Passion Takes Risk

October 30, 2010

Thursday after school I ran errands with my new South African Family :) We went and got groceries and to a craft/bead shop which was very nice. The grocery stores well and most larger shopping centers have workers who direct traffic, show where open parking spots are and help you back out, it is also similar to a security guard as they are supposed to watch your car for you, when you leave you pay them a small fee. The family I am staying with have had two cars stolen in the twelve years they have lived in PE.  Like most grocery stores in the US, someone packs your groceries for you, but you have to pay for plastic bags. I wonder if we will ever adopt that idea? So we bring the reusable bags to pack our groceries.  I helped pack the groceries but then was assisted by a worker who said if anything is packed wrong, blame it on the American! Haha I was just trying to help!

In South Africa, it is common to have maids in your home and I think at the home I am a guest in they come twice a week to clean, do laundry and other miscellaneous tasks.  They also have a gardener.  The family I am staying with is so generous in that they also send food home with their workers so they can feed their families as well as be paid.  It is so refreshing to know that I am fortunate to have met these people and be welcomed into their home. Could you imagine just taking some foreigner in and welcoming them to your home? I am so lucky (in so many aspects); otherwise I am not quite sure where I would be? Perhaps, on a plane ride home… Sometimes I think I have the strangest luck for some reason!

“Everything happens for a reason”

That quote is so common, so simple but I am pretty sure it was written for me. Every time something like this happens to me I often think of Mrs. Bassett and our strange luck of how I was placed in her room and became such great friends. I miss Cummings Elementary!

Sherryl, my host mom, (funny that my real mom’s name is Cheryl) cooked a wonderful dinner and we all sat together and ate.  We watched a little television and I showered and went to bed.  I sleep so comfortably here and it is very nice to wake up in the morning, enjoy a cup of coffee and head to school with Sherryl.  School is only 1 minute down the road! :)

Looking towards the street from my new home!

 The street their home is on

 Grade 1 Classroom

Friday at school the girls were excited for the weekend we were missing a few girls but the day went well.  I brought in my candy or ‘sweets’ for trick-or-treating and explained a little about Halloween. I showed them pictures of pumpkins Patrick and I carved together last year and explained that we still dress up for Halloween and go to parties. The girls all had a chance to share what they would want to be. It was so cute! We did a dot-to-dot pumpkin counting by 5’s and colored it orange. (Thank you for my membership at ABC Teach.com, GVSU!)  They then cut the pumpkins out and glued them to a larger piece of white paper where they drew what they said they wanted to dress up as.  It was so fun! Afterwards, they all got to choose a piece of candy or a sweet from me!

The picture I showed of Patrick and I last Halloween and our carved pumpkins :)

The girls working on their jack-o-lanterns!

After school I went home and dropped off my bag and Sherryl and her daughter aka my new lovely sister Melody and I went to a shopping center that had an event called Christmas in the Home, I think… It was like a parking garage converted into about 100 little shops full of homemade things.  Nice things.  I can best describe it as a flea market but not cheap or dirty.  They had anything there from fruit, cake, coffee, jewelry, clothing, art and so on.  I really liked a lot of the stuff but took business cards instead to purchase online if I really need to! I got some gifts for a friend  and Sherryl bought a nice painting.  It was a great experience. 

We got home and Sherryl prepared dinner to-go in a picnic basket.  She made burgers and we were heading over to a friend of theirs home who just had twins! They are just over a week old! Sherryl and her family are so generous and made a meal to share with them so they didn’t have to worry about dinner that night.  We sat and chatted there for a while and ate.  Afterwards, Sherryl and her husband, Dudley, drove me all around Port Elizabeth and I became more familiar with the area.  It was nice to see so much, and they have a great view of the city from the top of where their home sits.  I saw so much last night!

