My contribution to the library was working on the arts and crafts room

A few weeks back I talked about going around Strand, Gordon’s Bay and Somerset West trying to collect books for the ACJ library. Well, Sunday was library day so all those books that we have been collecting and were finally supposed to put them in the library yesterday. There were about 50 GVI volunteers from all over. Mostly coordinators from different parts of the world. Richard, the CEO of GVI was there as well and on my team. We were in charge of the arts and crafts room and we were the lucky ones who got to clean up poo. Yeah, we found poop in our room so our first step was to clean that up and bleach the floor to get rid of the smell. That was first than we cleaned the walls and gave the walls a fresh coat of paint. This actually ended up taking quite some time because of limited supplies so spending lots of time searching or waiting for different things and then limited people. We originally had about four and we kept on losing team members. One of the learners had to go to another group and then Richard had a flight to catch so he left early. It was ok though. We got more helpers after lunch with was held at the orphanage. It was really good but it took forever. We were supposed to eat at 1 and we didn’t eat until two. I helped put food on the plates which apparently has to be done in a very particular way. It was fun though and the weather was crap so that meant we had to run back in forth from where the food was being prepared to where everyone was waiting.

Once lunch was done, it was back to work and we got more people to help which was good but it also made things very chaotic. I worked with Catalina on the words “arts and crafts” which you wouldn’t think would take very long but it certainly did. It looks really good though and the others worked on the rest of the walls drawing animals. I really wanted to do spatter painting though but no one else seemed to think it was a great idea LIt would have been so much fun. So the end result where lots of animals and other random things on the walls and we actually didn’t finish. Today at school some of the learners were finishing up…..They worked during break and then they were supposed to come back afterschool but I don’t know if that actually happened. Currently the arts and crafts room is still sort of a mess. There are a lot of random drawings on the walls but we do have plans to fix it up. Overall, it was a great day because ACJ now has a library to be enjoyed by all the learners!

Part of the brand new ACJ library

My contribution to the library was working on the arts and crafts room

A few weeks back I talked about going around Strand, Gordon’s Bay and Somerset West trying to collect books for the ACJ library. Well, Sunday was library day so all those books that we have been collecting and were finally supposed to put them in the library yesterday. There were about 50 GVI volunteers from all over. Mostly coordinators from different parts of the world. Richard, the CEO of GVI was there as well and on my team. We were in charge of the arts and crafts room and we were the lucky ones who got to clean up poo. Yeah, we found poop in our room so our first step was to clean that up and bleach the floor to get rid of the smell. That was first than we cleaned the walls and gave the walls a fresh coat of paint. This actually ended up taking quite some time because of limited supplies so spending lots of time searching or waiting for different things and then limited people. We originally had about four and we kept on losing team members. One of the learners had to go to another group and then Richard had a flight to catch so he left early. It was ok though. We got more helpers after lunch with was held at the orphanage. It was really good but it took forever. We were supposed to eat at 1 and we didn’t eat until two. I helped put food on the plates which apparently has to be done in a very particular way. It was fun though and the weather was crap so that meant we had to run back in forth from where the food was being prepared to where everyone was waiting.

Once lunch was done, it was back to work and we got more people to help which was good but it also made things very chaotic. I worked with Catalina on the words “arts and crafts” which you wouldn’t think would take very long but it certainly did. It looks really good though and the others worked on the rest of the walls drawing animals. I really wanted to do spatter painting though but no one else seemed to think it was a great idea LIt would have been so much fun. So the end result where lots of animals and other random things on the walls and we actually didn’t finish. Today at school some of the learners were finishing up…..They worked during break and then they were supposed to come back afterschool but I don’t know if that actually happened. Currently the arts and crafts room is still sort of a mess. There are a lot of random drawings on the walls but we do have plans to fix it up. Overall, it was a great day because ACJ now has a library to be enjoyed by all the learners!

Part of the brand new ACJ library

Thursday 15 September-Friday 16 September

the coolest kid ever

This week has been crazy because grades 4-7 are writing tests. They are only writing for two hours between 9 and 10 and 12 and 1 but my teachers aren’t doing anything but grading so I’ve been helping out with that. Not fun but it has to be done.

