Some thoughts...

So, all in all things are pretty much the same since the last post. Durban was amazing and work is going amazing too. I heard a few interesting things today and thought I'd share:

1. "It's much easier to live a life of significance here than most other places." I heard someone say this today and it struck me. I'd like to know what my lovely readers think about this. Can you either post to this page or email me at mshully@yahoo.com? I'd like to hear what you think about this quote.

2. I had an interesting interaction with a 11th grade math student today. She said, "What is math like in the US?" I didn't understand her question at first. I thought she meant if I teach math differently than the teachers hear. Nope, she actually meant is math different, like, does 1+1 = 5 in the USA. It's interesting to hear kids talk about math and they still do not realize that math is universal. 1+1 will equal 2 in every corner of this planet. Quite fascinating if you think about it.

Anyways, that's all I have for now.

Lalani Khale,
Marc

“I once said I am in Africa. The truth is, Africa is in me.”

“I once said I am in Africa. The truth is, Africa is in me.”

I read this quote the other day in the comic section of a newspaper and it just stuck with me. I’m not sure the feeling but in a way, I feel that I am a part of Africa and Africa Is a part of me. When I tell people I am from Israel, they call me an African. I take pride in that. It seems the people here have such pride and respect of their continent, not a we are better than you pride either. They never want to speak ill of Africa, but also are aware of the progress that must happen as well. South Africans really know the meaning of progress. Mandela’s birthday was yesterday and everyone was calm, happy and harmonious (or maybe that’s because we were in Durban…more on that later).

Nevertheless, I just have this constant feeling that a part of me will always be here, that a part of will always belong here and will always have a home here. I have never had feeling of connectedness with a country like this before. If you know me, you know about my pride for Israel, it’s just different here. I’m not sure if I can explain it yet or ever, but I will eventually try. Maybe after I go back and reread all that I have written on my blog I will be able to put it all into a concise sentence.

It’s been about a week since I have written. This is because last week was as hectic as ever! It was the first official day of work with all the kids, not the holiday program where John and I built the garden with the kids. It was interesting since I am looked at some mathematical genius. The funny thing is I am not. I thing what makes me a good teacher in mathematics is that I can break down concepts to mathematical roots and theory, but I also leave a lot of room for exploration. It is very different here. Text books are as important as the bible here. It is so textbook driven that they attempt to cover the book from page 1 to the last page by the end of the year. It is literally, “open your books to page 50, lets do questions 1-10 together, and you do the rest. Tomorrow we will work on the next chapter.” I mean really! How can you call this education? There is no math left in math anymore. It is just, step after step after step. Math is supposed to be beautiful and artistic, not stale and metallic.

My first few days I taught 10^th, 11^th and a little 12^th grade math. I observed the teachers for a bit and got the itch to teach. It was so fun. I have never worked with kids so hungry for an education. These kids are kids in the end, but they want to learn. They love coming to school. They know how important an education is to them specifically and they try to progress everyday in a personal way. This is not the motto of the school or anything, it’s just how these learners (what they call themselves, not students) are.

John brought up a good point the other day. On the student end of education, the kids are hungry for knowledge because they want to get away from the current life they have. Most kids are living in shacks with minimal running water and electricity but still scrounge up enough money for their uniforms and school fees. They understand that an education will get them to university and will open up many opportunities for them to get away and improve their current situation. Our kids differ because if our kid fails, their worst situation leads them to being taken care of by the government with food, clothes and shelter. I’m not saying our kids need to forgo education and become homeless and lean on our government, but understand the situation.

This now leads me to the teachers’ role. At the end of the day, teaching can be easy…if you are a shitty teacher. If you come in everyday, give kids enough busy work to kill the hour of class, they may learn something, but they are not being educated. If you come in everyday and are prepared to teach with humility, conviction, and passion, then the education begins. Push all content aside and love your kids, then education begins. Create an environment of thinkers, designers, and creators, and then education begins. Teachers here have a bigger responsibility to offer a good education, not a class to kill time till the end of the day. More responsibility rests of the shoulders of African teachers to attempt to create progression in their country. These kids are the key to a progressive nation and it all starts in our schools.

