Other Blog

Hello all my faithful readers :)
I have a new post coming soon, just need to finish it up and get it posted soon.  But in the mean time, I have my second blog going as well.  Now, DO NOT feel like you have to read this blog.  It has some similar content, but overall is created more for my student teaching seminar class.  We are required to keep a blog for this class, and I didn't think I should include all of my crazy stories on the more "professional" blog (although some of them still sneak in).
But for those of you curious about the specifics of the teaching aspect of my experience, you may gladly check this one out as well.  It will continue through my next teaching placement back in Chicago as well in case you are interested.
Here is the url:
http://studentteachingsatochi.blogspot.com/
Now, in true "Kelly" fashion, the posts can be lengthy.  There is just so much to process!  And I've always been one to ramble in writing as I was told from the start of my educational career :).

Tuesday, August 28

Good afternoon!

Well, just after I thought I was reaching the point of adjusting to the heat, a big wind comes in and its cold.  I do not have the right clothes along for this weather!  I went to school this morning in sandals, a long dress, a sweater, and my only sweatshirt.  I got in the taxi, and as we pass by all the other school children I see sweaters, fleeces, hats, gloves, shoes, sweatpants, and ear muffs.  I was a little jealous.  But it won’t last long, and tomorrow it will probably be back to the 90’s again.  Weather doesn’t change in seasons nearly as much as it does back home, but the day to day changes are drastic enough to make up for that.  Many of you have asked about the weather, so I guess that may help you picture what it is like here.  But overall, we are approaching summer and it is getting very hot.  When there is no breeze, the sun just bakes on you and feels so warm.  It’s hot, yes, and sometimes hard to bear (especially with 35 kids in a small classroom) but it’s a very dry heat, so it is completely different than back home.  In the shade with a breeze, you can be very comfortable no matter what the temperature.  It also hasn’t rained here since January, so it is very brown and dusty everywhere.

Well, I’m currently sitting a cement storage room on a very old computer typing this.  A really old paint can is half open so I may be high by the end, it smells terribly.  But the school day is now over.  Last week, I would have to rush out the door literally faster than my students to catch the taxi.  But now I arranged to stay until 4pm on Mondays through Thursdays to force myself to get some planning done.  I can get work done where I’m staying, but this way I can focus better and not feel guilty for being anti-social. 

As far as school goes, that is the main reason I am here.  I put much of my time and effort into planning and teaching.  I am trying so hard to begin to plan like I am required to for student teaching, but man is it difficult when resources are lacking!  I guess it will just make me a stronger person in the long run, right?  But every day I try and set a small goal.  My cooperating teacher and I get along great in the sense that she sees me as a blessing and treats me like a daughter, but that is making the teaching aspect a little difficult.  I have been trying to get the guts and professionalism to approach her more directly and lay out some of the expectations that I have for my time here.  Slowly, we are making little strides, but the language difficulty and cultural differences make for some interesting interactions. 

I was able to introduce some spelling words to my students today, talk about some phonics, teach them some sign language and Spanish, and help them with multiples of three.  Each day, my brain keeps trying to assess where they are currently at in their learning so I can come back the next day with a good lesson and convince my teacher to let me take over.  The grade 1 students are still in our classroom too, so its very crowded.  Oh I could go on and on and explain so many things, but it’s really not that important.  There are just many, many hurdles to jump over to get to the point I am hoping to get to.  I’m trying to stay motivated and inspired.  Each day is filled with more ups and downs than I have ever experienced, so I’m really realizing I can do nothing but lean on God.  That’s kind of a scary idea, but also the most comforting thing ever as well.

A few more random things that have happened since I last posted are as follows:

-I am arranged to be married.  Apparently I responded to someone calling me Mrs. Something (a long venda name I don’t know) and everyone died of laughter.  The man is a teacher here at the school, it’s been quite hilarious, but also a little weird, haha!

- I saw a pig the other day that looked like a dog.  It was hairy and its ears stuck straight up and it was colored just like a dog.  Crazy.

