hi all!

I have one week of classes under my belt, and whoever said abroad classes are super easy LIED. I literally have hundreds of pages to read for this week—so it’s a good thing most of the classes seem interesting haha. I’ll just give a quick bit about my classes so I can move on to something all of you might care about a little more.

Mondays: South African Jazz. This is absolutely going to be my easiest class. The prof is SO high strung and scatterbrained—but in a good way. She seems really funny and very approachable, so I look forward to her class. Monday’s class was about traditional Nguni music—not exactly the jazz I thought we were going to be looking at, but fascinating nonetheless. We listened to different traditional instruments and types of singing—one of which sounds like an extremely low frog croak. Probably the weirdest sound I’ve ever heard come from a human being. Cat and I were having a hard time keeping the laughter locked up. I also learned how to do the different clicks of the Xhosa language, which I loved! There are three main types: against the palette, against the front teeth, and with each side of the mouth. I can hope that it will help me a little bit with the kids at Pendla, but we’ll see. J

Tuesdays: Senior Seminar. I guess I wasn’t expecting to have tons of work for this class, but we were assigned a LOT of reading. Sections of Nelson Mandela’s autobiography alone are about 300 pages each class period, which is addition to all of our other readings. Although it’s a lot when thrown on top of our other stuff, most of the readings are really interesting and I actually don’t mind reading it. We only have a couple long papers for the course as well, so that’s not too terrible.

Wednesdays: South African Literature. WOW, it has been a long time since I’ve had a lit course, or even an English class in general (what up Mrs. Marco’s 11^th grade Brit Lit?). Even though I’m extremely rusty on the whole read-ponder-find symbols-find meaning-thing, I’m looking forward to this class. My prof seems SO smart and knowledgable about both the literature and history of the apartheid. We will mainly be looking at literature written by white South Africans about the racial struggles of the country, so I think that will be very cool.

Thursdays: South African Politics. To be completely honest, this class scares me. I’ve never had a poli sci class before, the prof is funny yet intimidating, and there seems to be a LOT of work (18 page papers, 10 readings for next class period, etc). South Africa has such a unique and complicated political history and present, so I’m really very eager to learn about it—I just know that this class will require the most work out of me.

So, to sum up the class thing—I’m really looking forward to gaining a comprehensive understanding of South Africa while I’m living here, regardless of how much work it takes. At least I get to do all the reading on the beach. J

I also began my volunteer work this week at Pendla Primary School in the New Brighton township in Port Elizabeth. I am working in Mrs. Ndumi’s grade 3 classroom, and I love it. I wanted to be with the younger kids, and one of the people from last year told me Mrs. Ndumi was the way to go. The kids are just learning English (most of the lessons are taught in Xhosa, and that’s how they communicate with each other as well), so I’m not able to have extensive verbal conversations with the kids—but I can definitely talk to them, and I’m getting much better at my non-verbal communication skills. These kids seriously warm my heart to no end—each visit is a constant flow of hugs, high fives, hand-holding, and any other contact the kids can have with us. I spend a lot of time with children at home, so I'm really excited to work with them in a different cultural context.

The first day was a little bit unorganized—they were bouncing us around from room to room, some rooms didn’t have teachers that day, and we just didn’t know what was going on in general. However, the second day was MUCH better. The kids alternate between having math and reading in the mornings. For the math lessons, they count to 200 in both English and Xhosa, and also count by different numerical increments (3’s, 20’s, etc). Since they do this all as a large group, I don’t feel like much of a help—I simple count along during the English part and follow along on a counting chart during the Xhosa part. During the reading lessons however, I am pretty much teaching the class independently. Katie was joining me in Mrs. Ndumi’s classroom for the day because her teacher wasn’t there, so we both read a book in English with the kids (the kids read along with us), then we did a TON of flashcards of English words that the kids read for us. After the lesson, we were able to play some games with the kids—they LOVE rhythm-based games, and they are so rhythmically talented it blows my mind. Although many of the games are in Xhosa, I’m eventually able to pick up on them.

I get to go out for the recess break with the class as well, which has been a blast. On my first day, I organized a game of soccer with about 40 eight year old boys….it was chaotic, but so much fun. AND I scored a goal (WOOT!), which I was actually pretty proud of because these kids are amazing soccer players. It was really nice because the language barrier was not really an issue during the game. My second day during recess was quite a bit different—I had showered right before we left for Pendla that day, and left it down to air dry. The kids were OBSESSED with it. Even while we were still in the classroom, I had about 10 hands on it at all times, stroking it, braiding it, twisting it. When we went out for recess with the kids from the other young classrooms, I ended up with about 20 hands on it at all times. Literally, the kids were pushing each other over to play with it. It was SO bizarre for me—but I wasn’t complaining because having my hair played with is probably my favorite thing in the whole world.