Enough of my ranting and now more about the week past. After a bit of teaching, I organically fell into a position of working with the 10^th and 11^th grade math teachers Heather and Tumelo. My role has become one where I am working one on two with the two teachers and helping them create projects. Tumelo, the new teacher (which you would know if you are reading this blog) is really open to a new style and is soaking up everything I am offering. Heather is really open too, but a bit more reluctant. Last week after classes we sat for about an hour a day to look at the curriculum and mapped out what they want to teach and when. I finally got them to scrap the scope and sequence and create their own. Financial math is the next topic they “need” to cover…interest, investments, loans, etc.

Through me asking them a lot of questions and te two of them engaging in a lot of dialogue, we developed the “Life after LEAP” project (LEAP is the name of the school). We will be researching careers and universities that will lead them to these careers. We will invest in stocks and look at interest and depreciation in Accounting class. We will look at cost of college and incorporate inflation rates. We will learn to apply for college and how to fill out job applications. We will begin writing college essays in English class too! We are also going to look at loans and understand interest rates. A lot of life skills were developed here and all created by the teachers. The funny thing is that I brought a project exactly like that doe by Dane Theone and Jennie Ganneson at HTM last year. I gave it to them and told them that they just created a well rounded, all inclusive project in 15 minutes and gave them a final product. They were shocked with their outcome and very proud at the same time. We are in the midst of refining the project before they pitch it to them next Monday.

Since then, Tumelo has come up with very creative and doable projects that we will begin to plan out this week. I am still working on Heathers reluctance…but it is really improving.

The kids have been absolutely amazing and they keep surprising me every day with their openness and honesty. At the community meeting last Friday kids would stand up in front of the entire school and confront other kids about issues that are bothering them. The school would have a hand at resolution. It’s simply amazing that the kids can stand up and speak that way.

Wednesday’s staff meeting was a waste of time. The science Heather dominated the meeting and kept commenting how terrible the 11^th grade class. She even said that she told the 11^th graders that they were bothering here and are not going to be successful. Her problem is that she wrote a biology book and they are using her book as the classroom text. She may be brilliant, but an educator she is not. When you tell kids that they suck, the will live to that expectation. If she would focus on the good they do, they will rise up to a higher expectation. She also does a great job of putting down other staff members by commenting on their teaching abilities. I am ready for her during the next staff meeting. Remember when I wrote about what Trevor had said? The problem that black staff members are not talking enough in meetings? I tallied who spoke up in the last meeting and 45 times did a white person speak and 12 times a black person spoke. I am bringing this up at the next meeting.

There is no type of special education going on at all here. The thought by many of the administration is that since they passed the test to get into the school, they don’t have any special needs…ahhh how wrong…I will be bringing this up too.

Now for some fun stuff:

We flew to Durban this past weekend. Amazing! It is easily described by me as the san Diego on the Indian Ocean. There are probably more towns like this too, but this was simply beautiful. The water was warm, the people were friendly and the place was just magnificent. Our hotel was ON THE BEACH! We ate at some great restaurants and went out to a few fun bars. We also went to our first rugby match as well! It was a weekend of a lifetime. Pictures to come…I swear.

This week we are all sleeping at a staff member’s house…it’s called a home stay. I will be staying at Janette’s house. She is the founder of this school and I hear that here house is huge….so not so much of an authentic home stay…but we’ll see! I’ll upload some pictures tomorrow.

Marc

Thoughts:

Microsoft Office spell checks words spelled in SA. “Tire” is incorrect on Word here…it should be spelled “Tyre. “Flavor” should be “Flavour,” and “Color” should be “colour.” Interesting!

There is a big differencebetween White South Africans and Afrikkaners. I just know I am happy I do not look like an Afrikkaner...so I am told.

So many people are lovely here....why does this not happen in the States as much as it does here? or does at and I do not notice it as much.

