Week 5: 11 - 17 March
The joy of this week was that it was basically one long dance session with academics squished in between! Not really, but it certainly could have been interpreted that way!
On Monday, MBLDS hosted a sokkie social which Talita and I used as an opportunity for our growth groups to meet up. Those available had a picnic supper on a bench on the Engineering grass and then we all walked to Academia together. Jani brought a residence friend along too!
On Tuesday, I went to ballroom classes and thankfully managed to catch a lift back with Jess otherwise I would have had to walk home alone in the dark. I had hoped Daneldi would be there too, but it looks like she may not have a schedule that allows for dance classes at the moment.
On Wednesday there were two sokkies happening, one at Kruiskerk and one at Dagbreek. I decided not to go to either after Bible study since I was exhausted. I am not sure why I was so tired looking back, but I know it had to do with a very full academic plate, which does not seem something I will be able to escape this year. I had a lot of running around to do on campus with printing all the things for service learning and making appointments with lecturers. I met with Mr Ruiters to discuss my argumentative essay and he was actually quite helpful! He is very odd though, but I think he is trying to be likeable. He told me about his vinyl record collection and showed me pictures of some of his records on Facebook. His daughter is a photographer or producer of some sort and she used one of his records as a prop. He seemed to find it laughable that she used them as mere props.
On Thursday, Rachel and I had a day off from school visitations since the school was on an outing. We later heard from the learners that they had visited a swimming pool! I spent the day trying to work and also met with Mrs Owen-Barnard via Teams. I had lunch with Liesje, we discovered a quiet shady spot just behind the Ou Hof gebou. We ate practically matching salads which she took a picture (although I don't have this picture, I quite forgot to ask her to send it to me until just now!). Before our lunch stop, Liesje dragged me along to PnP Liquor store in search of champagne. I know you are thinking this is a dodgy story, but I assure you it is not! Liesje received the good news that her good friend's daughter has been officially declared cancer free! So she was buying him a bottle for the family to celebrate, a very sweet and thoughtful idea. In the end, since neither of us knew enough about alcohol, we bought a fizzy, non alcoholic wine. I suppose I should have said "sparkling"? After lunch, I snuck into the Study Abroad fair to take a peak. As always, there are not many options for teachers, but I did get a cool pamphlet on Weingarten which I will read some time and some Haribo jelly bears!
Thursday also held the third dance session of the week-- a repeat ballroom lesson. Since deciding to do the medal test, I have resolved to attend as many sessions as I can to get as much practice as possible. I usually land up being partnered with complete beginners who have only attended one class. Several of them have not had much sense of rhythm and I ended up leading in a manner of speaking. I still have a wonderful time though, I just think it would be nice to dance with someone on a similar level now and again. Joshua, one of the instructor-helpers, shuffled up to me with a cheeky smile and stole me away for the second chacha which was rather fun. I suspect he would be fun to talk to and I hope I get to speak to him again. I have actually enjoyed chatting to most of my dance partners, they are all quite friendly!
On Friday, rachel and I had quite a busy day at the school. It felt as though the lessons were awfully long and yet we did not have much to show for our work by the end. I led the maths this week, and Rach the two languages. I tried introducing the CUBES approach to word problems which was a bit of a flop, but I think the number lines were not a complete waste of time. At least we are learning a lot from this experience, probably more than the kids!
I arrived back on campus, tired and hungry and ended up having lunch on the grass with Dana. We read some more "Anne's House of Dreams" and then worked together in the Bib for a while. We then decided to watch a movie and headed off in search of snacks (and ingredients for flapjacks). In the end though, Jemma changed her mind about the possibility of attending Mollasseser with me and so she and I decided to meet at 6pm outside Dana's res. Dana had door monitoring duty and so after the flapjacks (no movie), she hugged Jemma and I goodbye as we headed off to tick another bucket list item off.
Molasseser was epic! We only stayed to watch six of the events, but I already knew Huis Fransie van Zyl would win. It was such a treat to see them perform! Everything from their plot, coreography, humour and singing was good. We chatted with the girls sitting in front of us who cheered loudly for Huis Fransie and Hippo, it turns our they were on the HC of Huis Fransie. One girl, Thando, took a video of the performance and has promised to share it with me. I hope she remembers!
On Saturday, I awoke to the sounds of Tao shouting at Matthese who had slipped through the door as she opened it to go out. In the end, I went to get him and he snuggled happily on my bed for the next hour. It was a wonderful way to start a Saturday! I tried in vain to work on my Lolt assignment. I did not get as far as I would have liked, it is giving me a headache trying to figure out how best to argue my point and defend it without confusing my reader or going against the constitution and the spirit of democracy itself. That might sound dramatic, but believe me that is how it feels! I was put in charge of organising an ice cream expedition before Christ Church's sokkie fundraiser. In the end only three of us went, but I enjoyed it just the same! The sokkie itself was a huge success. We had more beginners at the workshop than I have ever seen before! I stayed right until the end (mostly as a result of the loadhsedding) and helf way in between, Dana, Inge and I walked to McDonalds to get some food. We sat outside eating my chips with Salomie for a while until it got too cold.
George commented that I had not danced much that evening, but I am not sure that is quite true. I danced plenty for my liking and have no regrets about sitting outside and socialising a while. I really had a lovely time, but it was not the same without Liesje there. She and sokkie will always be linked in my mind and she is my favourite person to dance with and to watch dancing, well on par with Marcel perhaps. The pleasure she takes from it is almost infectious! I stayed until the very last dance and Marcel kindly granted me a Chacha and tried to teach me some new moves. I was quite exhausted by the end of it and when I took off my sock at home I discovered that not only were they filthy, but I had danced new holes into them!
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| Snowball, the Deaf dog at St Vincents'. Dare I say she is my favourite part of this project? :) |
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| CCST Sokkie workshop-- I was the DJ for this session! |
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| My goodies from Study Abroad fair |
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| A beautiful Stellies sunset |
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