Field Trip

     We went on a bit of a field trip today.  Grant took us to a "Granny's" home on the farm.  We had to walk to the farm which wasn't as far as I thought it was going to be.  You can't see her house from the school, but you can see the farmer's house.  Actually the farmer's mansion is a more appropriate word.  This house is SO MASSIVE!  Side note: it was super hot today.  I believe one of my classmates told me it was supposed to get up to 82 degrees.  I got to see where Luciano (one of the kids in my class) lives which was pretty cool.  The houses on the farm are different than I thought they were going to be.  They look just like big rectangular blocks with windows and a door. 
     We sat outside under the tree as the Granny talked to us.  She actually raised the farmers children which is pretty interesting.  She said that she was somewhat of a favorite of the farmer's family.  I asked her what her responsibilities on the farm was.  She said that one of her responsibilities was picking tobacco.  The workers would work from 5am until 5pm.  She said that her job with the tobacco wasn't done until she had something close to 250 boxes full of tobacco leaves.  She also worked some more in the gardens on the farm, cleaned the house, ironed the kids clothes, and as I mentioned before raised the kids.  One of the students asked her whats had changed since Apartheid for the farm workers.  Her answer was, "Nothing, never."  I was a little surprised by this because in my brain the farmers would be the ones being watched for fair treatment, but I guess since farms are so big and so spread out it's difficult.  She told us that in order to leave the farm or have anyone visit she has to go to the farmer and ask for written permission.  Grant was even surprised about that and he has visited her many times.  The farmers move the workers every 20 years or so because if a worker lives in a house for at least 30 years, they then own the house and don't have to pay anymore rent. 
     I am being terrible, the woman's name is Cathleen.  She was pulled out of school when she was 12 and worked on the farm until sometime in her fifties.  The only reason she stopped earlier than 60 is because she is a bit crippled (she can walk, just not well or easily) due to one of two things.  She told everyone that she was "bumped by a car" but the farmer who she raised suspects that her abusive husband did something to her.  The farmer she raised is actually a gay man which isn't common for farmers here.  She made a joke that his father had affairs with some of the women workers, but that it was not an issue with his son because he is not interested in women.  She said there was a lot of affairs with many women and those women would get special Christmas presents and stuff.  I know my thoughts are a little unorganized, but I am trying to remember everything. 
     When the father farmer died the son (who Cathleen raised) wanted the workers to be at his funeral because he was a kind farmer.  Cathleen said he was far kinder than the other farmers and his wife even gave her money for her children's schooling.  The funeral at the Dutch Reform Church, but had to be moved because they wouldn't allow the colored workers to go in for the funeral. 
     Cathleen has a grandson that Grant has moved in with him because there are no longer any men in her household and she was worried that he wouldn't have a positive male role model.  Grant pays for her grandson's college and sends her granddaughter to a nice private school.  He really is an awesome guy.  I can't remember much else she said right at this very moment, but when I do I will add on. 
     We went into her home after she finished talking.  It was about 15 ft by 40 ft all together.  The house was divided into three rooms.  A kitchen, a living room, and a bedroom.  At one point there were 9 people living in the house.  There is no shower and the bathrooms are outhouses that three or four houses share.  The size isn't what shocked me, but the smell.  You can tell when you walked into the house that she kept the house as clean as humanly possible.  She says that one of the things she likes to do is clean the house, but the house is so old that she can only do so much.  The conditions are pretty rough and the fact that they used to be worse is something that is difficult to wrap my head around. 
     Grant told us a story about a young boy who was so depressed about his life that at 19 he hung himself in the bathroom right outside the house.  This happened last year.  One of the girls asked Cathleen how she feels about the progress South Africa has made (or lack there of) and she said something to the extent of, "South Africa has good laws, but they aren't always enforced."  As depressing as this part was I didn't feel super sad when I left because she is such a fun woman.  She told us about her husband and how she met him and she was smiling and giggling throughout the whole thing.  She has been through so much, yet she is so happy still.  She was even flirting with one of our classmates, Chris.  She said, "You will have to come back and visit me."  She is a really wonderful woman and I hope to see her again. 
     When we got home we took a long nap because we were so tired.  We are now up just waiting for the Carolina game.  We think we have mold in our bathroom, which would explain why we have been getting sick so often, so we are going to talk to the owners about it tomorrow.  Other than that we are doin just fine.  Also, tomorrow we are going to the Cape Town Carnival.  Yay!  We are also going sand surfing on Tuesday.  Hamba Kakuhle.