On Thursday I did more grading but I also got to do a one to one with this learner named Chris. This kid is the coolest. He just sits there and laughs at me. Apparently I’m hilarious (who knew?). He seriously has the best smiles I’ve ever seen. I’m working with him on literacy and he definitely needs the attention. He struggles to sound out words and even knowing the different letter sounds so we worked on that. I was hoping to get through the entire alphabet but we only got through A-F. He is so much fun to work with! I’m trying to convince Mel to let me continue to work with him for the rest of my time here. She’s not exactly happy about it and I understand. It’s hard to signal out one learner when so many of them need help. But this kid is so awesome! It would be amazing to get to work with him for the rest of my time here so I can actually see the difference I’m making. It’s hard with my job to feel like I’m making a difference, let alone see a difference.

Friday was a half day and I had thought that I had to work with the Grade 4’s but I didn’t. I completely that they were taking tests as well so I did one one to one with Chris again which was amazing. Seriously this kid is awesome. On Thursday we went through flashcards (a-f) so on Friday I traced the flashcards and had him label the different words associated with the letter. He really enjoyed that and he seriously makes me want to be a better teacher because he is such a joy to teach.

During the rest of the week I have been doing sports. I would have literally driven myself insane if I would have just done grading all week. It was a lot of fun. We worked with Grade 2 and they were so cute. It was so much fun. We warmed up and stretched and then divided them into two groups. Chelsea and I working with one group and Emma and Matt on the other. We worked on passing and throwing and then divided up the groups even more and had them do different drills and race each other. The kids obviously enjoyed it and I absolutely loved it. A whole lot better than being stuck in a classroom and grading all day. I did go back to the classroom and did some more grading. I even got an entire class’s exams to grade tonight. Hooray! I’m not exactly excited about it but I do want to help.

Since I only had one one to one on Friday, I helped out with sports. They worked with Grade 1 and they are so cute! They are the tiniest little things ever. It was so much fun. We did the chakala song which involves running around holding hands in a circle and screaming the words which go a little something like this: chakala, chakala, chakala, woo, woo! And every time you say woo woo you have jumped down. I don’t really know how to describe but it’s a lot of fun and exhausting. Then we divided the learners up into two groups. Chelsea and I usually worked together and then Rodrigo and Matt worked together if Matt was actually helping. Then we got into a circle again holding hands and they would have to go through a hoola hoop without letting go. That was the hardest part, getting them not to let go. There was one point when I was working alone so I just had them do it over and over again with me in middle making sure they were holding hands and NOT letting go. It worked! After all that practice when it was time to actually compete against the other group. We dusted them! They were so good. It was awesome.

Another thing we did which was kinda awkward but super cute was have a tennis ball under your chin and you couldn’t touch it with your hands but you had to pass it to the next person. It was really difficult for them to do that. But it was hilarious and so cute to see them try. So many good photo moments. I hope they got some good pictures of that.

Friday August 26

Today was an interesting day. Mel and I had the world’s most awkward meeting with the teachers this morning. The plan was to have me work with two teachers each week for the rest of the term instead of all four but the teachers were clearly not happy about that. I wish I could describe the look on their faces. I guess it was mostly shock mixed with confusion, either way they did not look happy. It was extremely awkward for me and I felt bad because they clearly want my help but it’s so hard for me because I feel like I’m not being used in the correct way. I just wait for them to teach and then either take a group of students out or I wait for the students to be finished with their work and I mark their papers. Either way I feel like I spend more time waiting than doing anything productive. Mel asked them how they felt about only working with two teachers and they were clearly opposed to it. They suggested that I work with one group of students per class and mirror their lessons. The goal is to meet every Friday to discuss what they plan on teaching the next week and then every day before their classes we’re supposed to meet and discuss exactly what I’ll be doing. I hoped that the meeting encouraged them to get their act together but no dice.

I was able to meet with most of the teachers to discuss next week’s lesson.  I felt like only one of the teachers really had it together because she literally gave me exactly what she would be doing next week. Both the numeracy teachers are doing mean, median and mode but didn’t give me any specifics. I was hoping that with the meeting it would have encouraged them to work harder with but no such luck. I’m not sure anything changed because of that meeting. Hopefully now at least they know that they don’t have to have my assistance in class. I couldn’t find one of the teachers but she is the choir director and Jim’s last day at school was today so she was busy preparing the choir for his presentation. The presentation was awkward and not nearly as fun as Nick’s. We went into one of the classroom and the volunteer teachers (minus me) preformed the Glee version of “Don’t Stop Believin’” with some students from their afterschool workshop. I was super jealous because I love to dance and I would have loved to do something like that with the students, but I have to do Grade 6 workshops and they have to almost all academic so it’s not as fun as teaching the students a dance for no real reason. It was awesome though and Mel had her camera so I took her video of it and put it on my computer. Then the choir sang and they were amazing as usual. Mel got video of that as well and there were speeches. Speeches by Mr. Stofile, Jim, Will and other teachers who I unfortunately don’t know their names. It was really nice though. We were outside because the weather was so great. Luckily, I have a video to share with you which is ten times better than anything I could put into words. Enjoy! Just so you know you have to download the video to watch it. Sorry I couldn’t figure out another way to do it. Jim’s Farewell

