"MISS!"

Another busy week!  Time is flying in South Africa! 

Last Friday, I had my last day of observing in the classroom before teaching.  Fridays are always slightly shorter days in school, which is very different from the United States!  All of the students get out at 1:30 and teachers leave at 1:45... I think America should adopt this practice!  I got to observe grades 7, 5, 1, and 2 that day!  The older students got to have a question/answer session with me and I showed them the United States on a map and different locations that they had heard of (New York, Hollywood, Texas).  I was nervous about all their questions – I should have brushed up on my geography, but I think I passed their quiz!  They seemed surprised at how big the U.S. is – I told them I haven’t even been to the western half of the country!  It was fun to see the first graders, too, since I’ll be interning with that age when I get back to Michigan.  It was a little overwhelming, but I think that has to do with the class size of 40 grade 1 students!  Hopefully our class next year isn’t THAT big!

On Friday night, we went to church with Chamelle and Tyrone for their band rehearsal.  They sang some beautiful praise and worship songs and Kristin and I even knew a few!  It was a lot of fun!  Our American friends, Michelle and Lauren, spent the night on Friday because we all drove together for our Saturday day-trip.  We got to meet some of Chamelle’s friends at the house and had a relaxing night : )  They sell boxed daiquaris here – no ice or blender required! 

On Saturday, we finally got to sleep in for once and what a wonderful feeling that was!  In the morning, we left for our day-trip – a contour walk on Table Mountain with the whole group!  We met at Rhode’s Memorial and it was so great to see everyone again!  We all had lots of stories to share about our week and one day was not long enough to catch up!  Corvell assured us that the contour walk would be a nice flat walk along the mountain (a little uphill in the beginning, but flat after that), ending in the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.  LIES!!!  The entire 3+ hour walk was up and down on a rocky path, over bridges, and down slippery slopes.  Definitely not a walk in the park, but not as bad as our hike DOWN Table Mountain (I could at least walk the next day!).  And the view of the city was stunning, ending at the most beautiful garden in Africa!  We saw some really unique flowers and plants – definitely can’t find those in Michigan!  My favorite was the Crane Flower (Bird of Paradise) – it’s yellow and orange and blue and looks like the profile of a bird!  We also saw a silver tree, which has silver-colored leaves.  So much color, even in the winter!  It was sad to say goodbye to friends, but we had to go back to our host families for the week!  We had another fun night at home filled with drinks, a potjiekos dinner, and even a little dancing! 

On Sunday, we had a day filled with church.  We went with the whole family in the morning and heard a wonderful service, which they kindly gave in English (for the most part) on our account.  We came home and had an enormous Sunday meal – breyani, stew, chicken, potatoes, roast, and ox tongue (I opted out of this one).  I also did a load of laundry and hung it out to dry on the clothes line – how are you supposed to clothespin socks and underwear?  I’m sure they were laughing at my laundering methods.  Then Tyrone took Kristin and I to meet some of our friends for the night service at Hillsong church.  We have heard their music in America and were excited to see the service.  It was mostly praise and worship music (kind of like a concert!) and we heard a wonderful gospel choir from Manenberg, which is a troubled township filled with crime and gangs.  They were amazing singers and it was inspiring to see such good come out of a seemingly hopeless area.

All this week, I was teaching at Belvue in a grade 3 class, which I will be in for two more weeks.  I absolutely love it there!  The teacher is a wonderful mentor and I have gotten a lot of experience this week.  I have 40 students and they have been so good to me!  They give me their “sweets” and snacks sometimes and I even had two students give me a bracelet and little purse.  They write cute little notes, too – my favorite (is it bad that I have a favorite?) gave me a card that says I’m the “best Michigan teacher in the world!” lol.  In talking with the rest of the gang and seeing other classes at Belvue, I really do think I have the best class!  Of course, they get chatty and off-task, like any class, but for the most part, they are well-behaved and I have loved every minute with them!  In math, they have been working on subtraction with regrouping/borrowing.  I’ve gotten to work with small groups of 7-13 students, while the teacher works with the rest of the class.  It has been good to see some differentiation in the classrooms here and it’s helped me get to know the students.  I think I have almost all 40 of their names after the first week!  I’ve also done quite a bit of literacy work with the class.  I’ve read them some Michigan books and we are currently making our way through Charlotte’s Web.  We’re also reading Cinderella stories from different cultures and comparing the characters and plot.  We’ve done a lot of vocabulary study and some phonics work with the long “i” sound and silent letters in spelling.  But my claim to fame at that school may be my continents and oceans lessons.  We’ve worked on naming and identifying the seven continents and four oceans and the students colored and labeled them on their own map.  To help them remember, I taught them the Continent song (thanks to youtube) and added my own verse for oceans. 

Continents and Oceans (to the tune of Are You Sleeping?)

There are seven, there are seven

Continents, continents

In between the oceans, in between the oceans

Let’s name them, let’s name them

North America, South America

Europe, Asia, Africa, Europe, Asia, Africa

Australia, Australia

Antarctica, Antarctica

Now the four oceans, now the four oceans

Pacific, Atlantic, Pacific, Atlantic

Indian and Arctic, Indian and Arctic

Surround the land, surround the land

It started with my class, but they’ve been sharing it with their friends and I just taught it to another grade 3 class!  They love to sing it!  And I think they actually learned from it, too!