Weather again.

     I got my test back today.  I only got an 80, but I will get a better grade next time.  We talked more about weather today.  It was pretty boring.

kukho imvula= there is rain

kukho umoya= there is wind/air pressure/evil spirit

-The people know the difference by the context of the conversation.

ikhephu= snow/fog

-I believe this literally means white blanket which is why it applies to both.

igabaka= frost

iinduduma= thunder

-There was no word for thunder, so this is almost an imitation of the sound.

inkungu= mist

imibani= lightening

-The word for electricity is umbani and imibani is technically the plural for electricity.

Ibinjani imozulu izolo?= How was the weather yesterday?

Agomso= tomorrow

 

He gave us some more random questions/words as well:

 

Ndicela...= I ask for

Ucela ntoni?= You ask for what?

Layila= turn on

Cima= turn off

Ukhona umbuzo?= Is there a question?

Unombuzo?= Do you have a question?

Andinambuzo= I don't have a question.

Ndinombuzo= I have a question.

 

I also learned about the origin of the Xhosa language that I am learning.  Xhosa was never written down before the missionaries came.  When they came they heard two dialects of it: Gcaleka and Rharhabe.  They combined these two languages and wrote them down.  This created what is called formal isiXhosa.  There are still a lot of other dialects, but they are considered slang or street isiXhosa.  That's about it.  Hamba Kakuhle.