KFC and McDonalds are new here...it's a hit...unfortunately.

Sodas are made with sugar cane, not corn syrup...delicious!

Windhock is apparently one of the purest beers in the works following some food ordinance from the 1500's....google it.

1st Day of School!!

Today was the first day of school! It was Ayoba (Zulu for “great!”). here are my thought sand ruminations of the day:

We met in the barn for introductions. It was freezing. Maybe about 35 degrees F. I gave my jacket to a kid with no jacket…it got colder. We were introduced by Thandanani, Partson, and Spoganoliso (3 of my favorites already). The name Thandanani means “love everyone.” We got raving applause…rock star style! Yelling, hollering, whistling, spotlights, and the song “Here I go again on my own,” started blaring when they called our names….none of that actually happened….just applause.

I am co-teaching in a 10^th grade math class with a Tumelo who is in his first year of teaching (I’ll also be stepping in for 11^th and 12^th grade math at times, but grade 10 is my focus for now). He came from a corporate background for two years then joined an organization called Teach South Africa. It is a program put together by the universities to get South Africans teaching South Africans. I think it’s an amazing program if run well. It will be interesting to see how open he is to new methods of teaching. He has been teaching since January (the beginning of their year.) He has been teaching very dry and traditionally (his words exactly) and is open to new methods of teaching. His big first step was to put them in groups. He put them into homogeneous ability level groups. Not the best method but it works sometimes. Yesterday he told me that he wanted to tell the kids why they are in each group and I really pushed back on that. If you tell a group of students they are the dumb group, they will perform it that way and not challenge themselves. Nevertheless, they all know each other fairly well and they’ll be able to tell this on their own. I held my breath this morning, but all he said was the positives of group work.

We pitched a simple project that I came up with several years ago about equations that reaches all ability levels and end up with beautiful art work on the walls (which is really lacking around the school). The kids seem pumped about the project and Tumelo seems excited about the project. I get to fully take over the class this week and model good teaching strategies (yup, I am indeed brushing off my shoulders right now). He will be popping in and out main instructor to teach new topics, but I will be modeling transfer of information, not simply telling of information which it seems that is what he is doing. If I can leave here turning one teacher into an amazing teacher I feel that my summer will have been well worth it. I am truly excited to work with someone hungry for new methods. I am also excited to learn from him too. He is brilliant in math (although he explained something wrong today), so maybe not brilliant, but Ayoba. He has a statistics background which will really help in a lot of things math related.

Finally I stepped into a Life Orientation (L.O.) class. This is almost a therapy session for the kids 4 days a week. I think it is what our advisory is supposed to be like but is not. It started by a breathing session led by a student then on to discussions and confrontations. Kids were pretty open and honest about thoughts and feelings and confronting them. May kids shared fun and exciting things they experienced over break like church camp, visiting family in other townships, etc. One girl came out and said she had a miserable time during break. Her mother ran away and she was left alone with the dad and brother. She was stuck cooking and cleaning for them during her entire vacation. She kept commenting on how lonely she was. A boy sitting next to her hugged her and tried to comfort her by telling her, “we are here for you all the time.” It was a beautiful moment. I don’t know why I cannot foster an advisory like this. Thabia and Trevor, the L.O. teachers said I will be able to interview them about this class and what is the magic they have that I want. I will definitely be attending these LO classes daily, not only to get to know the kids better, but for a therapy session for me. More to come here too.

1st Staff Meeting

July 12. Staff Day

Yesterday was our first day meeting with staff members. It was interesting to say the least. I am still trying to reflect on it all and I do not think writing this will be the end to the reflections. It was an interesting dynamic between the educators in the room. Some dominating and some very passive, some veterans, some in their 1^st year of teaching. It was….interesting…to say the least.

