Wednesday went much better than the first day. We planned differently, more flexibly, and didn't forget any supplies. The drive there was just as crazy and bumpy, but Thembi seems to know the roads pretty well. Again, we had to run to the store before heading to school so that we could pick up bread for their brunches. They should be breakfasts, but since they happen on South Africa time (plus 45 minutes or more), they're more like brunches.
We started the day by just talking to the kids. I can't specifically remember everything we did, because I stepped out to work on my lectures. I do remember my two lectures; I covered the immune system and HIV.
To be honest, I kind of loved talking about the immune system with them. I had to simplify it a lot for them; I only talked about white blood cells and antibodies, and even then only in the most basic sense. But at least I know that my information was pretty accurate, and wasn't made incorrect by my simplifying it. With how stressful my classes can be, it's nice to kind of affirm that at its core, I really do enjoy my area of study.
Although we did schedule much better this day, we actually had the opposite problem; we weren't able to get through everything. We did the Immune System and risky behaviors (sex, coming in contact with infected fluids, etc) and HIV and then half of our drugs and alcohol material (alcohol, cocaine, and heroin) before we had to let the kids go. I brought some water along and was able to eat some of the prepared food, so I wasn't nearly as exhausted by the day, despite delivering two pretty heavy letures.
We're still riding with Thembi and the translators (Hlengiwe and Eugene), but we have a shiny new car chilling in the IOC “parking lot” (which is a parking lot in only the vaguest sense of the words). As it turns out, the owners of the guest house we stayed in in Joburg knew someone high up in Budget Rental's corporate structure, at least here in South Africa. He must have called in a favor because we got about ten apologies about our treatment when we blew the tire, leading us to not have to pay for the tire or the rim damage. They replaced our car, driving a new one probably four hours out to Ingwavuma (for those in Wisconsin, it's like someone driving a car into the middle of deep woods up north, down logging roads, from Milwaukee). All of the three cars that our group rented had two days taken off of the rental price. The car we have now is also larger and an automatic and we only have to pay for a small car to have it. Basically, we got incredibly lucky.
While we were eating dinner this night we noticed Eugene (one of our translators) hanging and working with the little orphans staying at IOC this week. They played the “teddy bear” game, which Eugene had also played with our kids. The game involves everyone standing in a circle with one in the middle, everyone singing and clapping: “My teddy bear, my teddy bear, I love my teddy bear... my teddy bear, my teddy bear, I love my teddy bear... Polish your shoe!” And on that last part the person in the middle pretends to polish the shoe of one kid. Then everyone sings “I love my teddy bear” and those two people hug and then switch, so that the kid who got their shoe “polished” is in the middle. Repeat ad nasueum.
After the kids were dismissed to their rooms and we were preparing for bed we heard them singing the song and it's pretty catchy, so we joined in and it turned into a full-on game. Keep in mind, these kids speak no English and we speak next to no Zulu, so the only thing we had between us was this game. In this way we also taught them the chicken dance and basically just played the teddy bear game for a very long time. The kids loved it, though. They are so adorable and precocious and just like “our kids” at camp, you can tell that they could do great things if given half the chance.
After that, though, we were completely wiped and crashed by about 9 or 10.
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