This week will mark my one-month mark in South Africa—I can’t believe it! The time has flown by so quickly. I’m settling into a routine, which feels good.

Last Sunday evening, I went to a student worship service at the university called Livewire. It was absolutely wonderful. The music was great, the speaker was charismatic and engaging, and there were SO many people there. For the next few weeks it’s actually going to be at the Boardwalk, which is only a 10-15 minute walk from my apartment, so I’m excited for that.

Classes were really good this week. On Monday, we learned traditional Xhosa music and the national anthem, and it was SO fun. Their national anthem is actually made of four different languages: Xhosa, Zulu, Afrikaans (very hard to read and speak by the way!), and English. It’s a beautiful song, and I hadn’t actually heard it before. We also had a blast learning “The Click Song.” It’s a traditional children’s song that has about seven million clicks in each word, hence the title. We got the hang of it though, and by the end we were out of our seats and incorporating the dance too, so it was a lot of fun.

Yesterday during political science we had a guest lecturer that came to talk about the four main players in the South African political scene (the NP, ANC, IFP, and PAC). What made it interesting however, was that he was a proud Afrikaner member of the National Party. It was possibly one of the most biased lectures I’ve ever heard, but it was interesting to hear from someone of the NP. Virtually everything that I’ve seen or read paints the NP to be the “bad guys” and the ANC to be the “good guys,” and this guy was definitely trying to change that view. It was very frustrating at times to listen to, because he was SO defensive of the NP. He skirted questions and only told us good things about the NP and bad things about the ANC. He tried to justify a lot of the really crappy stuff the NP did during apartheid, and that was a little frustrating as well. He also made a couple of outlandish statements—for example, saying that the apartheid police murdering 69 people in just one massacre wasn’t a big deal because in the four years after Mandela was released from prison, there were 20,000 black-on-black murders. All in all, even though it was biased, it kept me engaged for the whole lecture.

This week has been pretty chilled out. We had another group potluck last night, which are a lot of fun—we go out on the roof and enjoy the food, view, and company. Today is Katie Brown’s birthday, so this morning a few of us went to have breakfast at Tiffany’s (yes, there are pictures of Audrey Hepburn all over the place), then we went to this beachside pool that is about a 2 minute walk from our flats. It was so fun (we got creative with the waterslides there), and the view of the ocean waves made it even better. Most of my group (that didn’t leave PE this weekend) is out celebrating her bday right now, but I decided to sit this one out to have the flat to myself, relax, and get a couple things done (like this blog). But it was such a fun day at the pool and everything, we decided to declare her birthday a national South African holiday, to be celebrated every year. J

Pendla was absolutely chaotic this week. My first day was normal—I’m starting to really get to know the kids in the class now, which is great and makes that experience SO much better. I’m learning some names too, which has been quite the battle! Luxolo (yes, that x means a click), Kolekha, Khanya, Awonke, Asemahle, Zola…they’re much different from the Mallorys, Clays, and Paiges I hang out with at home, so it’s a little hard to remember them—but it’s coming, slowly but surely. I have a really hard time with Luxolo because of the click and Asemahle because there’s this really weird sound that I just can’t make my mouth produce. They think it’s hilarious though, and LOVE to laugh at me trying. Awonke cracks me up SO much—he is kind of a little jokester and is always trying to trick me. When he laughs, he gets the funniest look on his face—it’s kind of scrunched up with his eyebrows raised....when it's mixed with his absolutely massive head and his lack of front teeth, it's pretty adorable.

The second day was the crazy one. The grade 1 (and apparently one of the grade R?) teachers were not there that day, so we ended up with 30+ additional 4, 5, and 6 year olds on top of the 30 grade 3 kids. All in all, there were 63 children in the room for the entire day. Megan Buermann was in the class with me that day, because she works in one of the classes without a teacher. All of the little ones sat on the floor in the back while Mrs. Ndumi tried to teach her normal lesson. Essentially, my only job for the day was to keep the little ones under control and relatively quiet—not an easy task when they don’t speak a world of English and the only Xhosa word I know is hello! Eventually Mrs. Ndumi just had Megan and I take the kids outside, which became SO stressful. Some were running away, some were fighting, and about 10 of them were hanging on each of us at all times. It was really hard for us to communicate anything to them because they speak no English and they did not pay attention to any nonverbal attempts. At one point, one of the kids had another kid pinned to the ground, strangling him. I pulled him off and wanted to at least talk to him and let him know that it’s not ok, but it was a lost cause. Eventually, we were able to get them doing races, and that kept most of the mob under control for the time being. The day ended back in the classroom, with Mrs. Ndumi, Megan, myself, and all 63 kids marching around the room, singing different African songs. Even though the day was stressful, it was a really nice way to end it.

I haven't really experienced much homesickness or anything so far--how can i in such a cool place?--but i have heard that usually it doesn't hit until you've been here for a longer period of time. Even though I haven't gotten homesick, of course I miss my family and friends! Love you all. Working with the kids at Pendla reminds me of the kids I work with at home, so they are missed as well! Jasmine’s mom wrote on my Facebook wall the other day, telling me that Jazzy told her new PCA that she might have to fire her when I get back from my ‘field trip.’ Things like that, I miss! But it’s hard to think about those things for too long, because I’m in such a great place and doing so many great things.

We were going to be heading to Jeffreys Bay this weekend, but we’re actually going to postpone it until next weekend. It should be a blast—lots of surfing and hoseback riding on the beach (romantic, right? J). I’m not sure what’s on the agenda for tomorrow, but I’m sure we’ll find something to do. I want to find a cage diving place to do a shark dive! We’ll see where the day takes me. Until next time, much love from under the African sun.