Don't Eat the Marshmallow

It's incredible to think that I've been here for nearly three months (on 26 April); it has been a wonderful journey so far and I have cherished the many new experiences. I am looking forward to my future work at the university as well as some exciting trips planned. This past week, Giulia and I finalized her trip in June. We are going on a two-week road trip, covering nearly 4250km, visiting: Kimberley, the Kalahari Desert (Botswana), Ai-Ais Springs, Fish River Canyon (Namibia), Cape Town, Stellenbosch (wine country), Oudtshoorn, Plettenberg Bay, Port Elizabeth, and Addo (Elephant Park). We're going with Gerhard and family for the first leg of the trip (Kimberely, Botswana, and Namibia), which should be a lot of fun… I think we'll get a merit badge for sleeping in the Kalahari with all of the animals! Also, I'm looking forward to seeing Onkel Theodor and Tante Magdalena in Cape Town, as well as our dear family friends, Raymond and Sylvia in Port Elizabeth. It should be an incredible trip!

I went to the University of the Witswaterand's theatre production of The Hypochondriac (or The Imaginary Invalid) by Moliere on Thursday. It was a hilarious, well-performed rendition; I enjoyed how they adapted the play, written in 1683 (French), to modern day South Africa as well. On Friday night, one of the Fulbrighters hosted a cocktail party for her birthday. Rob and Ben (from Pretoria) came down and we grabbed dinner before heading to the party. The party had a nice mixture of Americans, South Africans, and Dutch. On Saturday I headed to Benoni to see Gerhard and family and go to a East Rand Youth Orchestra fundraiser (Maike and Tasmin, Gerhard and Marlize's daughters play in the orchestra). It was a beautiful event at a country club; the orchestra had a performance, then there was wine tasting/snacks and mingling. The orchestra was wonderful - to be so talented at such a young age! It was great to see the family, support the girls, and talk about our camping trip next weekend (Pilansberg).

Marshmallows

I appreciate teaching the future educators at Wits because it allows for me to reflect on my own experiences in Chicago, with my Room 306 "Buckeyes." Last year at this time, as I was nearing the end of my Teach for America commitment, I was focused on finishing up the school year strongly and then moving on from Chicago. The "hectic-ness" of the end of the year, moving from Chicago, and leaving friends, did not present many opportunities for self reflection (or maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind). When I teach my New Literacies for Teachers course, I try to present my students with strategies, advice, and teacher stories in order to give the coursework greater meaning. This, in turn, has allowed me to reflect on my own teaching practices, my own failures, as well as successes.

I feel like my students were all taught in a similar style - very "hands off" and more traditional (e.g. copy notes on the board while the teacher sits at his/her desk, not being encouraged to think for oneself, et cetera). It has been a welcoming shock to hear my students' reactions to my teacher stories and/or advice. For instance, I shared with my student's one piece of advice I'll never forget, "get to know your students." Seeing my struggle during my first year of teaching, my assistant principal pulled me aside. He said: "Fry, you're thinking too much. The best way to get your students' respect and trust is to get to know them. Go throw the football with them, eat lunch with them… get to know their story." Now, this seems intuitive, but when confronted with the stresses of teaching, teachers often lose sight of the human-side of teaching.

One of my focuses this week was investment in the classroom. I encouraged my students to not only continually build a report with their students, but also invest them in their "plan" for academic success. A method I used with my Room 306 "Buckeyes" was the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment. I introduced my students to the experiment the first week of school, giving each student (in Chicago) a marshmallow. I told them that they could eat the marshmallow now or wait ten minutes, not eat their marshmallow and earn a second marshmallow. I watched some of my sixth graders struggle to control their over-excited mouths, with many students giving in (who could refuse a puffed cylinder made of high-fructose corn syrup?!). This experiment was the same model as a Stanford researcher in the 1960s. The researcher followed up with the same students nearly twenty years later and the results speak for themselves: those students who waited for the second marshmallow were overwhelmingly more successful (in terms of finances and education). Now, this is not to say that this is a foolproof experiment, but with sixth graders it's simple enough that they can grasp the concept. The point is, students who can exhibit self-control are more successful. I told them that there will be "things" throughout the year that they don't necessarily want to do (e.g. homework or study). If they persevere, they will be rewarded (higher grades, better high school, college admittance, graduation, good job). I used this as an investment tool throughout the year, with "Don't Eat the Marshmallow" signs around my classroom and the school (with the other classes having no idea what I was talking about). I modeled for my students at Wits the same investment strategy, which they really enjoyed (not just because I gave them marshmallows). At the end of the day, I think my university students gain more from these types of experiences. 

