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^ The water buffalo portion of the mural.  I would add the picture of the whole thing, but you wouldn't be able to see the details so well.  My square is the darkish pink one directly to the left of the very top, right corner piece.  

I'm back!  The flights went well.  One short delay from JFK to Boston, but that's it!  Didn't actually get a wink of sleep until the hour-long flight to Boston.  I just watched movies the whole time on those really long plane rides.  Watching Invictus was particularly cool after just leaving South Africa...So I suppose this is the end of the blog.  I'm so glad I decided to keep a blog and I hope everyone enjoyed it.  So here goes:  On the day we had to say good-bye at Kleinberg, the sky was gray and it was cold and rainy.  How fitting!  We felt like we'd only been there for a very, short time and it shouldn't be time to go yet.  I said good-bye to my first grade class and gave them all a hug.  Their teacher and I suppose my colleague, told me that I was a born teacher.  I thought she was just saying it to be nice, but the principal told me afterwards that she doesn't give compliments like that easily.  The staff at Kleinberg really were fun, very friendly, and particularly generous.  During break every day, they would always share their food with each other and us, even towards the end of our time there when half of them were fasting for Ramadan.  The first grade teacher I was with brought in food for me even when she couldn't eat herself!  Another one of the teachers once bought me an entire package of Rooibos tea because I had mentioned in passing that I liked it...Now that is something a grandmother would do.  So nice.  The principal called all of the teachers to the staff room that day during break so we could have a real goodbye and give all of them a hug as well.  As for my six Grade 4 Help2Read kids, I will admit that I rushed through my meetings that last day with them because I didn't want to prolong the goodbye any more than I had to.  I really liked all of them.  I hope I actually helped them or at least built their confidence a bit.  Some of them began to sound out the words more often, rather than just looking at long words and freezing, like they did in the beginning.  I only had about 10 meetings with each them, so I can't really expect to have changed the world or anything, but I hope they got something out of it!  A few of them told me that I was a good/nice/'the best' teacher.  I attribute this mainly to my just being really nice to them.  Give them a smile, ask them how they are doing, and let them know how much you appreciate their effort, and you've won their hearts.  I think one of them was actually in love with me haha.  I wore I dress once and he looked up at me with this look of pure admiration and fascination and was just like, "You look beautiful."  I almost died.  It was the best- I told everyone about that.  He was also the one who said "Me last!" when I hugged them all goodbye so he could hold on for an extra moment or two.  I'll miss him and all the rest of them!
Saying good-bye to my host family was actually the hardest good-bye I've probably ever done because I probably won't see them again or a very, very long time.  We are talking years.  That family was made up of some of the best and most giving, loving people I have ever met.  Hands down.  Yes I cried and I will miss them dearly!
To sum it all up, my trip to South Africa was one of the best decisions I've ever made and I absolutely loved every minute of it!!

Almost done...

