A Typical Day

General Timetable for Kingswood College

This past weekend Anna, Wellyna and I went on an adventure trip through Freewalkers which is an organization located in Port Elizabeth that offers volunteer and adventure programs. It was a great time! I will update my blog about that soon...once I get the  pictures uploaded which is quite a long process considering the slow internet and that we only have a certain internet allowance per month. 

I decided, however, to give you an idea of what a typical day consists of because I've been asked by a few people. Beware, it's a long post.

The table above shows the timetable for Kingswood. Every day is a little different. Anna and Wellyna's school (Victoria Girls School, VG, a fee-paying public school) has an even crazier schedule. They are on a 9-day rotation! At Kingswood, every Monday is the same, every Tuesday is the same, and so on. I've taken over two Grade 10 Life Sciences classes, one Grade 9 Geography class, and I'm helping out with one Grade 8 Natural Sciences class. I'm also observing a few other geography classes (they put earth science in with geography...I'm not the biggest fan of this because the teachers don't go as in depth as we do in an earth science class in the States).

I leave home and walk to school around 7:10 am. The walk is only 8 minutes or so. School starts at 7:30 am, but on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, classes don't start until 8:00 am because students either have assembly or chapel.

If you look at the table, you'll see that we do not have passing time between classes. This makes it incredibly difficult to keep track of students. Teachers are not necessarily allowed to let their students out early, but students are expected to be to their next class on time. One teacher, for example, makes late students sit on the floor for the whole hour even if the lateness was caused by another teacher teaching up to or past the end of the period. Other teachers, just tell the student to be on time next class and don't make it a habit. I was told that the reasoning for this is because students would walk too slow to their next classes if they had passing time, so they decided to do away with it so the students would come faster. Maybe they will learn how to teleport soon; that would be helpful.....

Everyday we have tea/break from 10:00 to 10:30 (yes, this is an old, English-settled community). For break the school provides coffee (instant), tea, fruit and grilled cheese with tomatoes for all the teachers. Every. Single. Day. I will probably gain weight from eating grilled cheese every day...but it's too good (and free) to pass up! Tea time is something nobody should tamper with. Teachers take this time so seriously. One week our staff meeting was moved from after school to break time and some teachers were visibly (some verbally) unhappy. Imagine a room full of teachers with their arms crossed and glares plastered on their faces. That's what happened that day. To top it off, the discussion was about the teacher's pay...which no one is happy about. 

You also might notice that lunch is at 1:00 every day and it is for one hour. Some days (Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays) lunch breaks up 5th period (this happens with 3rd period for tea/break on Wednesdays and Fridays as well). The lunch break up is very strange, because class is for a half hour followed by an hour lunch and the class resumes after lunch for the final half hour of class. This ends the school day. The reasoning for this, however, is for the cafeteria which provides lunch from 1:00 to 2:00 for the students everyday. It makes sense, but, academically, it's strange.

Life Sciences Classroom

Academics. I don't know how to make a generalized statement about the academics because I am in 4 different classrooms where the teaching styles definitely vary. However, I will say that the education system does need improvement (this is not to say that the American education system doesn't need improvement because it does as well). A passing mark for students here is a 40%! They claim that they test and mark harder than we do in the States. While I believe this is partially true, I don't think that it would account for a 20% difference. Students are motivated to do their work here (homework is almost always done by every student), but I think that they could study more for tests. The 40% passing rate, I think, does not expect enough out of the students. An 80% or above is treated as an A and they are highly praised for an 80%. 

Also, when teachers pass back tests, they pass them back in order from the highest grade to the lowest grade and comment about each student's performance and whether they lived up to the teachers expectations or not in front of the entire class. AHHHH!! I would absolutely hate this. Actually, this happened to me at field camp last summer, and it was terrible. This is such a big 'no, no' in the States, but it's commonplace here.

After school is done, I sometimes go home and plan lessons or read. More often, however, I walk somewhere such as Pick 'n Pay (the grocery store), a bookstore, Rhodes University, VG, or somewhere else. Next term, I will be staying after school helping out with enrichment activities which will last until 4:00 or so depending on the day. 