Friday August 26

Today was an interesting day. Mel and I had the world’s most awkward meeting with the teachers this morning. The plan was to have me work with two teachers each week for the rest of the term instead of all four but the teachers were clearly not happy about that. I wish I could describe the look on their faces. I guess it was mostly shock mixed with confusion, either way they did not look happy. It was extremely awkward for me and I felt bad because they clearly want my help but it’s so hard for me because I feel like I’m not being used in the correct way. I just wait for them to teach and then either take a group of students out or I wait for the students to be finished with their work and I mark their papers. Either way I feel like I spend more time waiting than doing anything productive. Mel asked them how they felt about only working with two teachers and they were clearly opposed to it. They suggested that I work with one group of students per class and mirror their lessons. The goal is to meet every Friday to discuss what they plan on teaching the next week and then every day before their classes we’re supposed to meet and discuss exactly what I’ll be doing. I hoped that the meeting encouraged them to get their act together but no dice.

I was able to meet with most of the teachers to discuss next week’s lesson.  I felt like only one of the teachers really had it together because she literally gave me exactly what she would be doing next week. Both the numeracy teachers are doing mean, median and mode but didn’t give me any specifics. I was hoping that with the meeting it would have encouraged them to work harder with but no such luck. I’m not sure anything changed because of that meeting. Hopefully now at least they know that they don’t have to have my assistance in class. I couldn’t find one of the teachers but she is the choir director and Jim’s last day at school was today so she was busy preparing the choir for his presentation. The presentation was awkward and not nearly as fun as Nick’s. We went into one of the classroom and the volunteer teachers (minus me) preformed the Glee version of “Don’t Stop Believin’” with some students from their afterschool workshop. I was super jealous because I love to dance and I would have loved to do something like that with the students, but I have to do Grade 6 workshops and they have to almost all academic so it’s not as fun as teaching the students a dance for no real reason. It was awesome though and Mel had her camera so I took her video of it and put it on my computer. Then the choir sang and they were amazing as usual. Mel got video of that as well and there were speeches. Speeches by Mr. Stofile, Jim, Will and other teachers who I unfortunately don’t know their names. It was really nice though. We were outside because the weather was so great. Luckily, I have a video to share with you which is ten times better than anything I could put into words. Enjoy! Just so you know you have to download the video to watch it. Sorry I couldn’t figure out another way to do it. Jim’s Farewell

Monday 22 August

Today was the first day of the computer workshop for Grade 6 and it did not go well. It was very confusing. I was supposed to be getting a list of students to work with but I found out that the teacher who was supposed to do it would be gone for the next two weeks. Luckily I was able to talk to one of the English teachers and was able to get a list of students and when I asked her if the students knew that they were to be in the computer lab with me at 2:30 she said yes. Well you can imagine what actually happened. I had to go around to each of the classrooms asking for all 30 of my students who didn’t show up but I honestly don’t think they knew to show up in the first place. So I dragged about 20 learners out of the extra classes that the teachers were having and took them to the computer lab when I got there the computer lab was closed (of course) so I had to find someone to open the lab. It was very confusing because the man I thought could do it said he didn’t deal with keys but I was finally able to get a woman to open the lab. All the computers that Emma and I had turned on where now off which would have been fine except for the fact that the computers are incredibly horribly slow. It took forever for them to get started. So Emma and I were literally bouncing from one computer to the next quickly turning them on but then we had to wait. It was very disorganized, very chaotic and very bad. I had figured out how to get the projector on before the lab got closed but I couldn’t figure it out when I actually had the class in there with me. So again Emma and I were trying our best to get the students to the activity that I had planned with them. It was really bad, utter chaos. So we got through most of what I planned but I still felt like I had no control. I’m going to have to think of a better way of handling it. Maybe make sure the teachers have the list so they can send them to the computer lab or maybe scratch the computer workshop and just work with the teachers during the extra classes. I don’t know but it was really bad.

