Working for the Money

Since being here I have started to see the world in general in a new light. I have to admit I have lived a pretty sheltered life before. I am not one to keep up with the news and for the most part was oblivious to how the rest of the world worked. But, being here and seeing how another country runs is eye opening. We as humans should care about how the world works and what is happening in other countries.  We should be able to give a helping hand when you can, because after all we are all on this planet together.  South Africa is progressing and in many ways they are still young.  Equality for people here is still a new concept, and they are still adjusting. Mandela brought many people hope and made many amazing changes for this country.  His memory will continue to inspire not only South Africans but the world.

I've been asked to talk more about what they people are like here and how the country runs. So, this post is really just about how people work in this country. These are just my observations and finding in the short time I have been here. I am sure there are things I am leaving out. But here it goes...

People of South Africa work and they work hard for very little. On Thursday afternoons I have started taking a group golf lesson with some of the other American wives here. We sat yesterday with our instructor and had a few minutes to compare American and South African culture. I learned that South African minimum wage can range 85 cents to $1.50 yet goods and food at the grocery store are the same price as in America. A man working in a parking lot helping cars park can make as much in tips through out the day as a man working as a Golf Pro at the Golf Club. Two careers you would think would be drastically different in pay range.  Just so you have some perspective on what things cost,  loaf of bread is about $1.00 and a half gallon of milk is about $1.50.

When you arrive here you sort of feel like you have stepped back in time to the early 1960s America or to put it simply a scene from "The Help".
Every morning at the gates to my neighborhood there are rows of mini buses dropping off domestic workers. Many of the workers are house keepers that are heading to clean for the day, and may even be wearing traditional maid uniforms.  Some of the workers are gardeners or pool cleaners.   Others may be taking care of odd jobs around some one's home, or heading to the golf club to work for the day.  Several families here have domestic workers that work full time and live in separate quarters attached to the home and will help take care of the children in the house as well. Then on the weekends or a couple of times through out the year they will go home to see their own families. When you drive through the streets you will see people out cutting grass, trimming trees, and in general maintaining homes, and rarely is it the home owner who is doing the job.

When you go out around town there are people everywhere and all are working for their money and "tips". We have been surprised how this many things you tip for here. When you pull into a shopping center or grocery store there is a parking attendant there to help you park and pull out of your spot, and its normal to tip them a little change as you leave. When you go out to eat there are play attendants there to watch your children and again as you leave you give them a tip. On the side of the streets you may not see many people out begging for money instead they are trying to sell you some good. It may be sunglasses, bags, or a car decal but they want you to buy it and will beg at your car window for you to try it! Even the gas stations here are full service. You pull in and sit in your car while they fill it up, check the oil/ tire pressure, and clean your wind shield. At the golf course you can get your shoes or clubs cleaned easily after you play a round, and if you don't feel like carrying your clubs a caddy is very cheap. What I learned yesterday is that most of these people working for "tips" are living off of their "tips". This is true for waiters too they make what you tip and when you eat out at dinner meals here are cheaper than the United States and it's customary to tip only 10%! I started tipping %20 based on good service and will continue now that I know that this is all they get paid.

We have seen locals treat the working class pretty poorly. I've been at the golf club and seen an older man yell at a waitress for spilling his beer. I've seen snotty women talking down to their nanny at the grocery store. It's very difficult to be around, and though these issues still exist in America it just seems to be more open and a normal occurrence here.  It's been a strange adjustment for us, and while we have hired a domestic to come and clean our house twice a week I am still not completely used to having someone here cleaning while I am drinking tea or heading out to play golf. However,  now that I have gotten to know Joyce (our domestic) a little I am happy that we have hired her. She has explained that a good job can be hard to find here, and a good boss can be even harder. So, we feel better knowing that we are giving someone stable work for a few years. Some of the Black & Veatch families have been able to help their domestic workers repair their homes and have provided them with things they may not have been able to have or do before. We can't give things to everyone we come across in this country, so I have tried to help those around us when we can. I try to do good gestures by making sure the pool man has a cold drink when he comes by and for Christmas our family and another family supplied Joyce's family with some new clothes.


I know being here that one person cannot change the routine of society, so I strive to be a good roll model for my children and to treat everyone I meet with the respect they deserve.

A day with Lions

This past Sunday we took an hour drive to The Lion Park. It's wonderful how many animal attractions are available for quick day trips it makes seeing things really easy. On our way we ran into a bike race that had several roads closed and of course here they don't provide you with detours, so we had to do some map reading and navigating to find a new route.  However, once we got there it was well worth it! The Lion Park is a large park that has an area in which you can pet lion cubs, feed giraffes, and see a few other African animals, and then it also has a game drive in which you can either drive in your own  vehicle around the park or ride in a large truck to see the big lions and other African animals they have. You do have to pay to do all of these things at the park, but for our family of four it was only about $75 for everything.

