All good things must come to an end...

I am back in the good old United States...but I can't say I am thrilled about it. I had a fabulous final week on the project and I was extremely sad to leave. I really wish I could have stayed just ONE more month. I would have absolutely loved to see the HIV education get up and running in the schools. It would have been nice to stay and work a great deal more on the HIV materials since that is something I am really passionate about. It is just hard to think the work may get turned over to a volunteer that does not have much interest in HIV education or does not see the value and importance in the program. Katie and I were the first Health Education majors on this project so most of the people that come don't have a really strong passion or interest in the HIV programs. Maybe it will work out and some new volunteers may really get into it and do a fantastic job. I am crossing my fingers.

We had the final meeting with the Primary School faculty and HIV committee which went extremely well. I was able to present the outline I made up and explain the plans for the HIV program and they were completely accepting and supporting. It was great! They were very enthusiastic about it as well. I could not have been happier with the outcome.

Friday was our last day with the kids which turned out to be very hard. Saying good-bye was heart wrenching because I think we all realize we will most likely NEVER see any of their faces again in person. As much as I would LOVE to adopt a few (or all) of those children I know that realistically it is not in the cards. They had no idea we were leaving for good so they had huge smiles on their faces as we drove away...they thought we would be back on Monday. We all had lumps in our throats and tears in our eyes because we knew better.

I really thought that after an entire month I would be ready to head home but that was just not the case. Of course I missed everyone but my experience was so amazing that it made it completely worth it to be away from everyone I love. I have also caught this bug....I think you might call it the Traveller's Bug. I can not wait to leave again! Paris in May and then who knows. I just know I have so many places I need to see in this world and I really don't think I will let anything stop me, especially not being an American with a lack of vacation time. i will figure it all out, I have faith.

In addition to all of the amazing Zulu men, women and children I encountered and spent time with the volunteers were just as important to my experience. Working and living with people from all over the world was by far one of my favorite aspects of the trip and the reason I can't wait to travel again. It was so fun and interesting to hear about other people's life experiences and their views and ideas. Sometimes it was also hard to work and live with the same people but overall it was such a valuable part of the experience. I will miss many of those volunteers and hope to keep in touch for years to come.

Here are a few things I found interesting while on my trip about South Africa as well as the Zulu culture and people...
1.) African Time is different than ANY other time. In Africa, being an hour late is still on time.
2.) You can never expect friendly service, quick service, or even your correct order while eating at a restaurant.
3.) South Africans are CRAZY drivers. I am sure there are a huge number of casualties due to walking on the side of the road and getting hit by passing cars.
4.) Zulu children will urinate absolutely ANYWHERE...through the cracks of the building to the outside, in the middle the room, in the grass, in the sand, anywhere!
5.) Zulu children are great at sharing! Even if they bring one cookie to the daycare they will share it with about 30 kids (even if that means they each get a crumb)...and it is so cute!
6.) It is believed that when a woman is pregnant her husband must have a lot of sex with her in order to make the baby develop. They believe the poking of the penis into the baby creates the eyes, nose, mouth etc.
7.) Zulu men often have many wives and in order to marry a woman he must give her father 11 cows...so men with many wives are usually very wealthy (cows are not cheap).
8.) Even children with no running water and only one pair of shoes know who Nicole Richie is. Don't ask me how, but I saw her picture on a student's school folder. I guess being too thin and partying excessively is enough to make you famous ALL over the world. Good to know...huh?
9.) You expect the leaders of a school to know at least basic geography, but in Khula the principal did not even know the difference between the United States and England.
10.) Many South Africans (and Afrikaans) do not agree with the volunteer work we do because as the pharmacist said to me more than once..."your life is more valuable than theirs, so be careful!" Racism is still a HUGE problem.

...I am sure there are a million other little things I could write, but I am extremely jet lagged. I started my work at the Red Cross today. It went well but now I am exhausted. Our trip home was long with a delay and a missed flight connection as well as lost baggage! We made it back safely which is all that matters, so now I must catch up on sleep.

I will add all of my pictures soon hopefully!

