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.