Shila Travels: I have no creativity with titles.

Oh hayyyyy

How is errbody doing these days? Another week in Mochudi has passed! I've been feeling pretty good lately, it's strange because I'm actually starting to feel really used to life here. In my mind, my Canadian life seems so surreal and distant now. My lifestyle is so drastically different here, and it now feels pretty normal. The thought of having sooooo many luxuries back home seems SO weird to me. I won't know what to do with myself when I'm back, that's for sure!

It's Sunday night and I'd say it was a good week, and a good weekend.

New things at work these days:

- Monday, I was at the MOST random conference ever, entitled "Service Providers Training on Child Related Legislation." The psychosocial support department at SSI was busy, so I was somehow roped into going. I was supposed to be there for two days, but it was FAR from fruitful, so I came back to Stepping Stones on Tuesday, thank god haha. I suppose I now know a lot more about the child protection act, buuuuut it was very, very drab.

- For the rest of the week, I was getting training for the new literacy program we're implementing. The assessments were a wake up call, to say the least. We're almost done testing every single kid, and the VAST majority of our kids are extremely behind in terms of their reading abilities. Only one kid is reading at their grade level. ONE! I'm SUPER excited to start these modules, but it is VERY bittersweet. I'm now going from 22 readers, to only six. With this new program, I'll spend every single afternoon doing 45 minute, one-on-one sessions with the six kids who have the lowest reading capabilities, and I'll be using a different model than the other tutors because of how low my readers are. This is EXCELLENT in the sense that I'll see these six kids every single day, and my sessions will be a zillion times more effective and structured. This is also really sad though. I'm pretty heartbroken that I won't be reading with the other kids anymore. I guess I've become pretty attached to them, and even though I know they'll be in the capable hands of other tutors, I'm a little crestfallen that I won't see their progress first hand. The readers I DO have are awesome though. Two of them are going to be huge challenges behaviourally speaking, but I'm ready for it. Even though they are hard to deal with, I'm pretty fond of them. Another one of my students is 20 years old, and he's reading at an early grade 2 level. SO, I'm sad to lose some readers, but I'm VERY excited to get in and there and do some intensive work! We'll train again for the rest of this week and formally start the modules the week after. The goal: get these kids to read to learn, not learn to read!

- Aside from the training, I have been working on the research stuff and on curriculum stuff for leadership

SO.

Other random things this week:

- We went out on Friday and had another very fun and random night in Gabs. Kate and I had some vino (thanks Julia, we miss you!) and started the night at a restaurant that had a band and karaoke. Then, we went to this huge bash (an eviction party, I suppose) for the last Batswana to get the boot on Big Brother Africa, and it looked like a fun time, but the line was HUUUUGE so we ended up going to a club instead. I was on the dance floor all night and it was a blast! I was hurting pretty bad the next morning though, and laid in bed for ages thinking about all the things I'd do for a greasy ol Big Mac. Whyyyyy doesn't Mochudi have pizza delivery?!?! Anyway, I felt a lot better after a lovely nap.

- Today (Sunday), we went to Gabs and had a successful shopping/eating/movie day. I happily found a bunch of things I'd been on the hunt for, so that was awesome. After shopping around for groceries and stuff, we went to see Wolverine and I loved it. I love X-Men stuff, and I'm SO appreciative of movies here in general. I also found STRAWBERRIES!!!!!! I was so happy. If there is ONE thing I've learned about shopping in Bots, if you see something you like, grab it then and there! There is zero consistency in terms of stock. Soooo I went a little overboard and got three packs, but man, they were DELICIOUS and my smoothies are going to rock now! I also splurged on pomegranates this week, but man, it was totally worth it. Fruit is SO delicious here.

- We're getting a new roomie in September! She's a Canadian from the west coast, and will be volunteering at Stepping Stones with us. She sounds really rad, and she'll be in Mochudi for three months. PUMPED!

- I've been pondering this for a while now, and in some ways I kiiiiiind of feel like this experience has made me a little materialistic. Not in a jerk way exactly, but in the sense that I now have SUCH a deep appreciation for certain things. It isn't like I want tons of stuff, I couldn't care less about owning a lot and we live a simple life here, but I never imagined a day where things like a familiar brand of lotion or a certain type of food could make me so happy. I guess I'm just ultra grateful for things now? I don't know. I found Reses pieces today and I was like !!!!!!OMG!!!!!!! So yeah. This is definitely an unexpected side effect of this trip, and I can't decide if it's a good or bad thing.

- We are slowly but surely making our house a comfy place to live. I'll upload pics next week, it was too dark to take pictures tonight, but we've improved our living room significantly and I'm pretty excited about it. Details to come :)

- The mouse has been MIA, which is awesome, but now our house is getting MAJORLY attacked by ants. They are taking overrrrr! We're going to have to get into extreme exterminator mode ASAP.

- I started watching The Sopranos series. I'm now on season 2, it's pretty addicting. The one downfall: I am having the craaaaziest mob dreams.

- Check out this YouTube video, it's a SUUUPER popular song here, we hear it every single weekend. Doesn't it just make you want to dance?!

OH!!!!!
And.

I almost forgot!

Sending mail to Africa is kind of crazy. It takes a zillion years to get here, if it gets here at all. BUT! With my family coming, there is a veeeery magical opportunity to get letters to me! SO, if you happen to be in the mood to do some hand writing, write me something, ANYTHING, and all you have to do is send it to Halifax! Email me and I'll give you my folks' address! I would love you forever!

That's all for now. Sending big peace vibes, and extra big love vibes :)

shilaleblanc@gmail.com