Today was a long day
Usually I feel the need to write something about a week, but today was as long as week all by itself.
Today was the last day of school before the week off for Spring Break. (Spring Break in October still feels weird to me too.) I knew that the schools I volunteer at would knock off early, so I didn't waste time packing a lunch this morning. At the Primary School, where I act as the Administrative Assistant, I spent a couple of hours helping teachers get recording sheet printed and ready to enter grades so report cards can come out soon. It's already past the deadline, but everyone is on African Time after all. Educators and learners were dismissed before 10am.
At the Middle School, I gave the Principal letters I'd had some 7th and 8th Graders write to classes in America for her to mail. The learners had already been dismissed and were walking home with their school lunches bagged up. A few girls caught me to ask if they could visit me or go to church with them. I put them off rather indirectly, I'm learning to like this culture. The few educators who were around the last couple of days have all been carrying around sticks or whips, but I didn't see any physical punishment. Several older boys were sweeping the walks, and when I asked what they had done to deserve this they told me they liked it, better sweeping than doing nothing, like they are in class.
I said my goodbyes and happy holidays to the educators and made plans to come back Monday and help paint the exterior of the school buildings. The Principal surprised me with a bar of chocolate as she said goodbye.
I walked home to find my 4th Grade brother has a note from his teacher. Despite the holiday, his class has to go to school on Monday and Tuesday to make up for lost time when the teacher was sick last week. This delays his plans to go spend the break with his mom, dad and brother, who live in a nearby town.
I said hello to my mom and headed to my room to enjoy my day off. Mom pops her head in and says I must come make toast in their new toaster. It's more like a sandwich/panini maker, but I dutifully came in and make toast. But you can't just make one thing here, I had to made eggs too and only just managed to get out of eating leftovers from last night too. As I finished eating, Lebo and I heard glass break. Mom was washing dishes and dropped a glass. I said I'd help clean it up, which morphed into mom showing me into the bedrooms with the broom so I could “start to sweep in here, then that other room, then that side, then that other side.” I admit, I wasn't very enthusiastic or thorough sweeping her house. I quickly retreated to my own room to enjoy a book.
A man has been at the house all week working on the landscaping. I stepped out a minute to see the dirt and go to the toilet, where I passed my mom busy at laundry. A flippant comment, “You stay busy, huh?” lead to me having to hang up the laundry on the line. Not my laundry either. So mom will clean and reorganize my room and I will help with chores in her house. This doesn't really make sense to me but if a South African doesn't want to hear something they are amazing at blocking it out. I really enjoy feeling like a part of the family but not when I it comes to chores. Largely because there's never been a Please or Thank You. In any language.
Back in my room, I finished the 4th book of a 7 book series, but I don't have the other 3 and feel at a loss about what to read next. The Game of Thrones will be hard to top, so I chose a silly little romance so I wont be too disappointed in the story. Lebo came in and asked if I wanted to play. He's a fanatic about card games, so we get along famously, except he frustrates me when he makes a silly mistake or “forgets” an inconvenient rule. His favorite is Go Fish with Crazy 8s a close second.
He insisted on watching a stupid South African comedy. I'd seen the beginning and I've never seen anything worse. Until I saw the end today. Really, I've yet to see a decent movie made in SA. But I am watching things endorsed by a 9-year-old. We switched to Terminator 3, but the disk skipped so bad it was like the movie was fast forwarding. Lebo took the disk out and ran to the kitchen with it. He returned to say it needed a few minutes in the fridge to help stop the skipping. DVDs in the fridge? My Facebook status about it sparked a lively conversation about weird things we've learned in SA. Apparently condom lubrication is a great cleaning solution. There's your pearl of wisdom for the day, reader, and you are welcome.
Back in the player and on screen, the movie really isn't skipping any less, but I don't mention it. I'm busy trying to see the end of T3, Lebo is busy trying to build a house of cards, and mom is busy cooking us dinner. I wanted to go to my room, I still have leftovers from the dinner she sent me yesterday, but I thought since I worked today I'd eat. I hardly ate half my plate, meals here are huge, and Lebo ate about as much as me. This caused mom to threaten to give him a spate again tomorrow, which I accidentally walked in on once and thanked God my mom never did that to me.
I helped Lebo with the dinner dishes and say 'goodnight' before I was asked to do anything more. Mom is expecting a couple of her sons to come today or tomorrow for a weekend visit, but I was too tired to stay awake and wait for them. In my room I tidied up a bit, took my bath and got ready for bed with this blog entry. I think I hear a car honking outside, maybe it's one of my host brothers, but I'm in my pj's and wont be going out any more tonight. I'll meet the family tomorrow, after I'm rested.
On paper it doesn't seem like a very long day, but when I think back to this morning, it's hard to believe it was just 12 hours ago that I was at school. I'm glad tomorrow is Saturday and I can sleep in. At least until mom wakes me up to check on me. South African parenting is something else.
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