Sports Day

Here are some of the photos I took of Ottery Road Primary School's Sports Day on February 24, 2011

Feb. 11th to Feb. 22nd

Tuesday Feb. 22nd 2011

Today was good! It was hard to wake up... I have to go to bed earlier tonight. I’m STILL tired from the weekend I think. But today at school we had sport practice again because this Thursday is the competition, so we’re “training” for that. But after sport we just worked on some worksheets and I walked around and helped the kids. Its really hard to tell if the kids really need help sometimes or if they just want my attention. But it’s really neat to help the kids, it’s just hard when you have 43 kids who all need your help...who do I help first?! Haha but yeah, it was tiring. After school we went to Naudia’s house to wait to be picked up, we were there for like 3 hours so we watched 17 again and a little bit of Toothfairy and a little bit of life as we know it... I fell asleep... Then when we got picked up we stopped and got dinner to bring home, it was a huge sandwich they call a Gatsby. It was really good. And then I got started on typing all this up! So you get to read it now! :) haha hope you enjoyed it! Comment on it or facebook me if you have any questions :) love you!!!

Monday Feb. 21st 2011

Today was a really really good day! I am still super tired from the weekend but today at school went by really fast because I was keeping busy the whole time. This morning was sport practice so that took up most of the morning. When we got back from doing that I was able to take some kids out individually and test them on their reading. One kid I told to start reading the given paragraph and he looked at the paper and started telling me this story about soccer and how his mom took him to the store... Yeah he couldn’t read so he made up his own story!
After school we got home and I started right away at writhing in my journal and writing about every day this last week since I’ve been such a slacker! And then tomorrow I can type up everything I write so you can read it now! Haha sorry it’s been so long since I’ve updated you all! :)

Sunday Feb. 20th 2011

Well the lessons in church were really really good. It was kind of hard to stay awake a couple of times but for the most part it wasn’t bad! After church I got dropped at my old host families house because Jamie and I wanted to say a proper goodbye since we left so quickly when we moved. When I got there they had already started eating so I just joined them and then we sat and talked for a bit while we waited for Jamie to get there. When she got there she ate her plate that they saved for her and then Morgan and Celeste told us we were leaving! So we ended up saying goodbye again quickly and we were off! They took us to a local market next to the beach and it was really great! Everything was so much cheaper than the other markets I have been to because it wasn’t a touristy market. So I was able to buy some bracelets and what not. Also, I was just walking through the market and I fell in love with these amazing Ostrich eggs that were carved with different things. I really really wanted one that had an elephant on it, it was so so beautiful! I asked how much and he said R200 but I literally only had R150 on me!!! And I was lucky I had that because there was a dress there too that I was thinking of buying but I was smart and I decided to walk around more before I bought it. Anyway, he wasn’t going to give it to me so I was really sad that I didn’t have the money, so I started to walk away and he said in a not very happy tone “pick one” so I said REALLY?! And he gave it to me for R150! I was so so happy!!! I also tried their toffee apples. They were really good! They don’t have carmel apples here but it’s the same thing but doesn’t have carmel on it. After the market we met up with Siv and Ilaria because they were also at the market but came with their friend Mike. We all went out to this gross restaurant by Kalk Bay, it was such a weird restaurant. And the food wasn’t anything amazing. So that was a bummer. But then we came home and I uploaded the new pictures for the day and then I went to bed!

Saturday Feb. 19th 2011

Today was such a long day!!!!
I woke up at 5:30 this morning and left to go hiking with friends I have met at church. They picked me up at 5:45 and I found out we were going to hike up Elephant’s Eye Mountain. There were 5 of us that ended up going and it was really great. The mountain is beautiful, there was a lot of greenery and at the bottom there were baboons!!!! It was so so neat to see them! There were more at the bottom when we came back down the mountain so I quickly snapped some photos as I walked by them. Juan told me not to stop for too long or they would come up to me and steal my stuff... So I tried to keep walking. But it was one of those ahhh haaa moments when I was like “holy crap, I’m in South Africa...” so neat! When we got the top (the “elephant’s eye”), we went into the cave and it was covered in greenery, we sat and ate a mango and some sweets and then we headed back down the mountain. It was such a good hike.
When I got home everyone was waiting for me so we could leave and go to a food market called the old biscuit mill. Colleen told me to go ahead and shower, which was so nice! Haha but then we left and I was on this happy high because I had had such a great morning already. It was awesome. The Old Biscuit Mill was awesome. The food was incredible! Yummmm. Then we walked around for a bit and then all the girls went to the mall to get some lingerie for a bachelorette party that we went to next. We spent most the day at the party and then we went to the bride to be’s house and we danced in the living room and socialized a bit. Then we came home and got all ready to go to a club! So we got ready and even did some more dancing in our own living room and then we left for the club where we danced some more. Colleen ended up taking me home early because I literally could have fallen asleep standing up I was so tired. So I ended up going to bed around 2:00 in the morning. So I had a 22 hour long day... Eh! But it was really a lot of fun :)