Poster for Room 306 Buckeyes

The Hypochondriac 

The East Rand Youth Orchestra Fundraiser

Be careful when you fight the monsters, lest you become one.

It was nice to get back after a great break and get back "in the swing of things" at Wits. The students have three more weeks of classes before taking a four-week "teaching experience" break. During this time, all of the education students will go into schools around Johannesburg to observe and student-teach. I'm really looking forward to this experience; I'll be paired with a group of students and will observe their lessons throughout the month, providing feedback and problem shoot. I think that this is where a lot of the learning happens, rather than in the classroom. Basically, the students will take their theoretical knowledge from the classroom and try it in the "real world." There's a steep learning curve, particularly because you have to adapt quickly or you'll sink in the classroom. I look forward to helping them become better teachers through mentoring and modeling.

Aside from work, I enjoyed the week and the weekend: On Thursday night I went to a trivia night at a local pub with a fellow Fulbrighter and some friends. I enjoy trivia night, because well, I like seeing how my random knowledge is applicable in a meaningless trivia game at a bar. However, Thursday night wasn't "meaningless" - the game was sponsored by a SA cell phone company, with first prize being new Blackberry(s) and second place a $100 bar tab. There were 23 teams, with the stipulation that members had to be under 35 (a marketing ploy). In any event, my team, the "Blackberry Liberation Front (BLF)" started the first three rounds in first place (out of five rounds). Then, came the music round. I feel like I have a wide-range of music knowledge; my iTunes library is not genre specific and has everything from Wiz Khalifia to Bob Dylan to Tchaikovsky, and even (a guilty pleasure) one-hit wonders. I thought that this round would be another "solid" round by team BLF. Then came the music. The MC played interviews and short sounds clips and then we would guess the artist or celebrity. The first question was Steven Tyler, no problem. The next 19 questions were South African pop and American (current) trash-pop, which I have no idea about. Needless to say, in one round, we went from leaders to fourth place. The last round, we were given twenty car models and had to guess the top 10 most popular cars in SA in 2011. We could guess as many as we wanted, but if we got one wrong, then we received no points. For the final round, we got 7 right… one wrong. With victory within our sights, we let it slip and finished fourth for the night. I guess there's always next week?!

On Friday night I went to the Bioscope Independent Theater ("theatre" - those English!) in the former industrial area of Johannesburg for the premiere of the documentary Robert Mugabe…What Happened? I really enjoyed the documentary about the controversial leader of Zimbabwe. Honestly, I had only read of Mugabe's irrational leadership and decision making over the last few years (since the 2008 election), but had little insight on his "democratic" rule since 1980. The documentary did a great job chronicling the break from Great Britain, Mugabe's early leadership successes (he was knighted), his war/terrorism with opposition parties and their supporters, and Mugabe today. I also appreciated talking to one of the Fulbrighter's friends from Wits who came to the movie with us and was born in Harare; his insight was really helpful in making sense of what happened (and is continuing to) in Zimbabwe as well as the shortcomings of the documentary. The documentary also dispelled my ignorant notions of Mugabe's land redistribution plans; it was my understanding that it was African Zimbabweans versus European Zimbabweans with Mugabe taking European Zimbabweans' land and redistributing it. The documentary explained very clearly that Mugabe took land from both African and European Zimbabweans alike, anyone who resisted his power, with a conservative estimate of 800,000 families' land taken by the government (out of a population of 8,000,000). Zimbabwe has a lot of potential, particularly in agriculture. One thing I always think about when I hear "Zimbabwe" or "Rhodesia" is my grandmother telling me about the German families that moved to Rhodesia to farm the bountiful land. As Nietzsche said: "Be careful when you fight the monsters, lest you become one" (read: Mugabe).

