Second message from SA

Aloha!

I am back… Currently at Emil Weder High school in the teacher’s computer room. Today it’s Valentine ’s Day and the pupils were asked to dress in red or white instead of their uniform which is quite cute:).

We have started our internship this week and have sat into a few classes to see how the teachers go about. I can assure you, it’s nothing like in NL! You’d think all the pupils here are very quiet and shy but they are actually quite wild. It is odd to see how some of the pupils respond to our presence here…. It’s not very surprising since we are the only two “foreigners” here but still… sometimes their responses can be quite abnormal (screaming, whistling etc) in my opinion but overall everyone is very friendly and helpful.

Margriet and I will be teaching at Emil Weder on every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. On Monday and Thursday afternoon we will teach at a primary school across the road because the 7th graders could use some support from us too. In total we will be teaching 9 classes and we will see all of them twice a week. It’s quite scary to teach in English, knowing that the learners’ first language isn’t Dutch but luckily Dutch and Afrikaans is quite similar. So as long as no one starts “clicking” and speaks Xhosa we will be fine!

Last week I didn’t do much, we had quite a busy schedule filled with workshops and Afrikaans class. The introduction week ended with a short visit to Cape Town and a camping trip. Nothing special we just hung out, played the Djembe and had like 4 BBQ’s that weekend. I thought Aussies liked BBQ’s but the Africans are quite fond of it too!

Also, I would like to let you know that I have been driving here…. Not a perfect driver (yet) but anyone who’s ever sat next to me in a car can imagine how scary it was for me the first few times. I drove to Greyton (about 10 min) a few times, Caledon (about 30 min) once, yesterday and I drive to school every day.

It isn’t so much driving on the left side that’s hard but the clutch (we drive very old VW’s here) that I really struggle with -_-‘… but luckily Margriet or someone else is always there to give me a hand when I have to shift gears and can’t get it right :). The other thing that needs some getting used to, is the fact that I have to drive on gravel roads, UPHILL (helling proef!!)…. Anyway, so far so good!

Okay folks, that’s it for now… hope you are all doing well and should you want to Whatsapp me (mobile internet <3), my mobile number here is: 0027769301545.

Take care xoxo