Friday Feb. 18th 2011

Jamie and I taught grade one today... We were her teacher’s substitutes. I’ve decided that one of my biggest pet peeves is when you look at someone and you are talking to them but they just look straight back at you and don’t say anything... Grrr... So I feel awful but I reverted to just helping who needed help and let Jamie run the class which was good because she did way better than I would have done. Afterschool we came home and then when colleen came home I rode with them to drop Jamie off in cape town for the weekend. Traffic was absolutely insane because this weekend there is a U2 concert at the stadium. Driving back I was able to talk with colleen about all the things I’ve noticed/learned since coming here. And just some other random stuff. It was nice. She is wonderful. When we got home we all just kind of did our own thing and Neil started to braai (bbq) cape town’s most popular fish “snook”. I was a little hesitant to eat it because there are so many bones and I have never really liked fish. But I ate it and it was good! I’m glad I landed a family that knows how to cook such wonderful food. After eating we stayed sitting around the table and just talked and talked until 10:30 or 11 when I found out that tomorrow I am going to be picked up at 5:30am...

Thursday Feb. 17th 2011

So today... To be honest... I procrastinated writing today and it caught up to me and I really can’t remember what happened today. But I’m sure it was a good day! Probably didn’t do anything too exciting since I didn’t remember haha but I do know that the evening was relaxing and dinner was great as usual. :)

Wednesday Feb. 16th 2011

Today was a full regular school day. It was really good! But the kids had a bad day today. They were all talking a lot and Mrs Randhir was getting pretty upset with them. The last 20 minutes of class she had them all sit on the mat and practice being quiet. They were actually able to do it! Today Mrs. Randhir was telling me during the break that she is really having a hard time. She’s supposed to be a high school teacher but is teaching grade 2. She’s really wondering if she is in the right place. And I guess before I came she had been asking to have someone in the class to help her but they hadn’t done anything because it wasn’t in the budget. She is the only adult in the classroom and is in charge of 43 7-8 year olds! She said that I was sent by and angel or something because I came just in time to give here some relief before she broke down. So hopefully I can help her lots. She was talking about how grateful she is that I was here and said it is a blessing for her. I’m glad I’m here too.
After we got home Ilaria and siv started making dinner and I talked wit Colleen about the different things that other volunteers have done when they came here. I feel so selfish when I look at all the money people spend when they come here just to help people. They did fundraisers and stuff before they left to come here and got tons of money so that’s how they funded it but I wish I could say that I did a whole bunch of fundraising before I came... But I didn’t even think to raise money to buy supplies and such... How silly of me. Maybe I can go home and raise money and then come back! :) haha
Dinner was great! It was a cheesy pasta, a salad and bread. Yum. And then they made their special muffins and put some strawberries in them and made them all beautiful and such.

Tuesday Feb 15th 2011

Today was kind of draining because it was so hot. But the morning was dedicated to sports. The school is split up into 4 “houses” basically teams with a mix of all ages in it and each age group will compete with each other. The house I was with went to the park to practice. I basically just watched them practice. It’s basically track practice. They do racing and relays and such. It’s really intimidating for me to be around the 7th graders though because they are older and just kind of look at me like “ who are you and wyhy do you think you can tell me what to do?” so that is kind of hard but I think they’ll get used to me and that should make it easier. I just need to stop being intimidated haha. After we got back from the park we had to try and settle everyone down which was hard in and of itself... But then we had a fire drill! Oh my goodness. So that didn’t help.
After getting back from the project I got on an exercise bike that’s in the garage and that felt good haha. Don’t wnt to get fat while I’m here! That’s for sure. After showering we jumped in the car and Ilaria wanted to practice driving stick on the opposite side of the car and the opposite side of the road! Haha so she drove us to Colleen’s cousin’s house and we stayed there and talked for a bit. But then we came back home and ate some fish and chips that Neil made. He’s such a good chef! :) I’ve never liked fish and I took seconds on this. :) but then we all just sat around the table and talked a bunch! It was fun! And then it was time for bed! It went by so fast!