The Anglican church in Grahamstown's city center which was founded in 1853.

At night, I either make dinner or we go out and pick up something to eat. Kentucky Fried Chicken is a big deal here, by the way. I actually had a student as me if we had KFC in the United States. I looked at him and said, "Kentucky is a state in the US, so yes, we have KFC." I also had a student ask me if I eat salad. I told him, "Yes, I do eat vegetables, and no, I do not eat McDonalds often." He looked genuinely surprised. 

We normally are in the house by 7 pm. The three of us have been out past that time, but we would never be out alone past 7 because it's too dangerous. My first week here I felt incredibly trapped, but since we've gone out more and I know more of the city, things are going better.

Well, that's about it for a typical day. Congratulations if you made it through that long post. As I said, I'll be putting up a blog post about this past weekend's adventures soon!

Where Cows Roam Free

On my first day here, I was sitting in my room and I heard a strange noise coming from just outside my window. I got up and looked outside. Cows. About 10 cows were walking down the street and sidewalk. Later, Anna, Wellyna and I were walking to Pick n Pay (the grocery store) and we saw the cows. They told me that they roam free! The cow in the picture above was quite frustrated. To the left was a very steep hill and the railing blocked the right side. Eventually he figured out how to escape. I should say that some of these 'cows' are actually bulls and have intimidating horns...

Needless to say, whenever I'm walking somewhere, I watch out for cows and cow pies!

No Water

Michigan is blessed with plenty of access to fresh water. That's not the same situation here in Africa. There have been a handful of people and organizations around the world trying to bring awareness to water issues (cleanliness, availability, etc.), and if you haven't listened to them yet, you better start. Water is a resource that I have taken for granted and have only just started paying attention to in the last year or so. 

Most people think of those who are extremely poor and live far away from a city being the ones who do not have water. While that is true, I currently do not have water. Parts of Grahamstown has been out of water for a couple days, and the current 'word on the street' is that it will not be back for another few days. Most people say that the problem has been caused by the fast growth in the city but no change in the water supply during that growth period. Clearly, one would expect the system to eventually become overloaded. This hasn't been the first time this has happened since I've been here. It is by far the most widespread event, but not the first time I've heard of it happening...and I've only been here for 2 weeks. 

Think about all the things you need water for. We are lucky because we can go to the store and buy bottle water because we have money for it. We also have huge rain barrels in the back that can be used for non-drinking purposes. However, what if we did not have those resources (and there are people here living in the townships that do not), what would we do? What would you do? How would you go about getting water for you and your family? (By the way, this is not just a problem that is happening outside of the U.S., as I hope you already know). 

The next time you turn on the faucet, think of where the water is coming from and think of all the people who either do not have faucets or who have dry ones.

Geology Connection

Rhodes University Geology Department

I love teaching students, but if I'm being completely honest, I do miss being a student and being a part of a university setting. Rhodes University is in Grahamstown, and I decided I'd look up the geology department and see what they have going on. What a great visit! I loved the feeling of being back in the "student seat" rather than the "teacher seat," if you know what I mean. With this contact, I am acting, sort of, as a liaison between Rhodes and Kingswood to bring more awareness to geology-related jobs to the students at Kingswood. Essentially, to put in plainly, I am recruiting students to study geology at the university level. Sounds good to me! 

This geology department is over 100 years old. The majority of the geology students go into mining because of the gold and diamond and of course the Bushveld Complex which provides the majority of the platinum group metals in the world.

While that is all neat, and I could talk about geology for a long time, that is not why I am writing this post. I'm writing because I loved seeing that geologists around the world act so similarly. The professor I talked to today wore Keen sandals (I was wearing mine too), his office was an absolute disaster (papers everywhere, rocks piled somewhat neatly, maps hanging all over the walls, etc), he ended every email with "Cheers." The other student I talked with was a male who had a beard and talked about drinking beer. Yes, this is a geology department, and how amazing it is that the characteristics cross from one country to the next.