Tomorrow is my last day at Kleinberg and then the next day (Saturday) is my last full day in South Africa. It is such a strange feeling knowing not knowing when I'll be back.  It is just so FAR and so expensive to fly here.  I do want to come back one day though.  It is just so strange not having any idea how far in the future that may be.  Anyway, tomorrow, I'm going to give out certificates and little notes to the kids I've been tutoring in reading and also give a whole bunch of pencils to the kids in the first grade class I've been in.  There is a serious shortage of even the basic supplies at this school and I actually plan on trying to organize some fundraisers back home to help out with that, but for now, pencils it is.  Tomorrow will be the last time I hear their little morning prayer that they do and that I can't help but to have memorized- "Help us to do the things we should, to be to others kind and good, in all we do, in work or play, to grow more loving every day, Amen."  It is cute, especially with the accents.  I like it because it basically sums up how people should try to live their lives.  I will also have to prepare myself for a massive group hug.  People around here love to hug and it is just magnified in the kind of unconditional love environment of a primary school.  I've definitely been through ups, as well as downs at Kleinberg.  One of the downs was the day I was asked to watch the class for the whole day with another volunteer.  It was pure chaos.  Yelling, screaming, kids rolling around on the floor fighting.  Absolutely bonkers, but hey, that is how we all act when there is a substitute.  Still, it made me realize how assertive you have to be to be a teacher.  You really do have to call them out when they are doing something disrespectful when you are talking or else it turns into a zoo fast.  However, you really need to understand that the student's home situations are likely to be a huge cause of their chaotic behavior.  The teacher told me today that one of the more difficult girls lives in a small house with more family members that she can count and the reason she hits other kids all the time is because she is so used to constant fighting and hitting as means of solving conflict that she thinks it is normal in every situation.  When you hear things like that, you can't help but be more patient with the kids.  Furthermore, you also have to be endlessly creative to capture and hold the attention of a classroom full of students, especially 6-year-olds because if you change things up all the time, the kids stay engaged and aren't tempted to act up in the first place.  I have so much more respect for all of my past teachers.  However, (here comes one of the ups) it is hard to stay angry at the kids when they do spontaneous cute things, like a few days ago, when one of the really quiet little boys called me over to his desk in the middle of class.  His voice is so small that you have to tilt your head so your ear is facing him.  Plus, he mumbles, which cranks up the cute factor.  Anyway, so he called me over and said something along the lines of, "I'm gonna miss you when you go back to where you live."  SO sweet.  I thought he was just going to ask a question!  Yep, tomorrow could be rough!  I also can't wait to see the finished mural that one of the other volunteers has singlehandedly organized.  The mural is of the "Big 5" animals I mentioned in a previous blog- elephant, lion, rhino, water buffalo, and leopard.  It is a huge splash of bright colors and patterns.  I painted a square today and came home with pink hands.  Such a cool idea!

Long Weekend!

Just got back from a loooong weekend driving through the Western Cape.  On Thursday, I went on a safari at a game reserve called Aquila.  I highly, highly recommend it to anyone who makes their way to South Africa one day.  We saw hippos, lions, wildebeests, zebras, springboks, rhinos, and my favorite animal that we encountered- elephants!  The two of them walked right up to our vehicle and one of them held his trunk up in front of another volunteer's face for a moment before walking off.  It was amazing.  Also, the food at this place (we stayed there overnight) was PHENOMENAL.  We had a buffet dinner after getting back from the safari and we had really worked up an appetite because it was freezing out there.  When we left the next day (after a buffet breakfast and lunch), there was snow on top of the mountains by the reserve!  It was that cold- cold enough to snow in Africa.  :)
We did lots of driving around over the course of the weekend and had to really be patient with one another because we were in the car quite a bit.  We listened to lots of Bob Marley on the ride, which was cool and the scenery was beautiful and basically got increasingly beautiful over the course of the trip.  I think I've overdosed on gorgeous views here.  It wasn't quite the same sights we've been seeing though.  Before this weekend, I'd been exposed to city, suburb, township, mountains, and beaches.  Now, I've gotten to see more of the rural South Africa.  We saw lots of farmland, rolling hills, and cattle over the course of the weekend.  We even stayed at a wonderful little place called Honeywood Farm on Friday night.  The cottages were really quaint and nice and we got to eat a home-cooked dinner made by a very cute old couple.  You might have guessed from the name of the farm, but the husband is a beekeeper as well and sold us some very cheap, raw honey.  Not only that, but he actually let another volunteer and I take a ride on a couple of his horses the next morning!!
The next two nights, we stayed at this very environmentally conscious and very hippie-friendly hostel.  We did drumming one night and other than that, just relaxed in the sort of lounge area, occasionally chatting with people from all over the world who were staying there.  There were people from France, England, Germany, and probably a few other places the two nights we were there.  From there, we just kept on driving!
As we drove, I loved asking the program director, who is like a personal tour guide, what the town names mean in English (since many of them are written in Afrikaans).  There are lots of town names that end in hoek, which means corner or baai, which means bay.  Actually, we spent most of today in a town called Gansbaai (Goose Bay) doing something very exciting...SHARK CAGE DIVING!  Yep, today, I saw Great White Sharks up close and personal.  So huge.  I didn't get a great look at the first one that came by when I was down in the cage because it wasn't facing me, but I felt it!  It had chased the chum right up over the cage and was thrashing around like a maniac.  All I could see was its tail moving, but I did get a nice side view of the next one that came by.  Anyway, that was an exciting end to a beautiful weekend!