- The taxi was late yesterday to take us to school, so my teacher passed by and stopped to pick me up.  I got in the car and Chris Tomlin “Let it rain” was playing in the background of some man speaking Venda.  Oh was it nice to hear!  And I realized let it rain means so much more here, in so many different contexts.

- In morning assembly, students who have been caught speaking Venda while at school are punished by having to come to the front and debate/give a speech based on a topic of the principals choice (he tells them the day before).  They used to have to do chores to make up for it, but people enjoyed that so they didn’t care.  So sure enough, Monday morning, up come 8 students, all who have to give a 1 minute speech for and against speaking English at school.  Most students did not do well, so they will go again on Friday.  But one girl against English said that forcing students to speak English strips them of their cultural heritage.  English should be finished and sent back to America, Canada, and Great Britain where it belongs.  And everyone burst into cheers and laughter.  And there I stand.  Laughing, feeling so funny with all the students staring at me.  It was quite hilarious.  Of all the topics the principal could have picked, did he really have to pick that one???

- In case you were worried, my foot’s pricker wounds have healed J.

- I had a student tell me she didn’t like Americans because they are Muslim killers.  Stereotypes are everywhere.  This opened up an interesting discussion.

-We eat cereal with warm milk here.  Dad, you wouldn’t survive J.

Alright, that is all for now.  Thanks again for reading, I love hearing from you!

The WEEKEND!

 It’s the weekend!  When I was a student, I thought I was excited for weekends, but now after full time teaching, boy does it feel good to have a break and some actual time to get good planning done!  I guess the biggest issue for me is trying to balance being active and present with the family, and hiding in my room doing homework.  This semester takes a lot of planning and hard work, but I’m often asked if I was “sleeping” if I’m gone for too long, because no one really understands why I would need to spend so much time alone in my room.  That’s a cause of a little misunderstanding and tension, but we’ll make it work.

Today I slept in, meaning I woke up at 7:30 instead of 4:30, so that felt very nice.  The sun shining through the windows is a pretty great way to wake up in the morning.  I take a peek out the curtains to see a few mountains shining back at me. God makes beautiful things.  Then I did a little cleaning in my room, ate some breakfast, and then asked if I could learn how to do my laundry.  This family is great, but they kind of look at me weird when I ask questions like this.  I can only imagine their thought: “she really doesn’t know how to do laundry?  What kind of girl is this?”  But the girls in the family are kind enough to bring me out and show me how.  Needless to say, my arms are sore and my hands are nice and wrinkly J.  I will never complain about throwing the clothes in the washing machine again!  But then again, I have never seen my socks become so white, either!

Now when the sun starts to go down, my host brother is going to take me to the top of the mountain we live on.  It’s not too far of a hike, and there is a big water reservoir on top, but I’m excited to watch a beautiful sunset up there. He said we need to watch out for snakes (oh great) but other than that we should be okay. 

And then for supper (this is for all my Fricano’s friends) I am donning my apron and making some pizza.  When the kids found out I had worked at a pizza place, they couldn’t stop asking if I could write the recipe down and give their mother a list of ingredients.  So I did, and now we’ll see if I can make it taste okay!  A few things will be different, since there is no such thing as pizza sauce or pepperoni in this area.  I’ll try and take some pictures and show you a few later J. 

Oh, a few fun experiences  for me are as follows:

-I ate my first liche (said just like Leach, so I was a little worried when they first said I needed to eat one)

- I stepped barefoot on the mother of all pricker plants, and am now picking out thorns from my foot (free acupuncture, I guess!)

- I saw the prettiest little blue bird I’ve ever seen, and no one else seemed to think it was a big deal, haha.

