Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Just a Normal Day... in South Africa!


Hello, everyone!

I haven’t blogged a lot lately, because we haven’t been doing a whole lot around here.  Emily and I just finished our 10 days of teaching (our huge assignment for the semester!), so now we can head out and do more fun stuff!

I figured, though, that I would share with you a typical week in PE, SA!

Weekdays, I sit in on half of the classes and teach the other half.  It really just depends on the day.  Some days, though, I have up to 3 free periods, some days I have none.  Their time-table (schedule) is really confusing… Here’s a picture of it:


They are on a 10-day rotation schedule.  CRAZY.
When I have free periods, I sometimes help out with Plasma.  Plasma is the school’s substitute system.  They choose to spend their money on other things, so hiring substitutes for teachers who are sick just doesn’t exist.  Each morning, our Deputy Vice Principal reads off the people who will be subbing for every class.  It’s fun, because I get to see different classes and students, some who English is not their first language!

My Grade 11s
My silly Grade 8s- I'm with them the most, which is great
because I love them!
Such fun kiddos!
The teachers are all so helpful and willing to support us in completing our assignments for school.  I don’t think I’d be able to understand what was going on if it weren’t for them!

Sweet Valentines presents from our Vice Principal,
the wonderful Mr. Bubb!
During school, we don’t have a lunch break.  Those don’t really exist here.  We have 2 tea breaks where tea and coffee are served, but you can certainly order lunch.  If you order lunch from the school, it is brought up at the first break, which is normally before 10 am!  Today, actually, we got our first food bill and we were all panicking!  We order lunch every day, sometimes a drink, sometimes a snack after school.  We thought our food bill was going to be so expensive.  We were pleasantly surprised, however, to find that our bill was only around R330, which is about $35!!! That is SO CHEAP for 20 days worth of food!

After school, the students are required to participate in sport at least two days a week, which means that all the teachers coach at least one sport.  Here’s my after school schedule:

Monday: Sprints and Fitness
Tuesday: FREE!
Wednesday: Sprints and Fitness
Thursday: Musical Ticket Sales
Friday: Cheerleading

So, basically, I’m busy and loving it!

Shannon and I take our Sprints and Fitness group to the beach
sometimes!
Chasing each other, trying not to get tagged! 
Fun in the sun!
After school, we don’t have a whole lot to do because we cannot drive.  Normally our group goes for a jog, heads to the beach, goes grocery shopping or prepares lesson plans.  Weekdays are actually pretty boring and all the days run together.

Hanging on the rocks by the shore

Team America by the waves

When 5 girls grocery shop, they let us take the cart
home because we buy so much!
For dinner, though, we have found tons of great spots!  One of my favorites is Primi Piati- they have everything from pizza to gourmet game and fish.  They have quite an extensive drink menu, too- The picture below is me with a “Jam Jar” and it’s basically a lot of local juices.  Tons of sugar, but so delicious! They also have a “Tea Pot” and you drink your tea out of the tea pot! So simple, but we love it! 

Some of our other favorites are on Stanley Street but we have to get in a cab to head over there!  It’s fun to stay local and walk off some of your dinner!

The giant JAM JAR! 

Delicious!
After dinner on weekends, we usually head to Barney’s.  Barney’s is the local college place so it’s fun to hang out with all of the college kids from the local university and dance the night away!

Sweet Nicole and Me at Barney's!

Team America at Barney's!
Hopefully, I’ll have an adventure to update you on soon- we are going to Plettenburg next weekend and I am going to the HIGHEST BUNGEE JUMP IN THE WORLD!

Lots of love from SA!

Katharine / Miss Martin

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