Tuesday 23 August

I had my computer workshop for the teachers today. Only one teacher showed up. To be fair I knew none of my teachers would be there because they’re doing extra classes afterschool. It was fine though. I was able to help the grade 5 teacher and answer all his questions without having to bounce back and forth between different teachers. He was pretty good on the computer though. He knew how to change font, font size, bold, italicize and underline text. He did have some questions about art, drawing circles and stuff. It was great to be able to help.

I also had time to plan for my workshop tomorrow. I’m really nervous/excited about it. Nervous because I feel like it’s my first test and yesterday I obviously failed and excited because I get to be in control and call the shots. I don’t have to watch my teachers beat the students. I can discipline them the way I see fit. I just hope they don’t take advantage of me. I plan on using a 3 strikes you out policy. Hopefully that’ll work out fine. Mel helped me figure out the specifics on my lesson because we had talked about it generally but today it was time to actually write down everything that I plan on doing tomorrow. We’re doing place value, ordering and addition and subtraction. It’s a lot to cover which makes me even more nervous. Hopefully it’ll all go well.

Wednesday 24 August

The workshop went so well! I was so happy because I was really nervous about. I went around to all the classes and asked the teachers to make an announcement to the students about the workshop. I was worried no one was going to show up but all but one showed up. I had fourteen students. It was the best and I was super organized. I had the students sign in so I knew exactly who came and could make sure that no students who weren’t supposed to be in the workshop didn’t sneak it. Eddie was doing security making sure everyone signed it. I wonder if I’ll be able to take more because it’s awesome if students want to come. It’s afterschool so none of them have to be there. I guess that’ll be later along the lines especially once the second long term teacher gets here. It will be easier to handle with two teacher that I know will be there for sure. The students were really good though. They were quiet and listened for the most part. There was a lot of material to cover too which I was worried about but we got through my entire lesson with little trouble. They definitely need to work on decimals, especially ordering them. But I started with whole numbers and ordering, addition and subtraction which they did really well with that. Apparently they were hungry at the end because they were complaining so once my lesson was over I said they could leave if they wanted to and a lot of them did but a few students did stay for the game I was planning to do. They really enjoyed it. It was awesome. I really hope they learned something. Tomorrow I have to do the same thing. Go to each class and make sure the students know that they’re supposed to be with me at 2:30. Hopefully they’ll come as well. I am so encouraged. Hopefully tomorrow will be just as good.

Thursday 25 August

Today’s workshop was not as good as yesterday’s. I had a group of boys that were causing trouble. They were talking a lot and not really listening to me. It was tough though because I had them writing lots of notes and answering questions as well and I think it was a lot to ask of them. They did really well for the most part though. Decimals caused the most problems and of course that is when Mel, Will and JT show up to watch me teach. It was very nerve-racking. For clarification, Will is the guy whose over all the projects in South Africa and then JT is Jim’s replacement, the new program coordinator in Gordon’s Bay. Jim is going to Fish Hoek to be the program coordinator there. Apparently we’re having a program for Jim tomorrow which I didn’t know about until today. The perk of being in the classroom all day. Inevitably, you get forgotten.  I’m not really a fan of it but it’s really hard because my schedule is so crazy. I literally just left class at one point today so I could eat. I don’t have a set lunch time. I have a break at 10:40 but that’s too early to eat. If I eat then, then I’m hungry for the rest of day. But overall the workshop went really well and I’m really excited about them.