A quote that John brought up in the meeting which he completely stole for Confucius said: “Tell me and I forget, Show me and I remember, Involve me and I understand.” We were all reflecting as a staff at how amazing the holiday program was that Sara put together. About half of the school staff was there to observe bits and pieces and about one eighth of the staff was there and fully involved. All the staff members there or there for a bit kept commenting on how amazed they were at the work the kids produced in a 4 day period. They loved that the kids worked with their hands and created, constructed, wrote and performed a variety of things….kind of like how we feel about our kids at school. Many teachers even said (surprisingly too) that they “wanted to incorporate something like this in their classes this term.” I loved that the teachers were open to this…but honestly, it’s all talk now.

Anyways, John jumped in with this quote to tie it together saying that when he is planning his lessons that he always things of this quote, dresses up in Native American garb, and does a ceremonial dance to create a good lesson…ok not all that, just thinking of the quite. It makes him focus on how his lesson is involving the kids in the learning process as much as possible. Honestly, it’s been great working with John and Pam because I am learning so much from them. I hope the staff took to heart what John was trying to do because it was great advice.

The teachers seem passionate about their job. They seem to LOVE the students, which is the most important teacher can do before the teaching actually happens. They also seem like to want to progress their teaching styles and become better educators. There is an air of improvement that needs to be made, not only in LEAP, but in South African education in general. The main issue is that teachers are afraid of the Matriculation Exam. It is so comprehensive and so demanding on the students and teachers that I can see why they feel this way. The 2 weeks before the month long vacation, the kids took tests for each class for about 7 hours a day for two weeks. That’s a portion of the yearly exam they have to take. It’s entirely too much, but the kids see the importance (of the importance they are told of) and they study harder than I have ever seen for them. The kids are also scared of the tests. This is something that we are still trying to figure out, and working on how to implement project based learning and making them successful on these exams. More to come on this….

We will be celebrating 67 Minutes for Mandela on the 16th (it's really on Sunday the 18th) …a portion from his website (www.mandeladay.com) :

"Mr Mandela has spent 67 years making the world a better place. We're asking you for 67 minutes." Nelson Mandela turns 91 on 18 July, and the call has gone out for people everywhere to celebrate his birthday – and the global launch of Mandela Day – by acting on the idea that each person has the power to change the world.

The call by the Nelson Mandela Foundation and its sister organizations for the creation of an official global Mandela Day, to be celebrated annually on 18 July, Mandela's birthday, is gaining momentum.

The celebration of Mandela Day aims to serve as a global call to action for people to "recognize their individual power to make an imprint and help change the world around them for the better", the Nelson Mandela Foundation said at the launch of the campaign in April.

"Nelson Mandela has been making an imprint on the world for 67 years, beginning in 1942 when he first started to campaign for the human rights of every South African. His life has been an inspiration to the world."

Now, the Mandela Day campaign is calling on people around the world to commit 67 minutes of their time "to make an imprint and help change the world around them."

Finally, Trevor, the Life Orientation (amazing class I’ll tell you about later) teacher spoke up and commented on his observations during staff meetings. He noticed that the black staff were not talking in meeting and the white staff were dominating the meetings. He is not sure why but he said that maybe the blacks feel inferior or the whites feel dominant. This was a fascinating topic to bring up because Sara commented on this before. When Trevor said this, no one really spoke up except Mapuleng (the black principal) who said, “This is a good topic to discuss, we will get back to it later.” Hmmm…am I missing something or is it something that should have been addressed more in-depth then rather than breaking for lunch?

Working for the Weekend...

July 10 and 11

Saturday, June 10

We went to Melville on Friday afternoon to watch Tubie play percussion next to a DJ at a lounge. The restaurant was really good. It was a lounge type atmosphere and just really chill. After dinner we went to The Loft again to watch the Uruguay v. Germany game. I’m starting to really like that place because it is in a really great neighborhood, the atmosphere is great and the people are so friendly and welcoming. Good times in Melville yet again.

Sunday, June 11

We went to another mall and that had a skate park so that John could do some skating. I was tempted to go in but chickened out a bit. I think next time we go I’m going to give it a try. Who said starting to skateboard in a pool at 32 is a bad idea…I don’t think it is!