Saturday was the day of the big "derby" - the rugby match between the Johannesburg Golden Lions and the Pretoria Blue Bulls. As I've mentioned before, the Johannesburg Golden Lions are notoriously bad and have a small fan base (comparatively). There have been numerous years where they have gone winless in a season. Some background: the premier rugby league in South Africa is the "Super 15" with five teams from South Africa, five teams from New Zealand, and five teams from Australia playing one another (and it is traditional, 15-man rugby). The South Africa teams are: Cape Town Stormers, Pretoria Blue Bulls, Johannesburg Golden Lions, Free State Cheetahs (Bloemfontein), and the KwaZulu-Natal (Durban) Sharks. The two Fulbrighters (Rob and Ben) came down from Pretoria and went to the game to support our respective teams, understanding, of course, that there was little chance of a Golden Lion victory. Fun fact: "scholars" (students/teachers) can go to the games for R10 (about $1.25), with high-end tickets typically around R90 ($12.50)! We enjoyed the game, a 32-18 victory for the Pretoria Blue Bulls, and I am gradually starting to understand the game (and thus getting a great appreciation for it).

Random Weather Talk

It is quite odd, but I feel like I do not have any concept of time. Let me clarify: I left freezing Toledo and freezing Rome in January. I arrived to a sunny, beautiful, summer in South Africa. The weather is changing here, getting more "brisk," but still sunny and beautiful. At the same time, I read from family and friends about the spring weather in the Northern Hemisphere, as well as spring sports in the US. I'm completely mixed up! I'm sure it will be odd too, going from warm - almost summer - in South Africa in November, to winter in the Northern Hemisphere.

Random Book Talk:

• I finished Toole's Confederacy of Dunces, a book that has been on my reading list for quite some time. I put off reading the book for some time, as the plot didn't really interest me - a eccentric and wacky man who lives with his mother in New Orleans. Not really a thriller. I started reading it over the break last week and couldn’t put it down! Toole's language is so vivid and raw. The main character, Ignatius Jacque Reilly is also one of my favorite literary characters. Ignatius isn't an "inspiring" character, but I found him to be hilarious and odd at the same time, particularly with the dialogue. Confederacy of Dunces also has an interesting backstory: Toole committed suicide and his mother sent the manuscript to a editor, who reluctantly read it, and ended up publishing the work. Toole won a Pulitzer Prize posthumously. 

• I'm currently reading Brink's A Dry White Season, a fictional story taking place in Johannesburg after the 1976 Soweto Riots. A schoolteachers' gardener's son (black) was mysteriously murdered by the secret police after the riots. In the process, the gardener tried to investigate what happened to his son, and he, in turn, mysteriously died while being interrogated by the secret police. The schoolteacher then investigates both deaths, seeing the intense racism and corruption of the government. In the end, the schoolteacher, too, sacrifices himself for the greater justice of society. 

Pictures (continued)

Just because I cannot help myself - it was so beautiful!

Walking down to the bushman paintings 

Fall Break: Johannesburg, Durban, Lesotho

I enjoyed the first weekend of the break - Colleen (one of the ETAs) flew in from Port Elizabeth and Rob came down from Pretoria on Friday. We went to the South Africa versus India cricket match on Friday night, which was an eye-opening experience. It was mostly "eye-opening" because I have very little concept of the game and we spent the entirety of the game trying to figure it out. Also, unlike the traditional games, this was a shortened version, which made it "more exciting" (it still needs to be MUCH more exciting). Nonetheless, we brought a picnic and enjoyed the atmosphere of the game before a thunderstorm delayed the game about two-thirds of the way through. After the game we met up with Ben (the other ETA in Pretoria) in my neighborhood, Melville, for a few drinks. We went to a pretty chill bar, with dancing and an overall great atmosphere. We met up with one of my roommate, Nelli, and her friend too … and even ran into a South African soap opera star at the bar (he's on the show "Rhythm City"). On Saturday, we went to the Melville Koppies, the nature reserve near my house before dropping Rob off at the Gautrain for Pretoria. Afterward, Colleen and I went to the Apartheid Museum and Soweto. The Apartheid Museum is really well done and was powerful to see. I also feel like I gained a deeper understanding of Apartheid and its impact on South Africa, both during the regime and in present-day South Africa.