Table Mountain!

Moi on top of Table Mountain.  Man, it was so amazing to finally be at the top looking down after looking up at it every day since I arrived!  Making it to the top of Table Mountain is just one of those things you can't leave South Africa without doing.  After school on Friday, the other volunteers and I went straight to the place where we were going to start hiking and got to it.  We were accompanied by one older and experienced guide, as well as a cute young French guy who was training to be a guide.  We all stayed overnight part way up the mountain (after about a 2 hour hike) and finished in the morning with another 2 hour (ish) hike.  It wasn't as strenuous as I imagined it would be , but I definitely broke a sweat and got my heart pumping.  The hike down was probably harder than the hike up actually.  Imagine walking down a windy stone staircase with extra tall, uneven steps.  I slipped at one point and about 4 people actually slipped in the same spot, which goes to show that certain sports were just plain tricky.   

You might be wondering why I'm wearing a dress in the picture above after I just said I hiked up the mountain...Long story short, I had my change of clothes ready, but when we came back home to pick up our things after school, we were running late, so I haphazardly grabbed my stuff and decided to just change later.  I didn't really consider the fact that there wouldn't really be another opportunity or place to change before the hike.  Also, I forgot to pack a shirt haha, so that was the end of that!  Anyway, I basically pulled on sweatpants over the dress, wore a sweatshirt on top, and was good to go, but when I took off my top layers, people were so confused!!  Oh well, my lapse in judgement made for some laughs and at least I arrived at the top in style (or at least a moment of style where I briefly took off my other layers to take the picture above haha).  

Anyway, what else was memorable about the hike?  hmm...oh yeah, there was stream water at various points along the trail, often in the form of mini waterfalls, and I used this little polka dot mug to drink every chance I got because the guide said right from the beginning that it was perfectly fine to drink.  The water was of questionable color (yellowish), but tasted fresh and sort of sweet.  Someone said it tasted like nature and I agree.  It felt so cool to drink pure, untreated mountain water.  I felt like I was in the movie Holes or something.  Something else that I will probably not forget any time soon was the trail mix that one of the guys packed for the hike- M&Ms, peanuts, and raisins.  He said that everything tastes amazing after you spend a few hours hiking and it is a 100% true phenomenon haha, but really, it was delicious.  All around, it was a beautiful start to the weekend!!  

My weekend...

Alright, before I start on the new stuff, I think I'll rewind to one blogworthy event that didn't make it into past posts.  This past week, one of the girls who I tutored at the Masi Library gave me a typed out thank you note:  "Hi Cindy, I want to thank you for being a great teacher, friend and a sister.  I won't forget your smile, love, and care and I wish my teacher would explain things the way you do [< that was my favorite line of the whole thing].  I was very lucky to meet a wonderful person like you, I will miss you."  CUTE.  Needless to say, that note made my day.

Anyway, on to Friday night.  We all went to this market in Muizenberg that I don't know the name of, so I'm just gonna call it Muizenberg Market.  Muizenberg's claim to fame is that it is one of the main surfing destinations around Cape Town, but we went there at night so no surfing.  Anyway, the market is the place to be if you are hungry.  So many foods to choose from.  I got three samosas (potato & butternut, chicken, and bacon & spinach) for the equivalent of like a dollar and 50 cents, a vegetable spring roll, a chicken risotto (< the most delicious meal ever, one of those ones where when you bring it back to the table, everyone all of a sudden looks 10x hungrier and goes: what did YOU get?!), and the coup de gras: a waffle with strawberry icecream, banana, chocolate, and whipped cream.  YES.

