One Week Until....

MY MOM IS IN SOUTH AFRICA!

December 2, 2010

Sorry for the lack of posts lately! I have been so busy and trying get everything in I can! :) My mom will arrive in South Africa in ONE WEEK! She will get here on the 9^th in the evening and she will have to meet the amazing people I have met here! Then on that Saturday her and I will make a quick trip to Cape Town to do some fun touristy things together as well as meet up with April and Nichole! :)

SOoooo EXCITED!

Let’s recap last week!

After I recovered from being sick I headed back to school Wednesday November 24^th! Obviously we had school here even though at home you have Thanksgiving break! :) This was the week of the Play Performance! YAY! Wednesday night I did not make it to the play because of a horrible headache but Thursday the 25^th (Thanksgiving!) I was able to help backstage. The girls put on a stunning performance! The girls from my class represented France and Ghana, they all sit on the stage and go on and off for their dance to a song from their country! It was so cute!

Friday the 26^th the girls did the play performance for the final time to the entire school! They did an outstanding job again! After break the girls headed back to their rooms, there were a few things going on in grade 1 so I visited Marvine’s classroom during their Fancy Nancy Theme! It was so cute! The girls were allowed to dress up in their “civvies” (clothes that are not their uniform!) .

They did all sorts of fancy things based on the children’s book Fancy Nancy! Painted each others toe-nails, made bracelets, crowns, and other cute girly things! See what I mean about the joys of being in an all-girl school! You can be so girly! :)

I walked home from school today because it was so nice out and Sherryl stayed home because she had been feeling sick still! While I was at school she was preparing a turkey and with the recipes my mom provided I got home and helped make cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, corn and turkey.  She also prepared a pumpkin pie! Marvine joined us for a true Thanksgiving and it was delicious! I was so happy to have a little reminded of home and it was a great meal! Well done!

Saturday morning I hit the gym with Mel. In the afternoon we got in the car and did a small road trip to Jeffrey's Bay or Jay Bay.  Here is a large Billabong Factory store and other surfer shops.  Jay-Bay hosts a huge Billabong Surfing Competitions and is said to be the best waves!

We got home and I got ready for Marvine to pick me up for Jay’s 21^st Birthday Dinner at the Cape Town Fish Market! It was a delicious meal! Their 21^st birthdays are much classier than ours! It is like entering adult-hood where ours is basically a bar event with friends. Jay’s family set up a wonderful dinner full of champagne and lovely speeches! It was the cutest and so fun! The following Sunday we spent spending some of Jay’s birthday money on cool gifts for her and eating lunch together!

 I got prepared for my last true week of student teaching at Collegiate that Sunday and off to bed!

Monday November 29^th back to school! We are nearing the end so just wrapping everything up and entering our Christmas themed week! We are working on Consonant Vowel Consonant words (CVC) like cut, bit, pin, etc. and then adding Fairy E (Magic E or Silent E) to the end! Which changes the short vowel to a long vowel! I did a lesson on Fairy E on Wednesday!

I transformed into Fairy E, wand and all! I was fluttering along with all my CVC words but lost ALL my fairy E’s! I sprinkled my lost Fairy E’s among the girls on the carpet having them each find one! On the board I displayed (displayed for Priscilla! Not, “I stuck on, or up!”) enough CVC words for each girl to have a chance to place their Fairy E on the end and transform it with my magic wand! Girls came up and placed the ‘E’s’ on the CVC words and had to say the word before and after the magic Fairy E wand transformation! They seemed to enjoy it! I assigned some sentences on the board in their lined books while I did small group reading lessons, if the girls finished they had plenty of other activities to complete, candy stick ornaments (candy cane) and a fairy picture to color. After break, we all made our very own Fairy E wands! :)

So this week has been a lot of cutesy activities for Christmas and I have also been helping another student with prep for the next grade ones which will come in January! I have been assisting in label making and such and will help more Friday and next week with that.  I have also been assisting in a swimming gala with our students to see how they place and determine times and such, I was never a swimmer so I am not so sure on the whole thing but its fun! I was a timer on Tuesday and Friday I will be like a score recorded/walker thing! Just helping out!