Disaster

     Due to the fact that we stayed up again last night, we were slow to get up.  Luckily we got to the train station in plenty of time, so that wasn't a big deal.  I went to the LSCE classroom and fixed Grant's monitor/projector (Thanks Daddy!) and then went down to the grade 8 classroom.  The first thing we did with the girls is play a 100% true, 100% false, and in between game where we read statements such as "Women are just as capable to play sports as men, It's only a woman's job to take care of the kids..etc".  We then divided up into groups to talk about a few different subjects.  Maureen's group was female role models, Vanessa's group was about self-respect, and mine was about femininity.  Mine seemed to end before the other two every rotation, so I showed them pictures of my family, Tyler's family, friends, and just whatever they asked to see.  The girls really REALLY liked Garrett's pictures.  I literally had one girl stand up and start clapping when she saw Garrett's picture.  It totally cracked me up.  I can tell the girls are starting to open up with us which is really exciting.  During the first interval the boys came in and wanted to look at my pictures as well, so I missed the scones, but it was ok.
     My second class didn't go so well.  The kids have been begging us to take them outside and do stuff, so we set up a series of team building games that we could use to teach them about teamwork.  They were TERRIBLE today.  I could not believe how poorly they behaved.  What is really sad is that Vanessa had brought her friend from Germany to visit the class and that is what she saw.  The first game we played was really successful, but after that it all fell apart.  A third of the kids informed us that they were bored and they wanted to play their games, another third wanted to play our games, and then another third decided to lay down and just ignore us.  When we finally got them all up trying to play one of the team building games that Vanessa prepared they completely abused the game.  It was a melting ice game where they stand on newspaper and we slowly took away parts of the newspaper as the "ice was melting".  We told them that they would have to work together to save everyone, but what they wanted to do was shove people on the ground and punch and laugh at the people who they were hitting.  Whenever we spoke they spoke over us and I literally tried 7 or more times to get their attention outside until we decided that we were going to take them inside.  I was very disappointed by now because we really planned an awesome lesson for them and made sure they were outside and doing something other than sitting in desks, but they pretty much just took advantage of it.  The worse part is when we brought them inside a boy named Kusanda was by the teacher's desk and he told me that the students said that Kusanda was the reason they were sent inside.  I could not believe my ears.  I told him it wasn't just Kusanda and he sent him back to his seat and the poor boy put his head down (probably crying).  I then asked everyone who felt they were sent inside due to someone else to put their hands up.  About 5 or 6 of the people put their hands up.  I then told them to put their hands down and to answer honestly if they weren't talking over us or whispering while we were explaining games.  None of them said they weren't.  We continued to talk to them about respect and how we want to do fun things with them, but if they don't cooperate we can't do them.  I have never been in a classroom that was that disrespectful and I have been in a class when a kid flipped a desk.  It was a total disaster.  We won't have class with them until after Spring Break, so I am hoping they come back from break with better behavior.  Mr. Williams said he would also talk to them which normally I would say he didn't have to do, but if they listen to him and it works then so be it.  I felt so bad Julia (Vanessa's friend) had to see them like that.  Maureen was super upset.  Most of the talking in the classroom was done by me and Mr. Williams actually made all the kids sit up straight and listen.  I just couldn't believe how they behaved today and I am really sad it wasn't as much fun as I expected.  I expected this lesson to be one of the kids' favorites.
     Tyler doesn't have as much to write, but I will add a little bit of stuff to it.  Tyler and his group are doing an around the world theme.  Today they talked about Ethiopia and Tyler had to find a lot of cool facts about it.  Here is what he has to say about it, "Today in class we talked about childrens' rights and then we acted out skits that the kids really liked. I talked about Ethiopia and found out a couple of cool facts. One is that when kids are born they do not take their parents last name. They take their fathers first name as their last so my name would be Tyler Barry. They are also very poor living off an average of about a dollar a day."
     We had roasted chicken and gravy for lunch.  After lunch we went outside and hung out with the kids who hadn't gone home yet and the girls in Tyler's class braided my hair.

     The girls then informed me that in class Tyler said that he misses and loves DIESEL!!!!  I was like oh really??  Now I have proof.  His whole class heard him say that Tyler loves and misses Diesel, so he can no longer deny it.  We went home after class and took about a 4 hour nap.  I know that's not really a nap, but I desperately needed one and I am sure Tyler was tired because he stayed up later than I did last night.  I made Mexican tonight for dinner =].  We can't do it a lot because the Mexican stuff here is a little expensive, but we made sincharonizadas.  I thought they were just quesadillas, but he said that in Mexico quesadillas don't have meat in them so they are sincharonizadas.

     They were pretty good.  I am skyping Julia right now which is pretty cool.  It makes writing my blog much easier.

Side note: Julia makes entirely too many cake pops for her own good.  Haha.  Well, that's about it.  Hamba Kakuhle.

Dinner

     I know that I already posted today, but I made a super good dinner.  I did take a picture of it so everyone knows that Tyler is getting fed well. =]


I can't take any credit for the mashed potatoes and gravy, but the steak I rubbed with Cajun seasoning and used the same seasoning and butter to sautee the mushrooms.  The fruit here is AMAZING by the way.



Xhosa!

     I have decided to post my Xhosa lessons on my blog on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so if you don't want to read it just skip those days. =]  I am just going to list a bunch of vocab for now.

