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June 2, 2010
Winter exams began on Monday. This means several things. First of all, because most exams won’t start until 9am, I get to sleep in. Actually, my body is basically trained to wake up at 7am, so I get to huddle in the blankets longer than normal, not so much sleep later. Second of all, I’m realizing how terribly cold the classrooms can be. It’s one thing to stand in front and move around and lecture for maybe 40 minutes or even 80 minutes if it’s a double lesson, but it is quite another to have to sit there, at the cold desks and take notes while trying not to freeze.
Forms A and B only have morning exams, which is nice, since those are the forms I teach. This means that around 11 or 11:30, I’m done with my official duties for the day. Basotho don’t use the word “proctor” but prefer “invigilate” instead… so I’ve been “invigilating” exams three days now, and have one more before my long weekend. We’ve been mixing up the Form As and Bs so as to minimize cheating (I swear, they still find ways… really, their creativity amazes me sometimes), so half the class will be writing one exam and the other half another. This means most students finish at different times, depending on which exam is more difficult. when students finish their exam, they are expected to hand the exam to the subject teacher, and leave the room. Needless to say, this can cause a bit of commotion with students almost constantly leaving their desk to turn in the exams and walk out. Oh, and during the exams, never mind the fact that it is a final exam, so should be taken seriously… students still share rulers, pens, pencils, erasers… I can never tell if they’re making eye contact about the answer to a question or if someone has been hogging the ruler and needs to pass it along. Then, once enough students are outside, they all begin discussing they exam they just took, which is perfect, because a) I don’t understand their Sesotho and b) most students are still writing that very same exam!
When enough students have finished, they move to the field to play until lunch. Some play soccer, some play volleyball, and some play throw a ball as hard as you can at a girl who is jumping and trying to guard a pile of rocks. It’s truly fascinating to watch. WE’ve been dining later than scheduled, thanks to a minor water crisis. On Monday, we had to actually take buckets and containers into the village to a pump there in order to draw water so the cooks could prepare lunch. We didn’t eat until past 2pm. Since then, water has (thank goodness!) made it to our taps, but lunch has been around 1:30, rather than the projected 12 noon. Oh well, this is Africa.

After the last monthly exams, I promised my form A students that if they could pull a 60% or higher class average, I would bake them cookies. (“Madam?” “Cookies, you know, like biscuits?” “OHHHH BIS-COOOTS!”) Well, each class averaged about 58 or 59% and because their brilliant math teacher didn’t realize they didn’t fully grasp the concept of averages, I made them all cookies anyway. Snickerdoodles, to be precise. It was the recipe that seemed least complicated and least expensive. I kept postponing my baking day, until finally, this weekend I buckled down and fired up the (dutch) oven. I tripled the recipe for snickerdoodles and ended up with over 10 dozen cookies. This was fine by me, I got to give plenty away to teachers and the women who cook for us, as well as keep some for myself. I made the cookies pretty small, I must say… basically bitesize. I wasn’t sure how long that amount of dough would last me, and I figured at least this way I could be sure everyone who needed a cookie would get one.
So today I decided to give the form As their cookies before they took their science exam. Wow, what an endeavor. I had to convince them all to get inside their respective classrooms, sit down and be quiet. Yeah right, that was not gonna happen. Then I tried to calmly walk around and hand one cookie each (which got numerous sighs and exclamations about how small the cookies were and the fact that they only got one each). Well, these kids like food. So most of them started climbing on desks, trying to shove their hand in my face and convince me (as they were chewing and spitting crumbs) that they did not actually receive any cookie yet. Ha! The second classroom wasn’t any better. Kids from my first class were coming in and trying to disguise themselves as my A2 students, claiming they were my visitors, and so I should be culturally sensitive and serve my visitors. The second class also complained about how small their single cookies were. Yikes. I think it is safe to say that is the last time I will bake them all cookies.

I’m through with all my marking (aka grading – up to this point at least), so I have only to enter grades with the other science teachers (we enter them in as a combined science grade rather than one for physics, one for chem., etc). My students write math on Monday, I help proctor on Tuesday and then I’m done for the winter (as long as I can get grades in!)!! Hooray!
World Cup 2010 begins on the 11th of June… like the commercials (and all my students) say, “Feel it… It is here.” Our first game is on the 17th and I cannot wait to see South Africa again! Civilization! Rumor has it there is a HUGE mall in Bloemfontein. I wonder how it compares to the Mall (of America, obviously). Not to worry, I’ll fill you in as soon as I’ve assessed the situation. (Pardon the sarcasm there. Like I told my dad, there are few people in this country who understand and appreciate sarcasm like I do, so when I finally have an audience who does understand it, I tend to let loose.)

In other news, the grocery store had mushrooms last week. That won big points – I made one of the tastiest soups I’ve had in Africa. I also discovered that they carry long-life SKIM milk! WHOA! My house is cold enough that it doesn’t go bad for maybe a week, though a liter did not last me long at all. The best part is that it doesn’t fail to completely dissolve in my coffee or tea like the powdered stuff does. I bravely bought yogurt as well (on my dairy binge, haha) and the stuff I bought on Friday lasted me until today (Wednesday) and tasted fine. Besides the natural refrigeration, I must say that the citrus is probably the best part about winter. Oranges are everywhere and they are beautiful. They also tend to cost less than one rand, which is, quite literally, dirt cheap. If my math is correct, they amount to right around 11-14 cents. You see that on the ground, you probably won’t pick it up. See? Dirt. Cheap.
Ah, the joys of winter foods.

Well, my paraffin lamp has been on almost four hours now (it gets dark soooo early) so it’s probably time to call it a night. Plus I can’t feel my fingers (even though I’m typing with gloves on – pardon any mistsakes) and I’m hearing strange noises coming from my kitchen. My hope is that the water is coming back to my taps inside, but unfortunately, the sounds are unfamiliar. So my bet is that some small critter is enjoying my dry barley and lentils and I’ll discover a large hole in the bag. I’ll save that discovery for tomorrow. For now, I’m going to bundle up under as many blankets as I can find (maybe evcn my sleeping bag tonight, it is chilly) and read under my covers like I used to do when I didn’t want my mom to know I was still awake. Except this time it will be to keep warm.

All you back in America – enjoy the springtime! Enjoy your central heating (even if you’re not using it right now!) Enjoy your flush toilets and hot showers. Man, what I wouldn’t do for a hot shower… Stay healthy, safe and happy!
All my love from Africa,
-Katie