Sunny Days...

Monday 30th January:
People will be saying at home “I can't believe it's nearly February” but I'm still thinking “How is it January or even February when it is summer here!” I really can't get used to the idea but I'm loving this weather! I heard that it might be snowing back home. The pre- R's and grade one's launched an army onto me as they wanted to braid my hair and hold my hands and I found out from one of my 8's that they were saying “we have never seen anything like this before” which I think is a BIT of an exaggeration unless I really do look strange! This afternoon, I was teaching the grade 9's last and for the first time since I have been here I got a whole class to be quiet when they were doing their work for about ten minutes and even the rest of the time they were quite good. When it got to 2pm and we still had half an hour to go they complained to me “Miss the sun is too hot” and after asking them what they would like me to do about it I let them have a five minute break AND they came back on time- even the boys at the back! I couldn't believe how good they were. We got given our new timetables which includes helping out in lessons for those learner's (they call them learner's here) who are struggling in grades 4-7 for English, science and maths. Now we only have one free lesson a day so it's going to be so busy everyday! This way we won't get bored and also it will be nice to work with some of the younger one's with smaller groups. We stopped off at the shops on the way home and there was long queues outside spar which confused us but then we realised that the people were giving in their welfare slips that give them money. We got stuck behind a drunk in the queue for the till, as always.

Tuesday 31st:
So here is the end of the month and after what I said about the weather yesterday it decided to rain this morning. However, the day turned into a beautiful hot and sunny one and again I wish I hadn't of worn jeans to school! This morning the high school had a talk which was supposed to be about twenty minutes and I was teaching the grade eights who finally came back with about twenty minutes of the lesson left! I was actually quite happy about this because I really didn't feel like teaching a group of forty five first thing this morning. Their behaviour was shockingly bad! I set them a simple task that they could finish for homework and with the exception of the usual few who always do the work, the rest would not sit down, stop chatting, stay in their places and then most of the class ran out at the end of the lesson. I asked TB who lives in the house next to us to have a word with them as he is their class teacher because both Katie and I are fed up with the way they treat us. So it was not much of a lesson! We are now helping out in the lower school with learner's who are struggling in English, science and maths. I seem to be with the grade fours a lot and I asked Bongi who their maths teacher was and then she asked me if I could please take that class because the teacher was away! Katie was also free so we took it together and the grade fours are so cute and such a nice change from our stroppy teenagers! They had to do their times-tables in a race and some of them worked so hard to get it right. I can't believe how tiny some of them are! They begged us for stickers when they got the work right which was funny and I'm looking forward to getting to know them. My 9b's last lesson were good as usual and I'm starting to learn their names. We did a shop on the way home and it was so hot outside it made me really tired. We met a guy in Spar who works at 'Fancy Stitch' and he recognised us as the 'gaps' straight away- it was great to be recognised as real people! This evening I have been marking books and watching generations with the girls. Also collecting a lot of water and explaining to TB the English money and showing him the currency I still have in my purse!

Wednesday 1st:
We have been at our placement for three weeks now and I truly can't believe it's only been that amount of time- it feels like so much longer! So much has happened and yet we are still only at the beginning and settling in. On Saturday we would have been in South Africa for a whole month! It was extremely hot today from when we woke up and I had had a restless night. I think I have bed bugs because I wake up every morning with new bites on my feet...it's always something here!! I gave both my classes today sheet work and I felt a little bit guilty because I haven't done much teaching this week but they really work hard at the texts and we usually read them through together first. I'm starting to like both my grade 9 classes, I just cannot be bothered with those grade 8's any more! I now know 9 names in my 9A class- this is such an achievement! The most common surnames here are 'Mngomezulu' and 'Gumede'.One of the grade twelve's has asked us if we can help with the school newspaper as they don't have access to a computer or printing so we happily agreed to type anything up for them. We walked home early after lunch and the high school students were walking that way to the sports grounds in Ingwavuma so it made the walk less tiring as we chatted to them. We bought more internet time at Spar and then just chilled with our house mates in the afternoon in the living room reading our books. It was too hot to do anything! I helped Katie mark her grade 8 maths books this evening and we stayed up quite late putting our classes names on spreadsheets so we can track their progress.