I was with “my” class Monday through Thursday this week, but then I subbed for a different grade 3 class today (Friday).  Five teachers were absent, so we all had different classes!  Luckily I have been teaching MY grade 3 class all week, so I had plenty of things to teach them.  But they were not as good as my class – they talked a lot and I’m excited to have my kids again on Monday.  I feel like my time with them is so short!  I have too much that I want to do!  We will only be in the classroom 2-3 days next week and 3 days the following week!

The weather was gorgeous for our first three weeks here and we were so lucky!  It got very windy last weekend and winter finally arrived this week.  We had some rain on Thursday and it has been very cold all week!  I really wish it would warm up for our last couple of weeks!  It gets quite cold in the classroom – colder than outside, actually!  My hands have been so cold this week!  I always wear my North Face coat and sometimes even gloves!  One of my students asked me, “Are you from the North Face?”  LOL.

We’ve been having fun at home this week, too!  We like to relax in the main house at night and watch tv by the fire.  We make sure to watch 7 de laan every day – Kristin even gets up from her daily nap for that : )  There’s been a lot of drama around a shooting on the show – Who shot Bernard? Did Gita hire someone so she could get her daughter back? NO, it was TIM! OMG the suspense!!!  Chamelle and Trevor are into the “horribles,” AKA horror movies.  I go to bed with nightmares every day... hehe not really.  I usually sit on my computer doing homework or lesson planning and then all of a sudden there are zombies or people being chopped up or creepy demon children on the tv!  Lol Kristin and I screamed once – we prefer SA Idols.

On Tuesday, Beverley took us on a little shopping trip to Pick-and-Pay (very original name).  One of our assignments concerns the cost of living in South Africa, so we went and looked at the price of groceries.  At night, Tyrone drove us to meet up with some of our American friends at Grand West (the casino/movie theater/ice skating rink/everything – it’s the place to be!), since we miss each other so much!  We wanted to go ice skating, but it wasn’t open, so we went bowling instead.  I lost.  But I did get a strike at one point!  This is how my score card looked:  9, 0, 1, 9, 0, 0, X, etc.  I have no technique.

On Wednesday night, Tyrone took us out to dinner with some of his friends.  We ate at a little Asian restaurant – all you can eat.  It was delicious!  We had sweet-and-sour chicken, rice, spring rolls, some asian noodl-y dishes – and I even tried one bite of sushi!  It was tuna and rice wrapped in seaweed – ok, but I wouldn’t say it’s my new favorite.  I couldn’t bring myself to try the salmon sushi – it just looked too raw, I wanted to throw it on a grill.

Tonight, per Andrea’s request, we made a mac and cheese dinner for our host family – an American classic!  I can’t believe they don’t eat that here!  But they all loved it and want the recipe!  We just have to convert all the measurements to metric first : )

Well I’d better go pack for our overnight trip tomorrow!  We are off to Friday Island with the group – hopefully it will be a relaxing one!  I’ve added a new album on facebook – you can see it at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150266603507416.342274.568997415&l=8e5fc3beb3&type=1.

From Tourist to Teacher

Well a lot has happened since I last blogged!  I’ll try to bring you up to date.

On Friday last week, we had our last day at the University of Cape Town (UCT).  We heard from several different speakers about education in South Africa.  We got to meet two of the teachers from the school I am teaching at and I am really hoping to be placed with one of them.  We also heard from the principal at another primary school (which I will hopefully get to spend a day at), the principal at a special needs school, and a literacy and language specialist.  It was really interesting to hear from people who work in the schools we will be working in and have a first-hand perspective of the classroom.  They answered a lot of our questions and helped prepare us for this first week in the schools.  On Friday night, we had a “potjie,” which is a traditional South African way of cooking meat outside in a cast-iron pot over a fire.  We also sang karaoke, which was a load of laughs.  The dancing was priceless.

On Saturday, we left for our weekend stay in Hermanus, which was a little over 2 hours away.  So we had to pack up a backpack (good thing mine is so big!) and say goodbye to Deo Gratia for two nights.  On the way there, we stopped at Gordon’s Bay and dipped our toes in the Indian Ocean.  It was cold, but not too bad to stick your feet into since it has been so warm here (65-70 every day)!  When we got to Hermanus, we unloaded our things at Zoete Inval, the bed-and-breakfast we stayed at.  It was nice, but a lot different from Deo Gratia.  I stayed in a room with eight other girls (four bunk beds and a single).  I had the top bunk, which I struggled to get in and out of, but we had a fun couple of nights there!  We drove to the town centre and had lunch at a nice little bar and grille.  Then we shopped around at the markets (but they weren’t really willing to barter).  I got a new scarf, though, since that will pretty much be my change of outfit everyday... I wear the same coat all day, so that’s the only way to change it up!  Some of the group when whale-watching while we shopped, but we still got to see some whales from the Walker Bay area!  The view from the bay is gorgeous!  We sat and listened to a “band” of drummers playing outside a while – it was neat to hear some traditional music.  Then we head dinner at Mugg & Bean.  Apparently, this restaurant originated in San Fransisco, but none of us have heard of it before.  It’s a pretty big chain here.  I had breakfast for dinner (French toast and sausage) since we’ve had the same thing for breakfast at Deo for the last two weeks.  Then, some of us had the biggest muffins in the world for dessert (I was feeling the carbs, apparently)!  Seriously, we’re talking bigger than Costco size.  Muffins, waffles, and pancakes are all considered dessert here.