Molo= greeting to one person
Molweni= greeting to many people
Ewe= yes/how you respond to greetings
Family
Utata= father
Umama= mother
Utakhulu= grandfather
Umakhulu= grandmother
Ubhuti= brother
Usisi= sister
Unyeni= husband
(People use "u" when they are talkin about something, not to a person)
Umhlobo= friend
wam= mine (for a title or a person)
Mna= me
Hamba kakuhle= goodbye
Uxolo= sorry
Namhlanje= today
Months
uJanyuwari= January
uFebruwari= February
uMatshi= March
uEpreli= April
uMeyi= May
uJuni/iSilimela= June
uJulayi= July
uAgasti= August
u Septemba= September
uOktobha= October
uNovemba= November
uDisemba= December
(Yes, I know they are super easy)
God= uBawo
Days
uMvulo= Monday
uLwesibini= Tuesday
uLwesithathu= Wednesday
uLwesine= Thursday
uLwesihlanu= Friday
uMgqibelo= Saturday
uCawa= Sunday (literal translation is church)
Numbers
isinya= 1
isibini= 2
isithathu= 3
isine= 4
isihlanu= 5
isithandathu= 6
isixhenxe= 7
Weather
kushushu= warm
kuyatshisa= burning
*Xhosa people don't really say it's burning, they say, "Ianga likhupha iitlanzi emanzini" this means something to the extent of "The sun takes the fish out of the water"*
kufudumele= between cool and warm
kupholile= cool
kuyabanda= col
*There is this song that the kids sing in the winter about the cold*
"Langa langa                       "Sun Sun
Yiza ngapha                     Come this way
Mthunzi Mtunzi               Shadow Shadow
Bhek' eMbashe"                 Go away."
Questions
Ungubani igama lanko?= What is your name?
Uhlala phi?= Where do you stay?
Uhlala nabani?= With whom do you live?
Ufunda phi?= Where do you study?
Uvela phi?= Where do you come from?
Ngubani umzalie (utata/umama) wakho?= What are your parent's names?
Ngubani usisi/ubhuti wakho?= What are your sisters/brothers names?
Wazalwa nini?= When were you born?
Wazalwa phi?= Where were you born?
Unjani?= How are you?
Kunjani?= How is it? (referring to everything such as family)

I know this was a lot, but I was just catchin y'all up.  Hope you find something cool.  Hamba Kakuhle.

So much fun =]

     Tyler and I didn't do a whole lot today, but we went to a Braii (cookout) tonight at Vanessa's house.  Vanessa is really cool.  She is the girl from Germany who is in my Lynedoch group and she has family in NC, so she has been there before.  We all brought our own meat and drinks and brought a side for everyone to share.  The people who came were the people who are in our LSCE course and everyone is super nice.  Tyler, Jonas (Vanessa's boyfriend), and Chris (He is in Tyler's Lynedoch group) pretty much did all the grilling while the girls talked with each other.  Vanessa invited us to eat with Jonas and her friends for Jonas' birthday party on Friday, so we are going to do that and then come home and watch the Carolina game.  I told Vanessa that the next time she is in NC to tell me and I will make her and Jonas a real southern meal.  It was a really fun night and now we are just working on papers and hanging out.  Hamba Kukuhle.

Oops, forgot 2 things.

This is the first Happy Birthday Video for Tyler.  I will try to upload the other one as soon as I can.  The other thing I forgot was what happened at interval today.  I grabbed my scone and went out to talk to the kids like I usually do and I found this girl at my classroom bawling her eyes out and covering her face (I assumed it was because she didn't want people to see she was crying).  I went over and asked the kids around her if I could talk to her in private.  I asked her what happened and she didn't respond which I understand because she didn't know me.  I asked her her name and how old she was and I couldn't hear her name, but she was in the 3rd grade.  She kept covering her face even when she answered, so I asked if she could put her hand down for a second.  Her eye was swollen past her eye lashes.  I was shocked.  My first thought was that the cricket ball nailed her, but when I asked if that happened she said no.  Apparently a boy punched her in the eye.  I ran to get her ice and the Principal saw me and asked to talk to her.  Apparently it's some kid who lives on her street who is as close as family.  I felt so bad for her.  She didn't want to open her eye, but I got her to do it just to check and see if she had those red marks in her eye.  It was crazy.