I'm really glad the holidays are finally over! We had our last '3-day-break' without electricity etc. Thursday last week was the final day of Sukkot, we had our last meal in the Sukkah and just relaxed. Friday was Simchat Torah (when you get chocolate at the synagogue - or the kids do, at least - and they dance with the Torah. A really special day.
This week (finally a normal week again) I did some research at Japari (I really started with my assignments now). I made a questionnaire for the learners about languages (covering everything from "What is your home language" to "Which language classes do you enjoy most") and another one for the teachers ("Should all children be raised (at least) bilingually?" and about the difficulties of teaching children with a different native language than English.) I also worked on parts of the general report I could already write about and caught up with my weekly journals. And I did some more teaching, I took the grade 4's for Life Orientation again (about emotions and how to deal with them, we did an 'affirmation booklet' this time (an activity I used to do in London with the groups) and they really liked it. One of the kids even talked to me after school, saying "Miss? Thank you for the fun lesson!" (It was so cute!)
Oh, and we celebrated teachers' day! A bit late, but instead of Tuesday we had cake and sausage rolls and cookies on Wednesday! (Lucky for me, because I don't work on Tuesdays...) It was lovely.
Other than work things I decided to take my aunt and two of my cousins to China Town for lunch. We had lovely noodles, spring rolls and a fortune cookie. This weekend we might be going back to Magaliesberg for another hike... I really hope we will.
Summer is on its way and it seems like the rains might be with us soon. (It doesn't rain here in winter, during summer it rains every day in the afternoon.)
As for language progress... Some of the learners at Japari have asked me "Are you Scottish?" and I've noticed I'm starting to differentiate between 'just now' and 'now now' in the South African way (finally! I used to say "We're going just now" when I wanted to say "We're going RIGHT NOW" but right now is "now now", haha) as well as using 'Ag man' (which is, technically, Afrikaans and not English... but still).
On to yet another week... 9 1/2 left here!
Posts tonen met het label judaism. Alle posts tonen
Posts tonen met het label judaism. Alle posts tonen
woensdag 6 oktober 2010
maandag 13 september 2010
Rosh Hashana -> The Jewish new year.
Wednesday night until Friday night was Rosh Hashana – the Jewish new year. After that we went into shabbos immediately, which meant we couldn't use electricity, write and other things that are 'creating' in some way or the other for three days straight. I've come to like shabbos, after a busy week a day of doing 'nothing' (of not having to do anything/not being able to do anything such as watching television, using the computer etc.) is actually very welcome. Three days though? A bit much.
On the first day we went to shul (the synagogue) in the morning and evening, after the evening service we went to Jocelyn (my uncle's sister) for dinner. We had a good time there, the whole family was complete and the boys played soccer, we had some nice chats and wonderful food. Earlier during the day Sarit (a girl that does the children's service at shul – she's about my age) invited me for lunch at their place on Friday. I accepted, even though the idea made me more than a little bit nervous. (I am getting used to all the parties and having dinner pretty much anywhere, but this was the first time I was invited somewhere by myself!)
Lunch on Friday was wonderful, besides Sarit and her two sisters and mother, four more girls were invited. One from Canada (Sarah), one from Durban and two others from Jo'burg. We had the usual lunch – chicken, rice, salads, vegetables and very yummy non-dairy ice-cream after. (You can't combine meat with milk in Jewish cooking, so if you have meat in a meal you can't have milchik ice-cream or pudding... It's kind of complicated but I just accept it the way it is.) It was a good experience to be around people my age for a change.
Saturday was a different story, I ate breakfast as usual but when we got to shul I felt sick and had a stomach ache. At the Brocha (the meal after their services – we didn't have a brocha on Thursday and Friday, so I was looking forward to the nice food) I felt too sick to eat anything other than a few bites of pineapple. Another ten minutes passed, and I asked my uncle to take me home because I was scared I was actually going to be sick. And I was. The rest of the day was spent either in bed or in the bathroom, luckily today I'm feeling much better (and I even had a slice of toast and some tea, without any problems so far... I'm still not hungry, though). Tonight we have yet another party... The Bar mitzvah function of the son of a friend of the family, and I'm invited, too. I'm not sure yet about going... There will be wonderful food, but if I'm feeling even a little bit sick or weak I'm staying home – I have to work tomorrow and don't want to have to phone in sick because of partying while I'm still not feeling 100 %.
Wednesday night until Friday night was Rosh Hashana – the Jewish new year. After that we went into shabbos immediately, which meant we couldn't use electricity, write and other things that are 'creating' in some way or the other for three days straight. I've come to like shabbos, after a busy week a day of doing 'nothing' (of not having to do anything/not being able to do anything such as watching television, using the computer etc.) is actually very welcome. Three days though? A bit much.
On the first day we went to shul (the synagogue) in the morning and evening, after the evening service we went to Jocelyn (my uncle's sister) for dinner. We had a good time there, the whole family was complete and the boys played soccer, we had some nice chats and wonderful food. Earlier during the day Sarit (a girl that does the children's service at shul – she's about my age) invited me for lunch at their place on Friday. I accepted, even though the idea made me more than a little bit nervous. (I am getting used to all the parties and having dinner pretty much anywhere, but this was the first time I was invited somewhere by myself!)
Lunch on Friday was wonderful, besides Sarit and her two sisters and mother, four more girls were invited. One from Canada (Sarah), one from Durban and two others from Jo'burg. We had the usual lunch – chicken, rice, salads, vegetables and very yummy non-dairy ice-cream after. (You can't combine meat with milk in Jewish cooking, so if you have meat in a meal you can't have milchik ice-cream or pudding... It's kind of complicated but I just accept it the way it is.) It was a good experience to be around people my age for a change.
