Some Photos

Ok. My intention was to share photos on my blog as I went, but I have no way to easily or cheaply upload them anymore. So, I made it to the internet cafe this afternoon and we have a fairly good connection. Hopefully this will work to upload a few photos.

Ok...not as many as I'd like. But I must go. Hope these are ok. Some from the Girls Club and 2 down by the river. Next time... :)

Week 15: Goals and Candles

This week we worked on setting goals. It was a huge challange. The girls didn't understand what a goal is or that setting goals is a good thing. We talked a lot about the steps to go through to set a goal that will help you be successful. I found a really cool interactive website that goes through the steps and used it to make a hard copy of the process step by step. Then they created their own goals and went through the steps they'll take to reach that goal. But I guess even the simple steps were too advanced. Next time I guess we need to start with something more simple and defining what a goal is. After that, I split the girls into 3 groups and I worked with 1 group making candles while Cainah and Elizabeth worked with the other 2 groups to finish their piggy banks. Then we rotated groups. The candles took longer than expected, but they turned out great. We had red, blue, and green candles when finished. Someone asked one of the girls what the candles were for. Her answer shocked me. "They're for Christmas." I totally forgot Christmas is in a few weeks. It's too hot for Christmas. :) But ready or not, here it comes. I guess it's time for me to get ready for my dad and Alicia to come.

Gobble Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving!

A bunch of us met up in Polokwane for a traditional US Thanksgiving dinner. I wasn't sure I would be able to make it out of the village since it had rained so much. Cars were getting stuck in the mud and transport in and out pretty much stopped. I managed to make it out, thank goodness. We met at a former volunteer's house (a woman who fell in love during her service, married, and moved here permanently). She's been a great help for the current volunteers by providing a place to crash and free showers for anyone passing through. She also occasionally hosts parties such as this one. In true American fashion, we feasted on way too much food. We munched on snacks all day while several cooked dinner. One of the PCV's parents were visiting, so they brought us lots of treats and topped off our feast with cranberry sauce. We finally settled down for a great feast at 3. Then again at 7. Then again at 10. Everyone managed to find a spot here and there to crash for the night. Then we feasted again in the morning for breakfast. It was fantastic!:)

We also had a white elephant gift exchange. Some of the gifts were fantastic, some quite wacky. One girl came away with a can of Doom (my favorite weapon against insects). One girl won a baseball hat made out of woven plastic bags. Sometimes the crafts that come from the villages surprise me. I managed to come away with an amazing floor mat. I've been planning to make myself one, but haven't gotten to it yet. Now I have a pre-made one. It was perfect. Cement floors just don't always do it for me. After a short but amazing weekend, I made it back to the village safe and sound. The rain finally stopped and the ground is quickly drying out in the hot sun. The trip in was much easier.

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving. Mine was pretty darn good.

Week 14: Effects of Alcohol and Safety Pin Bracelets

This week we discussed alcohol and some of the effects alcohol abuse can have on a person or family. The girls didn't seem to take it too seriously, but they seemed to understand the content. Then we made beaded bracelets with safety pins. The bracelets were a BIG hit. I have hunted and hunted and hunted for enough beads to do this project with. I changed the design at the last minute thinking I did not have enough beads. Turns out, I have way more beads than I really needed. We have some left over and they can do it again next year. So awesome!

Just Peachy!

Peach season has officially begun. I just had my first peach from a
neighbor's tree. It was AMAZING! Maybe even the best peach I've ever
had. It was just the right sweetness and solidness. It looked like how
you would picture a peach to look and was peach colored on the inside,
only it was about the size of 2-3 walnuts. I never knew there were so
many different types of peaches before living here. My host family's
peaches are not ripe yet, but they have about 2 dozen peach trees.
Some are sweeter than others. Some are mushy, some crunchy. Some look
like peaches, some are more yellow, some more green, some more pink.
Some are larger, some smaller. My favorites are from one of the
smaller trees and are a bit greener, crunchier and sweeter than the
rest. Last year by January, I was so sick of peaches. I wish I knew
how to do something with them, like make pie, cobbler, jam, or can
them. Then maybe I wouldn't get so sick of them when my host family
keeps delivering them to my door.

It's A Hot One

It's 90 degrees in the shade. I wish I had a fan!

Hello Rainy Season!

The thunder is rumbling. The lightning is strobe lighting through my
shades. The rain is splattering my windows. It has stormed every
evening this week, but today it waited till 11 while I'm trying to
sleep! I've enjoyed sitting on my porch as the bolts of lightning
streak across the sky. It really is magnificent. The branches and
fingers so bright and bold. The thunder rumbles, but occationally
cracks making me jump even when I know it's coming. Eventually the
rain starts to splatter the ground, usually after a huge gusty display
of wind. The smell of rain so crisp in the air. Eventually, it turns
into a roaring downpour. I even had to put a towel at the crack of my
door the other evening as the rain was coming in at such an angle it
was flooding the floor. It quickly fills buckets when they are under
the down spout of the rain gutters, allowing me to haul much less
water. It's so much needed. All the fields and trees have turned to
green. It has, however, created a mud problem in the village.

