October 6th, 2008 Jeffreys Bay, South Africa

28 hours , 3 flights, 6 meals, 3 movies and several naps later I made it to Jeffrey's Bay, South Africa.
Getting in at 12 midnight last night, I was not sure what I would find this morning. My private room on the beach with a balcony overlooks the Indian Ocean. Did I say it was on the beach. Not too shabby. The room is simple, but clean. I am definitely the oldest person here since it is a hotspot for surfers, but it is used by the volunteer organization also. You can check it out at http://www.islandvibe.co.za/.
I was taken to the preschool this morning by a South African woman named Melissa. All south African women are tall, blond and speak with a combination British/Austrailian accent. Myself and a girl from Sweden, Karen, are helping in the two local preschools. Where I am staying on Jeffreys Bay is sort of a resort town with nice homes, very shore like so I was naturally confused on why they needed volunteers. When we got closer to the school maybe about two miles from the beach the homes deteriorated drastically. The schoolhouse was built in 2005 by some German volunteers and is one room with about 20 kids ranging from ages 3 to 6 and one teacher and an aide.. The languages spoken are Afrikaans, IsiZulu, IsiXhosa, and some English, hence my purpose here. The supplies consist of some paper, a pile of half used coloring books, and a dozen books and no chalkboard. There is a plastic container containing some legos, and a few toys, but that is it. Did I mention 10 of the 20 kids had runny noses. Tomorrow they said there will be about 30 children as this was the first day back from a 10 day holiday.
I am suppose to help the teacher with lesson plans and give her ideas and themes. Melissa said they want to empower the teachers to do more with the children, but the teachers are overwhelmed since they are also in charge of the budgeting and everything else to do with the school.
I walked to town with Karen to pick up some groceries for lunch. It looks like I will be eating peanut butter and jelly for the next week or two. We were warned not to go to town at night after 7PM and not to walk on the beach after dark. It seems pretty safe so far. There is a bar here, so I think it is time for a beer.