On Wednesday night I went with Marvine to babysit for a family who has three daughters at Collegiate Junior! Wonderful family! I am going to help chaperone a birthday party on Friday with Marvine for this family too! They also have a holiday home near a fun activity we are doing on Saturday morning, so I hope we can stop by and say hi! It was a pleasure entering this families beautiful home and the girls are nothing but sweet! They also have a jack Russell puppy who I may or may not have almost stashed away in my Vera because it was so cute! It slept in my arms the entire night! So maybe I did more of a dog sit and Marvine entertained the girls :)

Tomorrow is my favorite brother’s birthday!

 Happy Birthday Jason!

Tomorrow I am working another swimming event from 8-10 in the morning.  Then we are having a teddy picnic outside after break with all the grade-ones and having ice cream! :) The grade one girls get to wear their civvies tomorrow and are encouraged to wear red for AIDS awareness… I don’t have any red! :(

Friday evening, I am helping chaperone that birthday party with Marvine! We are going to do a picture chase challenge and there will be 12 girls in 4 teams. The teams will each go with an adult in a car and be given clues to go to random places in PE! Once they figure out the clue they will have to do something random there and capture it with a photo!

Marvine is organizing the clues!

Ok here is the big kicker, Saturday morning…

Janine, Iain, Marvine and I will be going to…

Bungy jump :)

It is the World’s highest bungy bridge called Bloukrans Bridge!

Check it out:

http://www.faceadrenalin.com/

Wish me luck! Picture to Follow!

xoxo

Miss Godmar

One Month Down!

Hello Friends!

Sorry it has taken so long for me to update you! A lot has been going on!
I can't believe it has already been a month since I got here! Not much time before my mom is here to travel with me to Cape Town and then we will be headed on our way to West Palm Beach, Florida!

Monday

 November 15

School was back to normal, tea break was normal around 10:15 and the day carried on. The girls started a cooperative learning assignment in which they were organized into groups to discuss a particular sea animal.  It was very interesting because the girls rarely work in groups and interact in such a way during a lesson.  It was really interesting to see which personalities took the lead and which followed along! They discussed their sea animal in their group and what they found out about that animal. Each group became ‘experts’ in their group and then they each presented a small fact about that animal to the class and were able to answer questions from their fellow peers. It was so cute! We are still sharing up in to Thursday of the week since the girls brought in items, created posters and researched so well! After school Sherryl took me home and I quickly changed and ran to the gym.  Here is a picture I snuck on my iPhone at the gym!

Tuesday

November 16

 School was on a normal break but we did have play practice! It is getting down to the wire now! They will be performing for the pre-primaries on Monday! On Thursday, they get to practice fully dressed in their costumes! So exciting! Be patient for pictures! 
After school I participated in a Sport Event which was for girls in grade 3-7 (I believe) who have participated in a sport of some type that year.  It was similar to a field day in the US except more fun! There were a little less than 200 girls who participated! Marvine and Janine organized everything and created an event full of 14 fun activities.  Each activity station had a staff member running it, who had clues to the next activity! It was so cute! They did such a great job. Each team was a mixture of grades 3-7 and they used the clues to find the next station.  I had an envelope of clues that led to the station where there was flour and nylons involved haha.  Seemed fun, the clue to get to my station was something about how  I was on the netball court and something about an American waiting for them! It was so funny, girls at the school who are in senior-primary obviously don’t know me but as soon as I spoke they were all sure they were at the right station! I ran a station with a game I learned at the YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids! The game is called builders and bulldozers, and I split the team into two groups: the builders and the bulldozers.  I set out a whole bunch of cones and the goal is for the builders to build as many cones the right way up and the bulldozers to knock them down to be upside-down. Each rotation had 3 minutes to complete the task.  Once the three-minutes were up, I would yell FREEZE! I counted who built or bulldozed the most cones but everyone was a winner since they are on the same team! The team earned their sticker for my station, received the next clue and went on their way! Afterwards there was hot dogs and juice for all the girls! It was so fun! 


