Day 19: Making myself a life of my own here...

Dear lovely readers...I hope there are some of you out there! Sorry I haven't written for a week, I can't believe how quickly this week has gone - twice as fast as the one before! It really seems like only yesterday that it was my birthday. It must be the fact that I have started work at the school and have more to do with my days that the time has started to fly.
It was a good week! After my first day at school on my birthday I taught on the tues, wed and thurs; only about 5 hours but it was really good. I have four classes, all grade 8 [with ages from 12-16years], three classes of 67 and one of 70 students. On my first real lesson the class were so excited to have me that I didn't realise I over ran and was there for 3 periods, not 1! They wanted to have photos with me and in the end we went outside so we could stand somewhere and fit the whole class in one photo. Then I went and said 'hello' to the children I had taught last year, it was so nice to see their familiar faces - and to see their reaction when they saw me! One boy who spoke to me was so lovely, he shook my hand and said he was so happy to see I had kept my promise and come back. I think I have gained the respect of lots of them by coming back and telling them I am here for 2 years. This boy asked if I would be teaching Shakespeare again and if I would teach them Romeo and Juliet! He wants me to put on the play with them too, he will be first in line at auditions I'm sure! That would be my ideal, if in January I can take the older classes and study poetry or a play with them, and outside of school do a production of Romeo and Juliet.
At the Home I have been becoming friends with some of the boys. I think they were a little shy of me at first but now some of them are coming out of their shells and talking to me. One is a boy called Simo who I teach in grade 8, the other likes to be called 'Steve' and I taught him last year. He is still grade 10, he had to stay back and do grade 10 again because he failed maths. But he says he has got the hang of it this year and is sure he will move to grade 11 in January.
It turns out Steve is a Liverpool FC fan! Lots of them love 'soccer' [lots of Americanisms out here] and especially English premier league. The one question every single one of my classes has asked is 'do you know David Beckham'? They all expect me to have met famous people because I live in England, I'm afraid I have to disappoint them every time because I haven't met anyone. When I mention working at Buckingham Palace they don't seem that impressed! One of the boys' questions was 'is it true a woman owns England?' Was quite funny explaining to them that we have a queen but no king. They have a zulu king here with about 12 queens! So must seem quite strange to them I suppose...
Anyway, back to the Home! So the boys here all love soccer, they played a tournament here but none of the boys have football boots. They either play in their 'takkies' [trainers] which is bad because they will ruin them, or they play barefoot. They wore a kind of kit but it didn't say St Anthony's on it..it looked like it had been donated to them from an old soccer team...So I'm hoping to raise money for a football kit and a netball kit for the Home. With the actual St Anthony's name and logo on it!
The best day of the week was Saturday, we went on their annual 'holiday' but this year due to insufficient funds they couldn't actually go on holiday...so unfortuantely it was downgraded to a daytrip to a themepark in Jo'burg called 'Gold Reef City'. We hired a coach and left at 5am, arriving at 10.30, 2 hours longer than it takes by car! The children absolutely loved it, I don't think any of them have ever been to a themepark in their lives. It was really sweet to see their reactions, they were all really scared of the rides! Even the older ones found the 'family' rides scary! Was so funny! It was so nice to spend the whole day with the kids and to actually look after them, I felt really part of the group because I had responsibility for the children for the first time. Normally I am a bit on the outside, just observing, but that day I was right in there, holding their hands and taking them round.
There was a nice moment when 3 of the children [2 boys and a girl aged about 8-11] wanted to go on the Giant Wheel so I went off with them. They didn't speak English and I don't speak Zulu so it was quite funny, they were so excited they kept trying to run off. We were in the queue and two little Afrikaan boys, about 8yr, wanted to go on the ride but couldn't without an adult, so they came in the carriage with me. So there was me [secretly terrified of heights and big wheels] with 3 zulu kids and 2 afrikaans, all of which were terrified of heights! The poor zulu kids had never seen anything like it so were shuffling on their seats making it swing, while the 2 afrikaan boys kept telling them to sit down. At one point one of the boys said 'I wish they'd stop speaking their zulu language or whatever it is, it makes me nervous'. I can just imagine his dad saying that...when kids are exposed to that kind of opinion they are going to adopt it too. I suppose race relations are changing but very slowly here. For a moment before that, sitting on this ride with half blacks and half whites, I really felt like I was witnessing the two races uniting through children.
When the rides stopped at 4pm we went back to the coach and finally got some food and drink! I couldn't believe we had all gone over 7hrs with out so much as a sip of water! The kids didn't even complain about it though. The coach park was right next to the Apartheid museum but we didn't have time to go in. I would really like to go back and visit it. There are these huge pillars outside it, each with a word in bold black letters 'equality', 'freedom', 'respect' and three others I can't remember. Parked next to ours was another coach of white teenage boys, a college trip or something, and as I walked over holding the hands of the zulu children again I thought they were staring. You know people are always wondering who you are and why you are with them, esspecially as they can hear they are talking zulu to me, I think they wonder if I can understand them or not! The white guys were still sitting there waiting when we started handing out the food and drink to the children. I took charge of the big cannister of juice [like a 30l plastic drum which was pretty hard to lift!] and all the kids were queuing up to have their cup filled. Again it was a simple action but I felt so proud and part of the community, like I was useful and had a part in caring for the children. It felt really poignant, simply standing in a car park overlooked by these huge pillars remembering the terrible past and adjusting to the present and future of race in SA, handing out drink to 86 zulu children while 20 white teenagers looked on..wondering. It felt like the perfect place for them to witness this act, the white kids I mean, the change in their world which they need to see and understand. That a white lady can live with zulus, hold their hands, drink from the same cups as them, eat the same food, and [eventually] learn to speak their language. From what I had heard from afrikaans people before I came [stuff like, you must wear 2 pairs of surgical gloves at all times when round these people] this must have been an eye-opening sight for those boys. I really hope I did make them open their eyes, and their minds.