Pictures!

View a slideshow of all the pictures from my trip.

Home. . .

There's no place like it! That's pretty much all I can think after all of the traveling!

Last Sunset in Africa

Although I am excited to go home tomorrow, so many parts of me are sad. Meeting all of the people on my trip that made me feel so at home even though I was so impossibly far from home makes it hard to say goodbye. Though I leave Africa tomorrow, I feel that Africa will never fully leave me. I am so grateful to have had this opportunity and experience and I hope someday I can return.

Gifts Galore

I forgot to mention that yesterday was Nelson Mandela’s birthday (he’s 92), and on the drive to Katse Dam we found ourselves on Nelson Mandela drive. I tell everyone that he is very respected in the US and that makes them so happy and proud. In fact on Friday I heard the students sing a song dedicated to him that translates to “Nelson Mandela, there is no one like him.” I see that every student can sing, and I am told by the staff that they harmonize on their own, that they are not taught how to do so. This morning walking from the guest house to the staff room I am mobbed by a group of kids who want to take my picture, I tell them I feel like a celebrity and they tell me I am one here, ha! who knew. Today I spend most of the day in the computer lab showing classes the video and doing a question and answer period along with distributing little things I brought from the US. When the kids receive the gift they do so with two hands cupped and some clap once or twice first. Once student got so excited about the pencils I was giving out that he yelled “these pencils came all the way from America!” The most interesting group are the ninth graders who, along from wanting to know how old I am and if I know any celebrities, ask how we deal with racism in the US and if things have changed since Obama has become president. I talk about the need for open communication between all different types of people and explain that all people want the same basic things in life and that all races put value on family, friends, education and their health. After all of the classes I do a workshop on designing web pages using HTML code and I help teachers experiment making their pages. They all were able to start pages and I think of how much I will miss teaching the course next year. By now it is time for dinner and I mention to Angela, the principal’s wife, that pizza is one of the main foods in the US (not to mention my favorite), and she knocks on the door later to bring me two slices. I almost don’t want to mention anything I like, because someone here will find a way to get it to me. Soon after Victor and his whole family visit me and bring the most beautiful present, a hand-woven grass mat from Lesotho, that has all of the different items from the tours we have taken over the weekend attached to it. I put two and two together and figure out the two ladies from Lesotho (my roommate and Victor’s wife) bought it for me while I was getting my passport stamped at the border and then hid it in the trunk of the car. I understand more and more that South Africans are a people that delight in surprises. They have taken the time to label everything and I feel it is the perfect gift to remember my time here.

Katse Dam

Today we traveled to another country, one that is completely surrounded by South Africa on all sides, the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho. When handing my passport to the man at the border, he just looks at all the pages, reading each one before stamping with a smile. We head toward the mountains and Victor’s wife keeps telling me that we are going to go to the very top but I do not believe her until we start to climb the long and winding road. Each view keeps getting more and more magnificent and we laugh at the signs that say “slow traffic keep left” because we are the only ones on the road. Our goal is the Katse Dam, 8600 feet above sea level. I learn along the way that South Africa buys much of its water from Lesotho and in particular this dam. Along the way we see so many people living in the mountains in traditional huts and as we wave to them they wave back and I think of how content they are with so little, but they are rich because they are surrounded by the beautiful mountains. At last we reach the dam and we are crestfallen when the man at the gate will not let us in because we did not know we needed an appointment. We are told to wait for the manager’s car and we might be let in. After 20 minutes we convince the manger to let us drive and look out over the dam and I am so happy that we waited and made our case. The view is breathtaking and not for anyone afraid of heights. Happy that we reached our destination, we drive back down the mountain, slowly making our way back to South Africa and Unicom High School for school again on Monday.