Thursday 2nd:
Today was such a good day!!! I went to bed feeling so happy- something I haven't felt in a long time. I kept in the boys at the back of my grade eight class for ruining my lessons for fifteen minutes at lunch and had a 'chat' with them about wasting their education and saying how smart they were but they were choosing not to use their talents and all that and I tried not to laugh as I heard myself saying these things but it really worked! They said they were sorry and asked if they could sit at the front from now on. I was shocked to discover that none of them are retakers- they are in the right year but we thought they were older. In my 9A class I learnt everyone's name (I can only remember if they sit in the same place!) and they cheered me on which was funny. I'm happy that I'm finally getting to know my students. The lower school were outside preparing for their athletics day tomorrow and in the afternoon the teacher's gave them a really long break so it was a bit of a different day – it felt like being back at school on one of the last days of term when it's really chilled. This evening has been spent marking half of my grade 8 books, washing up and a bit of washing- it's surprising how much more motivated I felt after having a good day! We had spaghetti bolognase for dinner. I felt this needed to be included. Happy Days!

Friday 3rd:
It was extremely hot when we woke up- it reached 30 degrees today! Katie taught first lesson then walked up to one of the high schools where the lower school were having their athletics day. I wanted to go but I had to carry on marking my grade 8 books and then had to teach lesson four and five. The 8's were ok but annoying as they kept questioning my marking- we have set up spread sheets for all our students to mark their progress so it's easier for us to see who needs more help. In their books I had written: what they are doing well, their targets, a number out of 5 for effort and a number out of five for their level of english. It's a similar system to back at home and I think it is going to work well. The boys even sat at the front and most of them are trying hard not to chat! I asked the principal if I could take the week off before Easter (we are allowed to negotiate holidays because we are volunteers) to go to Cape Town to see my friend Sonia who has that week off from uni and he said yes!! I was so happy! We got a lift to Manguzi with Mr Mkonto but had to pay petrol this time but it's so much better than having to get taxi's! One of Patrick's neighbours lent us their braii and we bought some wors (like sausage) and burgers at spar and some drinks and had an awesome braii in the sunset :) We watched a few movies and then tried to sleep but it was ridiculously hot!

Saturday 4th:
This morning we were going on a boat tour to see hippo's at the Kosi Lakes- I was too excited! We got a lift to Thobeka backpackers and met our guide there- Steven- and a Dutch couple who were also going on the tour. We sat in the back of his land rover and it has to be the most uncomfortable journey I've ever endured! The weirdest feeling was sitting in a car full of white people- it sounds so odd but I have become so used to hearing black Africans chatting away in Zulu and being the only whites that for a moment it was totally weird to be talking in English all the time! So hard to explain! When we got there it was just as beautiful as I remembered and we met four more people also going on the tour- a couple of Afrikaans guys biking around Africa and an older South African couple on holiday. The boat fortunately had shade and we set off round three of the lakes to spot some hippo's and also some beautiful birds! There are four lakes in the system but boats are not allowed in the fourth one as it has so many hippo's and crocs. The first sighting of a hippo was a mother and her baby and I was just so happy to be seeing these amazing creatures in a natural habitat- not like the one's at Longleat! They are so fascinating to look at and when they both popped their heads up it looked so good! We moved on and did a bit of snorkelling around the man made fish traps where the locals who still live in the reserve catch their fish and it was so peaceful swimming through the hot water and watching all these pale coloured fish waiting by the sticks- it looked like they were all waiting for something to happen! During the tour we saw a lone bull hippo but we couldn't go too close because they get quite angry and he stayed under the water the whole time. We then saw three together which was pretty special and we got quite close. A truly amazing experience! We did a bit more snorkelling and on the way back I chatted to the older couple about the country and places we could go and they were lovely. We got back to the backpackers in the evening (we spend a lot of time there just chilling) where there is a pool and a bar in a hut sort of thing- I'll try put a picture up! Then we headed home and still having the meat from yesterday we had another braii- although it took longer to build the fire this time because it had rained so much the night before so the wood was damp. An awesome day!

Sunday 5th:
Today we were not sure what to do but decided on planning our easter holidays which we are SO excited about! I am going to Cape Town the week before Easter and then meeting the other two in Durban where we are hiring a car for fifteen days. We researched hostels in durban and then in the Drakensburg (mountains) where we will spend about a week. It was really exciting to be planning! We are hoping to spend some time in Mozambique the second week as we are so close to the border. I can't wait! Afterwards, we walked into Manguzi and got a few bits from spar and some lunch and then just chilled back at the house chatting about what to do in the weekend between now and Easter. We are trying to have a few low budget weekends as we seem to go through our money so fast- I'm scared I'm going to run out after Easter! We got picked up at half three and the drive back was beautiful- today was the first time I appreciated the scenery that surrounds us, it is just incredible in these mountains. I saw cows drinking from watering holes and small children pushing tires along the road- so South Africa! Tonight we are just back at home with Rose and her husband has come to visit which is nice as we rarely have visitors. I have had such a good week and it's just made up for all the rubbish I was feeling a week ago. Although I do still miss my Mum! Hope everyone's alright and not feeling too cold ;) xx