On Sunday, we took a drive out to the Southernmost tip of Africa (another 2.5 hours).  We ate at the Lighthouse Restaurant when we got there, which took FOREVER!  I’ve said before that it is customary for meals to last 3 hours and I’m not kidding!  I’ve acquired the nickname of Meg Salad on this trip (since there are two Megans), so my lunch choice was obvious.  I got a chicken salad, which was delicious and, I think, the first salad I’ve had here!  I also got a fancy little mocha drink (having some caffeine withdrawals lately) and it looked like it was straight out of the menu – almost too good to drink!  Megan D. and I split a Koekister for dessert (seriously, I’ve had way too much dessert here).  It’s a pastry, sort of like a doughnut, but it was served cold and with orange marmalade and cream.  Very yummy!  We took a nice walk out to the Southernmost tip, which was beautiful!  Crazy to think how far from home that is!  There was also a spot that some claim to be the dividing point of the Indian and Atlantic Ocean, but it’s a fake.  The real meeting point is actually at Cape Point, where we were a week or so ago. 

Monday was a big day for us traveling dare-devils.  We woke up early (6am!) and spent most of the day shark cage-diving!  We had breakfast and a shark briefing in the morning and then off we were!  There were probably about 25 divers total (all 16 from our group, plus some others).  The boat really was not that big, which was a little scary to think about, but we all fit, at least.  We anchored and within 10-15 minutes, there were sharks!  Crazy!  I had a little wrestling match with my wetsuit, but eventually got it on – I’m pretty sure I had the child’s size because mine was a one-piece and everyone else’s was two.  That was my first time in a wetsuit... not as uncomfortable as I imagined, but definitely not a good look.  Five people went in the cage at a time, which was not very big at all.  The cage stays attached to the side of the boat and the top 2 feet or so stays above the water.  The five people wait in the cage and then when a shark comes for the bait, the people on the boat yell (because you can see the sharks better from the boat) and the divers go underwater so they can see the sharks swim right by!  It was insane!  The water was so cold and you just slip right in and float in the water with your feet propped up on the back of the cage until a shark comes by.  They literally swim right by the cage (obviously, you can’t touch them or anything).  They even jumped out of the water a few times, which was crazy to see from the boat – very Jaws-like.  I went in the cage two times for maybe 15 minutes each.  Sometimes the sharks would come straight at the cage, which was unreal to watch – I half screamed underwater in excitement once, but it was so COOL!  One group that went in had a shark get its nose stuck in the front part of the cage and everyone was freaking out!  It was only for a few seconds, but part of the shark was literally in the cage with them – so scary!  They said we saw about six different sharks (all Great Whites), most of them young females.  They ranged from 6-13 feet in length and about 1000-1500 lbs!  It was such a neat experience!  After shark cage-diving, we took it easy since we were all so tired and made a stop at the Hermanus market again before heading back to Deo Gratia.  We had dinner close to home at a place called Spurs, which is a pretty popular place here.  Every Monday, they have a BOGO burger deal, so apparently people always eat there on Mondays.  Corvell said it probably wouldn’t be our last burger Monday.  Then we were back at Deo for our LAST night all together!  Those two weeks went by so fast!  We’ve all gotten so close and now we have gone our separate ways with our host families!  I think we are all looking forward to seeing each other on the weekends and staying at Deo again for a few nights before going back to the U.S.

On Tuesday, we packed up the trailer with our luggage and officially moved out of Deo Gratia.  During the day, we visited a few different townships in the Cape Flats area.  Townships are the underdeveloped, poverty-stricken areas where non-Whites were relocated to during apartheid.  The areas are still very much segregated by race with separate black, coloured, and Indian townships, filled with small shacks made from scraps.  We started with a walking tour of Langa, which was a real eye-opener to many of us.  We’ve mostly been touring in the middle and upper-class areas so far and Langa was a drastic change for us.  Langa is a township with about 250,000 inhabitants, but it was only made to accommodate 50,000, so you can imagine the overcrowding.  The shacks most people live in are horrifying.  We walked through one home with six small rooms and a main entrance area that supposedly housed 14 different families (upwards of 60 people).  There were only six beds in the entire place and it’s impossible to imagine where they all sleep.  We got to visit the kindergarten class that volunteers run in the township and they sang and danced for us.  It was nice to see services provided for those children so that they have a safe place to be while their parents are working.  There were several children just wandering or playing around the township that we encountered on our tour and they were very sweet and curious about us, but I think we all had mixed feelings about their desperate living conditions.  One little girl came up to me and touched my clothes and kind of pulled on my shirt.  I thought she wanted attention, but her fingers made their way to my jeans pocket and I realized she was searching for money.  We also had the opportunity to try some new things in the townships, including sheep’s head (I passed on this opportunity, but the others said it tastes like chicken) and traditional beer, which was an unpleasant, chunky, frothy, tin-can tasting drink.