Basotho Cultural Village

Today Victor, his wife, and my roommate traveled to visit the Basotho Cultural Village located in Golden Gate National Park. On the way we stopped to take pictures of some spectacular views and then a few minutes down the road stopped to take more pictures when Victor noticed that his camera was missing! We then all remembered that we had heard a very loud boom on the roof of the car, but didn’t realize what the sound was until just that moment. We retraced our steps and were walking up and down the road looking in the bushes to no avail when a boy passed on a bike and asked Thamae in Sesotho if we were looking for a camera. We then yelled down the road to Victor and his wife to come back to the car and we started up a rocky path following the boy on the bike. We came to a small farming settlement at the top of the hill and met the boy’s brother who had the camera in hand. After giving us back the camera, we all took pictures with the children of the town. I am going to have to post all the pictures of my trip to the blog when I get back because the connection is too slow here, so please check back to see them because I have the cutest picture of a small boy we saw in the town. Everyone waved goodbye as we started down the hill, but then we heard a clanging noise coming from the back tire. Victor got out to investigate and found a long wire stuck in the hubcap, and after we removed it we had no further incidents! Arriving at Golden Gate National Park reminded me of the Southwest or the terrain of the Grand Canyon. We had already seen antelopes while driving to the park, so when we stopped the car again I thought it was to see more antelope, but then I heard Victor say zebra! I scrambled out of the car, and luckily Brad had given me binoculars before leaving and I had thrown them in my bag at the last minute. I looked through them amazed. There were three and they were lazily grazing and whipping their tails and we heard their high pitched brays even from the distance we were standing. After tearing myself away from looking at the zebra (best wildlife I have seen so far), we headed to the Cultural Village. We took a guided tour with some other tourists from Johannesburg that explained the evolution of the Basotho tribe from the 16th century to the 19thcentury; they no longer live in this way, so it is akin to visiting Colonial Williamsburg in the US. We first met the chief and his advisor and we tasted a fermented cider that was a traditional drink. We then saw a traditional healer who used bones to diagnose aliments. Next we saw the different homes for the first, second, and third wives of the chief and the huts were amazing – they used a grass roof that is waterproof, so it also stays cool when it is warm and warm when it is cool. The walls are made of a mixture of cow dung and mud and just at the next hut we see a woman laying the floor with the mixture. As we travel through the village we see that the huts became more colorful through the centuries, adding windows and eventually installing tin roofs. As we leave the Cultural Village, we are on a quest to see the elusive baboons that Victor has said are in the park. Victor’s wife has the best eye for finding any of the wildlife, and she spots them first. As we get out of the car they all start to run away, but not before I get a picture. Then we see them crossing the road further down and see a mother carrying a baby on her back! Is there any doubt that this was the best day yet!

Intro Video

Watch the introduction video Brad made me to show the kids! It was a big hit with the grade 11 class!

Cultural Day

Today is designated on the schedule as Cultural Day and whenever I ask anyone about it they say it is a surprise and smile. Celeste dresses me up with a football hat, South African flag and a vuvzela so I am a part of the celebration too. Precious and Angela win the prize for the best dressed in my book, along with Mr. Mariti. They are dressed according to Basotho culture, and have a beautiful colored blanket wrapped around them secured with a safety pin. They also have a headwrap and matching skirt underneath. But what catches my eye are the fancy high heeled shoes they wear with their outfits! We are to gather in the hall for the assembly at 12:30, but for now there is a full day of classes to go to. I visit with the 12 grade Calculus class who are in the computer lab working with a program that allows them to self check their classwork. I notice right away that they like working in pairs and do not have to be grouped together but do it naturally. At about 15 minutes to go in the period I show them the Introduction video that Brad made for me and it is a huge hit, especially when they see the amount of snow we get during our winter. They are all amazed at the size of Cleveland? and ask me if that is New York, and I tell them just wait. When they see the size of the city and the footage of the subway they can’t even believe it. They also love the footage of my sister’s graduation from high school, and tell me that they only celebrate graduations from university. As soon as the video ends they cheer and they say they all want to come to America. By now it is time to make our way to the hall, and before I can even get inside a group comes up to me and wants to take their picture with me. Once inside, I sit in the front row of chairs that are set up and see the various dances that they have prepared for me to watch. There is a boy’s dance with rubber boots that reminds me of the step team in the US, but I’m positive I am watching its origin here. The girls do a beautiful dance with a white grass tutu that has bells underneath, next comes a poetry performance, and then some more traditional dances. The students are so excited they are chanting and singing along. Finally, I am called on stage and the class president presents me with a Unicom shirt and tie that is signed by the whole staff. I am overcome with emotion that they have planned this all for me, someone they have known for such a short time. We then meet as a staff for lunch and I eat, and I’m not kidding, a meat mixture that looks and tastes delicious but I find out later is the stomach and small intestines of some kind of animal, not sure whether a goat or sheep or cow. Then they tell me that there is another part of the animal that only the men eat, and I stare at the head of the nondescript animal, and later, watch one of the math teachers eat the eye! I am so thankful that that is a men’s tradition and I am not expected to eat any part of the head or legs with the feet still attached. Back in my room, my roommate Thamae gives me the best present of my trip so far, a FIFA World Cup blanket that has all the colors of the South African flag.

