The week before I came to South Africa I babysat for an extremely wealthy family that lived downtown. I had to wake up at the crack of dawn (literally..) so the mother could go work out and shop; I kid you not. She made sure I prepared a healthy breakfast and lunch for her daughter and had the entire day scheduled out. The little girl was just great but all I kept thinking was how awful it was for her not to be able to spend time with her parents. Now here I am in Africa working with a community that is deeply immersed in poverty. These kids were often not bathed and had worn the same clothes 3 or 4 days in a row; some were clearly underfed as well. These were two different worlds and I am a different, hopefully better, person because of my experiences in both situations. While babysitting for the family in Chicago I would constantly dread getting up in the morning to head over there even though I was getting paid but here working with these kids I was not getting a monetary form of payment yet I wanted to be there. I wanted to spend as much time as possible with these kids. I was not getting paid to be with them but I received something even better-- hope. I saw what it was like to have virtually nothing but to still be happy. These kids would wait outside for us everyday to drive us in our bus and when they saw us they all got the biggest smiles on their faces. I learned so much more in those seven days that I could have ever learned in a classroom. Our last day with the kids was yesterday. It was a really sad and heartbreaking experience. All throughout the week there was a boy named Jandre there. He was a quiet but extremely talented and intelligent 12 year old. I usually worked with the older kids so I was with him quite a bit and on the last day we were making friendship bracelets and he asked me to be his girlfriend. I said no but preceded to make him three more bracelets, I will never forget the big smile he had on his face or the huge hug he gave me as we were saying our goodbyes. There was also another girl Fiona who spoke impeccable English. She was there everyday translating for us when Jeanine was otherwise preoccupied. Fiona hugged me crying and said I will never forget you guys, please don't forget about us. I don't think she understood the impact she had on each and every one of us. I have high hopes for her. It's little things like that that make this trip worthwhile.
Ok now on to other things! Today, we got out of class at 11:30! Erin and I went and had lunch and did a little shopping. It was a nice and relaxing afternoon. At four we had our final checkout because Option One students leave tomorrow for the Garden Route and we won't see them again. In a little bit is our closing function. I'm excited for that because it's a good way to say good bye to everyone. Tomorrow is my last day of class, we have to be there at 3 so I get to have a nice little sleep in! We have to turn in our final paper and then have our last and final check-out. After class Erin, Dom, and myself are going to Dom's house which is about two hours away! I'm really excited because she said she lives with a bunch of different animals!! We'll be there for the night and then on Sunday a whole group of us are going to Cape Town for the night! I'm really excited for that because I feel as if we didn't see much of Cape Town when we went those times. Then that brings me to my last week here! Monday and Tuesday are days that we have to work on our final presentations which we give on Wednesday! I'm SUPER excited for Wednesday because HARRY POTTER COMES OUT TWO DAYS EARLIER HERE! Best news I have ever received in my life.. okay not really but it may be top five. My time here is going by really fast so I need to make the most of my last two weeks!
Opps! I forgot to talk about the awesome meal I had yesterday. About 7 of us went to this woman's apartment where her and one other woman made us the BEST meal I've had here. I don't even know what it all was but I loved every bit of it .. even the spinach! We were there for about three and a half hours just talking about the most random topics. It was a great time and I really enjoyed the food :)
See everyone soon :)
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