2nd to last lesson

     I can't believe we are almost done at Lynedoch.  We only have one more lesson with the kids and then (I think maybe/I hope) we have a day to have a party with them.  I think we only have 3 weeks left of school in general.  We have a lot of stuff due coming up soon.  We have our project report due on Friday, our key concepts paper due on Monday, I have a presentation due the next Friday, and we have to make a 30 minute documentary.  We are going to be very busy until school ends, so I feel that time is going to go by so fast which is good because I am kinda ready to go home, but bad because I know that once we go home we probably won't come back.
     Today with the girls we talked about substance abuse because on previous lessons they mentioned drugs a lot.  We discussed tik (crystal meth), dujah (I think that's how you spell it-weed), cocaine, cigarettes, and alcohol because those are the most prevalent here.  They were acting a little weird today, but I think it's because they felt a little bit awkward.  We ended up splitting into groups and discussing with them on a more personal level.  What we learned is that most of the girls have tried stuff.  Two of my girls smoke a pack a week which surprised me because I didn't think they would be able to get a hold of a whole pack.  I figured they would be sneaking some from their parents, but they are getting whole packs. 
     We discussed music with the boys and the girls together.  Vanessa talked to them about lyrics and how songs have meanings and messages in them and how we can find those messages in the lyrics.  We discussed a song at the end of Honey called "I believe I can" or something like that which is a really cool message to teach the kids.  After we talked about lyrics for a bit I taught them about really basic beat notes like eighth, quarter, half, dotted half, and whole notes.  After that the kids wrote down their own beats.  Some of them really got into it while others just wanted to drum on their desks.  After they did their own beats we let them dance a little bit.  The boys were being really funny and dancing like girls after awhile. 

Vanessa and the girls dancing =]

     Here is Tyler describing his classes today.  "Today in class we taught them about respect. It is a big issue with the kids here showing respect to others. They acted out skits of being disrespectful and respectful. Hopefully they learned a few things. After the first part we continued the paper mache globe we are making and added the second layer of paper. Next time we will paint them."
      When class was over our documentary group got together to film some interviews for our documentary.  Tyler tried to improvise in the middle of the interview which was a really bad idea, but it was still pretty funny.  While we were doing it this little boy Tyler calls Big Dawg sprints over to him and gives him a really big hug.  It was the cutest thing I had seen all day.  At the end of the interviews Tyler was asking the kids if they were taking the train back home.  They looked at him really confused which means they probably didn't know English well.  I did notice he was speaking Xhosa though, so I asked him where he lived and he answered in Xhosa and we had a little Xhosa conversation.  I felt so legit.

Big Dawg is the one in the middle...the other kid actually came out of nowhere and just wanted his picture taken.  He is the one I spoke Xhosa with.

     On the way home I got white hot chocolate and then we did our journal entries.  After the journals we took a very long nap.  While we were napping someone knocked on the door, but we weren't completely dressed so we pretended like we didn't hear.  The weird thing is that Tyler asked Hennie (house owner) if we had a visitor and he said no.  Oh well.  Tyler went out to grab a few groceries and then came home.  We have just been hanging out since then.  Well, that's about it for today.  Hamba Kakuhle.