The Afrikaner

I have developed a troubled relationship with the Afrikaner. An Afrikaner is a White person who is South African and speaks Afrikaans. They are very privileged, and I find that many of them are drunk from Wednesday-Saturday.

I went out Wednesday and tonight, Saturday (really, I guess it's Sunday now). Both times were to celebrate my friend Cassandra's, who is from Missouri, never-ending birthday celebrations. We always go to McDonald's after we go out, because for anyone that has been drinking, the food at McDonald's is so greasy, that it soaks up all the alcohol and prevents hangovers. It is also the only restaurant that is open and is fast.This is a well known fact, and every night McDonald's is packed full of people, including many drunk Afrikaners!

Wednesday night, they were breaking in and causing disorder in the line. So Cassandra, in an low but aggressive tone, tells everyone that there is a line. There's a fuss or whatever, but I think everyone eventually does get in some sort of line. Then, the Afrikaner in front of her is so drunk that he's not paying attention, so Cassandra breaks in front of him. He starts getting loud and stuff. An argument breaks out. He starts talking in Afrikaans. It was just all a loud, big mess. It definitely ruined what was otherwise a good evening. Then later on at the table, this guy made the gesture as if he was going to throw a fry at our table. And let me not forget that my friend Brittany and I were on our way to the McDonald's and were asked if we were from the Congo by a drunk Afrikaner speaking French. And, just a disgusting observation, the ketchup dispenser wasn't working, so an Afrikaner girl opens up the canister, dips her cup in the thing of ketchup, and lays the pump just sitting out for the next person. Oh yeah, and another disgusting observation, a guy was so drunk and probably so high that he ate 3 Big Macs, a McFeast, and a fry with his eyes closed. There was mayonaise all over his face. It was gross. It was just a disgusting night.

Tonight, GOT BETTER... joke. -_- Jayden and I were standing in line to get something to eat after celebrating Cassandra's birthday (again! hahaha.). All of a sudden, this random Afrikaner comes and sneaks his hand up Jayden's dress!!!!!!! And then he walks right past like he did nothing wrong. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! It was one of those speechless moments. Where you don't know whether it's real or not. But it was real... he didn't apologize or do anything. He pretended like he didn't do anything wrong. The manager came from the back and looked at us and we were like "HE PUT HIS HAND UP HER DRESS!" So, the manager had security kick him out of the restaurant, but really, in America, that guy would have and should have been arrested. And none of the other Afrikaners stood in our defense. None apologized for their friend or corrobarrated our story. I am POSITIVE we were not the only ones who could have seen it. I forgot one of the worst parts.. THEY ALL STARTED SINGING A SEXUAL SONG ABOUT MCDONALDS TO US. We couldn't really understand what they were saying, but they were making sexual hand gestures and saying the items on the McDonalds menu. It just pisses me off, because there is another fun night out ruined. And I feel bad, because Jayden was like about to cry and I had to tell her to "Hold it in." She did not deserve that at all. We were in a club with at least a hundred Colored and Black men and not ONE of them went under her dress... only the Afrikaner at McDonald's.

I am sure there must be "good" Afrikaners out there. I am just not sure I have met many. I have heard that it's just Stellenbosch. I heard Capetown and Johannesburg are really liberal. I sure hope so, or I fear for the future of this country.

The Butterfly World Fieldtrip

The program I volunteer at Kayamandi through takes the children on a field trip each semester. This time, we went to Butterfly World. I was really nervous to see how the children would act outside of the classroom, but I was happy because I knew this was probably the first time a lot of them had ever gone outside of the township.

About half of our class didn't show up for school that day, because they couldn't afford the field trip $price$. It made me really sad. I wanted them all to experience leaving the township for the day. Some of my favorite students weren't there! Papama (pa-pah-ma), who is the sweetest little girl in my class, and Anthini (an-ti-ni), who looks like Nelson Mandela and eats his boogers, didn't come! I was disappointed. Even with only half the class there, the kids were a lot to handle. Bukiwe disappeared for a while. I guess she was collecting the field trip money and permission slips from all the other classes. While she was gone, the children were acting a fool like usual. Then, she came back, made them stand outside while we waited for the second round of transportation to come pick us up, and disappeared again. This time she disappeared for about an hour. The children were acting a fool. Akhona (ah-ko-na), who is usually one of my favorites because she is really smart and is the singer of the class, was getting into fights with all the boys. Finally, she hit a boy, he kicked her and she fell down, and I just let her cry.