Later that night we were planning to head down town since my World Cup ticket hook up fell though, which I am really bummed about, but I still had a great time watching the game. We started at a hipster type bar called Ko’ Spotong which translates in Zulu to “The place to hang out.” It’s the second time we were there and it’s a great little spot. The food is interesting and the people there are wonderful and full of love for South Africa and its underground art and music movement. For dinner I at a sandwich called a Dagwood…specifically a Steak Dagwood.

Ingredients:

2 slices of bread
Lettuce
Cheese
1 Fried egg
1 Cut of Steak
1 Thick slice of Salami
Side of chips (fries)

Let’s just say it was the greatest sandwich I have ever eaten in my entire life….ok…going too far but pretty good.

After eating a talking to other bar goers we headed off to the fan park about 100 yards away to watch the closing ceremonies of the world cup. A fan park is a large area set up with enormous monitors and a stage so local fans who did not attend the game can be at a fun event to watch the game. It’s free to get in so it was packet. There are tents in there that sell food and drinks and little knick knacks. The closing ceremonies were great and when they ended there was still about an hour until the game. There were a few bands that came out which was great. Some local rappers rapped in Zulu, a reggae band form the Netherlands, and a local band that sounded like Dave Matthews Band…although not Dave Matthews and.

The energy at the fan park was something I’ve never experienced. People were cheering and dancing and having a great time. Before last night I was kind of obsessed with the Vuvuzelas, now I never want to see one again…although I have one to bring back. They are loud and annoying but awesome at the same time. A majority of the people in the park were cheering for The Netherlands. Not me…I was for Spain. Not sure why…secretly maybe because what was done during Apartheid by the Dutch…which got me thinking why so many Black South African were cheering for them…something I’m learning. I understand that Mandela preached forgiveness, but I’d be holding some sort of animosity…with that said….Go Spain! Yes…I do know that Spain has done some terrible things in its history too, but not down here.

Anyways, one of the most fascinating moments that stood out to me was when Nelson Mandela was shown on the big screen. The entire crowd went into an uproar of cheering and jumping. It was beautiful seeing everyone hugging jumping and dancing for Mandela. He is really seen as an idol here…which he should be. He has done so much for this world and South Africa.

The game was great…you probably saw it…Spain 1, Netherlands 0. Awesome! We headed back to Ko’ Spotong for the last 30 minutes of the game. Everyone there was cheering for Spain so it was fun to not be the only one cheering for Spain. Again….lots of hugging and dancing went on once Spain scored and won the game. It’s a great place. So much love emanated and radiated from each person that I have met.

Gugu, Ngakana, and Tholo were out too. These were 3 of the several artists who we worked with during the Holiday workshops for the kids last week. Gugu and Ngakana are about 25 and play in a band together. Tholo is about 27 and is a photojournalist who is publishing a photography book soon. These are amazing guys and it has been a pleasure knowing them. It was fun to see them outside of school.

It was about midnight and we were off to go home because the next day was our first staff day with all the teachers…I was a bit nervous but excited to meet the new staff I had not met yet.

Days 10 and 11...wrapping up our crazy week.

Yesterday we did minimal work in the garden. It was the day to actually teach the math and sciences behind the garden and composting. Sometimes i is better to "do" and "teach" later...sometimes it's the opposite. We gave the kids all the necessary info they needed to understand the importance of what they did and all the resources they would need to understand the basics of producers, consumers, and decomposers and how we are ensuring the cycle continues.

We also had a brief reflection session in our new outdoor classroom where John and I talked about the importance of appreciations...looking directly at someone and appreciating their hard work that benefited the group. Some of what the kids were saying really put tears in my eyes. The boys were so open and honest about how they feel a new connection to the school community and the idea tat working together is important. They also commented on how proud they were of each other while working together in the garden.