Monday Feb 14th 2011

This morning we woke up bright and early at 6:30am and left around 7:10 for the project. The school we are at is an actual school! It feels so nice! Haha. But there are around 300+ students and only 7 teachers. One class for 1st grade, one class for 2nd grade etc. All the way through 7th grade. Then there is a principle and his secretary. I am helping in grade two in Mrs. Randhir’s (Randy) class and Jamie is in Grade one. I’m really excited about the next 4 weeks! Life is so good right now!
Since it is valentine’s day today the shool had a fun day and everyone was dressed in red and white and in the morning I did “maths”, abc’s, and read a book to the children and then we had a break and then went to the school’s Valentines program/assembly. Jamie, me and Mrs. Randhir were the judges for the re. And Miss valentine pageant! It was so so cute! They did three rounds... A casual, swimsuit, and formal walk. And then the judges picked their favorites. One of the queens that we chose cried so hard when she realized she had won! It was by chance too! We only picked her because she was our favorite in the walks! It just so happened that she was one that needed it the most. She was so shocked! I’m so glad that we chose her!
Another thing that is neat is that this morning a man accross the street from the shool saw the kids playing soccer with a water bottle so he came over and donated a socerball! It was o so sweet to see! :)
When we were done we came home and got ont th internet for a bit and then we sat down for a super delicious pasta dish. We me tthe other volunteers! Siv. From Norway and Ilaria from Switzerland. They seem really great. They brought home their friend Adam and he hung out with us tonight. Everyone just sat arought and talked and smoked hooka. It was just a good night. :)

Sunday Feb. 13th 2011

The big move!!!
I went to church as usual and it was really great, as usual. After church I got dropped off and then ate with Franklyn and then I had nothing really to do so I packed all my things and then had like 3 hours to kill so I took a nap and layed on my bed... Anyway... Skipping ahead!
Jamie was gone this weekend so she was on her way home while I was relaxing... She didn’t end up getting to the house until after our transport was already at the house! She literally packed in ten minutes, we said goodbye and jumped in the car. She didn’t even get to say goodbye to Franklyn and things just ended really quickly so we said we would be back to say a proper goodbye.
When we got to the new house my first thoughts were good! Haha the house is so cute and it’s yellow and happy :) we called Colleen our host mom and she came out to greet us! She is so stinkin cute! I can tell I am going to love it here already! It’s amazing! After getting our bags and bringing them inside she gave us a tour! The house is beautiful! It is decorated really modern like and it is just so comfortable and clean! Oh my goodness... I’m in heaven. I’m really really glad we were placed here. We are really lucky. There are two other volunteers that live here, they aren’t here yet because they are out for the weekend, so we will meet them tomorrow.
My first dinner here was steak, potato salad and an amazing salad with cucumber, pickles, cheese blocks etc. So that might just give you an idea about what a good place this is! Jamie and I were completely in shock. It was amazing. My host dad Is Neil and I guess he loves to cook and is really really good at it! He kind of looks like and reminds me of Gerard Butler. They have a 17 year old son named Matthew and he’s in his last year of high school. Oh and they have wireless internet here! Amazing. Oh and we kicked Matthew out of his room! We felt bad and said we were sorry but he said it was okay because he is used to it. Haha. Guess this happens a lot. Jamie and I are in his room and share a double bed. We’re tight ;) haha. I’m in heaven.