To all my geology friends out there, we sure are lucky people! It's a great community to be a part of.

A Game Drive!

This weekend, Anna, Wellyna and I were able to go on a game drive (or what we call a safari in the US) at Kwantu Game Reserve. We decided Friday night that we should do something on Saturday, so we started searching...at 10:00 pm. At Kwantu we found a 3 hour drive including a visit to the predator rehabilitation center, snacks, and a 3-5 course meal for...R500!! That's about $55! Not a bad deal.

When we got there, we were the only ones going on the afternoon ride. So we had our own personal drive! Beyond that, the food that was provided was top-notch. Snacks were quite fancy and the dinner had 2 starters (soup, salad with chicken) which could have been my meal, a main course (lamb curry, rice, vegetables) and dessert. We were treated very well.

Here are some pictures of the day:

LION!! We saw 3 total: mom and her son and daughter. The son is looking at us.

Anna, Wellyna, and I

This is a very old hotel that was used by travelers in the 1800s
on the main road between Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown

A white lion. He was in the predator rehabilitation center.

Sleeping Under the Influence of Jet Lag & Crickets

I really haven't had a major problem with jet lab. However, I have been waking up after 2 hours of sleep wide awake and thinking that I overslept. That happened last night. I woke up at 12:35 am but thought that it was 6:15 am. To make it worse, my phone uses the 24-hour clock, so it said 00:35 and I thought my phone was broken (in my dream-like state).  I eventually remembered, and convinced myself that I didn't oversleep and that 00:35 is truly a real time.

However, my waking up made me conscious of the cricket singing in my room. It was driving me nuts. I turned my light on and saw a small insect from where the noise was coming from, but I decided it was too small to make that big of a noise (dream-like state again). I finally fell back asleep only to wake up at 03:15 to the same cricket, but coming from a different location. I turned my light on again and saw the same insect in the new location. I knew it would be a long shot to kill it because they can be fast, but I found a shoe and was successful! I had a peaceful sleep for the rest of the night. 

Kingswood College

Here are some pictures of the school that I'm working at. It is a private school, and it looks somewhat like Harvard, although it's difficult to tell in some pictures. Students address every adult as they walk by and stop whatever it is they are doing. They also have a strict uniform dress code.

Yesterday, I walked past a boy who was texting on a bench. As I was walking by, he stood up, put his phone down and said "Good morning, Ma'am." This is a common occurrence. Also, anytime an adult walks into the classroom, the students are to stand quietly until the are told that they may sit down. No, this isn't military school, but sometimes one would think so. 

Rugby/Cricket Field in the back and Hockey astro-turf field in the foreground (that's field hockey if you're wondering)

The indoor sports complex behind the hockey field

Entrance to the library

Looking across one of the cricket/rugby fields

My New Home

Here are a few pictures of my new home.

The living room. The hallway on the back wall leads to my room on the right. On the the left behind the window is the kitchen. This house was built in 1868 and was one of the first houses built by English settlers.

My room. My bathroom is in the back on the left.

The backyard/garden.

The view of the garden from the living room.

A view of the back of the house from the garden.

Life in the Southern Hemisphere

It's incredibly strange going from living in the N. Hemisphere to living in the S. Hemisphere in a matter of days. The seasons changed from Winter/Spring to Summer/Fall. It was about 38 degrees Celsius (about 100 degrees Fahrenheit) yesterday! Today, the headmaster at Kingswood (the school I'm at) said something about July and August being the coldest months out of the year...so strange.

Another part about living in the S. Hemisphere is the sun is in the Northern sky not the Southern sky as it is in the N. Hemisphere. In Michigan, I'm quite good with knowing the cardinal directions, but here I constantly mess it up. Shadows here point toward the South not the North. My sense of direction is entirely confused here. I'm sure I'll get used to it.