Today we had the exhibition day. All the workshops come to an end and presented their final products. Pam really blew me away with her poems. She had the kids read "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou and it was beautiful. She also had the kids write their own poems and again...tears...I have become a sap in the last few days. Pam's kids were reciting their own poems with the music group in the background playing their homemade instruments quiet enough that you could still here the poets. One girl had an amazing poem about how unity in her weapon and division will be destroyed. Another girl had a line saying, "The leopard had many spots, and was told to change it's spots to be like the others. The leopard kept its spots because it is South African." These kids take real pride in being South African. I love that they wear their emotions on their sleeves.

At lunch today, one of the students Tshepo, the MC and comedian had the kids start lunch by singing the school song. It was beautiful that all the kids didn't hesitate and danced along with their singing. It was beautiful and I wish you all could have been here to hear it. Tshepo then let everyone in a prayer which was beautiful too. All the kids recited together and it seemed like I was swimming in the midst of a beautiful choir. I'm not into mixing church and state, but it works here and I think Americans can't handle both at the same time.

There were a couple plays about recycling that were hysterical. he kids were coached by a few professional actors but wrote and preformed the play entirely alone in 4days! It was an amazing experience to see what these kids can do in 4 days. i was so beside myself all day at all the amazing work that came to be and made me really proud of doing what I do.

Outside with the boys...

I am completely enthralled with the outcome of our 2 day garden. These boys are the hardest working fellas I've worked with and I am so proud to be able to work with them. One thing I am noticing about these South African kids is that hard work is a norm for them. The other thing I have seen them do that I have never seen American boy do is sing together. They aren't singing rap songs (although they do), but today, while working in the garden, ALL the boys were singing, choir style, some beautiful Ladysmith Black Mambazo (Google it) and Zap Mama (Google it). I was simply impressed with their work ethic. Here are some pictures of our work over the last 2 days. Nothing is planted yet...probably tomorrow:

The garden which looks like graves

The gang in the garden

Our makeshift compost bin

Our vermicomposting bin

My dirt socks after a day in the garden.

Tonight we are off to some party for the soccer game. We are being picked up by some oficial driver of the world cup. yeah, we know people....who know people...who know people....seriously. Go Spain!!

First few days of school....

So first of all, it's July 6th and it should be hot out....it's flippin' freezing here!

Yesterday was the first day of school. I was so excited to meet everyone, namely the kids but was really nervous at the same time. Not because I was meeting new people, but I am really struggling with the names. Many of the names are traditional Zulu or Isotho names that I am struggling to pronounce.

Some of the consonant sounds that are said here are not in the USA so my tongue and mouth are not trained to make the sounds. I feel like an ass when I keep asking kids to repeat their names…slower….again….slower….let me mispronounce it now….again….slower. You get the point.

Example 1: The “x” sound is like calling a horse (back of the tongue, click like thing.) One of my students is named Xioxay….I am still struggling with this one. I can say it in my head but that’s about it.

Example 2: The "ng" sound is like popping the back of your tongue to the back of your throat...nearly impossible for me to do....but I am getting it. I already have a student training me in Zulu and I am, teaching her Hebrew...because it's really popular down here (sarcasm is hard to type.) I have a student named Ngaga Nyangnga. It's not as easy as you thing (I'm guessing you are trying it out right now aren't you?

Nevertheless, the kids are very patient with us and the pronunciations and I really appreciate that…there are also some students with simple names like Maurice, Teddy, Partson and Valentine.

Although the names part is intimidating, kids are kids and one thing I am good at is making connections with kids and showing them my love and compassion for who they are and a pure and honest way. I was able to introduce myself with humility and vulnerability and I wanted to make sure that they knew I was there to learn from them as much as they are going to learn from me. I don’t want come off as I am here to “fix you.” Which is the case for the Dutch and the Brits, they came and imposed new ways of life on them. Imperialism…the ideas and history of Apartheid are still here. It’s amazing to see how South African Blacks are ready to move forward, while many whites are not. Sometimes when I think too much, I end up feeling bad because I am white, and am standing in front of a group of 150 black kids telling them what to do…am I just another white guy subject them to do things they don’t want to? It never ends up being the case. I already have kids giving me hugs after 2 days at work. I love my job!