Builders and Bulldozers!

 This was a funny one! The girls had to put tights on their head and in the bottom of the tights there was a ball, they had to use that like an elephant's trunk and knock over a 2 liter bottle filled with water! Hilarious!

Wednesday

November 17

Today I helped out in my grade one classroom and as soon as it was break time headed to Marvine’s class in pre-primary to sub for her the rest of the day! Marvine has a student from Michigan! She just moved here recently. It was a pleasure to work with them and they were so cute! They finished up some center work, did a puzzle, played outside while I had recess duty in one of the gardens! The girls made sure I was aware of what was going on and that  I didn’t skip a beat! They also told me, “Miss Godmar, you can swing if you like, teachers can swing too!” So indeed, I swung! 
 After school, I participated in a swimming gala.  I just gave slips to the timers to record scores and ran those scores back to the score table! Not much but helped out where I could! The pool is very nice and the girls swam well! It was fun, and I got to work with Leigh too! :)


School Pool

 I went home and got ready for sushi night with Leigh and Marvine! We had another successful sushi night! No movie tonight, nothing good was out!

Thursday

November 18

Sherryl was sick today! I was trusted with her classroom for the day! My lucky day, first day of dress rehearsal for the play! AHH! It was fine though! Plus seven girls were absent! This sickness is going around! Her classroom is great and two moms came to help get the girls ready for the rehearsal. The day went so well! I was very happy and excited that I am getting some time to work in new environments and be a sub in another country nonetheless! After school I went to the gym and came home in time to Skype with Patrick.  Patrick just got an internship at Colorado Springs Airport for a year! So proud of him! He just graduated from Western Michigan University with a degree in Aviation Science and Administration! 

Yay Patrick! 

He is starting in January.  I haven’t spoke to him about it or anything since they flew him out there for the second interview.  Once we were on Skype all of a sudden, internet went down! AH!

In South Africa, you pay for internet by purchasing a certain amount of gigs per month, or having no capacity on it which is quite expensive.  They don’t have bundles like we do, mind you I just got my cable/internet "bundled deal" bill for my empty apartment this month.. a whopping 70 bucks!  But anyways, we must have hit the capacity on the internet and it was down! I feel so bad because I am sure I am the cause, even though I have been very mindful of not downloading (music, iTunes, iPhone apps) like I usually do at home! And keeping my usage to Skype, email, blog and of course Facebook! 

Friday

November 19

Sherryl is still sick today! Oh no! So again I was able to step in her classroom! Today it is picture day for the play! Except, we had 10 girls absent in Sherryl’s classroom! So many girls are sick! I hope they are resting up for the big play next Wednesday evening! Marvine has taken me home the past few days! Thank you! After school I was going to go to a braai (BBQ) with Melody for her friend Adrian. I was feeling really exhausted from the week and wanted to Skype Patrick and my family instead, so I stayed home. I also got to talk to Meg and Amy! :)

Saturday & Sunday

November 20 and 21

Saturday morning I slept in and woke up not feeling so well. Seems like the weeks I have avoided getting sick, I caught the bug! Sherryl couldn’t get me into her family doctor but was able to get me to see her daughter’s father in-law who is a doctor and went to his home.  His eldest son was there who is also a doctor and his girlfriend who is studying to be a doctor.  So I had three doctors throw in their two cents, write me a script and send me on my way! Was very nice and I didn’t have to hassle with an office and paperwork of being in another country! Sherryl and I picked up my meds at the pharmacy and headed home where I went back to bed.  I was supposed to go to a concert for a band called Goldfish with Melody Saturday night and missed out on that. :( This weekend was a blur of illness, I spent so much time in bed sleeping and with the most awful headache the days run together.  Melody made me a little get well bag to remind me of home and Sherryl got me flowers too! I have the best South African family ever! Thank you, you are too sweet!