Monday 22 August

Today was the first day of the computer workshop for Grade 6 and it did not go well. It was very confusing. I was supposed to be getting a list of students to work with but I found out that the teacher who was supposed to do it would be gone for the next two weeks. Luckily I was able to talk to one of the English teachers and was able to get a list of students and when I asked her if the students knew that they were to be in the computer lab with me at 2:30 she said yes. Well you can imagine what actually happened. I had to go around to each of the classrooms asking for all 30 of my students who didn’t show up but I honestly don’t think they knew to show up in the first place. So I dragged about 20 learners out of the extra classes that the teachers were having and took them to the computer lab when I got there the computer lab was closed (of course) so I had to find someone to open the lab. It was very confusing because the man I thought could do it said he didn’t deal with keys but I was finally able to get a woman to open the lab. All the computers that Emma and I had turned on where now off which would have been fine except for the fact that the computers are incredibly horribly slow. It took forever for them to get started. So Emma and I were literally bouncing from one computer to the next quickly turning them on but then we had to wait. It was very disorganized, very chaotic and very bad. I had figured out how to get the projector on before the lab got closed but I couldn’t figure it out when I actually had the class in there with me. So again Emma and I were trying our best to get the students to the activity that I had planned with them. It was really bad, utter chaos. So we got through most of what I planned but I still felt like I had no control. I’m going to have to think of a better way of handling it. Maybe make sure the teachers have the list so they can send them to the computer lab or maybe scratch the computer workshop and just work with the teachers during the extra classes. I don’t know but it was really bad.

Tuesday 23 August

I had my computer workshop for the teachers today. Only one teacher showed up. To be fair I knew none of my teachers would be there because they’re doing extra classes afterschool. It was fine though. I was able to help the grade 5 teacher and answer all his questions without having to bounce back and forth between different teachers. He was pretty good on the computer though. He knew how to change font, font size, bold, italicize and underline text. He did have some questions about art, drawing circles and stuff. It was great to be able to help.

I also had time to plan for my workshop tomorrow. I’m really nervous/excited about it. Nervous because I feel like it’s my first test and yesterday I obviously failed and excited because I get to be in control and call the shots. I don’t have to watch my teachers beat the students. I can discipline them the way I see fit. I just hope they don’t take advantage of me. I plan on using a 3 strikes you out policy. Hopefully that’ll work out fine. Mel helped me figure out the specifics on my lesson because we had talked about it generally but today it was time to actually write down everything that I plan on doing tomorrow. We’re doing place value, ordering and addition and subtraction. It’s a lot to cover which makes me even more nervous. Hopefully it’ll all go well.

Wednesday 24 August

The workshop went so well! I was so happy because I was really nervous about. I went around to all the classes and asked the teachers to make an announcement to the students about the workshop. I was worried no one was going to show up but all but one showed up. I had fourteen students. It was the best and I was super organized. I had the students sign in so I knew exactly who came and could make sure that no students who weren’t supposed to be in the workshop didn’t sneak it. Eddie was doing security making sure everyone signed it. I wonder if I’ll be able to take more because it’s awesome if students want to come. It’s afterschool so none of them have to be there. I guess that’ll be later along the lines especially once the second long term teacher gets here. It will be easier to handle with two teacher that I know will be there for sure. The students were really good though. They were quiet and listened for the most part. There was a lot of material to cover too which I was worried about but we got through my entire lesson with little trouble. They definitely need to work on decimals, especially ordering them. But I started with whole numbers and ordering, addition and subtraction which they did really well with that. Apparently they were hungry at the end because they were complaining so once my lesson was over I said they could leave if they wanted to and a lot of them did but a few students did stay for the game I was planning to do. They really enjoyed it. It was awesome. I really hope they learned something. Tomorrow I have to do the same thing. Go to each class and make sure the students know that they’re supposed to be with me at 2:30. Hopefully they’ll come as well. I am so encouraged. Hopefully tomorrow will be just as good.

Thursday 25 August

Today’s workshop was not as good as yesterday’s. I had a group of boys that were causing trouble. They were talking a lot and not really listening to me. It was tough though because I had them writing lots of notes and answering questions as well and I think it was a lot to ask of them. They did really well for the most part though. Decimals caused the most problems and of course that is when Mel, Will and JT show up to watch me teach. It was very nerve-racking. For clarification, Will is the guy whose over all the projects in South Africa and then JT is Jim’s replacement, the new program coordinator in Gordon’s Bay. Jim is going to Fish Hoek to be the program coordinator there. Apparently we’re having a program for Jim tomorrow which I didn’t know about until today. The perk of being in the classroom all day. Inevitably, you get forgotten.  I’m not really a fan of it but it’s really hard because my schedule is so crazy. I literally just left class at one point today so I could eat. I don’t have a set lunch time. I have a break at 10:40 but that’s too early to eat. If I eat then, then I’m hungry for the rest of day. But overall the workshop went really well and I’m really excited about them.