- I made friends with a maid who speaks 1 word of English and had a dance party with her in the kitchen to “Call Me Maybe”

Okay, that is all for now, I’ll be keeping in touch!  I love all the comments, keep them coming J

The Post Office

Over the past few days, so much has happened.  I made the walk down the mountain to the post office on Thursday, only to find that we arrived 1 minute past closing time.  So again on Friday, I walked down to the post office with my host sister, and finally mailed my first letter!  Here’s a quick glimpse into my post office experiences:

-at 2:00pm on Friday, we begin walking down the mountain.  Now, I know you may all have an experience where you felt like you didn’t belong, but this was extreme for me.  I feel safe here, but a little bit out of the ordinary J.  I am a celebrity here, I suppose.  Taxis and cars all honk at me, people yell at me, others run up to touch my hand, and most people stop conversations just to stare.  I guess I can understand that, but it gets old in a big hurry.  But the most interesting part to me is that my host sister and brother who were with me on these 2 trips don’t seem to be phased at all.  They are so understanding and kind to me, they treat me as if there is no difference between us at all, this is really true Christian love, and I LOVE IT!  But, one woman touched my face, another man touched my hands, the only ones who didn’t react to my presence were the cows and goats.   We finally made it to the post office, and I was ready to sprint inside and hide.  But I should have known: more people. 

When we left at 2, I asked Ranewa if we had any other places she needed to go, since we were going to be by the shops anyway.  She said no, we wouldn’t have time,  today was just a post office run.  That was fine, but I didn’t really get it.  But now, after my time there, I understand.  We arrived home around 4:45.  That’s almost a 3 hour post office excursion.  When we got inside, I counted 10 people in line, Not so bad.  But, after 20 minutes went by and we had yet to move 1 place in line, I understood.  Man, is the American lifestyle fast paced!  I could barely handle standing in line for an hour until every little thing began to get on my nerves.  The heat was killer, a woman behind me kept chewing her gum, another woman kept standing close to be able to touch me, and no one seemed to be in a hurry.  I just took a deep breath and thought that this is where my mindset needs to change.  What’s the big deal?  As long as the letter gets sent eventually, all will be fine. 

So we get out after 1 ½ hrs of waiting, and I asked if that is the normal wait time.  “No,” she said, “that’s the fastest I’ve ever gotten through the post office!” Wow, I may not be able to take many more trips there J.  

A Busy Week

Ndi Made Gwana! (good evening in Venda)

                Well, I think that’s how you spell it at least!  Nobody is really able to write in Venda, only speak it.  This the mother tongue for everyone here, and English is the designated educational language.  I am doing my best to learn phrases, but it’s so different from English, I’m struggling!  Just memorizing the students names is tough. (Tshifhumulo, Mukhwethw, Vhuhuavho, etc.) Good luck trying to pronounce those, and those are just first names!

                As for the school situation, here is the current update.  As of Monday, I have basically become the full time Grade 3 teacher.  My teacher has stepped into grade 1 to cover for the sick teacher.  She is not recovering well, and her students are starting to show some decline in learning, naturally. The school cannot afford to hire a substitute, and there is also a great shortage of teachers in South Africa.  So if any of my teacher friends are looking for a job, I’m sure I could find you an opening in Limpopo!  Jumping into fulltime with students I do not know, a curriculum that is new to me, language barriers, major discipline issues, and drastic cultural changes has been a little draining.  I’m learning so much though, it’s amazing to me.  Watch out, because when I come back, I’m going to be a professional dancer, the students are teaching me quite a lot.

On Monday, the students had a morning assembly, as they do every Monday and Friday.  This consists of everyone standing, shortest to tallest, under some tarps in the center courtyard area listening closely to a teacher talk to them.  I was introduced to everyone, so now every single student cannot wait to greet me using my name.  I come via taxi in the morning with the students I live with, and the minute I get out I hear, “Kaily, Kaily, Kaily” coming from all over so I just smile, wave, and say good morning.  Students get a kick out of my accent, so they want to be the ones to hear me say something.  And they all can’t wait to touch me, hug me, or just look at my skin.  Today, I was asked if I had a tattoo by one of my students.  They saw some of my veins showing in my leg, and hadn’t seen that before, so assumed it must be a tattoo.  Nope, that’s just the joy of having pale, see-through skin, my friends. 

