Days 14, 15 and 16

Day 14 - Friday

Today we were back at Emifini Primary School and I was in a new grade 1 class. This was Ms. Manzantsi she has been teaching for many years in grade one and was amazing. Her enthusiasm was catching and I could not help myself but get caught up in what she was teaching and doing. In fact, while she was teaching her xhosa language lesson (which I could not help with) I decided to make myself useful to her and sharpen her pencils with her hand held little pencil sharpener. I was concentrating on her so much that I did not realize until way too late that I had sharpened so many I got a blister. Now that my friends is a great teacher! During math she did a lesson on halves so I was able to help with this lesson from cutting up food, to separating children, to coloring half of items. My phone died half way through the lesson so I only have one picture. :(

We left Emifini at 12:00 and headed to an NMMU (Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University) and school collaboration meeting with Mr. McKay, the principal of Emifini. It was funny to me to see how excited they were to have the "Americans" at this meeting. While in this meeting they took opinions on how the student teaching program at the university could help the primary schools. The principals spoke on being overcrowded, needing help to be more prepared for exceptional students, etc. They did all say they thought the university was doing a good job training their student teachers.

Ms. Manzantsi teaching on half.

Xhosa language reading lesson. This is a reading passage about a girl that
eats unhealthy and is getting fat.

Day 15 - Saturday Happy Birthday to my daddy!

Today we had a very busy day prepping for the rest of the week. We walked about a mile down to the local Pic N Pay grocery store and post office. We purchased items for friends back home and for lessons we need to teach at school this week. We then went to the Boardwalk to a Home Expo which was highly recommended by our "house mom" Christine. It was neat to see the different items for sale in the expo for people to use in their houses.  

Day 16 - Sunday

Ok... so today I am feeling the 8,148 miles and 16 days that I have been away from my family and church family. I woke up with the sniffles and congestion. I decided instead of feeling sorry for myself though I would go spend some rand. :) I went back to the open market that we went to last Sunday and purchased a few items for my classroom and other people. I do love the local people and purchasing from them instead of the stores. We then had lattes in a little restaurant open to the ocean. It was beautiful.

This evening we had a group meeting to discuss the book Cry, The Bloved Country  by Alan Paton. This book was a long, hard, sad read. It is a fiction story (unlike Kaffir Boy) but gives details that could very easily be true depictions of life in that time and in our time now. It is hard for me to read how people (mostly white people in this time) used religion to get what they wanted from other people (mostly black people). I know this is not how Christianity is suppose to be. We should all love and care for each other no matter the color of our skin or where we live and I will end on that note. 

Tomorrow we are back at Emifini and I will experience another Grade 1 primary teachers class.

View of the ocean. They say it is whale and dolphin sighting season
but I am sad to say we haven't seen any yet. 

Coffee after shopping in the market.

Day 13 - Grahamstown

We left early this morning heading out to Grahamstown. When we arrived at Grahamstown we were presented presentations on school programs and school learners  by the Inkcubeko Nendalo Anthropology Department. We then went to Nombelelo Secondary School to sit in on a lesson about biomes by Muleki Nkosi with a group of grade 10 learners. Did you know South Africa had 9 biomes and 6 of them are in the Eastern Cape. Those six are the savannah biome, flynbos biome, grassland biome, succulent-karoo biome, thornflet biome and indigenous forest biome. This was pretty fascinating to learn. After taking some time for lunch in the garden we traveled to the Dassie Krantz Forestto have a forest experience with grade 10 learners. To begin the forest experience we hiked down a trail to get to the middle of the forest. We communed with our ancestors and viewed the biodiversity of the plant and animal life. All in all it was a neat experience but man climbing up that mountain to get out of the forest was tough work. On our way back to Port Elizabeth we stopped at Nanaga Farmstall and Restaurant in Kirkwood and enjoyed the flavor of some local meat pies for dinner.

Lesssons

Nombelelo Secondary School

Lunch in the garden

Our hike down the mountain to the forest.

Enjoying the quiet relaxing forest experience. 