Today, I am going to hang out with Marvine we don’t have any set plans but just adventuring PE! She picked me at noon and we ventured to the local shopping centers as we looked for things to wear to Prize Giving this Wednesday.  Prize Giving is like an award ceremony for the school since we are coming to an end.  Logically, this is the end of the school year for SA.  The grade one students I have now will become grade two students in January. I have come at an awkward time as the end of the year is just around the corner.  Anyway, Marvine and I did not have any luck shopping, much with anything! I bought a pair of linen pants that a lot of people wear here and some leggings.  I also bought some full size shampoo and conditioner since I have been using just my little travel-sized.  The shops are nice and fair-priced.  A store called Woolworths, where  I bought my pants is like our Macy’s except it sells groceries as well! My goodness, Grandma Betty would love this store! Shopping with nice items from make-up, jewelry, home, and clothes AND groceries! Haha, it is quite nice! We walked many shops, found a lost boy and returned him to his father, saw a few students and ate pizza at a local restaurant called St. Elmos.  Americans beware, Crème Soda – A Product of Coca-Cola is not in fact what we think would be cream soda! It is in fact bright green and I cannot even describe the taste.  I can say that I probably will not be ordering it again.  Marvine is so nice to take me around PE I had such a wonderful time today with her!

"Creme" Soda

After that I got home and had a mini-Skype session with miss Amy Lynn and loved seeing her beautiful face! I am missing friends and their Halloween Parties but so happy to be a part of this family here. 

For dinner we all ate together and had chicken and veggies, it was delicious! Sherryl asked me about Thanksgiving and how we should cook for it! My mom would roll over laughing if she was here, me, cook Thanksgiving dinner? Oh dear… I have emailed my mom for recipes and I will celebrate Thanksgiving on Saturday the 27^th with my South African Family :)

I never showed you the way I plug my things in here either! haha 

I will keep you updated! Love you all and thanks for following!

Love,

Miss Godmar

What a Week!

The day after my birthday!! :)

Well let’s just say I will never forget my 24^th birthday.

The first week of school has already been amazing.  The school is so nice and the staff is even better.  I have not felt more welcome since I have arrived since going to school and also moving. Minor detail… For circumstances that I was unhappy with I moved out of the flats and into a home of a grade one teacher who’s classroom is next to the one I am in a guest in. She is wonderful and I have seen more and done more since my move last night on my birthday! She has a daughter my age who is also studying to be a teacher, a husband and three dogs. Her eldest daughter is married and lives in Cape Town.  My cooperating teacher or the teacher’s room who I am a guest in is also great.  I will truly get a great experience out of this.

My new room

I have met a wonderful first-year teacher (Marvine) in the pre-primary grade (kindergarten) and her and her friend Janine who is also completing her studies in education have just shown me a wonderful time here.  After they helped me fetch my luggage from my old host family’s place they took me out to eat to a restaurant basically on the ocean, in front are also public pools. We then went out shopping and I got to see a lot of Port Elizabeth and a better understanding of the area. It was great! I hope to do more with them as my stay continues.

These pictures are from the restaurant the girls took me to for my birthday!

On my birthday I received flowers, balloons, cupcakes and gifts from the staff.  Then all twenty-seven of my students sang me Happy Birthday in two languages, English and Afrikaans. Truly amazingly bright girls.  I also wore a birthday crown in class all day as the girls insisted. Birthday Princess :)

Flowers on my birthday :)

Grade 1 with me and my birthday crown

My girls are so well behaved and polite.  They have what I can best describe to you as British accents and always say, “Good morning, Miss Godmar” or “Afternoon, Miss Godmar”.  On my first day they asked a lot of questions about America and about myself as well.  They think I sound like a movie star and one girl even told me, "your voice is so lovely I could listen to you talk all day"…haha

   I am still getting in to the groove of things and how the schedule works but so far I have been helping wherever I can and doing small reading groups with the girls.  It reminds me of Mrs. Bassett’s class and baggy books or Mrs. Muller’s room with book basket books! 

   Oh, but we still have chalk boards! The girls will even bang the erasers to get the excess chalk off, not as a punishment, voluntarily.  Everyday we draw names for a student to take the class teddy bear home, Wilbur.  He even has a travel bag with accessories.  The girls get to spend a night with him and then can write a short letter about all they did together.  This letter is then placed in a class book.  No student gets to take him home during the weekend, but the girls have offered him to me, perhaps I will be lucky enough to take him home this weekend! 