We had heard that Sundays are busy days so we headed straight to the lion cubs and giraffes. As we were walking up a handler was moving the female giraffe from one enclosure to another. So directly in front of us we saw him leading this giraffe, baiting her with nothing more than white bread! I had never really put much thought into how big giraffes are until we were right next to them. They are amazing! The female had a baby about 3 weeks ago, so we got to meet the baby too! She was adorable and at 3 weeks old already very tall.  We learned that when giraffes are born the mother gives birth standing up so the babies actually fall right on their heads at birth. Also, their hearts stop beating during birth then start again when they reach the ground. Its a hard fall, but obviously they can handle it.  The baby was still pretty skittish so she wouldn't let me pet her. When we went to feed, you buy a bag of food and then walk up a tall deck so that you can be at head level with the giraffe. The male giraffe was standing at the platform so we got to meet him and give him some treats. He also didn't appear to care for much affection. I attempted to stroke his head but he kept pulling away from me, he was focused on the food.  Mitchell was really brave and came up to pet him and feed him, but the minute he felt that giraffe's saliva he was done as he says "That was really GROSS!"  

 

View of the grounds

Baby Ostrich

Baby Giraffe

That was GROSS!

After we fed the giraffe we moved on to the lion cubs. They have three lion cub enclosures, but only open one up at at time so that the cubs can get some rest. When we went in all the cubs were sleeping. The handler told us that they sleep 20 hours a day and of course are most active at night. We were instructed not to touch their heads or tails and when you pet them to give firm strokes. Both the boys wanted to feel the lions, so we pet a few. One was a little frisky and tried to bite me but a handler was right there to distract him. They were pretty soft and seemed to enjoy the affection.  

Mitchell giving the lion a High Five

After a quick run through the gift shop we went on to the game drive. The boys LOVE the big safari trucks so we opted to ride instead of drive ourselves. Chase and I enjoy hearing the comments and animal facts from the guides also so it was perfect. The first part of the drive you see a lot of antelope like animals, giraffes, and zebras.

The second part is where you get to go into the lion camps. When you enter the lion camp it is pretty cool to see these lions just walking around the cars and trucks. Being up high it was great to see things, but I thought it would have been really cool to see one walking next to our Corolla. Typically they feed the lions at night time and do special evening drives, but on Sundays they do a special mid day feeding. Once the truck came carrying the food it was neat to see the lions start to chase it. There is a special contraption on the truck for a person can drop the food out of. They don't want arms to be confused with wildebeest legs! It was great to see the lions feed and to see who shared their food and who took theirs off by themselves.  They have four different lion camps at the park so we drove through each of them. They keep them separated so that there isn't fighting amongst the animals, they only have one mature male per enclosure.  They have white lions and brown lions at the park. One of the male white lions was the star of the movie White Lion, I had never heard of it. They have strict rules that you do not roll down your windows on the game drive, obviously this is for your own safety. As we were driving one lady had her window completely rolled down and her arm hanging out of the window taking pictures with her phone. Not the smartest thing to do during feeding time surrounded by lions.  Our guide gave her a talking to... 

I was guessing this was a momma and her older cubs... they all ended up sharing their food! 

Big Male in Camp #1

just thought it was cool to see him carrying the leg

Dont mess with my food! 

Fun Facts : If a male lions mane turns black it means that he has Kalahari lion in his blood stream. Mitchell kept saying like Scar (from the Lion King). Also, if you mate a white lion with a brown lion they call them split Lions not mixed, because the cubs will either be brown or white not anything in between. 

Male white Lion from the movie

After the game drive we had a quick lunch then headed home. It was a great day and very entertaining. We can't wait to have visitors to take so we can go back! 

It wouldn't be an African Attraction without a playground and bounce house!

Living in a Gated Community

As an American living in South Africa there have been many changes to get used to, and believe me we are still in the "adjustment" phase. A big change has just been our life inside a gated community. Much like the States there are a variety of places to live and types of home.  South Africa has a high crime rate, and so security is a big feature of any home here. If you live in a single home outside of a gated neighborhood you will often have a wall around your home with either electric fence or razor wire on top of it.  Part of the regulations set by Black & Veatch is that we must live within a gated community.  Our neighborhood is pretty large there are hundreds of homes surrounding a 18-hole golf course and there is even a nature reserve within the walls. The perimeter of our neighborhood is surrounded by a 8ft wall with electric wire on top of it. To get inside the gate you have to use a fingerprint I.D. to enter. If you are visiting someone within the gates the security has to phone the person you are visiting and you must be allowed in. They then write down your I.D information will allow you to visit. The same goes for anyone coming to your home to do work. As we have moved into the house I have given clearance to various workers coming in. If they don't get ahold of you the visitor will be turned away. It can be a little confusing if you accidentally miss a phone call from the security office. When they do get a hold of you sometimes it can be hard to understand what the security guard is saying as well, I am still getting used to the heavy accents. So, most of  the time I hope I am letting in who I was expecting.

