Hiya from Jo'Burg,

In the sunrise, we got up and were ready to start our day! We ate our breakfast at Brown Sugar hostel. After the meal, we got in shuttle and zoom to deaf school in Johannesburg. We arrived at St. Vincent Catholic School for the Deaf. We began our visit on a tour from one of deaf teacher who teaches SASL (South Africa Sign Language). She showed us all grades classes. They provide similar programs as TSD. The grades are from first to twelfth. The students are required to wear school uniforms. The school has 367 students there.

After visiting all classes, we gather at their mini auditorium. There we learned the history of St. Vincent as we explained history of TSD. Also, we asked each other questions about the schools. We played telephone line with students of theirs. We also learned each other's sign language. We learned that the school is very deaf power opposed to other two deaf schools in Cape Town. We met the school's deaf principal, Ingrid Parkins. She once attended St. Vincent for four years. After the presentation, we gave some gifts to students and staffs. They appreciated it so much!

After gifts, it was time for the students to eat their lunch at outside. The students had to bring their own lunch. However, the snack bar is provided. During lunch period, some students played soccer outside. Most of students were busy and excited to socialize with us. They even asked us for text numbers and photographs. It is pretty much their first time meeting deaf people from America. During the socializing, the students discussed with their staff and decided to give us St. Vincent school shirts to us as gifts. We all appreciated the shirts from the students. It was very thoughtful of them. It was hard, but we had to say goodbyes.

After deaf school, we went Moyo's restaurant. It serves South Africa food only. We all tried various of foods which includes ostrich, chicken, beef, potjie, calamari and more. It tasted good for some people. Some people were fussy with the food. But, for me it tasted so great! We also got chance to eat fried mopane worms. It is famous food in South Africa. Also, it has very high nutrients inside it. It tasted pretty good but, it is very crunchy and crispy. You can see reactions of people tasting it on vlog.

Also, there I made friend with a cute cat, owned by the restaurant. I spend almost half an hour, giving my love to cat. After the restaurant, we went back to hostel. We played traditional lip reading game with my fellow friends. We wrapped the night by ordering Debonair pizza. Finally, it was time for us to go sleep. ZZZzzz

~ Taran Johnson

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Comments:

Katherine Murphy: Worms! How gross! I was very surprised to see that everyone but Jakiya gave it a thumbs up. I know you said it was crunchy but was it gooey inside? In my mind words are goody and squishy. Sounds like another amazing day!

Crystal Schwartz: Nice souvenir that you got when the students decided to gift you all with a shirt from their school! Worms? Eh..but good to know they have good nutrients. Brave students you all are! Stay safe, everyone.