Week 3 & My Last Weekend

I can not believe this is my last weekend already! It was very nice because it was the very first weekend that I was on my own and had no schedule. I am not much of a planner and each weekend has been mapped out for me so far. This Friday a few of us went to this really adorable little bistro and had some wonderful food and great wine. Saturday I got a full body massage at a beautiful spa in town (and it was SO affordable). I went out for some lunch by myself and then rented a bike for 4 hours. I rode around town and along the ocean. It was fabulous and a great way to see the area. Everyone kind of did their own thing this weekend. Katie is at Phinda all weekend which is this extremely posh game reserve (about 600 dollars a night!), and Sarah is at Sodwana Bay scuba diving. Some of the others have just been around town. I think later today I will head to the beach with Heather (a new girl from Minnesota). I can't believe I have to say good-bye to the ocean so soon. Very sad about that.

This week went much better at the daycare. We had some REAL lessons and I feel like we got a lot more accomplished than before. I learned thatbeing absolutely silly and crazy with the kids is the BEST way to keep their attention since I can't speak Zulu. I was just plain nuts singing songs and dancing for them throughout our lesson and let me tell you it WORKS! I was very sick on Tuesday with food poisoning or something... so I am glad that is out of my system. Katie, Callie and I were able to visit the primary school this week which was quite the experience. We visited 2 english classes of 13 year old kids. It was obvious that many of the students have never seen a white person besides TV or magazines. They stared at us like zoo animals and laughed at us. They were nice, they just had to get used to us. It was a really good experience for me because I have never been the racial minority. I am so privileged and used to being white that I have never had to deal with that. At the daycare we are always the minority but the children have been around previous white volunteers so they are used to us and I have never felt awkward around them. Feeling out of place and uncomfortable because of your skin color is something most white people will never have to deal with so I am grateful that I can somewhat understand that feeling. I have not been mistreated because of my race or anything of that nature so I do not TRULY understand but I got a little glimpse on Wednesday. The english teacher kept insisting we keep in touch because he would REALLY like to visit the U.S. soon. He was very persistent with this so I promised I would keep in touch.

HIV education went well this week. We have 12 people attending this group of sessions which I feel is a great turn out. They travel quite far to get there so it shows they really want to learn. We have also had a lot of good questions...some I can not even answer.

It is so hard to believe that I am leaving this Friday already! I don't know how I am going to say good-bye to this place and these people. I really love it here. The scenery is breathtaking and the children are just incredible. It is amazing how close you can get to people that don't even speak your language.

I will be coming home with a better understanding of other cultures and a more well-rounded view of life and people...and also a little something called ringworm. Did I mention that?? Most of the kids at the daycare have it and now so do I. It was a lovely gift from them to me! :-)

Kosi Bay

This weekend was incredible and exactly what I needed. The entire group of volunteers went to Kosi Bay which is a 3 hour drive from St. Lucia. It is right near the border to Mozambique. We hired a van to take us to the Kosi Bay town and then we were picked up by a man named Villy and his wife Isabelle. We took two 4WD vehicles to our destination; a Land Rover (you all know how much I love them!) and a similar Mercedes vehicle. We drove through grass and sand for about 40 minutes until we reached our little slice of heaven! I will upload pictures right after I write this because I absolutely fell in love with this place. Isabelle (the wife) is from Belgium and her husband Villy is from Pretoria (South Africa). They started the place 6 years ago after they gave up their jobs and regular lives. They decided to go to Kosi Bay and build some accomodations for people to stay and build a stable for horseback riding. They lived in tents for SIX MONTHS while they were in the process of building! They take people on turtle tours at night, horse riding tours, kayaking and a few other activities.