Our home is set back in the neighborhood off the main road we enjoy it because its quiet. Our house at one time had a foreign diplomat living in it. I am not sure which country they represented but they had high security because there are bars on several of our windows. That is not a standard for housing here, but Chase enjoys the extra security. Not that we have felt as though we need it. B&V also requires an alarm installed within the house we set it at night, but thankfully it has yet to go off. We have heard of several people having their alarms go off by accident. At the top of our stairs we have what is called a "Crash" gate. It is an emergency gate that you can close in the event that your house is broken into at night. It prevents anyone from getting upstairs. There haven't been any home invasions that we know of in Silver Lakes, but unfortunately we have to be prepared. We like to close the gate at night so that the boys can't get downstairs. The tile floors and the stairs make me a little nervous as a mom.

The outer road of our neighborhood is about 3 miles so I can go out and get a good run or walk and enjoy gorgeous scenery all within the gates. We have been taking advantage of the golf course weekly. The boys love the driving range and I have been taking lessons also! There are a few parks within the neighborhood also, which the boys have been enjoying. There is a weekly play date at the Clubhouse park and that has been great for us to get to know a few of the other families here with B&V. We haven't driven through the game reserve but a couple families live back in the game reserve and we have seen a few cool Animals while attending parties. Don't worry they don't have any dangerous animals within the walls. ;)

Now that we are more comfortable with driving around here we have taken a few day trips and plan to do much more traveling. I feel like if we are here we might as well see what we can! The biggest safety tip that I think can't be stressed enough is just don't get too comfortable. When we go out I am constantly aware of my surroundings and where our things are. I always double check that our car is locked and windows are up before leaving the neighborhood and we try to walk with purpose when out and about. I don't feel paranoid or worried at all when we are out, and have never felt like we were in danger. I just feel confident that if we are smart and calm we can really enjoy the country safely.

Preschool: Not as easy as 1 2 3...

I knew upon relocating that finding a good school for the kids was going to be a high priority on our list. My boys do well with structure and a schedule so I knew the longer we went the harder it would be to get them back into a routine.

Now, our school back home was top notch in my books. It had everything I wanted for the kids, it fostered their development without having too many boundaries and had just the right mix of learning through play. Their rooms had themes each week and each center in their room incorporated the theme. They had the freedom to move around the room and discover on their own through out the day, but they also had various group activities that taught them how to listen and work together as a class. I loved that place and I loved their teachers. The staff were very attentive and always gave us great updates on the kids progress and participation. The kids loved it too! The majority of our dinners in the evening were spent talking about what they did at school. We got on the waiting list for that center when I was 12 weeks pregnant with Mitchell and didn't get in until he turned 4. So, leaving after only a year was pretty hard, we had it good.

Once we started looking at preschools I soon learned how different they are from the States. Now, there are always going to be the top notch places and the bottom of the barrel places in any place you live and with my background in Child Development I may also be a bit pickier in what I was looking for. South Africa is on a year round school system so school age is based on how old you are in January and what age you are turning that year. So, Mitchell will essentially be starting our equivalent to kindergarten in January then transferring to the American school kindergarten in August.
I was really intent on the boys going to school at the same place.  I felt that if they went together in the morning then the transition to a new place might of been easier. Ultimately, I picked a school that I felt the most comfortable after the tour. The teachers seemed engaged with the students, they had a loose curriculum for each week, the place seemed in general safe, and the kids running around appeared to be  happy! The only hiccup was that there were no other Americans there so I was going on my own intuition and not on a recommendation from the other expat Americans.

The cost of child care here is much different as well, and in a good way. When the boys were in school we paid almost $400 a week for their school, here we pay almost $600 a month! So on just one income we are able to keep the kids in school full time. Most of the teachers I have talked to at the school have been there for a long time, so it's reassuring to know they have a low turn over in staff. The teachers also speak both English and Afrikaans it's been interesting to hear what the boys have been picking up. They have only said a few things here and there in Afrikaans, but it for sure catches my attention.
Before we started at the school we had an interview with the principle. She asked about the children and what their interests are  and how they interact with others. However, they also asked me questions about their infant milestones like "when they took their first steps" and "what age they started talking". I really had to think about those. They even asked me about my labors with the kids and she explained that sometime traumatic labors can have affects on development. I had never been asked this before by a teacher and thought it was a little odd to be talking about my deliveries in an interview for preschool.

