I am now at site. I have decided to stop my chronicling style entries because there is just too much happening to keep up with. This leads me to not write as often. Things may seem disconnected this way but at least I will post more.

Anyhow, I am sure to talk about training more as I go along but now all I can say is that it was frustrating and at times mind numbing with moments of great interest. I am glad to be done with it but will miss the people who were there with me.

I am unable to actually tell the name of my village because South African internet tsotsis may be monitoring volunteer blogs and could strike. Therefore I will say that I live in a rural community in the Northwest. Living is easy and slow. I am with a family of 6 including 1 Grandmother (Gogo) and 5 grandchildren. The parents of the grandchildren are all working or going to school in bigger cities in South African, leaving the children here for their own schooling. The are all of very different ages ranging from 2 to 16.Needless to say there is a lot of activity at my home.

I have my own little house arranged close to the main house. It is small but it suits my needs.

The weekend was nice to relax and get myself situated and orientated. I have mostly done that but will continue to tweak and move as I get/get rid of things. Tomorrow I will start with my Phase 2 aka community integration aka lockdown. I plan on interviewing some teachers so I am going to were my teacher/professional uniform and generally look like I belong there.

I am a bit nervous but I cannot show any fear. How am I to go in there and tell people who have been teaching all their lives how to teach? It will be a learning experience.
Socks and Underwear

Saturday, September 26, 2009

I am now at site. I have decided to stop my chronicling style entries because there is just too much happening to keep up with. This leads me to not write as often. Things may seem disconnected this way but at least I will post more.

Anyhow, I am sure to talk about training more as I go along but now all I can say is that it was frustrating and at times mind numbing with moments of great interest. I am glad to be done with it but will miss the people who were there with me.

I am unable to actually tell the name of my village because South African internet tsotsis may be monitoring volunteer blogs and could strike. Therefore I will say that I live in a rural community in the Northwest. Living is easy and slow. I am with a family of 6 including 1 Grandmother (Gogo) and 5 grandchildren. The parents of the grandchildren are all working or going to school in bigger cities in South African, leaving the children here for their own schooling. The are all of very different ages ranging from 2 to 16.Needless to say there is a lot of activity at my home.

I have my own little house arranged close to the main house. It is small but it suits my needs.

The weekend was nice to relax and get myself situated and orientated. I have mostly done that but will continue to tweak and move as I get/get rid of things. Tomorrow I will start with my Phase 2 aka community integration aka lockdown. I plan on interviewing some teachers so I am going to were my teacher/professional uniform and generally look like I belong there.

I am a bit nervous but I cannot show any fear. How am I to go in there and tell people who have been teaching all their lives how to teach? It will be a learning experience.

1 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

Don't be nervous- you were put there for a reason. You know your shit. Be willing to listen- I'm sure that you will learn as much from the teachers as they will from you.

Is it possible for you to post pictures?

September 27, 2009 at 9:54 AM  

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