As part of our Langa tour, we also visited the Love Life Youth Center, which was a speck of hope after seeing such extreme poverty.  The center was for youth ages 12-25 and provided a safe place for them with educational activities, including a radio broadcast and computer course.  It also promotes awareness of HIV/AIDS in young people and houses a youth clinic.  After that, we drove through some other nearby townships.  Guguletu is the second largest black township in the area and the shacks seemed like they continued forever as we drove past.  It also has the highest number of people infected by HIV/AIDS.  One of the other townships we drove by was Nyanga, which was a township featured in a documentary we watched before our trip called Testing Hope.  Lastly, we drove by Mitchell’s Bay, which is the largest coloured township. 

After an emotionally exhausting day, we had our host family function where we ate dinner and met the hosts we will be living with until the end of our stay.  I am living with one other study abroad student, Kristin, in a city called Matroosfontein.  It is a little over 10 miles outside of Cape Town.  The family we are staying with consists of the parents, Beverly and Trevor, and their adult children, Chamelle and Tyrone, as well as Chamelle’s 11-year-old daughter, Andrea.  Kristin and I are staying in the “Granny House,” which is like a separate little apartment in the back of the house.  We have a kitchen area, full bathroom (with a shower!), and share a bedroom.  We are very fortunate!  We spend a lot of our time in the main house, as well, which has a beautiful living area and fireplace.  After school, we come back and relax and watch Oprah and my new favorite soap opera, 7 de Laan.  We just moved in on Tuesday night, so we are still getting to know each other, but I know we are going to have a great few weeks together!  Andrea is already talking about cooking dinner together one night... any suggestions on a good American recipe?

We started working in the schools on Wednesday.  I am at Belvue Primary School with Kristin and two other girls.  These first two days, we have just been observing in the classroom and on Monday we will begin with our more permanent placement.  We have not officially chosen, but I am really hoping for a certain grade 3 class.  When we arrived on Wednesday morning (at 7:45am!!), we were split up into different classrooms to begin our observations and rotate throughout the day.  One of the grade 2 teachers called in that she would be late, so I was asked to supervise the students until she came.  I wasn’t planning to substitute on my first day there, but it honestly wasn’t much different than subbing in the U.S. (I’m glad I had that experience, at least!).  The students were really well-behaved, despite their number of 35, and were quite curious about me.  I read a book to them and had some discussion while I waited for the teacher.  After about an hour, the principal came in and informed me that the teacher would not be in that day.  So I remained with the students all day, with some help from the neighboring teacher, who assigned some math work for them to do.  Everyone on the trip was nervous about “babysitting” other classes since they often just pull any available teacher to supervise – they don’t have a substitute system like in the U.S.  I was a little anxious in the beginning because I hadn’t observed any teaching in South Africa and didn’t know the school, students, or procedures, but I just carried on like I was subbing at home and it went just fine!  The kids are very sweet and wear maroon uniforms – very different from the U.S.  They address everyone as “Miss” or “Teacher,” and not by your full name.  Compared to U.S. children, they are much more polite and always say “please” and “may I?” and stand up to give a class greeting to every adult who enters the classroom.  I was trying not to laugh when I had kids asking me all day “Miss, may I leave to go pass wind?”... I’m pretty sure they were asking me permission to fart outside LOL.  The schools day is a bit different than school in the states.  Belvue starts at 8am or a little after (they are somewhat flexible about time here).  Then there are two “intervals” where the students snack and play in the main courtyard – kind of a combined lunch and recess.  Those are at about 10am and 12pm for 20 minutes each.  It’s really nice to have a couple short breaks rather than one longer one like in the states!  Then, the young grades go home at 1:30, the older grades at 2:30, and teachers at 3 or 3:30!  I was in that grade 2 class until they left at 1:30, but I still got to observe a grade 4 class at the end of the day.  It was a tiring first day, but we came home, relaxed, had some delicious chicken and rice for dinner and went to bed early.

Today (Thursday), we were back at the school and I had a chance to do more observing.  I started in a grade 3 class, which is where I hope to be placed for the next few weeks.  Then I went to grade R (Kindergarten) and got to talk with some of the teachers during play time.  They had some questions about schools in America and it was interesting to compare our countries.  I’ve been asked more than once how often I see Barack Obama and Miley Cyrus.  The kids keep commenting on my “nice eyes”... I guess they don’t see many blue-eyed people.  I made it up to grade 6 by the end of the day (Belvue is grade R through 7) and got to interact with the older kids.  They are very disciplined and I was impressed with their respectful behavior – I’ve always been afraid of the middle schoolers, but all of the students have been so welcoming and friendly.

To our surprise, we also have wireless internet in the house.  My skype name is megan.salada89 if anyone wants to video chat!  Well I’ve got to get back to watching South Africa Idols... you’re missing out, America.