In the back of the school there is a big garden and a shack where women have fires and cook some traditional food for children to have during lunch.  My family is in charge of the “tack shop” where students can buy juice, snacks and meals.  In that shack where they cook, there is a bathroom (by the way, none of the toilets have covers, and you usually bring in your own role of toilet paper.  The plumbing for the sinks is to let the water leak from the sink and go to a drain in the ground, I found it funny, but it works!).  I like to walk there and go to that bathroom because the people over there are so friendly.  They can’t speak English, so we just smile at each other, but it’s kind of nice.  Also, no one else really uses those toilets, so it’s a chance to find a little quiet for a minute.  Trust me; nothing at that school is quiet.  Everyone yells, has so much energy, and there are 500 students in a tiny area. 

The supplies at the school are different from what I am used to, too.  For example, I had students draw a picture while I read a story to work on overall comprehension of the story without having them worry about writing.  I searched quickly for a book on the shelf (since everything I do for class seems to be based off the top of my head, thank goodness for practice teaching in previous semesters and strategies past teachers and professors have pounded into my memory) and didn’t find a book.  So, in honor of my father and his great story telling skills, I told a random story to my students.  Fun, but not all that complex of a plot, haha. Then today, for math, I took students outside to collect stones and leaves to use as manipulatives; dirty, but fun. 

By 1 o clock, students were pooped, and so was I.  The sun was hot and drained them all, so I decided to let them sit on the floor.  I pulled up a chair, and took a while showing them my pictures and American money.  I taught them what squirrels were, what snow was like, how to pronounce my families names, had them pretend to“ride a horse” like Hannah and I were doing in a picture, and let them ask me some questions.  Their assignment for tomorrow is to introduce themselves to me in a letter, and bring one item or picture that describes them.  I’m excited, and hoping that this can help me get to know their names tooJ.

Outside of school, I have been enjoying time as well.  My teacher took me to Louis Trichard yesterday, which is the closest town to where I am.  Mulinda, the grade 7 boy who lives with the family I am with came too in order to help me take the taxi back home without getting lost.  My teacher, Cecilia, has been a big help to me.  I am so thankful for her.  She is such a strong Christian too, and encourages me in all the right ways.  As with any working relationship, we butt heads in areas, but I listen to her and learn much from her about how to love and treat students in the classroom.  They do not have a “Bible” class, but I would argue that she is teaching them more Bible stories and teaching them to love God even more than any Christian school back home with a Bible class.  God is brought into any situation, it’s interesting and pretty amazing.  It’s not like she’s forcing it either, God just naturally comes up in conversation and discipline times. 

Wow, there is so much to reflect upon here.  I feel very safe here, very accepted by most people, and well taken care of.  I am the only white person anywhere to be found (except I saw one other in Louis Trichard yesterday) but as time goes by and people get used to seeing a bright white face around, I know it will be no issue.  Other than some staring, I am treated similarly to everyone else. 

That’s all for now, I love to hear from you all.  Your comments, thoughts, and prayers are welcomed and appreciated!

Church

Church today!  I don’t have much time to write, but I’ll quickly fill you inJ.  The church was at least 600 people, most likely many many more, but that’s my guess.  Everything was in Venda, other than the sermon, which was translated.  It lasted 3 hours, I became so hot and started to nod off til a woman lent me her fan, thankfully.  Because of the fact that I did not understand anything, I was welcomed with quite a surprise.  The mother in my host family nudged me about 1 hour into the service and told me to stand up.  Sure enough, I hear something that sounds like VandenBerg, and then hear America.  So there I stood, in front of everyone while they looked and clapped.  Luckily I was already red from being hot, but I’m sure I turned 6 shades brighter the minute I stood up: as if I didn’t stand out enough already!  But I felt very welcomed by most of the people.  I know that some still need to get used to me being around, and I can understand and accept that.  Basically, dancing, shouting, physical movement, and singing are the basis for the worship service.  Thinking back, I am realizing how important it is to be able to respond in some way to the salvation God has given us.  Our whole being needs to praise the Lord.  I am not saying we all need to go crazy and start dancing, but I do think we need to take our bodies into greater consideration when we worship.  We have been blessed with a mind, heart, soul, and body from the Lord.  Our WHOLE being is to praise the Lord.  I know that I do not follow that in my times of worship.  I guess that is my challenge for you all; take time to reflect on how you are using every aspect of your being to take part in worshipping God.  Yes, it will take you out of your cultural comfort zone, but it is important to live out our culture, but not let us cripple our response to what God has blessed us with. 

