Musings of the Week

This entry contains many short and sweet stories about the happenings of the past week and a half of my time here in South Africa. It has been very busy and the time has flown by! Here is what I have been up to:

Reading Area @ Pendla

"Before" 

"After" 

There is a library at Pendla Primary School that was created by the 1999 CSB/SJU group that spent their semester abroad in South Africa. It is a great library; however it never gets used. The principal of the school is protective of the precious books and thinks that the kids will destroy the books if they get their hands on them. This breaks our hearts since we can only imagine how much time, effort, and money went into creating the library. Also, the school nor the learners can afford to buy books “just for fun” and the library would be the one area where kids can read for fun. We came up with the idea of creating a reading area in the front of the library where kids can bring books out and sit and read them. It could also serve as a teaching area for teachers to bring their classes out to on a nice day. We worked a few weeks transforming a muddy area into a new reading area. We leveled the ground, took out rocks, pieces of cement, and weeds in this area. We took benches that were sitting on the top of the library that had the tables broken off of them, which were not useful in the classroom, and gave them a new coat of paint and stain to resist the weather. We dug holes, put up a fence, put in the benches, and laid gravel in this area. We did all of this work in a few days when the learners and teachers were on break. When they came back after break, they were very excited to see this new reading area! And since then, we have had the library open at recess and we are trying to teach the kids how to treat the library and books respectfully. And in order to make the project sustainable, we are working with the teachers to set up a schedule where teachers can bring their classes to the library once a week and let the kids get reading time for a few minutes. Hopefully it can be used year-round and not just when the next batch of Bennies and Johnnies show up. It has been such a rewarding experience and we hope the novelty doesn’t wear off!

Dudley Tito

We took a field trip in music class to visit the home of a famous South African Jazz musician, Dudley Tito. He lives in the township and practices in a “shed” in his backyard with his band. We heard many South African songs, particularly jazz. He is obviously a popular guy because the whole neighborhood showed up to watch them practice while we were there. I spent part of the time dancing with the kids that showed up. It was great to learn about Dudley in class and then see him perform at his own house in the township. It was a fun afternoon!

Bio Prac on Rocky Shores

Last week in Biology we had a practical that required us to get out in the environment. We went to a rocky shore area and counted the number of species of organisms living the 5 different areas of the rocky shore coastline. We spent part of the time in the water looking at sea stars, anemones, and urchins. We also played with snails and mussels and many different kinds of algae. It was awesome to have the ocean as our classroom for the day!

Grahamstown

Our Drum and Dance Instructor

Our group took a trip to Grahamstown and Peddie. In Grahamstown we had a lecture on the history of African music. I got to blow into a kudu horn and then was chosen to play the drum on a song that the teacher was trying to teach us on the spot. I failed. It was rather embarrassing. We continued onto Peddie where we had a traditional African meal of chicken, potatoes, pumpkin, pap, and pot bread. With our stomach full, we had an African drumming lesson lead by a man in traditional Zulu wear. We also learned a new song that we sang while drumming. I fared much better at the all group drumming rather than the drumming where I had a complicated part accompanying a xylophone. After the drumming, our teacher taught us how to Zulu warrior dance. It was a lot of laughs and I learned a lot! We finished off the day by watching an incredible sunset.

Iron Man

The Iron Man was an adventure and a half! I signed up to volunteer at showed up at 6am prepared to do whatever they needed me to do since I had not been given any other instruction. I met two new best friends right away and spent my whole day with them. They both study at my school and are from South Africa. They were great! We spent the first 6 hours wandering around and watching the race. We were on the Reserve team so as long as we checked in every hour, we were free to do whatever we wanted. We wandered around and started collecting our free things such as noisemakers. We even rode a mechanical bull. Since we all rode for longer than 10 seconds, we were given free scarves. And we needed them! It was a very, very windy and cold day!

We were finally called into work and I was placed in the transition area from biking to running. I basically had contact with every single athlete. It was great. It was my job to make sure that the athletes had the correct bag (the run bag, not the bike bag) as they switched shoes and whatever else before they began the run. I also had to make sure they grabbed the right numbered bag. Since they are in such a daze, I also had to make sure that the females went into the female tent and the males into the male tent. I also congratulated every single person as they went past to their respective changing areas. There were many characters. There was a blind man, a man with one leg, and a man who pushed/pulled his son the entire race. There was a world famous surgeon, half of the Springbok South African national rugby team, and many South Africa actors. It’s exciting to think about all of the brushes with fame I had that day.

After the bike cut-off time, we put all of the bags back on the racks in the pouring rain. I then went to watch some of the runners cross the finish line. It was very exciting! I apologize for not taking any pictures. Since I had no idea where I would be, what I would be doing, or what the unpredictable weather would do, I left my camera at home. (And thank goodness I did because it rained on and off all day!) It was a very, very long day, but one of my most favorite days here is South Africa so far!

Teaching Gym @ Pendla

After being exhausted from the Iron Man, I woke early and went to Pendla. I arrived and was asked to teach a gym class. I was not expecting that whatsoever. I couldn’t say no and ending up playing with the kids as they jumped rope and played soccer. I also attempted to teach some of the kids how to juggle even though I have no idea how to juggle. Yeah, that good. I also taught some kids how to play jacks. It was more of an activity class per say rather than a gym class. So I keep saying that I taught these kids how to do all of these things, however I am not very good at any of them. Africa has definitely made me realize how many skills I have, however at the same time, it also has made me realize how many skills I lack. Time to go practice my juggling skills now…