Friday 19 August- Saturday 20 August

This weekend was great. We went to Cape Town on Friday right after we got back from project. Literally I had to throw some things in my backpack, run down to Pick n Pay, get some cash and by the time I got back it was time to go. The weekend was so great! We arrived in Cape Town around 4 and were dropped off at Ashanti a hostel in the heart of Cape Town. We were minutes away from Long Street and a good half an hours walk from the waterfront. Tim, Emma, Malin and I walked to the Company Gardens which were also close by to where we stayed. We enjoyed a long walk through the gardens and then came back up through Long Street looking at the different shops, bars and such.

Then we got back to the hostel and relaxed until it was time for dinner. Then we ate at probably the best burger place in Cape Town: The Royale Eatery. If you’re ever in Cape Town, please eat at this place. The burgers are amazing but the best part are the shakes. I got an Oreo shake and it was to die for. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the meal. It was also amazing how easy it was to pay. Everyone chipped in R100 and we were done. No trying to figure out how much everyone owned. It was so easy.

Then we went back to the hostel and chilled, waiting on the newbies to get back from Mama Africa. Each first weekend they go to Mama Africa and it usually takes a while because it is a huge tourist attraction. One group went and it took hours for them to get the food, eat it and get the check. So we relaxed before finally I got fed up with waiting and trying to decide where everyone wanted to go. I just started walking with a group of people down Long Street. We were originally supposed to go to The Waiting Room but there was a cover charge so we kept on walking until we found the club Jo’burg which JT highly recommended. I loved it. Apparently everyone else didn’t. They were all sitting in the back room talking and listening to the music. But I am on the dance floor thoroughly enjoying myself. The best was when Ashley came because she loves to dance too so we danced together.  It was still all good and we danced a good three or four hours there.

The next day we got up and walked down to the waterfront and to Green Market Square. It’s a fabulous market in the heart of Cape Town and it’s a great place to go to get souvenirs. I enjoyed just looking around trying to figure out what to get everyone and not buying anything. I had a limited budget since I took out some cash and left my debit card at Gordon’s Bay just so there would be no chance that I lost my debit card. I’ve lost my debit card in Cape Town before and it is not fun to deal with. Anyways, we walked around the market for a while until we got bored and walked down to the waterfront. Matt really wanted to go to the Two Oceans Aquarium but no one else really wanted to go so he went by himself and everyone else walked around the waterfront looking at the different shops. More shopping and more walking until we finally met up with Matt and had lunch at Spurs. It’s a pretty good place to eat and cheap which is always nice. That was pretty much our day. We walked around some more before walking back to Ashanti. I was ready to go back because we spent most of the day walking. It was exhausting but a great day!

Wednesday 17 August

I am so exhausted. I couldn’t sleep last night because I was so congested which sucks. Yesterday was a good day though. Mel and I tried bellydancing which was really fun. I loved it. It’s R260 which is pretty pricy for only once a week. They do have another session in the mornings on Fridays but I can’t go because of school.

School was good yesterday. Ms. Halana came to see me early and said that the learners were writing a maths exam so she would come get me once they were done. So Mel and I took the extra time to plan for next week’s workshop. There are eight more weeks until the annual exam and I just feel like we have so much to do still, especially in terms of maths. We went through that first and next week I’ll be covering place value, addition and subtraction and ordering numbers all in one hour sessions. We’ll see how it goes. It’s hard not to feel any pressure because I have been grading their maths exams and the learners aren’t doing well. But our job isn’t to teach everything. I just have to keep remembering that. But it’s hard because I feel like I have correct teachers.

After Mel and I had our planning session, it was break time and I enjoyed the sun. It’s usually really cold inside and then later in the day it warms up. After break, I went with Ms. Halana and she went over part of literacy exam which took about twenty minutes. I then took some learners who were struggling to work on their comprehension. It didn’t go to well. What I thought would take twenty to thirty minutes ended up taking about an hour.

Later…

I feel in a haze right now. I can’t really think. This morning was a million times worse so it’s good that I am feeling better but better doesn’t mean great. There still doesn’t seem to be enough time. I’m on dinner duty tonight and then social night and then I’ll probably go to bed because social nights usually end late.

So I’m back from social night which was so much fun. It was thirty seconds which is a game where everyone writes down different words on pieces of papers and then people guess the words. The first round was just describing the word without saying it and then the second was just saying one word and then finally acting it out. I’m really competitive so I had a lot of fun, screaming and yelling trying to figure out the different words. Good times.