There you go.  There are my Sunday night thoughts.  Hope you all had a blessed Lord’s day, too! 

A Good Night

                Good eveningJ.  This is night #3 for me in this home, and it has been a good one.  I don’t want to overwhelm you all with many long posts, so I will do my best to keep this shorter. There is just so much to tell!  Today, I met a student’s family, chewed on a stick of sugar cane (I do not have strong teeth), chased a cow out of the yard, and for the second day in a row stubbed a toe playing games with children.  I didn’t end up getting anywhere today to look for internet, I’ll just have to plan on Monday I suppose.  I try not to get my hopes up anymore, because I so badly want to have contact with people from home.   Overall, I am trying to slow myself down from the fast paced American lifestyle I have and learn to be okay with having nothing to do.  I find myself staring at the mountains quite a bit, something many people no longer pay attention to.  But God has created amazing beauty, and I am thankful to have this physical reminder of his presence; it’s been so helpful to me.

                The most interesting thing about tonight that I want to fill you in on is a conversation I had with the mother and father of the family.  As dinner was finishing up (which is usually eaten in silence, which I’m good at…) the father began to talk about his visit with his mother today.  He was speaking in English which means it was meant for me to hear (otherwise all conversations are in Venda).  I listened, and have learned that in order to have successful conversation it is best for me to respond with small noises or nods of approval and little else.  So I did a lot of listening.  The conversation turned many directions, from a funeral they are attending tomorrow to interesting information about the educational system (the Mother is a teacher in the public school) and then quite a conversation about their life during the Apartheid and Nelson Mandela.  Wow.  22 years ago, at my exact age, these adults were living a life so different from mine.  They explained many things; walking to school for many kilometers barefoot, no radio, television, or electricity.  They made lamps from empty milk cartons they filled with paraffin and put a napkin in for a wick.  The food they ate, the jobs they were able to do, and the life they lived in general was amazing.  And the neat thing is to hear it from a direct source.  These people are so excited for their children to be able to have any career choice, any opportunity, and multiple more resources than they had.  Often, though, many of the children are choosing similar career paths because it is what their parents have done.  So there is a big push for helping children see the possibilities and pursue new avenues.  This in turn puts quite a pressure on secondary education and final exams for grade 12 students.

                I have learned so much tonight, and am sure I will continue learning so much each and every day that I am here.  Little things like this are making me slowly understand this culture and helping me be a little more comfortable as well.  This is still difficult, but I am learning to thank God for the little things and not wish time away from this experience.

                Well, this post is long, I’m sorry.  I’ve always been one to write way too much!  God’s blessings to everyone at home, I think about you and pray for you often.  There is a lot of time for that around here!  

Arrived!

