Cape Malay

Today was a good day at the creche but exhausting. Again, one teacher was out and the other teacher really didn't have much in the way of plans for the children. Susie and I were on our own a good part of the morning, with the children and due to the language issue, we weren't very effective. So the first hour the kids were a little out of control. Of course, now that my time here is almost up (my last day there is Thursday), the kids are starting to listen to me a little bit. When a few of them were being naughty today, I could give them "the look" and firmly say no and point to their chair and tell them to sit down, and some of the actually sat, like they are starting to respect my authority.

Unfortunately most of the children are aggressive and if they don't get their way, they punch and hit or kick the other children. Today there seemed to be a lot of fighting followed by tears. Amazingly though....once the other child starts crying, most of the time the child who hit them, will touch them, rub their arm, and in their way, apologize. And none of the children seem to hold any sort of grudge. Once the squabble is over, it's over and everyone is friends again. I just don't understand why they resort to hitting so often.

We did do some puzzles today and all of the kids seem to love puzzles. No snack again today though. I guess they just don't have it. So, I'll bring snack tomorrow and on Thursday.

I saw my little sweetheart today. My class spent a little extra time on the playground, so I spent extra time holding my little buddy. My gosh he's sweet. He was pointing at stuff and jabbering today....and eating Cheetos...so I was covered in drooly orange cheeto goo when I left today....but was very happy and content! :) He had a snack in his backpack, which tells me he probably has at least one parent and isn't an orphan. So I feel a little better, but am still too afraid to ask! He's an angel and I adore him. I can't wait to see him tomorrow.

After our volunteer work, we went to Cape Malay this afternoon. Cape Malay is a community of colored people mostly of Indonesian descent. The population in the Western Cape area is about 6000 people and 90% are Islamic, the other 10% are Christian. The communities earlier members were brought here by the Dutch as slaves. They were the ones that first introduced Islam to South Africa.

The Cape Malay Quarter that we visited today is called Bo-Kaap and is extremely charming, almost romantic. The houses are very colorful with cobblestone walkways. They are very well known for their cuisine and we were invited to a traditional lunch in this cute little cafe. The food was delicious and the folks that work there were wonderfully warm and welcoming. There is no pork or alcohol served there and you eat with your right hand (not so easy for a lefty) and then we toured the Bo-Kaap Museum.

I have to say, of all the "field trips" we've been on and things we've seen...I think I enjoyed this one the most. It was very interesting.

Today was another incredible day in Cape Town.