South Africa Valentines

So last week was the week of Valentines Day and we were pretty excited to see how South Africa deals with these kinds of hallmark holidays especially since I am teaching in a high school. I have learned that South Africa definitely does not have as many holidays as America and they especially do not celebrate them like we do. Holidays in South Africa have made me realize how holidays in America are a little over-celebrated! In America weeks before the holiday there are already advertisements, products on shelves, and decorations set up whereas in South Africa holidays are not "money makers." It's more like "Happy Valentines Day now lets get on with the day" rather than in America kids make decorated boxes for all of their valentines and time is given for kids to hand them out. I didn't even see any Valentines being passed around or candy anywhere during school.

NMU Rugby game

 Monday one of the student teachers (Devon) at Liz and Nicole's school invited them to the first NMU (Nelson Mandela University) Rugby game of the season. We live just less than a mile from NMU campus and decided it would be fun to go see a collegiate rugby game. Devon (who lives two doors down from us) picked us up and took us to the game with his roommate Niel and another friend. It was really cool to see how the college students get so excited about Rubgy just like we would football. People were "tailgating" and running around just like a UK football game. The crowd was a lot of fun and it was really cool to hang out and meet other college students at a social event like this.

Devon (right) student teaches with Nicole & Liz and Niel (left)

Emily and I chowing down

Wednesday night Niel invited all of us girls over to cook for us! We live a flat away from him and Devon so we definitely don't pass on offers like this! Especially when all we normally eat is grilled cheese. Niel cooked us an amazing pork belly meal with squash and cheesy bread. I brought some cucumber/veggie salad and we all stuffed our faces with deliciously juicy pork and veggies!

Liz, Devon, and Nicole

"Team America"

Thursday was Valentines Day and it was just like any other day at school. One of the teachers made brownies and brought them in for all the teachers. Another teacher owns a cucumber farm and brought boxes and boxes of cucumbers and gherkins (pickles)! Since I eat 1-2 cucumbers a day I was happy to grab a bag! I am going to pickle some of the gherkins. Today I taught my first practical in front of the students. Since I have been teaching photosynthesis I did an experiment where you boil down a leaf, break the cell wall, and drop some iodine on it. If the leaf has been exposed to sunlight, CO2, and H2O then it should have produced starch and the iodine should turn the leaf black! It was cool because I had never done this starch test before and it was my first time teaching a lab. The kids loved it and I loved the discussions the students started!


Emily got a package in the mail so we had to take a taxi to the post office and go pick it up. This was a terrible experience. The lady at the post office would not give Emily her second package because she said it hadn't gone through customs yet... which is impossible considering in order for the package to get to the post office it would have gone through customs. After arguing for a good 20 minutes with the worker we ended up just leaving with one of the two packages and would come back the next day for it.

Niel invited us all out for a relaxing dinner for Valentines day but Nicole wasn't feeling good, Liz had just ate, and Katharine needed to plan so Emily and I took him up on his offer and we went out for dinner. Niel took us to this beach shack down the road  from us called The Island for dinner and it was perfect! The restaurant played Jack Johnson all night and the food was so cheap! We got a full slab of ribs, two salads, 6 queen prawns (jumbo shrimp), fried calamari, two huge steaks, tons of chips (fries), and 9 drinks between the three of us and the bill was R750 which converts to $75!! So cheap!!

Friday we walked into the staffroom and started telling our friend Alizma (a student teacher at Pearson from NMU) about our post office ordeal and she offered to take us back to the post office after school. She said that sometimes if the post office knows a package came from the US and could have valuable things in it they will sometimes just take it or try to grab things out of the sides of the box. Alizma walked straight up to the post office worker and we got the package within 5 minutes! We have already been here for month so I needed to pay rent again so Alizma stopped at our leasing office so I could pay rent. I had a beautiful bouquet of roses behind the desk waiting for me! Joey had sent me roses for Valentines Day and my leasing office (where our mail goes) hadn't brought them to me yet!









Friday night was pretty relaxing, there was a Valentines Dance going on at Pearson so Emily, Katharine, and I walked up to Pearson at 8pm to go check it out. The students all arrive at 6:30 and are locked in until 11pm. No students can enter or leave until 11pm. There were only about 5 adults present to the 500 students at the dance. "The hole" (The auditorium) was decorated beautifully and students were dressed as if they were going to a night club. It was really cool to see our students out of their Pearson attire and see how they interact outside of school.

The hole decorated for the dance!

Emily and I have been helping coach the Sycronized Swimming team every Thursday morning from 6:10-7am and they had a meet Saturday morning at 9am. We helped out at the meet by entering scores, calling out names, and organizing the line-ups. We were done and out at the beach at noon! The sun here is insane! My dark skin gets pink even after just two hours even with sunscreen on so we didn't stay out too late!

Team America before going out to dinner Saturday night!

Emily, Liz, Nicole, & I being goofy

Sunday morning Niel took us to lunch at a place called The Bridge Street Brewery. The food, view, and vibe was perfect for a relaxing fun Sunday. There were people playing the guitar and saxophone very calmly and mellow. The food here was amazing as well! I came here thinking I would loose weight because I wouldn't eat that much but the food here is always so delicious and fresh and not to mention Cheap thanks to the exchange rate!

Nicole's chips (french fries) were bigger than her hand

Very relaxing Sunday

Perfect Sunday weather

This week I am getting observed by my University Supervisor from NMU and I'm not too worried about it at all. I feel very confident in the classroom especially with the students at Pearson. They're so respectful and interested in what I have to say it truly makes teaching a lot more fun and easier which is good because I have a hectic schedule.