1st Day of School

So we kind of had a wild start to our first day of school.

6:30 I woke up with my other roommates. We all took showers, which caused water to seep through the walls into the kitchen and hallway. This is not the wild morning because that’s been happening since we got here; they’re trying to fix it.

7:15 Everyone eats toast with peanut butter for breakfast.

7:40 We rush out the door so that we are not late for our ride. We are going to Pendla Primary School for our Welcoming Ceremony. We all have our cameras packed because the children are supposed to a very cute performance for us. We also will get tours of the school and people like me will get assigned to a classroom to work in.

7:45 Thirty CSB/SJU students are waiting by the front gate for our private taxi cab service to pick us up.

7:55 Thirty CSB/SJU students are still waiting.

8:00 After a phone call to the taxi cab service, thirty CSB/SJU students are told that the taxis are not running today. That’s a nice way of saying the drivers are on strike.

8:00-8:15 Our professor, he can be long-winded, explains to us that it isn’t the private taxi companies that want to be on strike. It’s the independent drivers (who drive what we would normally take to school, Combies) that are on strike. The government is trying to phase these taxis out to make public transportation more used for the upcoming World Cup in 2010. For safety, private taxi drivers also have to take the strike. And actually, for safety also, the buses go on strike too. So unless you have your own car (not many people do) you have to walk to work, school, Pendla…

We had to cancel our trip to Pendla because it was too far to walk, and it was raining. We will have the Welcome Ceremony on the first day of volunteering, next Monday. The students going to the House of Resurrection will not be able to attend the Pendla Ceremony.
But we still have to get to NMMU somehow, because it is the first day of school. So our director and assistant director (both from CSB/SJU) are going to shuttle us in their tiny cars, making 4 round trips to get us to class. We’re going early to activate our cards so we can use the internet and to buy books. Then class starts at 2:00. Hopefully there are no other glitches in our day because I really want to get a first day of school picture taken! I’m pretty disappointed about not getting to go to Pendla today. I was very excited for that and now we have to wait till next week. Also, now we’ll be missing out on a day of classroom work since next week will be the Ceremony on Monday. We are scheduled to volunteer every week, Monday and Tuesday from 8:00-12:00. Great for my resume!

The soccer game yesterday was fun. It was a very local team (minor, minor league) so they weren’t very good but it still was super fun. During the game, the fans would sing beautiful songs in Xhosa. They were all great singers; and although we didn’t know what they were singing, we were all enchanted by the music. They would start off slow, then get faster and end with a strong clapping beat that cheered on the team. Someone in my group said they were singing a 4 part harmony. At a soccer game!

Right now to prepare for my Senior Seminar class, I am reading Nelson Mandela’s autobiography Long Walk to Freedom. I am really enjoying it so far; I’ll let you know if it’s a must-read.

I brought my first load of laundry to the launderette today. It cost $3.50 to wash 5 kilos of laundry. Seems pretty cheap to me! And they do it for you! Everything is pretty cheap here. A movie costs $3; although I don’t know how many of those I’ll be going to see while I’m here. Sorry Erin and Andrew, the cost of living here is a little bit cheaper than in Nome.
Anyway, we’ll probably be leaving for school soon (hopefully!) I’ll write later to tell how the first day went! We’re eating lunch at the school cafeteria; I hope it’s like at home, all-you-can-eat style.

Hope you’re all enjoying your semi-warm weather and the snow melting doesn’t cause the roads to get super icy! Love, Lauren