grade 3 plants a flower.

If you haven't heard by now, I lived and worked in South Africa last year as an Augustinian Volunteer.  I taught English in a Zulu primary school not far from Durban five days a week, to children in Grades 3-7.
This is a silly and very amateur video I made of one of our projects.  On Earth Day, Mary-Kate and I asked our third graders to decorate (hlobisa) a petal we'd cut out of white paper, which we then assembled, and... well, just watch the video.

Music by Orba Squara.






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they're worth a thousand words anyway.

Since I've had some trouble thus far putting my year in South Africa into words, I've decided to share some photos instead.  I held off on uploading a ton while I was away, not really on purpose, but because our internet was limited and there were more important things to do.  So, if you'd like to see some of my year as a volunteer in KwaZulu Natal, head on over to dispatches from kzn.  I'll try to be good about putting up one a day.  But that is not a resolution.

South Africa, I miss you.


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out with the old, in with the new.

Hi!  I'm back!
After my year in South Africa , and three weeks of joyful reunions, slow readjustment, and holiday cheer, I have decided it's time to return to this little blog.  My post-volunteering job hunt has just begun and may take some time, so in the meantime, I can share a bit of my life here on SFS.

I rang in 2011 with a weekend in New York.

2010 was the most exciting, interesting, challenging, eye-opening year of my life yet... but I have high hopes for 2011.  With my best friends from college, I welcomed January 1st at Brooklyn Brewery, and spent the surrounding days soaking up all that New York has to offer.  There were a couple of stressful trips to Trader Joe's in Union Square (is that place ever not crowded?), a few too many strong margaritas at happy hour(s), beer-drinking adventures in the Village with a good friend I hadn't seen in way too long, and a tough morning curled up in Diana's bed, watching wedding shows and attempting to rehydrate (unsuccessfully).
And after a very lovely few days, I've decided that although my job search is widespread in the hopes of finding something sooner rather than later, I would really love to find something in New York.  So here's to the hunt...

I read this poem here last night, and thought it was really beautiful.  And so, to start off this year and to bring this blog back to life, here it is.  Happy New Year!

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
   The flying cloud, the frosty light:
   The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
   Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
   The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind
   For those that here we see no more;
   Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
   And ancient forms of party strife;
   Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
   The faithless coldness of the times;
   Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
   The civic slander and the spite;
   Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
   Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
   Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
   The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
   Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "In Memoriam (Ring Out, Wild Bells!)"

what it's worth.

It's been a whirlwind ten months since my last post on this blog.  I've been keeping myself busy here, but I thought I should share this on my "everyday life" blog as well, just for posterity.
As I face my final two weeks as a volunteer in South Africa, I can't help thinking back to all the frustration, sadness, giggles, and driving on the "wrong" side of the road that has happened in the past ten months.  Teaching has been an amazing experience, and my time at St. Leo Primary has awakened new passions within me that I didn't give one ounce of thought to before.
Amid the three-week strike, the World Cup fiasco, the lack of student attendance and the inadequacy of education in this country, one of my learners in Grade 7 dropped this note on my desk as she left class last Friday.  And this is why I'm here.

"To Shinad
Hi Shinad How are you me I am fine. I would like to tell you something. Shinad at first I did not like white people because of aparteid but I have realise that you must not hate somebody just because of the colour. You must not judge some body the colour of the skin, and since I have relise that you are a good person and you are a kind person. And even you are not near me I will always love you. You show me the love that my parent never show.
Shinad I love you with all of my heart
From: Hlengiwe"

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time to make moves.

My floor is covered with books and photographs and clothes, in my meek attempt to pack some of my life into two suitcases to take with me to South Africa.  The hardest part is deciding what to bring besides clothes.  Every year, moving back to Villanova, I'd bring a crate of books with me-- not to read, you understand, but sort of as a comfort item.  On a trip thousands of miles away, it seems that a crate of books is not the most practical of ideas.  I need to bring photos, but which ones?  Will they get damaged if they're not in frames?  Exactly how much makeup am I going to need for an entire year?

It's been important to sit back and take a moment or two to remember my purpose in going to volunteer.  I'm not going on vacation; I'm going to work and be a part of some small means of assistance to people who have never had to pick which makeup to pack, or which five pairs of shoes to bring.
I'll probably only wear flip-flops anyway.

And so, amid this packing and preparing and phonecalls to the bank, I'm signing off from Sinéad Freshly-Squeezed for a while, mostly because I've created a new blog to chart my experiences in South Africa.  It's called dispatches from KZN (title inspired by McSweeney's)  (and f.y.i. KZN means KwaZulu Natal).  Though I plan on checking in here once in a while, I was in need of a specific place to keep my family and friends up-to-date on my adventures.  Both blogs link to each other in the side panels, so if you need some orienting, there it is.

Peace out, blog world.  See you in South Africa!

a personal reflection, on world AIDS day.

Today is World AIDS Day, and though it was commemorated in full force at my university, this is the first year where I've been forced to think about the reality of the virus. In just a few weeks, I will be living in the country with the largest percentage of HIV positive people in the world. Though there is some hopeful news (like this and this), the fact is that of the 33 million people infected with AIDS in the world, 22 million of them live in Africa, and the so-called "Dark Continent" is often overlooked in favor of issues closer to home.

On a more personal note, I'm really struggling to come to terms with the fact that today is the first of December. As I told someone over the weekend, when I thought about going to South Africa, I was content to mark the time passing, then suddenly realized that I had only two months to go! Just when I'd accepted that fact, time had slipped by and now I'm on the brink of my last month at home before I leave for South Africa.

