Weekend Recap

Wow, how do I go about recapping the past week without writing a post that is 10 pages long?  I guess I will do what I normally do and just write whatever pops into my head as it comes.  There may be no divine inspiration happening here, but it will have to do J.

Lets jump back to this week at school.  Friday, the teacher decided she wasn’t feeling well around 9 am, so she left.  And there I was with 43 sets of eyes looking at me.  WOW!  It ended up working out alright, but no plans were followed whatsoever.  We did a bit of reading, and I read them 3 books.  They acted out parts of the books, and then went crazy not being able to keep it under control.  So, out the door we went.  I had everyone run to the front gate and back 2 times to try and get some energy out.  “Really?  TWO TIMES?!?”  yes. GO!  Then they all had a chance to do one flip on the grassy area before going back into the classroom, which made them very happy.  But then, after this, they were calm for about 10 minutes.  We worked through one more story together, then I had about had it with them.  The lack of respect was driving me through the roof and my voice was about gone.  So I did the only thing I could think of.  I walked out on them mid-sentence, and went to the store room for a minute to take a deep breath.  Then, I walked back in, ignored 5 students asking me to go and get drinks or go to the toilet, and went straight to the chalkboard and wrote:

SIT QUIETLY

(then I wrote 2 parts of an assignment they must do)

I will not be talking to you until you learn to listen.

And then I sat down at my desk and began planning what to do after second break.  It took about 15 minutes for the kids to get this.  They kept acting like crazy, being loud and rambunctious.  But kids kept coming to me to ask me all these questions or complain how “so and so is beating others” and any other thing they can think to tattle about, but I stayed strong and kept looking down while pointing to the chalkboard.  It was so good for me to stay calm and quiet, it kept my blood pressure down a little bit J.  Then they quieted down, and started to write me little notes about how they wanted to go to the bathroom and such.  It made me laugh quite a bit, because 1 boy even came to me and tried to sign something that I had taught them a few weeks back.  But I kept quiet until the break bell rang, and they quietly left the room.  A few girls stayed back and said “teacher, why are you sad?”  and a few more hugged me on the way out.  It’s amazing to me how much I really must smile at them, because 30 minutes without a smile and they all assume I’m depressed, haha.  But I went to the storeroom for break, and came back ready to go.  They really did listen much better after break, but still, I’m sure its only temporary.  The afternoon was spent rapping about the planets and creating a solar system from different sized balls, so I would say we still had a good time!

Then Friday after school, Ronewa (grade 12), Hakhakhi (grade 9) and I decided to go take a walk to another girls house and then head down to the grocery store just for something to do.  Oh, was it cold!  I did not take the right clothes whatsoever for days like this.  The wind was so strong.  People seem to find it amazing how much my hair blows in the wind, since there’s often stays pretty stiff.  But we picked up the friend, Ruby, and then walked down to the store.  As we passed the store, I caught a whiff of something fantastic… yes, yes, it was in fact the local KFC.  Now, this is a nice KFC.  I think about KFC in America, yuck.  But here, the chicken is pretty great, and not nearly as greasy.  And instead of those greasy biscuits, they just sell mini loaves of bread.  So we went and bought some chicken.  Now, I am picturing buying food and then sitting there and eating, right? Nope, we take it back and share with the entire family, meaning we each get one small piece/ part of a piece.  I guess this is the way it should be, right? And it was cold, as is all the food we eat around here J.  But it was 6:30 by the time we got home, and on our walk back to the house, the girls were laughing about something.  Turns out that they would normally get in so much trouble for being out this late (since it gets dark at around 5:40).  But because they were with me, they could have an excuse that an adult was with them.  So we arrive home, and sure enough, we get grilled with questions about where we were and what we were doing.  And what is their explanation? Kelly wanted to go for a walk, Kelly wanted KFC, and Kelly wanted to go to the store.  I just laughed and smiled, and they were thrilled. 

Then on Saturday, I took a taxi with Mulinda (grade 7 brother) out to Louis Trichard, the town where most of the shops are located so I could look for some gifts and maybe a sweatshirt of some kind.  We got there and it was raining out.  And what was I thinking, taking a 13 year old boy with me to go shopping?  He wanted to buy a pair of shoes, so we spent almost the entire time shoe hunting, and very little time looking for anything else.  By the time we finally found the store that had the item I had wanted to purchase as a gift for some people, the store was closed (they all close by 1:30pm on Saturdays).  Then we bumped into a friend of Ronewa’s, so she took me around to a few street vendor areas, which were all selling food, a few American looking watches, and lots of fruit.  Then we bought a snack, got back in the taxi, and headed home.  Not exactly the trip I was expecting, but it was still good to get out and about for a little while.  I feel like a taxi pro now!  But to everyone back home: I apologize.  I am doing my very best to try and find some gifts for you, but there really is no place to get anything very “South African” for you.  I am trying, but please don’t be disappointed!  I’m taking lots of pictures and will try and bring some snacks back at least J

But then in true Saturday style, we finished the night with pizza.  A few ingredients were missing, so we made one with bacon, avocado, mushroom, and a few cucumbers, along with the other one having pork and red, yellow, and green peppers.  The avocado one was fantastic!  I’m adding it to my mental recipe book J 

If you’re nice to me, maybe I’ll make you one when I come home J  

Pizza party, anyone?