Saturday Feb. 12th 2011

Today was a pretty good day. No big complaints, I didn’t have the project today again so I was able to sleep in and lounge around a bit. After a while I got ready and took the train to Cape Town. Once I got there I walked to the waterfront and went to the Two Oceans Aquarium. It was really amazing. I enjoyed taking my time and looking at all the details and what not. But I do wish I had someone there to appreciate it with me. After a while of being there they announced that they were having a diver feed the big fish and sharks so I went and watched that. It was really sort of mystical actually. I just sunk into my “zone” and kind of meditated and watched these amazing creatures. My favorite were the jelly fish. They are so so amazing. And I got to see the bottom of a sea turtle. It was swimming above me and I only saw it for a second but it was so so cool. I love turtles. Oh and I got to pet a star fish. Pretty neat.
Then I went and walked the mall and got a local subway sandwich. Then I took a minibus taxi to the station because I was pretty tired, so I headed back to Tokai. I’m moving tomorrow! So crazy! Should be fun.

Friday Feb 11th 2011

This evening was wonderful! This morning I had no place to be be so I just slept in and then eventually took a shower and got ready for the day. SASTS called this morning and said that they found a placement for us!!! Ahhh!!! So exciting! We’re moving to Wynberg Sunday night to a new host family and starting anew project on Monday! It all happend way way fast! But I’m excited for the new project! It’s called Ottery Road Methodist primary school. And there are over 300 students and only 9 staff!!! I don’t know how that actually works but I guess I’ll see! I’m way excited to meet the new family and get to know new things.

After relaxing this morning I went and got on the internet for a bit and found out more about Croc cage diving!!! I’m totally going to do it before I leave! Then after lounging around the house for a while I went to the Blue Route mall down the street and I walked around for a while and eventually got some toiletries. After the mall I came home and ate dinner then I was picked up by jean and I went tot institute. It was about Joseph smith History and the Apostasy/restoration. Really great lesson. After institute Juan dropped off our friend Zingy, then him and I went to McDonalds! Haha and we got a mcflurry. The Mcdonalds here is better than the ones at home. I thought that was kind of interesting. It was delicious. Then Juan took me for a drive and showed me the city from a hill while we were driving, so I got to see all the lights and everything. It was amazing. And then he took me to Kalk Bay. It’s a fisherman’s bay basically, there is no beach but every morning around 11-12 all the fisherman come in and lay their fish out on these cement slabs and sell their fresh fish! So when we got there it definitely smelt like fish. But we went out on the dock and watched people fish and we talked about South Africa while we ate our ice cream. It was awesome! I got to watch the water splash up against the rocks... It was really cool.

feb 5 to feb 11

Friday February 11, 2011
This morning I was able to sleep in... My back is super sore though... Eh. Then I walked into the bathroom and there was a nice big cockroach next to the toilet! Ah! So I decided to be brave and get rid of it... And believe me... It took me a while... But I got some toilet paper and I tried to pick it up! Ahhh! I couldn’t so I pulled back and it was squirming cuz it flipped over.. After a few tries I actually picked it up and then threw it in the toilet... And I missed! Haha so I had to touch it AGAIN! Eventually I got it in... But oh man... That was too hard haha. And then I started typing up the last 6 days! So much fun ;) but I’m glad I can keep everyone up to date. It is going to be so hard to try and really fill everyone in when I get home haha. I’ll have so much to talk about, you guys might get sick of me... Haha.
I found out this morning that Jamie and I are going to switch projects and host families. I don’t know when we’ll be moving but it will probably be Monday or Tuesday. I’m excited to learn new things and meet new people. :) I asked to be placed somewhere with more volunteers so we can do more social activities. I’m excited :)

Thursday February 10, 2011

Happy Birthday Kyle!!! :)

Today when we woke up we went and got a picture of Jess Jamie and me with all the kids printed and we put it in a frame as a going away gift for the creche’. When we got there I was greeted my Nathan and he gave me his porridge so I could feed him. As I was feeding him I got a bunch of hugs :) it was nice. :) Today for class we made Valentines day cards (jamie and I cut hearts out and they colored them). It was pretty fun, they seemed to like it. After they were done they pretty much dinked around until the other room was ready for them to go take naps. As soon as they were all asleep it was time for us to say goodbye. I went to go put something away in the office area and I found Olive there by herself just bawling! :( it was so sad!!! She was crying because we were leaving! :( It made Jamie and I both sad and we both ended up crying. She said that it is really special that we are white because the kids will look back to this memory and wonder if it really happened or if we were angels. It was very touching for me to see Olive so emotional...she really appreciated having us there. And hearing the things that she said and seeing her express this to us made everything worth it. I was able to think to myself “this is why I am here!” haha it was cool. She also said that she is going to let the Hokie Pokie carry on haha. So that is cool. After leaving the project Jamie left to meet up with everyone for the garden route tour and I took the train back to the Retreat station and then walked to the internet and was able to be on for like 3 hours and research different safari’s and tours and what not. I think that I am basically going to have to choose between going to Kruger national park and doing an intense 4 day safari where we sleep in an uncaged area under the stars next to the lions and the hippos and such! I would also be able to ride an elephant and study them and whatnot. OR I could do the Garden route and see a bunch of different beaches, sand dunes, go to an elephant sanctuary, 2 hr safari ride on an animal reserve, and possibly go cage diving with crocodiles! .... Decisions decisions... I really am stumped. Comment on this post and let me know what your vote is...

