Being honest I was glad as I received sad news from home that my cat, Daisy had sadly passed away. People may think it was only a cat but it was my wonderful cat who was left as a kitten all alone at someone’s front door. My mum and I were its new mums. It will certainly be sadly missed.
Now that I have discussed important issues which happened this week, we had planned a something exciting, bungeeee jumpppp! Aaron decided that this was how he wanted to spend his supposed to be last day. He wanted to bungee Jump of the World’s Highest Bridge Bungee- 216 metres in height. Being the wonderful girlfriend that I am I decided to go with him, to jump or not that was the question. He had recruited two others to do it with him, Hege from Norway and Kadie from Germany. The four of us set off, everyone was definitely doing it, I was unsure. I can’t even go to the top of Victoria Square without freaking out. For people reading this at home they will be laughing, it’s not high. I was not only worried about the rope breaking but was worried that I would hit a bird on my way down. This is typical for me, negative thoughts! My parents and Aaron will be agreeing with this. We drove 200km to the bungee jump and I was still unsure. Could I really throw myself of a bridge? As you can see from the photo I was very nervous. My hands are sweating as I write this thinking about it. We watched others jumping, hearing their screams was very off putting to me. Hege, Aaron and Kadie had registered, I completed the form and when the woman asked me for mine, I had hid it on her. I was so unsure whether to jump. Aaron paid for me so I was going to the middle of the bridge, maybe I would jump. If I didn’t jump I would lose the 60 pounds which we had just paid. The walk over to the bridge was awful, you could see straight down. My group were amazing with me, checking if I was ok.
We went to the middle of the bridge to jump and of course I was the last person to jump. I was very nervous and could have easily cried with fear. Hege was the first to jump from my group, her face when she came to the top again showed so much excitement, Aaron was next with his superman t-shirt on. He was very excited, I actually had to tell him to stop talking to me because he was very hyper. I was nervous, very nervous and I think everyone knew. The music was loud so it took my mine of it slightly. Yeah right, 216 metres is a long way down. Kadie was next and she jumped without any worries. Each time someone came up, it was wonderful the look at their face. It was my turn, ohhhh noooooo! He put the rope around my legs, tighten it and told me to have a good jump. The rest I can’t remember and I when I watch my DVD, you can see that I was nervous. The guys who work there helped me over to the edge. They ask you to put your toes over the edge of the bridge. I wouldn’t let the guys go. I think before I jumped I told them I couldn’t do it, my mine was a blank.
Next thing I remember is 5 4 3 2 1BUNGEE…………. 
The first 4 seconds you freefall, you don’t feel the rope. Those four seconds were crazy, being on a rollercoaster times 1000! You then start to feel the rope tighten. It happened so quick but I loved it. Although I was very scared before I was glad I done it. I faced fear head on. I have to admit I don’t think I could do it again.
Jayne Lois Lamont jumped from the World’s Highest Bridge Bungee-216 metres. Can you tell I’m so proud of myself?
Sunday was spent organising Aaron’s flights and telling parents etc not to expect him home for over a week. His work was very good to him and understood the situation.
School came around once again and I was excited to the week’s events, teaching children is wonderful feeling when it goes to plan. The learners within my class were grade 11 and aged from 16 to 17. I was teaching them about putting a plan into action and starting their own business venture. The learners needed to think of a product to sell at a market which was being held in their local community. I wanted them to think of product which was unique to their culture. They needed to be creative as being creative will help you to stand out within the business world. They were divided into groups. Some were selling food products such as chicken feet and heads in a sauce. When I asked each group what they were selling this group made my stomach churn each time. They told me it was a delicious meal but I told them it won’t be a meal that I would be having any time soon. Imagine me eating chicken feet and head. No thanks! One thing which I found difficult within the class was the use of language. The learners are taught in English but their first language is Xhonsa which I don’t how to speak. When working in their groups they would communicate in Xhonsa therefore I needed to look at their work and body language and try and establish if the group was working. I had an incident when one group didn’t want a girl to join their group. They were talking in Xhonsa and wouldn’t speak to me in English. I watched the body language of the group and rearranged the group. The lack of communication was very difficult but I gained experience to be able to deal with it effectively. From the finished pieces of work I believe that although I wasn’t able to communicate with them all the time, they followed my instructions well.
During one of my lessons I was left with the learners by myself, back home I prefer to not be as you never know when something would happen. In South Africa they seem to be very relaxed with the learners. Throughout this lesson, the learners worked well for me and I believe that they had gained respect for me. I had built a relationship with the class. I allowed the class to pack up early as it was last period of the day. The learners never have to line up so they gained a new experience as I asked them to line up. I won’t let them go until the bell rang and to my surprise they started to sing Christian songs to me in English. When would this ever happen back home. This is a cultural difference which I have noticed in school, the coloured people love to sing and dance. Within the staff room, teachers would sing and dance, creating a nice atmosphere. Staff rooms back home are very different, teachers are more reserved but I think from experiencing this, it better to be more upbeat, lets be happy to be in school.