History Lesson

We’ve been at the University of Cape Town all week hearing different lectures and presentations in preparation for our teaching which starts on Wednesday!  It’s been really interesting to hear about the educational system in South Africa and the challenges they have encountered since apartheid.  As much as we’ve learned, I’m just curious to meet the students and see the school in session for myself! 

History was always my least favorite subject in school, but I have really been fascinated to learn about South Africa’s history.  I knew very little before coming here, so I thought I’d share a little about what we’ve learned the past 10 days or so.

Apartheid in South Africa was begun by the National Party government in 1948 and lasted until 1994.  This was essentially a legal form of segregation by race, much like the United States before the Civil Rights Movement... separate busses, schools, churches, beaches for blacks and whites.  South Africa became a democratic nation in 1994, but still suffers from apartheid’s consequences today.  When we went to the District 6 Museum, we learned a lot about this specific area and the forced relocation of over 60,000 blacks.  The relocation was a result of the Group Areas Act of 1950 (during apartheid), which assigned specific areas of land to each race (black, coloured, white, Indian).  People were required to carry around an identity card, specifying the racial group to which they belonged, thereby giving them permission to be in certain locations.  District 6 was an area populated by blacks prior to the Group Areas Act, but during apartheid was designated as a whites-only area, forcing non-Whites out of their homes.  They relocated to the Cape Flats, which are large housing projects that still suffer today from extreme poverty and gang violence.  This occurred in over 40 other districts, but District 6 was the largest district, with the highest number of residents forced to relocate.  The area was bulldozed and much of it remains undeveloped to this day.

During our trip to Robben Island, we learned more about some of the political prisoners during apartheid.  The island has been used as a prison for hundreds of years.  It began in the 1800s as a site for those with leprosy or mental illness.  During apartheid, it was used for criminals and political prisoners alike; however, political prisoners were subject to the worst punishment (it was the highest crime, in a sense).  Most political prisoners belonged to the Afrikan National Congress (ANC) party, who opposed apartheid and wanted to overthrow the white authority.  Robert Sobukwe split from the ANC and formed the Pan Afrikan Congress (PAC), also in opposition to apartheid.  Both the ANC and PAC were banned under apartheid rule.  Robert Sobukwe was imprisoned for three years and then held in solitary confinement on Robben Island for six years.  We were able to see his quarters and read several letters exchanged between he and his wife.  He was allowed more privileges than most because he was technically not in prison, but in solitary confinement; however, his wife and children were allowed to visit only a couple of times each year and he was allowed no communication with other prisoners on the island.  Another political prisoner on Robben Island was, of course, Nelson Mandela, a leader of the ANC.  We were able to see the cell where he was imprisoned on Robben Island for 18 of his 27 years in prison.  He was released in 1990 and subsequently became South Africa’s first democratic president in 1994.  We also saw the Limestone Quarry, where the political prisoners worked during the day to excavate limestone.  As educators, it was interesting to learn that they also used the Quarry as a site for passing knowledge on from prisoner to prisoner and teaching illiterate prisoners to read and write.  The perseverance of those prisoners is inspiring.

On Monday this week at UCT, we heard some student presentations that we had each prepared from our required reading.  We learned about many struggles in South Africa’s educational system, including unions and language differences.  Two guest speakers joined us to lecture on their experiences in schools and working to improve management and instruction.  One of the major issues in schools is discipline and I am curious to see if this is evident in my school next week.  Although the schools are technically “integrated” now that apartheid has ended, they remain racially divided for the most part.  Our study abroad will be teaching in mostly “coloured” schools.  Although the speakers gave a somewhat bleak view of the education system here, they also stressed the importance of the classroom as a “site of change” and the impact teachers have on shaping students and initiating social change and reconciliation through their students.

On Tuesday, we heard from author and educational leader Jonathan Jansen, whose book “Knowledge in the Blood” we read as part of our courses.  He had many interesting things to say about the difficulties South Africa has had with reconciliation since apartheid.  As the first black Dean of Education at the University of Pretoria (UP), he dealt with many cases of racial tension among young people.  It is fascinating how these students, who did not live through apartheid themselves, continue to hold strongly to the beliefs of their parents and perpetuate the racial issues that characterized apartheid.  Professor Jansen is now Principal of the University of the Free State and has been successful in transforming both universities to be more racially integrated and representative of post-apartheid ideals.  He also talked about the controversial “Reitz Four” students and his response to their racist video at his university.  We also heard from some other speakers about xenophobia (fear and violence against foreigners) since apartheid.  It was interesting and kind of scary to hear about xenophobic attacks as recently as 2008.

On Wednesday, we heard the last of our student presentations on issues such as fees in public schools, teacher education, decentralization, and integration within schools.  It is interesting to me that there is tuition for public schools here that is decided by each individual school.  In this sense, parents basically “buy” the level of education their students receive, which contributes further to continuing segregation in the education system.  We also heard from a Vice-Chancellor at the University of Cape Town who talked to us about challenges regarding young people in South Africa, expanding on Jonathan Jansen’s lecture.  One thing he said that seems to underlie the post-apartheid struggles in South Africa is that the past continues to occur in the present.  The country has not moved past apartheid socially and psychologically and I am anxious to see how this plays out as I become more involved in the community after moving in with my host family.

