Red Location Museum & Photos of PE

Saturday afternoon, Britt, Emma (another COST student from across the hall) and I took a taxi over to the Red Location Museum in the Red Location Township outside of PE. The museum is a memorial to the South African apartheid and the people that fought for the rights of black South Africans during the twentieth century. It is a government funded project that is established right in the center of the township. The building is gigantic. It is made with steal, has tended landscapes, boasts an art gallery sans art and a library sans books. Surrounding the very modern, very sturdy museum is the Red Location Township. I can't really describe what a township is... here are some pictures.

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A majority of the houses are without running water and electricity.    

Here is a picture of some of the houses near Red Location Museum. I am standing on the patio of the museum while taking this picture... that is how close they are. 

This is Red Location Museum. It is surrounded on all sides by township homes. The first time I saw it  juxtaposed against the surrounding homes I thought, "How incredibly sad. Here stands this monument, right in the middle of this township: sturdy, fully equipped with electricity and running water, and funded by the South African government; a monument to testify to and honor those that fought for equality, while directly outside its walls the Zulu, Xhosa and various other South African people are living in poverty like I have never seen." I can't understand it. 

The education in the townships reflects these conditions. According to one of my roommates (her source was a cooperating teacher), there aren't enough teachers to teach in the township schools so they often do without math and science and stick to reading as the primary subject.  

Here are some photos from the museum:

This sign explains the establishment of the Red Location township.  I hope you can read these... you can make them larger by clicking on the photo.

  This board compared South Africa to the U.S.

 Here is a photo of the museum-- you can see it rising up out of the township like a mountain.

 There quilts were on display at the entrance to the museum. The one below was very big.

This is an alley between two of the museum buildings (there are three buildings in all).  
   

This is the same shot, just a bit zoomed. You can see the homes nearby and some children in the street. 

The red building is the art gallery-- sans art. The building was empty. You can see homes nearby. 
   

This was the only art-- displayed outside of the gallery. I guess it confuses me why they would have a display of a township home when you can look just beyond this patio and see thousands of them.  
   

Here is the view from the art gallery patio.

The third building is the Red Location Museum Library. The doors were locked; a security guard had to let us in.

This was a part of an enormous and beautiful tapestry hanging directly inside the library. The little white squares lining the bottom of the tapestry have the names and birth/death dates of a few of the activists who are memorialized in the museum. 

We were very excited to see what was in the library; everything was so new and modern. It was a very nice place. And then we walked into the Archive Reading Room... 
   

There were hundreds of shelves... but no books. 

This could be such an amazing gift for the Red Location township and the schools here. We think that they are still in the process of putting the library together. Here is hoping that they have books to put on these shelves for the people of Red Location township.


I have some photos of PE that I will post later on. You will be able to see the drastic difference between the buildings, homes, roads, etc., of PE and the townships. Stay tuned!


I am off to the beach to search for treasures.
Later!


Sarah

Miscellaneous Photos from PE, SA

My first Friday evening in SA was spent with one of my three roommates, Britt. We trekked 45 minutes to The Boardwalk (pretty much an outdoor mall/food court) and had ball. I had my first SA pizza on that trip... it was pretty tasty. I got some delicious candy at The Boardwalk candy shop (Yay!). They have these suckers called "Fizz Pops" that have this awesome sour powder in the middle-- replacing tootsies and gum. The powder fizzes, hence the "fizz" in Fizz Pop. We also moseyed over to The Boardwalk's arcade (actually we almost ran) to play ski-ball and air hockey. It was a fun introduction to a very new place.

There is a flea market style craft shop at The Boardwalk where a lot of the girls buy souvenirs for people back home. This wire and bead work is all over the place down here. It is a traditional South African art medium. The native tribes did a lot of bead work-- wore a lot of bead belts, necklaces, earrings, etc. I learned this at Bayworld. I guess that place wasn't a total bust!

It is so cool. We spoke to one of the vendors about his stuff. He said it takes a couple weeks to make a small mask like this (about the size of a small cantaloupe). Crazy huh? They are so beautiful! There is a giant zebra at his shop; it took him several months to make. He told us that the beading takes forever, otherwise it wouldn't take so long.

