First Week of School - By John

This is the week that the girls went back to school, for the first time since October. The beginning of school is always and exciting time, and sometimes it’s a little scary, especially when you are entering a school in a new country. School actually started on Wednesday, and so we dropped the girls off at 7:30, which is when school starts. We met both teachers and made sure the girls were in the right classroom. We are fortunate that our next door neighbours children, Ndzalama and Nsuku and in the same classes as Danica and Erin respectively, so the girls knew someone before entering the classroom. The girls have already started making friends, including another Canadian girl called Dakota, and we think they are starting to fit in and enjoy school.

The school is relatively formal, and they value and teach polite and respectful behaviour. For instance, when any of the learners (which is what they call students here) see an unfamiliar adult, they greet them with “Good Morning, Sir” (or Ma’am). Also, discipline is quite strict. If you forget your hat, you get a black mark in a special book. If you get three marks, you get a detention and have to work in the garden instead of playing sports. On a more serious note, if you get sent to the office, you get your name written down in a special book, and if you get your name recorded three times, you get expelled. Whoa! We had a long talk with the girls about not getting their names in ANY books. One of the rules is that the kids have to cover their notebooks first with paper, then decorate them (somewhat optional) and then cover them with plastic and so we (as in Charlene and the girls) have been diligently covering all the notebooks and binders for hours on end.

The school has excellent academic standards, having a 100% pass rate for the grade 12 exams, which is called Matriculation here. Danica is studying both Afrikaans and SiSwati, which will be a challenge since the other kids have already been studying those languages for at least a year, and probably speak one or the other at home.

Another interesting thing that happened this week is that the dogs started running with me. On Monday I started my run, and suddenly Lady was running along beside me. I shortened my route considerably, but nonetheless, Lady kept up, her short little legs churning away. Then on Friday, both Lady and Klaus started running with me, and this time Lady decided to quit when she saw the neighbour’s dogs, but Klaus kept going with me. I went a little further than with Lady, but had to walk the last bit because Klaus was not keeping up. Still, very impressive for a seven week old dog. Coincidentally, the man we bought Klaus from is a distance runner, who once entered Klaus’ father in a half marathon, which they ran together and both finished. The dog got the same medal as the human participants. I have high hopes of Klaus! I am also now thinking of joining the local running club, so we will have to see how things go.