Lessons this week varied as the teacher didn’t want me to teach some lessons and won’t tell me until I was in the classroom about to teach. I found this slightly de-motivating and I found that I wanted to teach them, I wanted to stand at the front and be Miss Lamont. This proved to me that teaching is what I want to do, it’s a passion which I hold.
On Friday I got a combie home from school by myself. This may not seem as a big deal but for me to it. Before I started placement townships were a place I definitely didn’t feel comfortable in. I waved down a taxi and they took me to location then put me into a different combie which took me to the central taxi rank. I was about to get when the taxi driver told me he would take me to my stop. They then put me into another taxi and I reached my stop safe. Many white South Africans here say that combie are not safe but I was looked after very well. Not one person looked at me because I was the only white person on a combie, they treated me like I was one of them. When I was in the combo, I handed my money to the man beside me and he didn’t have any fingers. This shows that medical care here within the public sector is very different to home. It was probably easier and cheaper to remove all his fingers than try to re-attach them.
I really enjoyed this week at school and enjoyed another week with Aaron. As I have wrote in previous blogs that food here is great and having it cooked by a Northern Irish boy made the food taste even better. This weeks social activities were keep to a minimum with only walks on the beach and the cinema on Wednesday. I was in bed early every night so I would be refreshed to teach again the next day. Student teaching can be slightly boring but I enjoyed relaxing. Weeks here have been very busy and it was nice to chill. I would have a few weeks at the end to do lots of activities.
Hugs from South Africa
Jayne xxxxx
Jayne Lois Lamont jumped from the World’s Highest Bridge Bungee-216 metres. Can you tell I’m so proud of myself?
Sunday was spent organising Aaron’s flights and telling parents etc not to expect him home for over a week. His work was very good to him and understood the situation.
School came around once again and I was excited to the week’s events, teaching children is wonderful feeling when it goes to plan. The learners within my class were grade 11 and aged from 16 to 17. I was teaching them about putting a plan into action and starting their own business venture. The learners needed to think of a product to sell at a market which was being held in their local community. I wanted them to think of product which was unique to their culture. They needed to be creative as being creative will help you to stand out within the business world. They were divided into groups. Some were selling food products such as chicken feet and heads in a sauce. When I asked each group what they were selling this group made my stomach churn each time. They told me it was a delicious meal but I told them it won’t be a meal that I would be having any time soon. Imagine me eating chicken feet and head. No thanks! One thing which I found difficult within the class was the use of language. The learners are taught in English but their first language is Xhonsa which I don’t how to speak. When working in their groups they would communicate in Xhonsa therefore I needed to look at their work and body language and try and establish if the group was working. I had an incident when one group didn’t want a girl to join their group. They were talking in Xhonsa and wouldn’t speak to me in English. I watched the body language of the group and rearranged the group. The lack of communication was very difficult but I gained experience to be able to deal with it effectively. From the finished pieces of work I believe that although I wasn’t able to communicate with them all the time, they followed my instructions well.
During one of my lessons I was left with the learners by myself, back home I prefer to not be as you never know when something would happen. In South Africa they seem to be very relaxed with the learners. Throughout this lesson, the learners worked well for me and I believe that they had gained respect for me. I had built a relationship with the class. I allowed the class to pack up early as it was last period of the day. The learners never have to line up so they gained a new experience as I asked them to line up. I won’t let them go until the bell rang and to my surprise they started to sing Christian songs to me in English. When would this ever happen back home. This is a cultural difference which I have noticed in school, the coloured people love to sing and dance. Within the staff room, teachers would sing and dance, creating a nice atmosphere. Staff rooms back home are very different, teachers are more reserved but I think from experiencing this, it better to be more upbeat, lets be happy to be in school.
Lessons this week varied as the teacher didn’t want me to teach some lessons and won’t tell me until I was in the classroom about to teach. I found this slightly de-motivating and I found that I wanted to teach them, I wanted to stand at the front and be Miss Lamont. This proved to me that teaching is what I want to do, it’s a passion which I hold.
On Friday I got a combie home from school by myself. This may not seem as a big deal but for me to it. Before I started placement townships were a place I definitely didn’t feel comfortable in. I waved down a taxi and they took me to location then put me into a different combie which took me to the central taxi rank. I was about to get when the taxi driver told me he would take me to my stop. They then put me into another taxi and I reached my stop safe. Many white South Africans here say that combie are not safe but I was looked after very well. Not one person looked at me because I was the only white person on a combie, they treated me like I was one of them. When I was in the combo, I handed my money to the man beside me and he didn’t have any fingers. This shows that medical care here within the public sector is very different to home. It was probably easier and cheaper to remove all his fingers than try to re-attach them.
I really enjoyed this week at school and enjoyed another week with Aaron. As I have wrote in previous blogs that food here is great and having it cooked by a Northern Irish boy made the food taste even better. This weeks social activities were keep to a minimum with only walks on the beach and the cinema on Wednesday. I was in bed early every night so I would be refreshed to teach again the next day. Student teaching can be slightly boring but I enjoyed relaxing. Weeks here have been very busy and it was nice to chill. I would have a few weeks at the end to do lots of activities.
Hugs from South Africa
Jayne xxxxx
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