Akhona before she started acting a fool.

A few children were behaving, but most of them were either fighting or trying to get a hold of a puppy that wandered up to the school. Children are naturally too rough with animals. Cassandra, another teacher's assistant from Missouri, USA, and I saved the puppy and tried to teach the children how to be gentle with it. We named the puppy Obama (hahaha) and Cassandra hid it in her purse while it took a nap. Finally, it was time for our group to go to Butterfly World. As soon as the bus began to move, the children began to sing songs. Africa really is a musical place!

Butterfly World is nothing like I thought it would be. I thought it would be just butterflies... but we saw spiders, lizards, monkeys, exotic birds, chickens, roosters, and ducks! The butterflies and the more exotic animals were kept inside this huge green room that had been kept at a tropical temperature. It looked like we were walking through a forest! When we first went in, there was one little girl who cried and screamed! She DID NOT want to go in there. She was so afraid. There was a group of white children there too. I noticed that they were more curious than our children, who were curious and yet nervous and cautious. It made me happy that we were taking them out of there comfort zones. There were absolutely no problems with the children either. They were so quiet and well behaved the entire field trip.

The butterflies flew EVERYWHERE! They were so big and brightly colored... they were kind of scary. After seeing a huge iguana, a little monkey jump on someone, and having butterflies flurrying around my head, I decided that it was time to relax. While the kids explored a bit more and ate their snacks, I went into the cafe and had a cup of tea, chips (fries), and a cheeseburger.

To see more pictures of our field trip and see more pictures of the children I work with, click here!

Bad Weather and Sore Throats

All of the students began getting sick. People have gotten everything from bronchitis to pink eye. This guy named Matt had to get surgery, because he had an absess in his throat and it had to be drained! So, when Maggie's throat began to hurt, I was worried. She went from firecracker to old maid in just a few days. Finally, I made her get out of bed and go to the doctor. It turned out she had a serious case of tonsilitis. However, the antibiotics she got from this doctor only worked for about a day. After two days, she was back to feeling bad. I mean, she couldn't swallow... talk.... laugh... it was too painful. So, she had to go to the emergency room. They gave her like SERIOUS antibiotics, and she's begining to feel better. At the same time I was trying to be play "doctor" to Maggie, Jayden came down with flu-like symptoms, and I myself began to feel a little sick.

I had to walk about 20-30 minutes with 2 heavy bags of groceries in the dark,rain, and cold from the grocery store, so when I began to feel sick, I wasn't surprised! I had already had a sinus infection weeks ago, so this wasn't the first time I had gotten sick, however, this time it was a little different. It felt like mucus from my nose was just dripping directly into my throat, and therefore, I had a sore throat. I couldn't blow my nose, because the mucus was so far back that it was basically already down my throat. Luckily, I brought Vapor Rub with me, so that stopped the mucus. I also bought some little over the counter medicine to help as well. My flatmate Lacey took care of me too. She gave me her last sleeping pills, when I couldn't go to sleep, and made me the most soothing cup of tea I ever had in my entire life. Now, I am hooked on tea.

The tea they have here is called Rooibos tea, and it is DELICIOUS. I am going to bring some back to America! It smells like cooking turnip greens or collard greens, but it tastes so good. I go to restaurants and order cups of tea now! Like, there's nothing better than drinking some Rooibos tea on a cold day.

Speaking of the weather, IT IS COLD AND HAS RAINED FOR TWO WEEKS STRAIGHT! I am not joking nor exaggerating. It seriously has rained for two weeks. Everyday.. rain! It's partially the reason why everyone has been getting sick. The weather has been just awful. It's hard to have a good day when the sky is gray.. and it's cold.. and wet. It's just been even harder not to be homesick. I miss the sunny skies of Tennessee!