Victoria Park Grey Primary... My School

Wednesday January 23rd

Before telling you all about my first few days, let me first backtrack a little bit!  So there is this thing, this miserable, awful, no good thing called jet lag.  Well it has absolutely killed my sleeping and eating habits. Until Monday evening I had not gone to bed before 4am. Its been awful, along with that I found out the hard way that the tap water is not safe to drink, after being told otherwise. I just cant win! But I am living on a beach so I cannot complain too much as everyone is sitting cuddled up in blankets and sweatpants.   

Dr. Ryan, Nicole, Jill Niemeyer and Maddi

†

My advisor from NKU Jill Niemeyer and the Dean of Education Dr. Carol Ryan came into town to do a visit of our schools and living arrangements! It was great to see a few familiar faces! We had some down time to sit and relax with them and show them around PE. We were able to have dinner with them and the FreeWalkers Murray & Jordy! We will be doing all of our traveling with them and I will post about them soon! All the food here is amazing and fresh! Here is the FreeWalkers website if you are interested in reading about their volunteer and charity work!  

http://www.freewalker.co.za/

So we started school on Monday and they placed me in a Grade 4 classroom. Everything is backwards here. They write the date so that the day is first instead of the month (23/01/2013), they drive on the other side of the road, on the other side of the car! It is taking a little getting used to. But, anyways my Cooperating Teacher is very sweet and spunky! She has a great personality and the kids in the school adore her.  The classroom looks very similar other than a few major differences such as the students learn two other languages besides English. The languages are called Afrikaan and Xhosa. Xhosa is a language that is made up by clicking of the tongues and the students are NOT allowed to speak it unless in Xhosa class. This is the language that they speak in their townships, but are not encouraged to speak at school. I suggest everyone take a moment ant youtube what both languages sound like because they are very interesting! Within the three days I have been in the classroom I have heard at least 3 other languages besides the ones previously mentioned. South Africa has 11 official languages! It is very cool!  The school day begins at 8:00 am and ends at 2:00pm for the older students! The students are very intrigued by the fact that I am from America! They ask all sorts of funny questions such as "Do you hang out with Justin Bieber?" or "Is Beyonce really that tall?"  or "Have I ever gotten to eat lunch with President Obama?". Today I showed them a powerpoint of where I am from and my family and things that most average Americans enjoy! They were disappointed when they saw that Kentucky does not look like the "Jersey Shore". They do know "Turtle Man" though, which is not much of an accomplishment I am afraid.

My Grade 4! 

This is my buddy Mihiali! (Ma-KLI-Li) There is a Xhosa click within his name! He is very energetic and a goofball 

I will continue to post about school or even about the languages tomorrow! It is getting late here! Off to bed to start a new day in a beautiful place! 

Until Then!