Kidlets

Monday:

·         Work Site: I just need to finish some last touches on the social work program. Also, I am rather sad because Angela, the lady I have been collaborating with, is also leaving Dance For All.

Tuesday:

·         Imbasa! Today I went with Stuart to Imbasa Primary where both he and Mary Claire teach. It was such a hectic day! Stuart works with the fourth graders and it was just a huge free for all the whole day long. Although he told me that they were particularly well behaved that day.

·         I had a blast playing games with them (hand clapping games, fire on the mountain, and tomati solisol), and we brought in some colored chalk!

·         After their break, Stuart had to go type something for his teacher (who had disappeared all day anyways) so I got thirty fourth graders of my own for the afternoon. We wrote stories and then I let them loose upon the chalkboard with the colored chalk. It turned into a mural of “I love Shannon!” everywhere, which was too cute.

·         Some variations of the spelling of my name: Shanon, Sharon, Sara, Chanin, Sanra, Shama, Sharna, and Mary. I think they called me Mary because of Mary Claire…

Wednesday:

·         For Bridget’s birthday we went to a gay bar, which was a blast. They had a drag show, and she was pretty damn hilarious. Bridget also got to take a body shot off a very muscular waiter, so she seemed pretty happy as well.

Thursday:

·         Mary’s mom is here, and so she came to Lotus when we went to go tutor. Luwando took us around and we even got to see his house and his mom’s house! It’s really interesting because they just look like compilations of corrugated metal and wood, but you open the door and he had a huge TV! Mary’s mom seemed rather nervous about where she was sending her daughter, but she definitely had a blast playing with the kids.

Friday:

·         We had all of our friends from Lotus come for dinner! LYDC  (Lotus Youth Development Council, which we have been working with) organized it, so we hadn’t met all the people that came.

·         We cooked them a “traditional American meal” that included Mac and Cheese, cornbread, chili, and pasta salad. They really liked it all, but I think we were a lot more into the mac and cheese than any of them (you can’t get it anywhere here. We’ve tried).

·         We also played a ton of games with them, and it was pretty great seeing them try to figure out charades! I was a jackal.

·         After all the Lotus people left, we were on such a high that we played a house-wide round of sardines!

Saturday:

·         So I walked for 9 hrs today. No big deal.

·         We did Skeleton’s Gorge Part II with the whole group. Only this time, we walked down the front of Table Mountain and several of us walked all the way around Devil’s Peak back to Obz! My feet were quite sore indeed, there was much barefooting.

·         Also, on our way down, we passed a ton of Indian people. A lot of them were in business suits and nice shoes. It was so bizarre to see! But someone mentioned that there was a Muslim holiday that involved people “taking a journey” so we guessed it had something to do with that. I was also quite happy that some of them pointed out my nosering and asked if I had ever been to India (I was so thrilled to tell them yes!)

·         On the front face of Table, there was a guy playing marimba. It was so perfect and beautiful. Just imagine that as your office every day!

Sunday:

·         Because we are going to UWC, we had the U dubs braai. I talked to many students, and I am really peeved at our program for doing this in the last several weeks, and not at the beginning when we could have actually seen any these people again.