When we arrived Villy presented us with an amazing feast for lunch of steamed vegetables and cold potato salad. We then drove to the beach which was just as perfect and untouched as most of the coastline here on the east coast of South Africa. We laid around and relaxed and then Villy served us some Brie and Camembere (spelling?) on bread. His wife had made a carrot cake for us as well which was honestly the BEST I have ever had!! I may have over indulged. We waited for the sun to go down then we took a very long (and challenging) walk along the beach to see some turtles. The sand was very soft so our bums sure felt the pain after an hour or so of walking. We eventually reached a nest that just hatched and watched all of the baby turtles make their way to the water. They were so tiny and adorable and we all knew their fate as we watched them struggle toward the ocean. I think only 1 in 1,000 survive or some ridiculous statistic like that. I should have put one in my pocket and taken it home.

We were all physically exhausted after the hours of walking in the sand so we fell asleep as soon as we arrived back at our huts. I actually slept in the loft in the main house instead of in one of the beautiful huts. I was a bit scared of snakes because I saw one of the cats playing with one earlier like a chew toy! The huts were gorgeous and very romantic for a couple but I was playing it safe and slept up in the loft (free from snakes). I know, I am a wuss!

The next day I went horseback riding for the first time ever! What an amazing place to have my 1st experience on a horse. We walked much of the time up and down enormous hills and the view was just incredible. We also cantered quite a few times which scared me half to death because I have no experience in a saddle. I was positive I was going to fly right off but somehow I clung to GoGo (my horse) and survived! GoGo means Grandma in Zulu by the way. We rode past a pond full of hippos and right by the ocean. I can't even decribe the feeling I had when I got on top of that horse and looked out to see AFRICA--pure and beautiful and completely untouched. No homes, no stores, so un-commercial, just so perfect.

We headed back to St. Lucia after that and stopped at a few markets along the way. They were like the ones in St. Lucia but we stopped anyway just in case people wanted to get some gifts.

Today, our lesson at the daycare went over beautifully. We had visual aids made over the weekend while we were gone and used them in our teaching today. I worked with Katie and we kept the kids' attention the entire time. We went over the color red, circles and squares. We used a new tool...the MAGIC BAG! We will use it each day and fill it with items that correspond with the daily or weekly theme. I really am starting to wonder how on earth I am going to leave in less than 2 weeks! These kids are so beautiful and amazing...you would have to meet them to know but just trust me. However, today we also saw one of the worst burns I have ever seen in my life. Someone had lifted up this little boy's shirt to find the most gruesome, fresh burn. It had been untreated and the skin was peeling off and sticking to the inside of his shirt. It was so bad that I could not even look. It was the kind of burn that would send a child in the U.S. to a special burn victim unit by an emergency helicopter. We see all sorts of wounds and odd gashes all over these children and none of them are ever treated. Last week we saw a boy with a hole in his stomach. I literally mean a hole. We had no idea how it got there and have no way of finding out. It is so sad and I wish I was a doctor so I could treat them all.

We did some more planning for the HIV education in Primary School this afternoon. We designed an entire timeline and agenda for the lessons which was very exciting! It makes me feel so satisfied already knowing that in a few months time there will be HIV education being taught to the 13 year old students of Khula. This is such an amazing addition to the curriculum and one of the most CRUCIAL considering 70% of Khula is estimated to be HIV+.

This week looks very promising-- so that is fantastic! I can not believe this weekend is my last one. I think I will rent a bike for a day and take a trail somewhere far and just enjoy all there is to see. I would also like to spend some more time at the ocean since it is right down the street from us--so I may do some relaxing there as well. We will see...

Once again thanks for ALL of the lovely comments. I love you all. I am already planning my next trip in my head (although I have absolutely none of the logistics figured out at the moment). After talking to all of the well traveled volunteers I feel Thailand would be a fabulous destination. Of course in May I will be heading to Paris with my wonderful Aunt Kathi--which I have been waiting my ENTIRE life for! So exciting.

2 new albums:
http://picasaweb.google.com/KateBuntenbach/TheBeautifulChildrenOfKhula
http://picasaweb.google.com/KateBuntenbach/KosiBay

Some pictures doubled up on one of the albums...sorry about that!

I will write again soon!! :-)

Week 2: Not So Smooth Sailing

Once again THANK YOU for all of the wonderful comments! ALso, thank you to people that message me on Facebook but for some reason I can not respond, SORRY about that.