Wednesday February 9, 2011

Today was the second to last day at the project. It was a fairly good day, but Jamie and I both walked away glad that we have been there and looking forward to wherever we go next. Today we helped the kids to a worksheet that was prepared for them. It had different lines on it or arches or X’s and O’s and they were just supposed to copy the shapes. Well it was really really sad to see that pretty much everyone couldn’t do it. I saw some homework sheets that they were being sent home with and it had problems like “6-_=4” ... K... How are they supposed to do this homework when they can only count to ten and don’t know what numbers look like or how to draw an arch. Not gonna happen...
After the project, Jamie and I went to the beach. It was pretty windy though. We didn’t stay too long but it was nice :) we saw a kid that was part of a surf project and he was a little stinker. He was running away from the group leaders and was doing flips in the sand and he came up to Jamie and took her coffee and was like “for me?!” haha it was so funny. I guess the kids that age are gonna be crazy everywhere! Haha

Tuesday February 8, 2011

Started off the morning by getting pooped on by a bird as we were walking to the project. Good luck right?! This morning was okay at the project and this afternoon was kind of a joke. This morning one of the teachers asked Jamie and I to take over the class, we asked what she wanted us to do and she said whatever you want, whatever you usually do.... Kinda frustrating. We pulled out some matching cards that they have and we started to lay them out on the table and she was like “just dump them on the table and let them play with them” we were like... Uh no... We want them to learn something...
Then this afternoon just as the kids were starting to wake up from their nap time she came in and was like hey will you guys watch them for like 10 minutes so we can have a quick staff meeting? Well an HOUR later we had to go get them because things were out of control. 2 kids peed their pants and one pooped them while they were sleeping so I had to clean that up but while I was trying to clean them up there were dirty dippers, we had to pick up all the mats but Nathan (an autistic kid) thought it was super hilarious to take the mats and blanks that we had piled up and throw them around the room poor Jamie was in there trying to get everyone to sit on the mat on her own and everything just went haywire. So needless to say we were so ready to leave when Olive told us to go. We told them today that Thursday will be our last day because SASTS is supposed to contact us at the end of the week with a new placement. But Jamie is leaving Thursday for the Garden Route so we didn’t want to leave for the weekend and just not come back.

Monday February 7, 2011

Today at the project it was a bit crazy because we didn’t split up the older kids away from the younger kids so they were all in the same room. Today we had small groups of kids at a time do a connect the dot sheet. I had a bunch of dots and then there was an example page where the dots were connected to make a picture of a house. Well it was surprising to see that these 5-6 year old kids couldn’t understand how to connect the dots even when you were saying “draw a line from here to here” it was kinda sad to see.
We left the project around 3:45. The train wasn’t bad today which was way nice. We were able to catch it in time to get to the internet for a bit and then we came home, took a show, a nap and then at about 7:45 we walked down the street a ways and met Olive and Alliouse, lisa, and their family at a restaurant called Spur and we all ate and celebrated Lisa’s birthday. It was fun! :) it was good to hang out with Olive and Allouise and Lisa outside of the creche’.

Sunday February 6, 2011

Today was wonderful. Pretty relaxing. After waking up I got to talk to my family! :) that was awesome. I got picked up for church this morning by a guy named Juan. Church was wonderful. There were more YSA’s today. It was Fast Sunday so it was really cool to listen to everyone’s testimony. One lady talked about how she was robbed on the train this week... Kind of brought me back to reality, cuz I take the train every day. Kinda scary. After church I took a nap and then I was picked up for institute by a guy named Darren and his sister and her boyfriend. It was kinda cool :) institute was really great, I got an institute manual and D&C on disk so I can put it on my iPod. While I was there I found out that the institute teacher was on her mission with my dad! They both served the same mission and had the same mission president. I thought that was pretty neat. We also had flat pancakes with ice cream, blended mango and pineapple and nutella! Delicious. It’s been a good one! :) (This is my 4th Sunday been here for a full 3 weeks now.)