RSA vs. India 

Apartheid Museum 

Durban

On Sunday morning, I picked up Mariann, Ben, and Rob and we set off for Durban. It was a beautiful five-hour drive, going from the Gauteng province, through Mpumalanga, to the KwaZulu-Natal province (see pictures/map). When we arrived, we checked into our hostel and went for a few drinks before a wonderful Indian dinner. Durban has the second largest Indian population outside of India in the world - we had to be sure to take advantage of it. Our hostel was nice, clean, and welcoming. It was about a 20 minute walk to the ocean and was a block away from a popular street with restaurants, cafes, and bars.

On Monday, we decided to check out the city, driving to one of the cities' many markets and walked around to get a "feel" for the city. Durban is a beautiful city; I do not feel it gets the appreciation it deserves from tourists - maybe because it is so incredibly hot and humid in the summer? Most people visiting South Africa prefer to go between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth or head north toward Kruger National Park. In any event, after our trek through the city we went to the beach and relaxed. I jumped around in the massive waves for a while, acting like a "big little kid" and then got some sun.  

On Tuesday, we went up the Moses Mabhida Stadium arch, the stadium Durban built for the World Cup. Interesting, the stadium is shaped like the "Y" of the South Africa flag. From the top of the arch, we had a great view of the city. Afterward, we went down to the port and took a boat ride. It was nice to get out on the water (how could we go to the Indian Ocean not go on a boat?). We then went back to the beach and I worked on my sunburn. For dinner, we met up with a Fulbright Scholar who is doing HIV-related research (he's a current medical student at NYU).  It was nice to touch base with another Fulbrighter and hear about his experiences.

Mpumalanga

Curry Market

Durban City Hall

Nelson Madhiba Stadium

Juma Musjid Mosque - the largest in the Southern Hemisphere

Durban 

Mariann, Ben, Colleen, Rob, and Me

Ben, Me, Rob

Warner Beach

We left Durban on Wednesday morning, heading about 30 km south of Durban to the "beach town" of Warner. It was nice to see a different part of the coast and get to a more relaxed area (rather than a city). Our hostel was a backpackers hostel, with a very "surf-y" vibe to it, and it overlooked the ocean. We spent the day riding bikes, walking around the town, and I even tried surfing. With surfing I learned: 1) I need wax on my board - I kept slipping off, which made it extremely difficult and 2) I need lessons before I try again. To make matters worse, the waves were massive, the tide was really strong (it swept me about 300m from where I started), and I'm not too fond of sharks (Durban/KwaZulu-Natal is known for sharks). In any event, we made dinner at the hostel and crashed early, worn out from the sun and our sunburns.

View from hostel

Rob buying biltong ("bil-tongue") - SA style jerky

Drive through Golden Gate Park (Free State)

Cattle-crossing

Ladybrand

We set off for Ladybrand on Thursday morning, traveling from the coast, inland (see link to Google map), through the mountains of the Free State. It was a long drive, but extremely beautiful. The Free State is so untouched and "raw" - I find it difficult to describe. We drove through Golden Gate Park and through the small towns scattered throughout the southern part of the Free State. After a beautiful, yet long seven-hour drive, we arrived in Ladybrand. Ladybrand is a sleepy little town about 15 kms outside of Maseru, Lesotho (in South Africa). We stayed in a lovely B+B run by a couple formerly from Pretoria. The rooms were really nice, the breakfast filling, and the couple was very helpful. After we arrived on Thursday, we drove to Maseru, hoping to check out the city and get dinner. We drove to the border to find a multi-kilometer long queue full of Lesothoans (is that right?) and South Africans alike, trying to get into Lesotho for the holiday. After two hours of traffic, we got our passports stamped on both sides and headed into the city. There isn’t much to Maseru, but it was neat to drive through and get a "feel" for the city. It is pretty run down and full of informal markets. We found a restaurant (one of two) and had dinner before heading back to Ladybrand; fortunately, the customs going back to South Africa didn't take too terribly long.