This week has been really difficult for me and there have been so many moments I have wanted to come home. Luckily after a lot of praying last night I felt a nice sense of calm today and dealt with everything very nicely. Earlier in the week I caught one of the local employees stealing from me. I was so devastated because he was by far my FAVORITE employee. He was truly an asset to African Impact. He was phenomenal with the children and the best translator we could ask for. I was shocked and sick to my stomach after what I saw. I can be a rather passive person at times so I did not say ANYTHING at first. I had noticed some money missing prior to this incident but the last person I thought would ever steal from me was this employee. I understand that many of the local people think of Americans, and any volunteers for that matter, as very wealthy. He was a paid employee but I am sure he did not make very much. It just hurt me so much to know that I put so much money, time, and energy into a project like this to be stolen from by someone that is supposed to be on my team. I of course was so upset that I told just a few of the volunteers why I was choked up and shaky. While we were working on the HIV garden later that day I confronted him about what I saw. He admitted to being in my bag and taking out my money but he promised he was only looking. I am not naive so I told Michelle later that night. It is her job to protect the volunteers so I felt it was my duty to let her know. His employment was terminated because apparently he has had some previous problems. I did not expect it to go over smoothly with the other volunteers but I also did not expect them to be devastated over his termination.

The next day when he did not come to the daycare with us a few people were complaining as if it was the most terrible thing that could have happened. Of course we NEED translators so badly but why on earth would we need a translator that steals from us? I forgive him for stealing, honestly I do, but his termination was a fair consequence for his actions so I do not feel he was treated unjustly like many others do. A few people just handled the situation very poorly and made me feel very guilty about telling Michelle what had happened. A couple of the volunteers even went to meet up with him last night to talk although I am not quite sure why. I did not ask.

Today I woke up and went for one of my morning jogs to clear my head and told myself I would not let it bother me any more and today was much better. Plus I had a phone call bright and early this morning from my mom which was very appreciated. I can't let the negative attitudes of other volunteers ruin my experience. They can complain all day long and I will try not to hear it.

Katie and I taught the final class to the 6 part HIV education series today. The women brought us each flowers for Valentines Day and we brought them chocolate, cookies and juice which they just gobbled right up! They were such a sweet group and I am excited to meet the next group of students. They spoke more english than I realized so by the end of the sessions we were able to talk and laugh a lot more.

I feel like I am not doing much at this point and I am worried that I will leave and not feel like I have left an impression on anyone...but another very experienced volunteer explained to me that usually that sense of accomplishment comes when you are done and you have returned home. She told me she has felt like that on all of her projects but once she is home and away from the work she realizes the impact she made. I hope I feel that way.

The volunteer I am speaking of is new. She arrived Monday. Her name is Sarah and she is from Australia. Sarah has had tons of experience on community projects like this and she just came from Mozambique. She has given us some brilliant ideas that will help us get the daycare center more organized and become far more productive. I can not wait until next week when we start to make some serious changes.

Katie and I had a very nice lunch today and a little deli in town. I had some amazing coffee and a fresh sandwich filled with tomatoes and cucumbers...and believe it or not something that simple can really make me happy on a week like this. :-)

This week has also been difficult because we have had very little time to ourselves, which is something I absolutely need to stay sane. We have had meetings every evening (and another one tonight) which are always unplanned and unexpected so the plans I make for after supper are always cancelled. I just really need my work day to end at some point, that way I can regroup and refresh myself so I am full of energy and ready for the next day. Hopefully next week is a bit less packed.

The traveling clinic came to Khula this week. It comes once a month and it provides medicine and treatment to sick people. You would not believe how many people come out to see a doctor or a nurse. The line was terribly long and there were crowds of people waiting outside. It just made me realize how many sick people there really are in Khula and what a big deal it is to actually see a doctor and receive some medicine. One of the men from the HIV support group died this week. His name was Lukus and he was very ill. I never actually met him because he did not come last week. The week before I arrived a child from the daycare center had died as well. We don't really know the reason. There is just so much illness and so little treatment.