After that, all of the volunteers went to this place called the Melting Pot to listen to some blues kind of music.  The girl who opened for the night was sooo talented.  Beautiful voice.  Played both acoustic and electric guitar.  The whole atmosphere of the place was really relaxed.  The tables were lit with candles stuffed into bottles, with the wax dripping all down the sides and you could see the shadows of the instruments flickering on the ceiling.  Cool.  Anyway, someone else that met us at the Melting Pot to hang out was a British volunteer (my age) who was staying the night at my host family's house.  Long story short:  She meant to stay for about a week, but plans changed and she could only stay for a night.  We were basically friends for a span of 12 hours, but it was action-packed because not only did we jam to music at the Melting Pot, she, my host family, and I went to this place called Olympia Cafe for breakfast the next morning.  It was in Kalk Bay (from a previous blog).  I had a divine mushroom, mozzarella, avo, and tomato omelette.  I don't think I'd ever had an avocado (besides in guacamole) before coming to S.A.  and I realize that I have really been missing out!  Also, since my host family cooks so much with mushrooms, I am now a fan of those as well, whereas before I came here, I would just avoid them.  Happy I'm broadening my food horizons haha.  

After the cafe, I got dropped off at the train station and rode in to Cape Town on the train with some friends.  We went to a few markets (sort of the main one: Greenmarket Square, which is outdoors and the African Women's Market, which is inside) with the goal of doing some serious shopping for people back home. The cool thing about these markets is that you can bargain for prices.  I am terrible at it and get swindled more often than not, but sometimes I'll get a buck or two off.  There are a number of strategies shopkeepers will use to try to get you to buy their stuff and spend your money, including guilt trips, bullying, or making you laugh.  Example:  I asked one woman for 10 bracelets for 70 rand.  She raised her eyebrows and said there is no way they are worth that little, so she went up to 85 rand.  I hesitated.  She said please (guilt trip technique).  I hesitated again.  She got mad and said firmly just gimme 85 rand (bullying technique).  I hesitated some more, so she said 80 in the same pleading sort of voice as she did when she said please (back to the guilt trip technique).  I said ok.  I think my indecisiveness is almost an asset because I can sometimes wear the shopkeepers down just by taking so long to respond to the prices they give me.  I think they assume they've gone too high and go lower just to get me to say something haha.  My host family told me that they totally take advantage of Americans, but if they hear in your accent that you are South African, they aren't nearly as pushy because they know that you know their game.  

Anyway, last but not least, today I went wine tasting with my host mom at a gorgeous vineyard called Constantia.  We were not serious about it at all and had a grand old time sticking out our pinkies, holding the stems of our glasses, pursing our lips, laughing about how unsophisticated we are, etc. etc.  All I know is that I much prefer white wine to red.  But anyway, I'd better get to bed- back to school tomorrow!    