Hello!  I am aware that this post will not go up on this blog until a later date due to lack of internet connection, but I want you to know that I have finally arrived!  I began my journey in O’Hare International airport in Chicago, then took an 8 hour flight to Amsterdam.  After a 3 hour layover, I took an 11 hour flight to Johannesburg (called J-burg for short J).  I sat next to a man on this flight who has to have been placed there by God’s guiding hand.  Let’s just say I was a nervous wreck, and we were able to converse and he put me at ease about many things.  I was welcomed at the airport by a 3 people holding a piece of paper with my name on it.  Yes, it was very similar to the movies, it if weren’t so awkward I would have snapped a picture! We then drove to Pretoria where we spent the night at a family’s house (the drive to the school was too far to complete at night).  The next morning, we went to the bus station, where my new friend Lusani and I took a 5 hour bus ride out to Limpopo.  We were greeted by my teacher at a bus stop/gas station, then drove the rest of the way to the home where I am staying, which is perfectly placed near the top of a mountain J.  Within those 2 days of traveling, literally a hundred different things happened, I have been trying to process as best I can.  These will turn into stories I will bore you with later when I come back.  That’s all for now, I better try to adjust myself to this time zone.  Thanks again for your prayers and support, they are so appreciated right now!

New Time Zone

It is currently 9:15 pm and the house is asleep, accept for me, tapping away at the keys to my computer, wishing I could be in contact with you all.  Its 2:10 in the afternoon in Chicago, and I feel like I’m missing out on something by going to sleep right now!  But, here is a quick rundown of my day.  It’s been a great day now, looking back, but I’m having some difficulty adjusting and feeling fully comfortable here.  I guess that will come in time, but its been hard and quite lonely feeling.

5 am: wake up, bathe (no shower, just tub), get ready for the day, and eat breakfast.

6:30 am: The principal of the school arrives to pick me up and take me to school.

7:00 am: arrive at the school, meet a few people, and prepare for the day.

From then until 1:30pm, I met many people, including my 24 students.  The Grade 1 teacher is very ill so her students were also in our Grade 3 class for part of the day.  I have to say, just about everything I was taught in school about strategy, lesson planning, discipline, and teaching in general are going to have to be thrown out the window, which is going to be hard for me.  This is South Africa; things go a little differently here!  My students are fantastic, full of life and energy, but not as much energy as their teacher J.  She has so much fire for teaching, I am going to learn a lot from her, please pray that we can find a way to work well together.  My requirements for school are going to be hard to fulfill completely since so much of teaching here is “go with the flow.”   But I was welcomed with letters asking if I loved them and telling me I was beautiful, a song students randomly made up when they were supposed to be writing a story about me, and hugs as they left out the door for the day.  I was told I can’t dance, that I was very bright, I mean white, and that I need to stay at least til the end of October so I can take a trip with them J.  Oh, I could literally go on and on for pages about everything that happened while at school today, but that would only drive you away from reading posts later on J. 

2:30 pm: Home from school, really not sure what to do.

From then until about 6:30, I did my best to push myself out of my comfort zone.  The family I am staying with has a daughter in Grade 2, Grade 9, and Grade 12, and a son in Grade 7.  The neighborhood kids are very friendly, and they get together to play often.  One of my students came over to play with the Grade 2 daughter and say hi to me.  I went outside with them and played for quite a while.  Then the daughter in grade 9 and some of her friends came outside.  We all played for a long time, jumping rope and playing tons of games outside, many I had not heard of before.  I even stubbed my toe!  (something I haven’t done in years, but it felt good to feel like a kid again J)  Then we all went for a walk down the mountain to bring everyone home for dinner.  I was very much on display for everyone.  When we passed by people, especially kids, they would just stare, often with their mouths open, so I would say hi.  They would often respond kind of robotically, somewhat surprised that I was a normal human being, haha.  2 girls needed a picture with me, and others just stared.  The grade 9 girls had some questions for me about Chicago and home, so it was fun to surprise them with a few things (snow, squirrels, driving differences, etc.).  Then back for dinner and tea, and now I’m here in bed, ready to fall asleep. 

Tomorrow I hope to try and find some internet access, the girls said they would take me along to some shops nearby, and there may be wireless internet at a café near there, so I hope there really is!

All in all, I’m trying to stay busy and not dwell on how many days I have left.  This seems like such a long period of time, but I know I need to just adjust to this culture, and to build relationships with the people around me.  First impressions and meetings are always a little awkward, right?

Have a great day, and I’ll be contacting you all soon!