This week was long, for no good reason. Every day felt like Friday and I seemed to be really tired. Today is actually Friday, so you'd think I'd be rejoicing. Instead, I'm hiding out in my room, avoiding all the boys at my house right now.
Last night I heard ANOTHER mouse in my room and despite my exhaustion I feel like I didn't get a wink of sleep. So I was tired and moody today.
I fixed my hair into 2 braids this morning for the first time in this village. I got a LOT of comments about it everywhere I went and it kinda felt like everyone was making fun of my hair style.
I stopped by the Primary school early to praise the automatic sign in and bell ringer software. I showed the Principal how to use it and made sure everyone knew the bell would ring automatically on time and no one need worry about it anymore. It does need electricity though, keep that in mind.
I rushed over to the Middle school to be there for Assembly. Of course, no one is ready, the teachers are having a staff meeting that pushes 40 minutes into the school day. Then the teachers must prepare, so almost no learners had class during first or second period. Today I initiated "Casual Friday" and allowed the learners to wear casual clothes instead of their school uniforms IF they could pay 1 rand for the privilege. I went around with two girls in Grade 8 to all the classrooms and collected money. Of course, half the kids who'd dressed casually didn't any money. Some just stared at me blankly and some said they'd bring it Monday. I was fed up, all week I had made sure everyone knew if they wore their uniform they didn't need to bring money. I cowed a few kids with the evil eye, the girls with me threatened a few others, and we'll see if we get any more money on Monday. As it is, we collected just shy of 400 rand to go towards the school needs. I was proud of that.
When I handed to money to the Principal, she tells me how upset the teachers are with me. They didn't want Casual Friday, even though I'd talked about it in a staff meeting and thought they all understood I was going to do this. The teachers at that school really seem to dislike each other, and do everything they can to make others - especially me and the principal - look bad. I'm so frustrated by them because they completely forget about or ignore the kids' education. I knew that no fundraising would get done unless I stepped in to do it, and I knew I'd ruffle feathers, but I thought that maybe this would light a fire under someone to volunteer for the school fundraising committee. I'm not holding my breath.
So I left the school earlier than usual. Back at the Primary School I"m trying to move files from an old laptop to a new external hard drive and make space on the laptop. It had literally 1 GB of free space on the hard drive. I'm not as good with computers as I'd like to be, especially one that a South African used for 2 years already, so I'm not working as fast as the Principal seems to expect. Then the electricity went off, and nothing worked. No bells to sound class periods, after I had bragged about them all morning. A man came to fix a copy machine we've had problems with for months and need to have working by Monday, but with no electricity there was nothing he could do. School dismissed and I rushed home because Lebo is scared to be alone.
My host mom left this morning to attend a funeral tomorrow with her sister. After she'd made travel arrangements she tells me that a 10th Grade cousin will be coming for the weekend, oh, and he'll be bringing Lebo's 2 year old brother. "I think it's okay, no?" So I'm in charge of 3 school boys. Great. I had to turn down a trip to Mafikeng with another PCV because I know mom will hold me responsible for everything that happens here this weekend. Lucky for me my host dad came in for the weekend. He works in Johannesburg and comes in once a month. So the men can entertain themselves and I'll work on overdue Peace Corps assignments. And try to get rid of the mouse.
On top of all that today, it's been the windiest and dustiest day I've even seen in my life. With constant wind speeds in excess of 60 mph ALL DAY and tiny dust tornadoes every time I turn around every square inch of my body is covered in a fine layer of dust. Everything in my room is too, even though the doors and windows are closed. But there's a crack around everything, so I've swept 3 times already and still watching the dust spread from under the door. So much dust is in the air that it looks like dusk at 2pm, and it hit my tin roof with such force I thought it had started to hail.
So TGIF, and I'm sleeping in tomorrow for sure.
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