We had dinner at the church every day this week and it was so nice to have some traditional South African food cooked by Corvell’s mom.  One thing that we have found is that they sure love their lamb!  It is much less expensive than beef or pork here, so we have it a lot.  They also like a lot of curry and spicy foods... I am not a fan.  Hopefully that won’t be an issue with my host family.  Today we had a nice, relaxing day (a first!).  We visited a Children’s Center this morning and learned about their program for at-risk children.  Then we finally had a chance to do LAUNDRY!  It was strange because we took everything to a Laundromat, but instead of doing it yourself, you pay the workers there to wash, dry, and fold your laundry and then come back for it!  Since all 16 of us had laundry, there were a few sock exchanges after we got back, but I got all of my clothes back and it was nice to just pick it up!  We also went to the mall (again) while we waited and I picked up some yoga pants and a few shirts.  One of my old pair of jeans got a hole in the butt (not a good look), so I was down to one casual pair!  I didn’t bring enough clothes here!  Then we went to see Harry Potter tonight, which was a very big deal because we got to see it before our U.S. friends.  It’s a good one, but I haven’t read the book and there has been some controversial discussions at the guest house this evening!  Tomorrow we are back at UCT for our last day and I will get to meet a few of the teachers that work in my school.  Then we are off to Hermanus for a weekend trip and move in with our host families next week!  It will be a busy few days, but I’ll blog when I can!

I also posted some pictures on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150253686012416.338336.568997415&l=e10e61996b.  You should be able to view them whether you have a facebook account or not.

Good night from South Africa,

Megan 

One Week Already?!

Sorry it’s been a few days since I’ve been able to post!  We’ve been very busy and tired!  Here’s what we’ve been up to!

On Thursday, we started the day at Taal Monument, which is a symbol of the Afrikaans language.  There is beautiful scenery everywhere you go here!  We took a lot of pictures at the monument and were even allowed to climb ON it.  It was very tall and steep, like a ramp, and some of the daredevils of the group made it pretty high – not me!  Next, we headed off to a cute little French-influenced town (Franchoek) where we shopped around and ate lunch at Café Traumerei.  We had our first bartering experience with some artists who were selling carved stone and wood pieces in the parking lot.  Then we did a little wine-tasting at ZorgVliet in Stellenbosch.  We got to taste five different wines (two white, three red).  I am no wine expert, but we had fun!  I could become a wine fanatic :)  We had dinner at a place called Cattle Baron and it took FOREVER for us to get our food – literally almost an hour and a half!  Apparently, that is customary here.  Going out to restaurants is a social event and the food is secondary.  Corvell says dinner is usually a three-hour affair!

Friday started with a trip to Green Market Square, which is a big artesian market where tons of stands are set up with artists selling their crafts.  We weren’t there long, but we got some more practice with bartering... I am no good at it.  Corvell says to start at half of their asking price and negotiate from there.  But trying to convert to U.S. dollars on top of that is just too much!  And then they make you feel really bad when you don’t buy something!  Then we started our tour around the peninsula (continued on Sunday).  We saw many beautiful views of Cape Town from Signal Hill and Chapman’s Peak and other stops along the way.  We saw the World Cup Stadium (it is HUGE!) and the U.S. Embassy, right next to the maximum security prison LOL!  It was such a gorgeous day!  The weather has been unusually warm for winter and we’ve all been complaining that we didn’t bring enough tshirts!  I sure hope it stays like this, though! 

We ate lunch at a place called Fish on the Rocks in Hout Bay.  I had Hake & Chips.  Finally, my first seafood meal in Cape Town!  It was sooo delicious!  Tasted much like fish & chips in the U.S.  Also had an Apple-tiser to drink – it’s like a carbonated apple juice.  Pretty good!  They also have grape-tisers and pear-tisers.  We also stopped at the oldest winery in Cape Town for another quick wine tasting.  For dinner, we went to mall #4 (they really don’t have anywhere to eat except at malls) and Corvell bought us several Gatsbys to share.  A Gatsby is a very LARGE chip roll.  Here they call French Fries “chips.”  I swear there are “chips” with EVERY meal!  Anyway, these Gatsbys were enormous subs filled with chips (French fries), meat, lettuce, mayo, and a lot of other stuff.  We had chicken on ours.  Really the biggest sub you can imagine!  We split each among three, people, but I barely put a dent in my portion.  It was tasty, but WAY too much to eat and very messy and definitely NOT healthy.  They made fun of me because half the meat fell out the back of my sub!  When we got back to Deo Gratia, we packed up and switched rooms for the next four nights!  So now I am staying in the main house, out of the “land of exile,” as we came to call our little suite out back.  I’m in one big room with five beds and a kitchen area.  It’s a little crowded, but I love these girls!  It’s nice to be in the main house and not have to walk outside to come in for breakfast!  Also, the wifi has been up and working for the last few days, so I can get internet from my room (sometimes)!

