We have been living in Ingwavuma for almost two weeks now but sometimes it feels much longer than that! I think I should start with our first full week at school.
School life:
On Monday morning we received our timetables which was quite exciting because it meant that we were going to be some actual use at the school! I am teaching English to three classes a week for three hours each. My first lesson was on Monday afternoon with the grade 9a's and it was an hour and a half. I felt fairly confident until Katie came back from her first lesson with the grade 8's (she teaches them maths and science) and then I started to get nervous. It felt really daunting knowing that I was only about four or five years older than these children, even know they don't know that! I started by telling them a little bit about myself and we did a brainstorm of England...they tended to know the football players and that was it! Then we did an exercise from the textbook on a newspaper article and it slowly went downhill from there. They just chatted away and some of them have such an attitude. By the end of the lesson I felt like I wanted to cry and that evening I never wanted to teach again.
However, as the week progressed and I discovered that I had started off with a class with a bad reputation and the others were a lot better, it became easier and started to become more enjoyable. The 9b's are my favourite class so far- they ask questions, do their work and generally listen. The grade 8's are hard work because there is 45 of them which proves a little difficult sometimes when you need them all to be quiet. They are quite sweet though (except for Friday afternoon last lesson!) and want to do well. The standard of English is actually very good- it is one of the only schools in the area which teaches in English all the time and it is good for them to be taught by us because they can't say anything to us in Zulu, so it is improving their English just by communicating with us. We are slowly learning more Zulu though and trying to learn words with clicks in them! The staffroom, where we spend our free lessons, is in the primary school so I have befriended a few of the little Grade one's who all want to hold my hand and tell me their names. There is a little girl called Jobi in Grade two, who has bought my artificial flowers two days in a row. She wraps them up like they are a in a bouquet and then again like a present. The first one had a note in it saying “I love you, from Jobi”. It's very sweet and I'm not sure why she has taken such a liking to me but they have been great for decorating our room with!
So, what I have learnt from teaching so far is: do everything one step at a time; walk around the room so the students know I'm watching them; get them all to answer questions and not just the usual ones; getting them up at the front to act out role plays works really well and never give in to boys who want to go to the toilet when there is only five minutes to go! Oh, and always prepare enough to do! I'm finding the lack of help and support quite difficult at times because no one else is teaching English except the principal who is always busy. I do have a head of department who is supposed to teach English but for reasons I won't say, he is absolutely no use to anyone!! It gets a little frustrating at times. I have had a few moments which have shocked me- reading students stories about celebrations and reading things like “when my mum was alive” and “they gave the little children alcohol” and also some funny moments such as when I had to ask a very sweet girl what she meant by “We all went to the bitch and it was such a great bitch” and she meant beach! It's things like that I'm going to remember!
Home life:
Another teacher, Nhlanhla, moved into our house last week and he is lovely although I struggle to pronounce his name! We have moved into his old room because it has so much more space than our tiny one and more storage. We had a bit of an issue with lizards coming in though! I'm so glad we have mosquito nets! Not much else has happened at home really...we spend our evenings planning lessons, watching our favourite soapie “Generations” with Rose and cooking dinner. Last week it rained so much which got really annoying because we never knew what to wear as the weather became quite unpredictable. We have had to go to spar quite a few times to get odd things and I'm kind of learning to cook! We continue to make new friends in the street on the way to the shops or the school as people are so friendly! Other times we want to scream because people will stare and stare. We are adapting to the culture better now though :)
Our weekend in Kosi Bay!!
Ok, now to tell you about our weekend. I felt shattered after a horrible last lesson on Friday afternoon and so we were glad to be getting away! We went straight from school with Mr Mokonto to Manguzi. He lives there at the weekend with his family so he offered us a lift down there and back which was really kind as we didn't have to pay. After all the rain, Manguzi was quite hot and sunny when we got there which we were pleased about. We met Patrick (who is volunteering there) at KFC and walked back to his house. Manguzi has a lot more shops and is a proper town- it was nice to walk on a pavement! People blare music from their shops and there is a colourful market. It was a short walk to his house, which is opposite a Methodist church and he shares his house with another teacher, Nonto, and her young son Thapelo who is cute but really loud! Once we put our stuff in our room we walked into town and ate at this pizza place then went back to the house and watched the Lion King, Jungle Book and Anchor Man on his laptop and played with Thapelo. It was good to be back to some kind of normality!
