It’s the end of the week (March 4, 2010) and the end of Ben’s visit to Africa. We’ve tried to plan some special things to do in celebration of this time with Caroline and Mom. The Cape Town trip was certainly special and then back to reality while the car had to be repaired and I went back to work. Ben spent Tuesday sleeping in and then hanging around until I got home. Wednesday, after visiting Annalie’s 4th year students to explain our documentation project, we headed to Child Academy to meet my friend Maggie and tour the classrooms and talk with the preschool teachers. Then there was some shopping that Ben wanted to do so we went to Bruma Market, one of my favorite shopping places. After getting turned around several times and then a frantic call to Themba for directions, we got onto the right road and made it home in our borrowed car.
For people who know me well, I love my family, shopping, and work so the day was pretty satisfying for me. I got to talk with students who are so much like the JMU students I teach and they were so helpful with the project that Annalie and I are trying out together. Annalie is not only a wonderful colleague with whom I am working on 2 major projects, but she is also a good friend. She’s the one who makes sure that I have a vehicle that works, she draws all kinds of maps to get me around the area, and she’s always recommending fun places to go. She also sends those encouraging emails that remind me to smile or laugh or enjoy my weekend.
Then, I spent the afternoon at Child Academy with another dear friend. Maggie, and teacher in a child care center in Alexandra, is an expert in early childhood development and preschool education. She and her late husband, Isaac Mahlatsi, started Child Academy as a model early childhood center and the school has grown to serve children from 2 years of age through grade 7. She and I talked with Isaiah Modiba, the current director, and the teachers, identifying areas of professional development for the teachers and resources for the school to maintain the vision of a high quality learning environment in the middle of Tembisa township.
Even more important than our conversations about work, though, is our history together. Isaac was the reason I first came to South Africa. I met him years ago when he visited Harrisonburg and wanted to see a model early childhood program. Of course, I took him to see our Young Children’s Program. Isaac was impressed with what he saw and as I got to know him better during that visit, he shared his story of moving from Youth Development to Early Childhood. He became a dear friend and his home became a base for members of Trinity and for me as well. Of course, once in his home, there was Maggie.
Maggie has 3 children whose ages match 3 of my children. Karabelo, her eldest son, is about Suzy’s age; Tclapi is about Abbey’s age; and Tsidio is Ben’s age. On the days that I lived with the Mahlatsi family, Maggie and I would talk about rearing children and dealing with the challenges of being wives, mothers, and teachers – all over cups of % Roses and rooibos tea. She laughs when I tell her I think her cooking is “yummy” (which it is) and she thinks my lasagna is delicious (mostly because it’s a quick and easy recipe).
After our time at Child Academy, Ben was eager to get to Bruma Market to do some shopping for his friends. I had a sense of where it was, but wasn’t exactly following the directions that Isaiah and Maggie were giving so Maggie led the way and we followed. Once at Bruma, an area of J’burg, we waved goodbye and made our way to the market for about an hour of intense shopping. Shopping at markets is more than just running in, making selections, and then paying for goods. It’s being invited into small stalls to look because, “looking is free. It doesn’t cost anything to look.” Once you start looking, then the sales person makes many recommendations of items that will be sure to fall into your price range. If you find something you actually want to buy, then the haggling begins. Remember that to determine the cost of any given item or set of items, you must divide by 7.5 (or by 7 if you have trouble mentally calculating with a decimal) to see if you’re willing to spend that amount of money. Of course, the shopkeeper starts his price high, then you have to figure out how far you are willing to negotiate for what you want and be willing to walk away. It’s unusual that you won’t find almost the exact same thing somewhere else along the way and the shopkeepers never sell for less than what they are happy with. Once you buy something, several shopkeepers from nearby stalls grab you by the arm to invite you into their spaces “to buy some small thing to help me out as well”. Ben did well with his purchases and I succumbed to a couple of necklaces and we started for home.
Now, I had been trying to follow Maggie to the market in heavy traffic, so I wasn’t exactly sure how to get back to the highway to get home. This time there were a series of wrong starts and stops, followed by a phone call to Themba, and Ben’s good eye sight to get us homeward bound. Thank goodness for leftovers for supper!
Thursday was Ben’s day. I packed up my map book, Ben’s flip camera, a sweatshirt and we headed off early for our morning with the elephants, eager to see what would really be in store for us. We had been past the entrance to the sanctuary before so we found it without getting lost (again thanks to Nico’s map from our first adventure to the dam). A small group of us, 3 people from Denmark, a couple, a set of grandparents, son, daughter, and grandchild, and the two of us made up the 10:00 group. We were led to an area with some wooden benches arranged in a semi circle around a small corral. Three of the five elephants were led into the corral from the barns where they sleep at night. People were getting their cameras ready when Ben leaned over to ask where his flip was. I had said I brought it along, but it was still in the car. We were stuck without a camera and I could see the disappointment on Ben’s face.