Saturday was a day I had been excited and nervous for since the start of our trip.  It was our hike down Table Mountain!  Corvell told us it would be like walking down stairs, but he lies to us sometimes.  I had heard from past travelers that it was quite a strenuous excursion.  It was our warmest day yet (about 70 degrees), so I wore my Capri sweats – I mean “knickerbockers,” as they call capris here.  I put a zip-up on for the hike down, but most just had on tshirts!  We took the cable car to the top of the mountain (about 1000 meters high), which was absolutely gorgeous!  It seemed like you could see the whole world from up there!  We hung out on the top for a while and had some lunch before beginning our hike down to the bottom... no cable car for us!  It started off ok, but I knew I would be hurting soon enough.  There was no staircase, my friend.  Just rocks in a semi-stair-shaped fashion.  There was definitely a path to follow, but it was not made for short-legged people like myself.  I also have the worst balance in the world and took it very slowly – I blame my weird feet.  It was seriously the most difficult thing I have done in my life.  We were winding back and forth through that mountain, with some steep corners and slippery rocks.  It was a beautiful view, but I felt like I was going to fall to my death a few times!  My legs were like jello about halfway down.  There were some crazy athletes jogging down the rocks and even a little boy (maybe 7 years old) passed me along the way.  Quite a blow to my confidence.  The path was about 2000 meters (about 1 ¼ miles) of winding, rocky mountain.  The fastest people in our group made it down in two hours.  I hung with them at the beginning, but slowed up after a while.  So then I was alone until the group behind me caught up and I finished with them.  My poor little legs couldn’t reach most of the “steps,” so I had to sit and scoot or hold onto my good ol’ friends for dear life.  All in all, it took over four hours to reach the bottom!  Whew, I can’t believe I made it!  I am literally more sore than I have ever been in my entire life – we all are!  We woke up today (Sunday) and the pain just progressed throughout the day!  Quads, glutes, even my shoulders and triceps from scooting myself down the steep rocks!  So. Much. Pain.

Today we finished our trip around the peninsula that Cape Town is on.  Our destination was the Cape of Good Hope, which is the southern-most point of the peninsula (but not of South Africa as a whole... we will visit that point later).  On our way there, we saw a bunch of baboons along the side of the road.  Only in South Africa!  We stayed in the vans, though, because they are apparently quite dangerous!  There were even little baby baboons, which were adorable!  The Cape of Good Hope (Cape Point) gave yet another beautiful view of the ocean and Cape Town.  You could see where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet!  To get to the top, you could either climb up the fairly tall hill or take the “Funicular” – a little tram.  A few of us opted for the tram since we literally would not have made it up and down that hill after our Table Mountain excursion!  At the top, there was still a long set of stairs up to a lighthouse where you could see the actual tip of the peninsula.  Ouch, was it ever painful going up (and mostly coming back down) those stairs!  We looked like a bunch of old women with arthritis or something!  After Cape Point, we went to Boulders Beach, where there is a colony of penguins!  Penguins in South Africa!  They were so cute!  They just hang out by the beach, but you can’t go touch them or anything – you just walk along a bridge and take pictures.  They make weird calling noises... and they don’t dance like Happy Feet.  We had dinner at a church, made for us by Corvell’s mom and some other ladies at the church.  It was so nice to have a home-cooked meal!  Lamb, chicken pot pie, veggies, potatoes... yummo!  We will be eating there for the next two nights and I think we are all looking forward to it!  We met some natives and had the pleasure of hearing a wonderful men’s gospel group called “His Men.”  We also had a little introduction to education in South Africa from a friend of Corvell’s.  We are going to be at the University of Cape Town for the next three days, so I am excited to learn more about post-apartheid education and what we can expect when we start teaching in another week or so!

Well, I’d say that’s about all for now!  But that means I have to try to move from this position and it might take me 10 minutes to get up.  Better do some yoga stretches before bed to loosen up these muscles!  I do have a cell phone here, although it can get costly to call from the U.S.  The number is 011-27-814835959.  Or, now that we have wireless, I may be able to skype.  My skype name is megan.salada89.  I’d love to talk, but keep in mind we’re six hours ahead!

Peace, love, and penguins :)

Megan

Welcome to South Africa!

We arrived in Cape Town around 9:30 on Monday night after a very LONG trek across the globe (spent the 4^th of July on a plane)!  It’s amazing how slow 20 hours on a plane goes by.  The first flight (8 hours) wasn’t too bad, but I was ready to be done after about 7.  And then we had a 4 hour layover in Amsterdam... which could have been fun, but it was about 6am their time and pretty empty and we were exhausted.  So we found our gate, put our luggage down and took shifts walking around the terminal.  Nothing too exciting, although, Kayla and I finally decided our caffeine levels had bottomed out and we needed to refill.  Of course, there was a Starbucks because Starbucks is EVERYWHERE!  So we waited in a long line of Europeans to order frapuccinos that cost over NINE DOLLARS a piece!  Welcome to Amsterdam, the most expensive place in the world!  Goodness gracious!  But, of course, we got them anyway, knowing we had a 12 hour flight ahead of us.  And boy oh boy, was that a rough one!  They kept showing us on the personal screens our flight path and time remaining... I think it was more torturous than helpful.  When it had felt like DAYS, there would be the little screen reminding us we still had 8 ½ hours to go.  8 ½?!?!?  We’ve only been on the plane for 3 hours?!?!  And that’s how it went for the whole flight.  Sleep was attempted, although we knew we’d be arriving at night in South Africa and didn’t want to be up all night there.  We did have a personal screen and good movie choices, but we all just felt beyond GROSS when we landed – it was over 24 hours from the time we arrived at the Detroit airport to the time we arrived in Cape Town!

