headed to The Spur (I believe that was the name of the restaurant). Everyone had been telling us how good this place was so we decided to try it. About 25 minutes after sitting down, the flights flickered and then everything went pitch black. Thank you Eskom for making me eat in the dark due to your “load shedding.” WELCOME TO SOUTH AFRICA… BEWARE OF LOAD SHEDDING! Oy!!!! Talk about a pain. Everywhere in Cape Town was without power from about 9:00 PM-3:00 AM (aside from places who have generators). Traffic lights go out, people eat in the dark, people can’t pay their bills because they don’t have cash, etc. It really is such a pain and I hope they come up with a solution quickly. Something like this would never happen in the States. I kept thinking what if this happened in New York or Chicago. Wait, it wouldn’t and if it did, it would be chaos. Woohoo load shedding! You can see I am thrilled about it.
Other than that, I haven’t been up to any good. I find myself getting rather homesick or at least thinking of home when I’m not busy. Imagine that. I am so used to being crazy busy that my time here has been a test of patience and I’ve done lots of thinking – wondering what people are up to, wondering how it’s going to be when I return home, wondering how much this whole experience really will change me, etc. I’m getting along pretty well though – and for this I am quite happy. I knew I could manage being here in South Africa, but it was just a matter of how well I would do and I’m proud of myself thus far. I’ve definitely noticed I’ve become more confident and independent (which I was at home too, but definitely here. I need my “me” time). I listen to music a lot… in fact, that gets me through just about anything. I think about a lot of things when I go running – running definitely clears my head and there’s nothing like running in Africa (wind, mountains, sun, dodging cars heading towards you on the wrong side of the road than you’re used to).
Thank you to those who have e-mailed and been keeping in touch. It really does go a long way and I love checking my e-mail and blog first thing in the morning because there is always something to smile about from what someone has posted or has written.
Love always!
PS. I’m going today to get my University of Cape Town ID card so hopefully I will be able to register for the Two Oceans Half Marathon here shortly. Pray that I will be able to have the strength to get through training! It’s the toughest part!
So I shall begin with sharing that I donated blood for the first time. I was unsure if I would still be able to donate because I wasn’t from South Africa, but it didn’t matter. Let me just state that I have never given blood before in my life and I was influenced by some other first timers so I thought what the heck. My dad used to donated blood ALL the time (I believe he donated over 5 gallons at some point… obviously not all at one time). Okay, so I admit I was incredibly nervous! I just kept thinking if my dad could do it, I can too. So I sat down on the chair and they inserted the needle in my vein (I didn’t feel it at all… thank goodness. I didn’t want to see the needle to begin with). So I was doing alright for about the first five minutes. I kept squeezing that thing they give you to squeeze so the blood doesn’t coagulate (clot) and I’m sitting there and for some dumb reason, I looked down at my arm and I see the needle in my vein. Okay so that was mistake number 1. I sort of went into a panic thinking “Oh my gosh, how long is this going to take?” “I feel sick.” “Get this needle out of my vein.” So I told myself I needed to chill out and took deep breaths. At this point, I believe I started getting really pale because everyone around me kept asking, “Are you alright?” and of course I replied with “Yeah, I’m fine.” (WHAT? NO! I’m not fine… I have a needle in my arm... atleast that's what I was really thinking...). So finally the thing buzzed to let them know my bag was full. The lady came over to finish with the process and then said, “I’m going to lay you back for a little bit.” That’s when I knew I must have been REALLY pale. So after about 5 minutes of having my back parallel to the floor and my legs straight up in the air (literally, no joke), the lady came back over and sat me back up again. A guy came over and looked at me again and was like, “Are you sure you’re alright?” and I replied, “yes, I am fine. I’m just going to go sit down.” As I got up to walk, I felt woozy and went to sit down on a chair. As I sat there for about a minute eating my biscuits (cookies) and juice, I felt weak and dizzy. The lady gave me some of this smelly stuff on a cotton ball and made me sniff it to prevent the dizziness. I eventually had to move to the floor to lie down because I felt terrible. So here I am on the ground with a couple of other girls (including one that fainted). Needless to say, after about 25-30 minutes of finally regaining myself, I got up and headed to get my bag to go home. I was completely exhausted and ended up going home and sleeping for a couple of hours. Overall, I’m glad I did it... even if I do have to lie on the floor with some of my students!
Later that night, Terrez, Wendy, Ron, and I headed to the Waterfront. I was actually pretty excited about that because the girls from my school were trying to raise money for Habitat for Humanity by having a cyclethon. I went and supported the girls for a little bit and then Terrez and I headed to The Spur (I believe that was the name of the restaurant). Everyone had been telling us how good this place was so we decided to try it. About 25 minutes after sitting down, the flights flickered and then everything went pitch black. Thank you Eskom for making me eat in the dark due to your “load shedding.” WELCOME TO SOUTH AFRICA… BEWARE OF LOAD SHEDDING! Oy!!!! Talk about a pain. Everywhere in Cape Town was without power from about 9:00 PM-3:00 AM (aside from places who have generators). Traffic lights go out, people eat in the dark, people can’t pay their bills because they don’t have cash, etc. It really is such a pain and I hope they come up with a solution quickly. Something like this would never happen in the States. I kept thinking what if this happened in New York or Chicago. Wait, it wouldn’t and if it did, it would be chaos. Woohoo load shedding! You can see I am thrilled about it.
Other than that, I haven’t been up to any good. I find myself getting rather homesick or at least thinking of home when I’m not busy. Imagine that. I am so used to being crazy busy that my time here has been a test of patience and I’ve done lots of thinking – wondering what people are up to, wondering how it’s going to be when I return home, wondering how much this whole experience really will change me, etc. I’m getting along pretty well though – and for this I am quite happy. I knew I could manage being here in South Africa, but it was just a matter of how well I would do and I’m proud of myself thus far. I’ve definitely noticed I’ve become more confident and independent (which I was at home too, but definitely here. I need my “me” time). I listen to music a lot… in fact, that gets me through just about anything. I think about a lot of things when I go running – running definitely clears my head and there’s nothing like running in Africa (wind, mountains, sun, dodging cars heading towards you on the wrong side of the road than you’re used to).
Thank you to those who have e-mailed and been keeping in touch. It really does go a long way and I love checking my e-mail and blog first thing in the morning because there is always something to smile about from what someone has posted or has written.
Love always!
PS. I’m going today to get my University of Cape Town ID card so hopefully I will be able to register for the Two Oceans Half Marathon here shortly. Pray that I will be able to have the strength to get through training! It’s the toughest part!
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