In the last week we have really experienced the variety of African weather. Apparently summertime is usually very unpredictable - it can be 35 degrees one day and then raining and cold the next. For somebody used to Scottish weather, experiencing so much heat at this time of the year is strange... I think my body is still expecting to go into hibernation mode. It is however, quite funny seeing staff wandering about the school wearing a Santa hat accompanied by shorts and a t-shirt. And because of the current postal strike in South Africa, everyone's joking that Santa will take this year off - the kids don't find the idea too amusing though.
This week I continued working with the Lifeskills class which was lovely. The kids are making great progress with their performances for the Christmas Concert and all the costumes are almost finished as well. One of the dances is very traditional and I get to wear a very fetching Zulu outfit along with all the other girls. The boys have to wear leopard skin and headbands. I'm personally very impressed with one of the kid's progress with the song Umbrella by Rihanna - she's gone from knowing almost no words to singing each line perfectly. She suffers from epilepsy and has difficulty remembering and pronouncing words, so I decided that the best way to help her remember the words was through actions. By working on a couple of lines each day and then rehearsing what we'd previously gone over, she improved slowly and steadily and now - almost two weeks later - she's singing them better than RiRi! It's a huge achievement for her and an extremely rewarding experience for me being able to see that my method of teaching actually worked!
I also had the pleasure of meeting one of the Lifeskills students who has been out of school since we arrived. Her absence is sadly due to sickness, but she'll hopefully be well enough to come back soon. It was her 18th birthday on Monday so we all sang Happy Birthday in the various languages of South Africa and finished by having a very impressive cake. Her Mum then handed out personalised face cloths with a thank you message on the back to all the staff - I was very touched as it was my first introduction to her.
In other news: I sent off my Christmas parcel yesterday (hurrah!). It will hopefully reach home by next week and then I'll leave it up to my parents to hand out the cards. I had to send it via DHL so that it wouldn't be affected by the current strike - a little pricey but worth it. We've also been invited by one of the teachers to accompany her on a weekend Buddhist retreat in the mountains in two weeks time. I think it's going to be so interesting and I can't wait to see the mountain setting. Since being here we've only visited the mountains once and I do miss them because living in Scotland you grow so used to that kind of environment.
Next week I'm back in Mainstream and I can't wait to see all the little rascals again. I'll definitely have some funny stories for my next post. Before I go I'd like to add a quick link to a video I took in Swaziland. I've had great difficulty trying to upload videos for you all to see and finally found a solution by creating a Youtube account where I can post all my South Africa footage. This particular video was taken when we went to visit the cultural village in Swaziland and the local choir performed for us - Enjoy!
Cultural Village Choir
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| Summer Flowers |
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| Summer Flowers |
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| A very desperate sign |
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| Morning walk to the Enrichment Centre |
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