Siobhan being adaptable and confirming laughter is universal

I can’t believe that our time here is halfway gone! It seriously feels as if we just got here. I refuse to even process the thought of going home yet, however, so I’m going to move on.

South Africa is definitely making me more adaptable. Last Thursday my computer decided it was time to crash, so I’ve been without a computer since then and am currently sitting in an internet cafe using a computer with a keyboard so worn that there are no longer letters on the keys. Typing is proving to be very interesting...It’s hard now having basically zero contact with anyone from home but I’m staying busy. Extremely busy.  

On Thursday I went to volunteer with an after school program in Nyanga because last week I had a slight freak-out because I was sick of sitting in an office and wanted to actually get to talk to people. I had been to this center multiple times with work and I was so excited because the kids remembered me, including the girl who told me I had a “bad tongue” because I was so terrible at speaking Xhosa. It was so fun to play with the kids because I had forgotten how easily amused children could be. For the first half hour Leanne (who came with me this week) and I basically just ran around in circles with them, trying to avoid being tackled to the ground once it was established that my arms were now too tired to pick them up and swing them around anymore. We taught them different American songs (they were big fans of Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes) and how to do the Macarena, which was actually hilarious because I taught it to them saying the moves out loud (hand, hand, flip, flip, head, head, etc) and when they were doing it by themselves they were doing all of the motions correctly but mixing up the body parts, saying chest when they had their hands on their head and waist when they were touching their chests. One of the things that made me the happiest was that despite the fact that very few of them could speak English (and the ones that could decided it would be funny to pretend that they didn’t) I was still able to communicate with them and have fun. I really love that you don’t need words all the time, and that as cliché as it sounds, laughter is universal.

I had been feeling very overwhelmed this last week but volunteering on Thursdays and Fridays has really helped to keep my focused and has overall been a great stress reliever. Next week I’ve decided I’m going to teach them the YMCA, wish me luck!