Days 10 and 11 - Emafini Primary School ViVi's class

Day 10 - Monday:

Today we traveled back to Emafini Primary School and I was able to meet the Grade 1 primary teachers. I am assigned to work with Vivi until Thursday and then I will rotate to another teacher. The students in Grade 1 speak mostly Xhosa - their native language but are beginning to pick up a little bit of English. Vivi is great with this transition. After completing their math lesson on grouping a set of ten and adding numbers, I read them a story. The story I read today was The Very Hungry Caterpillar  by Eric Carle. While reading I showed them pictures, acted out some portions and pointed to items around the room. I wasn't sure if they had understood what I read so Vivi and I decided to I would reread and she would write vocabulary on the board and we would go over also in Xhosa. This helped them comprehend and be able to retell the story with a higher percentage. After reading the story I had to leave for the day for a language class at NMMU. We decided that when I left Vivi was going ot have them draw pictures and write the words in both English and Xhosa. They did a terrific job with both of these.

Vivi and I. I am enjoying working in her Grade 1 classroom. I will move to a
different room on Friday. They will be rotating me all around. 

Two students and their caterpillar and butterfly pictures.

The pictures with Xhosa translations of the

book The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Day 11 - Tuesday

Back at Emifini and back with Vivi today. We again began the day with math and groups of ten. I worked with a lower group of students to help them understand the concept. (Well try to help them with the language barrier and all.) Luckily they were counting in English and I was close enough to the board to point. I think all in all I did ok. On to reading... I decided that today I would read another book dealing with animals, the word hungry and days of the week like in the book yesterday. So we read The Tawney Scrawney Lion  by Kristen Depken. With my new found acting abilities they actually laughed at appropriate times during the reading and got wide eyed at the right sections. I was ecstatic. Vivi did however reread the book in Xhosa just to check for comprehension  then we had them act out the book the best we could. Vivi's class is in a small outside container so there is not very much room for 30 students and 2 adults trying to act out a story. We also discussed how in the story all of the animals became friends at the end. They then wrote the word friend in English and Xhosa and drew a picture of the story. Lunch was next in our schedule and on the menu today was mealie meal, a fish stew, cabbage and butternut squash. The students bring their drink and spoon with them to school each day and if they do not want the free school meal they are allowed to bring their own meal. Their food is delivered to the classroom and that is where they eat. After lunch they receive a hour break where they are allowed to "play" and the teachers get free time. So you understood me correctly no one covers "recess". Judy McMullin our PE teacher form good Ol' North Carolina had our PE time after break. Judy did a great job introducing the Hockey Pokey and Chinese Jummp Rope with the students. We then went back to finish last minute items, clean up and leave at 1:15. 

Today was Helen and Elanie's last night here in South Africa so Christine our "house mom" cooked us a delicious meal of curry and chocolate desert. It was amazing. 

Math work

Reading the Tawney Scrawny Lion

Reading the Tawney Scrawny Lion

Friend written in English and Xhosa and pictures from our story. 

Lunch

Beginning lunch 

Chinese Jump Rope - Judy teaching right in her element.

Wow! what kind of caption can I add to this... ha ha

Days 8 and 9

Molweni bahlobo bam! Ninjani? Ndiphilile enkosi!Kuyabanda nje.
Hello my friends! How are you? I am good thank you! It is cold here.

Well I have been working on my Xhosa language some more with a few more classes wince I spoke to you last. It is such a beautiful language and I wish I could truly speak it more fluently. I will have to do with saying ... Andiyazi (I don't know) ... for a little bit longer when I get past the greeting. The xhosa greeting is not just hello though. They ask how you are doing, what is the weather like, where did you come from, etc. all in their greeting. It is amazing.

Ok, we have been so busy I have not had time to catch you up from the past three days so here goes...

Day 8 - Saturday

Today was very cold and rainy. We planned on heading down to the marketplace by the beach but the weather was just too bad. We hung out in our rooms and I finished reading the book Kaffir Boy  by Mark Mathabane. It is an autobiography of the true story of a black youth's coming of age in apartheid South Africa. This book describes how Johannes (later changed to Mark) grew up and all of the trials and tribulations he went through. If you have not read it you must. This book was published in 1986 but we still see a few of the things that happened in this book still around now.