We went to the movies this past weekend... we didn't see The Lorax but they did have this fantastic stand-up at the movie theater! I mustache you a question... but I'll shave it for later. According to the roommates the popcorn at the theater is not tasty. They said there is no butter and no salt... so basically it is made the popcorn was created to be: healthy-ish. The movie theater was small but was very much like the theaters back home. A big screen, seats, a concession stand, box-office, ticket taker that directs you to where you need to go, many many posters and movie stand-ups and lots of pre-movie movie previews. Yep. Just like home.



Some more from Herbert Hurd Primary School...

The students line up like this every morning. Very straight. Very quiet. Ready to start a very straight and very quiet day. When I say very quiet that is exactly what I mean. I do not fit in at Herbert Hurd. :) I will say, they make a pretty mean line. First grade people. The kid out of line near the back is a 7th grade monitor. The 7th graders (top grade at HHPS) are basically in charge during break times. It is cool. They have responsibility in the school and the teachers are free to do what they need to do. It works out well. They remind me of little commanders with their troops at the beginning of the day. They've got serious bossing skills, these 7th graders.


Herbert Hurd has it's own indoor swimming pool! Here it is in all of its glory. All of the students swim two times a week. This is an awesome thing since PE is right on the shore. Knowing how to swim when you are so close to the beach is essential for safety purposes.

Here is a word-building assessment. Each student has their own box of letters. My CT had each student bring in small tupperware containers at the beginning of the year so they have storage for their sight words, letters, etc. Isn't that a great idea? I love plastic storage!

The schools here don't teach letters and sounds-- they teach sounds only. So the letter 'f' is not said this way: "EF," rather they just make the sound. the letter 'f' is the 'fff'. It is hard to explain and I'm not sure if it is working to the students' advantage. The vowels are also taught differently. There is 'a' which makes the short 'a' sound, 'i' which makes the long 'e' sound, 'o' which only makes the short 'o' sound, 'u' which makes the short 'u' sound only, and 'e' which only makes the short 'e' sound. There are no other sounds taught. There are words that students can sound out and words that they just need to memorize.

Here is a worksheet that the students completed yesterday. They were to say the word shown in the picture and break it up into the three sounds. They were then to determine the middle sound and circle the "sound" (letter) that made that sound. This was a hit or miss thing. A lot of the students did really well, but some of them really had trouble. There wasn't really a middle level on this one. And of course, when they were finished they were to color in (meticulously) each of the pictures. One of these days I am going to time how much of the day is spent coloring. I am sure you all would be very shocked. They have coloring books at their desks so they have something to do when they finish work (that needs to be colored) early.

Here is another assessment. The students are finishing patterns, "counting on" and "counting down." I love the dividers, though, with one teacher they would take a bit of time to put up. The worksheets the students are completing are below.

Finishing patterns...

Counting on and counting down...



Last Friday I led a word-building lesson with play-doh that I made at the apartment and the sight words they are learning. The students loved this activity. If you look hard enough you can see their words... even their "play-doh handwriting" is fantastic! :)

And finally, here is some student drawing. I am impressed with their vibrant pictures. A lot of the students draw similarly because they are taught how to draw in art class. You make grass, trees, clouds, flowers, etc., "just so." Still, I don't know many 1st graders that can sit and draw as long as these guys. They seem to love it.

Well all, I am verrrry tired. It is almost midnight here in PE. South Africa does not do Daylight Savings Time so instead of being 7 hours ahead we are now ahead 6 hours. Saturday we are horseback riding on the beach and Sunday we will be hiking at a nature reserve nearby. They have a beautiful lighthouse (supposedly) and a penguin sanctuary. Stay tuned for some of that!

**Also, shout out to Park School's third graders and Mrs. Miles-- I have made a video to answer all of your questions but won't be able to upload it until tomorrow afternoon (your AM). The plan is to get it online so you can see it at school tomorrow.

Goodnight friends!

Sarah

Xhosa, Electricity and FOOD

Remember Latita? How could you forget that beautiful smile?! Latita and her mama, Zookie, speak one of the several languages spoken here in Port Elizabeth: Xhosa. This language is so cool. The language boasts clicks and pops (made with the mouth) when certain sounds/letters are spoken, for example, the name "Xhosa" has a tongue-in-cheek click at the beginning of the word. Believe it or not, it is very hard to do... I have had several people try to teach it to me but I just cannot speak and click/pop simultaneously! I am trying, I really am.

So Xhosa is one of three languages taught/used at Herbert Hurd Primary School (HHPS). Isn't that awesome? Kids in grades 1-7 are taught English (all classroom instruction is in English), Afrikaans (similar to dutch), and Xhosa (a native language). Afrikaans is taught daily (mostly memorization in grade one) and another teacher comes into the classroom once a week on Wednesdays for 30 minutes for Xhosa instruction.