Saturday February 5, 2011

Today was great! We slept in! Haha and then we went to the internet. By noon we left for cape town. When we got there we met up with some other volunteers at green square market. It was their last day and we had lunch with them it was really good :) I got a toasted tomato and cheese sandwich with avacado... Yummmm! After eating Jamie and I took a minibus to camps bay. When we got there we layed out our towels and started to soak up the sun! :) not shortly after we layed down we had sales people up the ying yang trying stopping and trying to sell us stuff. One of the guys that stopped was one of the painting sellers I had met last time I went to Camps Bay. I asked him if Joe was there, the guy who I bought my painting from. He said he was there so he went and got him and Joe came over and visited with us for a while! It was nice. He is pretty good looking haha I told Jamie she would have to hook up with him cuz she’s looking for a rasta man haha. Anyway, after he left a lady came by and she was selling hena tattoos!!! :) so I had her give me one :) I got a chinese character that says “art” on my ankle. It’s pretty neat :) after coming home we really didn’t do much the rest of the evening. Love the beach! :)

Sunday Jan 30th through Friday Feb. 4th :)

Friday Feb. 4, 2011

Today has been so fun! :) it’s days like today that make me want to stay in South Africa :) After dropping Jess off at the Airport and then running some errands, Franklyn took me Morgan and Jamie out to KFC and got us some chicken and ice cream. Then we came home, went to the internet for a bit and then the whole family went to the beach! :) it was me, Jamie, Morgan, Jean, Franklyn, and then their other son’s son Kingston and their daughter’s daughter Mika. It was way fun, we just relaxed and swam and tried to body surf. After getting home and eating dinner Jamie and I went to the mall and bought a movie ticket, we still had an hour before the movie started so we went to Pick n’ pay and we got some “fizzers” they are one of my favorite candies here so far. Then we went back to the mall/theater and we watched “The Tourist”. It was pretty good :) I probably wouldn’t buy it but it was good :) It was so so hot and humid today, it was the perfect day to go to the beach that’s for sure :) so much fun :)

Thursday Feb. 3, 2011

The project was crazy again... I hope I get transferred soon... It’s just really hard and I’m starting to wake up in the mornings dreading getting up... And I don’t want to do that.

After the project we went to go catch the train and waited for about an hour for just one train to show up. But when it got there we didn’t make it on because it was so full that people were literally overflowing from the doors. There were even people standing on the “string” of metal holding the cars together. So I called Franklyn and he was able to come pick us up. He said that he thinks that the train conductors are on strike for more pay. After getting home Jess, Jamie, Nathanial and I walked to the store and got wine and juice to throw Jess a going away party and say farewell. Then we stayed at home and just talked and had fun :) later that night we all got into bed and were falling asleep and then Nathanial called and said that him Morgan and Celeste were almost there haha so we got out of bed and let them in and then we all stayed up talking for a couple more hours. Fun stuff :) they are really great people.

Wednesday Feb 2, 2011

Today was sure more exciting than yesterday. It was a really good day. :) we started the day off at the project and fed them breakfast and then did the morning circle and then got them started on the class with Alliouse. Jamie got covered in diarrhea by one of the kids haha. Luckily it was just her arms and she was able to wash up. But it was kinda funny. Around 10:30 in the morning Olive took us to a school in Lavender Hill they have kindergarten-7^th grade. Turns out that this area is one of the worst areas. The school Is surrounded by 5 different gangs who like to have “wars” they have shootings pretty constantly... And they shoot right though the school grounds. Turns out, this happened just an hour before we had gotten there. Luckily we were held up trying to tour another school. But when the principal was telling us about this she said that the building is so old that it has rotted wood, so when there are shootings it is dangerous because the building could collapse. Make note she was worried about the building, not about the fact that there were gangs having shootings through their elementary school’s campus. Shootings aside, it was really good for us to see these students. Jamie and I know now that if the surf project doesn’t work out and get started then we want to work with the older kids because we feel like we would be able to make a bigger difference in their lives. This school has the same problems that our place does. Olive said something that suck out to me. She said that these parents teach their kids things but they teach all the wrong things. They know where babies are conceived but they don’t know that milk comes from a cow. And it is so so true. I thought that that pretty much nailed it.