   Today, we built bird-houses because we just finished learning about birds! They made them with one piece of wood, a ring, four little eyelet screws and two pieces of string. Then they are to put a piece of bread on it with peanut butter and seeds and see which birds come to their home.

Building a Birdhouse!

Finished Bird-homes

    The girls are also practicing for a school talent show and performing a class dance divided in to two groups per class assigned with two different countries; we are France (we are doing the can-can) and Ghana (dancing to waka-waka)! So cute and the costumes are even cuter!

I bought some Collegiate Junior clothes today to wear to school.  On days the girls have “sport” teachers can wear that outfit, not only does it match the girls but it’s comfy to wear.  I got a pair of sweats, a polo and a pullover warm-up, pictures to follow another day!

Tomorrow is Friday.  I am going to do a little lesson on Halloween and talk about trick-or-treating.  No one will dress up or anything but the teachers thought it would be nice for me to show them something we do, haha.  I bought some Kit-Kats and Snickers bars at the grocery today and will hand those out as well as a pumpkin worksheet. We shall see!

Gosh I feel like I am forgetting something, but this is good for now, at least it is an update!

I miss everyone and it is not the easiest thing to be so far away from home but thankful for the love and support! :)

Love,

Miss G.

Getting Settled

This weekend was spent getting settled in my room and purchasing groceries.  The two other GVSU girls and myself have all pitched in and buy food and what-not together.  None of us are too picky of eaters so it should work out okay. 

We walked to the grocery store yesterday but first went to the beach! It is only about a ten minute walk to the ocean! It was overcast and began to down-pour once we reached the beach! We got soaked! We took cover in the local grocery store and stocked up on some food! We carried all the groceries back which was quite the task, but not too bad! We have to eat! 

It is difficult just arriving and figuring out a new city.  I don't feel acclimated yet, but with my first day of school tomorrow I think I will start to get used to everything.  We don't have a car and there really is not much public transit in our general area.  We are more in the suburbs of PE and it really isn't safe to walk anywhere at night, even in a group.  We took a taxi to go out last night, and Jeanine will take us to and from school everyday.  I need to figure out a way to see more of the city, I am hoping to meet people at school tomorrow that can shed some light on must-sees while I am here! 

Today, I have not had much to do, I have become a little homesick and missing a lot of people today! Hoping the start of a routine tomorrow will take my mind off that!

Here are some more pictures! Enjoy!

Our Guard Dogs, who also wake us up with barking in the morning

The outdoor patio with our clothesline and our flat to the left

The wall that is around the entire property complete with electric fence

My new 'home' for 2 months 

Another homes scary spiked electric fence!

The beach on a very overcast rainy day

Downtown PE Straight Ahead

The local grocery store, Pick and Pay

The ocean! We saw two dolphins swimming here!

Lindsey, Me, & Anna

All GVSU COST Students and my flatmates

Our first night out in PE

Local restaurant on the water called Barney's

Aren't these pictures wonderful! I took them on my new camera from my parents that I got for an early birthday present! My birthday is Wednesday! 

Take care and thanks for the comments! :)

Love,

Miss G

I MADE IT!

October 20, 2010

Yesterday and into today I have received some amazing gifts for my travels! Friends have been so generous making me travel survival kits filled with magazines, treats, hand sanitizer, coffee, journals, books to borrow, an amazing camera, and so much more! I am so thankful and fortunate to have received so much! THANK YOU!

I left Detroit Metro this afternoon and was sent off by my mom, grandma and Patrick.  I couldn’t fight the tears, but someone made me cry first….

I managed to stuff what I hope will serve me well the next two months in SA.  I have two suitcases.  One weighs 34 lbs and the other 55 lbs.  (What kind of math story problems can you make out of this? Any ideas Mrs. Bassett’s class?)

Luckily, I was not charged for having a bag over 50 lbs since the smaller one weighed so much less.  I also have a purse and big Vera carry-on thanks to the Bowman Family! :) That bag must weigh 50 lbs by itself! Needless to say, my arms will be sore by my arrival. 

No pictures to include of traveling in the Detroit airport or the endless conversations April, Nichole, and I had.  We are just TOO excited, and right now these flights seem like cake for what’s ahead! We can’t wait to just get there.  None of us are sitting next to one another on the plane to Atlanta but Nichole is in my row.  I am concerned that we won’t make our connecting flight to SA since we left 30 minutes after our departure time. YIKES!

