All kinds of social!

Well week three is coming to a close, and I am pleased to say that I have made some progress in the social department!  Well, some is a relative term..

First of all to my CSBSJU-PE family, our two friends still want to be my friend!  On Thursday, I went to Captains with Anga, and listened to horrible, horrible karaoke.  And I did that.. too many times. Juhhhh.  Yesterday I went to Barney’s with Noel, and just as I remember, it was filled with man thigh and really terrible mullets.  Such different worlds..

But I really have made some progress!  I now have mastered the greeting!  I previously wrote about the awkward hug, and occasional kiss that happens when you see someone.  I was doing it all wrong! What you need to do is a silent kiss.. no pucker required! I couldn’t figure out why everyone gave me a funny look, but it was because I was hesitating and then going in for the kill!  Only about 50 kisses later do I really have it down.  Feeling good about that one…..

Also, I am feeling good about the amount of forced bonding I have forced on my 10^th graders at Masinyusane.  When I first got here, my goal was to be quiet and observe.  Take it all in; see what worked and why it worked.  Well.. it sounded like a good plan, except I don’t speak their language.  SOooooo that made understanding nearly everything that happens a bit challenging.  Anyway, my new approach has shifted from weaseling my way in, to required bonding techniques.  I think that I am making progress, because they all keep asking me when the next time we are going to get together is!  I was at home the other night, obviously catching up on my candy crushing, and my phone rang three times!  It was my student calling to make sure that I was going to come the next day to watch movies with them. J And that we did…… 6 hours of spider man movies…  I think the next time we have a movie day I will conveniently only bring the harry potter series.

I also am slowly trying to introduce country music to South Africa, but am meeting a lot of resistance.. We drove to Addo Elephant park earlier this week, and I thought it was the perfect time to show them how cultured my music selection is!  I serenaded them to a little Wagon Wheel, and the kid in the back got sick….So far, the only “acceptable” bit of music on my iPod is Eminem.  If Pac, Dr. Dre, or Lil Wayne are not in the song, it’s not worth listening to. .  By the end of the year, I am envisioning a change.  They are all going to be bumpin’ Toby Keith and FGL in the taxis.  I was able to go to a township Jazz concert on Friday, and holy hannah did it redeem this country’s musical inclination!  So so amazing!  It was held at the Red Location Museum, which is a really fascinating and relatively new museum in the township that has rotating exhibits on events that have directly affected PE’s New Brighton Township.  Somehow, we got on the “vip” list, and they shuffled us into this hall and they gorged us with amazing food!

Anywho, life is good. I am so so so greatful that I am in the middle of this amazing opportunity! While I am hoping to be able to be a positive influence for some of these kids, I can’t even believe how much I am learning about people and their grace! 49 more weeks, and I’m going to make the most outta them!

On Monday, we took my 10th graders to the beach for the day.  It involved a whole lot of soccer and some water.

On Wednesday, we took Blake's (the other Masinyusane volunteer) 9th graders to the Addo Elephant Park.  I was driving (YES!!! I WAS DRIVING THROUGH AN ELEPHANT PARK IN MY SHIFTER CAR!!) so I handed my camera off to one of the boys in my car, Siya who took a whole lot of selfies, and a few really good shots like this one!

So really though, this happened!  My car was busy making a talk show out of the elephant's actions.  It got quite interesting when one alpha male got angry at another for coming too close to his girl!

Here was our touristy group!  On the left is Blake, the Canadian volunteer who I get along well with.  In the middle is Jim, and in the yellow is Fiks.  The two of them are the heart and soul of Masinyusane, and are very empowering people!  It is so great to be surrounded with such selfless guys everyday! The shorter girl in front is an old youth leader who is now away at University.  The rest of the kids are grade 9 learners at Lawandlkazi High.