Takin' Care of Business

Hello hello.

Figured it was about time for another post. I will try to do one a week, depending on how many stories I have that week it could be a little more or less frequent.

Last week was my first week of work. I would say things went pretty well. My boss, Zunelle, is cool and quite funny. She was often stressed or nervous so I felt like I needed to do damage control to lighten her load, but then 2 seconds later she would be perfectly fine. It is so weird, I never know what to expect when I run into her. Starting tomorrow I will be teaching a computer class to about 17 youth (youth is my age over here) for the next month or so. I have one class in the morning and another in the afternoon. The class is actually a tutorial on the computer, I am just there as a bonus feature. Two other classes are also starting next week, sewing and marimbas. I will not be in the rooms during those classes, but I will check up on them every once and awhile. Hopefully I can learn a little marimbas in my spare time. And I might actually learn some real sewing techniques from the sewing instructor too, instead of my current strategy of just getting things together in whatever way works.

My boss also wants to get a secondary school on the property opened by January. I am helping her a little bit, mainly by sitting there and listening to her talk about what needs to be done, and then agreeing with her when she is done. Top notch worker ;) When she was going over my job description with me she said she wanted me to work with her because I was an environmental studies major. I asked her why and she said she wanted me to help start a community garden eventually (which I am completely unqualified to do). One of her follow up questions was, "you do like the earth, don't you?" The simple answer of "yes" is why I currently have the job I do.

In case anyone is interested, here is a short list of the creatures I have seen thus far: a bunny, a dead bat, parrots, a snake and mouse (unfortunately for the mouse, found together), spinghare (maybe, I have no confirmation of this sighting yet), small lizards, peacocks, and I have also met a variety of chickens and cows. Pretty cool, however, maybe not quite the safari people think I am on. There are more birds and insects on that list, but I will spare you the uninteresting details.

So there are many people here who are Afrikaans, which means they are most likely white and of Dutch descent. The easiest way to spot one, though, is by the fashion. Men wear high-waisted shorts that show off a lot of leg, shirts usually tucked in, high socks, and big boots. That is what's in. It is so funny because sometimes it is easy to forget that I am not in America, especially at the grocery stores, and then I look around and usually this funny sight is what puts me back in South Africa. Although they dress really funny, Afrikaaners can dance. Sarah's boss introduced us to some people our age. The boys who were out with us showed us how to dance, and it is crazy. It is super structured, the guy does all the leading, there is spinning and dipping and all of this is done to pop music. I am pretty awful at it and the person I was dancing with told me only to watch his feet...because I kept stepping on his toes, oops. It is fun, but definitely easy to make a fool out of oneself.

More next week,

Kelly