Week 13: Money Management and Piggy Banks

our lesson this week was about money. it was like pulling teeth trying
to get a discussion with no help from my counterparts. i found out one
of the girls works in a hair salon, so that was an interesting find.
we talked about places to save money. they call piggy banks 'money
boxes.' we started making paper mache piggy banks. newspaper scraps
were everywhere. then came the balloon blowing up process. i refused
to help seeing as i had an allergic reaction to the balloon i used as
a sample. i finally had to open all the windows and step out when the
22 girls started blowing up the 22 balloons. i guess they were super
duper latex balloons and just being near them was too much. paper
mache is still one of the messiest crafts around and the room was soon
full of messy paste splatters and sticky hands. we finally got the
balloons covered with the paper. i must have done a poor job
explaining because my counterparts and i struggled to get the girls to
cover the entire object (match box and balloon) completely with paper
strips. clean up was a nightmare. slowly but surely, it happened. we
left the projects to dry overnigt so we could paint them today. well,
there was some paste left over and i was going to make a pinata for
our last day. when i got to school in the afternoon, the little
piggies were not dry and the paste pushed the lids off the containers
and overflowed making a huge, stinky, sticky mess. it was almost like
someone added yeast. so gross. we could not paint the pigs, so we
spent 3.5 hours crocheting instead. and believe it or not, only 2
girls finished a scarf! it is the never ending project. i hope they
are as proud of their scarves as i am excited for them to finish. 2
more lessons and crafts then an award ceremony left.

The Dreaded CV

i went to the high school like usual yesterday afternoon. the kids are
testing, which means none of the teachers appear to be doing anything
and only 1 class of students is on the campus. i sat down on the
computer preparing a computer skills checklist for the teachers who
want to start computer lessons. i was typing away and one of the
teachers thought she'd be sly and slip me her cv -like a resume- to
type for her. every time i've worked with a teacher on the computer,
her philosophy is 'you do it. i'll watch and learn.' WRONG! she often
hovers but will never accept my offer of her trying anything. i
scooted my chair over to let her up to the computer. she was taken
aback by my refusal, but had no choice other than to do it herself. i
showed her how to turn on the caps lock, how to type a colon using
shift, how to erase a mistake with backspace, how to use the space
bar, and how to move to the next line with enter. then i showed her
how to edit the way it looks by changing the font size, centering the
title, and lining up the text with the tab key. i know it was too much
to for her first time to retain it all, but it at least exposed her to
some possibilities. it took her over an hour to create one page, but
she did. she was so proud of herself and i hope it convinced her to
take some lessons that i have been offering.

Stomping Out The Dirt

finally...it's time. the rain has filled all the buckets and it's warm
enough that i don't need my huge, warm, fuzzy blanket on my bed at
night. i inquired with my host mom the best way to wash the gigantic
thing. first, i borrowed their 3 huge basins. i filled them with
water, syphened from the drum of rain water. i added laundry detergent
to one and shoved in the blanket. next, i rolled up my pants and
hopped in, stomping around like lucy does to the grapes on i love lucy
when she's making wine. then, little piece by little piece, i
transfered the blanket into a small, empty basin and my host mom
helped me lift it onto a wire table to drain down into another empty
basin. then, i ploped it into another huge basin of water and stomped
around. then, we repeated putting it on the table to drain. then, it
went in the third basin and with my hands was swished around. it was
hoisted back onto the table to drain one last time. finally, my host
mom and i took it over to the chain link fence and heaved it up with
all our strength to dry. then i had to empty the basins. since they
were too heavy, i took buckets and after many many trips, had empty
basins again. it took 5 basins to wash the darn thing and it took 2
full days to dry!

Week 12: Eating Healthy and Healthy Snacks

this week we focused on nutrition. we talked about the food groups and what each one does. i realized that the new food pyramid is not as easy to teach as the old one. i think if i taught it again, i'd go back to the old version. it just seems more clear cut and straight forward. but the lists of food each girl made seemed to be much easier in english than most tasks. then i thought about it and when learning a new language, food seems to be one of the first topics always covered in addition to greetings and key phrases. so for each food group, the girls got a sample. before they were allowed to touch their food though, we all washed our hands with soap. for our activity, we did some food art. we made ants on a log with celery, peanut butter, and raisons which totally flopped. many of the logs went out the window when the girls thought i was not looking. we also did 'bacon and eggs' with pretzle sticks, melted white chocolate, and hopefully a yellow m&m. we had difficulty melting the chocolate, but it tasted good. it was a quick lesson and went smooth enough.