Week Fifteen

Personal

Me and Jodie

This week we really felt the loss of one of our group members Jodie, she was only on Erasmus for three months so she had to return to France. It was not as apparent until people started retuning from their trips back home, it has been strange being in her flat and not having her come and entertain us with her random chat and laugh with us. It brings to mind how hard it will be to leave everyone else here in a month’s time. However the aftermath encouraged us to book a trip to Bordeaux to visit her before returning home ourselves.

Placement is also coming to an end for us, it is sad because I have learnt so much and have been inspired to think of ways of improving my own teaching when I return home. With the end of placement also signals the beginning of assignments, I wasn't prepared for the amount of work we have, so far it has just felt like a long exciting holiday, but I will be keeping on top of it. I will also be glad of the lie in I will get on a Monday and Tuesday morning, as I will not have to get up at six in the morning to travel to school.

I taught the children a little bit about the school system back home and how we all have had to wear uniforms all through our school years. I asked them to design their own uniforms for their school; they came up with some wonderful and unique ideas. It also got me thinking about the differences and similarities between schools and education here and at home, some of these ideas I will have to explore for my placement assignment.

On a personal level I compare a lot of things to home especially what I like and what I think I could bring back home with me and certain things that I don’t like so much. I adore the food here but I would love to be able to get a proper lunch and not just a sandwich or McDonalds, I also have a love hate relationship with cycling, I enjoy how casually you can dress so casually for a night out and how laid back most things are. I am not enjoying the weather though, it is very similar to the weather at home and is often very windy but on the days that the sun is shining it is wonderful.

Sunshine by the Canal

Although I have lived in Vossenveld for three months now, I have just discovered a new park and also a centre for people with special needs to undergo sports therapy, this includes horse riding so we got to see the horses and walk around the beautiful park, it is nice to know that after all this time I can still find new things and be pleasantly surprised.

New found friends 

In class this week we had a very deep conversation about how to deal with diversity, one of the ways is to tell your story, invite questions  from others about your past ,present and future .You don’t truly know someone until your know their story and a lot of the time the stories can be very similar. It was good to have to think and empathises with others and was a new technique to deal with tough issues.