School was rough this morning because I felt like I was in a haze. I didn’t feel completely there so I did very little today. Mostly I graded but beyond that nothing. Ms. Fani taught shapes again, a lesson that I had already seen so I graded the assignment. I was really bored today actually. After break, Ms. Fani taught a different lesson on data handling and I didn’t have anything prepared for that so I just sat in the back taking notes. I did do some more grading. It wasn’t a very exciting day. I wanted to go home the second I got there.

Well something interesting did happen today or rather disturbing. I saw two older girls picking on this little girl and when I tried to stop them, they kept on going and it was really hard for me to control my anger. When I asked them about it, they said the girl was stupid which made me even more anger. The little girl was the cutest little thing I’ve ever seen and it broke my heart/enraged me. It was really hard to see. You get stuck thinking that this place is so great and that the only people you have protect is the children from the teachers (I saw one of the teachers hit one of my students really hard with a plastic rod) but then you realize that you also have to protect some kids from other kids. It really made me sad. I started to look at the school differently, more as a place where I had watch out for danger and protect kids instead of focusing on what I’m trying to do: teach. It’s just weird.

In the afternoon, I felt much better and I actually helped with sports. The girls were playing net ball which is a strange game where you have to catch the ball and land on your feet one at a time. It’s sorta like basketball.

Thursday 18 August

I feel wonderful at the moment, completely relaxed. I feel like I’ve been going all week. If it wasn’t social night, it was grading papers. If it wasn’t grading papers, I was trying to get my internet fixed. If it wasn’t that, I was trying to exercise because I have been severely neglecting that part of my life. This week has been crazy and emotional.

Let’s start with today. My maths teacher disappeared yet again but this time I at least knew what to do: go to another teacher. I asked around, couldn’t find her and was about to go to another teacher when Ms. Halana came looking for me needing help. So I worked with her. I did lots of grading which seems to be the bane of my existence. Luckily I took action and asked if anyone was struggling and Ms. Halana suggested Ongezewe. She’s so sweet and really shy. It was really difficult working with her but I really enjoyed it because I got to work with a student. I’m finding it hard to balance between helping the teachers (grading, planning, etc) and helping the students (tutoring, teaching, etc). But we had our one to ones today which is when the program coordinators talk to each of us just to see how we’re getting on. I definitely had a lot to say. Mostly about how I’m still trying to figure out my role. Mel wasn’t there which is weird because I’m used to seeing her all the time, at home, at school. She had to work in the office today so Jim did my one to one. I found out he’s leaving even sooner than I thought. Next week to be exact. Of course. One more person leaving.

But enough about me complaining, today I found out that my teacher disappeared because one of her students tried to commit suicide. I was shocked and didn’t know what to say. She said she had to take the student to a social worker and that’s where she went. I felt horrible and really didn’t know what to do besides obviously offer any help that I could provide. I ended up just doing some more grading which didn’t seem like a big help but at least it’s one less thing she had to worry about. What do you do in that situation?

I saw the little girl who got picked on yesterday again. She is so cute. I think she’s rather fond of me. She would pop her head into the classroom and I would get up to say hi to her and she would run away and then turn and smile. So cute! She’s missing in front two teeth as well which makes her even more adorable. She was in the room and Aimee was talking to her and when I left the room she followed me and held out her hand so I could hold it. I could cry. She’s so adorable. I’m sorry have I said that enough. Can I take her home with me? She then ran away and I kept walking and she followed me all the way to my classroom where I went in to see if my teacher needed any more help. She popped her head in that room too and then when I came out ran away. She is seriously the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.

There is seriously still so much to write. It’s impossible to write it all. Last night was social night which was awesome as usual. I’m so competitive. We lost but it was still a lot of fun.

This is the adorable girl I've been talking about

Yes I know I’m still very behind. I’m sorry. I’m just too busy here having fun/doing work to write. But here’s the rest of week 4. Keep in mind it’s week 7 for me here. I know it’s horrible....my bad.

Friday August 12^th

Today is Nick’s last day L Mel and I went around to the different classrooms and asked the students to make Nick a card. We got so many cards. It was so awesome. We had a presentation for Nick where we presented the cards. He absoutley loved it. We packed into this tiny classroom and the choir sang and there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. It was the most amazing singing I’ve ever heard. They also did some dancing which was amazing as well. It was probably my favourite thing that I’ve experienced here so far.

