It's the weekend in Cape Town!

Sorry about the delay folks, we were without internet yesterday. We've entered our first weekend on the Volunteer trip and we have all been having an amazing time. We have been busy volunteering at our schools and trying to soak in as much of the culture as possible. We are split 8-4-3 between three different schools in Cape Town. I can only speak for the school with 8, but we will have others blogging about the 4 and 3 schools. Our school is St. Pauls Primary school, and it is located on the side of a mountain. It has about 800 learners (students), and they sit about 40 to a class. The learners are grades R (kindergarten) through 8. We were thrown into the proverbial fire from pretty much the first moment we set foot in St. Pauls. After a quick tour, we split into different class rooms and helped with everything from reading to maths to technology to PE. We have even been put in charge of classes when teachers do not show up. It has been very challenging work, but extremely awesome. A couple highlights have been when I spent most of a period helping a couple learners complete a worksheet about reading comprehension and the wheel. The teacher later remarked to me that that was one of the few times that one of the learners I helped had actually done his work. The teachers simply do not have time to give individual attention to students, so us getting a chance to help them will hopefully make a huge difference. I also found a kid in my class with my first name (Nathan). Since the learners are required to address everyone formally ("Master ___, Sir, Mam', etc), the kids started addressing me as Sir. Nathan. After schools, the learners will usually approach one of the volunteers and ask "when are you coming back?" and "will we see you tomorrow?" with these huge grins on their face. Now for a bit from the other schools, here's Vicki Yu who is volunteering at Prestridge Primary School with Tim and Tom Curran. Our school has around 800 students from grades R through 7. Each class has 40-45 students with just one teacher. The first day walking through the entrance of the school, we were drowned by hundred's of children running, playing and screaming in the courtyard. Somehow making our way through the wild playpen, we found our way to the principal's office. He quickly gave us a tour of the school and immediately assigned each of us to a classroom. I got placed in a first grade classroom and was ecstatic to work with the younger kids. When I first walked into the classroom, all the students instantly looked my way gleaming with the biggest smiles. As volunteers, it is our responsibility to aid the teachers with their daily lesson plans and occasionally take over the class. The kids are ALWAYS full of energy and overly excited to learn, however as you may imagine, forty students is a wild goose chase for one teacher. Some highlights of my volunteering experience have been teaching the students how to subtract with their fingers, singing the ABC's with them and playing with the students during break time. (By playing with the students, I really mean giving them piggy back rides, airplane rides and letting 20 kids climb on me at once.) We get quite the physical workout at school! Nevertheless, the endless hugs, kisses and adorable smiles makes every moment of the experience memorable and worthwhile. Waking up the morning knowing that I get to see those smiles right away is my favorite part of this abroad experience