This weekend I am giving my small point and shoot digital camera to a student to take to Alexendra (his home) for the weekend. He told me he'd take some pictures off the real Alex for me and would explaining the life and hardships of all the people there. Imagine houses made of walls of corrugated metal and no insulation other than some carpeting on the walls, no infrastructure to pick up garbage, minimal electricity (the TV and kettle cannot be on at the same time), and a lot of crime. This is where ALL of our students come from.

Today John and I started building the garden and vermiculturing bins with our kids. It's a big job that is underway. We started this morning with minimal direction, but organically developed by the students with what they thought the best garden for the school to be. These kids were so hard working and never complained once. I jokingly told one 11th grade boy that his pick axing skills were very good. His response, "I dig graves for extra money and I use this tool and a spade all the time." Who felt like an ass? I did. I am learning fast that the kids are really hard workers and are minimal complainers...at least to our faces. It seems that there is a level of respect tat have for teachers that US students do not have. I still am faced with getting over the, "How are they feeling being told what to do by a white guy?"....syndrome. I think through the mutual love that will grow between me and the students, that feeling will go away.

Finally, one group is focusing on cooking foods from other cultures. Today was Mediterranean day...yup...my people recognized!

A few days ago....

Going anywhere off campus here is hard. We are so far away from real life, grabbing a beer means driving about an hour to any bar. We bought some wine, but the next trip to the market there will be beer purchased.

Sara came by the apartment to pick us up to go watch the quarterfinals of the soccer games and John and Pam decided to stay in and continue our super lazy Saturday (we woke up at noon and stayed in bet till 3pm). So Sara and I headed out to a bar…again in a mall…to watch the games.

We ended up in a very authentic South African restaurant called Sahara…a Middle Eastern joint…so not South African at all…well, not Middle Eastern either if you read the name. Last I checked, the Sahara was in Africa, not the Middle East….

Shooters are a big thing here, you order a beer and a shot of something tasty…like a honeysuckle (honey liquor and Kahula) for example. Her definition of a good shot was called a Killer Tequila which was basically Tequila and gasoline. The gasoline part was really 80 proof (160% alcohol) rum called Stolthrum. The waiter poured it on a plate, lit the rum on fire, we sucked it up and then took a shot of tequila….typically tequila is supposed to put hair on your chest, this shot took all of mine right off.

Then she thought it would be a good idea to order another one for her boyfriend Tobi (pronounced “to be”) who was on his way.

Tobi is a great guy. We’ve hung out several times and he is very friendly and insightful on all things South Africa and music. See, he is a local, underground hip hop rapper who really knows the ins and outs of getting around. He even knows how to make fake money, fake Adidas type clothing, and hot wire a car. You may be thinking that this guy is the type to stay away from, but actually he’s a good guy who did all this stuff as a kid in the townships during Apartheid. He said he didn’t want to give money back to the whites, so he stole from them by making his own things…

Anyways, let’s just say he got drunk off the one shot. He doesn’t drink much, so that did him in. I ended up cabbing back to the school at about 2 am after watching soccer and hanging out with Jo’burg locals.

On Sunday morning, John, Pam and I woke up preparing for a fun day watching Ziggy Marley in Soweto…it never happened. We ended up planning with Sara for this up coming week (which we are currently in). She put together an amazing recycling project for the kids here. See, the way the school is run is that it goes from 8:15am to 5:15pm on a normal school day. The kids are required to attend school on Saturdays and 2 out of 4 weeks per month of vacation. This is their 4^th week of vacation and they are required by LEAP to be here. So Sara planned something fun for them to do…I’ll get to that momentarily….

We planned for about 5 hours, we missed Ziggy Marley, and oh, by the way, Happy 4^th of July. It was my first Fourth of July out of the USA in a long time. I forgot that it means crap anywhere else. The three of us celebrated by exercising and running around the property 6 times…for you mathematicians out there…

high elevation + out of shapeness + burning lungs = only 6 laps.