Today was Xhosa day! A couple of the kids in my class speak Xhosa at home-- they are 7 years old and bilingual-- soon to be trilingual! It is beautiful.

I sit in during the Xhosa lesson and learn right along with the kiddos-- it is quite fun! Today we learned how to ask someone's name and give someone our name. Here is what we learned:

ngubani igama la kho? 
What is your name? (Exact translation is: What is name of you?)

igama lan ngu Sarah.
My name is Sarah.  (Exact translation is: Name of mine is Sarah)

Some of the students seemed uncomfortable speaking the language out loud for the instructor and their peers to hear. A lot of them are being introduced to the language for the first time, not that they haven't heard it before. The instructor had the students ask one another the question and take turns answering. This seemed to lighten the mood for the kids. For grade ones they are doing well. They caught on faster than I!
One of my favorite things about living in South Africa is the diversity here! The languages and nationalities that are represented here make it an interesting place to be. You never know what language the person next to you at the check-out speaks, or what country your waiter calls home. It is really neat-- people being who they are in a place where everyone has their own thing. I love being surrounded by people speaking entirely different languages than myself. It reminds me of how egocentric I am as an English-only speaking American. I expect everyone to speak English, but why should they? Maybe I should speak Xhosa...


Last night we had a black out.

It was for 30 seconds, not a terribly huge deal, but let me tell you-- it was so dark on our side of PE. I was talking to my CT this morning and she told me that not too long ago all of PE had blackouts for hours at a time because of energy shortages. Between the World Cup (which apparently used up crazy amounts of power between the stadium, hotels, restaurants, etc.) and mismanagement in the energy realm (mismanagement in government?? Unheard of!), the people of PE, and it seems a lot of South Africa, had to go without power for 2-3 hours at a time on a daily basis. Garsha said that she remembers it lasting for a while. Can you imagine? PEOPLE! We have got to stop taking what we've got for granted! The Internet, the electricity and the food... OH the food....

So let me tell you, the food here is not like it is at home. There are a few things about the food back home that I miss: the flavors, the flavors, and.... the flavors. Most things aren't bad, they are just very different. A kind of different that I don't really appreciate. The food that I have experienced and seen is very much the same as is found back home (toasted cheese sandwiches, pizza, burgers, pitas, chicken schnitzel, "chips" (fries), Italian, Chinese, Indian, Mexican, hot dogs, etc.), however the flavors are just not at delightful. I never thought of myself as a food snob until I came out here!

There are a few McDonalds and KFCs in PE. Those are the only familiar chains. My roommates tell me that they are good but that the food tastes different. I suspected as much. I haven't had a chance to try them out for myself... the line at the closest KFC is always crazy long. It's right on the beach...

Here is a list of foods that I've seen at the Pick-n-Pay that you could find back home:

Planter's nuts
Pringles
Coke
Pepsi
Cadbury chocolate
Lindt chocolate
Twix bars
Kit Kats
Rolos
Cheerios (these are quite different!)
Corn Flakes
Special K
Nutella!!!!!
Heinz Ketchup
French's Mustard
Lipton Teas
Powerade
Glad products
Lays potato chips

Those are just some of the products/brands I can think of off the top of my head. There aren't a whole lot that I've seen. Everything else at the grocery store is pretty much the same just a different/local brand. Unfortunately for us, the local shop is pretty much on the beach which (we suspect) raises the prices a bit. It isn't too bad though... I spent R312 today on about two weeks worth of groceries-- which seems like a ton; however, this is equivalent to about $39.

I made roasted veggies in tortilla wraps with hot sauce for dinner tonight; it was very flavorful and tasty. Exactly what I needed. I am trying my hand at some cooking, Bronson. Maybe it will be perfected before I come home (HA!). As it is everywhere, it is far less money to eat in than it is to eat out. So we make it a point to eat in. :)


Those are just some of the things I have been thinking about and wanted to share with all of you. I wish I was less tired in the evening and could write more concisely so I could share more with you in fewer words! :) I am sure my skills will slowly improve as I continue to share my journey through writing.


See you in a while.

Sarah

Beachy Keen

I took another stroll along the beach during low tide this morning. There are so many creatures to see!

I officially love treasure hunting at low-tide!