The school building itself used to be a farm and horse stables. So each classroom opens up to a large play yard with several different playgrounds for the different ages of the kids. The playgrounds themselves have trampolines built in the ground which I thought was pretty cool and slightly more safe and a variety of playground equipment. Now the playground equipment for sure would not meet America's safety standards for schools, but the kids still love it all the same.

This first building on the left used to be the barn and to the right are all the classrooms which used to be stables

They have a huge yard that they use a lot. We like the outside learning

Just another piece of African playground equipment all metal. Remind me of some things that used to be at Cosmo Park in Columbia, MO. 

The entire school is guarded by a fence and you have to have a magnetic chip to get inside. So I feel that the boys are pretty safe during the day. At the back of the play yard are farm animals that get incorporated into the children's learning. They currently have baby ducks so Spencer's class has been checking on them often. The school also offers a lot of extra curricular activities during recess time. Mitchell takes golf lessons once a week from a gentleman who comes to the school. He could also do rugby, soccer, gymnastics, art, and dance lessons too. They even had a lady come and give hair cuts to the children. Of course, you have to pay extra for all those things but, they are just a small extra fee. Once a month they also bring a horse to the school for the children to ride, that was a highlight for Spencer, he talked about that horse all weekend.

The boys classrooms are very different from their school back home. Before, they had large rooms with centers around the rooms to explore. Here the rooms are just one open room about 10X10 in size. They have toys that they pull out during free play and then tables that stack up on one side of the room that they pull out for various activities. The teacher has a desk in the room and they do circle time through out the day. A lot of schools here are Christian based so they also learn a few bible lessons.  Back home Mitchell's classroom talked about the day of the week each morning and practiced writing letters and their names and had even started very simple reading and math skills. The majority was child focused and the teachers really fostered what the kids were interested in. They did science experiments and really engaged the children in learning in fun ways. I asked Mitchell's teacher if they practice writing at all and she said no not until age 5. the school occupational therapist said that it's bad for a child's motor skill development to hold a pencil before age 5. That was a new one to me, but I just went with it.  The teacher went on to tell me that there is no big push for reading or writing here until Kindergarten and Grade 1 that before that they want kids to be kids and they focus more on how they interact with others. She told me that they really want to foster the way the get along with other people before they focus too much on the school subjects. At first I was worried that Mitchell wouldn't feel challenged enough.  He likes to engage in activities like "guessing what object is heavier and why" or showing off his counting skills. I also worried that he would somehow be behind other American children. I quickly realized that's a pretty ridiculous way to feel, and obviously these children are doing just fine.  I also know that we can always practice those things while we play at home. So, I decided to just go with the Africa way and see how things go.

Mitchell's classroom

However, I soon started doubting my choice in a school after the first week.  Mitchell started having trouble and I got worried.  He started saying things like "I hate this school" and "I want to go home". When I would ask him about what he learned at school he would say "nothing, it's boring".  He started crying when I would drop him off in the morning, and this was something he hadn't done since he was two years old. It broke my heart to see my little man who usually loved school be so upset about it. I became worried that we had made the wrong choice in schools and maybe he should be somewhere with some of the other American children he had met.   I decided to wait it out a little longer. I gave him another week and figured that part of his attitude may just be adjusting to the move and new school. I think we were all realizing that the "vacation" period of our move was over and that this is life. After another week and lots of ups and downs in moods he started improving. I tried everything to focus on the positives of his school and how many neat things he could do there. Thankfully, he now says he likes school and even though he mostly talks about playing on the playground it's nice to see him getting settled. He has friends, and was especially excited to take cupcakes to school for his birthday!

Mitchell has become a pro at climbing, he is slowly turning into a monkey! 

They eat snack outside

Over all the school has been very accommodating and I know the children are safe and happy! The teachers could tell that I was really nervous about having the kids in school and have kept up on communicating to me about their days. They have sent me lots of pictures of things that they are doing which has been great. Mitchell is excited to move classrooms in January and Spencer asks to play with "my Joan" (his teacher) a lot.  I also decided to keep the boys home with me one day a week so that we can still have our time just the three of us. I was starting to miss my days with them! I am happy that we stuck with it and have found a good little place for the kids. We will just keep on rolling with the changes of Africa as they come! :)

They have a small circle track for the kids to ride bikes around

They have a pretty view too!