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

October 20, 2010

We made it to ATL and right during boarding for Johannesburg (JHB)! The flight was long but provided many movies/TV shows for viewing. There was literally something for everyone to watch.  The ride was very long and I slept a lot. They served three meals on the plane that actually weren’t too bad! I had one cup of complimentary grape juice YUM! They also had a map of the plane flying over and the route we were taking…I think we traveled some 9,000 miles from ATL to Johannesburg!

Plane View on my Flight from ATL to JHB   

                                                  Window view over some part of Africa

October 21, 2010

Once we arrived in JHB we had to go through immigration, get our luggage and re-check our luggage for the next flight. Since Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth (PE) is a domestic flight I had to pay for overweight and too much baggage. Go figure. 

This picture is for Patrick! Crazy big plane! 

We boarded our final plane to Port Elizabeth (PE) and left around 7:40 PM.  I arrived around 9:20 PM and all my luggage made it! YAY! , I was happy it all just got there! April and Nichole took a shuttle to Grahamstown which is a little over an hour of a drive from PE.  They arrived safely there too! Jeanine, who I am living with, picked me up last night, drove me home along the sea shore and I settled in the flat on the back of their property.

                                           South African Airways (SAA) Proudly Serves

                                                               Coca-Cola for Jason! 

Once I got here, I was welcomed by three COST students Brooke, Megan and Mike.  Mike carried my suitcase to my flat, of those people I mentioned above none of them live in my flat.  Eight total COST student’s are staying at the Botha’s.  They have two four-bedroom flats complete with one bathroom, kitchen and lounge.  Anna, Lindsey and I share a flat with a boy from South Africa.  Anna and Lindsey are all GVSU students with a psych/special ed. major. I don’t know much about the boy that lives with us because he left early this morning to visit home. He also has a car here.

My Desk

                                                   My bed

Wardrobe

                                                My bedroom
    

There is a draught here right now so we have to take really fast showers and try not to waste water.  We are supposed to keep our showers to 3 minutes.  We are also not to drink the water because it isn’t really treated the way we do in the States and is recycled from sewage and not necessarily to our US standards. EWW!

Note in the Bathroom

                                                                         Bathroom

We also have a small washing machine for our clothes but no dryer to cut down on electricity.  All our clothes will be hung out to dry on a clothesline by our flat! The washer is the white machine on the bottom left of the kitchen picture.

Kitchen

                                                                              Lounge 

Jeanine will drive us to and from school everyday.  We are going to leave around 6:50 am and I believe we get around 1 PM for a school day! Not bad! We start Monday the 25^th.

October 22, 2010

Today we went to the Pick and Pay, which is the local grocery store.  Anna, Lindsey and I bought some items together but were rushed to leave so Jeanine could send the nanny home.  Jeanine has twins, one boy and one girl.  We were also able to purchase some adaptors so we can plug all our stuff in!

The Internet doesn’t work very well but I am more than happy to try and Skype.  This BLOG has not been very user friendly in that I cannot receive comments from you!! If you have any questions or want to share something

 email me at: kellygodmar@gmail.com or

 Skype at: kellygodmar

Well it’s Friday and the weekend so we are going to try and fit in some adventures of our own this weekend! We shall see!

Thanks for following, I will post more soon!

Love,

Ms. G

One Week!

Hi Friends!

Tomorrow is my last day at Sibley Elementary with my sweet kindergarteners! It will be a sad day, as I feel like we are just starting to get to know one another and become a better classroom community. I will miss them so much!

This past weekend was great.  My parents, grandma Betty, my brother (Jason), his girlfriend (Aubri) and my boyfriend (Patrick) all came to visit.  It was a wonderful time full of lots of laughs, cake, and neat gifts! My grandma gave me a bracelet made out of forks, it is very unique!

Here are some pictures from our weekend at the GVSU Football game.  No pictures from the 5k we did on Saturday morning but I will mention I walked the race with my dad and Patrick.  My mom and Megan ran, preparing for their 1/2 marathon this Sunday!