This weekend we are going to Kosi Bay which is a few hours away. We will be driving all the way there in the good old pick-up truck... We will spend the night there on Saturday in some little cottage. We will go horseback riding and see turtles so it should be loads of fun!
I can't believe I only have 2 weekends left! It is just not enough. The weekends have been so fantastic so far.

I will write again after my weekend away. We of course have yet another meeting planned for Sunday so hopefully I can make it to the internet. I apologize for the amount I wrote about the stealing incident, it is not that important, but writing about it was a good way to vent I suppose.

Missing you all...
:-)

The Rest of the Week & Cape Vidal

First I just have to let everyone know how much your comments mean to me, they are making me cry. They are TOO nice!

So, the rest of the week went well but of course very exhausting. I was able to teach 2 HIV classes. 5 women showed up for them (usually there are about 12 people that come each session) so the numbers are low but I am still excited to have ANYBODY. The HIV education classes are a series of 6 classes that take place Tuesday-Thursday for 2 weeks. Participants are expected to attend all 6 and at the completion of the last class they receive a certificate stating they completed an HIV education course. 4 of the 5 women came all the way from Mtubatuba which is about a 20 minute drive. Very impressive. They all seem very eager to learn, and they all take notes and ask questions. I teach the lesson and Theo translates for me. He is a local person that speaks english as a second language so he helps us with all of our communication with people in Khula. He is also our tour guide. He is wonderful. Theo is FASCINATED with wildlife and he used to be a tour guide in St.Lucia so he is very knowledgable about plants, animals, insects and local history. Anyway, he translates for me and that way I am able to answer questions as well. This has been my favorite part of the project so far.

My work at the daycare center is very frustrating at times so I hope this week goes a bit smoother. It is so challenging to teach Zulu speaking children without a constant translator. The daycare center is free so everyone working there is a volunteer. Some days there are three teachers and some days there is only one! We divide the children into 3 groups; the Lions, Zebras and Tigers. We have enough volunteers to work with each group but without someone to translate not much gets accomplished. It is very difficult and by the end of the day I am just emotionally and physically exhausted. I must say that I really appreciate the weekends here. I am enjoying my work of course but like I said it can be draining. I am not sure if I could work on this project for more than a month. I think one month is sufficient and then I will need to return home and regroup. One volunteer is going on her 2nd month here and it seems she is kind of burnt out so I think spending too much time here may not be the best idea.

Although it has only been one week with the children we all have our favorites already. I love them all of course but there are a few that I just ADORE. I will be very sad to say good-bye in 3 weeks.

Friday night all of the volunteers went out for a few drinks which was very fun. The night however took a surprising turn and ended in a terrible way. Theo and Ndimisso (another African Impact employee from the area) came out with the group Friday. 2 of the female volunteers were dancing at one point with them and a local man came over and began screaming at the girls for dancing with black men. He told them they were disrespecting themselves by dancing with them and he made some very serious threats if Theo and Ndimisso did not leave. Of course we left abruptly but we were all so upset by this. The white people in St.Lucia are extremely racist. Black people in St.Lucia work for all of the white people. One thing you notice here right away is that a white person will never serve you at a restaurant or do any physical labor. While we were farming on Friday in Khula a black woman stopped Katie and told her she had never seen a white person work before. She invited her to her home for a drink because she was so impressed with her. ((Sidenote: Khula is the name of the Zulu village we work in--which is a 10 minute drive from St.Lucia))

After the dramatic Friday night we all woke up early Saturday morning to head to Cape Vidal. It is about 45 minutes from St.Lucia and the entire drive is through a Game reserve so you see a great deal of wildlife. We saw several Impallas, some large monkeys, a few zebras, and many many wildabeasts. Theo of course made us stop every few minutes to explain everything from the anatomy of the dung beetle to the history of the area.

