South Africa Guest Blogger #1

And now, a guest blog from Drew!

Hello All!,

My name is Drew Johnson and I am a senior in Nuclear Engineering. In fact, I am the only nuclear member of EGL, which makes me "special" and "unique". At least that is what the rest of the EGL community keeps telling me. My trip to South Africa has been an amazing one, starting in Washington state. I took a slightly different route to SA, going through London right after the close of the Olympics. Despite the 15 hour layover, I got to take a picture with a member of the gold medal winning four-person crew team from South Africa. At that moment I knew my trip was about to be ultra-amazing.  Since arriving here, I have been working at Ellerton Primary School. I've primarily been working in the school library where my responsibilities include putting books away and helping the kids with various projects. One of the coolest things about the library is that I get to see and interact with all of the different classes and grades at the school. This gives me a unique perspective on the progression of the students and how they develop over their years of education at the school. Other students volunteering at the school celebrated instant fame as they were welcomed into their classrooms with gratuitous amounts of hugs and affection. I, on the other hand, did not receive such a warm welcome until very recently. I attribute this to the fact that I am the only one of the school campus who has a beard, and I believe they think I look scary. I swear I'm nice! Most kids in the school think that  I am 35, even though I am one of the younger volunteers in our group. My facade as "The Enforcer" has diminished as of later, and the children have become more social and curious around me. I talk with them about America and coming from the west coast. They are always disappointed when I tell them I don't know celebrities like Beyonce. Some projects include studying the flags of different countries, where America is a favourite, and writing biographies about famous people. A few children decided to write their biographies about me, where I was more than happy to contribute my time and attention to help them to complete their project. I have also had the privilege of teaching an entire class for the day with the help of the other volunteers at Ellerton. I can assure you it is a much different experience than teaching nuclear classes back at Michigan! It would be hard to find a better bonding experience than handling a class of 6th graders for a day. The cultural experiences don't end at the doors of the school. The volunteer house has many people from England, Ireland, Russia, and Germany. Speaking with them and learning about their stories has been as interesting as learning from the kids at school. Bonding with learners from school, guests at the volunteer house, and fellow EGL members has made this a trip I will never forget. Friendships have been forged here that will never fade and I look forward to the upcoming year with the new relationships I've developed in the past week. So much has happened in the last week, and I couldn't ask for a better crew to be here with. With an entire week to go, I can't wait for the fantastic adventures still in store for me and the rest of the gang. Hopefully we get to keep teaching maths all day and bonding with the Ellerton crowd. From Cape Town, Stay classy Ann Arbor and Go Blue!