2010!

{ 24/03/2010 @ 22:43 } · { Uncategorized }

Hello all!
I am sorry for the excessively long delay in between posts. My computer has been broken since mid-December, and I just haven’t had access to a computer for a long enough amount of time since then to really write a post. Ava, now that I am back on, I expect an email from you. I assume you have been ignoring me as a punishment for not posting?

So, a lot has happened since New Years! My parents and (paternal) grandmother came to visit me here in South Africa in late January/ early February. We did a lot of sightseeing around the country, and to quite a few places that I had never visited, such as Blyde River Canyon, Kruger National Park, we saw a leatherback turtle lay eggs on the beach in St. Lucia (Finally! This was my second attempt at this “turtle safari”), I drove the garden route, and got to see Cape Town! Whoo! The Western portion of the country is so very very different from the Eastern part where I live. Even the people look remarkably different.

A few highlights from this trip:
• Seeing the leatherback turtle lay eggs
• The little girls who practically live at my house met my parents
• All of my home based care workers getting dressed up in traditional gear and the wonderful braai we had at my office
• My moms face as we were being chased by elephants through KNP
• How beautiful Knysna is
• Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope
• Stellakhya wineries (the first African female wine maker in history! Whoo!)
• Robben Island

The three weeks went remarkably fast, and then I was back to site. While on the trip I celebrated my one year in country (but not my one year as a volunteer which I will celebrate on April 2nd), and returning to site made me very very sad.

It is common for volunteers to go through a depression at about their one year mark of service. Questions like “What am I doing here?” “What have I accomplished in a year?” And “What more can I do?” are all common questions, and they were all going through my head on a regular basis in the first few weeks back at site. I had a bit of a breakdown, and was seriously contemplating leaving.

I haven’t exactly resolved any of these questions (I’m not sure many PCV’s do), but I have made peace with them. At least in theory. Of course, there are always going to be days when I want to pack up and go but those days have been decreasing in frequency in the past two weeks.

I have started working at one of the local primary schools in a bid to keep myself occupied. I told the principal that I wanted to help with English lessons. South Africa has a devastatingly low passage rate for the matric test (the test that one must pass to officially graduate from secondary school). I personally feel this is because teachers are instructing in English, which is not their first language, to students whose first language is not English. I believe that by the time most learners have enough English to understand what’s going on in the classroom, they are several years behind where they need to be for that grade level. Then they are given the test in English, and cant understand it. So, although many adults speak decent English, I thought that as a native English speaker I could be of use in the classroom. So far I haven’t done much. I helped grade some papers for a very lazy teacher (who I have yet to see actually teach. All he does all day is pass back papers, then recollect them, and walk around outside and try and look busy), and babysat a 6th grade class room all day. I taught them hangman, and they seemed to like that. But I was unprepared to teach for a whole day! Apparently I need to get the curriculum schedule and a copy of the students’ textbook. And look up fun ESL games online. I have only been at the school about a week, and I’ll admit my first few days there were really depressing. How can we expect anything to change in this country when the teachers so obviously don’t care about teaching anything? I would say that a high majority of learners in this country have not much better than an elementary education. Once lessons are taught solely in English, they are left behind. However, the principal expressed an interest in starting a library, and this is one area where I know I can excel. I will keep you posted!

I have been busy since mid February with a committee meeting for Peace Corps, and a quick weekend trip to hang out with my best friend here, Jess. Additionally, preparations for the World Cup have started in earnest on my part. I got tickets to 7 games, but will only be attending 3; it is simply too expensive to get accommodation for all the games; prices have soared to three or four times their normal amount. World Cup has also forced me to change my LSAT plans. I am planning on applying to law school for fall 2011 admission, and had wanted to take the LSAT (the standardized exam for law school) in June of this year (it is only offered three times this year in South Africa). But with accommodation being as expensive as it is, I am forced to postpone my test date until October. I guess this is good, because it gives me a few extra months to study! I am aiming for a 160 on the exam.

The next three months should fly by; my best friend and her mother are planning on visiting me in the next couple of weeks! I am very excited to see them, and have some new adventures, as well as hear what they think about South Africa. After that is World Cup!

Again, I am sorry for the delay in posting. I know all of you “loyal readers” (I think there are about 2 of you) will be happy to know that I am still here.

Miss you all!