Driving on the right side of the car and on the left side of the road is obviously not a S. Hemisphere thing, but it is also confusing. Not only do they drive on the "wrong" side of the road, but they also drive so FAST! My 90 minute ride from Port Elizabeth to Grahamstown on Monday was somewhat nerve-wracking especially in the cities.

Needless to say, there are somethings that I took as 'normal' in Michigan that are different here in South Africa. I'm excited to become more familiar with them as this becomes more like home to me over the next 3 months. 

41 Hours

Amsterdam

Traveling for 41 hours is not very much fun, but I met some good people along the way.

First I met Lorenzo on my flight from Chicago to Amsterdam:

Lorenzo is probably in his late 60s maybe early 70s and has a lot of life experiences to share…or so it seems. He was born in Romania and lived there for what sounded like 25 to 30 years then moved to the United States. He likes to keep up with what is going on around the world. First I pictured him as the man sitting at the dining room table with a cup of coffee and the newspaper sprawled everywhere, but then...he got out his iphone. He asked me some questions but mostly told stories in a voice that was a little too quiet for the loudly pressurized cabin and a still quite heavy Romanian accent. I explained that I was going to South Africa. He made sure I was up to date on my current South African history. 

Next he brought up religion and asked if I am religious.I said yes and asked if he is. He is a Seventh Day Adventist but does not really practice anymore. He explained the denomination because I honestly don’t know too much about it. The conversation shifted slightly to heaven and hell. Lorenzo said people are too concerned about where they go after they die and do not think about bringing heaven here, to earth. He said that he wishes people would stop talking about one day going to heaven and hell and start thinking about what they are doing here, now. Are they bringing good to the world while they are living? I agree with him, let’s think about what we are doing here. While I do think it is important to think about the ultimate destination, I also think it is important to think about what we are currently doing. I was asked this question about 6 years ago by a Christian friend, “If there was no heaven or hell, would you still believe in God?” What a good question. Sometimes, I think we do get too caught up in the ‘later’ and forget about the ‘now.’ While I am here in South Africa, I want to remember to bring heaven here in any way that I am able.

Next I met an airport worker in Jo burg that Dr. Baxen had contacted. He was a lifesaver and helped me figure out the airport that was giving me headaches and making me nervous.

The next morning, I met the man behind the front desk of the hotel when I was checking out. I asked how to get to domestic departures from where I was. This is what he said (imagine his voice sounding close to a British accent but with an African twist in which some of the "R's" are rolled):

"Take the lift (elevator), there, to TWO, parking level two, then take a sharp left, a sharp left. Then walk straight, straight, straight until you see the shops, then STOP! So, take the lift to TWO. Turn left, then straight, straight, straight, straight, straight until shops. Then take a right and you will see escalators. Take a very far right turn, very far right and take the escalators up one. Then you are at domestic departures. Remember...straight, straight, straight until shops." 

I made it the first time using his good directions. I'm normally terrible at verbal directions, terrible, but I can still hear his voice and picture what he was saying. 

Finally, I met Nick from the UK. He is here for a 2 week holiday. We were both at the check-in incredibly early, so we started talking. It was good to finally have someone to talk with after 35 hours of travel.

Flying into Port Elizabeth

Indian Ocean!

One last comment: I think all US airlines need to get on board with feeding their passengers. I was given a meal on every flight even on my 1.5 hour flight from Jo burg to Port Elizabeth! I had 3 meals from Amsterdam to Jo burg and 2 from Chicago to Amsterdam...and then I sat on my rear for the next many hours...

Mini Stroopwafels given on the airplane!!

Rooted and Branching Origins

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness."

- Colossians 2:6-7

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

- John 15:5

I am excited for this opportunity to go beyond my comfort zone and create new branches which will hopefully create new fruit. However, no matter where I go and where my branches extend, my roots always remain in Christ. No, this isn't a mission trip, it's a study abroad trip, but when did God say to only pull nutrients from our roots and build branches when we are on what we call a mission trip? I want my mission trip to be my life, a life that is rooted in Christ and branching out into the world and providing fruit.