I am going to attempt to give you a brief overview of my first weekend in South Africa including some thoughts I've been having about the implications of socioeconomic status/race and the part it plays here.
I had the chance to go to dinner Friday with my entire house which includes Aegean, Prof Baxen, Lauren, Nichole, Leah & Misty (everyone except Grandma was there!)I went to a place called "Yellow House" and enjoyed a delicious Changi pizza (without cheese, of course) that was made up of spicy chicken, mushrooms, olives and onions. I had a glass of champagne as well to celebrate my adventure. We had a fabulous time and it was so great to bond with my new family. Everyone in Grahamstown is so welcoming.
Saturday Lauren, who has been here for almost three months, decided it would be great to rent a car! It's a bit confusing here because they drive on the other side of the road and on opposite seats in the car compared to the United States. Four of us decided to pitch in to rent the car for two days, which only cost about $25 per person. We went to Addo Elephant Park! This is a national park that you can drive through or go on tours through, for a decent price. It was amazing. I was able to see lions, elephants, ostrich, warthogs, black backed jackals, and many more animals RIGHT NEXT TO THE CAR!! I have amazing pictures to show everyone when I return or have a chance to upload them to my facebook (uploading takes up quite a bit of memory).
Saturday night when we returned, we hit the hot-spot in Grahamstown called "Rats & Parrots." We had a great time conversing with everyone and I am getting so used to people saying "Ohhhh you're American, where are you from?" I had some interesting conversations about the education system in S.A compared to Michigan as well as light hearted conversations about interests and fun things to do in S.A.
I was able to meet two teachers from the Senior School at Kingswood College where I will be teaching. I will be in the primary school, but after meeting these great teachers, I am super excited to meet my mentor teacher tomorrow!
I have had a couple chances to look at the "township areas" which are more like extreme poverty stricken places compared to the nicer areas where I am living. The crazy thing about South Africa is, unlike the U.S, the extreme poverty is EVERYWHERE and it is intermingled with the rich, white areas. Here in S.A they have three different classifications for ethnicity which include black, colored and white.
All of the service jobs are carried out by black people. It is very hard to get used to. Children on the street are constantly asking for FOOD....trash is littering the streets, and the slums the township folks live in are appalling. The schools are funded by taxes as well, but to my knowledge, there are public schools where very poor students go (mostly black) and then there are public schools that also require a fee to attend which the more well to do students go to. On top of these, there are also private schools like Kingswood that are very expensive to attend. So I think it is unlikely that rich and poor students would be in the same school.
Today Misty, (she is leaving tomorrow, I am so bummed) took me around Grahamstown. A young boy around 12-14 was asking for food. It is heart wrenching to think this boy may not have a place to live or a family. You have no idea how many times the world has turned on him. I bought him bread and cheese and handed it to him on my way back from the grocery. Misty said you have to be careful not to give food too much or everyone will expect it. Its so sad that I can't afford to feed the streets of Grahamstown.
Donkeys and cows roam the streets too! It is hilarious! You don't see cats wandering, sometimes dogs, but mostly donkeys and cows.
I start teaching tomorrow and I am ecstatic! I can't wait to meet my students and mentor teacher and get into the groove of Kingswood.
Miss Peterson
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