Day 8 – Monday, July 5, 2010
The internet has been down for the last few days but today it is finally up and running! Yay!!!! It's amazing how much I depend on it...
The last few days have been pretty relaxing. July 3 was spend just sleeping, reading, eating, watching movies and July 4 was spent planning for today and then sleeping, reading, eating, and watching movies.


Here's a picture of the part of the school where our apartment is...we're on the top floor

Today was our first day with students. I envy the ease with which John and Marc jump right into whatever comes their way. I tend to stand back a little and assess before jumping in…so that’s what I did today. John joined Sarah in teaching about the science of plastics, and I just sat among the students, listening to their conversations, meeting and talking with a few of them.


This is the barn where the students have their community meetings.

Tomorrow I will have my own group to work with – although a local journalist is supposed to join us tomorrow and be part of my group, which would be pretty cool. It will be interesting to get his perspective. In another class, Marc worked with Paul in presenting a Powerpoint and then having a debate…I didn’t get to see it, but it sounds like it was great.


One of the best conversations I had was with a 10th grade girl (I think her name is Mapule) who I shared dish-washing duties with. She loves poetry and will be one of the students in my group tomorrow. She was teaching me about some of the holidays in SA – Children’s day and Freedom day, the history behind each and how they celebrate. I, in turn, shared with her about Martin Luther King and Malcolm X and their struggle for civil rights in the 1960’s (which I am finding strikingly similar to the Nelson Mandela’s struggle in the 1950’s here in SA).

Orel (the 12th grade English teacher) just left. He wanted to have a conversation with us about our experience in touring Alex. He’s a very thoughtful, perceptive person and was pushing us to think more deeply about our visit and our observations. I really love having conversations with him. I love the very gentle way he pushes us and educates us about the realities of South African life.

The stove in our apartment keeps blowing out the main fuse for the whole downstairs, so we have to cook only using the oven until it can be fixed. Right now I'm reheating leftovers and baked potatoes because we're almost out of food. The guys have been really helpful...I'm definitely not the only one doing the cooking...Marc has cooked breakfast/dinner several times and John cleans up. A washing machine had been installed for us, but it hadn't worked until today, so we were having to hand wash and then hang our clothes to dry. There's a little wall heater in my room that I drape clothes on to speed up the drying process...so far that’s working well.