           

Corvell, our program leader, was there to pick us up at the airport, as well as the five other travelers who had just arrived on another flight.  We loaded all of our luggage (quite a task, let me tell you) into a van and trailer and were on our way to Deo Gratia, the bed and breakfast we are staying at for the first two weeks.  Before arriving at Deo, of course we had to stop for our first official South African meal since we’d eaten only airplane food for the last 24 hours.  And the location was... McDonalds.  Yes, chicken nuggets and fries was my first meal.  Very authentic.  

           

We were assigned rooms when we got to Deo, which we have for the first four nights.  I am in a separate little “suite” house with four other girls – we each have our own bed and share a bathroom.  We are having a blast in our little house!  So many late night laughs and it’s only night three!  And surprisingly, we have very HOT shower water, which we are taking full advantage of until we move into the main house tomorrorow night.  Unfortunately, the wi-fi is not cooperating at Deo Gratia, so all 16 of us are sharing one computer with Internet.

           

Breakfast was at 10am on Tuesday (our first full day) and I’m pretty sure that was the last time we’ll be sleeping in for the next six weeks.  We had toast, fruit, yogurt, coffee, and cereal.  I stuck with the familiar-looking Corn Flakes-like cereal and stole cold milk from the coffee area (they use warm milk in their cereals here...).  They had a bunch of jam flavors for our toast... not JELLY, but JAM.  Jelly is a dessert here... something like Jello in America?  Very tasty breakfast, overall!  And then, of course, there was the Marmite.  What is marmite, you say?  The name about says it all.  Marmite is a “yeast spread,” I quote from the jar.  Obviously, we all saw this and steered clear.  But Corvell, always encouraging us to try new things, got one of the boys to try some on a piece of bread.  After that, it was decided that everyone needed to take a bite of this toast with nasty, salt-saturated, grainy, I-don’t-know-what-else-to-say-about-this Marmite.  That single piece of bread made it around to all 16 of us and the looks were priceless.  Nasty, nasty stuff.

           

Our first full day here was spent at malls (yes, two of them!) and an animal reserve called Stier.  The malls here are HUGE!  And they have everything you could possibly need – drug stores, electronics, clothes, banks... truly one-stop shopping.  We took care of exchanging money and getting cell phones.  South African money is called Rand and the exchange rate is about 6.4 Rand per $1.  It’s been really hard to get used to the prices here, so we are all getting good at dividing by 6 or 7 to approximate the dollar cost.  Then we had lunch in the food court at, you guessed it, McDonalds!  I have officially eaten more McDonalds here than I have in the past several YEARS in the states.  After mall #1 we headed out to Stier, an animal reserve with Eagle Owls, Bat-Eared Fox, and Cheetahs.  Some of the group paid to pet the cheetahs, but I’m waiting for our chance to pet BABY cheetahs... they are more my size.  They also had a restaurant at this reserve area that is supposedly one of the most expensive restaurants in Cape Town.  We didn’t eat there, but it was very neat to see!  At night, we headed to mall #2 (supposedly, we will stop at 12 different malls during our stay here!).  This mall, La Piazza, is the third largest mall in the world!  It doesn’t even compare to U.S. malls!  We wandered around for a bit and, again, ate in the food court... this time, Canal Wok, an Asian food chain.  Wrong continent still.

           

On Wednesday, we went to Robben Island, which is the prison where Nelson Mandela was held for 18 years.  We learned about some of the other political prisoners and the history of the island and got our own personal tour with a friend of Corvell’s.  We also got to see Nelson Mandela’s cell and spoke to a former prisoner who was imprisoned there for 11 years.  It was fascinating to hear the stories.  Then we went to the District 6 museum for a short time and learned about the people that were forced to leave their homes during apartheid.

           

We had dinner at mall #3, which was right on the waterfront.  It was the official kick-off of our program and we had some good, good food!  Corvell surprised us and had the waiters sing Happy Birthday to Megan D. and I (since our birthdays were a couple of weeks ago) and we got ice cream with some flavored syrup over it – YUMMY!  That’s how they celebrate Capetonian style!  Then Megan and I split ANOTHER dessert, called Malva, which was delicious – a kind of spiced cake with whipped topping!  Finally some South African originals!

           

We have done a lot of driving and it is BEAUTIFUL here!  There are mountains all over and we have gotten some great pictures!  We will be stumbling – I mean, climbing – down Table Mountain in a few days.  Wine tasting tomorrow!  Happy Birthday to my dog, Max, today – he’s 12!  Hopefully I’ll be able to post again soon!  Our days have been very, very busy, but I am loving it!

Love,

Megan