As far as what I was actually supposed to be doing yesterday, I talked to all my teachers and got them to tell me what 5 students were struggling the most. I will be working with them and providing support which should be a lot easier than what I have been doing. I know what my teachers are supposed to be teaching next week. We’ll see if they actually do what they said they would. I also got some maths papers to grade. This is weird but I like grading, at least math. Math answers are fairly straight forward and it’s a lot easier to grade than English. So far I know for sure that I want to be a math teacher and NOT an English teacher. You can’t fully appreciate how hard the English language is until you’re trying to teach it. I guess that’s true for any subject so liking it is a must. I love math because it makes sense to me so that’s why I can see myself teaching it.

The rest of yesterday was good. I relaxed at home before the braai which means barbeque in Afrikaans. We had it at the orphanage because it was GVI’s two year anniversary of being at Ikhayalathemba (the name of the orphanage). It means home of hope in Xhosa. The party started at 7 and we got to see the children and play with them. They seem to really like playing with me. One of the girls grabbed my hand and started singing a song in Xhosa. It started out slow and then they started jumping up and down and saying “woo, woo!” It was so cute. I got some pictures of me doing it with them. The weather was still bad so instead of having it outside, we were inside. It was really nice. The food was great!

Me and some of the amazing kids at Ikhayalathemba (the orphange)

Saturday 13 August

This weekend was relaxing as all weekends should be. On Saturday Mel and I walked to the craft shop to see if we got any books. We got a couple which is exciting and the owner said that more people had noticed our signs and said they would bring donations. Then we walked down to the beach where there is a huge book store. It is awesome. Walls and walls of books and it has that old book smell which I love. We wandered around for a little while seeing all the amazing resources that we’d love to buy. Then Mel talked to the person at the front desk who said that the owner was out of the country but she gave us two bags full of books. It was very exciting.

We then walked to a bar called Barbaydos and were about to order when Mel decided to call Nick to see if he was leaving. He was supposed to be leaving at one and it was only noon but Nick was actually in the midst of leaving when she called. So we ran out of the bar and went to a gas station where we waited for Nick to say goodbye. It was really sad because even though I only knew him two weeks, Nick was really awesome, always good for a laugh. I know Mel was pretty upset too to see him go.

After Nick left and we said our goodbyes, we walked back to the bar and got malva pudding. It’s a South African bread pudding that I really love. It’s supposed to be really moist but the one I had wasn’t dry but it wasn’t nearly as moist as I thought it should be. I have made malva pudding better than that. So it was a sad disappointment but I ate it anyway. I had to pay for it regardless. After that we braved the turbulent weather which kept on switching back and forth between rain and sunshine and walked home.

I walked up to Mont Blanc to borrow Beth’s usb only to find out that everyone is leaving. It’s very confusing and difficult to remember when everyone is leaving because there are about four to five depatures a day. So I said a sad goodbye to all the ones that were leaving. Then I discovered that Matt, Emma and the new girl Ashley and the coordinators were going to watch the rugby game so I decided to go with them. Watching rugby at a bar full of locals is quite the cultural experience. I loved it. They all sang their national anthem with pride which is in three different languages by the way and were all cheering for their team the Springboks. It was awesome. The game is similar to football and not too hard to follow. It was a little awkward though because we have two program coordinators from Australia and they were playing so they would of course cheer for their team while the rest of the bar remained silent. It was a good time though.

Sunday 14 August

Sunday meant saying goodbye to more people. Dina and Siobhan left yesterday and it sucked to say goodbye. I wonder if I’ll get used to it. It’s nice though because four of the girls are staying so it’s not a huge change. In two weeks though all of them are leaving so I’ll have to meet new people all over again. We went on a walk although the beach because the weather was nice. We almost walked all the way to Strand but people didn’t want to walk that far. So we walked back. It was a nice walk though. Emma and I then Insanity Pure Cardio and I thought I was going to die. It was very difficult. It was good though to workout though. I need to get into a regular schedule though. I haven’t been very consistent  since I’ve gotten before. I’m hoping to do some dance lessons or something. Tomorrow I’m going to try bellydancing and then Thursday I’ll try Nia which is a mix of different things. After Insanity, Emma and I went on a walk. It ended up being all the way to Strand and I discovered a swimming pool. I might see how much it to swim there. I could swim laps there. Hopefully it’s not too expensive. We’ll see.