Home sick?!

It is Saturday afternoon and I just came inside from the pool. You can tell it is slowly sliding into winter here because the wind is just a tad bit cooler, but still nice enough to lay out. This week was very very laid back for me. We got back so late on Monday that I just went to bed. Tuesday was my productive day and basically the next two days I worked on my paper non stop. I was actually up until 3am on Wednesday like I said in my previous post. I got it done and it reminded me of pulling an all nighter back at home. I did have volunteering on Wednesday like always. Today when we first got to Masifunde the students weren’t there yet, we were early. I sat down with both Kyle and Mac and we attempted to balance the eggs I had brought in for the kids to balance. I told them the week before that you can balance an egg on its end only on the equinox, which was this past Sunday. It still worked for the most part because it is only Wednesday. The kids had a good time trying to balance the eggs and it was a nice way to kick off the homework club. Today I sat with Zenela ( I probably spelled her name wrong) and helped her with her geography. She had to correct her test which was over the rivers and mountains in South Africa. I couldn’t really help her without a map to look at and she had forgotten her atlas at school. She then read her list of words to me in English and did very well. She also had a lot of coloring to do. She said she was sick of coloring because she had been doing it all day. They all keep their school work so neat in their notebooks. They must glue all their work into a notepad and write all the answers in the same book. I wish we would have done that when I was in school because it is so much easier to keep track of things rather than throwing a bunch of papers in a folder. She was done with her work early so she was allowed to leave once she was done. She has a test next Friday so we will be studying for that more next week. Next I had Phumalale. He is always very slow to start his work, but he is so intelligent. I quizzed him on his technology homework, which is like “how do you make yoghurt or cheese”. He got almost every question right without much of a problem. He had some trouble today with the longitudes and latitudes on a map so I helped him think of some good ways to remember which is which and how to write out the degrees for North and South. Today I learned that sometimes instead of explaining something it is easier to show what you are talking about, like a visual aid. While I was explaining longitude and latitude I used a ruler and pencil to describe parallel and perpendicular. Phumalale understood as soon as I showed him. I still need to learn how to get Phumalale moving a little quicker when he starts his homework. I think next time I will give him an incentive, like if we get done with his work 5 minutes early we can play a game or something that will push him to start his homework faster. It is so tough with him because I feel like I can’t get mad at him. He knows his work, but I wouldn’t call him lazy. He is a very interesting kid and I look forward to working with him for the whole second term. Thursday Becca and I woke up extremely early to run so that we could get it out of the way. We ran then I went to class, turned my papers in and took a well deserved nap! We went out on Thursday night to the usual ladies night which was pretty fun! They play the same music every week so it is starting to get old, but I feel like if I miss one I might as well not go to anymore since I have been to every single once since I’ve been here. I sent out my emails for i2P and I am anxiously awaiting their reply! I can’t wait to follow this expedition now that I am a former Youth Ambassador! I got a little homesick this week I think. Not like homesick longing to go home, but homesick like everything is so much easier at home. I miss driving my car whenever I want, I miss my parents cooking, I miss subway, texting whenever I want to, and I miss volleyball right now. The team is currently playing at Eastern Michigan at a tournament and I really wish I could be there! I also hate rationing my Hershey’s syrup that my parents sent me because I only have two bottles and that isn’t enough for 2 months! I think I will go and lay by the pool now for the rest of the afternoon! Everyone enjoy the cold weather back at home, I’ll be thinking about you! Cheers!