I think it’s going to take some time to get used to how drastically different Pendla is from our schools back home. Obviously, there is a drastic difference in the physical state of the school, but that’s not what is going to take time. The overall functioning of the school is what is so different. For example, if a teacher doesn’t show up to school that day, the classroom of kids will literally be left alone all day. It seems like there is so much less time where the teachers are actually teaching—for example, Mrs. Ndumi is always dealing with the money of the school (they don’t have a clerical worker or a bookkeeper) while the kids simply sit there or I play organized games with them. Another girl I’m down here with said her teacher assigned some math problems, then left the room for about an hour and a half. One-on-one work is nonexistent, which is partially because there are 30-40 children in a lower-grade classroom. There is so much less structure to the classroom…it seems like the mentality is “if we do the lesson, great—if we don’t, that’s cool too.” I hope that our group can help these issues a little bit, but part of it is just understanding that this is the culture here, and it’s just not possible for these township schools to function like the suburban American schools I’m used to.

The kids are SO WONDERFUL. Besides being absolutely adorable, they are welcoming, funny, and so much fun to talk to and play with. I laugh so hard while I’m with them—for example, Katie and I took the class to the bathroom for break, and while we were all waiting for everyone to get done, they all started dancing like Michael Jackson! Moonwalk, crotch-grab-and-thrust and all. AND some started singing Beat It and Billie Jean, which was pretty hilarious. I guess MJ really is the universal language. They love to sing and dance, and are always trying to teach me moves. Like I said, they are so affectionate, which I love. It breaks my heart to see some of them without lunch at breaktime—even though Pendla is wonderful and provides a vegetable-filled soup for them, it still stings to know that their families can’t afford to send a sandwich or piece of bread with them. It’s a reminder of the realities of poverty in this country, which is so important to keep in mind.

Yesterday we had a day-long group excursion to Addo Elephant National Park and Schotia Game Reserve. It was absolutely one of the best days since I’ve been here! We loaded up the bus with Bradley Levack (coolest, most interesting man on the planet) as our guide, and once again headed inland to the over-100 degree heat of the African bush. Addo was incredible, as we saw almost 160 elephants in their natural habitat. Since it was so hot that day, the herds needed to come out to the watering hole. We saw fights, near-drownings, parents with their babies, and some elephants trying to make babies. Besides all of the elephants, we also saw lots of kudu and warthogs at Addo.

After an incredibly elaborate lunch courtesy of Bradley, we headed to Schotia to go on a full-fledged African safari. IT WAS SO COOL. We loaded into canopied land rovers and got unbelievably close to lions, crocodiles, hippos, rhinos, giraffes, warthogs, zebras, meerkats, wildebeasts, kudu, all sorts of bucks…it was so awesome. I felt like I was right in the middle of the discovery channel, just watching these animals doing their thing. At about 7, they brought us to this restaurant-type-area that was halfway outside and halfway inside, where we were served drinks and an elaborate African meal. It was so much fun just enjoying the meal and conversation with others from my group. Plus, Sister Mary Jane had a Castle and told us about how much she loves her beer, so that was unexpected and pretty funny. After dinner, we headed out for the night spotlight portion of the safari…we got to see lions eating a wildebeast, which was really disgusting but pretty cool. The best part of the night portion, however, was the night sky. It was unlike anything I had ever seen—we could see the entire Milky Way, completely unpolluted by light. I’ve never seen so many stars in my life. It was absolutely majestic.

When we loaded back in the bus for the ride back to PE, I started thinking about how amazing the day was, and how I got to see so many amazing things—the beautiful stars in particular. The first thing that popped into my mind was how good God is, and what a beautiful word He has created. However, as we drove past township after township—the shacks, the dirt, the garbage—I became burdened with the thought of the extreme poverty down here. I’ve never been a person to question bad things that happen, because I guess I’ve always trusted that there is a reason it is happening, even if it isn’t apparent to me. Seeing the poverty down here has changed that slightly though, and it’s been a personal struggle dealing with it. How is it fair, or even possible, that these people are living in tin shacks with no running water or electricity, while I am sitting at Langerry Flats across from the ocean, typing on my personal computer? How is it fair that these people are SO stricken with HIV/AIDS, have little to no educational or job opportunities, and deal with terrifying threats like rape and murder on a regular basis? It’s even crazy to see such devastating conditions in such beautiful surroundings—the sun, the ocean, the palm trees. It’s just a lot to take in, and I’m struggling to see how there could be any sort of meaning, purpose, or reason behind it. Although I am kind of battling with feelings of guilt, frustration, and confusion, I am happy because I know that it’s what I need. I know that by seeing the situations down here firsthand, it’s eventually going to make me grow into a better, more understanding person.

On a lighter note, I’m finally starting to get settled in and used to life here, and I’m absolutely loving it! Combis aren’t such a foreign means of transportation, I don’t feel like SUCH a lost weirdo walking around the university campus, and I’ve met a ton of really cool locals. I love going for walks in the morning, just taking in the sights, smells, and sounds of the early morning ocean. I’m learning to work the rand a little bit better, and don’t have to whip out my little calculator quite as much anymore. I’m still in love with the accents down here, but they are definitely becoming less noticeable and more understandable. I’m getting used to not being anywhere without guys past sunset (our guys have been absolutely wonderful in going places with us and watching our backs by the way!), and I feel like although we’re VERY clearly American, we’ve been able to tone it down quite a bit. All in all, I know I’m going to be a different person when I get on the plane in Port Elizabeth in May than when I got on the plane in Minneapolis in January. Much love to all of you until next time!