Life in Ladybrand

Where do I begin? I missed yesterday’s post because it was such a busy day! After visiting eleventh graders and co-teaching a lesson on exchange rates of the South African Rand to the dollar, with the students suggesting traditional gifts that I could bring back to the US (beads, a Lesotho grass hat, a vuvuzela, of course). I went to my tenth graders again to check on their progress with their stained glass window project. They are my favorite class because I saw them first and have been spending the most time with them. I explained to them how to find the slope of a line using rise over run, not just the slope formula, and it was the first time in my teaching career that the students said “wow!” actually meaning wow not being sarcastic – they are so eager to learn! That afternoon I run a workshop for the staff on the technology resources they can use to lesson plan. The time is short and the lab has some Internet connection problems as well as computers that are not working, but overall they are excited to see the programs I am showing them and are committed to using the lab more. Directly from the workshop I go with Celeste, a math teacher who has invited me to her home for dinner and to spend the night in her town Ladybrand, on the border of Lesotho, and while driving she tells me that the King of Lesotho is behind us, and I think she is joking until I see an entourage of three black Mercedes that pass us very quickly with dark tinted windows. She has a doctor’s appointment first and I have fun exploring the shops in town while I wait. I go into a coffee shop, supermarket, and something equivalent to a dollar store called “Crazy” to buy some souvenirs. We then go pick up Celeste’s daughter Gizelle from her grandmother’s house, and they are surprised and happy to meet me. I meet Robert Celeste’s husband, who shows me something I have never seen before, a barbeque grill inside the home. The grill warms the house while the lamb cooks and the smoke goes directly up the flue. When I tell them we only barbecue in the summer and outside, they can’t believe it. After dinner we talk a lot about the situation in South Africa after apartheid. I am amazed to hear that people think that conditions were much better before, in terms of basic infrastructure and employment and opportunities for advancement for both blacks and whites. For example, the train system used to be very good, and now the trains are hardly used, and cargo has to be transported using trucks, which are too heavy for the roads and damage them, so all of the people that used to be employed by the railroad are out of work. I go to bed, thinking that there are so many sides to any one story, and the only way to find out about a situation is to speak to people who are living through the experience.

Fabulous Food

I don’t think I have mentioned the food yet! I was so worried before I came that I would starve, but the exact opposite is true. My guest house is attached to the dining hall, so the ladies who prepare the breakfast in the morning walk through my house to get to the kitchen! Then I walk in through the kitchen to get breakfast at 7. Everyone says a prayer before and after eating the meal, and prayer starts when any teacher at the staff table rings the bell (the place goes silent in seconds). Ever present is “papa” a staple that reminds me of white momalega (polenta) or mashed potatoes but of a more grainy consistency. We ate it once at breakfast with milk, then at lunch (2:30 pm) with sausages. Yesterday’s lunch was white rice and curry minced meat that was delicious. But I am most amazed at the way the meal ends. After the second prayer bell the kids are working hard to clear their tables, putting all the dishes and leftovers on a cart in the middle of the room, wiping their tables clean! and pushing in their chairs – and all this takes a matter of minutes. Dinner is at 5:00 which for me is too close to lunch, so I am given a Tupperware and the ladies give me enough lunch meat to feed an army plus a whole package of bread for one night’s meal. Would you believe that some people noticed I was not at dinner and knocked at my door to bring me a huge thermos of chicken soup!

First Day of School!