Simba, our guide introduced us to the elephants and their trainers, giving us some background on how the animals are cared for, some basic behaviors they display in the wild, and information on the particulars of each animal. Then one by one, a trainer would have his elephant perform a behavior such as kneeling down and then Simba would explain that the elephants typically bend when trying to reach down into the water. After our “lecture and demonstration” on the elephants, we had the opportunity to actually go up to have our own individual time with an elephant and trainer. Talk about a memorable moment! Finally it dawned on me that my cell phone from Themba had a camera and video capability, so I pulled it out to capture our magic time with the elephants. Each of us had the opportunity to check out the elephant’s mouth to see those big molars and the tongue, we rubbed the face and brushed our hands against the long eyelashes. We compared the skin texture of the ear from the front and the back, felt the toenails and foot pads, checked out the nipples, rubbed the side of the elephant and examined the tail. After our inspection, we held the elephant’s tusk, posed for a photo, and received an elephant kiss. It had been so long since I’d had a great big kiss, that I gladly accepted the vacuum cleaner-like smooch from my elephant.
Once we finished our visit with the elephants we were led to a huge ring area to meet the elephants for an elephant walk. As the trainers led the elephants, we let them hold onto our hands with their trunks as we walked around the ring. Their warm breath on our hands as we walked was special. Then we walked over to a display area to learn more about elephant anatomy and comparisons between Asian and African elephants. Our time at the sanctuary ended with tea and a chance to get some directions to the Lion Cub Park.
We decided to do some shopping since we were at Hartbespoort Dam. We had been shopping there before when I spent way too much money on paintings, chairs, and a table. This time was for Ben, since it didn’t look like we’d make it back to Bruma to pick up the few things he had forgotten on Wednesday. We tried out a couple of new places, but didn’t see much so we went back to the bigger area and once again, we spent all our cash and had to make a withdrawal at the ATM to take care of all our wants and the upcoming stop. Between Ben’s thoughtful gifts for friends and my insatiable need for earrings, we contributed once again to the South African economy.
With our economic investment complete, we headed off in the wrong direction once and drove past the unmarked entrance to the park, but all in all, did OK in getting to the park. We purchased our tickets, even though all we wanted to do was see the cubs and weren’t too interested in driving through the bigger part of the park to see the older lions. As we were about to enter the gate, Ben realized that the flip camera was still in the car so he made a quick trip to grab the camera and we headed for the cubs. Lion cubs are separated by ages into large cages where they can run around and people can pet them. We were among 6 people who were in the cage with one of the volunteers who supervises the visits to protect the cubs and the people from one another. The cubs that we saw were between 3-4 months of age. One was a darker color and the rest were whiter. Ben and I roamed around, petting the cubs, watching them play, and generally have fun just being around them. After 15 minutes or so, we left the cage to look at the other animals in that area. There were two beautiful cheetahs, some wild dogs, a couple of meerkats, zebras, and ostriches. We were really disappointed that the giraffes that are usually around had decided to take a VERY LONG walk and we never got to see them. So, because we hadn’t eaten since our 9:00 egg MacMuffins, we decided to eat at the restaurant at the park before heading home (without getting lost). Once home, we turned on the tube, started the laundry, and got ready to pack.
Friday, the big goodbye, started early for me. I was a guest speaker in two sections of Nkidi’s First Additional Language (FAL) class. I had prepared to talk about diversity from Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory perspective. When she introduced me to the class, she told them that I was talking about diversity and second language acquisition. I was a little surprised that I had misunderstood, but after she explained the assignment that the students would be doing next for class, I picked up on what she might like and modified my approach. Her literacy assignment was for her students to identify a concept (e.g., tall and long or time) that FAL learners would need to learn, develop a story activity and supporting learning materials. As she explained the assignment with examples and more detail, I started thinking about the many ways that teachers could create language based activities, and that became the starting point for my conversation with the students. The 8:30 class had almost 50 students and the 10:30 class had almost 40 students, but the time flew by. Nkidi seemed pleased and the students were gracious so I got ready to leave the office to get Ben.
Friday traffic starts early and continues late. When I got home, Ben was on the computer with most of his things packed. We did our final checks through the flat, almost missing the flip camera, loaded up the car and headed to Soweto for final goodbyes to his homestay mom, the children, and his friends. After a two-hour trip in stop and go traffic and a major storm complete with rain, thunder, and lightening, we got to Cena’s house for a visit and fond farewell. Then back into traffic for a ride to the airport, supper at Ben’s favorite restaurant, Ocean Basket, time to walk around, and then a final goodbye hug at the security gate.
In mourning, I left the airport for Themba’s and Thembela’s house for the weekend with my adopted “family”. I managed to make a wrong turn and Themba figured out exactly where I was, coming to rescue me from the Best Burger Roadhouse and lead the way to his house. As I write this, Ben should have landed in Atlanta and be changing planes for Washington DC soon. I’m not really anxious to hear from him - more like eager to hear that he’s made it through customs. In the meantime, I’m trying to get some work done while Themba grills all kinds of meat for a bar-be-que this afternoon, 2 lab puppies run around, and Lisha and I read through “Spot Sleeps Over” until she can read it for herself.
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