Cape Vidal was gorgeous. We just laid on the beach and swam in the ocean. We were going to snorkel but just ended up playing on boogie boards in the waves. Toward the end of the day the waves were pretty harsh so we stopped swimming. It was a wonderful day and we all got a great deal of color. I collected a lot of sea shells for Noelle. Jeremy would love this area. It is untouched. No homes are built on the coast and it has been left in its natural state. Not something you see very often in the states. I was stung by a small blue jellyfish which hurt REALLY bad, like somebody holding a match on your skin. Theo said he would go find a plant that helps with the pain and he ran off into the trees. He came back moments later with a plant (I can not remember the name of course) with a pink flower and he cracked open the stem. A clear fluid came out that he rubbed on the sting and within 5 minutes the stinging had ceased! It was great.

Today the whole group went on another game drive to see the Big 5. I stayed back because the trip was from 5am until 5pm so I really wanted a day to rest and also save some money. It was a very expensive trip. Also, when you go on these game drives you don't always see a ton of animals so many hours are spent sort of looking for the animals. Hopefully they see some giraffes and elephants. Katie is taking a lot of pictures so I can see. I woke up early instead and went for a run in the rain, which actually felt very refreshing. I then walked into town (still in the rain) to use the internet cafe but the internet was out. I went to a nearby cafe and had a latte and some soup and then came back here and it was working! thank goodness

I feel like I am forgetting so much. Aunt Kathi called last night and I was so excited because that was the 1st phone call I have received! I think my mom is calling me this afternoon too so I am thrilled. I think I will go buy some more pineapple and bananas from the women on the street because I am out. The pineapple is fantastic here and the bananas are sweet. :-)

I almost forgot something very exciting. Michelle (one of our project managers) mentioned to us at dinner the other night that she had a meeting with the principal of the primary school in Khula. She said they discussed introducing HIV education into the primary school for the 13-14 year old students. It sounds like we get to help develop the curriculum. We probably won't be here when the teaching begins but I am so thrilled because this is such a huge step in the right direction for Khula! :-)

I LOVE YOU AND I AM THINKING ABOUT EVERYONE! Time is running out ...
I made a new album of pictures, this link should work for EVERYONE. I also sent an invitation to my album to many of you through email...
http://picasaweb.google.com/KateBuntenbach/SouthAfrica

I have taken many pictures but only shared a few in this album due to time and the slow speed of this computer!

-Kate

Work begins...

I have so much to write about my 1st few days of work, but sadly this computer I am trying to work on is very slow and my typing is delayed... so I will try my best.

I arrived at the daycare early Monday morning and was greeted by nearly 100 screaming children! We began setting up for class right away and I began reviewing body parts with the oldest group of children. They are learning simple english right now so it is still VERY difficult to communicate with them. The first thing I noticed with all of the children was their terrible coughs. All around me I could hear very chesty coughs throughout the day. There are children ranging from infants to six years old. I believe many of the children may have hepatitis because the whites of their eyes are very yellow. Many appear to have ringworm as well. Several children have deep cuts that we need to clean and bandage each day. There are about 5 infants that are laid in a corner of the daycare building on a flat piece of foam. They are left alone crying all day. Their diapers are not changed and they are not held. There are sometimes only 2 women that help run all of the 100 children. With us volunteers there it really makes a difference. The babies have contstant running noses and their eyes water all day even when they are not crying. My first day was VERY challenging because it is so hard to know that these kids are so sick and they will never see a doctor (most likely). I tried all day to hold one baby while I did each lesson which is not the easiest task. It was just too hard to see them lying on the ground all day in dirty diapers screaming and crying. WHen I called one of the older boys up to the front of the room to draw a body part he quietly started weeping because he has such terrible headaches the teacher said. He also said his tummy hurt. You could tell this child was in excruciating pain. I can't explain the feeling you get when you hear children crying, so many at once, and you know they are crying in pain not just for attention.

At about 10 am the children are fed something they call "pup"...it is a white pasty kind of oatmeal, except I don't think it is even oatmeal. Each child gets a tiny scoop on a plate. Beforehand we wash their hands; apparently they washed their hands for the first time last week! The volunteers showed them last week and they were so confused because they had never seen anyone do such a thing to their hands. Later in the day I found a child about 1 year old eating some leftover pup outside on the ground. The child was obviously hungry and could not feed herself. I fed her and she ate a whole plate of "pup". It just made me realize that children can so easily go forgotten at this daycare and not eat. Even worse they could go missing and nobody would ever notice! There are just too many and not even people to care for them.