My beautiful flowers from Sherryl!

Get well - from Mel! 

 So thoughtful! They don't have Starbucks here

Monday

November 22

I woke up this morning for school and still felt awful! My headache won’t leave me! Off to the doctor! Sherryl and I went today because she was not feeling well yet either! This time we were able to get in to her family doctor. He told me to keep up with my meds I have been on, prescribed me another med, gave me a Vitamin B-12 shot and sent me on my way free of charge! I have had some bad luck in the past but have been very fortunate in other ways that make up for it! I came home and went straight to bed. The doctor wants me to be off tomorrow to rest up and build my immune system so that I don’t go back and get worse… Oh man, it is no fun being sick!

Only 8 more teaching days left at Collegiate :( 


Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I am celebrating on Friday :)

More updates soon! 

xoxo

Miss Godmar

Elephants!

  November 14, 2010

Yesterday morning I woke up and received a text from Marvine! She asked if 10 am was okay to come get me!

10 am rolled around and I jumped in the car with Marvine, Janine and her boyfriend Iain. Sherryl packed us a lunch and everything to go for Addo Elephant National Park!

Unfortunately, Melody is sick and could not come! I hope she starts to feel better.  I have not had any symptoms yet but the whole family has been through it!

We stopped at the ATM and picked up a few “cool drinks” aka juices, coke and waters.  We began our adventure to Addo. I think it was like an hour drive? It didn’t seem long with all the chat and laughter…I honestly had no concept of time yesterday.

We got to the park and you just drive your own car right through! We rode in Marvine’s Audi Coupe, which perhaps not what you think you’d take to drive through an elephant park, I am just glad nothing happened to it! After we paid at the entrance we stopped at the gift shops and looked around and headed on our way.  I am not sure what we would have done without Iain driving and navigating, he did so well!

There is definitely a reason why they call it Addo ELEPHANT Park! I saw herds and herds of elephants! Eating, walking and having a mud bath!


Addo Elephant National Park

Deep within the shadows of the dense valley bushveld of the Sundays River region of the Eastern Cape lies the Addo Elephant National Park. Here, the evenings are punctuated by the strident howl of the black-backed jackal, and the francolin's call heralds each new dawn. Safe from relentless persecution in the past, the grey leviathans of the bush now roam in peace.

The original Elephant section of the park was proclaimed in 1931, when only eleven elephants remained in the area - today this finely tuned ecosystem is sanctuary to over 450 elephants, Cape buffalo, black rhino, a variety of antelope species, as well as the unique flightless dung beetle, found almost exclusively in Addo. And their Addo has only just begun. with plans to expand the 164 000 ha Addo National Elephant Park into a 360 000 ha mega-park. In addition, plans include the proposed proclamation of a 120 000 ha (296 500 acre) marine reserve that includes islands that are home to the world's largest breeding populations of Cape gannets and second largest breeding population of African penguins.

 Please enjoy the pictures, but it does not show entirely how great of a time I had!! :) 

 Kudu

 Wart hog!

I took so many more photos but it takes sooooo long to upload them it is very time-comsuming! Please seek my facebook page if we are friends for more pictures!

After the elephant park we took a gravel road to a home-made pie and pastry place where we enjoyed some good treats! 

We headed back to PE and Janine invited us to a friend of her's home for a dart competition... Me thinking I am decent at darts, agrees and poor Marvine was stuck with me for a partner! Sorry!! We came in dead last in the competition! While there we enjoyed a braai, which is like a bbq and headed home later in the evening!

It was a great long day full of so many activities, today I spent the day lounging and getting pictures up! Back to school tomorrow! 

Thanks for following!

Miss Godmar