On Saturday, the plan was to borrow Nonto's car and drive to the beach, however she still needed it so she arranged for her friend to take us in his Bukkie for 200 rand (about £20 between the three of us). We were a bit wary because this meant we were sitting on the back of his truck in the open air like we have seen so many people do around here. He was actually a very safe driver and it felt like we were having a real African experience! Although I can tell you that wearing a bikini top is definitely not enough support on the roads that are full of potholes! The trick is to not get hit by massive flying bugs like Katie did, because it actually really hurts! He took us to this backpackers lodge first that Patrick knows and we hired snorkels from the owner, Sylvia, who is lovely and she invited us over for a braii in the evening but we were unable to make it because Nonto needed the car then. Then we got driven to the beach which is right next to the Mozambique border. We had to purchase a permit there to access the beach because it is a protected area. There is a lodge there too. Then we made our way down the long sandy road to the beach which took FOREVER. It was really hot but it was worth it when we got there. We had to cross this lagoon thing to get the coral reef and we had to hold our bags above our heads because it got quite deep but there was no current. Luckily Patrick is very tall so he could carry the bag with important things in!! Kosi Bay is definitely the most beautiful place I have ever seen! I feel so lucky to have been there...
Learning to snorkel was hard and a bit scary to start with because you can't breath through your nose at all, you have to do it all with your mouth. It's almost like I was panting into the mouth piece but as long as you remember to keep to the same pattern it's fine. The water was not very deep and unfortunately the reef was destroyed a few years ago in a bad storm but there is still some life there. I saw a lion fish, some yellow and black striped fish, a huge orange fish, a multi coloured and an eel. It was really cool but a little scary at times. We bought some crocs in the 'Happy Supermarket' in Manguzi (it's actually really depressing in there) which was good because the reef is quite slippery and we didn't want to stand on any fish that might get angry! I'm glad I had the chance to do it. We didn't go to the part where there are waves because that's where the sharks live! There were a few others down there and we got chatting to a south African lady who was with a tour guide and they were staying at the lodge at the top of the beach. They were with an English family too. We spent the afternoon there and then started the journey back about three pm. The tide had come in so the two lagoons were harder to cross because they had got a bit deeper and there was a small current. At one point Patick was up to his neck and he had to carry the backpack so high above his head- I got a little bit panicky then but we soon got to the shallow bit. There was a little island with loads of cows on it for some reason! The walk back was SO hard- it was so steep and I was surprised at my own strength! We got back to the lodge and had a drink and a swim with the group staying there and got to know the English girl who now lives here permanently in Richards bay and she gave us her number just in case we ever needed a place to stay. That's what I love about the people here- you meet them once and they are so lovely. We got picked up in the bukkie, had dinner, then we watched another film and went to bed after an amazing but tiring day. I am really sunburnt on the top of my legs- it was so hard not to because we were constantly in and out of the water!
On Sunday morning we went to the backpackers lodge again mainly to use Sylvia's swimming pool because it was really hot. We bought drinks there from the hut next to the pool which was so cool and just sat in the pool chatting. We went home and had lunch and researched car hire company’s because we are thinking of doing that in the Easter holidays as the public transport here is really slow and maybe a little unreliable. We met Mr Mokonto and the weather got worse as we got closer to home but it wasn't raining. Rose was really pleased to have us home- she said she had been lonely and gave us a big hug and we sat down and had tea and chatted about our weekends. So all in all it was an amazing weekend! I did not want to go back to school today!
This weekend, Patrick is coming up to Ingwavuma to stay with us. We are really struggling with what to do whilst he is here because otherwise we would just do our washing- it takes a whole day! There is not a lot to do around here but I think we are going to show him the general area and the school. Now we are settling back into another week at school and keeping up with lesson planning. We have also joined the sports committee although they currently have no equipment to play with! I am also going to offer to help tidy up the library for Kenny the librarian because he has been so good to us and it is such a mess in there...they have barely enough books for the students! I feel so lucky to have had such a good, well resourced education and I will never take that for granted now I see what the students here do not have. I am thinking about home a lot but I am quite happy here now- there are ups and downs everyday but mostly I am just learning SO much. Love to all at home xxx
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