On Friday, we had a pony trek scheduled, about 80kms away in Lesotho. With a 2.5 hour drive (due to poor roads) and what was assumed to be a long border crossing, we left early to make it to the pony trekking lodge at 10am. Determined not to wait in a long line, I decided that if there was a queue I would drive past it, claiming either: 1) that I already had a Lesotho stamp (trying to use the stamp from the day before) and/or 2) pleading an ignorant American. Surprisingly, there was a short queue and I was able to go around it when everyone else stopped at the border to get their passports stamped. Rather than stop, I drove up to gate, handed the South African officer my passport and gave him a "thumbs up" - the South African universal sign for everything: "I acknowledge you," "I'm fine" (if someone is selling you something), "thanks", et cetera. He handed me back my passport and let me through, not checking anyone else's passport in the car. Whew. On to the Lesotho side, I tried the same, giving the police officer my passport. She replied "where's your stamp?" (I handed her the page opened with the Lesotho stamp from the day prior). "Oh, sorry, I just opened up the page - it should be a few pages behind it." She looks, hands it back to me, and I give her a thumbs up… we made it into Lesotho without a stamp! We continued on to the Malealea Lodge, some 60 kms away. As we drove, the roads became progressively worse, until they were unpaved, with rocks, pot-holes, and I could barely get out of first gear. We finally made it, after winding our way through the mountains of Lesotho, with narrow roads, and less than ideal driving conditions.

Just for some background - Lesotho (le-sue-too) is it's own country inside of South Africa. It is known as the "mountain kingdom", being the country with highest elevation in Southern Africa. It's constitutional monarchy, the main language is Sesotho (say-sue-too), and it is a largely agricultural/herding culture. Due to the rugged terrain, the major means of transport is horse/donkey.

When we arrived at the lodge, we checked in and got our horses. After a less-than-detailed overview of how to ride, we set off on our seven-hour trek. The nine of us in our party had three local guides, each on horse. My writing, nor pictures, will do justice to the beauty of the country. There are few places in this world that I would say are more beautiful than Lesotho - it is just untouched, raw natural beauty. Now, I assumed that the trek would be a nice, easy, ride through flat trails. Not so. After about 20 minutes, we started our first descent into the valley, with our horses navigating through a narrow rock trail down (about 1000m down) through cut-backs. We rode through the valley, across the river, and headed up the mountain (in a similar fashion to our way down). To demonstrate how underdeveloped and steep the trails were: many of the horses in our group simply refused to go up/down the trails (or were stubborn and waited until they were "encouraged" to go). Being the incredible equestrian I am, my horse was able to successful manage the trails - we had a good relationship, it must've been my sweet talking. We stopped on top of one of the mountains, dismounted, and a local guided us down a steep trail to a waterfall. We went back up for lunch (that we packed), shared them with our guides, and rested (riding a horse isn't the most comfortable thing one can do!). We continued up and down the mountain for a few hours and arrived at the top of a gorge. A local met us as we dismounted and she led us down into the gorge to bushman paintings, some 27,000 years old. I think the most profound part of the trek was that all of this was just so "raw" - in other parts of the world or even South Africa, there would be development or tourism. Not so in Lesotho. After investigating the paintings we went back up to our horses and headed back to the lodge…It was an incredible experience and, well, I was happy to get off the horse at the end of the day :) On the way back, we tried to go through the border crossing again without getting stamped.  Same thing as when we entered - I hand my passport to the officer, give a thumbs up and proceed. We got in and out of Lesotho without stopping!

On Saturday morning, we had breakfast and heading back to Johannesburg - driving through the Free State. It was a beautiful drive, but the numerous potholes made the drive a bit tedious. Overall, it was a wonderful trip … the best of both worlds, mountains and ocean. I really enjoyed seeing so much of the country, relaxing, and taking in some memorable experiences.

Itinerary

Sunday, 1 April: Johannesburg - Durban

Monday, 2 April: Durban

Tuesday, 3 April: Durban

Wednesday, 4 April: Durban - Warner Beach

Thursday, 5 April: Warner Beach - Ladybrand - Maseru - Ladybrand

Friday, 6 April: Ladybrand - Maseru - Ladybrand

Saturday, 7 April: Ladybrand - Johannesburg

Map of my trek: Map

Trusty Horse! 

Maseru

Bed and Breakfast in Ladybrand