After we visited the school we had Olive drop us off at the station and we took a train to Simon’s Town where we talked all the way down to the end of the boardwalk, paid 40 rand and were able to swim with Penguins!!! :) it was so much fun :) the water was really cold but we got in. :) and of course we took a bunch of pictures and then layed on the beach for a while but then we came back home, ate, and watched tv. Tomorrow is Jess’s last day! :( so sad

Tuesday Feb. 1, 2011

Today was kind of boring but the project was really crazy. One of the days that I was kind of frustrated again. Allouise had me write an evaluation of the class and I basically said that nothing is being or will be learned by these children until they learn how to respect. Other than that it is just a waste of time. It’s so hard because there is no parent that actually really cares enough to teach their kid how to listen or how to show respect. Its so frustrating. After the project we got on the internet for like 5 minutes and then came home, ate, watched the news and got ready for bed. Nothing to exciting haha

Monday Jan 31, 2011

Today was a good day :) this morning at the project we helped wrote out the names of the kids in dots and tried to teach them how to connect the dots so they can write their name. Probably the first educationally productive thing we’ve done since we got there. We left at lunch and walked to Morgan’s house and he showed us his recording studio :) he made each of us go in and basically talk about nothing for a song and he put the song together with our words and made a song haha it was fun. When we got back to the project we purt the kid’s shoes back on and we fed them and then they went crazy. At one point we made them all sit up against the wall and Me, Jamie, Jess, and Mrs Olive put on a little play of goldie locks and the three bears. Haha I think maybe more than half of them were watching so that was really good haha. But then they went crazy again.

When we got home we ate and then had a mini history lesson form franklyn I guess up intil 1994 EVERYTHING was segregated and they had white only, colored only, and blacks only. I can’t even imagine living like that. I was 5 years old and things like this were still going on. So crazy.

After dinner Morgan and his wife Celest and Nathanial came over it was so much fun :) we all just relaxed and Celest was trying to teach me Afrikans and then we all tried to do the splits. Pretty random night, it was great :)

Sunday Jan. 30, 2011

I got to church today! :) Jean and Franklyn took me :) it was so exciting. Everything was exactly the same as church at home, which I was expecting. But it was so awesome to just have that testimony builder to know that all over the world we have the same doctrine. Anyway, I saw a missionary there, his name is Elder Barker and he is from pocatello and went to BYU-I while I was there. The whole time I was looking at him I knew he looked familiar but I have no idea where I know him from. I think I might have thought he was someone else but then he just happened to be from Idaho as well. It was crazy though. Went to all the classes, they don’t have enough YSA’s for a singles ward so they just had their own class, so I went there instead of gospel doctrine or what not. There were 8 YSA’s I met them all and a couple stuck out and were really really nice :) one of them is a girl named Zingy, she was the one that gave the lesson, I think she has a kid, she was always inviting me to sit by her and was showing me around and what not. Then I got some people’s numbers. They are starting up institute this Thursday and that should be exciting :) after church I started to walk home and walked for about 15-20 minutes because I couldn’t hail a minibus... But then I looked around and saw a minibus so I waved him down and then people started honking at me right when I was about to get in! So I was like oh crap did I do something wrong? But then I realized that it was two cars full of the people I had just met in class at church! So I told the minibus never mind and got in with Zingy and another friend named Sharon and they took me home :) so nice :) after getting home, eating and talking with Jean for a bit I hand washed all my laundry. Then Jamie and I went to the second session of church with Jean and Franklyn. They are the pastors for their own church so we got to watch Jean do a sermon. Also Morgan and Nathanial are in the band and did a really really really good job. It was fun. It was cool to see so much Afrikans being spoken. And they were able to go back and forth from English to Afrikans so easily it was amazing. :)

Yesterday I was on the train and I got to listen to two ladies speaking Xhosa (cosa) and they click while they are talking. It was pretty neat. One of those moments where I realized I am in South Africa :)