Saturday was a different story, I ate breakfast as usual but when we got to shul I felt sick and had a stomach ache. At the Brocha (the meal after their services – we didn't have a brocha on Thursday and Friday, so I was looking forward to the nice food) I felt too sick to eat anything other than a few bites of pineapple. Another ten minutes passed, and I asked my uncle to take me home because I was scared I was actually going to be sick. And I was. The rest of the day was spent either in bed or in the bathroom, luckily today I'm feeling much better (and I even had a slice of toast and some tea, without any problems so far... I'm still not hungry, though). Tonight we have yet another party... The Bar mitzvah function of the son of a friend of the family, and I'm invited, too. I'm not sure yet about going... There will be wonderful food, but if I'm feeling even a little bit sick or weak I'm staying home – I have to work tomorrow and don't want to have to phone in sick because of partying while I'm still not feeling 100 %.
maandag 30 augustus 2010
August 28th, Saturday
Another week gone and I'm really starting to feel like I belong here. Even saw our queen! (Would insert a picture but Ariella is using my camera at her grade six trip this week... For now it will have to suffice that there was this huge poster of some random football player with queen Beatrix's head photoshopped onto it.)
Shabbos this week was kind of special. On a Friday night it's usually only the guys who go to Shul (the synagogue) but this week we all went (including a friend of Doron from school – which is a separate story). There was a wonderful service with a lot of singing (they even did the world cup song – Hebrew prayer set to the melody that is) and after that there was a street meal. It's a meal after a service, and we always have one on Saturdays (which is amazing – there's so much food, anything and everything from fried fish, sweet and sour vegetables to the best cakes and soft drinks. Everything cold – because you can't prepare food on Shabbos – but wonderful nonetheless. This Friday though, as I said, we had it in the street, for everyone. The theme was 'Single Malt & Salmon' – Whiskey for the adults and salmon for everyone. Drinks and popcorn and chips for the kids. Lovely experience.
Doron had a friend sleep over, as I said, a boy from his school. This was a rather strange experience, because he's one of the boys I teach. A blend of two worlds; teacher-Cha and at-home-Cha. I felt like a teacher all the time, even when the guy kept me awake by complaining about Doron's hamster and nagging us about the mattrass – one was too soft and the other too hard. To be honest, I'm glad he went home at ten in the morning! What a night.
Today we're having guests over to watch rugby and play 'the Buzz game' (for playstation). I also started to learn Hebrew. Learning to read Hebrew is fun but it also makes me feel like a four or five year old all over again. Stumbling over – to my untrained eye – way too similar letters and taking ages to sound out a word is actually very exciting! Reading the first short sentences I actually understand is even better. And yes, I'll watch that this doesn't interfere with my progress in English. I just need to have my own little project while I'm here, too.
More special events are coming up over the next few weeks, Ariella's Bat Mitzvah function, Tali's battie, a wedding and I'm sure many more. Oh, and I managed to get myself invited to the movies with some girls (and maybe guys?) my age. I'm already a bit nervous about that, but I'm sure it'll be a good experience.
Until the next update!
Random things:
Vase -> /va:s/ not /veis/ (insert pro phonetics stuff I can't do on this computer)
Joshua: (talking about a map) Why did Hashem (G-d) make the countries so small but the inside so big? (Why are the countries so small but when you're IN them so big?) :D
Shabbos this week was kind of special. On a Friday night it's usually only the guys who go to Shul (the synagogue) but this week we all went (including a friend of Doron from school – which is a separate story). There was a wonderful service with a lot of singing (they even did the world cup song – Hebrew prayer set to the melody that is) and after that there was a street meal. It's a meal after a service, and we always have one on Saturdays (which is amazing – there's so much food, anything and everything from fried fish, sweet and sour vegetables to the best cakes and soft drinks. Everything cold – because you can't prepare food on Shabbos – but wonderful nonetheless. This Friday though, as I said, we had it in the street, for everyone. The theme was 'Single Malt & Salmon' – Whiskey for the adults and salmon for everyone. Drinks and popcorn and chips for the kids. Lovely experience.
Doron had a friend sleep over, as I said, a boy from his school. This was a rather strange experience, because he's one of the boys I teach. A blend of two worlds; teacher-Cha and at-home-Cha. I felt like a teacher all the time, even when the guy kept me awake by complaining about Doron's hamster and nagging us about the mattrass – one was too soft and the other too hard. To be honest, I'm glad he went home at ten in the morning! What a night.
Today we're having guests over to watch rugby and play 'the Buzz game' (for playstation). I also started to learn Hebrew. Learning to read Hebrew is fun but it also makes me feel like a four or five year old all over again. Stumbling over – to my untrained eye – way too similar letters and taking ages to sound out a word is actually very exciting! Reading the first short sentences I actually understand is even better. And yes, I'll watch that this doesn't interfere with my progress in English. I just need to have my own little project while I'm here, too.
More special events are coming up over the next few weeks, Ariella's Bat Mitzvah function, Tali's battie, a wedding and I'm sure many more. Oh, and I managed to get myself invited to the movies with some girls (and maybe guys?) my age. I'm already a bit nervous about that, but I'm sure it'll be a good experience.
Until the next update!
Random things:
Vase -> /va:s/ not /veis/ (insert pro phonetics stuff I can't do on this computer)
Joshua: (talking about a map) Why did Hashem (G-d) make the countries so small but the inside so big? (Why are the countries so small but when you're IN them so big?) :D
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