Week 9-Saying Goodbye to ones..

Another week has week past so quickly. Before this experience I didn’t appreciate time and how quickly it goes past. Since being here I appreciate time, I capture every moment. Before I know I will be back on plane heading home. Although I will be heading home, I’ll be heading home to a great family. I miss you all everyday, you are always in my thoughts.

This week started off good, I was off on Friday so I had a nice day relaxing, catching up with family and friends but more importantly getting caught up on sleep. Before I came here I slept all the time. As a child I didn’t sleep a full night before the age of four but as a teenager I certainly made up for it. My parents will be agreeing with this statement. A priority this day was sleep and chilling. Friday saw a farewell ‘braai’ to more trainee teachers which we met. I had already said a goodbye the week before and this certainly does not get any easier. We had a ‘braai’ and talked about our memories. Although they were only here for a short time the memories which they are taking back to states will never leave them. It was a perfect night with lots of laughter.

Saturday was also spent lazing around the flat, Friday night was a late night so everyone was laying low. On Saturday night we had a farewell meal at the boardwalk. Definitely a great bunch of people. They reminded me of home as we always had the ‘teacher talk’. Only student teachers will understand this, we have a bond.

On Sunday we were having an adventure day. We wanted to see things around Port Elizabeth so we rented a car and set off. We had one map which had part of the roads missing as they had pictures over the top of them. Someone didn’t think about this and how silly this was. We decided to go the sea view lion park which is only 20 minutes away from port Elizabeth. This time we got out of the rental car park safe unlike the incident we had the last time. We drove along the coast to the park. The drive was beautiful. Not similar to the coast back home, the sun was shining here! Today was a hot day and we found it too much. We all thought we were going to melt away. The park doesn’t just have lions, they had other animals. We were very close to them, at some stages we could have touched them. Don’t worry we didn’t but I’m sure Marco thought about it. We saw the lions being fed with huge pieces of meat. The smell was disgusting. We also caught to go into the enclosure with five lion clubs. They were all male and 9 months old. There was a white lion which was beautiful. We got to pet them and the photo I included was the lion with made me bleed. Its paw caught my arm. I have to admit I hope it scares. I have a scare from surfing but how cool would it to have one from a lion club. I know I’m mad.

After the park we decided to go a local restaurant for a meal, the sun was shining one moment and the next a fog/mist had set in. It was so cold and I can certainly see a change in the weather. I’m wearing my jeans more often. Makes me sad…

On Monday we also had the day off as it was day. This is a day which is celebrated here because of Humans Right Day. We decided to go the beach and make the most of our day off but the wind was bad so that was a failure.

On Tuesday seen the last day of observation and the next time I am in school I will be teaching. In the staff meeting in the morning, the head wanted to arrange a hygiene talk with both boys and girls. This is normal in school where the pupils would be told about looking after themselves. To my surprise the head said that the teachers need to explain to the boys that it is not ok to urinate in the playground and on the school building. She wanted the teachers to explain to the pupils that it is not acceptable for this. I was very shocked by this but living in a township and what is acceptable is different to the conditions which we live in. My class teacher and I discussed what she wanted me to teach. In any of my teaching placements I have always been told what to teach and was given classes. Discussing this was a new experience as she told me that I can shoes what I wanted to teach and the class which I wanted to teach. I will be teaching business ventures and grade 11D. The timetable within the school changes each week and works on number of days. It’s slightly confusing so I imagine the first day I won’t teach as I won’t be on the correct day. I have mixed emotions about teaching within this school. Resources are available the way they are at home, I need to change the way I teach and think differently about the way I will interact with the children. Language will be the biggest challenge. Although I am worried and anxious about this experience, I am excited to teach them. I look forward to standing in front of classroom enhancing what the pupils know, its been over a year since my last placement. Teaching is differently what I want to do. Not many people from Northern Ireland can say that they have taught in a township school in South Africa. Jonny and I are lucky to have this opportunity.

The rest of the week was spent in class, experiencing new things. Each week I feel more settled but I still become shocked at the way some people live here. I forgot to write about but the day we went on the apple express we were outside the bantry when the bins were being lifted by the garage people. There was about 10 people going through the rubbish to see what they could have. I don’t know if this was to eat but I am sure this is why. It was a sad experience as it shows the quality of living which experience here.

Love Jayne xoxo