We later went to the South Africa Marine Rehabilitation and Education Center (SAMREC). This center opened in 2000 to help with the threat endangered animals. This center rescues animals, rehabilitates them and releases them back to their natural habitat. It also tries to educate people how to help these animals survive. The main marine animal they rescue is the South African penguin. This penguin is being endangered through oil spills so they are rescuing them, cleaning them and making sure they are healthy before returning them to their habitat. At the SAMREC you can adopt a penguin. I can not wait to adopt my very own penguin with my classroom this year. I believe it will help the students understand how we need to help care for our beaches. We will be able to see pictures of our penguin, learn why he/she is at the center and learn of his/her release date. I am so excited about it.

This is how tall the emperor penguin is compared to me.

African Penguins

Virginia's friend that thinks he is a human.

Day 9 - Sunday

Sunday was a beautiful day, sunny and finally not windy. We walked through the boardwalk and down to the marketplace. The marketplace is like a giant flea market, most items there are handmade by local people. I can not tell you what I purchased (they might be gifts he he) but I did purchase the Big Five animals of South Africa (lion, leopard, elephant, water buffalo and rhino) made from ebony wood. They will look marvelous in my classroom while teaching my kindergarten kiddos about

animals.

Just one small booth from the market with hand painted pictures. 

I will complete Day 10 and 11 tomorrow all about Emifini Primary School. It has been an amazing day!

Day 6 and 7 Schools

Molweni! This is like saying Hey Yall!

Alright so our internet was down here at Abalone Guest House last night. We had used all of the data so they had to go add some on. Imagine that you pay for your wifi over here by purchasing a certain amount of data. That is certainly something new I have learned.

Day 6 - July 21 Happy Birthday form Africa to my baby girl Paige!
Today we visited Solomon Mahlangu High School and were given a presentation from their YCAP Team. This team consists of 5 members in 10th grade that not only help their school and advocate for their school but work endless hours in the community. For example, they advocated for a free breakfast to be served to students who were not able to eat in the mornings before school. This free breakfast would provide nourishment for these students so that they were able to focus in their classrooms.

This is the YCAP team: Phelisa, Sinokhanyo, Siphselhu, Lubabalo, and Kamralethu.

Eagle Spirit in South Africa!

They wanted to take a selfie :)

Day 7 Emafini at last!

Today we went to Emafini. This is the primary school that we will be working at for the duration of this trip. (Besides the occasional lectures, language classes and adventures) The Grade R (kindergarten) through Grade 2 (second grade) teacher were off campus today for a workshop. Yes they have them also! So I was placed in grade 6 (have you figured out that is 6th grade?) to observe. WOW! is about all I can say. They were learning about open and closed circuits. It has been a long time since I learned about circuits. Anyway, this classroom had 50 students in it and one teacher. They were working in an interactive notebook drawing the circuits. I could not tell by observing and seeing their completed work if they truly understood but they worked hard and seemed to be engaged.  Students had to write with blue ink pens and correct their work with red pens, glue their papers in and use rulers to draw lines. It was amazing to see how they shared their items, If one child idd not have a red pen when another child finished with theirs they just handed theirs over for them to use. Such teamwork! For lunch they had maze and a stew. The cafeteria provides a free lunch for all students. There is a small metal bowl for younger students and a larger plastic bowl for older students. There are not choices and they eat the same thing daily. The soup is made fresh everyday and vegetables are hand cut. It smelled so good. If there is enough I might see if I can purchase some one day. We will go back to Emafini on Monday and I am hoping to see some Grade R students (I mean learners - that is what they call them and I really like that.) They will for sure test my Xhosa language since they have not learned to speak English yet.

Grade 6 class of 50 students

More students

and... even more students!

Lunch is served.

Cafeteria ladies "aunties" prepare the soup.
Photo creds: Melonie Shepard

Love Life Center South Africa

July 19-20, 2016 Day 4 and Day 5

Molo! Kunjani? Ndiphilile enkisi.

So this is some of the Xhosa language we have been learning. I just said, "Hello! How are you?  I am fine." We are taking language lessons everyday for and hour and a half a day. I wish I could speak like they do it is a beautiful language.