This morning marks the start of the third term and I think what a lucky time it is to visit the school as everyone is making a new start and so am I. After eating breakfast in the dining hall with the staff and students that are living at the hostel, we go to the admin block to have a morning meeting and to be addressed by the principal. The first thing I notice is how tightly knit the staff is, as we are directed by the principal to “know our neighbor,” and to “give a hug on both sides” of us, and I am amazed at how everyone quickly springs to life, embracing each other and additionally for me, introducing themselves. In South Africa it seems the word principal is synonymous with preacher, and he reads us a psalm he has selected about the contract of work we enter into and being rewarded for the quality of our work. He then introduces me and I say a few words after which I get applause?! and the principal tells me it takes “great courage to address those one does not know.” He says that I should feel at home, which of course I already do. We then go to an assembly to mark the start of the term. Students, wearing uniforms of light blue button up shirts, dark blue sweaters and dark blue pants for the boys and skirts and knee socks for the girls, file into the hall, (that has no chairs by the way), and listen to a chorus group on stage. As the group is singing, the rest of the students join in at the refrain. The principal again goes on stage addressing the students and reading and interpreting for them Psalm 33, the Lord is my Shepherd. He asks me and another new secretary to come up on stage. As he is introducing me, the students start whispering and giggling among themselves, and he tells me they are very curious to hear my accent! I then start to say a sentence about how happy I am to be at the school and they listen for a couple of seconds and are then overcome with wild laughter and just excitement. When they finally quiet down again, I say a few more words and when I leave the stage they are all cheering me as I exit – I feel like a celebrity! I am so excited now to see them in smaller groups and interact with them in the classroom. Next Victor tells me we are going to see his grade ten math class and we walk into the room and see around 32 students sitting on stools at high tables. After introducing me again, Victor says that this will be the class that is exchanging the letters that I had my students in Ohio and my mother’s students in New York write and they seem very eager to be pen pals. Victor then starts the lesson on graphing and I circulate to help them and also take pictures. Some students stop to ask me questions and are so warm to someone they just met. I am very impressed by their behavior and work ethic. I know that I am really going to enjoy working with the students here. One last thing, all teachers spent the day wearing their coats because it was so cold: one teacher had a colorful blanket wrapped around her attached with a safety pin; is it wrong to say I was very jealous? I wish I brought a winter hat too!

Visiting the Department of Education

This morning we visited Simon, one of Victor’s friends in the Department of Education in Bloemfontein. Simon spent a semester in Montana, while Victor went to South Carolina, and both went through the same program that I am in but for International Fellows. After they tease each other about the fact that Simon had to freeze while Victor got the nice weather, Simon tells me more about the school system and how it operates. He is an expert in his field (Science) and is in charge of visiting several schools in the district and seeing that they implement the standards of the country. His responsibilities could be anything from running a workshop to teaching a sample lesson and he tells me he misses being in the classroom, because he is now “office-based”. We also meet other experts in their fields, from math, Afrikaans, Technology (but what we would consider engineering), and History. After a quick stop at the Bloemfontein mall to have lunch and exchange money, we head back to school, but stop along the way so I can take pictures of some ostriches I see on a farm. I expect them to run and show off their quickness but they are lazily picking their way through the field. We also make a stop at a small town called Black Mountain, named after a spectacular mountain that is, you guessed it, black, to buy “airtime” (Internet minutes) for me. Right before we reach the shops in town I see the township, consisting mainly of temporary structures that unfortunately have become permanent residences for some. Others are waiting for permission to move into the much nicer government houses, but all of the applications take time to be processed Victor tells me. Later that evening I meet my roommate, Matheko, another math teacher at the school and I am so happy to have company. We share the homemade bread she brought from her home in Lesotho (nearby mountainous kingdom) and drink Rooibos tea (think South Africa’s Lipton tea) which I find I am addicted to.