I left that afternoon feeling overwhelmed with what I had just seen and covered in the tears and snot of the kids and babies. In our country we are worried about our children getting germs in thir mouth when they drop their binky on the floor and over here in Africa the children eat dirt right off the ground! My stomach was upset for awhile but then I had to move on to my Zulu language lesson which was quite entertaining. Everyone had a good laugh each time I recited sentences because I sound like I am speaking japanese. At one point I felt like I was ordering sushi. It was a good laugh we all needed after that devastating first exposure to the daycare. I had seen pictures and even taken a tour of the village but I never imagined it could be that bad. I never imagined that many children without parents being so sick and neglected. I still can't...

Our power is off for about 8 hours each day...in scheduled blocks. They need to share electricity around here...so we had a night of no power last night and ate dinner by candlelight, which was nice. We also have no running water at night or in the early morning, because there is a shortage of that as well. It's just very different.

Today I started at the daycare and then went to a HIV support group. I was just there to answer any questions they may have. There really weren't any except for advice about a woman that is HIV positive and is afraid to tell her husband because he may kill her. I had no idea what to say to this. These groups are very challenging for me because everything needs to be translated. Later in the afternoon I went to teach a HIV education class to adults in the Khulu village...but nobody showed up, which was very disappointing. usually about 13 adults show up. We think we may need to post more flyers and go door to door. We will see. Then I met up with the rest of the group to work on lesson plans for tomorrow.

I am so extremely tired right now, as anyone that has worked with 100 children may understand. :-) I really would like to talk to someone at home, I tried my mom but she did not answer and Aaron was unable to make the call. I miss everyone so much!!

I know there is so much I am forgetting to say but I will think of it all later. I need to take pictures of the kids because you will not believe it until you really see these children. I will also try to take a video of them singing their prayers and a song called "melody in my heart".

Off to dinner at the house with everyone else. I LOVE YOU EVERYONE! :-)

The Rest of my Weekend

Last night was very relaxing and enjoyable. I went to a little restaurant and had a cold drink with another volunteer after we left the internet cafe. Later I did a little workout routine in my bedroom and then just relaxed out on the deck with a few girls.

I am pleased to say that today has been a very good day. I went for a morning jog after breakfast and saw 3 monkeys along the way! I also saw 2 stray dogs that kind of followed me for awhile. I got lost and it took me quite some time to find my way home. DON'T WORRY, I was only running through the tourist neighborhood full of bed and breakfasts. I did not go anywhere dangerous (Aunt Kathi this is for you because you are such a worrier...lol).

I went to the beach today with Katie, the 2 German girls and Bobby. The waves were so enormous but I was still brave and went in with everyone. There are sharks in the water so we had to be careful not to go too deep.

After the beach we swam for a bit in the pool and played pool volleyball. A group of us walked into town for some lunch and I ate some amazing sushi! Delicious. There were no bats in the bathroom this morning, which was nice, but there were several outside on the deck last night hovering above us.

So today felt like a vacation...which was very nice. I start work tomorrow, 8am SHARP. Every morning we work at the orphan day care until lunch and then the afternoons vary from day to day. We are getting our 1st Zulu lessons after lunch tomorrow, which is much needed because I can barely remember how to say hello at this point.

I still miss everyone a great deal but I am definitely more comfortable now than I was a few days ago. NO MORE TEARS! :-)

Also, I just wanted to add one funny thing that the German girls told Katie and I. They heard that on Super Bowl Sunday during half-time all of the Americans go to the bathroom at the same time and so the toilets go out. We had to tell them this is not true. I just thought that was kind of interesting. We had long conversations last night about what Germans think of Americans and vice versa. We also talked about what people from the UK think of us. They all just said they hate President Bush, not us. So that is good! :-) I tried to upload photos but it did not work so try this link below.

http://ilstu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2198716&id=22900522#

I will write again soon!!