The last two days, beside taking language lesson classes, we have spent our time at the Love Life Center. This amazing center focuses on youth teaching other youth about Aids and HIV. Besides doing this amazing feat they are also changing lives through groundbreaking. They hire ten young people they call "ground breakers"which get paid 2000 rand a month (that sounds like a lot to us but it is around $139.55 US and before they get taxes taken out). These ground breakers then go out and recruit 5 more youth to receive training. These youth are allowed to go into schools to set up booths which educate young South Africans about Aids and Aid protection.  Thanks to Volkswagen for providing funding to begin this program.

On July 19 while we were there it was National Aids Awareness so we were honored to be able to participate in their ceremony with the lighting of candles to not only celebrate but to remember those that have died from Aids. There is so much this center does for the youth and children in the community that I have only told you a tiny little piece of it.

Today, July 20, Einstein (one of the past ground breakers and such a wonderful young man) took our group around to The South African Council for the Blind, Phaphamani Rape Case Clinic and Amadoda Okwenene for men. All of these different clinics help in the community and are always looking for funding. Then Einstein (not his real name of course this is just what they call him because he went to University) took us to get Hot Cakes a traditional South African dough. It was so good kind of like a donut but without the glaze. You could either get liver or mince meat inside of them. I chose to have a plain one. :) Lat but not least he took us to his home. He was so proud of his room that his father and him built out back of their house. You see when you come of age you have to move out of your parents house.

Tomorrow we are back at Love Life to participate in their Reading Program. Yep you are right for thinking I didn't even tell you about that. You see there are way too many programs for young adults and children that they offer. I haven't even scratched the surface. You will see a few more programs they have in my pictures.

This is Einstein - such an amazing 23 year old. He built his house
with his father and was so proud of it. He is going to go places. 

Einstein with his family. 

Eating our "fat cakes" Einstein introduced us to. They were so so so good. 

Thandile Gladile Community Developer for South African national Council
for the Blind. She is helping other blind people and parents of blind children learn
to cope and live life to the fullest. 

This is DJ he is in charge of a radio station at Love Life. He is another
ground breaker that does a radio station and between songs talks about prevention. 

Oh did I forget to tell you that Love Life also has a computer room of 8 computers
with another ground breaker teaching adults and youth how to complete basic Microsoft computer
programs. Isn't Love Life absolutely amazing?

July 18, 2016 - Day 3 

Happy Birthday Nelson Mandela!

Today was our first day at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. We enjoyed learning about the University and surrounding areas from Ms. Tohiera Moodien and then were given an informative tour from Nontobeka Zungu (or NT and she told us to call her). During this information session we found out NMMU is the largest university with four campuses. They have 60% black, 24% white, 14% coloured, 2% indian and 8% international. During our tour I learned that the campus is on a nature reserve so you have to be on the lookout for monkeys and zebras at all times. Also because the campus is on a nature reserve that they can only put 11% of their students in dorm rooms which is very hard for the students. After the campus tour we were taken on a city tour to visit local businesses and learn about some of the South African history (I can't wait for you to see some of my pictures). During our city tour we had some university students introduce us to some of their native language xhosa. It is amazing to listen to them speak in their native tongue. 

The Nelson Mandela madiba shirt (a shirt made from silk and brightly colored like Nelson Mandela always wore) sculpture made by two student in textile and design and art departments at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. This project is emphasizing ubuntu (I am because you are). If you could read the white squares you would see the schools seven values: respect, diversity, excellence, ubuntu, integrity, environment and responsibility. 

Our first stop in the city tour the best surfing spot.

The Elizabeth Pyramid is a burial site and how Port Elizabeth was named. 

These are our University student ambassadors that helped us learn some of the Xhosa language.
From left to right: Nikita, Sihle, Takadzo (Joy) and Bontle. They were so friendly and informative. Do you know
that several of them take 2-3 taxis to get to the University each morning. That is so amazing to me.

This is Ayanda Mji and her sister Lungi. They own and operate Aya's ceramic studio. All of
their pieces are handmade, hand painted and absolutely beautiful. 

This statue represents all women of the world and what
women do.

Some of Aya's ceramic pieces outside her house.

Yay! I found a seed!

This tree is called a lucky tree. It is said that if you pick up the seeds and put them in
your purse it will never run dry.