Kleinberg

For the last three days, I've been getting used to life at Kleinberg and trying to find out how I can be of use.  At first, I didn't feel like I was helping at all, but lately, I've been doing little things make the day go more smoothly, like setting up the room at the beginning of class, checking off their classwork, etc. etc.  Also, I just started doing some small group work with the kids who are taking a little longer to grasp the things we are learning.  There is one girl who is always fidgeting around in her chair and chewing on her pencil and looking very distracted, but I took her to the back of the room today and helped her one-on-one with adding and she did really well.  It really makes me wish the class sizes were smaller and each kid could get more attention...but the teachers do really well with the challenge and I'm glad to help out.  Tomorrow, we are going to start regularly working one-on-one on reading with 4th and 5th graders with a program called Help2Read.  I've spent most of these past few days in the same 1st grade class I mentioned in my last blog.  I'm starting to feel more and more comfortable in this particular class, so I think it is where I will stay.  I did visit a 2nd grade class yesterday, but there is something about this 1st grade class that makes me want to stay, so I'll go with my gut.  The kids are adorable.  One of them told me I was a nice teacher, which was cute.  Another one of them always takes the opportunity in those free moments when we are switching between activities or the teacher is quickly marking down the attendance to ask me questions.  This morning, I knelt down to help him with his handwriting and right when I was about to get up he asked me what grade I was in.  He just chooses the most random moments haha.  Also, you can barely walk around the school without getting hugs from half the kids you see.  Bottom line- these kids are very affectionate.  Don't get me wrong- it can be exhausting trying to get certain kids to concentrate when they just don't want to, but the cute moments have the uncanny ability to restore your patience and happiness in an instant.  <3
I suppose I could write a bit more about the logistics of my day:  I wake up at around 6:30 every morning and get picked up at 7:30.  A few other people get picked up and we arrive at school around 7:50.  That usually leaves us with about 5 minutes or so to chill in the staffroom before heading to the classrooms.  During the day, we have two 20 minute breaks- one at 10 and one at 12:20.  All of the teachers share their food with each other and with us, so everyone just samples everyone else's food.  I love that.  As for end time, I was surprised to find out that Grades 1 and 2 get out at 1:15 and Grade 3 and up get out at 2:15, rather than everyone at the same time.  Anyway, that means that I'm one of the early ones.  :)

Ocean View/ Mandela Day

Alright, so now, the Worldteach program has moved on to its second phase, which is working at actual schools in a town called Ocean View.  One of the other volunteer's host families hosted a braai (BBQ) on Saturday night at their house in Ocean View, so we sort of kicked off the transition then.  When you are invited to a braai, the custom is to basically bring the equivalent of what you're going to eat and drink (or more).  Everyone ends up sharing everything, so its basically a potluck every time.  I brought some juice, chicken, and ostrich burgers :).  Anyway, now that was a party.  Karaoke (99% Whitney Houston hahaha), dancing, talking, eating, drinking, being merry, etc. etc.  His host family was very welcoming and it wasn't hard for all of us (volunteers, host family, extended family, family friends) to just have fun together.

FYI, a defining feature of Ocean View is that it is almost entirely a "coloured" community.  Coloured doesn't have the same connotation here as it does in America.  It doesn't apply to anyone who is not white, like it does in the states.  It is basically the label for anyone who isn't entirely black or entirely white.  You could be a mix of both.  You could be Indian.  It doesn't make much sense- it's a product of apartheid.  If you are coloured, chances are you speak Afrikaans.  Therefore, coloured people tend to have cool accents- complete with rolling r's and a slight variation in most vowel sounds (the sound aye is now oye e.g. eight is pronounced more like oyt).  I got to hear the accent all day long today because like I said, we've now moved on to working at schools in Ocean View.  I'm at Kleinberg Primary (in Afrikaans: Klein= small, berg=mountain), where I'll be for the next month.  It was my first day and it  also coincidentally happened to be Mandela Day.  The school got together for an assembly in the courtyard right at the start of the day and we sang the National Anthem (well they did- I don't know it!)  and then Happy Birthday to Nelson Mandela, which was cute.  It was quite a sight to see all of the students together in the courtyard.  First of all, there are about 1000 students, about 40 to a class (I spent the day in a 1st grade class with 39 students!), which is chaotic, but there aren't enough funds to hire additional teachers.  Something else I noticed was that there was not one white child in that crowd!  Odd, to see, but I know that apartheid really wasn't that long ago and the racial makeup of many communities and schools will reflect that to some degree.

For anyone who doesn't know, Mandela day is Nelson Mandela's birthday and the tradition is for everyone to do 67 minutes of service to the community as a gesture of respect for Mandela's 67 years of fighting for a better South Africa/ world.  (When I got home from school, I spent my 67 minutes baking cupcakes with my youngest host sister for the Worldteach program directors, the principal and teachers at Kleinberg, and some of the people on our street.)