Today Lauren and I had lunch with the trainers. Cow’s heads are slaughtered on the street side and then cooked up in a stew. I tried the cow stew but was not quite sure which part of the cow I was eating. If you zoom in on the picture of the man chopping the hanging cow head you can see the eye is still there.

I did not enjoy the stew but happy I had the courage to try the stew.

The roommates and I are working 50-60 hour weeks. Last week we took Friday off and went up North to Addo Elephant Park. The park is insane.

The park offers a horseback ride with a warning sign stating, need to be an experienced rider and be able to gallop with horse to escape elephant attacks. Thank goodness I attended a horse camp when I was young and have had practice on Uncle Joe’s horses. Running from a 1400lbs African elephant will truly be a test of my riding abilities.

Not sure how Thanksgiving is going to work here in PE. The meat in South Africa is edible but not the great tasting meat I am used to from Nebraska. I do not want to ruin my great thanksgiving memories of Uncle Bill and Aunt Pat’s thanksgiving, however, I can live without Jones mystery holiday drinks.

I have been assigned to schools here in PE. Currently we are working in 8 schools and should graduate 600+ students through the Grassroot Soccer program by the beginning of November. I attend school sessions every day, play the Grassroot Soccer games with the kids, and take notes of successes and problems of the day. At the end of the week all trainers get together for a development meeting. For the development meeting I compile all the successes and problems of the week and talk the notes through with the trainers. The goal to make the following week run more smoothly and develop the most effective way to deliver the Grassroot Soccer curriculum.

What problems do we face in the schools? Some of the Grassroot Soccer games involve throwing balls or dribbling soccer balls and need to be played outside. Well in most schools at some point in the day the 300 other kids attending the school come out for break time. Hundreds of youngsters then surround the games similarly to how they flock to the Grassroot Soccer graduations. Jeremy, my French roommate, had the same problem with a school he was monitoring. Jeremy's solution: Pull out a soccer ball to attract the little ones and chuck the ball in the opposite direction. In the end the soccer ball distraction worked perfectly. Jeremy chucked the soccer ball and hundreds of screaming kids went sprinting after the soccer ball. Funny how excited the kids were to chase a soccer ball.

Having some difficulties with the Internet so will only have enough time to update my blog. Pleas feel free to make comments of my blog here on the blogger web page. Below more pictures I took during the last week of schools.

Energizer: Tainer Joe pumping up the shcol kids for the day.

Group of students listening to Head Trainer Titie explain the Grassroot Soccer Contract.