Watching the World Cup Final in South Africa

If you had told me four years ago that at the next World Cup I would be watching the final in the host country I would not have believed it. Yet here I am sitting with Victor (my host), Neo (Victor's oldest son), Palesa, (middle daughter), Tankiso, (youngest daughter) and Tefo (Victor's nephew) watching the match. So that must mean I am destined for Brazil in 2014 right? Tomorrow is a full day where I travel into town to tour the Department of Education in Bloemfontein. Also, all of the students and teachers are returning in preparation for school on Tuesday. By the way, be careful what you wish for. It is cold here and the winter coat I bought is a necessity and Victor gave me a space heater and offered extra blankets. One last thing, the stars of the Southern Hemisphere are so beautiful! There are no lights for miles because the school is so rural, so you can see everything, even the Milky Way.

Touring the School

Right now there are no students; they come back on Tuesday to resume school after the excitement of the World Cup and the winter session. We drive past the dining hall, classrooms, administration building, and Victor's house. We see the new computer lab that has about 30 computers, a teacher station and a SMART board, though the manufacturer is different. As I play around with the technology Victor tells me that he wants me to help other teachers at the school become more comfortable using the technology (mainly the SMART Board) and I make a mental note of this for my presentations. Next we see Victor's house, right on the campus and I meet his son, the oldest. Victor's two daughters disappear for a moment and then come back in beaming and wearing I Love NY t-shirts that I gave them earlier. (When I gave Victor his Ohio State hat, and when I asked him if he knew what it was he replied "O for O.J. Simpson?" to which we all got a big laugh.) Soon after, the principal comes in (Mr. Mariti) and says "You look like Caroline, you must be Caroline" to which I replied, yes I am. He is very charismatic and I can see why he is the leader of the school. He tells me the "anxiety for my visit is very high," but in a good way, he assures me. After this Victor suggests that I get an early night to catch up on the sleep I have missed for the past few days and to kick the jet lag, to which I quickly agree.

Greetings from Tweespruit!

I learn on the ride over that I have been pronouncing the town name wrong! haha. The ending "spruit" rhymes with "eat" with a "spr" sound at the front. The landscape that passes by as we drive on the left hand side of the road looks like Monument Valley in the Southwest, but I am assured that it looks completely different in the summer, very green. Arriving at the school I see that there are several buildings that make up classrooms and offices, and separate buildings that house some students that live too far to travel to school each day, along with housing for teachers. I am shown my guest house which is fully stocked with a refrigerator, microwave, and coffee maker, yea! The space is huge, and I also have a bedroom, bathroom and extra room for sitting. I settle in and take some pictures (having trouble adding them now because of the Internet connection), unpack, and take a very needed nap.

Landing in Bloemfontein

As soon as I saw Victor, his wife, and two daughters (16 and 11) at the airport, all of my anxiety about my stay here vanished. They are the nicest, most gracious and thoughtful hosts you could imagine. After spending some time in Bloemfontein: shopping to pick out a warmer coat for me at the huge indoor mall (Victor's wife helped me find a very "smart" one which I take to mean "put together" ), eating in the food court while everyone intently watches a rugby match between the Springboks and All Blacks, and picking up some grocery essestials for me so I have something besides ramen noodles and cheese crackers, we make the hour long drive to Tweespruit and the school.

Arrived! Sort of . . .

Here is my new friend at the reception desk, who by far had the best hat and World Cup Spirit! After exchanging a "Cleveland Rocks" pin with him he let me take his picture with the life size leopard stuffed mascot of the World Cup in the lobby - in his own words "now my picture will fly all over the world!" I am staying overnight in Johannesburg because I missed my connection to Bloemfontein but this picture made it all worth it. Going tomorrow to meet my host Victor and see the school that will be my home for the next 12 days.

Packing. . .

So it's the night before my trip and by far the weirdest thing in my suitcase is a lot of 36 rubber duckies that have American Flags on them (gifts for kids in my class). You're looking at my attempt to bring American culture to South Africa (silly bands anyone?).

Looking forward to going to Africa because it will be cold?

As I write this it is 87° in Cleveland, and my sister and parents in New York are experiencing blistering temperatures of 96° degrees! I am dreaming of waking up in Bloemfontein on a blissfully cool Saturday morning where it will be 46°. Did I mention it is the middle of winter there?

Where exactly is Tweespruit?

Tweespruit Map. Zoom out to see where it is in relation to larger cities like Bloemfontein and Johannesburg.