For this week, my job is to help restore the barn, and find useful things to do with all the crap in the barn. I decided with all the tires, I am going to build several things:

Gardens in tires

Compost bins using steel drums and tires

Chicken coops with the excess scrap wood and wiring.

I figure all of this can be sustainable when I leave LEAP to come back to the States. They can use the garden to grow the lunched for the kids, and use the eggs from the chickens for breakfast/lunches as well. Since there is a barn of horses on the property too, the manure will work well in the compost and garden…see using available resources is cool! I’ll post pictures when I get a chance.

John is going to work with the composting crew and talk about all the science stuff and is also going to have the kids paint a mural of Alexendra on the wall too. This mural will be used for several reasons. First, to pinpoint the main areas in the township where garbage collects and regions where students have attempted to remedy the situation through various strategies.

Pam is working with the writing crew which is paired with the photojournalism crew who will go into Alexandra and take pictures of the regions with the most trash and then Pam will have them write about the pictures and create a book of sorts about their findings for distribution throughout Alexandra.

Planning and fun....

Yesterday Sara (the Teach with Africa 2 year fellow) picked us up at 10am and we went into Newtown which is basically downtown Johannesburg. Impressed, I was not in comparison to cities I've been to around the world. I was impressed at how amazingly nice everyone was though. I was also impressed with some of the street art that was painted under the bridge.

Anyways, Sara picked us up to talk about the upcoming week when the kids return. She put together an amazing workshop focused on recycling. My main focus will be creating gardens with the crap they have lying around in the barn. I've been putting aside a lot of tires which will work great as raised beds and I am trying to come up with a plan to use the tires in some sort of hydroponic system. We are lacking funds so really I have to engineer some sort of project with our resources.

We talked about this for roughly 3 hours and had some drinks too. I have really been enjoying the local beers (Windhoek, Castle, and Black Label) also the local food has been....interesting. Yesterday I ate a Chips Roll, a local delicacy that can be purchased on the streets of Alexandra. basically it's french fries in a hot dog roll covered in ketchup and mustard....delicious!!!

Today we met Lizwe and Nyalungwe. These are two of the teachers we will be working closely with. Lizwe teaches Life Science and Nyalungwe teaches math. They took the 3 of us to the Pretoria zoo which was pretty cool. I was a bit hesitant because I am in Africa, I should be going on Safari, not going to a zoo...but nonetheless, it was beautiful.

BTW...They are scary drivers. Being in their 40's, it seems as if they have never driven a car before. Maybe I am just still getting used to driving n the left side of the road...or maybe they are simply terrible drivers.

We had some amazing discussions about education and what their vision what of our role should be and I am happy that they seem open to ideas and not stuck in the traditional teachings that I heard most teachers here are. They are excited to collaborate and exchange ideas, start conversations and dialogues as to why the teachers are really here, and to ensure that we must be here for the students. I feel overwhelmed and inspired, but am excited to meet the kids on Monday.

I ate "Pap" today. It's basically ground up corn meal boiled down with water and it looks a lot like mashed potatoes. It was actually delicious. It was covered in a tomato sauce and served with a side of meat, which was Springbok, the local deer type animal in South Africa.

Tonight we headed into Melville (local college town) to watch the Ghana v. Uruguay game. It was an amazing time even though Ghana lost by cheating Uruguay. I am so blown away by the people I have met here. Everyone has been amazingly welcoming and kind...more so than I have ever seen in the US. People are really in touch with humanity and treating people with kindness and respect. I have made my first friend...Sandile...he is taking me on a tour of Soweto tomorrow. He's such an amazing person. Inspiring and thoughtful. I have been approached by many people simply wanting to know how I'm doing. When I tell them I am from the States I have heard nothing but, "Welcome to South Africa." Many South Africans call it the New South Africa since the end of apartheid. There are still a lot of racist undertones from the Afrikaners (the imperialist Dutch that still reside here) but apparently it is worse in Cape Town. I will see it for myself in a few weeks.

I also found out that a big holiday is Freedom day in April. The day Nelson Mandela was let out of jail. Simply amazing.