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Sawubona, and bienvenidos to my first blog entry!
I'm writing from the floor of our SIT classroom center in Cato Manor, just outside of Durban. There is quite a lot that has gone on, so I will do my best to update.
The flight was long, but I sat next to some interesting people--one guy who is working for Kaplan doing SAT prep in inner city New York schools, another SIT student doing a program in Senegal, and one of my fellow SIT students, Annie. When we arrived at the airport in Jo-burg, we were greeted by John Daniels and Vanessa Nichol-Peters, the Academic Coordinator and Director, Langa--our Zulu tutor, driver, and banker extraordinaire, and Alfred--another driver. After a slight glitch with my visa (they almost scheduled me to go home in November!) We successfully loaded our bags on the van and travelled to our home for the next few days, St. Peter's Place. St Peter's Place has quite a lot of history--it used to be a school for black children up until the 50's when the government determined the neighborhood could only serve the white community, and it was converted into a white school. Desmond Tutu was educated there! We stayed there for a few days in a safety bubble, while we toured Jo-burg and visited the Constitutional Court (amazing!) and the Apartheid Museum, among other sites.
Unfortunately I don't have much time to continue this blog at the moment, and I won't have an internet connection until Monday...so I will fast forward. Tomorrow I am getting dropped off with my homestay family where I will be living for the next two weeks (then leaving for two weeks, and returning for two weeks). At first I was told my family would consist of a woman and her adult daughter, who have had some tragedy in their lives...but my family's size multiplied when I found out about 1 adult and 3 children who are members of their extended family, and will be living at the house as well. We are getting dropped off tomorrow morning, and will be on our own until Monday, so let's all hope it goes well!
I will update again some time next week when I have time and internet access. Wish me luck with my homestay!
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