I've been reflecting a lot on life and the choices I've made thus far, and how I can choose wisely and have the best life possible in the future. In talking to AV alumni, especially of the South Africa program, I've just gotten so excited to meet people. I know the country will be beautiful, and the culture will fascinate me, but even since beginning work at ADROP last August, I've really come to appreciate the simple interactions that life provides with people from all walks of life.
When you work in a city (even if you don't live there... yet), you're surrounded by strangers from the moment you leave your home until you return at night. You walk alongside them on the street, get into very close quarters together on the train or subway, and they serve you coffee and deli sandwiches when your energy dips. I love that about cities-- the interactions with strangers that serve as a reminder that we're all just going about our days next to each other.
I can't wait to feel similarly about the new people I'll encounter in my year abroad as an Augustinian Volunteer. In a conversation with Emma, an AV alum who served in South Africa in 2008, I mentioned something about how amazing it must be to have such an uncommon experience every single day. She agreed with me, but then said, "You know, it starts to lose that after a while. As time passes, that "experience" just becomes your everyday life."

I think moving to South Africa will be a series of highs and lows. Though volunteering won't be the same type of experience, I remember vividly the pattern that my emotions followed during my semester abroad in France.

There's the inevitable excitement a few months before, then a bit of nervousness as the date of departure approaches. There are the final goodbyes with friends and family, and the inevitable tears shed at the prospect of a year without face-to-face interaction with the people I love the most. There's the exciting trip itself, and the feeling of landing on foreign ground, knowing that as time passes, it will inevitably feel more like home. And as the weeks go by, there's the routine to slip into, to help numb homesickness and nervousness and fear, and the new friendly faces that become a foster family away from home. There are the moments when I'll look around, at the three girls I live with and at our surroundings and think, "Wow, look at us. These people are our reality and this is our everyday life." And then, before I have time to notice the passing of time, it will be over. December will come again and with it, the promise of a return home, to tell stories and share experiences with friends and family-- and maybe even a stranger or two.


So today, I've got Africa on my mind, and not just because it's World AIDS Day. Today I can see a major global crisis and my personal ambitions tied up in a life that will begin in just over a month. I hope that at this time next year, I can look back at today's reflection and feel like I've made a small difference, even if just in myself.


Image courtesy of the ONE campaign

november!

Rabbit, rabbit!! (See more on this here)

Happy November 1st, everybody. Time is flying by... officially 72 days until I leave for Durban. Unbelievable.



Photo courtesy of JoshuaDavisPhotography.com

driven to distraction.

I'm notorious for getting distracted. Whether it was procrastination during my years as a student, or an inability to watch just one thing on television, it's always hard for me to stick to a task with blinders on.
Some of the worst incidences of this distraction come when I'm trying to clean my room. It may be just a simple picking up of clothes on my floor, but then I spy a photo album on my shelf and get sucked into hours of reminiscing and reflection. When the clean-up job is something bigger, like today's attempt to organize my closet, I'm a lost cause.

So here are two items sitting on my desk that I thought worthy of sharing! Take that, closet.

The first is a gorgeous set of notecards & envelopes that I got from the woman I babysit for. They're handmade and I love the string closure on the notecards! There's a website advertised on the packaging (www.clearpinkdesign.com) but it doesn't seem to lead anywhere.
(Edit: You can see more handmade stationary at the designer's blog -- http://clearpink.blogspot.com -- thanks Kim!)

And secondly, these are the contents of a square envelope I found waiting for me when I got home on Wednesday. One of my South Africa roommates, Becca, had been thoughtful enough to send me a mix CD with songs that reminded her of our imminent year together, as well as a lovely card and a gorgeous stone pendant. The pendant was given to her by a man at a Peace festival in San Francisco, and has a design on the front, and the Zulu word for peace, ukutula, on the back. I'm in love with it, and thread it onto brown string as soon as I pulled it out of the envelope. Wearing it was a good reminder all day yesterday of my upcoming adventures. Two months to go...

anticipation.

This past week has served not only to better acquaint me with the Augustinian Volunteers program, introduce me to new friends, and nurture ideas of community and spirituality, but has also made me incredibly excited for January 11th, the day I will depart for South Africa. We even got our plane tickets; Mary-Kate, Becca, Meghan and I will be leaving for Durban (via Dubai) on the 11th, and return home December 15th, 2010.
I got to see a video walkthrough of the property where we'll be living, some photos of the people we'll encounter while over there, and hear stories of the amazing adventures some AV alumni have had while abroad.
Though "community" has been drilled into our heads all week, I know that this concept will be extremely important when the four of us are faced with the very harsh realities of life in South Africa. For example, we live in a pretty affluent area called Bothas Hill, which is populated primarily by white South Africans. The people we serve, however, live in the valley in a much poorer, rural setting- and they are almost all Zulu. I think the contrast between the two situations will be extremely hard to deal with. I'm really looking forward to the challenges though, because I signed up for this volunteer program hoping to be faced with just that.
And so, in addition to countless t-shirts, coffee mugs, and even a fancy travel bag, I got to count on a number of other people as new friends. The week was better than I ever could have hoped, though I'm quite exhausted, and I get butterflies every time I think of leaving my current life behind for a new phase thousands of miles away.

Mary-Kate, Meg, me, and Becca -- ready to learn Zulu & eat lots of cheese together