Aubri, Jason, Me, Patrick

Dad, Mom, Me, Pat, Jason, Aubri and Grandma in the chair!

Me and Jason

I also had the pleasure to dine with two of my best friends, Megan and Amy, on Sunday night. We went to Rose's on Reeds Lake.  It was a great dinner and even better company.  I am so happy I had the chance to see them before I leave and will miss them when I am gone...

Last night, I was home in Fenton for a few hours.  I went over to Patrick's house in Brighton and had a wonderful dinner with his family and celebrated my birthday. It was nice to see everyone at his house and have Briley (his 3 year old niece) try some of my kindergarten activities. His mom baked me a delicious cake :)

Tonight, I am attempting to pack some items to bring home and hopefully figure out exactly what I want to bring for the big trip! Yikes! It is not an easy task for me to pack nor keep it under fifty pounds.

One week... I can't believe it!

Oh and that reminds me, Ms. Peterson and I Skyped tonight! So, I have it and it works!
My Skype name is: kellygodmar

<3 Ms. G.

GVSU Homecoming Weekend

Hello :)

Prior to my departure, my family is visiting this weekend for GVSU's Homecoming.  We will be participating in the GVSU Homecoming 5k run/walk, watch the Michigan vs. Michigan State game, tailgate, and attend the GVSU game as I relive my glory days as a former cheerleader.... Can I still wear a bow to the game?  ;)  

Tonight, my grandma and mom arrived because my mom has a conference to go to at GVSU tomorrow morning. I am so happy they are here and that we can all drink a cup of coffee together tomorrow morning before the start of the day!

They came with a surprise...

13 days!

<3 Ms. G

Two Weeks

Like I say to my kindergartners everyday, 

Hello Friends!

     In exactly two weeks I will depart from Detroit, MI to Port Elizabeth, South Africa! 


For those who do not know much about my trip I will explain it a bit. As I am entering my second and final year in the College of Education at GVSU (Psychology-Special Education major seeking dual-endorsements in Cognitive and Emotional Impairments with a minor in Elementary Education) part of my Fall 2010 general education student teaching could be done in another country through a program called COST (Consortium for Overseas Student Teaching). After I applied and was accepted my placement was chosen out of top three picks.  South Africa was my number one choice! I thought that it would be such a great place to go that not many can say they have traveled to.  I will be living with a host family and a few other students in the COST program from around the United States and two girls from GVSU! I am looking forward to building some new friendships! 

For the past five weeks I have been in an accelerated general education full-time student teaching program. I am teaching kindergarten in a local GRPS elementary school and next week will be my last week as I wrap up my unit plan! I will finish up the rest of my student teaching at an all-girl elementary school in South Africa.  I will not know what grade I will be teaching until my first day of school on October 25. How exciting, I hope it is upper elementary so I can have two completely different experiences this semester in a general education setting.  However, if it is lower elementary it will be very interesting to see how their curriculum compares to the kindergarten classroom I am in now.  Either way, it's going to be great! I will post a link to the school so you can check it out:

http://www.collegiate.co.za/site/ 

I will be teaching there until December 3 (My brother's Birthday!) and then venturing to West Palm Beach, FL to spend Christmas with my family on December 17-January ??? Which means I will have about two weeks to venture SA, school/assignment free!

I cannot believe how quickly this trip came up on me! I am nervous and excited at the same time and cannot wait to share my experiences with you all! 

I am having some anxiety about packing; what to bring to teach in, adventure in, and of course as many of you may know about me what Vera Bradley bags to bring...Decisions, decisions.  

I do feel comforted by the fact that my friend, April (Ms. Peterson) will be flying with me all the way there along with another student in the program.  They will be in Grahamstown, South Africa.  I think it is about an hour away from where I will be.  I plan on meeting up with April during my time in SA and staying after our placement concludes to go on some adventures of our own! (ie. bungee jumping off the world's tallest bridge, safaris) 

If you can please keep my Blog friendly and "G" Rated, as my former students (YAY for Cummings Elementary and Mrs. Bassett!) and others will be following! Thank you :)

I am looking forward to keeping you posted on my travels and to read your comments!

<3 Ms. G