Things are really winding down here and I have some mixed emotions about it all. This past Monday was our last day in the classroom with our learners. We played capture flag, had a dance party, ate lots of ice cream, and taught them a little bit more about the World Cup. We gave our supervising teach, Mrs. Adams, a card and some flowers that she was extremely appreciative of. We gave each learner a note from me, Jeff, and Andie and told them all what their new email address were. We made an email address for each learner so they can stay in touch with us independently and become more familiar with technology. Two of our students read a note from the class, one in English and one in Afrikaans, thanking us for all we’d done. We gave the learners time to write us notes because Grant suggested that it would be a good way of helping them deal with goodbyes and it would give us something to physically take away from here. So many of them wrote amazing notes to us and I was so impressed with them. They've become much more confident in their own abilities since we arrived and it was really apparent as they didn't hesitate to write notes in English. Before they were so worried about making a mistake that they were reluctant to write even in their school workbooks. I can't wait to put all the notes together in a frame to hang in my room next year. It was sad to think that this was our last opportunity to teach the learners, but because the day was pretty chaotic and we knew we’d be back at Lynedoch on Friday it wasn’t an especially difficult goodbye that afternoon.
On Wednesday I went into Cape Town with 4 of my friends to get a visa for Mozambique. After 7 days of camping in Botswana and 3 days of sightseeing in Joburg, we’re going to spend 2 days in the capital of Mozambique and 4 days on the beach. Thanks to some early birthday money from my Aunt Eileen and Uncle Donn (thank you!) I can now afford to join my friends on this extra excursion. So the 4 of us going to Botswana will be meeting up with 5 other friends in Joburg and the 9 of us will get to spend a week together. After lots of meetings with our lovely travel agent at Stellenbosch’s Adventure Center, a trip to Health Services to get Malaria pills, and a few hours at the Mozambican Consulate we’re finally all set for our big trip. The US dollar got a bit stronger so now $1 is equal to R7.60, and one Metical (Mozambican currency) is equal to roughly R5, so our money should go a long way while we’re there. And the trip itself was extremely cheap as well, so I’m really excited about the whole thing.
Yesterday was our last official day at Lynedoch Primary as we had to give our final presentations and hand in our portfolios. Because of several hours in the computer lab and an unnecessarily late night I only had about an hour of sleep, but I was really looking forward to the day and was quite energized. Each group of 3 presented in any format they chose for about 15 minutes. It was just our classmates, Grant, the principal (Mr. Jansen), and 5 guests from the International Office at the university. Me, Jeff, and Andie had written a story that went back a forth between the tale of Jack and the Beanstalk and our own personal experiences. We were really pleased with how it came out and I think the audience enjoyed the story. It was really nice to see each of our friends present because even though we talked about our general experience at Lynedoch every week, we didn’t always know exactly what went on in their classrooms. Once all the presentations were over and a few people made short thank you speeches, my classmates and I performed a song for everyone. On our first day at Lynedoch back in January Grant introduced us to the song ‘Shosholoza’ and it had an immediate impact on us, so we decided to sing it as a thank you to him, Mr. Jansen, and all the classroom teachers that had joined us in the room. I think we sounded pretty good considering less than half of us have decent voices, and I know Grant appreciated it. As we were singing, we had a slideshow going that included pictures and quotes from Grant that we’d gathered throughout the semester. Hopefully I can get a copy of the video that was taken and post it on here for everyone to watch soon.
Once I got back to campus I passed out and took a 2 hour nap before I had to get ready for our final AIFS group outing. We hadn’t been told where we were going so it was a pleasant surprise when we pulled up to Hestea’s, our resident director’s, house in the big bus. We got to meet her husband and two adorable sons, Francois (age 4) and Johannes (age 2), and enjoy some champagne for a bit. Her house was so nice and had a beautiful view of the mountains from her backyard. We only got to stay for a little while before we had to move on to our dinner destination. We ate at a restaurant called Wynhuis in downtown Stellenbosch and had a lovely time. Hestea gave a speech, along with Angelo her assistant, and a few of my friends announced the superlative winners. The food was fabulous, especially because we didn’t have to pay for it. Afterwards a big group of us went out to a couple bars for some serious dancing. It was sad to acknowledge that this was the last night everyone would be together, but we all had an absolute blast.
Tonight I went out to dinner with 14 of my service learning classmates, and that too was bittersweet. We had a delicious meal at a restaurant called Beads and really enjoyed each other’s company. Most of us were too tired from last night to go out again, so we all headed home. I had to say goodbye to Eva and Aafke, the two Dutch girls in my class. We pretended it was a temporary goodbye, because it’s really sad to think that I may never see them again. It kind of hit me tonight that it really is ending so soon. With everyone going on their trips and some people going home early, our days together are dwindling fast. There’s no doubt in my mind that I’m ready to come home, but I definitely don’t feel ready to say goodbye to the people that I’ve met here.
Here are some pictures from our last day in the classroom...
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